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Final Games of Pittsburgh Sports Legends · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: Hi, everybody.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to the Pittsburgh Sports Memories Podcast.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_03: My name is Tim Hannon, and with me as always is uh Steve Wirt.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_03: Hi, Steve.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_07: Hi, Tim.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_03: On this episode, we're going to talk about the final games of some Pittsburgh Sports Legends.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_03: So typically when someone's career comes to an end, sometimes you know, uh, or mostly know that like this is going to be the last time you ever get to see this person play, but other times you don't.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_03: And I thought it'd be interesting to just to look back at some of the final games of really some of the bigger Pittsburgh sports stars, the ones that ended their careers in with a Pittsburgh team at least, to see what those final games looked like for them.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_03: Uh before we jump into this, I have a favorite ask of our listeners.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_03: Uh one thing that really helps people find our podcast is if you leave a review or rate the podcast on whatever podcast service you're listening to.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_03: So if if you would be so inclined, pause this episode now and go give us uh if you if you like what you hear, go give us a nice rating on your podcast service.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_03: And if you don't like what you hear, just lie, right?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_03: Say like, hey, this is great, and that Steve guy's really intelligent.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_03: Just tell a bunch of lies, right?
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_03: That's fine too.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_03: All right, thank you.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for indulging me in that.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_03: Let's uh let's on to the episode.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_03: So we're gonna start this with two pirate legends, Roboto Roberto Clemente and Bill Mazarowski, because their final game was actually the same game.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_03: It's game five of the 1972 National League Championship Series, and it's the deciding game five because back then the NLCS was a five-game series instead of a seven-game series.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_03: And the Pirates have a three-two lead over the Reds headed into the bottom of the ninth inning.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_03: But Johnny Bench hits a home run to tie the game, and then the Reds get a guy on third base with two outs.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_03: Bob Moose is pitching for the Pirates, and that is when disaster strikes.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_03: Steve, we're gonna play this clip.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_03: See if you recognize the announcer.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_05: And a 1-1 pitch to that great.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_05: And the bird is a wild pitch!
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_06: The Reds will hit it!
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: Bob Moose is a wild pitch, and the Reds are under national eight hit!
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_07: No, I don't I don't.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_07: It's not Joe Buck, or Jack Buck, I mean.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_07: Joe Buck would have been like five years old, but it's Al Michaels.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_07: That was Al Michaels?
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: The same Al Michaels who calls games 50 plus years later.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_07: Well, yeah, this what year was this?
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_07: 72?
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_07: So he's still he's not really famous yet.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_03: He was the Reds announcer.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_07: Oh my gosh, wow.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_07: Because like eight years later, he's gonna become famous with the, you know, do you believe in miracles?
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_07: That's exactly right.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_07: He tried to hit like the Giants win the pennant.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_07: He like, with the Reds win the pennant, the Reds win the pennant.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_03: As you heard Vampire Al Michael say in that clip there, Bob Mooster is a wild pitch.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_03: The winning run scores, sending the Reds to the World Series instead of Arabacos.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Roberto Colmeny's in right field when all of this happens.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_03: Uh in fact, that home run that Johnny Bench hit flew directly over his head.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_03: Mazarowski, on the other hand, is in the dugout.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_03: The Pirates starting second baseman at this point is Dave Cash.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_03: And Maz does not get into this game.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_03: Uh perhaps he does if the game would have gone to extra innings.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_03: You know, uh Johnny Bench ties the game, but then Bob Moose, instead of throwing a wild pitch, gets the guy out.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_03: And if that game goes into extra innings, I bet we see Mazarowski at that point because he's got to start using pinch hitters.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_03: But as it stands, he only has two at bats in that series.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_03: Uh he pinched hit in games two and four.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_03: He actually got a hit in game two.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_03: Clemeni's last played appearance is an intentional walk in the eighth inning of that deciding game five.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_03: So about a month later, Bill Masarowski formally retires.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Clemente actually tries to persuade him to spend the winter getting in shape with Clemente in Puerto Rico so that Mazarovski could play longer, but Maz declines, saying he was done fighting his weight issues.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_03: And weight had been an issue for Mazarovsky all through his career.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_03: Way back in 1959, he had gotten injured early in the season.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_03: And while he was out of the lineup, he had put on a lot of weight, so much so that the Pirates actually decide to make players' weight a contract issue.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_03: And Maz has to start reporting to the Pirates' office each week to get on a scale so they can monitor his weight.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_03: So by 1972, with his body starting to break down due to age, and Steve, I think for all of us who are on the other side of 40 know it's much harder to keep your weight in check as you get older.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_03: He just decides it's it's not worth it anymore.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_03: And then of course Clemeni is killed in that tragic uh New Year's Eve plane crash that year.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_07: That's uh that's kind of a sad footnote to that game.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_07: I didn't realize Maz struggled with his weight like that.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_07: But yeah, I don't know.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_07: Once you hit 40, something happens.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_07: It's just I don't know.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_07: The warranty runs out, I guess.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_07: Everything starts to break.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's kind of like the 75,000 mile mark mark mark on a car or something.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, uh oh.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_03: You gotta replace the the engine or the the transmission or whatever.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_03: So stuff stuff starts to just go.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_07: Who was who's the guy for the Reds who scored from third?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_07: Do we know?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_03: Is that I think it was George Foster, but don't quote me on that.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_07: Okay.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, it's a sad way to go.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_07: And what's his name?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_07: Um Moose.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_07: He he had been the hero of the uh World Series the year before, hadn't he?
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you win some, you lose some, I guess.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_03: And and that wasn't like people in sports like to boil things down to one moment.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_03: We've talked about that before, but I mean, you know, first there was the home run, then there was, you know, getting those guys on base and they'd switch pitchers.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_03: So it it was just a whole it was just a whole comeback by the Reds.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, it's it's sad that that's the way it ended.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they were.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, they were, and that's what really did they win the series that year?
