Spring warm up: Tom McCarthy talks Phillies, booth hijinks and more

00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hi, this is Tom McCarthy.

00:00:03
Speaker 2: Welcome to The Philly Show, Ruben Tomorrow, Junior, Jim Salisbury, Todd z Aleki. Baseball is almost here, everybody, Phillies pitchers and catchers. First workout is February eleventh, that's next week, and so the three of us thought it would be fun this week to kind of get in the mood for baseball, coming back to talk to some of the voices of the spring, summer, and fall. We start with Tom McCarthy. We had a great time talking to him this week, talking Phillies, of course, but also some fun moments in the broadcast booth, and also the time Tom McCarthy and the NBC Philly cameras caught one of us picking our nose. Enjoy our chat with Tom, Tom, thanks for coming on the Philly Show. We are all excited for spring training, and so this week we're talking about who we would want to have on his guests, and you know, we get that that itch, that desire for clear water.

00:01:03
Speaker 1: We think I got I got a backscratcher here you there you go. I think.

00:01:09
Speaker 2: We think of the tones of Tom McCarthy on February twenty second and Clearwater Phillies pirates NBC Sports.

00:01:17
Speaker 1: Phillis goes, that's.

00:01:19
Speaker 2: Right, But I mean, you do you get the itch around this time? You gotta be dying to get down to clear Water.

00:01:24
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, I think everybody that has been walked out has walked outside the last couple of weeks feels like, yes, let's get down the clear water. Although it was I think thirty there the other day while we were fighting the cold temperatures. But yeah, I think this is the time of the year. We're always anticipating it, like we're excited about getting things started. The off season feels like it's been really short quite honestly, but it's you know, but we all love getting down there, just getting things rocking and rolling.

00:01:50
Speaker 2: Does everybody ask you what you think about the team. Let's get your your thoughts on the team going into camp real quick before we jump into a bunch of other stuff, because a lot of people talk about.

00:02:00
Speaker 3: You know, it's funny everywhere I've gone this offseason, football or basketball. I mean I've run into Phillies fans, you know, whether it be on planes, whether it be in airports, or even at the games itself, whether it be coaches on the staffs that I've covered, or even players on the staffs that I covered, you know, from Kevin Stefanski to Joe Flacco and people like that. Everybody wants to know. And then after the you know, the signings of Kyle Schwarber and JT. Realmuto and not signing Bob Bashett, it became even more what are we gonna do to get things rolling? And I told them, I said, listen, I still feel pretty good about this team. I said, you know, they won the division last year. I do think the Mets have made some major moves in improvements, but I don't like their bullpen and I like our bullpen better. So, you know, I try to be as honest as I can, but also understanding that, you know, there there was a lot there was some disappointment from some fans about certain moves that weren't made, and trying not to sugarcoat it as much. But I still feel really good about this team. But yeah, it is incredible the amount of people around the country right now that have different questions about the Phils.

00:03:05
Speaker 1: It's pretty cool. Actually, Okay, Jimmy.

00:03:11
Speaker 4: Oh, Tommy, you you mentioned the Mets, and I love the Mets rivalry I love it when they're both too. I love it when the Mets fans come down and I mean just to love it when they took over the Vet. Love it when they come in and make a lot of noise Citizens Bank Park. I think it's really good for baseball, good for baseball fans, good for Phillies fans. What do you do you think the Bishett miss on the Phillies part and the Mets swooping in and getting him, what do you think that does to the rivalry.

00:03:41
Speaker 3: I think he's going to hear it from the time he steps on the field. I mean, it's not gonna matter where he is. I think it's going to be awesome. Honestly, I'm with you. I think this rivalry is good for baseball. I really do. I mean, you know, the Phillies have always had, like any top contending teams, great rivalries with the Braves, with the with the Nationals, but the proximity of this one is I just think it's awesome. It's there's very few years where both teams are good together, and we've seen that the last few years obviously, and I just think that if they can build on that, I think it's gonna be tremendous theater. But he is going to get booed from the time he walks out onto the field, and I think it's I think it's like Chipper Jones type booing and things like that. I think it's gonna be awesome. It's gonna be I think it's gonna be great baseball theater.

