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Kevin Rand: Life After MLB as a Trainer · Motor City Mad Mouth

0:23
Speaker 1: Happy Monday, everybody, Miam. Is Scott Morgan at the Motor
0:27
Speaker 1: City mad Mouth clea to be joined by a guy
0:29
Speaker 1: who I view as a brother, friend, colleague, et cetera.
0:33
Speaker 1: And if I don't not going to attag the word
0:35
Speaker 1: et cetera, because et cetera wouldn't be enough to describe
0:38
Speaker 1: the relationship that I have with Kevin Rand, former MLB
0:42
Speaker 1: trainer known for his stops began with the New York
0:44
Speaker 1: k GS, work with the Detroit Tires and the Florida Marylands.
0:48
Speaker 1: Kevin is nice enough to join us here in the
0:50
Speaker 1: MotorCity of mad Mouth show. Kevin, thanks for doing this tonight.
0:53
Speaker 2: Well, thanks Scott, thanks for having me on.
0:56
Speaker 1: You're very welcome. Always a pleasure to get your own.
0:58
Speaker 1: With the situation for Mets, I want everybody know that
1:00
Speaker 1: one hundred and eight such as Baseball Talk will beyond
1:02
Speaker 1: that approximately eight thirty pm Eastern time. I'll make sure
1:06
Speaker 1: I have plenty of time to talk with my brother keV.
1:08
Speaker 1: They have a lot of the great things get to
1:10
Speaker 1: so I hope you and come on with their questions.
1:14
Speaker 1: It's going to be a dandy broadcast tonight, so Kevin,
1:17
Speaker 1: let's get to it. Summarize your time in MLB or Tigers,
1:21
Speaker 1: the Yankees at the athletic training of course obviously highlights
1:25
Speaker 1: and the relationships that you've gained in MLB, highlights in
1:29
Speaker 1: the career relationships once the relationships you've gained with MLB
1:32
Speaker 1: in the last three years.
1:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've been very, very fortunate, Scott. Obviously, I started
1:39
Speaker 2: my career back in nineteen eighty two with the as
1:42
Speaker 2: you all know, the four Lauderdaily Yankees start Merrill was
1:45
Speaker 2: a manager there, later managed the New York Yankees. I
1:49
Speaker 2: was with the Yankees in the minor leagues for eleven years.
1:53
Speaker 2: The first seven I was with clubs. I was with
1:55
Speaker 2: Single A for Lauderdale for three years. I was in
1:58
Speaker 2: Albany for one year in Double A, and then I
2:01
Speaker 2: was three years in Columbus, Ohio with the Triple A
2:05
Speaker 2: club before becoming the very first minor league athletic training
2:11
Speaker 2: coordinator slash major league rehab specialists for the New York Yankees.
2:16
Speaker 2: I did that for the last four years I was
2:17
Speaker 2: with him. Fortunately, I was able to then move on
2:23
Speaker 2: to the Florida Marlins as their assistant athletic trainer in
2:28
Speaker 2: starting you know, the very first season in nineteen ninety three,
2:31
Speaker 2: I was fortunate to work with Larry Starr, hall of
2:35
Speaker 2: fame athletic trainer who had been previously with the Big
2:37
Speaker 2: Red Machine in Cincinnati, and of course I was able
2:42
Speaker 2: to work with Dave Dombrowski, very obviously successful general manager
2:47
Speaker 2: at that time it continues to this day. We were
2:51
Speaker 2: very fortunate in that relationship. There. We did really extremely well,
2:55
Speaker 2: obviously won a World Series in nineteen ninety seven, which
2:57
Speaker 2: I'm very proud of. You can see it on the
2:58
Speaker 2: wall behind me, and got a chance at the end
3:04
Speaker 2: of two thousand and one, I took one season in Montreal,
3:08
Speaker 2: with the ownership transfer to Jeffrey Laurier and John Henry
3:12
Speaker 2: moving to Boston. I went to Montreal as their assistant
3:15
Speaker 2: athletic trainer for one year in two thousand and two,
3:18
Speaker 2: and then followed that up, Dave Dombrowski reached out to
3:22
Speaker 2: me and asked me if I would be willing to
3:25
Speaker 2: come on board with the Detroit Tigers as their head
3:27
Speaker 2: athletic trainer, where I spent the next fifteen years and
3:31
Speaker 2: obviously did very well. There was paired up again with
3:34
Speaker 2: Jim Leland, who you know we've been together in Florida
3:37
Speaker 2: and then to be together again in Detroit from two
3:41
Speaker 2: thousand and six twenty and thirteen. You know, we were
3:44
Speaker 2: able to go to the World Series, represent the American
3:46
Speaker 2: League in the World Series twice, though we lost in
3:49
Speaker 2: two thousand and six and twenty twelve and probably had
3:53
Speaker 2: our best club in twenty thirteen when we get beat
3:56
Speaker 2: by Boston and the ALCS. I've just obviously been very
4:01
Speaker 2: very blessed. I spent the last five years in the
4:05
Speaker 2: Detroit system. Is their senior director of medical services, and
4:10
Speaker 2: so I worked out of Lakeland, Florida primarily at that time.
4:14
Speaker 2: And since that time, I've just done a lot of
4:16
Speaker 2: work with MLB, who's been very very good to me.
4:20
Speaker 2: I do a lot of consulting work with them. I
4:22
Speaker 2: work with the Major League in Minor league umpires. I
4:26
Speaker 2: do their umpire prospect development camp in Vero Beach, Florida.
4:30
Speaker 2: Scott Sheridan, who runs the Major league umpires, and Sean Facasni,
4:35
Speaker 2: who does the minor league side, have been very very great,
4:40
Speaker 2: great for me. I've done both the Major and minor
4:44
Speaker 2: league umpire physicals in Arizona and Florida, and the big
4:49
Speaker 2: thing I've been able to do with MLB. Is you
4:52
Speaker 2: see my shirt World Baseball Classic, I was watunate it.
4:55
Speaker 2: In twenty twenty two September, I worked the World Baseball
5:00
Speaker 2: Classic qualifier in Regensburg, Germany with South Africa, and I
5:05
Speaker 2: repeated with South Africa again here in twenty twenty six
5:08
Speaker 2: in Taiwan at the World Baseball Classic qualifiers and the
5:13
Speaker 2: World Baseball Classic itself. In twenty twenty three, I worked
5:15
Speaker 2: with Baseball Australia and we just missed getting to come
5:21
Speaker 2: to the United States for the semifinals. We got beat
5:23
Speaker 2: by Cuba four to three. We left a ton of
5:26
Speaker 2: base runners on and then and then Baseball Australia took
5:32
Speaker 2: me at that point and asked me if I'd be
5:34
Speaker 2: willing to work for them, and I did. I've done
5:36
Speaker 2: the Premier twelve tournament in Tokyo, Japan later that year,
5:40
Speaker 2: and then last year.
5:41
Speaker 1: I worked a U twenty three.
5:43
Speaker 2: Tournament at the World Cup tournament in Sheichuan, China.
5:47
Speaker 1: So great stuff. What was I like to work with
5:50
Speaker 1: the Montreal Atos for a year?
5:53
Speaker 2: You know what? It was a great year. We did well.
5:57
Speaker 2: It was we were kind of thrown together on the
6:00
Speaker 2: staff side of it. Frank Robinson was the manager. I
6:03
Speaker 2: loved working with Frank because he's he's now passed away,
6:09
Speaker 2: but he was he was terrific to work for, worked with.
6:13
Speaker 2: Ronnie McClain was the head athletic train at the time,
6:15
Speaker 2: and and we had we had a good club. We
6:19
Speaker 2: finished we want to finish in second in our division.
6:21
Speaker 2: We didn't make the We didn't make the postseason at
6:23
Speaker 2: that time because they only took you know, the best
6:26
Speaker 2: second place finisher. It wasn't us, but at the end
6:28
Speaker 2: of the day, it was. It was a rewarding It
6:31
Speaker 2: was a rewarding season.
6:33
Speaker 1: Amazing how they were able to use a Dodger Town
6:35
Speaker 1: complex at Vero Beach and still be able to use
6:37
Speaker 1: it for what you were doing. It's a great place.
6:39
Speaker 1: I used to left to go up there. I know
6:41
Speaker 1: the Dodgers had to go up to Arizona. But it's
6:43
Speaker 1: good that that facility is still being used. They have
6:46
Speaker 1: a lot of rules that people can know what was here.
6:49
Speaker 1: It wasn't like for you to work over the Dodger Town.
6:51
Speaker 2: Oh, it's it's fantastic. It's changed so much. I mean,
6:56
Speaker 2: I mean, I remember nineteen eighty two when I was
6:58
Speaker 2: in the Florida State League, you know, in nineteen eighty
7:01
Speaker 2: two or eighty four, and then I remembered all the
7:02
Speaker 2: spring trainings that I went there, you know, when we
7:05
Speaker 2: play the Dodgers, and they've done so much work to that.
7:09
Speaker 2: It's just Major League Baseball's put a ton of money
7:12
Speaker 2: in there, and it's really really become a nice, nice facility,
7:16
Speaker 2: and it's even it's going to continue to get better.
7:18
Speaker 2: It's just but it's enjoyable. The people are outstanding there.
7:24
Speaker 2: Like I said, they've got a nice endoor facility for
7:25
Speaker 2: the umpires. They've really done a great job at giving
7:29
Speaker 2: them a lot of space to work with and indoor
7:33
Speaker 2: space for inclement weather. I mean, it's just fantastic what
7:37
Speaker 2: MLB's doing there.
7:39
Speaker 1: The only thing when I was there the last time, Kevin,
7:42
Speaker 1: they did not have any way to protect their fans
7:46
Speaker 1: from the elements. I don't know if that's changed or not.
7:48
Speaker 2: Has it now? That hasn't really changed. I mean it's
7:51
Speaker 2: still you know, I mean it's a fairly open ballpark.
7:54
Speaker 2: I mean, Home and Stadium hasn't changed that much. But
7:58
Speaker 2: still it's a it's it's just a neat place to go.
8:02
Speaker 2: It has a lot of history. And you know, and now,
8:06
Speaker 2: like I said, MLB, the money that they're putting into it,
8:09
Speaker 2: they've really done a super job with the facilities.
8:13
Speaker 1: And just let everybody know. Kevin and I met in
8:15
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty two with the Fort Lauderdale Yankees, and hopefully
8:18
Speaker 1: one of these days will be greatest Kevin and I
8:20
Speaker 1: and something I can do a show together. I know
8:22
Speaker 1: that's something to work on. Did you have a chance
8:24
Speaker 1: to go out there and listen to that interview with
8:27
Speaker 1: Andrew Graham that I sent you a day or two ago,
8:31
Speaker 1: because it was unbelievable. This guy was great. I interviewed
8:33
Speaker 1: him over.
8:34
Speaker 2: Yes, he's He's Andrew's a special, special guy. I'm so
8:38
Speaker 2: happy for him. He you know, he spent spent spending
8:41
Speaker 2: his time in the minor leagues. He just got promoted
8:44
Speaker 2: the Double A with the Tigers. As a manager, he
8:48
Speaker 2: and I were together. I mean I knew Andrews as
8:51
Speaker 2: a minor league manager, but I didn't really know him.
