Is This A Great Game, Or What? Joins the Foul Territory Network

00:00:05
Speaker 1: Is this a great game or what with the Hall of Famer Tim Kirkshin, I'm his son, Jeff Kirkshin, and Dad, you're at spring training. I am in my basement. And we ended up wearing the same exact quarter zip to this episode that we got in the Little League World Series last year when we were there with our friends at Game Changer, And I mean, are we now that you're my dad and you're my coworker. I feel like our brains everything's just synced up together.

00:00:33
Speaker 2: Yeah. And I even have my shirt on correctly today as opposed to backwards.

00:00:37
Speaker 3: That's good.

00:00:37
Speaker 2: This is very appropriate too, little guys with a Little League World Series shirt on what to call a quarter zip? Is that what you young people call this? Because I what would you call it?

00:00:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's exactly why.

00:00:49
Speaker 2: I've never heard that until the last few years. We just called it like a pullover or something like that.

00:00:54
Speaker 3: Not the point.

00:00:55
Speaker 2: The point is, you look, it looks great and this was not planned.

00:00:59
Speaker 3: We're both wearing Little League quarter zips. How about that?

00:01:04
Speaker 1: And we'd have the same hairline if I wasn't wearing my hat right now. Hence why I'm wearing this hat because my hair is receding very much so. But on another note, Dad, at the end of last week's episode, we noted that there was going to be a big announcement here on is this a great game or what? And I can't wait any longer to be able to say it right now, So here at is this a great.

00:01:24
Speaker 4: Game or what? Population two full time employees.

00:01:30
Speaker 1: We have paired up with our friends at the Foul Territory Network to be a part of their amazing company in order to continue to create great content for all of you, members of our family and people who listen to the show. We're really excited to be partnering with them. And the most important thing to realize before we get into the more details of Foul Territory Network is nothing's going to change for you. Right wherever you're listening or watching right now is going to be there for you weekly and multiple times a week during the regular season. So nothing changes for you. But as we've joked for two whole years, we're going to have a little bit more help on our hands in order to survive when my wife has another baby this June, and if we're in the hospital, Dad, you'll have somebody that can help you get on a computer other than me.

00:02:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, you will have extra help.

00:02:21
Speaker 2: You're the one that does ninety nine percent of the work on this show. And now when you don't have time to do something, it looks like we'll have time. And I'm thrilled because among the other people will be meeting with there and joining. Mark Wiener is the guy that reached out to us. Mark Wiener is my dear friend, used to work at ESPN, was a producer there when I first got there. We did all sorts of assignments on the road, in studio, baseball Tonight, everything else. I was there when he met his wife, Yolanda, and I hope this is appropriate Yolanda's last name. And by the way, Mark Wiener is captain of the all over Achiever team. Marrying Yolanda nicks it's not even close, and she still does. But she goes by Yo instead of Yolanda all the time, and so when she got married, she became Yo Wiener, which I just thought was the funniest name. I strongly suggested she just keep her last day.

00:03:23
Speaker 3: But it's great.

00:03:25
Speaker 2: And Mark, of course is a big baseball fan, really truly understands the game, loves the Yankees, and the middle name of one of his sons is Maddingly after Don Man.

00:03:37
Speaker 5: We love that, right, It's so perfect.

00:03:40
Speaker 1: And I talked to Mark last week and he told me, Dad, you know they were in spring training the Foul Territory Show and the network we're out there. And he told me, looking back at your days together at ESPN, that he remembers before he had children, you would say, Okay, I've got to I got to fly back because Kelly has a basketball game too, and I got to get Jeffrey off to school on Wednesday, and I will be back Wednesday afternoon. And he remembers thinking to himself, this guy is crazy. But he said, now that he is a father, he understands why you were doing these types of things because it's hard to leave your kids. And it speaks volumes dad to the dad that you are and what this show is all about, right, and that we now that you can escape by doing a show with your son. You don't feel as bad being away from your kids.

00:04:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, A good, good point, jeff And when McKinley Hope is in the first you know, first time she does ballet or or does you know something on stage you're gonna you're gonna figure out how to get home for that and then go right back to what you were doing. This is what This is what parents do. This is what dads do. This is what Mark Weeder does for his kids. This is the way it works.

00:04:54
Speaker 3: It's all good.