00:04:27
Speaker 4: Quite honestly, we had all heard that that was a really they were close to an agreement. What did you hear from your end.

00:04:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, kind of the same stuff that everybody else heard. You know, I talked to a couple of people from Toronto when the Phillies were preparing for it, because you know, I wanted to see what kind of a guy he was, what kind of a clubhouse guy was, what kind of a player he was, And everybody always said, you know that he was top flight on every level. So I think it was the same thing that everybody else was hearing, that the Phillies were close to signing him. There was never anything signed, though, so you know, when you know, when we talk about deals, obviously there's a thought that you know, if you have an agreement in principle, like a verbal agreement, well maybe you won't you know, won't shake shake the tree and try to find something else. But he never did sign anything. And Reuben ca Price speak to this more than anything else, because, you know, he remembers when the Phillies were close to getting Tom Glavin some years ago and thought they had a deal done with him, and then all of a sudden, you know, whether it be the Players Association or or whomever, swooped in and he wound up signing with the Mets the next day. So it is something that that we have seen before. It's not shocking that that something like this happens in this day and age of sports, particularly with the amount of money that's been thrown around here. But I heard the same thing everybody else heard. There was nothing different, you know from you know, from my perspective that I heard, you guys probably were more in tune than I was at that point. T Mac.

00:05:49
Speaker 5: You know, the Phillies didn't do a ton of stuff. They did make some moves in their bullpen, as we talked about a little bit. But how would you want to put you on the spot a little bit. How would you grade their off season? How would you grade their team, their strengths and weaknesses?

00:06:02
Speaker 3: Well, I think the priority of the off season was was to resigned Schwarz, and they did that, you know, and I think that was really important. If they hadn't signed Kyle Schwarverer, I think it would have been a totally different offseason. You know, it could have been that they would have signed Pete Alonzo the next day and the Orioles, who probably would have signed schwarver would have had a totally different DH. But you know, I don't think that this was a failure of an off season. I think this was probably a b in the off season, to be honest with you, because I think they needed to revamp their bullpen and I think they did that because there were certain pieces that needed to be enhanced and the certain foundation pieces that needed to be enhanced. You know, if you take a look at the position by position, you might look at centerfield and say, well, they didn't upgrade there because they put Justin Crawford. But you know, there's a time where you got to put these young guys out there. I mean, you know, Crawford had an unbelievable year last year where you know, from a number standpoint, you can't keep him in Triple A. You know, he had thirty one extra base hits and you know that, or thirty four extra base hits, and that's something that you've got to give them a chance to get up here, he hit well over three hundred. So that's where I think that there may be a little bit of a misconception that they didn't fill certain voids, but they are because they're putting a youngster out there, and in reality, they have to do that. And then from a rotation standpoint, the fact that Painter is going to get every opportunity to win a position in this rotation, I think is important to know too, because you know, when we built those teams and when you Reuben and Pat built those teams in seven eight, two thousand and nine, there was pieces from the farm system that were part of it. And I go back to the old Yankee days where you need at least five or six of those homegrown players in order to be successful. You can't just keep doing what the Dodgers are doing, even though they've won two World championships and you know, bring in this all star team, you just financially can't do it. So I would say it's at least to be I think it was a good offseason from a bullpen standpoint, and then I think the other pieces that you have to see what happens in centerfield and in the rotation, and Brandon Marsha left field, A Doulas Garcia and rightfield. I think you have to wait and see what happens with them.

00:08:04
Speaker 2: Offensively, we're gonna see a lot of those young guys of the futuresers this spring. And then Tom, you know during the broadcast, I always I always look over or I think about you over there as they're shuttling in all these guys in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings and spring training. And that's why, and that's why you're one of the best, because you have to be on your toes. You have to be quick, you have to be able to talk about these guys. But it's not just the players I want to see. I know Jim remembers this moment, this live TV moment. Tom, you always got to be ready to brow You always got to be ready to talk about something a live broadcast that you don't expect to see. Do you remember this moment when you call Jim Sports Philadelphia in Miami. Yeah, listening on on Apple and Spotify, and elsewhere Jim's enjoying one of life's simple pleasures.

00:08:56
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, here's the thing. There were many a.

