Latest / Birdland Territory / Jim Palmer discussed the backlash over Craig Albernaz comments and more

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Jim Palmer discussed the backlash over Craig Albernaz comments and more · Birdland Territory

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Welcome in to another edition of Birdland Territory with Steve, Tim, Brad,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: and a Hall of Famer. Number 22, Jim Palmer, joins
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: us today. We've been working on getting him on the show.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: We got it done. And, Jim, we are excited to
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: have you and talk about a lot of things, Orioles here. And,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: first of all, wishing you, as we tape this, a
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: happy birthday.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Thank you. I was telling you I had Don Stanhouse
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: full pack. I told him I was going to have
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: a full pack type of day. I said I was
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: going to walk the bases loaded to get to Bobby
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Bonds and throw a backup 3-2 slider to strike them out.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: And Earl Weaver's down on the dugout floor, you know,
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  Speaker 2: about to the last cigarette of the pack. So, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I've heard it from a lot of people. Terry Crowley,
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: of course, and Scotty McGregor, a lot of my friends.
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  Speaker 2: You know, some of the Oriole personnel. So, Craig Alberness,
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  Speaker 2: I'm waiting, but I'm probably not going to run away. Oh,
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: my gosh. Well, Jim, it's been an interesting few weeks.
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  Speaker 1: After your appearance on the be more sports podcast, you
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  Speaker 1: mentioned that Craig Albernass did not get back to you.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: And you reached out a little before the season to
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: talk about Colton Couser. That thing went crazy. It went viral.
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  Speaker 1: And you were hearing from all over from the world,
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  Speaker 1: really all over the sports world. I mean, what did
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: you make of the last two weeks and how that
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  Speaker 1: all played out?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it had nothing to do with how they played
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: this year. You know, I mean, it's so I was just, listen,
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  Speaker 2: I come from the school of, you know, not the
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  Speaker 2: fact I've been here over 60 years and I've seen
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  Speaker 2: a lot of stuff, but I mean, I played, people
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: probably forget that, but I did play for a long time.
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  Speaker 2: And I, I mean, I remember, um, how we always
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  Speaker 2: tried to help each other. And, um, you know, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I'd walk down to the other end of the bench
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  Speaker 2: to help Earl Weaver, you know, because we wanted to win. So, uh,
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  Speaker 2: you know, Craig called me the day he got the
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: job or the night he got the job. And, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we had a talk, I said, can we talk about
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: glove positioning? And, you know, he said that he'd love to, uh,
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: you know, uh, kind of educate me on the way
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  Speaker 2: the catching's finally evolved and not to agree or disagree. And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, so we had a conversation. So right before
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: spring training, I just said, listen, I said, I don't
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  Speaker 2: want to interfere, but I'm just saying you're going to
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  Speaker 2: find out that your best all-around outfielder could be Colton Couser.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: And the reason for that is because he, a couple
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: of years ago, he left field the hardest place to
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: play in Camden Yards. He was, I think, second in
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  Speaker 2: the Gold Glove finalists. You know, they don't throw a
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: lot from the outfield anymore, like in infield. I mean,
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: they take infield a lot, but you don't see guys
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  Speaker 2: throwing like we used to do every day. So he's
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: got a really good arm. He can get the ball.
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  Speaker 2: He can steal bases. He's got tremendous power. The one
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  Speaker 2: thing he does is, or a couple of things he does,
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  Speaker 2: he strikes out too much and, you know, does not
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: hit well with runners in scoring position, maybe because the
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: game speeds up. I always thought that you probably want
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: a guy at scoring position, you pitch them a little differently, but, um, basically,
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  Speaker 2: so maybe you have him watch somebody because if he
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: can play every day or not, maybe not every day,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: but if you have, you know, if, um, Chris sale
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  Speaker 2: is not pitching, you know, the toughest left-hander in the
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: national league, you know, you got them in there because
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  Speaker 2: he's going to help you win games and more, more
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  Speaker 2: than just with his bat, but if he can hang
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  Speaker 2: in there. And the reason I say this, um, Paul
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  Speaker 2: O'Neill was a pretty good player. I mean, he hit, what, 300,
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  Speaker 2: six straight years for the Yankees, hit. 359, won a
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  Speaker 2: batting title. And, you know, so when we do the games,
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: I always go over and talk to him, and I said, hey,
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  Speaker 2: how'd you hit lefties? And he said, well, I hung
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  Speaker 2: in there. And then you look at his number, I
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: think he was. 247,. 249. But he was a good outfielder,
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  Speaker 2: took balls off the bat. And, you know, you don't
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: always face a left-handed starter. It doesn't mean you're always
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: going to face a left-hander for all nine innings. So
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  Speaker 2: he got to play every day and he helped him, what,
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  Speaker 2: I think four out of five World Championships. So that's
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  Speaker 2: kind of what I wanted for Craig Auburn. And, you know, again,
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  Speaker 2: we have had a, you know, text relationship and then
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  Speaker 2: I didn't hear from him. And so in August, when
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  Speaker 2: the club is struggling, we just, I think, may have,
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  Speaker 2: we're going up to Boston. They've gotten to 500. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: you got to, if you look at the Orioles, they were, what,
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  Speaker 2: after they were 10 and 10, I think on April 17th,
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  Speaker 2: it took them another 118 games to get to 500.
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  Speaker 2: Then they lost seven in a row. So we were
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  Speaker 2: in Houston going to Boston where they would lose. They'd
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  Speaker 2: lose seven straight. And I just casually sat on the thing.