00:04:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, So thank you to Mark. Thank you to Scott Braun for helping us out with this transition. Thank you to Jeremy Meyer who's become a friend of mine at the Foul Territory Network as well because he's been helping me with this transition. And again we say, this is very exciting news for the podcast, but the most important thing is nothing is changing for you. If only only thing that'll change is that maybe there'll be more members of the family finding out about this podcast, because that when you're down in spring training, half the people are saying love the pod, and the other people are saying, didn't know.

00:05:26
Speaker 5: You had a pod.

00:05:28
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:05:28
Speaker 5: Well, hopefully we run in the socials here right.

00:05:30
Speaker 2: Well, the people we do have Jeff listening and reacting to the show.

00:05:35
Speaker 3: It's a pretty good group.

00:05:37
Speaker 2: And last week, you know, we made the point that Eddie Murray, it's the all time leader in Sacrifice Flies for a career, yet never led the league in sacrifice flies in any season.

00:05:49
Speaker 3: So we threw it out to our listeners and our viewers.

00:05:52
Speaker 2: We gave them a homework assignment, and Todd Addington and Brian Dial were just among two that came up with All Famer. Eddie Collins had five hundred and twelve sacrifice bunts.

00:06:04
Speaker 3: I think that's like.

00:06:06
Speaker 2: Over I know, it's over one hundred more than anyone else ever had, yet he never led the league in sacrifice bunts in any season.

00:06:15
Speaker 3: So and Joe Wilke.

00:06:18
Speaker 2: Wilck had a couple of these also, So Jim. We have some really clever people that listen to our show email us and I just hope they keep it up because we learn from them, hopefully like they learn from us.

00:06:34
Speaker 4: Yeah, no doubt about it.

00:06:35
Speaker 1: We gave them a homework assignment and they came through and we really appreciate that. With that being said, if you don't know and you're listening somewhere, you can always watch the full show on YouTube. Every episode since the beginning of this show back two years ago. You can actually watch on YouTube. Make sure to subscribe there. We would love for you to be a part of the family face to face, and you can also follow us on Facebook and in Instagram at Great Game or What. We would love to have you a part of those, you know, those communities as well. It's really important. Now, Dad, I just got to kind of close this out on the show we've been talking.

00:07:11
Speaker 4: Did you did the all shed team for me?

00:07:13
Speaker 3: Where?

00:07:14
Speaker 5: What'd you do the all the.

00:07:15
Speaker 2: All Yeah, it was like the all building kind of team, all structure team.

00:07:20
Speaker 3: And shed long was the second basement.

00:07:22
Speaker 1: So and after I can say, I think eight weeks of delays because of the snow, my shed has been delivered, even though I'm in the middle of an office that's being reconstructed right now in our new basement. And I'll post a photo hence all of the social media as I mentioned, I'll post a photo of what the setup is currently. I'll just tell you it involves a high chair. That's all I can say. Follow us at Great Game or What, and I'll pop the image up right here on our YouTube as well, so you can go to the YouTube and watch the video of seeing exactly what I'm trying to do here whilst my office is under wrap and under plastic with with drywall pieces. So we're working on that, Dad, but we're we're working with what we can and we're working with our friends at Foul Territory Network, which is incredible.

00:08:18
Speaker 4: Let's go Dad to takeaways.

00:08:20
Speaker 1: Let's stop talking about my situation in my shed and my construction. Let's talk about where you are, in a much warmer situation than.

00:08:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm in Florida.

00:08:29
Speaker 2: I was in Arizona for three days. And I'm ashamed to say this, Jeff, but on last Saturday, I was remarking when I was in Mesa for a game with the with the A's the A's we're playing the Giants. I said, God, it's just too hot out here. So here, I've been complaining for four months that's freezing cold wherever I go. And then I went to a place that it's too hot. It was great in Arizona. I had the best time. I learned so many things, which is what we're trying to do here. Spring training is a crucial time. And I went to see Tito Francona, the Reds manager, and I always just feel better after talking to Tito in spring training. He makes everybody feel like they're the most important person in the world. Every time you talk to him, you realize, you recognize again how fortunate you are to be covering major League baseball. He's still doing it after all these years.

00:09:25
Speaker 3: And I got such a kick out of this.

00:09:27
Speaker 2: I'm not sure why, but you know, he had Brent Suiter on his team last year, left handed pitcher, and Brent Suter is one of the smartest guys in the game and is one of the most talented people in the game because he can do impersonations. I told you he does the greatest Jim Carrey in the world. Well apparently he does the greatest Tito Francona in the world. Also, And the game that I went to when they play the Angels, Brent Suter was starting for the Angels. So it came up and the guys in the room asked Tito, like, how good is the impersonation and he said something like, well, it's.