00:08:59
Speaker 3: Moment where we where we were looking for jim if the game was getting there was a little bit of a lull in the game because there was always something that we could get from Jimmy, whether it be his glasses having one arm off of them or being taped together. And it almost became like like wheels in Mister Spring Trading, where I know he just wanted to go get off like that. But we always there's always certain things that we do to entertain us.

00:09:30
Speaker 4: Well, you know, Tom, I'm always digging for something a oh.

00:09:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I never saw a pole weggie though, Jim. So that's good. I mean, at least on TV.

00:09:40
Speaker 1: I never.

00:09:41
Speaker 4: Tom used to test my nerves all the time because I would do this little stand up before the game during the pregame show, and Tom, who is a tall man, would make fun of me because I am not a tall man. And he'd said, right as the red light was going on, Jimmy stand up.

00:10:01
Speaker 1: And then one night.

00:10:02
Speaker 5: We're in I remember where we were.

00:10:04
Speaker 4: We were in Cincinnati and the red light was on. You walk in with a step ladder, and I don't know how I kept it together.

00:10:11
Speaker 3: That booth always has something going on as far as equipment goes. I mean it's and peanuts too, but it's always got something going on.

00:10:19
Speaker 1: Uh.

00:10:20
Speaker 3: And you know, as Ruben knows, and I think Zoe you got you guys all know that I get really bored before the game, get really bored. So I'm always looking for something to do.

00:10:33
Speaker 4: That said, though, I know you and I see it with Rubin, ben Krounky Uh Mariy Anderson, Scott Fransky, you guys put a lot of prep into your brothers. Oh yeah, tell us about to tell us about the hours of prep that going to that night's game.

00:10:49
Speaker 3: Well, I mean for me, I mean it does start about, you know, about seven o'clock in the morning, just like I'm revealing what's going on the night before my My my objective was always to have all my notes done on each player, the opposition, the home team before I get to the ballpark, because quite honestly, there are times where I don't know what I'm walking into at the ballpark, you know, whether it be you know, an appearance, whether it be you know, going down to meet fans, or if there's something that keeps me down on the field a little longer. So I want to make sure that I have everything done even before I get there, with the exception of probably the lineup. You know, when Charlie was managing, we always knew what the lineup was before we got there because it was always the same lineup. And that was so easy with Rob and in this day and age in baseball, with the other teams, you don't really know, but you can get all the notes done. So there are times when I'll get to the ballpark and I'll have everything pretty much ready for the telecast. Sometimes it's not that you know, it's not the case, but you never really know what you're walking into because you know, we obviously do a lot in the community, which we love, and there's always something that pops up, you know, voice over here, you know, things like cameo here or there where you have to kind of walk away and do that. So I try to get everything done early. So I started at like seven in the morning. I'll take a break during the middle of the morning a little bit, you know, whether it to be do something with Reese or something like that, and you know, then come back and finish up before I go to the ballpark.

00:12:19
Speaker 5: It's my biggest My biggest issue is always when they do that they have a late change to the lineup.

00:12:24
Speaker 1: That's what gets me.

00:12:25
Speaker 5: After you're prepping, you get the lineup, you finally prepping and you get the what's your biggest challenge as far as preparing and you know where is it sometimes that you and you're never stuck because you always have all the information. What's your biggest challenge during the course of the game or before the game that that that puts you in a little bit of a.

00:12:47
Speaker 3: Bot boy, I'll tell you, I think it's if I have to, you know, there's a lot of changes are always tough. But you know, we've gotten to the point now where Kevin Franz that has built this program for us that we just go to the computer and go boom boom boot print and it like lines everything up. I mean, it's it's it makes life so much easier, you know. I always think back to the minor leagues when you know, when there was no computer, when there was no you know, your statue you had to kind of do by hand.

00:13:17
Speaker 1: And I used to have these books. I think day books, day books.

00:13:22
Speaker 3: I remember the year that I stopped doing the day by day and there's still broadcasters that do it. That's stop doing the day by day. And I was like, Okay, I'm gonna stop because every website has it now I don't need to do it. And then like the first week, it was like it was like stopping a habit of doing something where I were like an hour of my day.