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  Speaker 2: I said, hey, did you ever get the text? Because
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  Speaker 2: we had had conversations on the field all year long
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  Speaker 2: and very amicable. And he said, oh, that's a long
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  Speaker 2: time ago. And then he said, and, you know, maybe
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  Speaker 2: he's irritated. Maybe he's got other things on his mind
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  Speaker 2: because managers do have that. He just basically said, you know,
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: it's a lot easier to talk about something than do it.
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  Speaker 2: And I said, hey, I've been around, you know, for
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  Speaker 2: a long time. I said, if you don't talk about things,
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  Speaker 2: it's impossible to do. So I just told that story
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  Speaker 2: because Mike Bordick had said something like, hey, you know,
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  Speaker 2: they're going to make changes. And my question was, well,
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  Speaker 2: what changes are they going to be? Are they going
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  Speaker 2: to be uh, front office? Are they going to be,
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  Speaker 2: maybe you have some people with live baseball experiences actually, uh,
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  Speaker 2: coaching or so on and so on. So, uh, again, um,
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  Speaker 2: I had no animosity. Um, you know, they made a
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  Speaker 2: big deal out of it, but there were a lot
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  Speaker 2: of things that went on this year that, that, you know,
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  Speaker 2: had nothing to do with, you know, the fact that
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  Speaker 2: he didn't text me back. So, uh, and then the
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  Speaker 2: other problem is he has a friend by the name
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  Speaker 2: of Rob Abel who tweeted 73 times, uh, His wife
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  Speaker 2: was the first female coach with the Giants. She also
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  Speaker 2: went to the Guardians when Craig went there to be
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  Speaker 2: the bench coach. And he owns a baseball school and
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  Speaker 2: all that. He kept agitating and not with me because
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: he said, you know what you're trying to do. You're
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  Speaker 2: trying to make people dislike Craig. And I'm sitting at
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: home and I'm saying, wait a minute. They're not going
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  Speaker 2: to dislike or like him. Managers get liked or disliked
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  Speaker 2: how you manage. And he had a tough year in
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  Speaker 2: the sense that I mean, he did have a lot
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: of injuries. You know, he didn't have a closer. He
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: lost some starters. You know, Jordan Westbrook could be one
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  Speaker 2: of the best players on this team all around, play
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  Speaker 2: multiple positions where maybe you can platoon then and so
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  Speaker 2: on and whatever. So it wasn't the easiest year, but
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  Speaker 2: this guy kept agitating and then people kept answering back because, listen,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, they won 79 and 32. They won, what,
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  Speaker 2: seven out of the last 11 games. But at the
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  Speaker 2: end of the day, I think, When you have Alonzo,
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: you sign him, and you make some additions. I think
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: they thought they would be a little bit better than
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  Speaker 2: the year before, and that just didn't happen. But this
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  Speaker 2: had nothing to do with the fact he didn't text me.
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  Speaker 2: I wish him well. I'm hoping he does what Buck
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: Showalter did. And, Brad, you got there, what, in 2014,
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  Speaker 2: I believe.
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  Speaker 3: Yep, 2014.
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  Speaker 2: But Buck came over in 2011. I think they won,
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  Speaker 2: I don't know, 34-23. Next year, they lose 69 games.
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  Speaker 2: The next year, they win 93. So maybe, and it's
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: going to be a telltale offseason for Mike Elias, because
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  Speaker 2: you didn't re-sign Trevor Rodgers. You have to go out
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  Speaker 2: and get a really good left-hander. I mean, he had
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  Speaker 2: one horrible month. He already over 10 runs a game
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  Speaker 2: in May. But at the end of the day, you
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  Speaker 2: need to, you know, he got a lot of question marks.
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  Speaker 2: So we'll see how this all plays out. But listen,
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  Speaker 2: I wish him well. I sit in the booth. I
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  Speaker 2: know when people turn on the Oriole games, they like
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: me a lot better than Ben when we win. So
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  Speaker 2: I get 14 straight years of losing baseball. So I'm
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  Speaker 2: sure they didn't like me during that period. But at
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  Speaker 2: the end of the day, you know, we represent the club.
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  Speaker 2: I want them to do well. I mean, I still
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  Speaker 2: have a place in Baltimore. I've been there since I
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: was 19 years old and I turned 81 today. So again,
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  Speaker 2: I wish them well, which is why, you know, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I try to be supportive. And at the end of
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  Speaker 2: the day, They made a big deal out of just
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  Speaker 2: the fact that, you know, maybe he didn't get the text.
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  Speaker 2: If he had said, hey, I didn't get the text,
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  Speaker 2: this would have gone and nothing would have ever happened.
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  Speaker 2: So it's really no big deal. The bigger deal is
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  Speaker 2: what are they going to do in 2027? Is there
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  Speaker 2: going to be a baseball season with a lockout or
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: at least pending lockout? And, you know, we'll go from there.
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  Speaker 2: How's that for you? I feel like I just did
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  Speaker 2: my monologue. You did. You did. Great ratings, too.
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  Speaker 4: Let's see what else our guys got for you, Brad. Yeah, Jim,
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  Speaker 4: I just think back to, you know, the first spring trainings.
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  Speaker 4: And when I first was kind of helping down with
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  Speaker 4: the Orioles, you had a conversation with me in batting practice.