00:10:00
Speaker 3: Really good, he said.

00:10:01
Speaker 2: Last year in spring training, Brent Suiter would just come in to Tito's office and just sit and talk to him for five ten minutes here and there. And he did it like three or four times during spring training. And Tito now realizes as he goes, I know why he was in there. He was in there to figure out my mannerisms. He wanted to talk to me more.

00:10:21
Speaker 5: He was studying.

00:10:23
Speaker 2: He was studying my voice, my mannerisms, all that stuff. So that's Brent Suitor for you, and that's Tito. And after I left the Reds that day, I felt even better about where I was because Tito Francona like made it clear, Hey, you're in spring training, let's go.

00:10:40
Speaker 3: And that's the way I feel.

00:10:41
Speaker 1: You know, I missed the day's dad of you and Terry Francona in spring training whilst players are doing impersonations of both.

00:10:48
Speaker 5: You and him.

00:10:50
Speaker 1: The clips of Elliott Johnson doing Tim Kirkshon and Jonathan Papplebond doing Tito Francona Automatic Classics Dad, And I know you, I know your flattered imitation is the greatest form of flattery and you don't love talking about yourself on this show. But I have to say those those are some of my favorite clips on the Internet to this date.

00:11:10
Speaker 2: Right, well, Jperre and Cebe was the first one that did me and Tito.

00:11:15
Speaker 3: I'm not going to tell the.

00:11:16
Speaker 2: Story again, was the one that ambushed me with that impersonation on National TV. So I'm so glad to see Tito that he's back and he's healthy and everything's okay. By the way, his general manager is Nick Kroll, which I guess I'm the last guy to figure this out, but I learned this spring training that he used to be a groundskeeper in spring training, the general manager of the Rents, and I met one of the groundskeepers who used to work with him, and he remembers calling Nick, you know this many years ago and saying, Hey, you want to come over. We'll go out and get a beer. And Nick said, no, I can't. I'm studying. I'm going to be a general manager. So at the time he was a groundskeeper and he said, I'm studying to be a general manager. And then he not only made it to be a general manager, he's a general manager of a playoff team last year, the Cincinnati Red. It's pretty cool.

00:12:11
Speaker 1: Well, Dad, that's like the Burger king cash Sheer becoming the CEO. I mean, seriously, you've got to start somewhere. Climb up that ladder. I love that story.

00:12:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's great, right, right, Okay, Jeff, the ABS, the automated ball strike system has gone pretty well from what I can see. You know, it's going to be instituted this year in regular Major league games, and I talked to several managers about it. Most of them seem to think that it's working. It's certainly not perfect. There are bugs to work out. I'm still a little worried about it. But some of the things I've gathered from the people that I talked to is the strike zone is really small anyway, and it's going to get even smaller because you know, the great pitchers, the Greg Maddox's of the world, used to get a pitch a half inch off the late and because the umpire missed it, because it's easy to miss a pitch by half an inch, but Maddox would then say they can get half an inch. Then he would go to an inch, and then three inches, and then five inches, and he.

00:13:13
Speaker 3: Would keep getting these pitches.

00:13:15
Speaker 2: Well, that's not going to happen anymore with an ABS system, because there are challenges involved. And one manager told me that he thinks the strikeout rate is going to go down because hitters are not going to get called out on pitches that are out of the strike zone. So let's hope that's that's cause. And another manager told me it's really gonna it's really going to help the short guys. The jose L two Bays of the world are really going to get helped. And he said, you watch. You know they don't call the high strike very often, or the high strike isn't a strike really, and the short guys are going to be the ones that are going to benefit more from this rule than anything else. So I told the manager boy I would be great, and he said, yeah, you'd be the best hitter in the league because you be you'd be the smallest hitter of the league.

00:14:02
Speaker 1: Yes, well, dad, this is this is the first time in any major sport history I would say that players actually want to be listed as their actual height.

00:14:13
Speaker 3: Right.

00:14:13
Speaker 2: In fact, one of the managers told me that he has a guy on his team of six feet tall and he showed up this spring and now he's five eleven. So he purposely made himself an inch shorter because it might help him.

00:14:29
Speaker 3: In the ABF system. That is fascinating.

00:14:32
Speaker 2: Also, Jeff will make this quick because it doesn't fit with our show. But I checked on the labor situation with a couple of people, and it looks as bad.

00:14:41
Speaker 3: As I thought it looked.