00:13:43
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, I got this back, you know.

00:13:46
Speaker 3: So I think that's the big thing is like if there's a curveball thrown when you have a lineup change or I think more than anything, like a pitching change. Lineups don't bug me as much, but if they change the starting pitcher, that's where you got to kind of formulate a different play. And as far as what you're what you're undertaking is beyond that. I mean, I just think that the flow of the day. I like the fact that it's different every single day. You know, that's what makes life so so cool.

00:14:14
Speaker 5: I struggle with the with the roster change, Like the late roster change.

00:14:18
Speaker 3: I knew this was gonna happen like two hours ago. Just tell us it's gonna happen.

00:14:25
Speaker 2: T One of my favorite curve balls that you had to deal with live on air was it was it a couple of years ago in San Diego, Cruok. Those people that don't know, you gotta go look it up on the internet.

00:14:37
Speaker 1: I was, I was story.

00:14:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was the Mexican Penal League story. Where do you guys have, Ruben Jim, do you remember this story where where Kruk is telling Tom about playing some bunch of prisoners in Mexico And I remember.

00:14:51
Speaker 3: This, yeah, And I'll be honest with you, rub and Ruben will tell you this. We hear a lot of this, a lot of stories, you know, when we're in the room. I had never heard that one. And I always tell people that he knows where the line is. But when I see him start to move the line, like seriously pick it up and move it, I'm like, oh, no, here we go. That was one of those stories where he was discussing the fact that when he was with the Padre I think it was a Mexican Winter League.

00:15:24
Speaker 2: He was playing Mexican Winter Ball.

00:15:25
Speaker 3: Mexic W Yeah, where they played. They played a prison baseball team and the catcher had no mask on and he wasn't allowed to because he had, you know, because because of what he was in there for. And then he's discussing the fact that the picture was in because he murged his.

00:15:45
Speaker 1: Girlfriend or wife's car and.

00:15:49
Speaker 2: While they were in it.

00:15:51
Speaker 4: After these messages, except like, oh.

00:15:55
Speaker 3: My god, and then Trey Turner thankfully doubled to left field.

00:16:01
Speaker 1: But it was funny. It was funny.

00:16:03
Speaker 2: Oh, I absolutely died. I was sitting at home watching you on TV and I lost it.

00:16:10
Speaker 3: If you should have seen us in the booth because I'm like, I'm looking at the camera because they could see us back, you know, in the truck or in Philadelphia, depending. I don't remember where our production crew was at that time, whether they were the production they were in the cavity back home, or if they were in the truck.

00:16:24
Speaker 1: But my eyes just went.

00:16:29
Speaker 6: I think you handled those very well, Tom, And I do have to say this one of the things that I that I really admire about you obviously been myself krucky, all different, very different personalities.

00:16:41
Speaker 1: How do you manage all that?

00:16:43
Speaker 5: Because you've got a lot of stuff going on during the course of the game.

00:16:46
Speaker 6: I know you got your Twitter accounts, your Instagram, all the stuff's going on at the same time you're calling a great game, You're all over everything.

00:16:54
Speaker 1: How do you manage all this well?

00:16:55
Speaker 3: I think, I mean it's a credit to you guys. I just kind of let you guys be who you are. I kind of just you know, I like to drive, as you know, you all know, so I just like the I just like to drive safely, quickly and safely, clean, safely. I always just like to drive the bus more than anything else. I just want you guys to be who you are. I don't want you to step outside of that at all, because you know, Harry used to tell me this all the time, and so did Ernie Harwell, that you have to kind of be yourself and if you're not, it's really hard to do this. It's fun, it's hard to do this, but if you try to do it like somebody else, it's even harder. And I tell kids that all the time, and they said, you know, it's truly hard to be who you are anyway in life when you try to be somebody else. To add that responsibility to it, man, that's just another layer that's really difficult to, you know, to kind of get through on a daily basis.

00:17:49
Speaker 4: Tom your off seasons are not off. You do college, a lot of college hoops and NFL. I don't know when you sleep, but I wanted to ask you because I always am fascinated by the prepper that goes into a broadcast. You're around the Phillies every day. You have intimate knowledge of the organization of the teams and the personalities NFL. You know you're one team one week, another team the next week. How different is the prep from an MLB game or a Phillies game to to an NFL game? And when do you start, Let's say you're going to do the Browns and Falcons, when do you start prepping for that game?