8:53
Speaker 2: And then he and I were together in Tokyo for
8:56
Speaker 2: the twenty twenty three World Baseball Classic. He was a
9:00
Speaker 2: third base coach and just just an awesome individual, just
9:04
Speaker 2: a great, great person and I'm so happy for Andrew
9:08
Speaker 2: just to get that break. And you know, you know,
9:11
Speaker 2: he's in Double A, so he's you know, every club.
9:14
Speaker 2: People don't realize when every club has one Double A team.
9:17
Speaker 2: So there are thirty Double A managers, there are thirty
9:19
Speaker 2: Triple A managers. So he's right there, you know. And
9:22
Speaker 2: I think he does a terrific job. You know, he
9:25
Speaker 2: really he's great with his players, has great relationships with
9:28
Speaker 2: his players, and I'm really impressed by him.
9:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that interview I had with him, we
9:35
Speaker 1: couldn't do an outside because of music and copyright issue,
9:37
Speaker 1: so it was able to get it in the clubhouse.
9:39
Speaker 1: It was great. I can only imagine how many based
9:42
Speaker 1: on players you saw with the World Baseball Classic qualifiers.
9:46
Speaker 1: That had to be something else, wasn't it.
9:48
Speaker 2: It was a lot of fun.
9:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can only imagine. And of course you work
9:52
Speaker 1: with the MLB umpires. You say you were actually doing
9:55
Speaker 1: the physicals for a lot of these guys to make
9:57
Speaker 1: sure that they were.
9:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm just I'm just a piece in there. You know,
10:03
Speaker 2: when we do physicals on you know, whether it's players, umpires,
10:07
Speaker 2: you have a lot of moving parts. Now I just
10:10
Speaker 2: play a small part in that. And you know, it's
10:13
Speaker 2: been Like I said, it's been good for me. I
10:16
Speaker 2: always enjoyed working with the umpires, I think, to be
10:20
Speaker 2: perfectly honest with you, especially coming up to the minor leagues,
10:23
Speaker 2: the umpires have it tougher than anybody because they're on
10:26
Speaker 2: the road all the time unless they make their home
10:29
Speaker 2: in one of the cities. And now the way they
10:32
Speaker 2: rotate umpires around leagues, you know, it's instead of keeping
10:37
Speaker 2: them in one, it makes it even that much tougher
10:40
Speaker 2: for those guys being away from home. They're away from
10:42
Speaker 2: home the whole time. That's that's that's tough duty.
10:45
Speaker 1: So the chatman real quick Bryan that it's a lot
10:49
Speaker 1: of baseballs in High scott and Kevin Brian's a real
10:51
Speaker 1: big baseball guy, he really is. It's a lot for
10:54
Speaker 1: his allegiances are obviously with the Cup. We're gonna bring
10:57
Speaker 1: Katye Embling on for a station break and she's gonna
11:00
Speaker 1: ask you a couple of questions as well. Go ahead, can't.
11:03
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11:07
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11:10
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12:01
Speaker 3: always email us at Southport a Tribute at gmail dot com. Okay,
12:08
Speaker 3: with that being said, mister Kevin, we talked a little
12:10
Speaker 3: bit of pre production and we were talking about what
12:13
Speaker 3: is your favorite stadium to watch a ballgame? And since
12:18
Speaker 3: you've been in so many of the Major league parks.
12:23
Speaker 2: Well, first I'll tell you that's kind of a loaded question.
12:26
Speaker 2: Because it's this watching the ballgame, is working in the facilities,
12:32
Speaker 2: and then I like proximity, so I'm partial to being
12:36
Speaker 2: able to walk to the ballpark. I guess I would
12:39
Speaker 2: have to say I would have to say co America
12:41
Speaker 2: was one because I spent so much time there, obviously
12:45
Speaker 2: fifteen years watching baseball games in Comerica Park, and at
12:50
Speaker 2: the end of my time in Detroit, I actually lived
12:53
Speaker 2: downtown and would walk to the ballpark there as well
12:56
Speaker 2: every day, so that was enjoyable on the road. Ode
13:02
Speaker 2: ones that I always was partial to was Camden Yards.
13:07
Speaker 2: Camden was just a unique spot when it started and opened,
13:10
Speaker 2: and it was a great place to watch a baseball game.
13:12
Speaker 2: I thought, you've kind of close proximity to home plate,
13:17
Speaker 2: and it was also a ballpark that you could walk
13:19
Speaker 2: to Initially, I'm not I'm not sure they do that
13:23
Speaker 2: as much now, but you did back in the day.
13:27
Speaker 2: I also loved, uh surprising one I really loved to
13:30
Speaker 2: watch the ballgame in was Anaheim after their after their renovations,
13:36
Speaker 2: when they you know, changed that stadium around, because the
13:40
Speaker 2: proximity of home plate there was it was it was
13:42
Speaker 2: like you're right on top of the game. It was great.
13:44
Speaker 2: I loved I loved watching the game there as well.
13:48
Speaker 2: And a great place also is Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is a
13:53
Speaker 2: beautiful ballpark and you got the bridges. It's just it's
13:56
Speaker 2: just it's just a nice place to watch a baseball game,
13:58
Speaker 2: I think.
14:00
Speaker 3: And you said the best for your facilities, for your
14:04
Speaker 3: job and doing your.
14:05
Speaker 2: Job facility wise, I would have to say, and you know,
14:09
Speaker 2: of course, going to other ballparks, you're in the visiting
14:11
Speaker 2: side obviously. New York Yankees Yankee Stadium, New Yankee Stadium
14:16
Speaker 2: is pretty special, a great place to a great place
14:20
Speaker 2: to work. Milwaukee's new Stadium. I thought they did a
14:23
Speaker 2: tremendous job there. Everywhere you go, you have two steps
14:27
Speaker 2: from the dugout, your two steps from the managers office,
14:29
Speaker 2: two steps training rooms. They made it a hub and
14:33
Speaker 2: I thought that was pretty well done. And that was
14:36
Speaker 2: a great place. I'll tell you a surprise, Oh, Seattle
14:40
Speaker 2: was nice. Seattle was always really nice when they went
14:43
Speaker 2: into the you know, the stadium that they play in today.
14:48
Speaker 2: And one that would surprise for a lot of people
14:50
Speaker 2: is Tampa, Tampa Bay. The facilities in Tampa at the
14:55
Speaker 2: Dome were great. From the standpoint of working for working
14:59
Speaker 2: from working perspective.
15:02
Speaker 1: Traffic Cannafield, tropic Canna Field.
15:06
Speaker 3: I'm gonna ask one question. So another question though, So
15:09
Speaker 3: when you walked into some of these iconic stadiums did
15:13
Speaker 3: you get did you get like overwhelmed in some of those,
15:17
Speaker 3: like like the Wrigley Fields and you know, the Yankee Stadium,
15:22
Speaker 3: like the wall you know in Boston, did that you know, it's.
15:29
Speaker 2: You know, it's fine. I yes, I mean I love
15:33
Speaker 2: from the standpoint you know, you know, being a baseball kid.
15:36
Speaker 2: I grew up baseball kid, and I liking it today
15:39
Speaker 2: to the first time, the first time that I ever
15:42
Speaker 2: walked into Fenway Park as a kid, that first time
15:46
Speaker 2: walking up through and now seeing that green field and
15:50
Speaker 2: I came. Of course, this was during the time black
15:51
Speaker 2: and white TV, so you know, just to see that
15:55
Speaker 2: was an amazing thing. But yeah, I mean the first
15:58
Speaker 2: time is around, especially you know, especially the iconic ones
16:01
Speaker 2: Fenway Park, Wrigley Field. They might not have been they
16:06
Speaker 2: might not have been the best working conditions, but they
16:09
Speaker 2: keep trying to make them better and better and better.
16:12
Speaker 2: I mean, they did a phenomenal job with Wrigley. They've
16:14
Speaker 2: you know, They've done a great job in Boston trying
16:17
Speaker 2: to me. But there's such history there. There's such history
16:21
Speaker 2: that a lot of people don't know it, but you know,
16:23
Speaker 2: they they have behind the wall in Fenway and you
16:27
Speaker 2: can go through that door and go behind that wall
16:29
Speaker 2: in Fenway the scoreboard where they manually operate and and
16:34
Speaker 2: I was able to take my son back there, and
16:35
Speaker 2: I'll never forget it. In fact, it was on my
16:37
Speaker 2: birthday one year and we were able to go back
16:40
Speaker 2: there and sign the back of the wall, you know,
16:43
Speaker 2: and that's I mean, you just think how long that's
16:46
Speaker 2: been there, you know, and it's pretty it's pretty special.
16:50
Speaker 2: There really is awesome, awesome.
16:53
Speaker 3: Well, I'll let you go back to interviewing him.
16:55
Speaker 2: Scott, thanks taking the questions.
17:01
Speaker 1: Those are good questions. Like Candy, I thought they were
17:03
Speaker 1: a program. I'm glad that she came up with.
17:06
Speaker 4: Let's talk about the ABS system. You're not you're not
17:09
Speaker 4: a fan of it, are you?
17:12
Speaker 2: And no, Scott, I'll tell you why. I mean, ah,
17:18
Speaker 2: I feel why why do we always try to make
17:22
Speaker 2: everything like it's it's got to be a video game?
17:25
Speaker 2: And to me, the umpires, it's well documented, very well
17:31
Speaker 2: documented of the percentage of calls that they get right.
17:36
Speaker 2: It's a phenomenal amount, ninety plus percent, ninety close to
17:40
Speaker 2: ninety seven percent, I think. And at the end of
17:42
Speaker 2: the day, you know, that's part of the game. And
17:46
Speaker 2: I just, I just I just don't see that.
17:50
Speaker 1: I mean, what are we gonna do.
17:51
Speaker 2: We're gonna want a player mix, and ever, we're gonna
17:53
Speaker 2: run the play backwards again. I mean, you know, those
17:55
Speaker 2: things are part of the game, and I'm I just
17:59
Speaker 2: don't think I I just don't think it's necessary. And
18:04
Speaker 2: you know, it's kind of I thought a lot about
18:06
Speaker 2: this the other day. We're talking and I'm like, you know,
18:11
Speaker 2: the game of baseball always undergoes changes, pendulums always swing,
18:18
Speaker 2: and but it always comes back. And you know, the
18:23
Speaker 2: game was really smart. I mean, one in one hundred
18:26
Speaker 2: and fifty years, we didn't have to hardly change any rules.
18:28
Speaker 2: Why don't we all of a sudden have to change
18:30
Speaker 2: all these rules in the last, you know, a few years.
18:32
Speaker 2: What is why? Why is that? I mean, I think
18:36
Speaker 2: we what do we have to we have to change
18:38
Speaker 2: the rules to fit are the people's idea of how
18:41
Speaker 2: the game should be?
18:42
Speaker 1: Right?
18:43
Speaker 2: You know, it's like It's like, you know, when they
18:46
Speaker 2: talk about the shift. I mean, I've got a picture
18:48
Speaker 2: on my phone of the shift on Ted Williams in
18:52
Speaker 2: the forties. They shifted far worse than what was being
18:57
Speaker 2: and and so to my way of thinking, all you
19:00
Speaker 2: had to do is say simply, Okay, here's what we're
19:02
Speaker 2: gonna do. We're gonna we're gonna make sure of one thing.