00:14:42
Speaker 2: And I talked to someone who's pretty close to the negotiations, and he told me the two sides are further apart right now that you know, with ten months to go before December the first, and then he's ever seen it. And that was discouraging to me, because again, I covered the eighty one strike, Jeff, I've covered them all since, and to be this guy said this is as far apart we've been at this sort of date.

00:15:09
Speaker 3: Does that discourage you a little bit?

00:15:12
Speaker 5: Massively?

00:15:13
Speaker 1: It really does scare me, Dad, And you're not the first person, and obviously you're a trusted journalist in our sport, and you're not the first person I've heard from.

00:15:21
Speaker 5: That is saying this.

00:15:22
Speaker 4: So I hope and I pray.

00:15:25
Speaker 1: I know both reasons from both sides as to what's going on, but I hope and pray they can find some middle ground. Because listen, what is our podcast going to do?

00:15:35
Speaker 4: What are we gonna review movies?

00:15:36
Speaker 2: Yeah? What are we gonna talk to Gerlin country music? We're in big trouble if there's no baseball next year. So we'll figure this out, Jeff. We're gonna keep it.

00:15:45
Speaker 1: You know what we could do, Dad, We could just review every concert you've been to. That would take about three minutes. Yeah, I can tell you, like, all right, Yellow Card circ God two thousand and four. There's that, and what were the other to Kenny Chesney in two thousand and nine.

00:16:03
Speaker 4: And Dan Fogelberg, Dan Fogelberg and in college what.

00:16:08
Speaker 3: That was nineteen seventy seven?

00:16:11
Speaker 4: Were you blasted for the show or do you remember it?

00:16:14
Speaker 2: I remember it well, and it was a date. I had a date and I doubled with guy in from our dorm. They did not go well, or did any other day?

00:16:24
Speaker 3: Didn't go? Eh?

00:16:26
Speaker 5: How did his date go good?

00:16:28
Speaker 2: His always went well? Mine always went poorly. That's okay, it's not important, all.

00:16:33
Speaker 3: Right, Jeff.

00:16:34
Speaker 2: Also, the only problem, well, there are no problems about going to spring training, but right now teams have lost all their WBC players, and I have to always get through my mind. Okay, I'm going to see the Yankees. I went to see the Yankees Tuesday. We're taping this on Monday. The Yankees have like eleven guys at the WBC. So when you go in there saying, hey, I'm just gonna go check in with this guy or this guy, and you realize nobody's here they are all gone to the WBC. So the WBC is a great event, Jeff, but it does take away from the everyday players who are not in the in the WBC. You can go to a spring training game and they're gonna be even fewer stars there because most of them are going to be in the WBC.

00:17:21
Speaker 3: I'm all in favor of the trade off like that.

00:17:25
Speaker 2: And speaking of the WBC, I talked to a manager who told me, well, the Japanese are really great again because they're not so worried about overworking their players in the WBC and therefore having it affect them on the major league team. Now, the major league teams are always concerned about this, but the Japanese are here to win. They won the last time and they're here to win again. So let's keep our eye on show, Hey, Otani and ya, i'm Amoto and the rest of the group, because they are here to win.

00:17:59
Speaker 4: Well, aside from the WBC, Dad, any more takeaways?

00:18:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, I saw the Dodgers, Jeff, and we all know that they're absolutely loaded. And I'm certainly not going to defend the Dodgers. But I've told you before, Jeff, the Dodgers are as well run as any organization out there. Granted they have more resources, they can make mistakes and make up for it with all the money that they have, but people, I'm not sure everyone understands how beautifully run that organization is. And it starts with Andrew Freeman, who's the president of Baseball Operations. And I talked to one of his colleagues the other day and he said, it's amazing that Andrew will sit in on a high level meeting about baseball. What I mean about this is how we're going to deal with this is what we're going to do with our you know, our secondary lead this year, or this is how we're going to attack sacrifice bumps or pitchouts or whatever. And the whole meeting will go by and Andrew Freeman, whose boss might not say a word during the whole thing, but he's he wants to hear, I'm told from all of his people. He wants to make sure that everyone in the room has a voice. He's gonna make the final decision. He's already thought through all of this before the meeting even starts.

00:19:15
Speaker 3: But it's very interesting.

00:19:17
Speaker 2: This guy made a very clear point that this is what leadership is all about is that you let everyone else in the room have something to say because maybe they'll say something you didn't know. But I thought that was pretty interesting. And do you agree that's what great leaders do.

