Latest / Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast / Former slugger Mark Trumbo recalls rise from HS mound to HR king

Transcript

Former slugger Mark Trumbo recalls rise from HS mound to HR king · Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Well, hey Angel fans, and welcome back to Halo Territory,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: where we discuss all things Angels. I am Mike Di Giovanna,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: former Los Angeles Times baseball writer, and I'm joined by
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Mark Trumbo, former Angel slugger. Now, I know our last
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: two shows are kind of heavy, with us going in
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: depth on the Tyler Skaggs trial and doing a sobering
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: assessment of the general manager. But I promise you it
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: won't be all doom and gloom here. We'll try to
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: lighten things up every now and then have a little fun.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: And we thought we'd start with a few shows for
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: you to get to know your Halo Territory host. So
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: today we're going to do a Mark Trumbo This is
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Your Life episode, and next time we'll take a look
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: at my forty five year career as a sports writer. Now,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Mark Trumbo played ten years in the Big leagues from
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: twenty to ten to twenty nineteen with four teams, the Angels,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: of course, the Diamondbacks, the Mariners and New your Orioles.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: He was a career two forty nine hitter with a
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: seven sixty one ops and two hundred and eighteen homers
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: and six hundred and twenty nine RBIs a lot of
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: you guys know. Mark also grew up in Orange County
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: in Villa Park, to be exact, so obvious. First question, Mark,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: were you a huge Angels fan as a kid?
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: What other choice is there? Yeah, that's away from the ballpark,
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: and I have fond memories of going as a kid.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: For whatever reason, we went on a lot of Sundays.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: I think my dad fashioned himself. I don't even know
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: if this was possible. I do recall him haggling at
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: the window, and I don't know if it ever worked.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: He had a tendency to do that, whether it was
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: Angel's tickets or cars or whatever. But I'm the opposite.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: I prefer, you know, expedients. But so we would usually
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: sit down the right field line day games and watch
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: you know, Tim Salmon if he was in there. One
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: of those things about Sunday day games too, you might
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: recall socials. Sometimes the stars weren't always out there, so
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: I going hoping to see Vladimir Guerrero or you know,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: name one of them, and might had the day off.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: So you dealt with that. But yeah, I was a
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: big Angel fan, and I think getting drafted and we'll
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: talk about this, but by the team that you grew
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: up admiring, is you know, not many people get to
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: experience that.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Now, you made your big league debut obviously in twenty ten,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: but that was not the first time you played in
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Angel Stadium? Is that correct?
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: That is correct. In two thousand and two, our high
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: school team, Villa Park High School won the CIF State
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: championship for Division two and that game was played at
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Angel Stadium. Those games are rather interesting, you. I think
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: they are able to accommodate maybe five at least five
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: games in a single day, and you're kind of rifled
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: in and out. Despite it being the championship. Everyone's super
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: excited to play at a big league park. I know
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: they've done some of Dodger Stadium too, but this one
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: was at Angel Stadium. I was the starting pitcher. I
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: think I went five innings or so, and I believe
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: we want on to walk off Blooper. But great memories
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: and then you know we're told to get out of
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: there immediately, so no lucky to get you know, they'll
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: talk over something on the way home, but you know,
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: it's a it was a great time, and and it's
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: it's funny because you know, I had fortunately a lot
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: of other baseball memories to come in in the subsequent years.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: But for something abou those high school years, you just
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: you remember pretty pretty vividly.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Was there a time like as you were growing up,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: whether it's Little League, you know, whatever, you play, that
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: of that early high school where you had a feeling
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: you you know, were potentially a professional player, where you
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: knew you were kind of separating yourself from from the
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: other kids.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: It's hard to say, I think, and this is what
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: I tell a lot of youth that I come across.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: I had ups and downs. I was at a young age,
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: pretty advanced up until about Little league or so, and
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: then thirteen fourteen years old. I don't remember it being,
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: you know, the greatest time in my career. Arc you know,
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: some people developed mature quicker than others. I think I
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: was somewhere in the middle of the road. But I know,
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: performance wise, especially with the hitting, just it wasn't going well.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: I couldn't really explain why, but maybe some of the
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: competition was a little you know, they were ahead of
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: me in some ways. And I remember I I also
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: played basketball. I was incredibly mediocre. I rarely shot the ball,
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: I playing defense usually had to guard a guy significantly
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: bigger than me, but that, you know, that was a
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: nice outlet, and I may have fought for all of
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: ten seconds that Hey, maybe I had a future in
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: that sport. But I'm glad that I, you know, came
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: to my astasis because I had no future in that sport.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: So you and me both You were draft in the
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: eighteenth round in two thousand and four as a pitcher.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: You were also committed to USC at that time, and
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: you didn't sign until I think a couple of days
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: before you were set to go to USC. How close
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: did you come, then co to going to college?