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_07: Probably.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_03: I think they may have lost to Oakland.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I'm again.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_07: Oh yeah, yeah, because Oakland was really good.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but the Reds would would get theirs later in the decade, and the Reds would um knock the Pirates out of the NLCS, I think.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_07: They dominated the Pirates.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_03: Two or three times in that decade.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_07: Yes.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_07: Oakland they won the 1972 World Series.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_07: Okay.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, that's Clementian Mazarowski, their last game was that that game.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_07: Hey, guess what?
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_07: And they played that World Series at the Oakland Coliseum, which still stands to this day.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean stands is a strong word, but yes, you're right.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_07: Exists.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_03: Being held together by Tuck Tape, I believe.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_03: So the next guy we're going to talk about on this list is Lynn Swan.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_03: Lynn Swan, of course, a wide receiver for the Steelers in the 70s.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_03: He had all those circus catches in the Super Bowl.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_03: He's a Hall of Famer, definitely an all-time Steelers legend.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_03: His final game is actually one that we did an entire episode on.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_03: It's the 1982 playoff game against the San Diego Chargers.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_03: So if you want more detail on that crazy forgotten game, we'll link to that episode on our website.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_03: But in terms of Swan's participation in that game, it's it's pretty limited, as it had been all season in 1982.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_03: Swann, at this point in his career, he's not very effective, and in that playoff game, he only has one reception.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_03: But in the final seconds, the Steelers are down by three.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_03: They have the ball at midfield, and they have time for one final Hail Mary pass.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_03: So Terry Bradcellett drops back, and here's what happens next.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_04: Now Bradshaw has to go for the whole bundle.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_04: Four seconds left.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_04: Last play of the game.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_04: Is there another miracle in Pittsburgh?
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_04: No! San Diego Chargers have won 31-28.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_03: So, what you can't see in that clip is Bradshaw's flushed out of the pocket.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_03: He heaves a pass down the left sideline for John Stalwart that it isn't even close.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_03: In fact, it's it doesn't even land in bounds.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_03: And that's Lynn Swan's final play in the NFL.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: And years later, he speaks very bitterly of that play and the fact that Bradshaw didn't throw him the ball on that Hail Mary.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_03: And here's what Lynn Swan said: quote, John Stallworth is on the far left.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_03: I'm on the far right.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_03: Bradshaw throws the pass to John, and had John caught it in the most spectacular way, at the highest point John was able to reach for the ball, he still would have been 10 feet out of bounds.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_03: Now, if he throws it to the middle of the end zone, I can come for where I'm at, uh at least sell out, jump as high as I can, make the catch, uh, grab the ball, whatever it is, try to make the catch.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_03: End quote.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_03: So basically Swan's upset because here it is the last play of the game.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_03: It's a desperation Hail Mary.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, Lynn Swan obviously is a guy that many times over his career was able to outleap defenders for a pass.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_03: And and yes, it's still going to be a low percentage play if you throw that ball in the middle of the end zone, but at least Swan would have had a chance to catch it instead of it being 10 feet out of bounds.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_03: And and I don't know, Steve, like technically Swan is correct.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, he Bradshaw threw it way out of bounds.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_07: I don't think it really mattered.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, I don't know.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_07: And Terry wasn't one that was afraid to throw interceptions.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_07: He wasn't like a quarterback that really cared about that stat.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_07: So it's a Hail Mary.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_03: It's a Hail Mary.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_03: You're just you're just tucking it as far as you can.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_07: Well, I think the key is that you want it to stay in the field of play, at least.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, yeah, you you at least with a Hail Mary be nice if at least had a chance, right?
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_03: Again, low percentage, but it'd be nice to have a chance.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_03: It was out of balance.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_03: Now to be fair, I think one thing that that Swan doesn't account for is Bradshaw is the pocket kind of breaks down here.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_07: And so he had to run to the opposite side of the field.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not sure that Bradshaw really had a chance to sit back there.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_03: Like typically on Hail Mary, they only they only rush a few guys, and you would kind of have time to sit back there and chuck it deep.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_03: Bradshaw didn't really have that opportunity here because the pocket collapsed.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_03: Even though the Chargers didn't rush a bunch of guys, the pocket collapsed and he had to, yeah, he did have to kind of um roll out to the one side of the field.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_03: So maybe that influenced the play as well.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_07: For sure.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, I think that's what happened was he was all the way on the other side.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_07: He's on the other numbers, so there's no way he can throw it all the way to the other side of the field numbers.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, that would have been like a 70-yard throw.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, that's pretty impossible.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_07: So and it didn't even make the end zone anyway.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_07: I'm not sure he could make the end zone from where he was.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_07: He was standing on the Steelers 40.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_07: That was a tough ask.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and he and he was still kind of um being flushed out of the pocket.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_03: Again, he didn't have time to just like plant deep in the pocket and throw deep.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_03: So so why are we talking about this, right?
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_03: Because okay, millions of NFL games end like that, where a team throws some kind of desperation hell marry and it's incomplete.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, why is that relevant?
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_03: Uh well, it is Lynn Swan's final play, and it's one that he's he's pretty bitter about.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_03: Uh he already had some conflicts with Terry Bradshaw over you know what he perceived as uh Bradshaw favoring Stalworth over him in terms of you know who he threw the ball to.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_03: But apparently this was kind of the icing on the cake.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_03: And Swann says, quote, to end my career and not have an opportunity to help us win that ball game, and then the ball was just uncatchable.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_03: I went into the locker room and I wanted to kill him.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_03: And and that play apparently severs the relationship between Swan and Bradshaw.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_03: Swan says at one point many years later that the only contact they have is an occasional polite hello during events where they're both appearing.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_03: So it's it's significant for Lynn Swan, apparently.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_07: I didn't realize it was that significant for Lynn Swan.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so that you know, again, great, great steel or career.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_03: And I I don't know.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if he if if Bradshaw has time to plant and he throws that ball in the middle of the end zone.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_03: Like you said, Steve, I it the percentage of Swan catching it is slim.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_03: But does does he feel differently because he had a chance to do it?