00:19:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, Dad, I think it's so easy to just say, oh, here are the Dodgers again with all the money, But that money doesn't go very far if you don't have the right leadership behind it. So I think it's a really good breakdown, dad, to kind of see how it works on the back end, because we've seen teams with a lot of money not perform well. I won't name names, but it really takes good leadership and money sometimes to make a championship team.

00:19:59
Speaker 3: Right. I went to see the Dodgers.

00:20:01
Speaker 2: I'm walking through the broadcast area there and there's a room open, and there's a guy sitting in there all by himself, and I look in. It's Tony Larusen. So I go and sit next to Tony Larussen, age eighty one for thirty minutes. Tony's one of my favorite people over the years that covered him a million years with the cart with the Cardinals of course, and the A's and everything else he is And here he is, eighty one years old.

00:20:25
Speaker 3: He's a special advisor for the White Sox, goes to a million games.

00:20:29
Speaker 2: They send him out to do things all the time, and he is he He yelled a couple times during the game, yelled out loud angrily, and I had to look at him and say, Tony what, and he goes. They just tie the score four to four. The Dodgers tied the White Sox in that game four to four in the fifth inning, and Tony was really upset that his team was now tied. They weren't ahead in an exhibition game and they were in the fifth inning. It just goes to show you again how intense Tony Larusa is about everything. Jeff, I can't tell you how many times I would go up to Tony in my career and just say Tony, how are you? And he would say, well, i'll tell you in three and a half hours, because that's when the game was over. That's how Tony's doing. If they win, then I'll be doing fine. If they lose, then he won't.

00:21:24
Speaker 3: Be doing fine.

00:21:25
Speaker 2: So I had a great chat with Tony Larusa that was really fun. I also, Jeff saw the Red Sox and this is one of my great failings. Jeff, When I go to spring training, I get caught up in the enthusiasm of a team. But I left the Red Sox thinking that they're better than I thought they were. I thought they were improved with their offseason. They made the playoffs last year. But now they've got Roman Anthony Back. They've got a really good starting rotation with your boy Ranger Suarez in it, and with Garrett Crochet at the top. They have three quality left handed starting pitchers. Their bullpens a little thin, but with Anthony Back and Marcello Meyer's going to play second base, and Trevor Story if they can keep him healthy, and you know william or Bray, who's gonna hit thirty homers if he's healthy. So I left thinking, you know, I'm not saying they're going to beat the Blue Jays and Yankees for sure and win the division. But I liked what I saw and heard from the Red Sox yesterday in Duneed.

00:22:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's really great. And I think if I want to make sure everybody knows when we talk spring training, if you haven't gone and seen your team in spring training, you're missing out because whether you're in dun Eden or Clearwater or Scottsdale, wherever it might be, it is magical. And Dad, I have so much jealousy and my only dream for this darn show of ours is to do a show from spring training. I don't care what park we're at. I just want to be down there. I just want to see the people. When Alex Coorr is walking around and just says, hey, Timmy, and you guys talk, these are the things that only really happened at spring training, Dad, And I'm sure, and I don't want to put you.

00:23:10
Speaker 4: On the spot, but you can speak to it. With the way teams have changed.

00:23:13
Speaker 1: Over the years, with everything a lot more corporate, right, Managers just aren't popping around, players aren't taking VP during the regular season like they used to and sign in autographs and hanging with the kids. But spring training still has that appeal right right.

00:23:27
Speaker 2: There is still time, Jeff to you know, as we talked about two weeks ago, things happened in spring training that just don't happen during the regular season. I believe it was one of our great listeners. John Woodward wrote in that he went to he was in there. He lives I guess he lives in Arizona and he was driving past I think it was a Chick fil A and there were two players from the Mariners who were in full uniform and they were in a golf cart and they were drive through the.

00:24:03
Speaker 3: Checkout window at the Chick fil A.

00:24:07
Speaker 2: And so just when we were saying, only in baseball, I mean only in spring training can things happen. Trust me, that's not happening in the regular season in Seattle. So he was listening to our podcast as we were explaining, you know, you know, Jeremy Guthrie rode his bike in full uniform to a game with his glove on his handlebars. As we're talking about that, John Woodward is driving and he sees two Seattle Mariners full uniform in a golf cart picking up food from Chick fil A.

00:24:37
Speaker 3: Is that not beautiful or what?

00:24:39
Speaker 4: It's the most beautiful thing.

00:24:41
Speaker 1: And it's the most beautiful waffle fry I've ever had as well, not an ad but I'm telling you, nothing can beat those fries with some Chick fil A sauce?

00:24:50
Speaker 5: Are you kidding me?