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: Unless my memory is gone, I am all but certain.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: I already had textbooks ready for I guess what would
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: have been my freshman year, first semester. I did get drafted.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: I was a guy that had a strong college commitment
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: that we've already said USC. My dad also went there,
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: and I got drafted in the eighteenth round. But I'm
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: nearly certain. I mean it was offered to me, so
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: I can say it. But at the time the White
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: Sox were going to take me late in the first round.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: The dollar amount was a little bit less then I
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: guess we had come up with. In hindsight, I really
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: don't know why we were so firm on a particular amount,
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: but you only know what you know, and that's what
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: at the time made sense. And so we held out
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: and eventually the angels followed me throughout the summer plane.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: I believe it was Connie Mack. We had quite a
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: talented team, and they'd kind of alert me if they
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: wanted to see me throw a few innings, and eventually
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: they realized that the time was running out, so they
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: made an offer that I'm pretty sure they knew would
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: get the job done, and it did, and so that
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: was one of the happiest days of my life. You know.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: It happened quickly, and so all that was left was
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: to h you know, get your physical done and we'll
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: get you out there. And that didn't go so well.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: What happened had been well. I knew my elbow had
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: been barking a little bit, but not in the area
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: that the Tommy John area was the backside. Not a doctor,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: I would guess at some point I had what's called IDAs,
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: which is, you know, inflammation with the bursa, so tenderness
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: on the back side of the elbow and I dealt
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: with that, but it wasn't that big a deal. But
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: I knew it was a thing. And I had lost
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: some mobility in my elbow too, as far as being
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: able to fully extend it. So a lot of guys
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: deal with that. You talk to a picture that pitch
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: for any you know, decent amount of time, you know,
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: a lot of them experienced that. So I remember being
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: in doctor Yoakum's office. I had gone through all the tests.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: I don't know if he loved everything about it, but
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: he was hawke eyeing the late doctor Yokam, incredible man
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: and doctor. Despite the fact that this story is going
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: to end with me failing my physicality was we were
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: very close, you know, and he was hawke eyeing an
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: X ray and I was like, oh, just just let's
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: go move on. And then he said that he would
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: just to make sure. I want to get a couple
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: more images done and you know, just make sure that
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: there's nothing going on here. So into the MRI tube
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: I went. I didn't see doctor Yoakum again that day.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Next call was to my agent, who happened to be
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: there as well. I believe Eddie Bain phoned him and said,
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: we have a situation. You know, I ended up being
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: I had an arthritic elbow, so not great for an
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: eighteen year old, but that was the reality. And I
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: think there were concerns about how that would age. If
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: it looked like that, then you know, too much wear.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: And I don't know if it was from over use
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: as a youth or what, but that was what was
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: going on. So he said, I believe they offered half
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: the amount in that phone call, which we said, well,
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: that's not going to work that. You know, we're not.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: I'm not desperate to sign you already know that. So
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: they pivoted and said that, and it was pretty candid.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: They said, we didn't really do our due diligence on
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: you as a hitter. We know you can hit, but
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: we always much preferred the arm. Would you be up
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: for doing a few workouts? I said sure. So I
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: think I'm the timing. I'm not positive, but let's say
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: it was. The following day, I was out in Rancho
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: Cucamonga facing a recently drafted college pitcher. I happened to
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: do well, in my opinion. I connected with a few
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: I don't know if they were home runs or doubles,
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: but some solid contact. And then the next day they said,
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: can you come to Angel Stadium and hit early. I said, sure,
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: let me know, you know, I'll be there, and so
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: my dad and I went, I have a fun or
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: fun the recollection as Raymond, who had a little more
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: humor in the show, going through the clubhouse petrified, terrified,
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: like you know, And so we're walking through, I'm kind
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: of I'm sure I had my head glued to the
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: floor and I kind of did look up for a second,
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: and former Angel closer Troy Percival was on the couch,
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: I believe, reading a newspaper. He only had his shorts
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: on and said, I'll clean it up a little bit,
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: but basically, who the heck are you? And I said nothing.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: I don't think my dad said anything. I think Eddie
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: Bay might have quickly moved things along. But it was
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: eye opening and first taste of what a big, big
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: locker room looked like. Yeah, I guess, so, who the
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: are you? You? Nobody don't find me. So we went out,
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: uh and I hit bat in practice. I'll give credit
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Rick Wilson through, you know, he did an excellent job.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: And everyone was there from a social to Mickey Hatcher.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: Bill Stoneman was there, Eddie Bain was there, and Ben Hines,
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: who was a long time confident and former major leagu
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: getting coach, was heavily in socials here that he liked
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: what he saw. He liked the backspin, if I remember correctly.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: To me, I didn't think much of it. It wasn't
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: it was something I always kind of did. I couldn't
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: explain how, but you know, I was glad that he
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: liked me, and I hit I guess, quite a few
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: home runs. There were a few things written about it
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: at the time. I doubt anybody really cared, but it
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: is a kind of a cool story. And one other anecdote.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: I had a bat that I used that day that
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: was from Big Five. Uh you know, their wooden bats
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: weren't available like they are today, but you know, it
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: was all I had and it was fine. And I
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: remember Rob Quinlan, I believe it, come over taking one
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: look at it and said, do you do you want
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: a real bat? Said I appreciate it. No, you know,
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: I think I'm gonna be okay. So it was a
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: Big five bat, which you know, it kind of makes
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: me laugh now thinking about it. And they did the job,
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: so you know credit there.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: All right. Hey, we'll take a quick break and when
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: we come back we'll have more on marks transition to
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: the field and how he developed as a hitter.