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um or like it's were Swan and Bradshaw just had a bunch of conflicts, and maybe that was just like he needed a reason, you know what I mean?
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_07: Uh that sounds like the latter, probably, because it's pretty nitpicky to like, you know, complain about Hail Mary.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_03: The next guy on our list is Troy Polomalu.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_07: Palomalu.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Palomalu.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Palomalo is a guy who played his first ever NFL game at Heinsfield against the Ravens.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_03: He had his signature NFL moment at Heinzfield against the Ravens, that pick six in the AFC Championship game.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_03: So it's only fitting that his career comes to an end at Heinzfield against the Ravens.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_03: In 2014, Polomolo's in his 12th season.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_03: He's clearly slowing down.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_03: He also misses four of the final seven regular season games with injuries.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_03: I think, see, when you play at like 110 miles per hour like Troy did, you know, you're gonna wear out.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_03: No, you're not.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but 2014 is actually a pretty memorable season for the Steelers.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_03: That was the year that Ben had back-to-back six touchdown games.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_03: Remember that?
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_03: We talked about that in the episode we did about Ben.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_03: And then the season finale win over the Bengals gives them the AFC North Division title that year.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately, that regular that regular season finale also gets running back Le'Veon Bell injured.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_03: And when you combine that with the fact that backup running back Lagarrett Blunt had walked out on the team a few weeks earlier, the Steelers literally do not have a running back going into the playoffs that year.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_03: In fact, they have to sign a guy off the street to start their playoff game against Baltimore.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_03: Steve,$10 if you can name the running back the Steelers signed to start that playoff game.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, I think we've asked this before, and I still don't remember.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_07: I forgot his name as quick as you.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_07: Baron Batch, I don't know.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_03: It's Ben Tate.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_07: Ah, Ben Tate, yes, the immortal Ben Tate.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_03: The immortal Ben Tate.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_07: They couldn't even sign like to be somebody better than Ben Tate.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_07: Maybe not.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_03: Apparently there was not.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you figure this isn't like like signing a guy in training camp, right?
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_07: This is end of the season.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_03: End of the season.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_03: So anybody that's gonna be available is either gonna be somebody that was cut during the season to make room on a roster, right?
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_07: Or somebody Well, you could have signed somebody off a practice squad, maybe, if somebody was I I guess, but I think I think Ben Tate at least had some experience.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, if you're gonna sign a guy off a practice squad who never who's who doesn't really have any NFL experience, and you're gonna throw them into a playoff game, maybe that was their thinking.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Ben Tate does like fumble on on I think like the second play from scrimmage, so maybe that logic didn't work anyway.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I yeah, I mean, not surprisingly, the the offense falters in that game, and the defense wasn't very good in 2014.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_03: The offense is really what carried them that season.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_03: Again, but Ben had put up all those huge numbers.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_03: So the Ravens win that game pretty decisively.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_03: I don't remember that being particularly close.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_03: Uh for his part, Paul Malu does make eight tackles, but he really isn't a factor.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_03: And immediately after the game, reporters start blistering him with questions about retirement, and he just keeps patiently saying, you know, time will tell.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_03: And guys, we just lost a playoff game.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not ready to think about that right now.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_03: He gives all the standard answers.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_03: But a few months later, Palomalu does formally announce his retirement from the NFL.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_03: It was reported that he wanted to come back for another season, and the Steelers told him he would be released if he did.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, who knows how true any of that is, right?
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_07: He didn't come back to the Steelers for years and years after that.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, yeah, and and again, like uh it's so hard to what to make of those kinds of things.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_03: Like Troy was not exactly a uh like a football uh um although they he was just back in Pittsburgh.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_07: I think he must have because he just was back for a charitable organization.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_07: They did like a old timers game.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_07: Like it was him and Brian McFadden, and of course they got Ben, they got Jerome, Bettis, and you know, they got they got all the old timers to play.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_03: Uh 2014, coincidentally, also the final season for Ike Taylor, Brett Kezel, and longtime defensive coordinator Dick Lebeau.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Taylor and Keisel did not play in that playoff game.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_03: They were both injured, and they both retired after the season.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_03: Dick Lebeau resigned, and then he went on to coach in Tennessee.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_03: In fact, the Titans actually tried to recruit Paul Malo to come play in Tennessee, but he reportedly was not interested.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_07: Sounds like a Troy thing.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_03: It does.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_03: So uh one one final footnote.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_03: Uh that 2014 playoff game is also the final game in the career of Ben Tate.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_07: He had played for Cleveland, apparently.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_03: I think he played for the Giants too, I want to say.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_07: I I like vaguely remember him, but he was like pretty mediocre on a good day.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_07: I think they just wanted like a veteran that wouldn't fumble, and unfortunately, he was a veteran that did fumble.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_07: Didn't work out well for anybody involved.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_03: It did not.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_03: We haven't talked about any hockey players thus far, and there's a good reason for that.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_03: Uh it's tough to get penguins from this list because most penguin legends did not play their final game in a pens uniform.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_03: In fact, here is a list, Steve, of hockey Hall of Famers who played for the Penguins, but played their final game for some other team.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_03: We've got Tim Horton, Andy Bathgate, Leo Boivan, Paul Coffee, Larry Murphy, Ron Francis, Luke Robotai, Mark Recy, Sergei Zubov, Jerome McGindla, Marian Hosa, Tom Barrasso, all hockey hall of famers who played for the Penguins.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_07: That's a pretty good hockey team there.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_07: And you get some donuts and coffee, too.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_03: You would.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_03: None of those guys played their final uh game for the Penguins.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_03: And if you're wondering why Yaramar Yarger's not on that list of Hall of Famers, it's because as the time of this recording, he's still playing and thus is ineligible for the Hall of Fame.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_07: That's 53.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_07: That's unbelievable.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_03: It is.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh one legend who did, in fact, play his final game for the Penguins is Mario Lemieux.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_03: In fact, to make up for the lack of you know, guys not playing their final game for the Pens, Mario plays two final games for the Penguins.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_07: Are you gonna play both of them?