19:06
Speaker 2: Infielders have to be on the dirt. They can be
19:08
Speaker 2: wherever they want, but have to they have to be
19:10
Speaker 2: on the dirt. And I think you would have seen
19:13
Speaker 2: a whole different ball, you know, it wouldn't you know,
19:18
Speaker 2: Teams wouldn't do it. They're run into each other. So
19:21
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, you've taken care of a problem
19:24
Speaker 2: you know, people looked at. But the game, the game
19:27
Speaker 2: always corrects itself. It always does. Pictures pitch up, Hitters
19:33
Speaker 2: start to look up, Pictures get pitched down. You know,
19:36
Speaker 2: they move balls, you know the right now they're in
19:40
Speaker 2: the they're locked into power, but they're gonna get away
19:43
Speaker 2: from power. When all of a sudden, people start putting
19:46
Speaker 2: the emphasis on wanting their better pictures to go deeper
19:49
Speaker 2: in the game, They'll say, well, we need you to
19:52
Speaker 2: go deeper in the game. However that is if that
19:55
Speaker 2: doesn't mean you're throwing, you know, ninety eight miles an
19:58
Speaker 2: hour all the time, so be it. We want you
20:00
Speaker 2: pitching in the seventh and eighthen it's going to change,
20:03
Speaker 2: It's going to come back. It doesn't have to be
20:05
Speaker 2: artificially brought back. It will happen. It's just like the
20:09
Speaker 2: game teams that already begun starting running again without them
20:15
Speaker 2: doing anything with the basis, without them doing anything with
20:19
Speaker 2: throwing over the first base. That's that's what I really
20:21
Speaker 2: don't like. But they they were already teams. It was
20:26
Speaker 2: already being shown that teams were starting to emphasize the
20:29
Speaker 2: running game again because everything had gotten so power happy.
20:33
Speaker 2: They're going to do what they have to do to succeed.
20:37
Speaker 2: And and it's always been that way. It's always been
20:40
Speaker 2: a sick look thing. Benzlum comes back.
20:45
Speaker 1: Rob Manfred, there's your reason right there. I don't know
20:48
Speaker 1: why you're doing it. As far as what you take
20:50
Speaker 1: it is on the shift if you're fifty one way,
20:53
Speaker 1: never heard of hitting the ball. Put bad on ball
20:56
Speaker 1: and hit it the other way where you have an
20:57
Speaker 1: easy base.
20:58
Speaker 5: It really seriously and teams, and teams would if they
21:02
Speaker 5: would start doing it, And they did start doing it
21:04
Speaker 5: just like just like teams had started, they realized that
21:08
Speaker 5: the running game had been de emphasized.
21:10
Speaker 2: Well, where can we get an advantage on our opponent.
21:13
Speaker 2: We're going to start execute, We're going to start doing
21:16
Speaker 2: it playing a running game, And all of a sudden
21:18
Speaker 2: they started playing a run game a little bit. You
21:20
Speaker 2: don't have to artificially change the game. The game will
21:22
Speaker 2: change itself. It'll adjust itself, and it always has.
21:26
Speaker 1: I agree with that.
21:27
Speaker 2: Yes, that's for me. I'm an old time guy.
21:29
Speaker 1: Well, I'm an old school guy just like you. Remember
21:31
Speaker 1: we've both got two great beers on here. We both
21:34
Speaker 1: know each other in a long time talking about the
21:37
Speaker 1: great old game. Why bother to change it? Speaking of which,
21:41
Speaker 1: we'll talk about the changes of late that you're not
21:44
Speaker 1: in favor of and something that you like. We talked
21:46
Speaker 1: about it now on show. Please elaborate.
21:50
Speaker 2: Ones that I like. I definitely, I definitely was a
21:53
Speaker 2: big fan of the pitch clock. And the reason I
21:56
Speaker 2: said is because you know, you can think some of
21:58
Speaker 2: the guys that took a long time the pitch back
22:00
Speaker 2: in the day, Steve Traxel some of those guys. And
22:03
Speaker 2: I always felt that pitchers had advantage when they kept
22:06
Speaker 2: coming at the hitter, kept coming at the hitter, and
22:10
Speaker 2: and that was that was one that I also knew
22:15
Speaker 2: that the players that players that pictures would adjust to
22:19
Speaker 2: that they were they would adjust to that, and they
22:22
Speaker 2: would adjust to it fairly quickly, and they did. And
22:25
Speaker 2: I do think that's been good. But you were looking
22:29
Speaker 2: if if your goal I lost, if your goal was
22:34
Speaker 2: to if your goal was to speed the game up,
22:40
Speaker 2: you definitely we was gonna You're gonna accomplish it. With that,
22:43
Speaker 2: you didn't need to do some of those other things.
22:46
Speaker 2: I don't I don't like the the the two times
22:50
Speaker 2: throwing over, the two engagements, I don't. I don't care
22:53
Speaker 2: for that. I think you should be able to do
22:55
Speaker 2: throw over as as often as you need. And I
22:59
Speaker 2: don't think he would the scene. You're not going to
23:02
Speaker 2: see any just changes that wouldn't change the game a
23:05
Speaker 2: whole lot time wise, And so I didn't think that
23:08
Speaker 2: one was necessary, just like I didn't think you needed
23:11
Speaker 2: to address the shift anymore than just putting all the
23:14
Speaker 2: guys on the infield that would have done the same thing.
23:17
Speaker 1: What about the limitation of mountain visits the mound visits.
23:24
Speaker 2: I don't think it kind of comes back to what
23:27
Speaker 2: I say about how the game evolves. Well, the mound
23:31
Speaker 2: doesn't evolve because you're making all these pitching changes. But
23:35
Speaker 2: you're making pitching changes because you've tried to create a
23:37
Speaker 2: showcase athlete game as opposed to starting pitcher pitching. You know,
23:42
Speaker 2: when that's starting pitcher pitches and pitches deeper into the game,
23:45
Speaker 2: you don't have a whole lot of mountain visits just
23:48
Speaker 2: the way it is. So I don't think it necessarily
23:51
Speaker 2: had to be. But that one, I mean, that's neither
23:54
Speaker 2: hear of That one didn't bother me a whole lot
23:55
Speaker 2: because that didn't to me, doesn't affect the game on
23:58
Speaker 2: the field itself.
23:59
Speaker 1: How can I not have an interview without you without
24:02
Speaker 1: asking about the ghost Runner?
24:04
Speaker 2: The ghost Runner don't get me started?
24:07
Speaker 1: No, don't get you started. Well, just say you like
24:11
Speaker 1: it or despise it.
24:13
Speaker 2: No, I don't. I don't like it at all. If
24:18
Speaker 2: if you if their feeling was, if their feeling was
24:23
Speaker 2: that they wanted shorter games, they didn't want to get
24:26
Speaker 2: into those long type of games, I understand where they're
24:30
Speaker 2: coming from on that side of the equation. But what
24:35
Speaker 2: was wrong with us playing twelve innings thirteen? Say? Pay,
24:42
Speaker 2: say okay, most of your extra inning games were over
24:46
Speaker 2: by this time, so this is the number of extra
24:49
Speaker 2: ins we're going to play. And then if you wanted
24:52
Speaker 2: to make an argument for it, I'm not a fan.
24:54
Speaker 1: No, I like what you just said. I'll go twelve innings,
24:58
Speaker 1: then hit the ghost runner. I'm okay with that. That
25:01
Speaker 1: to means a happy meeting, and I compromise. I'm okay
25:03
Speaker 1: with that.
25:05
Speaker 2: That's that's what I mean. I mean, if you had
25:06
Speaker 2: done your research and said, okay, the the this is
25:10
Speaker 2: the number of exter run in games we're having every
25:12
Speaker 2: single year, and this is the average link of the
25:15
Speaker 2: ex run in games. Uh, you know, predominantly or sixty
25:19
Speaker 2: percent of them done in twelve innings, you know, then
25:22
Speaker 2: just do that and then and then if you wanted to,
25:25
Speaker 2: I get it, But no, not no. Starting at ten,
25:30
Speaker 2: I have a I'll tell you where I have a
25:31
Speaker 2: hard time with that is I've sat in those dugouts
25:36
Speaker 2: and you've got a team that's absolutely let's say you
25:39
Speaker 2: you just got a picture that's just crushing you. I'm
25:42
Speaker 2: going to tell you here's here's two things. I really believe.
25:46
Speaker 2: You've got a picture that's absolutely crushing you, and he's
25:48
Speaker 2: crushed you. Through six innings, you haven't touched him. And
25:52
Speaker 2: and all of a sudden the air metrics say, oh,
25:55
Speaker 2: third time around after six he gets hit. We got
26:00
Speaker 2: to get him out. No, on that night, he's unhittable.
26:02
Speaker 2: You'll leave him in. You don't take him out. You
26:05
Speaker 2: don't because if you take him out, we're on the
26:07
Speaker 2: other side going, thank you very much, you've now given
26:10
Speaker 2: us a chance. And on the on the side of
26:15
Speaker 2: extream in games, if we aren't able, if we haven't
26:17
Speaker 2: been able to do anything all day and get anybody on,
26:21
Speaker 2: but yet our pitcher has done a good job and
26:23
Speaker 2: kept us in this game. You know, let's say we've
26:26
Speaker 2: got one run too, whatever the case might be. Why
26:29
Speaker 2: are you then rewarding me by putting my guy on
26:31
Speaker 2: second base when I can't can't get one there to
26:33
Speaker 2: begin with, and I haven't been able to get one
26:35
Speaker 2: there to begin with. And that's kind of what I
26:37
Speaker 2: feel they're doing there. You know, they arbitrary said, well,
26:41
Speaker 2: we'll do this, this will be the way we'll I
26:44
Speaker 2: don't care for it.
26:45
Speaker 1: Well, like I said, if we were going for the
26:46
Speaker 1: Commissioner together, you'll be the commissioner. I'll be your assistant,
26:49
Speaker 1: but i'd be your assistant for anything all day. Well,
26:51
Speaker 1: I say, started to talk then and see what happens.
26:55
Speaker 1: But then again we'd say, we can talk all day
26:58
Speaker 1: about let's go back across the and into Javan. You
27:01
Speaker 1: talk about the Tokyo Premiere twelve relationship for the WBC parties,
27:06
Speaker 1: Please elaborate on that.
27:08
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I was very fortunate in the WBC
27:10
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three, Like I said, I went to
27:13
Speaker 2: work with Australia Dave Nielsen, Andrew Graham was the third
27:18
Speaker 2: base coach in Bennett pitching coach. I mean, these guys
27:21
Speaker 2: are phenomenal people to work with. Shane Watson, I just
27:24
Speaker 2: worked with him as well, and and I had a
27:29
Speaker 2: chance when that World Baseball Classic was over, they reached
27:33
Speaker 2: out to me in the summer and they asked me,
27:35
Speaker 2: you know, would you be willing to go back to
27:36
Speaker 2: Tokyo in November for the Premier twelve event? And I
27:40
Speaker 2: said absolutely. Uh, the baseball in Tokyo is it's hard
27:45
Speaker 2: to explain I want you to think about how European
27:50
Speaker 2: football is. You know, the Premier League in England and
27:54
Speaker 2: you know the league in Spain, Germany. The fans are
28:00
Speaker 2: amazing at the games in Tokyo, they are just absolutely amazing.