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  Speaker 4: And to me that like you're sitting there telling me
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  Speaker 4: I couldn't do what you and Zach did. What is
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  Speaker 4: it about relieving that you thought was so different compared
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  Speaker 4: to like what you did when you were pitching? Where
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  Speaker 4: do you think that's at today? Is it just do
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: you see every pitcher? Because I kind of see it
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  Speaker 4: as every pitcher kind of throwing like a reliever now.
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  Speaker 4: And it's just an amazing evolution of where pitching has gone.
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  Speaker 4: Where do you see it in today's game?
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, it's funny. Richie Bancel, you had him
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: as a trainer, and then Brian Ebel was there for
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: 38 years, and Mike Elias let him go a couple
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: of years ago. But Richie, you always say it's everything
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: you have for as long as you can go. And,
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: you know, when I started, we were kind of taught,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, basically, you throw a guy a low and
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  Speaker 2: away fastball and you see what he does. If he
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: takes it, you throw him another one. You know, because
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  Speaker 2: we used to always talk about information pitches. You want
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: to find out. I mean, now they have all that.
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  Speaker 2: We have video, but they have, you know, all the
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: analytics and whatever. But I always thought there's nothing. Brad,
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  Speaker 2: you probably feel this way, too, except you didn't have
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  Speaker 2: as much time. coming in on the bullpen usually, probably
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: with most of the time, except one year I think
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: you were closer, with guys on base. But I always
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: wanted to see what the hitter did. And if a
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: guy could hit my low and away fastball, that meant
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: he probably couldn't hit a changeup or curveball or pitch
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: on the inside part of the plate. So you wanted
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: to find that out as quickly as you could. Now
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: they give you the scouting report. You're going to, it's
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: like auditioning in Broadway. You know, you're supposed to go
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: up there to sing and dance and you're yodeling and
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: you're telling jokes. You're doing basically, they've seen everything you
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: have definitely by the second time through the order. And
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: then what does baseball do? They look at, you know,
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: on stat pass, they go, gee, first time through the
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: order there, you know, 225, second time, 250, third time, 300. Well,
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: they got a better guy in the bullpen. And we
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: saw that last night in the Dodger game. I mean,
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Besser pitched five innings. You know, if you told Earl Weaver,
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: I can get you 15 outs, he would have said,
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: you mean a triple A? But the point, and again,
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: this is the playoffs, and Milwaukee does have a really
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: good bullpen. I mean, Uribe tried to lose it for him, but,
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: you know, Will Smith, I thought he had a grand slam,
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: but the ball stayed in the ballpark. And then they
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: came back, you know, it was a great game. But
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  Speaker 2: I always wonder how you guys are, and how the
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: relievers are as good as they are. Because, again, when
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: you start, you know, you've got to, hey, if you
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: give up a run in the first inning, just don't
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: make it two. The whole key to starting is basically
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: you want your guys to think that they have a
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: chance to win. How do you do that? You stay
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: out of big innings. And, you know, obviously, you know,
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: Snell had a great game. He retired, what, 14 in
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: a row. But you tell me when you're pitching the
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: seventh inning, the Dodgers scored two runs to go up
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: two to one. You go three and two on Andrew Vaughn. Now,
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: and he'd already thrown him a 3-1 changeup. He's throwing
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: 97 miles per hour, even though I think they've juiced
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: the guns for the playoffs. I mean, the guns. Like
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Evan Phillips came the year, I go to 2018. I think, what,
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: you went to Atlanta?
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: Got him. Okay. Yep. So, you know, he's got a
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: good arm. Didn't have the breaking ball he has now.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: But his average fastball, I think, is 95.5 this year.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: He's throwing 97, 98. The guys are now throwing 99
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: to 100. You tell me after six months, six and
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: a half months of pitching 50, 60, 70 times, do
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: you gain velocity in October? So I'm just kind of wondering.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: But you saw the game last night. It's a game
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: of the bullpen. You better have a good bullpen. Orioles actually,
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: if you look at the year they had, they started
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: out poorly. you know, mainly because Rodgers had the one
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: bad month. And then Bassett struggled before he got back
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: surgery and then came back and ended up 9-5. But
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: he didn't certainly pitch as well as he liked. But
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: the bullpen actually, I think, surprised people. And, you know,
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: Helsley was supposed to be the closer. Again, I'm kind
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: of defending Greg Alvarez. He had to deal with all
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: these things. I mean, you got yourself a closer, you know,
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: that once had, I think, 38 or 39 for the
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: Cardinals and Helsley, and he hardly pitched at all. So, again,
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: I don't know how bullpen guys do it. because you've
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: got to come in and be perfect, and you have
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: to usually do it. If you close, it's probably a
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: lot easier, at least physically, not mentally. Yeah, physically. You
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: know better than anybody. You get the lead after eight innings.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: Do you want to mess it up? Dennis Eckersley said that.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: Fear used to motivate him. So everybody has a little
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: different stuff, but I don't understand. I don't understand how
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: the bullpen guys do it because you have to come
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: in and, you know, you have to have the scouting report.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: You got to know. You don't know what you have.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: You know, as a starter, you get to, you know,
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: kind of feel your way into the first inning and
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: so on and so on. So it's probably the most
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: important part of the pitching aspect now because starters, to
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: your point, don't go that far. But you tell me.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: So I looked up your numbers. You pitched in about
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: 800 games and never started a game. No, never. Minor leagues,
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: major leagues, no. No openers back to even the minor leagues? No,
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: not even that.