00:18:24
Speaker 1: And how do you go through it?

00:18:26
Speaker 3: Well, so I'll start on Monday morning, the Monday before the game itself, and I'll start by putting in you know, the players' names, numbers, where they're from, their heightweight, stuff like that. You know, everything I have is automated except for football. So football, my chart is kind of an I don't know if anybody can see it, so I handwrite everything in. That's why it's so good that my son Tommy is my spotter, because when I go to these other places and I do radio and they hire a spotterer from that area. I'll send them my chart, but they'll look at.

00:19:02
Speaker 1: It like, oh, you know.

00:19:05
Speaker 3: But I start on Monday, usually Jimmy by putting all the names and numbers in, you know, handwriting it in helps me remember it. Whereas the other sports, basketball, baseball is all automated. It's a little easier. Basketball there's less players, so that's the easiest of the three. Baseball there every day, so that's easy. Football is the biggest animal broadcasting I think that I have. So Monday I put all the players' names in. Tuesday, I put all the stats in, and I'll start watching film on like say the home probably the home team first, because I meet with them on Friday. And as I'm doing all the stuff, I have their game up. I have all their games up. I'll watch like two or two games from previous weeks while I'm doing it. Then I start putting the storylines in as well. And it depends on if I have anything else going on that week, whether I knock most of it out on Tuesday. If not, then I'll spread it out to Wednesday. I'll start watching the other team's tape, you know. Then I'll start studying, like really studying the numbers and everything like that, knowing what the changes are, watch a lot of press conferences. Then Thursday I sort of regroup my notes, my research notes, and put those in a folder to kind of have with me during the game itself. Fly out on Thursday, meet with the team, the home team on Friday, which is awesome because that gives you so much information. Quarterback, head coach, one offensive player, one defensive player. My partner will already have talked to the coordinator, so he'll share if he remembers, if Ross remembers, he'll share what some of those meetings are. And then Saturday we do it with the other team. We'll go to their hotel and meet with them, and it's basically it's it's basically the same thing. It's quarterback, head coach, probably one defensive player, not necessarily an offensive player, depending on what the team is. You know, we have a big production meeting on Saturday night, and then you know, we do the game on Sunday. If you're not prepared for that game on Sunday at that point, man, you're not going to be prepared. But it's a totally different animal. I remember when I started. When this started, it used to be that I would just show up on Saturday to do a college football game on CN eight or you know or one of those, or you know, CSTV, which is what CBS Sports Network is. And I remember doing the Navy games and we had a new producer, Coman who came in from the NFL, and he said, We're going to meet with Navy on Thursday, go out to dinner on Thursday night. Friday, will you know, will already have met with a visiting team Friday, will get all our notes together, and then Saturday will do our game. Well, I was a dad of four young kids at that time, so I'm like, I don't know. So I would go to Navy, meet with everybody on Thursday, go to dinner on Thursday night, and then go back to the hotel, say good night to everybody, and then get my car and drive home. And nobody really knew it. And I would drive back on Saturday morning for the game itself. The last weekend of the season. He said, hey, you want to grab something to eat on Friday? I said, oh, I had to drive home because my kids were in a basketball tornam or something like that. But I'd been doing it every week because I didn't really understand it. But then with the NFL, you know, it's it's like a three or four day affair, which is pretty cool.

00:22:09
Speaker 2: Is there, Tom, Is there anything that you would have? I mean you've broadcast a lot, but is there like if you could snap your fingers, I mean, would it be something as big as the Super Bowl? Would it be a premier league game, would it be you know, one hundred meter dash in the Olympics. Like if is there like a sport or an event or a moment that you go that would be kind of cool to knock off the bucket list over the next few years.

00:22:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would think. I would think.