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_07: Cool.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_03: Well, let's let's talk about both of them.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_03: The first the first final game was in the 1997 playoffs.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Mario had announced his retirement earlier that spring, and the Penguins weren't very good that year, and sure enough, they're down three games to nothing against the Flyers in the first round.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_03: So on April 23rd, 1997, 17,355 fans packed the Civic Arena to see what they know could be Mario's last ever NHL game and almost definitely his final home game.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_03: And the Pens feed off that energy.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_03: They score three first period goals.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_03: And as the game winds down to the final couple of minutes, the Pens have a solid lead, and all anyone wants is for Mario to get one last goal.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_03: And everybody is really hoping that we get down to like the last minute so that the Flyers pull their goaltender, and then that would give Mario a chance for an empty netter.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_03: But Mario being Mario, he doesn't need to be gifted no to keep empty netter.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_03: He's going to get that goal all by himself.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_06: Here are the fans.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_06: Mario's on the ice now.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_06: Back to the point, Desjardin.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_06: Mario blocked it.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_06: Lemieux heading up ice.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_06: Here he comes.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_06: Here he comes.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_06: Mario Lemieux.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_06: Hang on.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_06: He's gone.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_06: You're gonna love it.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's that's just one of those moments.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_03: I'll never forget watching that.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_03: I was in my dorm room at Duquesne University and it was it's just so perfect.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like you couldn't have written a better script than that.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_07: You can see the guy holding up his baby so he could like over the crowd.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_07: It was like just a it's a crazy scene.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we'll post a link to that clip.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_03: That that always struck me about that, about that moment is you have multiple people.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_03: Remember, this was a I want to say it was like a Thursday night.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_03: And and that's when the playoff game started at 7 30.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_03: So this was probably, you know, I don't know, 9 30 at night or something on a weeknight.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_03: And I guarantee you that there's babies.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_03: It was all past their bedtime.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_03: And and I I just they weren't crying.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I I know people, people and there and that there were multiple babies in that, in that, if you watch the clip of that.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_03: Because people, I think what people did was they were like, I want to be able to tell this kid someday that they got to see Mary Olim play.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_03: That was the whole point of that.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, because why else would you bring up a baby to a hockey game on on a on a late later at night like that?
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_03: And I I think that was literally the reason why.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_03: So you can just tell them, hey, you actually got to see him play.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_03: You don't may not remember, but you got to see him play.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_03: Uh the Penguins then lose game five in Philly, which is Mario's official final game.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_03: And then that night, hell literally freezes over as the Philadelphia fans give Mario a huge standing ovation at the end of the game.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_03: So um, I'll say a lot of negative things about Philadelphia and their fans, but kudos to them that night.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, they were classy that night.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_03: And that's the end of my praise for Philadelphia.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_07: I like Philadelphia.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_07: I I don't know.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_07: I think I fit in a little too well there.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_03: So, yeah, so that's it.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_03: Mario retires, he's inducted into the Hall of Fame, he becomes the team owner, and then surprise, he comes back to play hockey in 2001.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, we detailed that amazing story in a different episode again.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_03: We'll we'll link that uh on our website.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately, Mario's second final game is not as dramatic as his first final game.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_03: It's an overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres on December 16th, 2005.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_03: Mario does get an assist in that game on a goal by Ziggy Palfy.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and then he quietly retires a month later after dealing with more injuries.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_07: Well, I'm thinking of Gretzky.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_07: I what's the game against the Rangers with Gretzky?
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_07: Was that Gretzky's last game?
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_03: Gretzky's last game was against the Penguins, and the Augur scores a goal in overtime.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's how Gretzky's career ended.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_03: So uh not a Pittsburgh guy, but Pittsburgh was involved in that, in that final game.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_03: Mario's last game, I you know, it was very nondescript, right?
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_03: It was just a regular season game, and and that was the year that they they went for it.
• 25:07
  unknown: Yeah.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that was that was the uh the X-Force year.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_03: We did an episode about that too.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it was very disappo even by December, it was it was already a hugely disappointing season.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_03: And so, um, and he played in that game, but then he was like, then he started having back issues again, and he was out of the lineup for a while.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_03: It wasn't like he got hurt in that game, uh, you know, it wasn't like there was a big hit or something where he got hurt or anything like that.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_03: It was just a normal game, and then it was like, oh, he's not playing the next game, and then it's like, oh, he's never gonna play again.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_03: You didn't know it at the time.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_03: So Mario kind of has like it's interesting.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_03: He both has the experience of like a celebratory final game and the experience of a random regular season game that nobody knew was gonna be his last one ever.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_07: It is weird, like there are moments in your life where it's gonna be the last time for something, and sometimes you can see it coming and you know, and then there's other times it's just it just happens.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_07: It's it's the last time, and nobody knew when you started that that was gonna be your last time.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_07: So unpredictable.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_03: That is interesting.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_03: I've I've seen like little memes on social media and stuff that say, like, you know, there was there was one time in your childhood when you and your friends got together to go about and play baseball, and and like none of you knew that was gonna be the last time you would ever do that, right?