• 12:34
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• 13:38
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Halo territory. Now, if we can only
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: get Hello Fresh to change their name to Halofresh, we
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: might be onto something there. Mark. It sounds like the
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: transition from the mound to the field to first base
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: specifically was pretty quick. But you also spent six, almost
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: six full seasons in the minor leagues. I think it
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: was around seven hundred and fifty games. One, how did
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: you develop into the hitter you eventually became. And two
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: that's a long time and the miners were there times
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: when you started to feel frustrated or wonder if you
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: were never going to make it.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: Well, it was an interesting time. I signed. I didn't
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: play right away. I went to Instruction League. Was my
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: first experience and another interesting conversation. I remember that day
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: at Angel Stadium when I did the workout. We did
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: come to an agreement, so I essentially said, Okay, done deal.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: And I remember having a conversation with Souch who it was,
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: I guess, just saying hello, getting to know me a
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: little bit, and he was kind of looking at me
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: and said, you know, what position do you play? And
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: I said that, well, I mainly have been a picture
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: but I've roamed around a bit some corner infield corner outfit.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: He said, well, what do you think about catching? And
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: I don't know why I decided to say that I
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: felt like I was a little bit too big for
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: the position as we're standing eye to eye.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: So.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: Only I was, you know, even at a young age,
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: I said, walking away, cringing. You know this probably doesn't
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: think so much on but yeah, I signed instructional League.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: First taste, I was playing third base, which we touched
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: on a little bit later. Yeah, just terrible then, as
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: I was, you know later on that position, I picked
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: a lot of people's brain trying to figure out how
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: to play a quality third base, and I just don't
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: think it was in the cards for me, But I
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: ended up playing first base. At the time, probably completely delusional,
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: I thought I did a pretty nice job. I think
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: everyone else thought two left feet and it's got a
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: long way to goo. So I really give a lot
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: of credit to the late Rob Peachlow Oh put in
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: a incredible amount of effort. I think one of the
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: highlights for him was. He became bench coach with the
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: Angels for I believe at least one or two seasons,
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: and I ended up being a guy that was going
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: in at times for lateening defense, which usually is reserved
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: for guys that are maybe a little more competent or
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: trustworthy than the starter. And I think it was very
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: interesting for him because at one point and I can
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: get confirmation, but I already know. I don't think my
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: defense was viewed as anything other than poor, you know,
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: not good. So I had to work quite hard at that.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: And Jeter Hines give a lot of credit to him.