28:05
Speaker 2: The games are fun. They're playing music. From the time
28:09
Speaker 2: the guy comes to the plate, he's got his walk
28:12
Speaker 2: up song, he's got a song out for his team,
28:14
Speaker 2: he's got the song. You know, they're just playing music,
28:17
Speaker 2: they're charing, they're chanting, and the whole time, the whole game,
28:22
Speaker 2: and it's just a lot of fun to be a
28:24
Speaker 2: part of. And so when I had the chance to
28:26
Speaker 2: go back to Tokyo again in November, I said, yeah,
28:28
Speaker 2: absolutely went there and actually this time we stayed at
28:32
Speaker 2: the Tokyo Dome Hotel, which is attached short just walked
28:35
Speaker 2: underneath end of the stadium. And then, like I said,
28:40
Speaker 2: then Baseball Australia has been very good to me. They
28:42
Speaker 2: also reached out and asked me if I do the
28:44
Speaker 2: World Cup in twenty twenty four, in the U twenty
28:50
Speaker 2: three World Cup in China. So yeah, it's got a
28:56
Speaker 2: result of a result of MLB, you know, aside me
29:00
Speaker 2: to the World Baseball Classic over there in Tokyo. I
29:03
Speaker 2: loved it there, I really did. It's outstanding. But I've gotten,
29:07
Speaker 2: you know, a good relationship with Baseball Australia as a
29:10
Speaker 2: result of that.
29:11
Speaker 1: So let me answer this question for Jazz number one
29:13
Speaker 1: JASS thirteen. That show is going to be actually at
29:16
Speaker 1: eight thirty pm Eastern time. I have Kevin ran Down,
29:19
Speaker 1: my longtime friend here who started with the New York
29:22
Speaker 1: Yankees to begin with, and we met in nineteen eighty
29:26
Speaker 1: two with the Fort Lawdy Yankees and we've been friends since, brothers,
29:30
Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it. So that show will
29:31
Speaker 1: be on at eight thirty Jans. That'll be a great
29:33
Speaker 1: show too because we're going to talk about jazz schism
29:35
Speaker 1: as well. So thanks for being on here. As I
29:38
Speaker 1: said when I was previewing the show, cap that I
29:41
Speaker 1: was swinging for the fences tonight with our show as
29:43
Speaker 1: well as the under day Baseball talk, and I really
29:45
Speaker 1: meant it starting off with you, and of course the
29:48
Speaker 1: show later on, so great. Thanks for checking his jazz
29:51
Speaker 1: and of course you'll be able to watch it. One
29:53
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty six is Baseball, but just a little
29:55
Speaker 1: bit later tonight. So let's talk about the Tokyo series.
29:58
Speaker 1: You talk about the Tokyo Dome. What was that like
30:00
Speaker 1: between the Dodgers and the Cubs If you liked the
30:03
Speaker 1: series and I didn't know that the Tokyo Dome had
30:06
Speaker 1: a hotel attached to it.
30:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's got the Tokyo Dome Hotel, which is right there. Uh. Yeah,
30:15
Speaker 2: I thought the series opening up there with the Dodgers
30:18
Speaker 2: and the Cubs. Uh, what a great series. A lot
30:21
Speaker 2: of the people that worked the World Baseball Class and
30:23
Speaker 2: Qualifier in Taiwan. Uh, at the end of February, they
30:27
Speaker 2: actually left from Taiwan and went straight over to Tokyo
30:30
Speaker 2: to get ready for that series. Uh, you know, to
30:34
Speaker 2: get the fields ready and get the facilities all up
30:36
Speaker 2: you know speed. I just think it's great for baseball.
30:41
Speaker 2: I mean, you took you took two you took two clubs.
30:43
Speaker 2: Obviously show Hey or Tani we all know about him.
30:46
Speaker 2: But I mean you took you took two clubs that
30:49
Speaker 2: have you know, a lot of you know, Japanese influence
30:52
Speaker 2: and players. He took them over there and you know,
30:55
Speaker 2: played two games and and and to me, yeah, growing
31:00
Speaker 2: the game around the globe is huge. I mean, and
31:03
Speaker 2: it's like I saw it when I went to Taiwan
31:05
Speaker 2: for the qualifier, the World Baseball Classic qualifier. The Dome
31:09
Speaker 2: in Taiwan was as nice as any facility I've ever
31:12
Speaker 2: been in. I mean, it was first class, major league clubhouse,
31:17
Speaker 2: major league great room, major league training room, everything about it,
31:20
Speaker 2: the atmosphere, and I think that's a credit to Major
31:24
Speaker 2: League Baseball, the job that they've done. And it's those
31:27
Speaker 2: types of games, like the Cubs and the Dodgers going
31:30
Speaker 2: over and playing there, which to me is is a
31:34
Speaker 2: great thing. I mean, it's just it's expanding the game,
31:37
Speaker 2: and they've continued to do it. The games they've played
31:40
Speaker 2: in London, the games they've played in Mexico.
31:44
Speaker 1: You know, I just.
31:45
Speaker 2: Think it's you know, when you're working some of those experiences,
31:52
Speaker 2: some of those things they kind of take you out
31:54
Speaker 2: of the normal routine. But by the same token, I mean,
31:58
Speaker 2: whenever we've done any of those those types of of
32:01
Speaker 2: you know, venues or you know, type of games, you
32:05
Speaker 2: get a lot out of it. I remember going and
32:07
Speaker 2: playing in the Hall of Fame game, which was an
32:09
Speaker 2: exhibition game. It was kind of cool. It was a
32:12
Speaker 2: lot of fun. It's just broke broke up the season. Uh,
32:15
Speaker 2: I've heard the Williamsport game has been special. I had
32:18
Speaker 2: never got a chance to be there. You know, the
32:21
Speaker 2: Field of Dreams game, those are all those are all
32:24
Speaker 2: great things, but when you're taking it across the globe,
32:26
Speaker 2: I think it is even more powerful.
32:30
Speaker 1: We've talked about the WBC a lot. Will continue the
32:32
Speaker 1: theme for a moment. We'll talk Ken Parent time fast
32:35
Speaker 1: Miami versus Japan. You know they do a pretty good
32:38
Speaker 1: job over at Low Depot part of the Orange Bowl.
32:42
Speaker 1: You were impressed with the way it's handled in Japan,
32:44
Speaker 1: weren't you?
32:45
Speaker 2: Oh? Absolutely? Now, Like I said, it was a it
32:48
Speaker 2: was a tremendous amount of fun. I mean those games
32:50
Speaker 2: were all you know, just uh, you know, the crowds
32:56
Speaker 2: were fantastic, the games, the games were enjoyable, facilities, you know,
33:01
Speaker 2: and everything about it. I mean, the World Baseball Classic
33:04
Speaker 2: over in Japan is something, something special, something to be
33:08
Speaker 2: whole and and I'm not taking anything away from Miami
33:11
Speaker 2: because I know when those clubs came back, I mean
33:13
Speaker 2: Major League Baseball got a great and obviously a great coup,
33:17
Speaker 2: and Cuba beat US the Australians and came back to
33:20
Speaker 2: play in the USA against the USA in Miami. That
33:25
Speaker 2: game was electric. You could see that and chuse Japan
33:29
Speaker 2: and then the Japan USA Final was awesome. But I
33:34
Speaker 2: mean those those pregames and those other venues, and you
33:38
Speaker 2: know how sometimes those could you know, could be a
33:40
Speaker 2: little bit different. Now they were, they were well represented,
33:43
Speaker 2: they were a lot of fun to be a part of.
33:46
Speaker 1: I can only imagine. I mean Miami. You we know
33:48
Speaker 1: about the Hispanic nature of the international aspect of the sport,
33:52
Speaker 1: and of course everybody knows that Japan has done is
33:54
Speaker 1: just iconic. And let's not sell baseball short in Korea either,
33:58
Speaker 1: because they've had some pretty great players out there. And
34:01
Speaker 1: I remember during COVID nineteen I was actually watching some
34:04
Speaker 1: of those Korean games. Were pretty interesting and how some
34:07
Speaker 1: of the former US players ended up going out there
34:10
Speaker 1: as well. I kind by the name of Adam Plutko
34:12
Speaker 1: ended up playing out there. I don't know if you're
34:15
Speaker 1: familiar with Adam at all, but but there's a bunch
34:17
Speaker 1: of guys that take advantage of opportunities to go and
34:21
Speaker 1: play in the Korean League and they were able to
34:22
Speaker 1: get their careers back on track and they're back.
34:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Koreans. The Koreans are good. The Chinese type,
34:30
Speaker 2: they're good. Japan they I mean those they played some
34:34
Speaker 2: pretty good brand of baseball and it's competitive, and it's
34:38
Speaker 2: those are some good games. They really are some good games.
34:41
Speaker 2: And like I said, the atmosphere's second to none sometimes,
34:48
Speaker 2: especially for those you know, like Chinese type. The qualifiers
34:52
Speaker 2: was it was electric, The game was electric, and the
34:55
Speaker 2: same thing for Japan and Tokyo. Don't for the World
34:59
Speaker 2: Baseball Classic. Those just special games.
35:03
Speaker 1: I think Cecil Fielder ended up playing in Japan and
35:05
Speaker 1: then went out there, and yes, he invented himself back
35:09
Speaker 1: with the Tigers.
35:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, he learned learned how to hit a breaking ball
35:13
Speaker 2: pretty well.
35:14
Speaker 1: I can only imagine. So let's talk about the one
35:17
Speaker 1: thing as a trainer that nobody probably knows it better
35:21
Speaker 1: than you were, at least knowing a lot about it.
35:23
Speaker 1: Chrischer's getting Tommy John surgery. Why are there so many
35:27
Speaker 1: of them?
35:29
Speaker 2: Well, Scott, that's a loaded question, and I'll be honest
35:31
Speaker 2: with you, there's a lot. Uh, there's a lot of
35:34
Speaker 2: reasons for it, I believe, first and foremost is the youth. Unfortunately,
35:45
Speaker 2: the way the way our society has treated youth baseball
35:49
Speaker 2: and where they're at with the travel ball and kids
35:52
Speaker 2: playing multiple multiple leagues. It's just not nothealthy. And I
35:59
Speaker 2: hate to say, I mean in a lot of ways
36:01
Speaker 2: that we're sport to specialize in is baseball because it's
36:04
Speaker 2: an unusual I mean, at least you get a lot
36:06
Speaker 2: of carry over in some of the others. But you know,
36:11
Speaker 2: I mean they've done the research and specializing at a young
36:15
Speaker 2: age is not a good idea, and yet we're doing
36:17
Speaker 2: it with kids at eight, nine, ten, So I really
36:21
Speaker 2: think we're kind of giving them the first strike, if
36:24
Speaker 2: not two strikes before they ever even get close to
36:27
Speaker 2: us professionally, you know. And then then the advent everything's
36:33
Speaker 2: been become about power. Well, I'm not taking power isn't important,
36:38
Speaker 2: but by the same token, you've got to be able.