00:24:52
Speaker 3: It's pretty good? Okay.

00:24:54
Speaker 2: And then there's our pal Bill Chuck from Billy Ball, who does loven stack that is just great. His baseball knowledge is unparalleled. He is a really fun and hilarious guy. You really need to read what he writes on a daily basis.

00:25:08
Speaker 4: And you using substack in a sentence that quickly and that smoothly. I'm extremely impressed with you, Dad, right.

00:25:14
Speaker 3: A complete sentence substack.

00:25:16
Speaker 2: I learned that phrase about a month ago, and I've used it about five times since. So Bill Chuck sends me this and says, I bet you've gotten this from at least a dozen people. Well, I didn't get it from anybody except for him, because only he can see things like this. But the Brewers used a picture named Drew Rahm rom and against the White Sox used a hitter named Drew Romo. So we had a Drew ram against a Drew Romo. That would qualify as a quirk gin. But we don't have them in spring training, but we will once the season starts. I can't wait for that because that's my favorite part of every podcast that we do, the quirky, funny, weirdo things that happen all the time. So thank you for that, Bill Chuck. And last thing, Jeff Bruce Framing died the other day. He umpired the third most games in Major League history, behind Joe West and Bill Clem. Bruce Freming was one of my favorite people umpires that I was ever around. He had a great sense of humor and never took himself too seriously, and he was in the middle of so many amazing moments in baseball history. Just go google him. We don't have time to go over all of them here, but I'll never forget. In the eighty six All Star Game, Jeff he was working the plate. Roger Clemens comes to the plate for the American League batting in the All Star Game, and he's facing Dwight Gooden, who's throwing, you know, ninety seven miles now with a riding fastball.

00:26:43
Speaker 3: That's just ridiculous.

00:26:44
Speaker 2: And Clemens hadn't faced anybody since a real pitcher since high school because of the d ah.

00:26:49
Speaker 3: So the first pitch.

00:26:50
Speaker 2: Comes in and Roger looks at it, ninety seven rioting fastball, and he looks at Bruce Freming and goes, Bruce, do I throw that hard? And Bruce Freming says, yes, Roger, you throw that hard. And Roger went wow, And that was an epiphanty for him that nobody can hit that pitch. If it's thrown that hard, I know I can't anymore, he said, but major league hit it. So that's when Roger Clements really started throwing his fastball more often. After facing Dwight Gooden and Bruce Freming was the homeplate umpire in that game. Rest in peace, Bruce, one of the best umpires of all time.

00:27:28
Speaker 4: On this date in baseball history, Dad, what do you have for us?

00:27:31
Speaker 3: Yeah?

00:27:31
Speaker 2: On this date nineteen sixty, pitcher Chuck Carey was born, and he pitched a little for the Yankees and White Sox a few others, and he didn't pitch for a long time, but I used this note for Sports Illustrated a long time ago. I think just when he pitched for the Yankees, he would leave a ticket for every game for Joe Jackson, not the Joe Shoeless Joe Jackson, but for Joe Jackson, the songwriter the brit I think he's a British singer. I don't think Joe Jackson ever showed up to get the ticket, but it was part of Chuck Carrey's pregame. I'm leaving a ticket for Joe Jackson just in case he comes to our game today.

00:28:09
Speaker 3: How about that.

00:28:10
Speaker 2: It's like it's like Cornbread Maxwell of the formerly of the Celtics, he used to go into the airport and every time he went to the airport, he would he would page Dolph Shase because he loved that. Dolph Shase, of course was a great, great college basketball player, a really good NBA player, And every time Cedric Maxwell would go into the airport, he would page Dolph Shase. And one time Dolph Shase was actually in the airport and he picked up the phone and then I think Cornbread just kind of hug up the focus. He didn't know what to say.

00:28:45
Speaker 4: Oh God, so much shot in the dark and it worked out that one time.

00:28:49
Speaker 2: Right.

00:28:49
Speaker 3: A couple other things.

00:28:50
Speaker 2: Matt Trenor, former catcher, was born on this date in nineteen seventy six, and I've always got a kick out of this, Jeff. He was part of a click of backup catchers. They all kind of had this little camaraderie between them because they all had the same job. Every spring they go to spring training trying to make another team. And Quirky Miller, what a perfect name for a backup catcher told me once that he saw Matt Trainer and they just looked at each other. They're on opposing teams, and he said, you know, still hanging in there. And Matt Trainer said, like, here we go again. We're trying to make another club. And there's a special bond, a special fellowship between career backup catchers.