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: He was instrumental in, you know, my formative years. He
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: was the field coordinator, very straight shooter, which I always
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: appreciated too, never sugarcoated it, and if it didn't look
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: the part, you were going to hear about it, and
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: if you needed to pick it up, you were going
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: to hear about it. They ran a tight ship and
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: set the tone for what was to come, and I
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: think it was a good a good thing because Mike
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: Susher demanded, you know, players that were ready, you knew
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: the signs, you knew what you were expected to do,
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: and that tone was set at the lowest levels, and
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: I think we were all better because of it.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: You were called up in September, call up in twenty ten.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: What do you recall your big league debut.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: It I got called up. I had a nice year
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: in Triple A. I mean, briefly touching on a couple
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: of the affiliate stops, played an oora my first year,
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: played an A ball the following year, and fell flat
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: on my face a terrible performance to twenty before two
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: twenty was, you know, somewhat acceptable. Not the type of
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: power that you read about. You know, the word potential
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: wash is associated with that, and one description of potential
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: that I've kind of come around to agree with is
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: kind of means you haven't done anything yet. It's got
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: a lot of potential, but it's not a great label.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: And I was a guy that had, you know, they
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: rated highly on those scales for power and hitting fourteen
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: or fifteen home runs in a full season, that's not
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: really a lot of power at the minor league level.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: I think twenty home runs was more indicative of a
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: guy with a lot of pop. And I think after
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: going on I played, I like Cedar Rapids a great place,
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: but I spent two years playing there I joke that
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: I had such a good time I came back for more,
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: but ultimately repeated the level because my performance warranted that.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: So two full years there and then Ranch of Ugumuga.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: But around that time I started to realize that everyone
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: learns differently. I guess I was and continue to be
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: a very visual learner, and that was very primitive. There
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: wasn't a lot of tech, there wasn't a lot of video,
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: and so it was mostly verbal coaching, and that's the
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: way it was for everyone before me as well. But
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: I started looking at some big leag hitters I remember
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: Paul Canerko being the main one in Barry Bonds and
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: looking at their swings and looking at my swing in
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: the in the limited stuff I had, and I said,
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: they don't look anything alike. You know. Maybe the starting
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: was somewhat similar because we're both holding a bat, but
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: very quickly in the sequencing of the swing, I just
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: I didn't look like them. And I said, okay, well,
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: what do I have to do to make it look
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: a little more like them? So kind of reverse engineered it.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: It ended up not being you know, close to either
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: of them, probably maybe a little closer to Knerico's. But
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: it took a lot of hard work, and I had
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: so much help along the way. But that although that
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: was more or less my own doing, and I was
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: a guy that I never wanted the toil away in
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: the minor leagu So I don't know what I was
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: going to do. I didn't have a definitive plan, but
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: I didn't know that I wanted to be a major
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: league player, and I think that's something that sounds good,
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: but I don't know if everyone that signs really believes
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: or sometimes maybe they think it's a long shot, and
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: I was either too delusional or something. I viewed myself
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: as a major league player, even if it was pretty
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: bleak at times at some of the minor league stops.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: I wanted to get there. I was going to get there,
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: put my time in at each level, and hopefully at
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: some point earn a call up, which happened in twenty ten.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: Had a nice season in Salt Lake, and in September
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: I remember making the drive from Salt Lake, following Hank
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: Conger and his dad, who drove I'm going to stay
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: through the night. I'm not sure what Tommy Day it was,
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: but to get there to the Ballpark or back at
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: Taynaheim in time for the next game the following day.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Well, you did establish yourself as a big leader that
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: following year in twenty eleven, twenty nine homers, eighty seven rbi,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: second in AL Rookie of the Year vote. You think
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: in your career is probably ready to take off. And
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: then the Angels that winner signed Albert poolhosts another first
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: baseman for ten years and two hundred and forty million. Now,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: I think the assumption among a lot of Angel fans
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: at the time was that you probably weren't thrilled with
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: that trade. What was your reaction at the time.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: Well, I saw, you know, the breaking news. I think
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: CJ had signed about the same time, so it was
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: big headlines, similar to this offseason and sorry it I said, okay, well,
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: Albert Cools, you know, surefire Hall of famer, he's coming in.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: He's going to have to play another position, he's going
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: to have to move. Wait, no, that would be me.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: So I didn't know what was going to happen to me.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: And at the end of the year in twenty eleven,
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: my rookie year, I had broken my foot. Rather tough
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: injury takes a lot of it was the navicular bone
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: on the top of my foot, main weight bearing bone.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: A lot of NBA players deal with it, sometimes it
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: cost them their careers. At the time, I said, okay,
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: I'll deal with it and get on with it, but
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: it very much limited my ability in the off season.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: It was slow to heal and eventually when Albert came
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: into the fold and over the winter, I was given
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: a heads up. The third base was pretty much the
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: only spot that had some availability, so I had next
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: to no time. I believe I was probably cleared for
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: baseball activities. I remember with a couple of weeks before
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: recording the spring, so very little time to get up
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: to speed to play a position that I knew would
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: be a tall task. And you know, so following year
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: I ended up. I have a very fond memory. One
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: of my you know, we can touch on it was
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: playing all nine innings behind Jared Weavers, no hitter at
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: third base. Yeah, and I'd love you get a chance
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: to have a social on maybe he can explain why
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: I was out there or seventh, eighth, the ninth at
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: least I remember looking behind, you know, starting about the
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: fifth inning, where is Kaiasko And you know, in seventh
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: and eighth inn there, So this is not funny anymore.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: Where is Kiras? Like? You know, and you I'm assuming
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: you were there covering the game, you know, in the
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: ninth inning. I was like, I think I think people
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: were looking at me too, possibly Dino or otherwise, and
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: I'm like, there's nobody here, okay. Unfortunately Jared was you know,
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: he didn't get a lot of ground balls. He uh,
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: he made it very easy on his defenders. I think
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: I did have one of the tougher plays. A game
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: filled a bunch, which is beyond routine for a confident
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: third basement. But you know, for me, it's a it's
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: a good memory.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: So now your first as I recall, your first day
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: at spring training at third base, was not a very
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: good memory. Am I corrective? It was a ground ball?