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_03: So uh a guy who had a similar path to Mario, an all-time, you know, kind of beloved Pittsburgh legend who got to play his final ever home game in front of the fans who knew it was his final ever home game.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_03: It's Ben Rothesberger.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_03: And and unlike Mario in 1997, Ben doesn't formally announce that he's gonna retire after the 2021 season, but pretty much everybody knows that he will.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_03: So the Monday Night Football game in week 17 against the Browns is gonna be his last raw in front of the home fans.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_03: And the Steelers win that game, and afterwards there's just this outpouring for Ben from the crowd at Hinesfield as it was known in those days, uh back in 2021.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_07: Way back when.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's a really uh memorable moment in Steeler history.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I mean it's you know, i i I don't know, Steve.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_03: I I it's like one of those things you don't I I don't even know what to compare it to, right?
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_07: Did they come back to win that game too?
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_07: Or I can't remember.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_03: I I honestly don't remember much about the game.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_07: I just remember afterwards where he stayed on the field and he kind of made the rounds around the uh Yeah, like he walked around the edge of the field and shook everybody's hand and stuff.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_03: That's really that's really what I remember most about about that game.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_03: And I I think honestly, the the the amazing thing to me was it was it was it was a Monday night, and it was like probably around you know, close to midnight by the time that game ended.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_03: I I've seen people, I've literally seen people, Steve, leave the AFC championship game early to beat the traffic.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_03: So to see people stick around for a regular season Monday night game knowing that they would likely then sit in the parking garages or parking lots for another hour, probably not get home until two in the morning, and then have to get up for work the next day.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_03: I I just I think that that just showed how much people really adored Ben.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, it's uh big change from early in his career, but like we said, he kind of cleaned things up later in his career and life and you know, was able to become a beloved member of the uh Pittsburgh sports landscape, so to say.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_07: Like like I said, you know, he's even you know doing stuff with Troy and you know, some of the other Steelers veterans, and you know, those are always fun to see the old timers games, even though they can't really run around too fast or do much of anything anymore, but it's always entertaining to see them.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_07: But they don't do a lot of those old timer games.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_07: Have you noticed that, Tim?
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they used to do those a lot more back in the day.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_07: Uh like I remember one when I was a kid, like Joe Gillam was playing court, like they had him and Terry on separate teams.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_07: And that was flag football.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_07: They're not gonna like you know, nobody's gonna tackle like a 50-year-old person.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_07: Although we're quickly approaching that, Tim.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_07: You can tackle me in two years, probably.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_03: They uh they they um they used to do a lot of the baseball games too.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_03: Remember that?
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_03: Like the old timer games.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, yeah, like and that's like not a contact sport, you would figure.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, there's highlights on YouTube of like old timers like hitting home runs, like and it's not like they moved the fences in, they just played in a regular old field.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_07: I guess people like I know there's one where Willie Mays or Hank Aaron got hurt trying to field a fly ball, and you know.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_07: So they they kind of stopped doing that, I guess.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_07: Maybe maybe.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it would be interesting.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_03: I'd I'd watch one of those.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_03: That would be just fun to watch.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_07: But even if it was like sometimes they'll do like a softball, like if they did like a softball one where you know, okay, nobody's gonna get hurt today if you want to go that far, but at least it'd be fun just to see that.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_07: Right.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_07: And like two, now they mic everybody up, so it'd be hilarious to see some of the chatter that I'm sure.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_07: Especially with like if you got like in baseball like John Crock or you know, David Ortiz or maybe some of the personalities, yeah.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, yeah.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_03: I'd I'd love to see like Nolan Ryan in there.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_03: What's he like 81 or something?
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_03: He'd probably still know everybody down.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_07: Probably.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_03: Uh uh uh Ben's so that was Ben's final home game.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_03: His actual final game is the playoff loss in Kansas City two weeks later, but the the real memorable one was the one at Hinesfield.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_03: Uh of course, Ben is one of two all-time legendary quarterbacks in Steeler history.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_03: The other is a guy named Terry Bradshaw.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_03: So let's talk about his last game.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_03: And unfortunately, it's not quite the send-off that Ben has.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_07: It's kind of like in the category you didn't know it was coming.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yep, for sure.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_03: Uh in the spring of 1983, Terry Bradshaw has elbow surgery, and there's report reportedly a bunch of controversy around that.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_03: Um, he has it done in Louisiana instead of by like a Steelers-approved surgeon in Pittsburgh.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_03: And then there's reportedly the Steelers didn't even want him to get that surgery.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, regardless, he has a surgery.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_03: It ends up sidelining him for the first 14 games of that season.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_03: But fortunately, the Steelers start nine and two without him.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_03: So the Steelers have a really good start to the season without Terry Bradshaw, but then they lose three games in a row.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_03: As new quarterback Cliff Stout proves that he's clearly not a guy who could take them very far, right?
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_03: So they had one nine games.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_07: Well, how'd they win nine games with Cliff Stout?