00:29:33
Speaker 3: I've always loved them. That's great.

00:29:34
Speaker 2: And on this date in twenty twenty four, Jeff ed Ott died, and Odd was one of the really tough guy catchers, a pretty darn good player in his day, a great wrestler in high school. So ed Ott died, and in honor of him, even though I'm really fudging it here, I'm going to test you on the team tim for this week.

00:29:56
Speaker 3: Jeff, what is today's date?

00:30:05
Speaker 1: Today's date is March the third, three three three. Oh okay, all right, now, remember last year on April the fourth, we did the all four by four Teamjan Soto, Babe, Ruth, Pete Rose, you understand. So poor pop Up flew from Maryland to Phoenix the other day.

00:30:31
Speaker 2: I was on a plane for like five hours. So what do you think I did to pass the time? I came up with the all three three three te Jeff. That was way harder and It wasn't a very good team, but it was way harder than the four by four.

00:30:48
Speaker 3: But I kind of came up with it. You want to hear it.

00:30:52
Speaker 5: This is the team? Is corn?

00:30:55
Speaker 4: It no relation to ed aforementioned?

00:30:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, right, right now, I'm going to spoil everything Ed. I couldn't find a catcher. I couldn't find a catcher, So we're going to use Ed Odd because this is we're recognizing him here as a real tough guy. And it's a loss. It was a loss for baseball when we lost ed Od. But yes, Lee May is our first baseman. H Lee May is the first player that I he was good hitter. Jeff hit a bunch of homers. Led the league in RBIs nineteen seventy six with the Orioles.

00:31:30
Speaker 3: He's the first player I've ever seen.

00:31:31
Speaker 2: Who broke a bat without making contact with ball, meaning he checked his swing and his hands and wrists were so strong that the torque he used he snapped the bat in half without hitting it. That's how strong Lee May was. And let's see Jeff, how well how good your memory is? What is Tony Perez's daddy's dad's nickname?

00:31:56
Speaker 3: Hall of Fame?

00:31:57
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, sorry, what is Eduardo Perez as our dear friend. What's his dad?

00:32:01
Speaker 3: Tony's nickname wasn't wasn't he big dog? Doggie doggy dog right? And he got that nickname for two reasons.

00:32:11
Speaker 2: Number one, everybody loved Tony Perez and a man a dog is man's best friend. So that's number one. And Lee May, the afore mentioned le May also called him Doggie because he said when they would go out to dinner and Tony Perez would order a steak, he would eat it with his hands at the end, all the way down to the boat. And that's why he called him doggie, because he ate a steak like a dog would eat a steak. Eduardo Perez told us that story a year ago. Finally I asked him, why do they call your dad Doggie?

00:32:47
Speaker 3: And that's it. So Lee May is our first baseman. Jim Cox is our second baseman. Cox of course, third.

00:32:56
Speaker 2: Basement of course, Ron Say one of the great Dodger nicknamed the Penguin. And I can never explain this, but the late great Kirby Pucket. For some reason in the eighties, when I would be at a lot of the gay eighties and nineties with twins who were really good. He used to call me ron Say. Every time I'd show up, he goes, hey, Ron, say, how you doing. He called me ron Say because Ron Say was short, and of course.

00:33:22
Speaker 3: So am I.

00:33:23
Speaker 2: But that's the end of the comparison between me and ron Say. He weighed like he weighed like two hundred pounds and was really strong and was a major league player. But every time I walk in the clubhouse, Kirby walk by and go hey, Ron say, how you do it? So sure didn't fit all right, I was looking for a shortstop. I've never heard of this guy, but.

00:33:46
Speaker 3: I love his name. His name is dud du d Lee.

00:33:49
Speaker 2: He played shortstop in the twenties, I think partly for the Red Sox.

00:33:53
Speaker 3: Dud Lee.

00:33:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, he would also make your all unfortunate names team right, Bailey Walter.

00:34:00
Speaker 4: Right, right, right, guys, I mean he's a dud out there.

00:34:04
Speaker 2: Right right, dud Lee right, Okay. Mel Ott is one of our outfielders. This inspired me to do that because Melott is a Hall of Fame player. And by the way, Melott hit the most home runs in one ballpark of any player in Major League five hundred and whatever eleven home runs He had three hundred and twenty three of them at the Polo Grounds, and nobody has ever hit that many home runs in one ballpark, like Hank Aaron, for instance, played in Milwaukee and Atlanta, so he had to mix him up. Willie Mays played at the Polo Grounds in a Candlestick park, and you know, Barry Bonds played in Pittsburgh and all this other stuff. But Melott has the record for the most homers, three hundred and twenty three in one.