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: I thought I might get one towards the end, maybe
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: in my AAA time.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: But no, I never started a game. You didn't trip
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: a starting pitcher on the way out to the bullpen?
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: I know, right?
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: Maybe that would have been the way to get in.
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: That could have been it.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: That's the amazing thing. I mean, I figure, you know,
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: a lot of times, guys, I pitched with Stu Miller,
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: Goose Gossage, Terry Forster. They were all starting pitchers. Jeff Reardon,
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: you know, Dennis Eckersley had, what, 390 saves, won 190
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: games as a starter, which is why he was the
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: first ballot Hall of Famer. But the bottom line, a
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: lot of guys start out starting. But you have, what,
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: 42nd round draft choice. Yeah. And to end up pitching
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: in the big leagues for, what, 11 years. I mean,
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: I remember you coming up and I'm going, this kid's
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: got great stuff. And like I told Brandon Young two
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: years ago, I said, you have major league stuff, but
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: when you, you have minor league command and when you
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: change that, he did, you know, and he was a
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: really good pitcher this year. Got a lot of runs early.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: Didn't win a lot of games late because, you know,
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: the Orioles struggled offensively. It seemed like the games he pitched,
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: but at the end of the day, I, I, I
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: find it again. So, so I have so much admiration
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: for relievers because they, they have to come in and,
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: you know, And that's what everybody goes, well, you know,
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: he blew that game. Well, you know, that might have
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: happened in the second inning when the starter gave up
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: three runs. So it's maybe sometimes a thankless job.
• 15:34
  Speaker 5: Jim, I wanted to go back to something that you
• 15:37
  Speaker 5: alluded to when you were bringing up Colton Couser that
• 15:39
  Speaker 5: has driven us crazy throughout the season. And it's when
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: Jackson holiday, you can go back to a game in
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: which he went four for four. And then he did
• 15:50
  Speaker 5: not start the following game because there was a left-handed
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: pitcher starting that game. And this isn't just an Orioles thing,
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: but this over-reliance on platooning and not wanting left-handed batters
• 16:03
  Speaker 5: to face left-handed pitching. I always say, look, we don't
• 16:06
  Speaker 5: know if Jackson holiday can hit left-handed pitching, but we'll
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: never know if you don't give him the opportunity to.
• 16:12
  Speaker 5: You know, Mike Elias has talked about some self-reflection and
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: what they can change moving forward. Would you like to
• 16:19
  Speaker 5: see more commitment to some of these guys to become
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: everyday guys, regardless of who's pitching that day?
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: Well, I'll go back to, again, when the Orioles had
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: a lot of their season ticket holes in January. Gunnar
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: was there. He was probably the winner of 22, and
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: Kyle Stauer was there, and You know, I was talking
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: to both of them and, you know, Stowers went to
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: Stanford and maybe a little bit older than Gunner because
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: he was a college guy. And I said, you know,
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: the key, because I think everybody thought that Gunner was
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: going to be a rookie of the year. He'd come
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: back at the end of 22 and had some really
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: good years. I said that the one, you know, maybe
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: the one, not criticism, but the one scouting thing is
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: you don't hit lefties too well. And Gunner looked at
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: me and he said, well, the more I see, the
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: better I'll do. So to your point, Tim, that makes
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: a lot of sense. And then Kyle Stowers said, I
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: hit lefties pretty well because, not for as much power,
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: because traditionally, if you go back historically, almost everybody's OPS
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: goes down, and that's on base percentage, and slugging goes
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: lefty versus lefty versus righty versus righty. But Stowers says,
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: I use left center field. So when you go back
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: and look at Colton Couser, when's the last time he
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: ever hit the inside of a baseball and hit a
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: ball to left center field? I don't mean the ball
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: out of the plate. I mean the ball like Alonzo.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: Alonzo took 43 home runs, countless times the ball on
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: the inside half or down and in. He would inside out,
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: hit the inside of the ball to the opposite field.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: Now he is Pete Alonzo, and he does have over
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: 200 home runs. And, you know, every year he does
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: hit over 30 to 40 to 50 home runs. Did
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: that his rookie year. But I don't think Colton Couser's
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: swing allows him. I mean, if you live in California,
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: you know, if you like hamburgers, in and out's great.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: But if you have an in-and-out swing in the big leagues... So,
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: did you guys by chance watch the Dodgers against Chris
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: Stale in the Atlanta game? Where he hits a ball...
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: Excuse me. Freddie Freeman hits a ball over the left
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: field fence and DeBond catches it. I mean, leaps over
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: the fence. Next time up, he hits a ball against
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: the toughest lefty in the National League in the mezzanine. So, I...
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: Maybe this is just me. Maybe I'm an ill person.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: But when I used to do the Dodger games or
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: the Atlanta games, I would go on YouTube and I
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: would watch how Freddie Freeman goes about getting ready to hit.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: He hits like 330 off runners to scoring position for
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: 8,000 or 9,000 at-bats. Yes, I think he's 36 now.