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Bad hop, we'll call it.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: I'm going to say it was field three. I don't
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: know if they've labeled him differently now, but it was
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: down and I'm still a little bit confused how they
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: are now diving up the fields. But back then that
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: was the minor league side firmly, so we were down there.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: I think we wanted to be out of you for everyone,
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: as it was the first foray into this, and who
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: knows how ugly it could be, but we found out
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: pretty quickly. I don't think that one was my fault.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: That was part of the deal that you know, those
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: fields get a lot of use, and it happened to
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: be one of those things. And so I didn't break
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: my nose, but I came away with a towel and
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: maybe indicative of you know, things to come there. Don't
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: look at the fielding percentage if anyone out there, you know.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: But I was completely aware that I stunk, and I
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: wore on me too, because you don't want to play,
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: you know, poor defense behind a pitcher that's out there
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: working his tail off and costing them outs. So I
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: did what I could. It became a situation where eventually
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: everyone it was quite obvious. I had a candidly head
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: in talks with my agent, I said, I'm sitting in
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: the Yankee Stadium early afternoon on the phone, and I said,
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: this is awful. I will keep going out there if
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: that's what they want, but if there's any other solution,
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: I would love to explore that. Unfortunately, an opportunity to
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: play some left field came about, so I did move
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: out there.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: How when all that was going on that year, how
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: did you not let that affect you at the plate
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: because you ended up hitting thirty two homers and made
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: your first All Star team and took part in the
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: home run Derby.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: I really don't know. I think all my focus, which
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: sometimes could translate to the offensive side, was totally put
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: on third base. And what am I going to do
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: over here? How am I going to do a better job?
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: A bigger guy, not that gifted with range, got to
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: cover this, got to take away the bunt. And you
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: look at guys that play it well, and I was like,
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: not even in there. You know, stratosphere, these guys, it's
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: so much better. And some of them maybe had experience
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: playing shortstop and had moved over and it's a different deal.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: And I tried. I can say that I gave it
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: my best effort, but didn't last long. To answer your question,
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: I guess I give a lot of credit to Mickey Hatcher.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: He did a tremendous job. He really connected with me
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: early on. He knew my swing, he knew what I
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: needed to do, and he was quick to tell me
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: when it didn't look the part. So I had a
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: great resource in Mickey to guide me on the offensive side.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: And he doesn't maybe get talked about as much these days,
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: but he is an incredible guy, incredible energy, ever, didn't
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: have a smile on his face, tireless worker, he'd throw
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: till his arm fell off, and you know, I just
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: have very fond memories of, you know, my time with him.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: He had another big year in twenty thirteen, thirty four homers,
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: one hundred rbies. And then Jerry Depoto, the GM at
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: the time, traded you to Arizona. I know things didn't
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: go quite as you plan there, and then you were
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: traded to Seattle. And what a couple of years later,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, Jerry Depoto's the Seattle GM, and he trades
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: you to Baltimore. What Jerry have against you?
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: I've talked to Jerry since, and Jerry's a very personal
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: guy and he's I remember the first time. I wasn't
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: surprised it had been rumored. Not unlike ward situation. I
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: think that we needed to starting pitching death. I didn't
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: know who I would be traded for, but I didn't
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: know my name was being floated out there and those things.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: I was giving a slight heads up that something was
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: possibly going down. I think agents tend to get you know,
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: alerted about such a thing. And so when I when
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: I found out it was the Diamondbacks, they were they're
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: not local to southern California, but they're close enough. And
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: but again a team I really knew very little about,
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: didn't follow them all that much, so I had to
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: go in and essentially I don't think I knew anyone
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: on the team either, which makes it really tough when
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: you get traded. I think that for the fans out there,
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: some guys are social butterflies and they fit in immediately.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: I wasn't that. I don't think that that should surprise
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: too many. Somewhat introverted and you know, definitely made an effort,
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: but clicking with you know, a whole new group of guys.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: And when you get traded, it's not just learning your teammates,
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: it's learning possibly well over one hundred people or more,
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: from the staff, the clubhouse staff, to the PR department.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: And I'm not the greatest with names right off the bats,
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: so you don't want to call hey, dude or you know,
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: guy or whatever. I'd like to be at least make
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: an effort. So there's that that goes on, and my
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: time in Arizona, I wish I could have done more.