00:22:32
Speaker 3: I would think doing a super Bowl would be unbelievable. I mean, I've done the divisional I mean, the the AFC and NFC championship games on radio, but I've never done Super Bowl. That would be pretty cool. I do think doing a Final four would be pretty sweet, you know, just being there for the you know, for the first for the semi finals, you know, having the day off and then doing the finals. I would love to do. You know this sounds somewhat selfish, but I would love to do baseball in the postseason. I'm grateful that I get a chance to do it now just do to innings of radio. But I would love to do it on television just because I feel like, you know, although I started out as a radio guy, and I always think of myself as a radio guy, obviously, I'm pretty much TV through and through without with the exception of doing some Westwood games on radio. I would love to try to see what that is like to do a television playoff game for baseball, just to steal the atmosphere, soak it in, you know, just kind of dive into what it's like to just call that, you know, a game seven or something like that.

00:23:35
Speaker 5: Along those lines, Team Act, talk about some of the most memorable calls or games that you've had over the course of your career. I know it's been a little different because I haven't been able to call a ton of games playoff games, but talk about some of the maybe maybe the you know, in in season games or important games.

00:23:59
Speaker 3: At the end of ye well, Halliday's perfect game is my favorite one. I mean, that's uh, that's the scorecard right there up on my wall. I mean, I don't I don't keep many things. I mean, I have that, I have Cohle's no hitter. That that was a really cool moment, you know, because then Ruben Ruben got rid of him after that. No, but I mean that was a great moment. I mean that I actually we did that. We did that thing last year, me Jimmy Rubin on NBC. And to think about that being his last game in a Phillies uniform he threw a no hitter. I mean, the significance I don't think was lost on me at the point, but I've gained a more of a respect for it as the years have gone on, because that was I mean, that's, hey, I'm out of here, I'll see you. I'm gonna throw a no hitter right now, you know what I mean, Like, that's that's pretty cool. Jimmy Rollins breaking Mike Schmidt's record, you know, schwar Were hitting his fiftieth this year was just incredible. You know, it flew over you know, Mani's angle, And obviously you know how much David means to all of us, David Montgomery, you know, things like that Harper's Grand Slam against the Cubs when we were not a good team. It's like, oh, man, we got this is what we got him for, like these moments that that's that's something that's really cool. My first home run on radio, Scott Rowland hit one down the left field line at the vet and Harry looked at me and went like that, I mean that was I still think about that. And then I just did Miles Garrett sack record a couple of weeks ago. You know, I don't you know, for football, we don't get a chance to do I mean significant moments per se. And that was pretty sweet to do that. I mean, that was that was kind of cool to be part of that piece of history, that NFL history, you know.

00:25:48
Speaker 2: Great, it was a great call, and it was cool that everybody in Philly was like, do you see me?

00:25:51
Speaker 1: Got the cub? It was pretty neat.

00:25:53
Speaker 3: I mean it was and he was so appreciative too, like he was even leading up to it.

00:25:58
Speaker 1: He was great. He was great. I'm a I got to go back to catching center field because.

00:26:03
Speaker 5: That that was cool because that moment for me was so spectacular. When you when you said, was it Freddie Freeman, I think it was, dude, was at a surreal moment. I loved doing those in the stands hits because those games are really really fun. There's just a lot of stuff going on.

00:26:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, describe that moment.

00:26:24
Speaker 3: Because well, so the funniest thing is that you know, that whole thing was the brainchild of Jeff Hallickman, who was our talented producer with the Phillies, and he he wanted to do a game in the stands forever and that was the first year we did it. And he said, I want you to make sure you have a glove out there. And I said, Jeff, nothing's going to come out there.

00:26:44
Speaker 1: I said.

00:26:45
Speaker 3: We just sat out here for like three days watching VP and there was no not even during BP was there a ball that comes out of he is We'll just make sure that somebody has a glove, I said, okay. So Staars had to do this hit with Bob's stumpo in the in the bull pen and Stars didn't have a glove. So I gave it my first bass myth that I had from when I was in high school in college and I always had it in my truck. Is I always had like a bag of balls or a bucket of balls because Tommy was you know, you never knew when a batting practice would break out with Tommy. So I had my glove there and it was sitting on the table, and wouldn't you know, at first ending of the first game we ever did this fall off the bat of Freddy Freeman comes out and off the bat. I'm like, in my mind, I'm like, oh my god, that could come out here. So I had a I grabbed the glove, I put it on, and it's like coming at us, and Stairs is.