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: He did have like 60-some games without a home run
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: or something this year. So maybe this is not the
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: best year and maybe things are slowing down for him.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: He's been a great player. And so the next day
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: I go on YouTube again and he talks about how
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: Chipper Jones, who is in the Hall of Fame, even
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: though he was a switch hitter, told him when you hit,
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: if you take the inside line of the batter's box,
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: if your hands follow that, you don't come in and
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: out of a swing. So I'm thinking, geez, that really
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: makes sense. And, you know, you can stay through the ball.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: You can maybe hit a breaking ball or not. And
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: I want Colton to do well. I guess he has
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: his own hitting coach down in Houston. It's not working. Well,
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: I mean, again, that's, that's, I don't say that with malice.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: I'm saying, Hey, I watched the game. Ben McDonald talked
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: about it all the time to more vertical swing and
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: whatever the toughest outs. I don't know about you, Brad, because,
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: but the toughest guy where the guys would cover the plate,
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: if I throw him a fastball out over the plate
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: and they hit the ball, you know, the other way,
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: you know, and, and, you know, And maybe somebody along
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: the line, because, you know, when I talked to Dean Albany,
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: who was a terrific scout for the Orioles, now is
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: with the Phillies. He said Colton Couser was a bat
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: to ball guy for Sam Houston State. So maybe somewhere
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: along the line, somebody said, hey, you need to hit
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: more home runs. You know, we saw the driveline article
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: this year where the perfect swing is three feet out
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: in front, 18 degree launch angle, and you'll hit more 77s. And,
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: of course, they asked Pete Alonzo. He said, Pete, what
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: do you think about that? He said, why would I
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: want to do something that I do 1% of the time,
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: the other 9% of the time? And it made so
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: much sense. How many times did you see Pete Alonzo,
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: 43 home runs, hit the ball to the opposite field
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: on the ground? Milwaukee. I didn't do the Milwaukee series.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: Ben did. So I talked to Ben before that. I said, well,
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: you asked Pat Murphy why Milwaukee hits more ground balls
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: than any team in the major leagues. So Ben did.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: And Pat said something like, do you do know the
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: batting average right-hander hitting a ground ball to right field
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: between first and second, lefty hitting one between short and third,
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: what the batting average is? It's 367. You know what
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: the league average was this year in the American League?
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: 241.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: Nationally, I think it was about 244. So, and Ben says, well,
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: how do you get them to do that? He says,
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: because if you want to play for the Milwaukee Brewers,
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: you might have to do that. I mean, I watch
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: the game now. You know, we can't do the shifts
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: like you do where you have your shortstop playing in
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: short right field or whatever. But the shortstop's playing almost
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: right behind second base, you know, within the limit. And
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: that's where the left-handed are up. And where the right-handed are,
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: the second baseman's playing right behind. They have balls right
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: almost at the shins of pitchers and second baseman and
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: the shortstop's catching them. So you do have room to
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: hit the ball on the ground and whatever. But, you know,
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: when maybe the philosophy– You know, we were told three
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: or four years ago that the best thing that happens
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: in baseball is a home run. And I started looking
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: at numbers. I'm going, OK, since 2006, when they tested
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: for steroids, home runs are up and runs per game
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: are down. So you tell me. We know some teams,
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: the Orioles, you know, the Yankees, they're predicated on home runs.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: Look at the Dodgers. You know, last night, Smith didn't
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: hit a home run. If it's a home run, they
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: take it. What a 4-1 lead, you know, at the
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: end of the day. So he hits a double. But
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: the bottom line, a lot of teams like Milwaukee, I mean,
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: you know, they're not like a normal team. And maybe
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: that's why they won more games than any other team
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: in baseball.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: We are talking to Hall of Famer Jim Palmer today
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: on Birdland Territory. And we got some more questions coming
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: his way in just a moment.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: Hey, everybody.
• 22:53
  Speaker 6: It's the best time of the year for sports right now.
• 22:55
  Speaker 6: You got the NFL. You got the NBA about to start.
• 22:58
  Speaker 6: You got college football. You got hockey going on here.
• 23:02
  Speaker 6: And the best part of all, you got the MLB playoffs.
• 23:05
  Speaker 6: So if you want great seats to the LCS and
• 23:08
  Speaker 6: then the World Series, wherever that is, go to SeatGeek.
• 23:11
  Speaker 6: I've used SeatGeek many times for college football tickets, concert tickets.
• 23:15
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• 23:17
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• 23:20
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• 23:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, AJ, the best deals are on SeatGeek with over
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  Speaker 3: 35 million downloads. SeatGeek is the number one rated ticketing app.
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: And with SeatGeek being MLB's official ticket marketplace, your tickets
• 23:32
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• 23:36
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• 23:49
  Speaker 3: use it later.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: Gracias, SeatGeek.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Our guest today, one of six men enshrined as Orioles
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, Jim Palmer,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: went in on the first bout in 1990. So, Jim,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: I want to ask you a question about Gunnar Henderson.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: We've seen a two-year fall off in his performance. If
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: anybody goes back and looks at the voting for the
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: 2024 MVP, see the company he was keeping that he's
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: not keeping now.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: What did you see this year?
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: And can he get back to being that elite talent?