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, they had a weak schedule or something.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I think they their defense was was um was was decent that year.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_03: And and you know, I everybody always remembers like you know, the the the team that they were building then didn't have a a ton of success, but they it it kind of almost did because well 84 they went to the championship.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_03: That's exactly right.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_03: And and on defense, they had some really good players, like some of the and again, guys that no one would ever really remember as all-time stealer greats because they didn't win anything.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_03: But you had like the David Little and Brian Hinkle, and and uh you still had Donnie Shell back in the secondary.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_03: You you had guys like that, uh Mike Merewether, like you you had solid guys on defense, and then even like the running game, like again, I know no one will remember Frank Pollard as like this great stealer running back, but he had his moments.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_03: So they they were they they had enough to obviously to to start the season nine and two with Cliff Stout a quarterback.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_03: And and and so now in week 15, Bradshaw comes back in a game against the Jets, and he comes out firing.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and man, what great timing because the Steelers are gonna go into the playoffs.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_03: Like they that the their record was such that they had a good lead in the division, they were gonna win the division.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_03: And back then, if you won the division, you automatically got into the divisional round of the playoffs.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_03: That's why they called it that.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, they they're gonna be in the playoffs with a healthy Bradshaw who's who's totally fresh, right?
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_03: He doesn't have uh a whole season of wear and tear behind him, and and maybe now they have a real shot at making a Super Bowl run.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_03: Uh in the second quarter of that game with the Jets, Bradshaw leads the Steelers down the field, which sets up this play.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_05: Steelers with a single setback in Harris.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_05: Brad Shaw.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_05: dropping back here comes the rush fires down right near the goal line and is pulled in by Calvin Sweeney for the touchdown.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: So far, it's like old times.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_01: The Brad Shaw magic back.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: And the Steelers are leading more teams than I think.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, just like old times, right?
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_03: Except that Terry Rangers is elbow on that touchdown pass, and he never again sets foot on an NFL field.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_07: Even though the field he was playing on was Shea Stadium.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, that's that's a sad end to the career of an all-time legend, right?
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, and I guess that that last touchdown made him even with his interceptions because he's you know, he has exactly the same number of touchdowns and interceptions he finished even for his career.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_07: So through that last one.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_07: You can even see on the video clip that the ball didn't look right when it came out of his hand.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_07: Like it got there, but it wasn't pretty.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_07: It kind of fluttered it in.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_03: And and and again, like, even it i it's not like he hurt his elbow and he went down and all the medical people rushed out.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_03: He he's jogged off the field, and and you heard Myron Cope in the clip there, like nobody even realized until the next series that he wasn't coming back into the game.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_03: And then even then, it's like, oh, Bradshaw must have tweaked his arm or something.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you know, we'll we'll see what his status is for next week, and then he never plays again.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_03: So you uh when you said Steve, nobody knew it at the time, that this definitely fits into that category.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_03: And and you know, it only gets uglier after that because Bradshaw says he feels like Chuck Knoll rushed him back too early, and that that prematurely ended his career, and of course there's been a ton of animosity between Bradshaw and the Steelers ever since.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_03: And and talk about what ifs.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what if that surgery would have worked the way it was supposed to, and his elbow would have been fixed?
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, would the Steelers have made a run in 83?
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_03: And then, like we said, what about the following year when they made it to the AFC Championship game with Mark Malone?
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_03: Does does Terry Bradshaw is he able to beat Dan Marino in that game?
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_07: Well, did the Raiders, the Raiders won this was this the year the Raiders won?
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, the Raiders won the Super Bowl, and the Raiders also eliminated the Steelers in the divisional round.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_07: Because that was the first time a wild card team had won a Super Bowl.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_03: No, that was 1980.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_03: Eighty three the Raiders were I think they won their division.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_03: So the Raiders were good.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_03: But in that game was in Los Angeles that the Steelers lost in the playoffs.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_03: But again, that that was Cliff Stout getting just manhandled by the the Raider defense.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_03: So uh I don't know.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_03: I I don't know what Terry Bradshaw does against the Raiders.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know what Terry Bradshaw does against Dan Marino in the AFC Championship game, but boy, I just who knows?
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_03: Who knows what could happen?
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_07: A lot of what ifs there, a lot of what ifs.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of what-ifs.
• 36:52
  unknown: Yeah.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_03: Uh two footnotes for Bradlaugh's final game.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_03: It was also the final ever game at as Steve mentioned the aforementioned Chase Stadium.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_03: And at the time of this recording, the last uh time an NFL game was played in New York City.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_07: That's wild, isn't it?
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_07: Well, there was a year, I saw somewhere, there was a year in 76 where they were remodeling um Yankee Stadium where all the teams all had to play at Shea.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_07: Like Yankees, Mets, Giants, Jets, Giants, yeah, all at one stadium, huh?
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_07: That's crazy.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_03: Uh the other the other footnote for this is is a more of a personal one.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_03: We had this game on a Betamax tape when I was a kid, but somehow, and I can't remember like whose fault it was or how it happened, somehow it got taped over.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_03: And that was just a big thing in our family for years.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_07: We didn't want to see, you know, your brother's first communion anyway.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_03: It wasn't it no, it wasn't like it wasn't taped over with because we didn't have a um we didn't have like a video camera till way later.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_03: All everything from the 80s in my family was on eight millimeter film.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_03: Oh because that's the camera we had.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_03: So we so it wasn't so it wasn't even like we taped over it with something important.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_03: It got taped over with like, I don't know, the the young and the restless or something that my mom watched.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_03: Right, right.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_03: So, so I yeah, I I anyway, that was like a big deal in our family.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_03: So big scandal.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_03: Uh moving on to another Steelers legend, Joe Green.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_03: His final game is the last game of a disappointing 1981 season uh in which the Steelers finish 8-8.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_03: That last game is at the Astrodome against the Houston Oilers.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_03: And it's a 21-20 Steelers loss.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Joe Green plays, but he doesn't record a tackle or a stack.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_03: Here's some audio from that game.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_02: There's a fellow who played some extraordinary football in his career.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_02: We came out at the same time in 1969.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_02: He's still playing.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_02: Well, he's smarter than I am.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_02: He didn't let me get to that.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the announcer there is Gene Washington, who was the all-pro wide receiver for the 49ers, who is not still playing at this point.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_03: Um, here is some audio from Joe Green's retirement announcement a couple of months later.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: I've enjoyed it.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_00: I've enjoyed working with the Steelers.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_00: I've enjoyed Three Rivers Stadium looking around and seeing those terrible tiles and that that maddening song that they played before before every contest.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it just kind of sends chills through you.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: The fans, the fans have accepted me, good and bad.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I wasn't always the most pleasant person, but uh it was sincere.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: And again, they allowed me to be myself, and I don't think that I could ask any more than that.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_03: Do you know what the maddening song he was referring to is, Steve?