00:27:35
Speaker 1: Like, cut tom go get it like that.

00:27:38
Speaker 3: And it was I mean, all I kept thinking was please, don't drop it, Just don't drop it. That was pretty amazing. That was You couldn't you could't have predicted it. I mean, it was just crazy.

00:27:48
Speaker 4: You could do that. You could do that one hundred and sixty two games. It wouldn't happen again.

00:27:52
Speaker 3: But the funny thing is that Jeff's in my ears as as he catches it.

00:27:57
Speaker 1: As I catch it, he goes, oh my god.

00:28:01
Speaker 3: It was like his It was his biggest It was a ball that would come out there. And I'm like, Jeff, there's not going to be a ball that comes out here. And I looked down after I threw it, and and Ben Revere is laughing and Center field.

00:28:17
Speaker 1: The bull then is laughing and uh.

00:28:21
Speaker 3: You know, Freddie and I talked about it every once in a while, you know, you know, and Kyle.

00:28:26
Speaker 1: I texted Kyle that night.

00:28:29
Speaker 3: I apologized that we were so happy about the ball coming out there, and Kyle goes, I shouldn't have given up the home run. I mean, you know, Kyle, he's such a sweet guy. And yeah, anyway, that was awesome.

00:28:39
Speaker 1: That was awesome.

00:28:40
Speaker 2: Its great, Tom.

00:28:43
Speaker 4: You got to work with a lot of characters over the year. Yeah, over the years. One of our favorites is Sarge. You got a great Sarge story for us.

00:28:52
Speaker 1: Well, one of the greatest things that happened with Sarge.

00:28:54
Speaker 3: You know, we all wear the same shirt and we haven't had a deficiency a It used to drive Sharks crazy because we had a leaderboard of how many times he forgot the shirt that he was supposed to wear. So we're in Miami one time and he shows up and we wear a lot of blue, which is the Phillies alternate color, and he shows up the wrong blue shirt. So Wiels is like, oh God, and I'm like, yes, we're going to update the standings.

00:29:24
Speaker 1: Well, he would have nothing to do with it.

00:29:25
Speaker 3: So he sends the clubhouse guy, gives the clubhouse guy a hundred bucks to go back to our hotel at the Diplomat on the Beach in Hallandale to get the right shirt. He gives him his key. He comes back with the wrong shirt again. So the kid goes back to the hotel and he grabs every shirt that we had for the road trip and he breaks it back to Sarge. So Sarge had the right shirt on that night.

00:29:53
Speaker 2: Oh my god, that is great. Here, choose one of these of these.

00:29:57
Speaker 3: It was really funny. He would not go on the air with the wrong shirt. He would not go on the air with the wrong shirt.

00:30:03
Speaker 1: So I do have to say this.

00:30:05
Speaker 5: Tom is not just you know, the leader in the booth, but he's also our fashion coordinator because.

00:30:11
Speaker 1: You know, in the world.

00:30:13
Speaker 2: It's funny as.

00:30:14
Speaker 5: Hell because I text him because I go on the road a lot, and I text him, Okay, what are we doing.

00:30:20
Speaker 2: He'll send out a whole video of all the stuff.

00:30:23
Speaker 4: That we're wearing during the course of the During the course of the road.

00:30:26
Speaker 3: Trits Fransky asked me before spring trading. He goes, hey, is are there any shirts that I need to bring down. I said, no, we're getting all new ones. I said, you wait till you see the button down. And he goes and I know what his head.

00:30:37
Speaker 2: He's like, Oh no, have you have you decided? Have you picked out the wardrobe or did they give you a heads up?

00:30:44
Speaker 3: Or they gave me they showed me. They showed me two of the shirts, three of the shirts that are at the store that we're wearing this this this spring.

00:31:00
Speaker 6: And you don't have to bring anything down, Tom or do I need to bring.

00:31:03
Speaker 3: You have to bring bring a poll over down because I don't know. I don't it's chili, and you know, Reuben, as you get older, you get.

00:31:16
Speaker 1: Tom. One.