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: What's he 25? Of course you can. I mean, he's,
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: he's a marvelous athlete. And, you know, I used to,
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: when Brooks, Brooks, Brooks Robinson was alive, I'd say Brooks,
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: you ever see anybody in all the years, you know,
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: been with the Orioles, anybody that athletic. Now we've had
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: a lot of athletic guys, you know, that, I mean,
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: and of course I'm probably talking about more guys that
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: came up through the organization. not Adam Jones's of the world,
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: you know, that we traded for and whatever, who was
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: a marvelous player and did so much for the city
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: of Baltimore. But, um, and Brooks would say, no gunner,
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: you know, it's the good or better than any of them. Um,
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: I look at it. Okay. So you had 28 home
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: runs at the all-star break, uh, in 2024. And, um,
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: he only hit nine the rest of the year. So
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: he's had a home run every 17 times up. And then,
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: Second half of the year, he hit a home run
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: every 30 times up. That's what he did last year.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: Hit a home run every 28, 29 times up. But
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: he hit 342 runners in scoring position. He hit 205
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: this year. So I thought, I looked at last year,
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: and everybody goes, well, he didn't hit as many home runs.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: Of course, he went from 24 to eight errors. Tony Mancellino,
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: who took over as manager, and the club actually was
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: 60 and 59 with him. turned him into a really
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: good shortstop by getting him to slow down and not rushing. And,
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: you know, again, everybody's clock's different as an infielder, but
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: the good ones, their clock's on time most of the time. And,
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: you know, Gunnar got it to where he could tell
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: the time in the dark. That's how good he was
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: at shortstop. This year, I think he went to 18 errors.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: But somewhere along the line, and the minute they announced
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: that he was going to be on the WBC team,
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: and I'm going, okay, well... He's not going to play
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: every day because Bobby Witt Jr. is one of the
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: best players in the American League. You know, the guy that,
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: you know, that the Orioles did not pick, they picked
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: Adley Rutchin ahead of him. So I'm going, where's he
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: going to play? So I had to play third. Bregman,
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: of course, said, well, I'm not on the team. I
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: want to play a lot. So Gunner and, you know,
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: his best month was April. He had eight home runs.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: But ever since the second half of the year, he
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: doesn't hit home runs, you know, like once every 28 times.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: He just had an amazing time. Now, I don't know
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: if that's the fact that I know he tried to
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: pull more balls this year, but when you drop 135
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: points with runners in scoring position, you're not using the
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: whole field. Now, did he hit some balls hard at people?
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: Did he get frustrated? I mean, you would think it'd
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: be a little bit less difficult, never easy, less difficult
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: with Alonzo on the team because he's beat Alonzo. And
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: other than the month of April where he hit 175,
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: which that'll never happen again, trying too hard. Pete had
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: as good a year as you ever want to see
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: a guy have, especially in his first year. I mean,
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: he was better than advertised. So I, you know, why
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: wouldn't gutter be able to be better, but he doesn't
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: hit lefties as well. That's probably because he doesn't use
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: the whole field. And the other thing is Brad, you
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: were a catcher, but how would you like to be
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: a left-handed hitter in Camden yards? Yeah. When they, when they,
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: I'll be kind when they moved the wall out from
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: three 64 to which was too short. They could have
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: moved it back like they did for Mike Messina. I mean, Steve,
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: remember that? When they wanted to move the fence back
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: eight feet, they actually moved home plate back. Oh, that's right.
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: I mean, how many millions of dollars do you think
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: they spent taking that wall out? I mean, in the yards,
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: it doesn't look the same. But anyway, so your left-handed hitter,
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: where do you want to hit the ball? You want
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: to hit it to right field or center field. I mean,
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: you know, they move left center in a little bit.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: It's 373 or whatever. I don't know what they call
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: that out there. You know, it used to be Mr.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: Splash Zone, but he's history. So, at least now. But
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: who would want to be Mr. Splash in the winter
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: in Baltimore anyway? So, I'm going to give him a
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: pass on that. Now, the bird, I don't know. I mean,
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: birds fly south. Birds probably in the desert. So, you know. Wow.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: Why are you guys laughing about it?
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: I guess what you're saying is Gunner needs to use
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: the whole field more.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: Well, but who knows what somebody told him. I don't
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: think Dustin Lynn and Brady North told him that. I
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: don't know, you know. I mean, Scott Burst, great agent,
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: but he's got his guys and they work out with
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: him and all that. And he said, well, you know,
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: you only hit, what, 18 home runs in 2025. You've
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: got to hit more home runs. I'd love to pitch
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: against guys. I don't know about you, Brad, that are
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: trying to hit home. Because their swing was in and out. And,
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: you know, when you're in and out of the zone,
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: you don't stay on good pitches. If you make your pitches.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: Don't get me wrong. So, you know, yeah. Yeah, I mean, plus,
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: when's he a free agent? That's another thing, you know.
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: I mean, a lot of guys play really well before
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: he becomes a free agent. But I don't think Gunner's
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: the problem. The problem is they have a lot of guys.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: I mean, they... There were a lot of bright spots
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: on the Orioles, even though they only won 79 games.
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: I mean, Blaise Alexander comes out of, you know, it's what,
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: 132 in April, and then it's like three months of 360,
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: and he can play all over, even though he didn't.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: break his hand and had some back problems. You know,
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: how about Christian and Carseon Strand? I mean, where is
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: he going to play next year? I mean, he hit lefties,
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: he's hit righties, he hit over 300 with runners in
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: scoring position. You know, it's a guy that, what, four
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: years ago had a really good rookie year and then
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: had some injuries. Kobe Mayle. he'd be my right fielder
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: I would say Kobe you know what we'll meet you
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: at the local high school or junior college down in
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: Florida and we're going to take balls off the bat
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: which is what Paul O'Neill did one of the best
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: Paul O'Neill stories he's hitting 360 in AAA and somebody
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: gets hurt in Cincinnati and they call somebody else up
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: and he sprints and he had to have a temporary
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: sprints into the manager's office and he says I'm in
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: 360 how come I didn't go up there and they
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: said they wanted a complete player now Kobe Mayo could
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: probably be a complete player Now, is he going to
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: hit a home run against lefties every nine times up
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: like he did this year? Probably not. They'll adjust. But
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: he's got tremendous power. He can run. He's got a
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: great arm. But Castellanos, remember him that they gave all
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: the money to with Philly? He was horrible in the outfield.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: There's no way that Kobe is not more mobile. And
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: all he has to do is figure out to maybe
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: stay in there because he's an inside half hitter. Use
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: the whole field. Hit the ball away. And that comes
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: with reps. And all of a sudden you got yourself
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: a young player that has immense power. What do they
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: call it? A light tower power. Yeah. At home runs,
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: you hit it to the top of the light towers.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: So there are a lot of, you know, a lot
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: of goods, you know, Rico Garcia out of the bullpen,
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: you know, so they, there were a lot of guys
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: that came in and had good years. But at the
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: end of the day, when you looked at this club
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: in spring training before all the injuries, you figured they'd
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: be a lot better. I mean, I thought, you know,
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: I thought Eflin, you know, he had back surgery. Usually
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: when you come off back surgery, you're, you know, he
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: takes care of the back problem and he has what, six, six.