36:42
Speaker 2: You know. If all you're trying to do is build
36:45
Speaker 2: up the muscle and you're trying to build up the drive,
36:48
Speaker 2: you're trying to build up the torque, you're building that
36:51
Speaker 2: torque up, but you're not addressing the connective tissue, the
36:54
Speaker 2: ligament tendons. And you see the same thing with ACL
36:59
Speaker 2: injuries and non contact injuries happening all over the sports
37:02
Speaker 2: right now, because everything's been about power and they've gotten
37:07
Speaker 2: away from the fact that there's actually a moment in
37:10
Speaker 2: time there when you're transitioning from you know, whether it's
37:14
Speaker 2: external into internal rotation where the tendons and ligaments they
37:20
Speaker 2: have to be able to handle that muscular power and
37:24
Speaker 2: they're not getting it in the training that we're doing today.
37:27
Speaker 2: Then we've gotten away from doing what's called isometric strengthening,
37:32
Speaker 2: which when you put when you put the muscle at
37:36
Speaker 2: max contraction and you're pulling and now you do an
37:39
Speaker 2: isometric cold you're actually strengthening the connective tissue as much
37:44
Speaker 2: as you possibly can. And at the end of the day, well,
37:47
Speaker 2: we've kind of gotten away from it. And so I
37:50
Speaker 2: think there's there's a lot of reasons. I mean, I
37:52
Speaker 2: want you to think about something. Sure, think about something
37:56
Speaker 2: we limited. We we went with pitch accounts, trying to
38:01
Speaker 2: limit pitches the right thing to do not so sure
38:06
Speaker 2: we went to we've gone from that on the pitch
38:10
Speaker 2: cout side, we've gone as far as innings, we're concerned
38:14
Speaker 2: restricting innings, and yet what do we have. We're having
38:17
Speaker 2: more injuries than we had before, right, you know, we
38:22
Speaker 2: did a lot of the training that we used to
38:25
Speaker 2: do with our pitches in the minor leagues up from
38:30
Speaker 2: from Double A on. We pitched them as if they
38:32
Speaker 2: were in the big leagues. We need to find out
38:34
Speaker 2: if they could handle that workload. We got away from that.
38:37
Speaker 2: We now said, oh, we're afraid to get somebody hurt,
38:40
Speaker 2: and then being afraid to get somebody hurt, we're getting
38:43
Speaker 2: people hurt at a higher rate. So this doesn't quite
38:48
Speaker 2: add up, you know, And I think that's the reason.
38:51
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, I always say I like in
38:55
Speaker 2: it too. If you had if you had an elite
38:57
Speaker 2: miler and he came into your school and he said, oh, okay,
39:00
Speaker 2: I've got this to leave mind. This guy's an Olympic.
39:02
Speaker 2: This guy's an Olympic miler. Where I run him a
39:05
Speaker 2: quarter mile the first year, half mile a second, three
39:07
Speaker 2: quarters the third, and then a mile the fourth year. No,
39:10
Speaker 2: I'd be training him at the right from the get go.
39:14
Speaker 2: So why did we change. There were a lot of
39:17
Speaker 2: smart baseball people doing a lot of training. Yes, do
39:21
Speaker 2: we have some players get hurt. Yes, you will have
39:24
Speaker 2: some players get hurt. But I dare say they got
39:26
Speaker 2: more people getting hurt. Now when we went away from
39:30
Speaker 2: our try it kind of tried true training methods. I
39:34
Speaker 2: just think we've we've had a we just had a
39:38
Speaker 2: situation where we haven't addressed it properly.
39:42
Speaker 1: So all over thinking it really and so respects.
39:48
Speaker 2: Listen, you know what here's here's the big one today,
39:50
Speaker 2: workload management. Well, why is workload management based upon the
39:53
Speaker 2: lowest guy?
39:55
Speaker 1: Yeah?
39:56
Speaker 2: Why isn't based upon the highest guy? And trying to
39:58
Speaker 2: get our guy to the highest guy?
40:01
Speaker 1: I don't know, scary, do you know the thing? I Wally,
40:05
Speaker 1: I'm not that smart, smarter than you think. Anybody that
40:09
Speaker 1: watches this show here will be way smarter with with
40:12
Speaker 1: them watching it than they would be without it. Because
40:14
Speaker 1: we're talking about a lot of issues in a lot
40:17
Speaker 1: of different ways. That and yet we're seeing all these
40:19
Speaker 1: problems transpire on a daily basis. How about you. I'm
40:22
Speaker 1: missing complete games, don't you?
40:25
Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, there's no reason. Here's here's what I'd say
40:28
Speaker 2: to you. People would like to say that a low
40:32
Speaker 2: stress inning is one hundred, and I mean a low
40:35
Speaker 2: stress ending is fifteen pitches? Right, be for that said,
40:39
Speaker 2: low stress innings fifteen pitches, if I throw nine low
40:43
Speaker 2: stress innings. How many pitches if I.
40:45
Speaker 1: Throw one hundred and thirty five, Okay, why are we.
40:49
Speaker 2: Worried about a guy at one hundred. We should have
40:51
Speaker 2: him trained to be able to throw at least one
40:53
Speaker 2: hundred and thirty five nine low stress innings. One hundred
40:56
Speaker 2: and thirty five. He should be able to be trained to
40:59
Speaker 2: throw dine low stress innings. So why do we get concerned?
41:04
Speaker 2: Where's the one hundred company? You know? And so that's
41:08
Speaker 2: kind of my thought is that in it's it's like
41:12
Speaker 2: I said, the pendulum swings, Well, the pendulum swung way
41:15
Speaker 2: this way, it's got to come back. And I think
41:18
Speaker 2: you're going to see an emphasis back on starting pitching,
41:20
Speaker 2: back on starting pitchers going six seven innings, you know,
41:25
Speaker 2: and and hopefully getting your nine nine in there every
41:28
Speaker 2: now and then, which is what it used to be.
41:31
Speaker 2: I mean, those guys, you know, because they weren't going
41:34
Speaker 2: they there. The focus was different. The focus was getting
41:41
Speaker 2: people out and getting people out in the fewest number
41:45
Speaker 2: of pitches and getting deep into the games. That was
41:49
Speaker 2: the emphasis. If I if I had Justin Berling, he's
41:53
Speaker 2: an elite pitcher. If I max su to their elite pictures,
41:56
Speaker 2: I want them pitching in the eighth right, I don't
41:59
Speaker 2: want the coming out of the bullpen who's not as
42:01
Speaker 2: good a pitcher as they are. Right when they're on,
42:04
Speaker 2: I want them pitch it. And especially because if they've
42:07
Speaker 2: gotten to the seventh, six seventh, they've probably been dominating.
42:11
Speaker 2: And those guys across the way in that other dog,
42:13
Speaker 2: they don't think they can beat them. They don't think
42:16
Speaker 2: they can beat them. You know, I'll take my chances,
42:20
Speaker 2: and at the end of it, I'll bring that guy
42:22
Speaker 2: on for the last three if I need him. You know,
42:25
Speaker 2: you never the case might.
42:26
Speaker 1: Be you and I could do a show along if
42:28
Speaker 1: we want. We can do a million shows because we
42:30
Speaker 1: know that much about baseball. I just the greatest pictures
42:33
Speaker 1: that had complete games. But I'll say you one rule
42:36
Speaker 1: that I did like is a three batter minimum, because,
42:39
Speaker 1: after all, we used to have two or three enclosers,
42:43
Speaker 1: and the fact that you're making a pitch at least
42:44
Speaker 1: three batters. Please, thank you, give me three hitters.
42:49
Speaker 4: I am totally okay with that one.
42:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean too, give me three batters. You can't
42:56
Speaker 1: pitch the three batters, there's a problem.
42:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, I uh, I totally agree with you.
43:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, totally leading my next question. You you and I
43:08
Speaker 1: we play off each other good. So let's talk about
43:10
Speaker 1: the starters, the setup role, the closers in the Indies,
43:13
Speaker 1: fish count combined, no hitters. Give me your thoughts on
43:15
Speaker 1: each and every one of those things I mentioned.
43:19
Speaker 2: Well, I'm not a fan of openers, Like I said,
43:23
Speaker 2: I'm a fan of starting pitchers, traditional starting pitchers, because
43:28
Speaker 2: the traditional starting the starting pitchers were the starting pictures
43:31
Speaker 2: because they were your best pictures period. They were your
43:34
Speaker 2: best pictures, right you know. Now you might have a
43:37
Speaker 2: guy at a bullpen who was a good short term picture,
43:39
Speaker 2: but he couldn't be a big time starting pitcher. He
43:41
Speaker 2: didn't have that. That's that was something you learned in
43:44
Speaker 2: the minor leagues. The guy couldn't handle the starting You know,
43:48
Speaker 2: if you can't make twenty nine starts in the minor leagues,
43:50
Speaker 2: how are you going to make thirty three in the
43:51
Speaker 2: big leagues. So we learned that right away, and those
43:55
Speaker 2: guys are going to the bullpen. So I'm not a
43:57
Speaker 2: bit I'm a big fan of traditional starting pitcher, not
44:00
Speaker 2: a big fan of the openers. You know, I think
44:04
Speaker 2: I think the openers just highlight the fact that you
44:07
Speaker 2: haven't developed starting pitching. Okay, let me just say you
44:10
Speaker 2: haven't developed starting pitching.
44:13
Speaker 1: I'll like you.
44:14
Speaker 2: Obviously, the setup guys have become immensely important because you
44:20
Speaker 2: haven't developed your starting pictures. So now you haven't to
44:23
Speaker 2: use those setup guys a lot more. But to my point,
44:28
Speaker 2: the four or five guys that you got to start
44:30
Speaker 2: in pictures, the guys that you got in the middle,
44:33
Speaker 2: is you set up guys. They aren't as good as
44:34
Speaker 2: those guys, because if they were, they'd be starting, so
44:38
Speaker 2: but you placed so much more emphasis on them because
44:42
Speaker 2: you haven't developed your starters, right, so you place great
44:45
Speaker 2: emphasis on it. And and as a result, those guys,
44:49
Speaker 2: those guys get burned out. That's why those bullpens keep
44:52
Speaker 2: getting turned over, turned over, turned over, turned over, because
44:55
Speaker 2: they just can't they can't handle that. They're not built
44:58
Speaker 2: for that. And then, of course closers, I'm fine with
45:01
Speaker 2: the I'm fine with the closers.
45:03
Speaker 1: I'm fine with them.
45:04
Speaker 2: I mean, I like the old time closers, the goose gossages,
45:08
Speaker 2: the guys that came out and opened it might throw
45:10
Speaker 2: two or three two three innings if necessary, but but
45:14
Speaker 2: that was also a day when starting pitcher was going
45:16
Speaker 2: to take you deeper. So and then as far as
45:20
Speaker 2: the combined no hitters, I'm not I'm not a big fan,
45:26
Speaker 2: especially from the standpoint out now, it's going to happen
45:30
Speaker 2: if a guy's if a guy gets a crazy way,
45:32
Speaker 2: you know, high pitch count because of you know, because
45:35
Speaker 2: of a ton of strikeouts, whatever the case might be.