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_07: Renegade?
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_03: Not Renegade back then.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_07: Since Renegade wasn't even was it written even back in 1983?
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_07: Might have been.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, I think that was I don't remember.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, it wasn't Renegade.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_07: It was the Steelers Polka.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_07: It had to be the Steelers Polka.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, and that's probably what he's talking about, I guess.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_07: Oh, I thought you knew.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_07: I thought you didn't.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_03: No, I'm I'm I'm legitimately asking.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_07: Oh wow, I didn't know.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_07: I don't know what song he's I'm just uh I just assumed it was the Steelers Polka song.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, yes, actually, yes, Steve, that's what it is.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_03: I have it right here at my crack research.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_07: Or your research team on crack.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_07: I don't know.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, so Joe Green's final game uh is very similar, actually, to other 70s Steelers Legends final games.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_03: It's a ho-hum 1980s season finale that's just not very memorable.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_03: That's also the case for Mel Blunt, John Stalworth, Donnie Schell, and a lot of the other guys from that era.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_03: So again, you know, sometimes the ending is storybook like Ben, sometimes it's brutally sudden like Bradshaw, and sometimes it's pedestrian like Joe Green and those other guys we just mentioned.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_03: Let's talk about the ending for Pirates Legend, Hannes Wagner.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_07: Wow, you should have a lot of video for that one.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_03: Not gonna play a clip from that one, surprisingly.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_07: It went to like 1920 or something.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_03: Well, let's get into that.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_03: In 1916, in 1916.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_07: World War I's raging, Tim.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_07: What are we gonna do?
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_07: Is the will the United States join?
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_07: Has Lusitania been sunk?
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_03: While all that's going on, Honnas Wagner has just completed his 20th Major League season, and he's thinking about you know what, maybe I'm gonna call it a career.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_03: Uh he's still effective at the plate.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_03: In 1916, he's he finishes eighth in batting in the National League.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_07: Holy cow, that's pretty good.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_03: That's really good.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_03: He's 42 years old at this point, and he finished it eighth in batting.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_03: So I mean, the guy was good.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_03: Uh another thing happens around this time.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_03: Hannes Wagner has fallen in love.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_03: He starts to see a woman named Bessie Bain Smith.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_07: That's that's literally a name from 1916.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_03: Isn't it Bessie Bain Smith?
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's definitely.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_07: down the street in Carnegie.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he's he's uh 26 years old.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_03: As we said, he's 42.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_07: So there's wow.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_07: Oh well.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_07: I mean that's today that really wouldn't be all that scandalous, but I don't know what they thought of that.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, maybe not in 1916, I don't know.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, uh it it's it's a pretty it's a significant age difference, but you know, I mean people make think those kinds of things work.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, at this point, um Hannes and Bessie had been dating for several years, or where he was courting her, or whatever the equivalent to dating was back then.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_03: He gave her father a a mule as a dowry.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_07: He traded her two goats and uh yeah, I don't I don't know.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_03: So point is they get married that off season, so Wagner is eager to start a life with his new bride, but he does decide to come back for one final season in 1917.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately, it doesn't go real well.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_03: The Pirates lose 103 games and finish in dead last.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_03: They also fire their manager halfway through the season, and owner Barney Dreyfus asks Wagner to manage the team.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_03: So he does for five games, at which point he decides I am not cut out to be a manager.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_03: And he resigned.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_03: He resigns as manager.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_03: He's still still a player at that point, but he's like, I'm I'm no, I'm not a manager.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_03: Uh his final game takes place on September 17th at Forbes Field against the Braves.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_03: Wagner plays three innings, actually at second base, not shortstop.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and he does not get an end an at bat in that game.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_03: So his career ends very quietly.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_03: But he and Bessie do go on to have a very long marriage.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_03: They're they're together for 38 years.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_03: They raised two daughters, and Wagner lives long enough to see the birth of a granddaughter, Leslie Wagner player, who I'm pretty sure is still living today.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_07: Wow.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_07: Wow.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_07: Interesting.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_07: That is that is some wild stuff.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_07: Well, his granddaughter, she's well, I mean, she could be.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_07: Well, she's gotta be pretty old.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_03: This this would have been like the 40s.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_03: So I mean she'd be in her late 70s.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_03: Uh fun fact about Leslie Wagner Blair the granddaughter, uh Steve, if you're familiar with the Hannes Wagner statue that sits outside of PNC Park.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, I forget when they dedicated that.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_03: Well, well, on the base of that statue, there's like a little girl hold holding flowers.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_07: Is that her?
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_03: That's her.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_07: Oh, that's cool.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_07: That's really cool.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_03: So she's so she's actually in the statue.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_07: She's immortalized in stone.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_03: She is.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_07: I think that was at Forbes Field, too.
• 45:31
  unknown: I do believe.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_03: It was, yeah.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_03: I think I think they moved.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_07: It's been at three different stadiums now, yeah.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_03: Correct.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, because it was at Three Rivers outside of gate D, I think.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_03: I can't remember what gate it was outside of C.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_03: But it was outside of one of the gates at Three River Stadium, and now it's outside of like the home plate part of uh PNC Park.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_03: All right, well, of course, we're we we have to wrap up this episode with this guy.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_08: Is this the last stop for the bus?