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: And he gave a chance to win every time. And
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: he pitched what, four innings and then had to have
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: Tommy John surgery and same with Westberg. So again, but
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: where are all these guys going to play next year?
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: You know, what positions are they going to play? Do you,
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: you know, platoon? Hey, I, I, I played with John
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: Lowenstein and, and Gary Renike. They hit 31, 33, 46
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: home runs between them in left field. So, platoons work.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: You know, the Yankees won five straight world championships with
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: Hank Bauer and Gene Woodling. Hank was my first manager
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: and Gene Woodling was our first hitting coach, you know,
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: platooning in left field. So platoons work. You just have
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: to figure out, but just think about for Craig Aldrin as,
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: and again, just imagine it's your first year as a
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: manager and you come, you know, you don't know, you
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: don't know your players and, You know, I saw the
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: Chris Bassett thing where he said, you know, he thought
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: he made everybody accountable. And, you know, but, you know,
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: you get new coaches. You've got, you know, new this.
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: You've got a new manager. You have this. You have injuries.
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: Maybe 79 wins is a lot of wins. I don't know. See,
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: I look at it. Tony Mancellino took a team that
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: was 15 and 28. They went 50 and 59 with
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: Bradley Reckman being hurt, no Pete Alonso.
• 32:52
  Speaker 4: Hmm.
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: But they didn't even consider him, I guess. So, and again,
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: it's nothing against Craig, but this was Craig's first year. And,
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: you know, to your point, Steve, didn't somebody say Gunnar
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: Henderson's had seven hitting instructors in the last three years? Seven. So, so,
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: you know, I mean, Brad, I don't know. I mean,
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: I had some bad years, not too many, thank God.
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: So if you hear, you hear things, you hear echoes
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: and you're, in your head sometimes when things don't go
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: the way you want to, or you, you know, don't
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: make the pitch you want to. So there are probably
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: a lot of, a lot of echoes, but not for
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: Gunner because of, okay, what do I do now? I mean,
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: what's my approach, whatever. So again, he's, you know, we
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: look at him as being been around forever, but he's
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: only 25 years old. Right. Extremely gifted, you know, as
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: far as talent goes.
• 33:46
  Speaker 5: Well, Jim, I guess we can end with a question
• 33:50
  Speaker 5: about you. We all love watching you on Masson. You, Kevin,
• 33:54
  Speaker 5: Ben all have a great time together. Just how much
• 33:56
  Speaker 5: do you enjoy being in that booth and how much
• 33:59
  Speaker 5: longer do you want to do it?
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: Well, my wife's an orange theory, so I don't think
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: she's back yet. I don't know. You know, I mean, listen,
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: the Orioles have been very nice. You know, I got
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: a nice birthday wish from Katie Griggs. And, you know,
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: I have a contract that kind of, if I just
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: tell them by October 1st, at least for the moment,
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: I get to come back. So I plan on coming back.
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: I mean, I suppose that we have a long lockout and,
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: you know, that the owners and the players don't think
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: rationally because there's a lot of revenue out there and
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of people who love this game. I
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: would imagine I'll be back, you know, for next year.
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: I mean, I enjoy doing the games. I think one
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: of the things... You know, Aaron Goldsmith does the play-by-play
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: for Seattle, and he gave me kind of a backhanded
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: compliment a couple years ago. He said, you know, I
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: don't do all our games, so I listen to you,
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: and you know as much about the Mariners as you
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: know about the Orioles. And I said, kind of my job,
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: you know. That's what good analysts do. Brad, you learned that.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: I mean, you got better because we all– it's kind
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: of like, you know, they throw you out in the
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: bullpen the first day. Hey, you know everything, you know. Well,
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: it's not the way it works. You know, broadcasting is
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: the same way. You've got to do games. you know,
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: when you work with good people, you know, we don't
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: do a whole lot of three-man booths. I think we
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: did opening day this year. But Ben's great and, you know,
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: Kevin is Kevin and Ben Wagner takes his place and,
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: you know, so on and so on. So when you
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: work good with, it makes a lot of fun. It
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: would be nicer if they won more games, but we
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: can't dictate that. And I know how passionate Oriole fans
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: are and so on and so on. So, you know,
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: hopefully I will be back next year, do my 54 games.
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: But what happens is, you know, Ben likes, you know,
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: I don't blame him. Ben does, he's Mr. College Baseball.