45:37
Speaker 2: But can it happened, yes? But I absolutely hate. I
45:44
Speaker 2: hate when you've gotten into the season and guys are
45:47
Speaker 2: in good shape and all of a sudden they're at
45:50
Speaker 2: eighty five pitches after seven innings and or after six innings,
45:58
Speaker 2: and they're looking and they saying, oh, we're gonna have
45:59
Speaker 2: to or the ball, and this guy's going to be
46:01
Speaker 2: able to complete this. Well, why isn't he Because he
46:03
Speaker 2: should be, like I said, trained to be able to
46:05
Speaker 2: throw one hundred and thirty five pitches, so he should
46:08
Speaker 2: be able to finish a go hitter.
46:10
Speaker 1: I just I think the joke. I mean, I understand
46:13
Speaker 1: any in a while, but all the time, can.
46:17
Speaker 2: They have them? Can they happen?
46:18
Speaker 1: Yes?
46:19
Speaker 2: Can can they happen?
46:21
Speaker 1: Yes?
46:22
Speaker 2: But see, we guys used to come out of spring
46:24
Speaker 2: training they had thrown you know, ninety pitches. Was you
46:27
Speaker 2: finished up spring at ninety and you usually had your
46:31
Speaker 2: first couple of starts, you know, at the beginning of
46:33
Speaker 2: the season ninety maybe maybe the one to oh five
46:36
Speaker 2: because you were that close. But now nowadays it's it's different.
46:41
Speaker 1: It's just different.
46:42
Speaker 2: And I just I just look at it from a
46:45
Speaker 2: standpoint of common sense. And we've limited pitch counts, we've
46:50
Speaker 2: limited innings pitched, we've changed the way we developed pitches
46:54
Speaker 2: in the my leagues, and we have more injuries than
46:57
Speaker 2: we ever had before. I don't think we're taking the
46:59
Speaker 2: right approach. Oh no, I And and that isn't even
47:05
Speaker 2: taken into account. They eat better, they sleep better there,
47:09
Speaker 2: they have better athletic trainers, they have better strength and conditioning,
47:13
Speaker 2: personal you have all that. You have all that as well.
47:18
Speaker 1: So but I like you.
47:20
Speaker 4: I'm not a big pitch counts No, guy's not struggling.
47:25
Speaker 4: Le don't keep going going.
47:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, there are days pitch counts need different things you
47:31
Speaker 2: could throw. You can throw ninety pitches and be gassed, right,
47:36
Speaker 2: you can throw one hundred money and not be gassed.
47:38
Speaker 1: Right.
47:39
Speaker 2: You just don't know. You have to that's that's an
47:41
Speaker 2: individual thing, and you have to read the individual and
47:43
Speaker 2: it's game a game, it's not you know, it's not Scott.
47:47
Speaker 2: Scott's this guy every time. No, not necessarily right. You
47:50
Speaker 2: have to you have to know your individuals.
47:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're reading too deep into the analytics. You get
47:57
Speaker 1: in trouble. You one hundred and twenty pitches and you're
48:00
Speaker 1: all of a sudden in the seventh think that means
48:02
Speaker 1: that the bullpen has two less innings of work and
48:04
Speaker 1: as a result, your bullpen doesn't get overworked on that
48:09
Speaker 1: particular night and you save people. So I don't like
48:12
Speaker 1: any I don't like the pitch counts and the any limit.
48:15
Speaker 1: I really really struggle with it. By the way, Joshua Door,
48:18
Speaker 1: thanks a love for being a part of the show.
48:20
Speaker 1: Watching on our YouTube channel. Just so you know, there's
48:23
Speaker 1: a red subscribe button out there. Please go out there
48:26
Speaker 1: and subscribe to it if you haven't already. Cyberwski's in
48:28
Speaker 1: here saying hello, thank you very much as well, and
48:32
Speaker 1: I'm glad that you're enjoying a nice cold mode Bello.
48:35
Speaker 1: Very good stuff. I'm sure a lot of people are,
48:37
Speaker 1: but I appreciate you guys. The regular fans of the show,
48:40
Speaker 1: and we appreciate them for joining us as well. Yeah,
48:44
Speaker 1: I again a lot. I think part of baseball's issues
48:49
Speaker 1: they're overthinking too many things there are, and that's why
48:52
Speaker 1: they're self destructing and creating some of their own issues
48:56
Speaker 1: with what they are. I can get into a topic
48:58
Speaker 1: that we're going to talk a little bit later about
49:00
Speaker 1: the torpedo bats, so I'm gonna touch onto it real quickly.
49:04
Speaker 1: Have you had a chance to look at it at
49:05
Speaker 1: all this week?
49:06
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I mean I've just I've read about it,
49:09
Speaker 2: but that's it. I'll just say this to you, you know.
49:14
Speaker 2: And I'm an analytics type person. Yeah, analytics has a
49:20
Speaker 2: place as well. But you've got if if you think
49:24
Speaker 2: about it, if you couple the analytics with the technology,
49:29
Speaker 2: some of the technology that we can do today, and
49:32
Speaker 2: if you use the old time training methods, you might
49:36
Speaker 2: hit a home run, you might hit a grand slam
49:38
Speaker 2: if you put them all together. But the one thing
49:40
Speaker 2: they do is they've kind of dismissed the experience. They
49:45
Speaker 2: kind of pushed that to the side, thinking, well, the
49:50
Speaker 2: analytics technology that's going to tell us everything we need
49:52
Speaker 2: to know, Well, it doesn't you and I both know
49:56
Speaker 2: there's a lot of this thing called a heart that
49:58
Speaker 2: means something, and experience is a big time, big time teacher.
50:03
Speaker 2: And you can't dismiss experience. You just can't. And I
50:06
Speaker 2: think the clubs that the clubs that bring the experience,
50:11
Speaker 2: the technology, the analytics together and don't emphasize one any
50:16
Speaker 2: greater than the other, we'll have a better shot of
50:20
Speaker 2: navigating the waters. And like I said that pens almost swing.
50:24
Speaker 2: I really believe that I'll.
50:26
Speaker 1: Never forget the time when I went over to the
50:28
Speaker 1: Wake Forest pitching facility, and they want some of the
50:31
Speaker 1: most unbelievable facilities when they come to analyzing baseball I've
50:34
Speaker 1: ever seen. I was there for an event out in
50:36
Speaker 1: Winston Salem, North Carolina, and I thought it was just surreal.
50:40
Speaker 1: I'll get it that. When we talked privately and unbconscious
50:44
Speaker 1: of time here as well, we got a couple more
50:45
Speaker 1: things I want to talk about. First, Steinbrenner Field housed
50:49
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Rays when they took on Let's see
50:53
Speaker 1: who did they based on the Colorado Rockets. Are your
50:55
Speaker 1: thoughts about them playing over at George Steinbrannerfield, And I
50:59
Speaker 1: know that you had a similar experience when the Maryland
51:01
Speaker 1: played over a Pro Player stadium with then the fans
51:04
Speaker 1: expect out in Tampa.
51:07
Speaker 2: Well, you know, you know, everybody's been scared, scared and saying, oh,
51:11
Speaker 2: there's gonna be a lot of rainos. Well really not.
51:15
Speaker 2: When we were down at Pro Player Stadium. We you know,
51:18
Speaker 2: I will say this after, you know, June, we didn't
51:21
Speaker 2: take batting practice very often on the field because that's
51:24
Speaker 2: the time of the day usually about you know, for
51:27
Speaker 2: thirty five o'clock you might get a shower come through
51:30
Speaker 2: and they'll probably see the same thing. But I mean,
51:32
Speaker 2: for years and years we played, the Florida Sailings played,
51:36
Speaker 2: and they play, and and now when you when you
51:41
Speaker 2: put a major league ground crew there, you know, it's
51:44
Speaker 2: I mean, you've got a good shot.
51:46
Speaker 1: I mean, I think they'll be fine.
51:47
Speaker 2: I think it'll be interesting to see how they draw,
51:51
Speaker 2: how the fans react to, you know, outdoor baseball. But
51:58
Speaker 2: you know, it's it's something I think they need to
52:00
Speaker 2: see if they if they draw better in that area.
52:03
Speaker 2: But being being that it is outside, at least they're
52:06
Speaker 2: going to answer a few questions along those lines. It's
52:10
Speaker 2: a George Seiber that feels a great it's a great facility,
52:13
Speaker 2: and they've they've had to do some things to that
52:15
Speaker 2: facility to bring it up to you know, major league
52:18
Speaker 2: season standards. Let's just put it that way. But you know,
52:22
Speaker 2: I think it'll be uh, I think it'll be interesting
52:25
Speaker 2: to see. I see they've capped their tickets. I think
52:27
Speaker 2: it's at like ten thousand, four hundred or something like that.
52:31
Speaker 2: I think the place holds about eleven thousand something, but
52:34
Speaker 2: I think they've capped it a little lower than that.
52:37
Speaker 1: So Cyberski, that question is that after the Will show,
52:40
Speaker 1: We're not gonna put it up there. We'll leave it
52:42
Speaker 1: at that. I want us to talk about Tesla. We're
52:44
Speaker 1: not talking about Tesla, We're talking base I'll leave it
52:46
Speaker 1: at that. So all right, final question, I want to
52:50
Speaker 1: talk about ped users in the Hall of Fame. This
52:54
Speaker 1: is a really controversial question. I know we talked about it,
52:57
Speaker 1: but the reason why I'm bringing it up to you, Kevin,
53:01
Speaker 1: is because, let's face the reality, you were on the
53:03
Speaker 1: inside of what was going on in terms of what
53:05
Speaker 1: guys put in their body, and I want you to
53:10
Speaker 1: address this thing in its entire Well.
53:13
Speaker 2: It's it's you know, Obviously, it's a pretty complex issue,
53:16
Speaker 2: and it's a polarizing issue for a lot of people.
53:23
Speaker 2: It's it's one of those where I look at the
53:29
Speaker 2: game and the way the way the game is evolved.
53:33
Speaker 2: Everybody's always tried to get an edge at any time.
53:36
Speaker 2: You know, I don't care whether it was back at
53:38
Speaker 2: the early nineteen hundreds, nineteen twenties, nineteen fifties, nineteen. Everybody
53:44
Speaker 2: tried to get the edge. On the steroids side of
53:48
Speaker 2: it obviously made it a little bit more difficult now.
53:51
Speaker 2: All I will tell you, though, is that everybody thinks
53:53
Speaker 2: when you start thinking steroids, they're predominantly thinking hitters, and
53:59
Speaker 2: that's not necessary to the case. I can tell you
54:01
Speaker 2: that right now. I can guarantee it that you know
54:05
Speaker 2: you had pictures. You had pictures. I'm sure that we
54:08
Speaker 2: use you had relief pitchers probably benefited as much as
54:11
Speaker 2: anybody because they were able to come back and pitch
54:14
Speaker 2: every single day.
54:15
Speaker 1: The recovery was that quick.