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: I think I had planner fasciitis early on, battled that
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: ended up breaking some toes. Very strange thing. Hit a
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: home run in Wrigley Field, so I was happy about that,
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: and I go to jog out to left field for
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: the next inning and that, you know, pretty unbelievable pain
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: and what is this like a cramp or something. I'm like,
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: there's not really any muscle there. So we got an image.
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: Had broken two toes on my left foot, and I
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: had to deal with that. Did some rehab, came back
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: down season. The numbers weren't great. I don't think the
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: fans were thrilled. I wasn't thrilled. It came back the
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: following year, had a much better start to the year,
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: I think. I the numbers were pretty decent, but Arizona,
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: I think was a little thin at the catcher position
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: and Seattle was in need of a right handed bat.
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: So I was sent there again mid season trade, even
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: tougher being a mid season trade. Didn't know anybody had
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: to make All new friends started out terribly awful month
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: of June. Fortunately, they hired Edgar Martinez somewhere in or
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: around that time, and him and Andy Event's life were
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: very instrumental in getting me back on track. Andy being
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: extremely blunt, which is again I really appreciated that. He
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: told me, hey, what are you going to do about this?
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: Doesn't look right? And I said, well, I agree with you.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: What do you do have any thoughts? You know, at
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: the time he was kind of a hitting coach, but
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: he took me out and I threw some very firm
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: batting practice and realized my timing was just out of whack.
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: And then Edgar still in good enough shape to hit himself.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: So one am I. You know, I still have great
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: memories of handing in my bat and saying how do
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: you do how do you hit the outside pitch? How
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: do you hit the breaking ball? And being a visual guy,
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: you know what, better you know Edgar Martinez. I'm not
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: going to question his knowledge on hitting. So I think
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: that's one of those things in the game. Now that's
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: a little bit of a hot topic, is you know,
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: for more players are not, you know, the Angels being
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: one of the rare exceptions with Brady coming in, so
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: that helped, and then I got traded again. What did
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: Jerry have against me? I'm assuming if I had to
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: answer the on base percentage being low, it's not for
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: lack of try, and I've said it before. It just
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: I swung it too many pitches. I think too many
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: pitches up in the zone to be specific. Did it
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: from a young age and was just unable to really
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: make an adjustment there. So I lacked the on base
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: percentage that I think he looked for. And that's fine.
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: I can, you know, agree with that point. I don't
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: think it was anything personal. He just didn't probably care
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: for my particular brand of baseball, and so I traded
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: to the Orioles, another team knew next to nothing about
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: growing up here, rooming for the Angels. Why would I
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: know anything about the Orioles other than I mean, yards
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: looked pretty. I remember the home run derby there, you know,
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: that looked great. And that's about all I knew. You know,
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: I played against him as a visitor. You go in
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: for three days, you're out. You know. Sometimes you get
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: a little bit of a feel for the city, but
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: not much. But I ended up being a great place
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: for me. Yeah, you know, to have a nice season
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: going into free agency.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, twenty sixteen your career year, I think it was
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: forty seven homers, one hundred and eight RBIs. That led
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: to the big free agent contract the following year, but
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: eventually the career was derailed by knee injuries. How tough
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: was that in terms of the way your career ended?
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: And does it give you some empathy for what Mike
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: Trout's been going through these last few years?
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: It gives me a ton of empathy. I was. I
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: had a poor year in twenty seventeen. I had no excuses.
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: You don't anticipate these things. I didn't. I knew that
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: I was coming off twenty fifteen. I had alluded to
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: Edgar and Andy really helping me, and I liked where
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: I was from a mechanical mechanics standpoint, with the bad
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: trending upwards. But then you have the off season, so that,
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: you know, puts a little bit of the breaks on that.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: But sixteen everything kind of clicked. I didn't really expect that.
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: It was you want to put together a nice season.