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: So he goes away for like a month. So, and
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: I end up doing a lot of games in like
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: 19 out of 23 games or something like that. So
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: you do, and you're only doing 54. It's not like
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: doing 81 and so on and whatever. But the Orioles
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: have been nice enough. I have a place in Little Italy. So,
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: you know, I get to go to the, you know,
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: to Canton, you know, to the Merritt down in Canton.
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: I get, you know, go around the corner to eat
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: in Little Italy. That's about a mile and a half
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: to the ballpark. So it's, I'm not complaining at all.
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: And if I did, who would care? When a guy
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: would whine, and George Bamberger, he was a great pitching coach, what, 12,
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: 20 game winners, five young award winners. Somebody would be whining,
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: he'd take a quarter out of his pocket because it
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: was before cell phones, and he'd say, here, go call
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: somebody that gives a, you know. So I got the
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: message early on. But, you know, listen, I'm happy that
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: I'm healthy enough to do this, and hopefully the Orioles
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: are going to have a much better year. And let's
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: hope Mike Elias has a great offseason. But, you know,
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: the interesting thing is, if they're going to lock everything down, supposedly,
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: December 1, and you can't send Christmas cards and all that,
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: they have some work to do in the next six weeks.
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: You know, I mean... It'll be busy. Yeah, exactly. Well,
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't mean just players, but I mean
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: getting the programs and getting guys, you know, Craig Aldrin says,
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: guys know what they need to do and all that. Well,
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: better get the memo out in the next six weeks because...
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: for this club to be better, they're going to have
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: to improve some, you know, in some facets of the game. And,
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: you know, that's, that's kind of what baseball is about.
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: And hopefully you'll be better. I mean, you know, that
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: runners are scoring position, they're 10 points below the league average.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: You know, the last time they scored a lot of runs,
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: they hit 287 this year, they hit 242, you know?
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: So it's a, it's a game of, of skills. And
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: I think everybody thinks, well, the Orioles have a lot
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: of talent, their core players up here and they do.
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: but there's a big difference between talent and Brad knows
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: this guys that, you know, throw 99 in the bullpen
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: and have no idea of where it's going, you know,
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: and the skills to actually pitch or to play or,
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: you know, make the make fielding plays or whatever the
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: case may be. So let's hope the skills get better.
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: And that's what spring training will be. And let's hope
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: they have six weeks of spring training. Yeah. Everything's kind
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: of in a flux. So we'll kind of play it
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: by ear.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: Jim, what a pleasure to have you on today.
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: Happy birthday. Oh, thank you. Brad, are you in Southern California? No,
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: for the weekend, yes, but I live in Nashville, just
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: south of Nashville. Well, I know that. Well, you know,
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: you like the taxes, so I understand.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: His Padre days coming back for him here the last
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: few days.
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: Well, let's see. How beautiful is that bumper? Oh, yeah,
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: it's amazing. Yeah, it is. It doesn't get any better.
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: I'm only like 70 miles up the coast. Well, enjoy.
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: Good seeing you guys. Good seeing you, Jim.
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: And the very last thing I'd like to say, I'll
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: share an opinion here if I might. And I told
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: Jim this during the season. He hasn't lost an inch
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: off his broadcasting fastball. So as many years you want
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: to call games, that's as many as I would love
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: to watch you call games. And I want to say
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: one more thing. The last few weeks have been interesting
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: and turbulent and crazy at times. Here's what I know
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: about you, Jim. You love, love, love the Baltimore Orioles.
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: And we love seeing a Hall of Famer who loves
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: our team in Baltimore like you do. And there's a
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: lot of a lot of emotions with you when it
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: comes to the Baltimore Orioles.
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah. And I mean, I was part of a
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: lot of great things. I mean, to play for a team.
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: I mean, and I signed before the draft. I mean,
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: I could have signed. You know, I i came back
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: from south dakota played in the college league i was
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: the only high school player up there we had a
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: car accident jump in the car behind us a couple
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: of other players and the orioles and houston comes and
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: houston offered more money and my parents said now and
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: then the next day 10 teams called so i probably
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: could have gotten a lot of more money but I mean,
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: to get a chance to be in six World Series
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: and play with Brooks and Frank and some of the
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: greatest players that ever played. You know, the Al Bumbris
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: and the Kenny Singletons. And, you know, I saw Eddie
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: at a card show, Eddie Murray, you know, who, you know,
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: one of like three or four legitimate guys that had
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: 3,000 hits and 500 home runs. And then, of course,
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: Cal's dad was my first manager. And when Cal started
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: his streak, I just happened to be pitching that night.
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: So like 2,632 games later. But again, yeah, it's been
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: a great run and we'll, you know, we'll, we'll see
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: how it goes, but I appreciate spending the time with
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: you guys. Steve, I enjoyed that.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: Loved having you on, have a great birthday and can't
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: wait to see you in 2027. Hopefully we're going to
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: have baseball. We'll let them work that out. And we
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: look forward to seeing you at the ballpark real soon, Jim.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: Thanks for taking time today.
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: You guys have a good holiday. I know it's down
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: the road, but. Yeah. Take care.
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: Jim Palmer, our guest today on Birdland Territory. Thanks to
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: everyone for checking it out. And we'll see you next
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: time on the next edition of Birdland Territory.
• 40:54
  Speaker 4: If you made it this far, you'll love this next video.
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: Check it out right here.
• 40:58
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• 41:00
  Speaker 4: Orioles coverage like this multiple times a week.