54:18
Speaker 2: But when it comes to deciding upon the Hall of Fame, well,
54:23
Speaker 2: the steroids right or wrong? Is I look at it
54:28
Speaker 2: that you look at a player, and I kind of
54:33
Speaker 2: think about this when I compare players from one ear
54:37
Speaker 2: to the next, and so especially nowadays with the information
54:42
Speaker 2: that we have available to us, you take a player's
54:46
Speaker 2: career and it starts. We'll say a player's career started
54:49
Speaker 2: in nineteen sixty and ended in nineteen seventy three. So
54:54
Speaker 2: we take from sixty to seventy three, and we say, okay,
55:00
Speaker 2: we'll just say it's a hitter. For example, how much
55:03
Speaker 2: better was that hitter during his career span than the
55:09
Speaker 2: average hitter at that time and across the board with
55:13
Speaker 2: his home runs, you know, and you can even include
55:16
Speaker 2: in positionally and compare him positionally, But if he's that
55:21
Speaker 2: much better, because I believe that during that time, those
55:26
Speaker 2: guys are all trying to get the same edge and
55:29
Speaker 2: some of them but the ones that are better are
55:31
Speaker 2: just playing better. And so I think you can make
55:35
Speaker 2: an argument. I mean, I think I watched Roger Clembins pitch.
55:40
Speaker 2: Roger Clemens is a Hall of Fame pitcher. He was
55:43
Speaker 2: a Hall of Fame pitcher before after whatever and whatever.
55:47
Speaker 2: He at any time. Barry Bonds was an exceptional talent,
55:53
Speaker 2: exceptional talent for a long time. And when you put
55:57
Speaker 2: his numbers against those guys and people say, well, yeah,
56:00
Speaker 2: he hit this number. He was hitting home runs anyways. Now,
56:05
Speaker 2: maybe he wouldn't have hit seventy three. I don't know,
56:07
Speaker 2: but by the same token. You know, they change ballparks. Yeah,
56:15
Speaker 2: you know, nobody brings into account. Well, in Yankee Stadium,
56:18
Speaker 2: right hand hitter can hit a ball into the right
56:20
Speaker 2: center field eight seats easily, but they don't say, oh,
56:24
Speaker 2: because of that, we're not gonna keep you know, we're
56:27
Speaker 2: going to keep that guy. We're not going to vote
56:29
Speaker 2: the same on that guy because that guy shouldn't be
56:31
Speaker 2: hitting that many home runs. I mean, I was blessed
56:34
Speaker 2: I saw Miguel Cabra. Migul Cobra is the finest right
56:37
Speaker 2: hand hitter that I ever saw in person, the finest
56:40
Speaker 2: one I ever saw in person. Okay it was with
56:42
Speaker 2: my clubs. Well, Migul Cobra. I used to look and think, God,
56:46
Speaker 2: if he ever play, if he played New York in
56:48
Speaker 2: Yankee Stadium, I don't know how many home runs he
56:51
Speaker 2: would have hit.
56:53
Speaker 1: YEA.
56:53
Speaker 2: So so I look at it and say, okay, if
56:57
Speaker 2: I take if I take just the era of baseball
57:03
Speaker 2: and just say, from this year to this year, where
57:06
Speaker 2: does that guy compare to the average? Is he a
57:09
Speaker 2: Hall of Famer or not, right, That's how I do it,
57:13
Speaker 2: and that's how I think of it. I know some
57:17
Speaker 2: of those old time Hall of famers, they were steadfastly
57:20
Speaker 2: against those guys. But my thing is is what did
57:25
Speaker 2: they do back when they were playing that the other
57:27
Speaker 2: guys weren't doing, Because I'm sure that some of those
57:30
Speaker 2: guys were doing some things too. It's all about being
57:33
Speaker 2: on the field, being productive.
57:35
Speaker 1: You know what, Barry Rons this year really was more
57:37
Speaker 1: than beyond that activity. He made the biggest cardinals and
57:41
Speaker 1: that you can ever make. Kevin and I know being
57:43
Speaker 1: in the media bear as well. You do not bite
57:47
Speaker 1: the hand of Fejia and vos Foria. And when you
57:50
Speaker 1: have a bad public relations and it's like he does,
57:53
Speaker 1: and you treat writers poorly, they don't forget that.
57:58
Speaker 2: No, that's right, that's right, and and and here and
58:03
Speaker 2: here's the thing. Let's say let's say he didn't do
58:08
Speaker 2: anything at all, but he had that relationship with the media,
58:14
Speaker 2: they must still not vote him in. And that's not
58:17
Speaker 2: right either, because at the end of the day, and
58:21
Speaker 2: and I and I don't disagree with you, but but
58:24
Speaker 2: you know, I just think you'd take a lot of
58:26
Speaker 2: that out by just by just focusing on where do
58:30
Speaker 2: they rank versus the average player during that time, the
58:34
Speaker 2: average player at the same position. If they're that much better,
58:38
Speaker 2: that much better, they probably would have been that much better.
58:40
Speaker 1: Anyway. I think you're right. But here's the thing. David
58:44
Speaker 1: Ortiz is one of those guys that got along with everybody.
58:48
Speaker 1: And as long as you're giving these guys good quotes
58:50
Speaker 1: and the editors, you're getting in there right, everything right.
58:57
Speaker 1: But David Ortiz, you knew how to play the politic
59:00
Speaker 1: to those as long as you go. I can only
59:02
Speaker 1: imagine if you were to walk into a player right now,
59:05
Speaker 1: they say, don't wake us upset, we won't poach you
59:08
Speaker 1: in the Hall of Fame, how much you would you
59:10
Speaker 1: want to go out there and maybe change the narrative
59:13
Speaker 1: a little bit, knowing that when it's all said done,
59:15
Speaker 1: you eat us more than we need. You don't forget that, right.
59:18
Speaker 1: And on the reasons I didn't want to interview Bury
59:21
Speaker 1: Bonds when I attended that n LCS game against the
59:26
Speaker 1: Giants and the Marlins is because it was attitude and
59:29
Speaker 1: I decided to get goats in the Marlins clubhouse instead,
59:33
Speaker 1: and it was a lot of fun being soake good
59:35
Speaker 1: on that champagne. You ought to know. I mean, that's
59:37
Speaker 1: not real pretty good. I didn't have an yet.
59:39
Speaker 2: That was pretty good.
59:41
Speaker 1: Champagne is a beautiful thing, especially when you're involved. And
59:44
Speaker 1: that's why I didn't go on the very bond side,
59:46
Speaker 1: because I hear that we give an attitude is yee.
59:50
Speaker 2: We were given a pretty good break there, if you recall,
59:52
Speaker 2: because we were we were the wildcard team, and the
59:57
Speaker 2: way it was set up at that time, the wildcard
59:59
Speaker 2: team got games one and two at home. Well, nobody
1:00:02
Speaker 2: in the right mind thought that the wildcard team is
1:00:04
Speaker 2: probably gonna win both games, could win both games at home,
1:00:07
Speaker 2: and we wound up winning the two at home, both
1:00:10
Speaker 2: good ball games, close games. And then we went out
1:00:13
Speaker 2: to San Francisco and you had a team that won
1:00:15
Speaker 2: over one hundred games that year, and they got to
1:00:17
Speaker 2: play one playoff game at home because we beat him
1:00:19
Speaker 2: in that one and we flew back home. That was
1:00:23
Speaker 2: that was pretty amazing.
1:00:24
Speaker 1: Well, I know it is so, and I'll be honest
1:00:27
Speaker 1: with you. Sammy Sos is the guy I worked with
1:00:30
Speaker 1: Gastonia that I would love to have him in there,
1:00:33
Speaker 1: but let's not kid R. So Sammy didn't play his
1:00:36
Speaker 1: cards the right way either, But I'm not We could
1:00:39
Speaker 1: get into that all day long, but you had. But
1:00:42
Speaker 1: he was a nice guy. It's just he didn't own
1:00:44
Speaker 1: that as a lot of guys didn't. That's where I
1:00:49
Speaker 1: think you would draw that line. But as far as
1:00:51
Speaker 1: your take on how they would have done, I think
1:00:56
Speaker 1: that Conments should be in the Hall of Fame. There's
1:00:58
Speaker 1: no reason why bond sho. But I think his attitude
1:01:01
Speaker 1: did them didn't do them an awful lot of favors either.
1:01:05
Speaker 2: Well, like I said, I think I think just to
1:01:09
Speaker 2: basically try to somehow, somehow make a case. How do
1:01:15
Speaker 2: you how do you evaluate those guys? I think you
1:01:18
Speaker 2: just have to evaluate them on their timeframe in the game,
1:01:21
Speaker 2: and just because they were they were guys that I'm
1:01:25
Speaker 2: sure were doing it, and you know, so there were
1:01:29
Speaker 2: a lot more guys than even I I would even know.
1:01:32
Speaker 2: And you know so from that standpoint, I look at
1:01:36
Speaker 2: it and say, Okay, well, how much how much better
1:01:38
Speaker 2: is how much better was Roger Clemmons? How much better
1:01:40
Speaker 2: was this guy? How much better was that guy?
1:01:43
Speaker 1: But you're looking in it from a good way, Kevin,
1:01:45
Speaker 1: You really, really are. And because that's because you're you've
1:01:49
Speaker 1: been on the inside for so long, You've seen so
1:01:51
Speaker 1: many players, you work with them in the trainer's room,
1:01:54
Speaker 1: and the amount of players you've been on through the
1:01:56
Speaker 1: years in your unbelievable career, speek goes without saying. So,
1:02:00
Speaker 1: I mean, there's no question about that. So I completely
1:02:03
Speaker 1: think that what you're saying is one hundred percent accurate.
1:02:06
Speaker 1: I'm just looking at it from a different standpoint that,
1:02:09
Speaker 1: as they always say in the world, don't bite the
1:02:11
Speaker 1: hand at vida, and that's where maybe some of these
1:02:14
Speaker 1: guys may have walked off the deepense. So answer, get
1:02:17
Speaker 1: ready to wrap up this show here, I'm going to
1:02:20
Speaker 1: throw an open ended question at you, Kevin. What's the
1:02:23
Speaker 1: biggest highlight of your entire baseball career?
1:02:29
Speaker 2: The biggest highlight of my entire baseball career. Well, we
1:02:38
Speaker 2: have to say, obviously winning the World Series in nineteen
1:02:44
Speaker 2: ninety seven, that's right there, especially winning it in the
1:02:50
Speaker 2: you know, eleventh in Game seven of the World Series.
1:02:53
Speaker 2: You know you dream about those types of things, right,
1:02:56
Speaker 2: that was obviously very special. But I can honestly say
1:03:02
Speaker 2: opening day in nineteen ninety three with the Marlins. Just
1:03:06
Speaker 2: running out on that field, being announced and running out
1:03:10
Speaker 2: on that field, that's extremely that's extremely special because you've
1:03:16
Speaker 2: worked your whole life. Never there's no guarantees you're going
1:03:21
Speaker 2: to get to the big leagues, whether it's as a player, magic, coach, trainers,
1:03:26
Speaker 2: you know, there's no And when you've toiled in the
1:03:29
Speaker 2: minor leagues, which to me is very special. When you've
1:03:32
Speaker 2: toiled eleven years in the minor leagues and you get
1:03:35
Speaker 2: a chance to go to the show, it's that's pretty special.