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: Some ended up being a lot better than others. You know,
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: in hindsight now, because I don't have to go out
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: there and hit. I think the good years versus the
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: bad years, probably mechanically speaking, I was more sound. Mechanics
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: at that point were not all that in fashion. Your
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: swing your swing, you know, your swing is your swing,
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: swing your swing. I've changed my opinion on that, but
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: that was more or less what I was told coming up.
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: I disagree with it completely now. I think guys can
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: make big changes and some really need to, and I
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: was the guy that needed to. And even in my
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: Big League gard it kind of wandered at times, and
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: when I got off track sometimes I wasn't able to
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: get it back on track like I would have wanted it.
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: And I didn't take enough walks to offset the times
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: where I wasn't really hitting, so that was a challenge.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: And then twenty eighteen, I actually made changes over the
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: winter that I thought were really good. I think I
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: had a more productive year of the bat. But my
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: knee basically just went away, disintegrated whatever I know. It
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: started some clicking and then completely started to give out.
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: And it was an odd injury. There wasn't a single
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: incident that I could point to. It wasn't obvious what
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: was even going on. It just started to swell a lot,
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: and I just kept playing, probably to my detriment, almost
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: most definitely to my detriment, but I was still hitting.
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: I was still able to contribute there. And I think
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: Buck Showalter was managing at the time, and it kind
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: of had the mentality if I'm not going to be
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: the first one to blink, you know. I don't know
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: why I had that, but I think point of you know,
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: too much pride most likely. But I wanted to play.
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: I wanted to provide some value because I you know,
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: it's tied to contract. It wanted to earn it. So
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: I kept going, kept going. Eventually I could barely run
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: it all and he said, hey, you know, what do
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: you think about getting this looked at? I said, yeah, okay,
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: I agree. We did and it ended up being an injury.
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: That's a really tough one of cartilage defect. It's not
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: going to sound like much to the casual viewer, but
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: you know, you see some NBA guys deal with the
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: NFL guys, a few baseball guys have dealt with it.
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: It was incredibly tough. Adults can't regrow cartilage and a
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: huge chunk and basically kind of peeled off, so it
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: was bone on bone and it's still that way now.
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: So at some point I will be needing a knee replacement.
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: It's ideally not done on people my age about to
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: be forty. You'd like to wait a little longer so
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: you don't have to get a revision. But I did
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: get surgery on it, kind of a one of those
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: procedures that as a average best success rate and worked
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: diligently to recover. Twenty nineteen was, you know, basically injured
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: the entirety of the year up until September. I knew
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: it wasn't right. I knew my athleticism was totally zapped
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: what little I had to begin with. And that was
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: really a strange thing because I just didn't feel explosive
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: at all. You know, I couldn't exactly pinpoint why, but
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: you know, a professional athlete going out here and I
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: got a couple of hits. The numbers were not good,
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: But I do take a lot of pride in the
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: fact that I made an effort to come back, and maybe,
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: like I said, to my detriment, but but it was
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: important to me and I thought it, you know, even
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: if I was the only one that cared you know,
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: I thought it was the right thing to do.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: I'm closed with a few somewhat rapid fire questions. What
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: would you say your most memorable game was.
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: Got a couple. I think my first home run off
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: of well, at the time, he went by Fausto Carmona
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: if you changed that, but you remember that I had
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: some walk off home runs that were incredibly you know,
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: that was awesome. I still at times will either you know,
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: somebody will send the clip or I'll come across it,
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: you know, especially those at Angel Stadium with the fireworks
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: and stuff, and you know that's that's just a great feeling.
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: I guess the home run derbius were a lot of fun,
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: a lot of nerves, very tiring. They changed the format
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: a little bit, and at that point when you do those,
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: there was really nothing on the lot. Well maybe there
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: was a truck or something. I don't know, but there
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: was a huge financial incentive, so it was more just
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: getting you know, the name out there and some exposure
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: and hopefully putting on a good show. I think I
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: did what I could. I didn't win any of them,
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: but you know, there's people still seem to enjoy it,
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: so that was cool. All start. You know, no hits
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: there either, but you know, go figure. But I got
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: to say, you know, it made the All Star team twice.
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: Not a lot of people you don't get to say that.
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: So I did everything in the game that I really wanted.
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: I tried to experience. I even got thrown out once,
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: kind of picked my spot in Chicago, young umpire, and
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: up to that point I'd never been ejected, so it
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: was kind of wondering what does it take to get
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: thrown out? But you had you in front of it,
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: you'll find out pretty quickly.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: So you're known for you know, for you so you're
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: known for your trum bombs. What what was the longest
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: home run.