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_08: You know what?
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_08: It's been an incredible ride, and it's always a time when you have to call it quits.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_08: And uh I played this game to win a championship.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_08: I'm a champion, and I think the bus is uh the last stop is here in Detroit.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_08: Well, it's home, fifth leading rusher, Super Bowl champion.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_05: Congratulations on a great career.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_05: Congratulations, Detroit, on a great Super Bowl, congratulations to the world champion, Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_03: If you didn't already know, that is Jerome Bettis, Stewart's legend in Hall of Famer retiring immediately following his final game, which was a Super Bowl victory in his hometown of Detroit.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_03: Pittsburgh will never again write a more storybook ending than that, right, Steve?
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_07: Uh that's more of the unbelievable like endings to a career and season and Super Bowl.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, you couldn't have seen that.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, we saw it coming, but I think that was so sad the year before because everybody thought he was going to retire the year before.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_07: And then, yeah, that's what made that 2004.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_07: But that that's still one of the worst.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_07: That that loss was such a low the year before, and then this was such a high the year after to go from one extreme to the other in just you know, a season of football.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, unbelievable.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_07: Good for him, and it was great.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_07: And Detroit kind of adopted him, you know, and the Steelers as their hometown team that week.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_07: And it was just great.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_07: It was great.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_07: It was it was just a fun time and special time, and you know, we'll always have that.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_07: Not a lot of players have gone out on top.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_07: Uh John Elway, you know, Bettis.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_07: Uh I'm trying to think of there's been other people I'm trying to a hockey, maybe Ray Bork.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_03: Michael Michael Jordan and his one of his retirements.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_07: No, he didn't he played like crappily for like Washington.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that's all I'm saying.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_03: One of his retirements.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_07: So I don't really count him because he he stayed way too long.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_03: But the but that the that his second retirement, right, it was after he they beat Utah in the I wasn't gonna say like the 98 NBA finals, he retired, and then it wasn't until like three or four years later that he came back to play for Washington.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_07: So it was pretty terrible.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and and and that 2004 season, my my dad always said uh he always felt like that 2005 wasn't like 2004 and 2005 were almost like one long season, like mashed together.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_03: Because like the story of that Super Bowl really started when they drafted Ben in 2004, and that whole journey through that season and like betting.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_07: That team was so good in 2004.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_07: I always thought the 2004 team was better than the 2005 team.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_03: It probably was.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_03: It probably was.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_03: It it just again, that's that's sports.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_03: That's sports for you.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_07: James Harrison couldn't get on the field on that team.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, they had James Harrison playing special teams.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_03: It happened the next year too, Steve, because the Colts won the Super Bowl in 2006, but that 2005 Colts team was better than the 2006 Colts team.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_03: That was the Colts team that was 13-0.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, but then we upset them.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_03: So it that's sports.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_03: That's just sports.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it just is.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I there really isn't a lot more to say about you know the 2005 season in Super Bowl 40 that hasn't already been said been said by the show and and elsewhere.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_03: So I I try to find a different angle here, and I wanted to focus on one thing that people I think rarely talk about, which is you know, how did Jerome Bettis actually perform in that game in Super Bowl 40?
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_07: He was pretty mediocre.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_07: I think he had like 60 or 70 yards, I think.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_07: He picked up a key first down late.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_07: I know that.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_03: So so Willie Parker obviously at this point had supplanted Bettis as a starter.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_03: And everybody remembers Willie Parker had that 75-yard touchdown that ends up being the game winner.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_03: But did you know, Steve, that Jerome Bettis actually has more rushing attempts than Parker does in that game?
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Bettis finishes Super Bowl 40 with 14 attempts for 43 yards with a long run of 12 yards.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_03: So, like you said, you know, nothing, nothing real groundbreaking there.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_07: They kind of used him as a decoy, too, on the Ben touchdown.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_03: They did.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, to your point, stats don't always tell the story.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_03: So that was that was an important play.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_03: And the and the other thing I'll always remember is that you know, the Steelers had the ball at their own 20 with six minutes left, and Seattle had all their timeouts.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_03: And Seattle needed two scores at that point, but six minutes, all their timeouts, you know, they they had a chance.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_03: And the Steelers end up eating four minutes off the clock, and they get two first downs, and that essentially ends the game right there.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_03: And Bettis was a big part of that.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_03: He was gaining yards, and that was when the Seahawks had nine guys in the box because they knew all the Steelers were going to do there was hand the ball off and try to make them use timeouts.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_03: And Bettis was still, you know, gaining yards.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_03: And I I just I feel like that was kind of a fitting end of his career, Steve, queuing up tough yards at the end of the game.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_07: That's kind of what he did his whole career.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_07: He had some long runs, though.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_07: People forget earlier in his career.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_07: He he always had good feet and decent speed for a guy that big.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_03: He he did, he for sure did.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh but yeah, that's how Jerome Bettis's career ends.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_03: Definitely, you know, the probably how every athlete would love to end their career the way that Jerome Bettis did.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but as we detailed, you know, sometimes it just doesn't happen that way.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_03: So that's our episode on uh on final games.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_03: Steve, any final thoughts on our final games?
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_07: Well, you know, every all good things must come to an end.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_07: So you never know when something's gonna end.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_07: You know?
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so you gotta probably enjoy it while it's happening, right?
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe that's the the lesson in all of this.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, enjoy the players and teams that you have and you know, don't take anything for granted.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_07: So there you go.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_07: There's your life lesson, I guess.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_03: The more you know.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks everybody for listening.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for supporting our little show here.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_03: Uh please check us out on Facebook or on Twitter.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, we actually now have an option where you can text the show.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_03: That's in the show notes.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_03: And uh we'll catch you next time.