00:31:16
Speaker 2: One last one for me is uh, you know, for people coming down to Clearwater that haven't been down there before, where would you send them? Give me a restaurant recommendation, give me a thing to do?

00:31:28
Speaker 5: Uh?

00:31:28
Speaker 2: Somebody comes up, He goes, Hey, I'm coming to Clearwater for the first time. Where where should I go?

00:31:32
Speaker 1: Where shoud I saw?

00:31:33
Speaker 3: I love Villa Gilacchi. I mean it's Italian food. Obviously it doesn't sound very peachy. But if you go there, Luigi and his people will take care of you. It's on Indian Rocks Beach. It's just it's just a great place. I will say that if you go anywhere on the strip right by Clearwater Beach where all the where the Frenchies are and stuff like that, you can stop in everywhere and grab a beer, watch a band. I would say you got to do that. I also say go to Dunedin. Dunedin is great as well. I mean there's some fantastic restaurants in Dunedin. But you know, I always say, if you can stop it, don if you can stop at Luigi's Billo Galacci, it's awesome. That whole strip leading down to him on Indian Rocks Beach is just blowing up with different places and there's always music being played there as well. So it's a great experience, you know. I mean, it's it's it's it's pretty amazing to go down there, and even if it's just for a couple of days to kind of soak in everything going on.

00:32:33
Speaker 4: I agree, Tom, before you go, we're going to need a super Bowl prediction. I know this is a baseball show, but you know.

00:32:40
Speaker 3: The super Bowl week well, I mean, I know you don't want to hear this, Jimmy, but I'm thinking Seattle in this one.

00:32:46
Speaker 1: I will say I love Drake May.

00:32:48
Speaker 3: I did four Patriots games this year, and you know it's one of the best vantage points to do radio is in New England, and I'm telling you, if I could have taken a picture of the four rows in front of me, the people that were there, I mean, it was really entertaining watching them as because they won all games. Watching them as the game went on. There's one guy that I have in my mind. I wanted to go out and get his name because he just looked like he would have been in some kind of you know, Matt Damon ben Affleck.

00:33:21
Speaker 1: Movie at some point.

00:33:23
Speaker 3: I mean it was just I mean, he had two beers in his hand the whole time, turning around yelling at Scott Zolak, who does the radio for the Patriots, and Zoe's yelling back at him, and it was just awesome.

00:33:37
Speaker 1: But I think the Seahawks are gonna win. I do.

00:33:41
Speaker 3: I do like both of these teams. I think it's good for the NFL that these are the two teams that are in there. I think it's gonna be a heck of a game. I think the defense, defensive line for the Seahawks is really a formidable defensive line.

00:33:54
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna pick the Seahawks.

00:33:56
Speaker 2: Where are you gonna watch a game?

00:33:57
Speaker 5: Team at?

00:33:58
Speaker 1: Probably here at uh at the house.

00:34:00
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna We were thinking about I think going to Ocean City for the day, but I think we're gonna stay here. I gotta do Purdue an Oregon on Saturday in Indianapolis. So back here Saturday night and you know, settle and watch the game on Sunday. I'm off for I'm off for like ten days after that. Wow, great trading. Yeah, good for you. Yeah, well, we're.

00:34:21
Speaker 1: Going to row my hair out get a debut new.

00:34:26
Speaker 2: Look for the February almost at bake Care Ballpark. Well, Tom Man, thanks a lot for we're spending some time with us. It was a blast. We love talking in We can't wait to see you down there in clear Water.

00:34:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, you guys got it. And you guys are doing an awesome job with the show. I mean, it's just it's fun. I always love seeing Jimmy smiling face. You guys are awesome. And it's a great logo too'd you all should get yourself a bullpen car with the logo and have it parked outside of what are your houses?

00:34:58
Speaker 4: Hey?

00:35:00
Speaker 5: Right?

00:35:00
Speaker 1: Tom?

00:35:01
Speaker 4: Thank you very much, and just to complete the experience, I'm going to tell you smell your.

00:35:05
Speaker 2: Later, buddy. Thank you again to Tom McCarthy, The Philly Show. We'll be back this week. The Philly Show is brought to you by the Foul Territory Network. Subscribe to The Philly Show on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.