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: You ever hit? It'd have to be the one in Oakland.
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: I ended up being teammates with Dan Stairley later, and
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: he asked if I remembered that one in particular, to
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: which I initially it's kind of my style, pretended that
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: I didn't know what he was talking about, and then
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: I dropped the act and I said, well, Dan, of
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: course I remember that. You you know it was it
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: was I think, you know, it was really cool. As
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: Victor Rojas and Gooby they did a tremendous job on
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: that call. I think that's probably the clip I get
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: sent the most, and it's liked somebody else to maybe
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: paste that one off again.
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: What was the distance did they stackcast that at the time?
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: Do you remember?
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: It was maybe a little before four seventy nine? Gun
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: to my head, I think it would. I think I
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: went a little further than that. If it didn't, whatever,
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: but I got all of it. I think I had
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: some count leverage two oh three to one, whatever it was.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: And if you want to watch one, watch.
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: That one craziest play you've ever seen on a baseball field.
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: Craziest play. I don't know if I'm going to be
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: able to pinpoint a singular one. Probably the craziest. I
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: don't know. Me playing third base all no hit her.
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: I will try and come up with a better answer
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: for now. That's what I'm gonna say.
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: I I know I can't ask your favorite teammate because
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: you won't be able to name just one, but favorite teammates.
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: I can remember so many that Tory Hunter was incredibly influential.
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: I had a locker next to him when I got
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: called up, and he was a great example of a
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: true professional. He tightened me up a couple of times
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: if he saw something just as I thought was totally fine.
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: And you know, that's how you learn. You have a
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: guy to say, hey, this is the way. And so
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: that was great Jared Weaver, you know for borgeous conguer myself,
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: you know, the young guys he you know, broke us
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: in and I think that that was I think the
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: game has changed. I think fans are, you know, per
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: the comments and stuff were getting. They want to know
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: what was it like? What was it like? I think
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: it was. You know, you bet you were around it too.
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: I mean you cover the team. It was. The clubhouse
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: culture was a little bit different. You know, you had
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: to earn your strength, let's say. And if you were
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: a young guy that you know, I hadn't done anything
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: at the big leagues yet, you may not get you know,
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: a ton of respect right away. You go out there
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: and you get some hits, and uh yeah, that's one
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: thing too, you trumbomb nugget. You want to have more fun,
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: get more hits. There you go if you just a
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: couple more, because I don't I don't want to leave
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: leave anyone out. I think Eric I Borrow would be
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: the last one. And it might be somewhat surprising to
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: people how he Kendrick. I mean, I could just keep going.
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: But Eric was very good. He knew I took the
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: game too seriously, and he would be a shortstop and
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: he'd kind of, you know, do this across the way,
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: and I knew exactly what he meant, and it worked
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: really well, and it was I always thank him for that, because,
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: you know, without somebody like that, who knows, you know,
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: just continue to mutter to myself. I wish I hadn't,
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: you know, but you can't ever redo. But he was
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: good about saying, hey, man, have some fun, you know,
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: and you know, big picture, who knows how long you're
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: going to be out here, you know, make the most
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: of it.
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: Funniest clubhouse story. We'll close with that.
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: Anything jumped, Uh, yeah, one story. It's one of these things.
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: Is you know, uh, after a game in Cleveland, an
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: athletic trainer, longtime athletic trainer for the Angels, a long
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: time athletic trainer. I came in the clubhouse on one
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: of the large medicine balls, bouncing up and down. I
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: might have forgot to put uh, you know, a couple
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: of layers of clothes on.
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I think I know who you're talking about,
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: Rick Smith.
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: But uh, in an effort to break the ice, and
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: I think it was completely on point. The timing was
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: everyone was dying laughing, and Smitty was incredible in that way.
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: You know, he never took it too seriously. He had
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: war stories going back decades. He'd seen it all. Another
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: guy that was incredibly helpful, along with you know others
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: that that we've mentioned along the way, and you know
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: that story, I'll never forget it. See it that That
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: one's hard firmly imprinted on the well.
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: My fondest memory of Rick Smith is very similar. He
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: tended to pull a lot of his stunts without many
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: any clothes on. But remember that like twol belt like
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: thing he used to wear around his waist with all
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: his you know, tape and scissors and all of his uh,
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: all of his training. He would he came into the
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: clubhouse after a tough loss wearing only that and obviously
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: dancing the only way Rick Smith could. So that is
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: a visual we will not have on the show. But
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: Mark Trumbull, this is your thanks for sharing with us today.
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: That's going to be all for Halo territory and we
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: will see you next time.