1:03:43
Speaker 2: So on the baseball side, i'd have to say that,
1:03:48
Speaker 2: you know, I mean, I've just like I said, I've
1:03:50
Speaker 2: been very blessed. I was blessed to work the All
1:03:53
Speaker 2: Star Game in two thousand and five for the American League,
1:03:57
Speaker 2: blessed to be in three World Series win in nineteen
1:04:00
Speaker 2: ninety seven, you know, American League champions in two thousand
1:04:04
Speaker 2: and six, twenty twelve. So there's a lot of special
1:04:08
Speaker 2: memories there. But I'd have to say probably opening day
1:04:14
Speaker 2: after eleven years in the minor leagues and all of
1:04:16
Speaker 2: a sudden you've got the big leagues in, you know,
1:04:20
Speaker 2: and you don't know how long you're going to be there. Either.
1:04:22
Speaker 2: I mean, I was very fortunate. I was there and
1:04:24
Speaker 2: I get there, and I was there thirty years later,
1:04:27
Speaker 2: so you know, I spent thirty years in the major league,
1:04:30
Speaker 2: so I was pretty special.
1:04:34
Speaker 1: My biggest highlight of all of the sports that I've
1:04:36
Speaker 1: covered in baseball or the relationships you've built through the years.
1:04:40
Speaker 1: You and I have been friends for since eighty two,
1:04:44
Speaker 1: a long time, forty three years. When I think about
1:04:48
Speaker 1: my first major interview with Tomlinsorta, working with Stump may On,
1:04:52
Speaker 1: my first manager ever, and then I think about Brian
1:04:56
Speaker 1: Butterfield and Rex Huddler, who to this day when I
1:04:59
Speaker 1: see him with like you never I never forget who
1:05:02
Speaker 1: you are, and when you want to talk to him,
1:05:04
Speaker 1: it's so easy. I mean, that's what this is all about, hockey.
1:05:08
Speaker 2: But funny you say that. It's funny. You said that
1:05:11
Speaker 2: I had a player tell me one time, and this
1:05:14
Speaker 2: was when I so when I got to Triple A
1:05:17
Speaker 2: and he had been a major league player and he
1:05:20
Speaker 2: was his career was on the backside. He was on
1:05:23
Speaker 2: his way out and I was on hopefully my way up,
1:05:26
Speaker 2: and he said to me, he said, Kevin, and what
1:05:28
Speaker 2: do you think about something? He says you're going to
1:05:31
Speaker 2: realize this, he says. But this is the greatest fraternity
1:05:35
Speaker 2: in the world. It's a very small fraternity. It's a
1:05:39
Speaker 2: very very small fraternity. If you get to the big leagues.
1:05:42
Speaker 2: Think about it. I mean, there have only been twenty
1:05:46
Speaker 2: three thousand Major League Baseball players right since eighteen fifty.
1:05:50
Speaker 2: I mean, you don't even fill up half a stadium,
1:05:52
Speaker 2: but just barely over half a stadium. And of the
1:05:57
Speaker 2: number of those guys that actually get in, you know,
1:06:00
Speaker 2: ten years, it's far less than people think. That percentage
1:06:04
Speaker 2: is not very high. And it's very true. You make
1:06:08
Speaker 2: a lot of acquaintances through the years. And it's funny because,
1:06:12
Speaker 2: like you said, you'll see those guys like I'd see
1:06:15
Speaker 2: you every now and then. That's a long time ago.
1:06:17
Speaker 2: We were together for a lot, but we still catch up.
1:06:20
Speaker 2: Or I see Rex Huddler when we go play Kansas
1:06:23
Speaker 2: City and he's doing a broadcasting for him. I'd see
1:06:26
Speaker 2: Brian Butterfield when he was coaching, you know, whether it
1:06:29
Speaker 2: was the Cards, I mean, the Cubs or the Red Sox,
1:06:32
Speaker 2: or we'd visit, get to catch up. That's what it's
1:06:36
Speaker 2: all about. The people. The people are what it's all about,
1:06:39
Speaker 2: absolutely and nothing more special than the people.
1:06:44
Speaker 1: Well not Manny Lee is one of my favorite people too.
1:06:48
Speaker 1: I can remember many times and now when I suffered
1:06:51
Speaker 1: some hand injuries. He was always positive. He was always
1:06:54
Speaker 1: there to give me moral supported. I caught up with
1:06:56
Speaker 1: at Rogers Center and it was unbelievable. We were just
1:06:59
Speaker 1: talking and I wrote and Don Manley, I worked with
1:07:03
Speaker 1: the Marlins, just unbelievable. Were talking to bat, talking to
1:07:07
Speaker 1: give me moral support. And I see him. I'm gonna
1:07:09
Speaker 1: let him know about my recent on set of All
1:07:12
Speaker 1: Teimer's and he can rest sure. I've got his number
1:07:14
Speaker 1: if I ever need to talk to him.
1:07:16
Speaker 2: But Donny's the best.
1:07:18
Speaker 1: Donnie's great people, and there's a there's every guy beloves
1:07:22
Speaker 1: in the Hall of Fame's him. So you ever, finally,
1:07:25
Speaker 1: have you ever been to the Baseball Hall of Famer yourself?
1:07:28
Speaker 2: The only times I've been to the Baseball Hall of Fame,
1:07:31
Speaker 2: you know, it says is because of being in baseball
1:07:35
Speaker 2: time with the two times that we played the well,
1:07:40
Speaker 2: you know, they used to play an exhibition game there,
1:07:42
Speaker 2: so one time, you know, we played the Red Sox there.
1:07:47
Speaker 2: One time I played the Brewers there, and uh, and
1:07:49
Speaker 2: that's the only time. And we'd get there the night
1:07:52
Speaker 2: before and we got it like a special tour, the
1:07:57
Speaker 2: tour of the Baseball Hall of Fame Special, and then
1:08:02
Speaker 2: we'd be in a parade the next day and play
1:08:04
Speaker 2: the game and fly out to the next city that
1:08:07
Speaker 2: we're going to. And I got to do that twice.
1:08:10
Speaker 2: I was blessed. And a lot of people, like I said,
1:08:12
Speaker 2: some of those things are your guys are like, oh jeez,
1:08:15
Speaker 2: we got to do that. This should be an off day. Yeah,
1:08:18
Speaker 2: it's just special when you're going and you're doing those
1:08:21
Speaker 2: types of things. I think if you're a baseball fan,
1:08:24
Speaker 2: I love the.
1:08:24
Speaker 1: Game, so I'm entitled to be subjective because it is
1:08:28
Speaker 1: my show. By the way, and if there's never a
1:08:30
Speaker 1: person that belongs in the Hall of Fame, Kevin, it
1:08:32
Speaker 1: to you because of your time.
1:08:34
Speaker 2: Oh thank you.
1:08:34
Speaker 1: I appreciate that, because it's your contributions to the game
1:08:37
Speaker 1: that people realize. Life after, I'll be as a trainer.
1:08:40
Speaker 1: Kevin Ran joins me tonight on the Sports Exchange. We
1:08:43
Speaker 1: appreciate all the appreciate all the participation in the chat
1:08:46
Speaker 1: room tonight. It's been truly wonderful relationships. If you really
1:08:50
Speaker 1: believe in relationships. This is a show I would encourage
1:08:53
Speaker 1: people to watch multiple times because Kevin and I go
1:08:56
Speaker 1: back the long years and our relationship. I would always
1:08:59
Speaker 1: enjoy taking up dated pictures, whether I had a beard on.
1:09:07
Speaker 1: I know we're going to do it. I mean either
1:09:09
Speaker 1: I'm coming your way, you're coming. Mind, it's not a
1:09:12
Speaker 1: matter of if it's a matter.
1:09:13
Speaker 2: Of we'll get We'll get another one. Oh, I know
1:09:16
Speaker 2: we will.
1:09:16
Speaker 1: I'm looking for Jordan, bring candy out for the last
1:09:19
Speaker 1: on last station of break. We have our crew out
1:09:23
Speaker 1: waiting next for one hundred eight such as Baseball Talk.
1:09:25
Speaker 1: But I couldn't think we better way to night swinging
1:09:27
Speaker 1: for the Fencess with my longtime pal Kevin, who I
1:09:30
Speaker 1: had candy.
1:09:31
Speaker 3: South Florida Tribute Publishing Company published a book, Lessons from
1:09:34
Speaker 3: the Microphone, Tuning into the Enduring Wisdom of Visionary Leaders.
1:09:38
Speaker 3: It is written by our host Scott the Motor City
1:09:41
Speaker 3: mad Mouth Morgan Roth. It talks about his forty plus
1:09:44
Speaker 3: years in the industry and how it has changed. And yes,
1:09:48
Speaker 3: there is a picture of a young Scott with a
1:09:50
Speaker 3: young Timmy Lasorda, and there's some other pictures in there,
1:09:54
Speaker 3: but I'm not going to steal the thunder. You got
1:09:56
Speaker 3: to buy the book to find out. The book is
1:10:00
Speaker 3: available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kindle.
1:10:02
Speaker 2: Google, and Apple Books.
1:10:04
Speaker 3: There's also a link on our website www dot self
1:10:07
Speaker 3: Florida Tribune dot com where you can find a link
1:10:10
Speaker 3: to this book, a link to our merchandise store, and
1:10:13
Speaker 3: a plethora of great content. If you listen to podcasts,
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Speaker 3: you can find us wherever you get your podcasts. If
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Speaker 3: you want see the red subscribe button at lower right
1:10:22
Speaker 3: hand corner, please hit it like a sharees with all
1:10:25
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Speaker 3: nights we talk football, Wednesdays and Thursday nights. You never
1:10:31
Speaker 3: know what's going to be on tap, except Thursday nights
1:10:34
Speaker 3: we do do hockey as well. You're listening to the
1:10:38
Speaker 3: motor City Mad Mole Show, which is a one on
1:10:40
Speaker 3: one interview show with Scott and to night a great guest,
1:10:45
Speaker 3: Kevin Rand. If you want to advertise or sponsor a
1:10:50
Speaker 3: show called Scott nine five four three oh four four
1:10:53
Speaker 3: nine four one, and if you want to be a guest,
1:10:58
Speaker 3: you can always email us at self Florida Tribune at
1:11:01
Speaker 3: gmail dot com okay, Scott, back to you.
1:11:06
Speaker 1: Well, I don't say this too often to too many
1:11:08
Speaker 1: people on the show, but I will say it this
1:11:10
Speaker 1: one time. Kevin. I love you, Kevin. Please don't ever
1:11:13
Speaker 1: forget that.
1:11:16
Speaker 2: You got it, buddy. I don't love you too.
1:11:18
Speaker 4: Man.
1:11:18
Speaker 2: It's been a lot of fun.
1:11:20
Speaker 1: I asked the Court of God bless Kevin. Thank you
1:11:23
Speaker 1: everybody for joining us on this special edition of the
1:11:27
Speaker 1: Motor City mad Mouth Show. My name is Scott Wordoff.
1:11:30
Speaker 1: Please be joined by my pro all time brother colleague
1:11:33
Speaker 1: Kevin Rand. It's so great. I'm looking forward to seeing you, Kevin.
1:11:38
Speaker 1: God bless man. All right, life ones, buddy, appreciate you
1:11:41
Speaker 1: all right, Thank you very much. All right, that does
1:11:43
Speaker 1: it for us one hundred and eight, such as baseball
1:11:45
Speaker 1: talk is coming up. Thank you, good night around