00:34:51
Speaker 3: Ballpark, the Polo Grounds, all right.

00:34:54
Speaker 2: I played two other guys out of position. Joe liss Ls, mostly a first base, played some outfield for sure. One of my favorites Joe Foy Foy, also mostly a third baseman, but he played outfield and infield all over the place. And he was traded in nineteen sixty nine from the Royals to the Mets, and that's how the Royals got Amos Otis, who became one of the better Royals of all time, in a trade for Joe Foy. Our pitchers, I have three of them, Jay Frye, Fry, Ron Law Law, and I finally one I'll never forget this, Jim Ray, who I remember pitching for the Astros, and these are the things you learn when you hang out with the Doug Raiders of the world. He was the manager of the Rangers eighty three eighty four, and he told me once when he was Jim Ray's teammate with the Astros. This is in the sixties, early seventies, Jim Ray, Doug Raider told me would go to sleep at his hotel room in New York and his door was wide open. But when he goes to sleep in New York, I mean, who would.

00:36:04
Speaker 3: Do that, Jim Ray.

00:36:07
Speaker 4: That's like the skin That's like my deepest fear.

00:36:10
Speaker 1: When I was moving dad from Cleveland, Ohio to Las Vegas for my second radio job, I don't know if I've ever told you this.

00:36:17
Speaker 5: I went.

00:36:17
Speaker 1: I had to stay at a hotel the night before my big flight because I no longer had a bed in my apartment. So I stayed in the hotel and I dropped all my stuff off, and I went out to the bar to see some of my friends before I left the city that.

00:36:32
Speaker 4: You know, was my first radio job.

00:36:34
Speaker 1: When I came back, it was snowing like crazy in Cleveland, Ohio. My motel door was open, so when I got back to my hotel, dropped off by a friend.

00:36:47
Speaker 4: I walk over to my.

00:36:49
Speaker 1: Door and it is open in a snow storm. And here I'm thinking, Okay, there's going to be a homeless person living in there trying to keep warm, or I'm about to get murdered, or I forgot to close the door properly. Now, obviously, in those moments, you never think that the most logical response. But I was so tired and so cold, I said, you know what, I'm just gonna see what's going on.

00:37:12
Speaker 5: I'm going in, right, I'm going in.

00:37:14
Speaker 4: And ultimately it was the ladder.

00:37:17
Speaker 1: I forgot to close the door all the way and it didn't latch in boom pal and there was a snow in my hotel room and it was freezing cold.

00:37:24
Speaker 4: But ultimately I ended up being Okay, thank goodness.

00:37:27
Speaker 2: Thank goodness for that, Jeff. Okay, so that's my all three by three team. I was proud of that, Jeff. It took me five hours on an airplane to come up with that team. It's not, like I said, it's not a very good team, but to find a player at each position was challenging, to say the least.

00:37:44
Speaker 1: And if I taught you how to watch a show on Netflix on your phone. We wouldn't be getting these Genius team tims. So I'm going to keep up with not showing you how to download a podcast either, because this is where the great content comes out, is when you're on a plane.

00:37:58
Speaker 2: Right, Still struggle on the plane, Jeff, with that Wi Fi on American airlines, Still have a little trouble with that. You're gonna have We're gonna have to take a flight together, and you're gonna have to show me how to do that for.

00:38:09
Speaker 1: No reason other than using the Wi Fi. We'll just get on a return flight thirty minutes later, we'll have dinner in the in the North Carol or in the Raleigh airport or.

00:38:18
Speaker 5: Something, and we'll we'll turn around and come back.

00:38:21
Speaker 2: All right, Okay, now what are we finishing with here, Jeff? Oh, I meant to tell you. I told you I left I left home for this trip without going without going to the bathroom. Well, I went to the bathroom, I just didn't go to the bathroom downstairs with the three cards in the bathroom, so I had you just reach in and pull out some cards.

00:38:39
Speaker 3: So what do we what do we got this week?

00:38:42
Speaker 1: Well, Dad, I pulled out a box, a banker box that says Jeffrey's Baseball cards. And within this box that I've got quite the collection, mind you, that of which I still need to go through in order to continue to fund my wife's dreams of redoing this new house. If I could sell a couple of these cards for some money, maybe we could, you know, stay above, stay in the in the in the black, if you will. But so I have a box full of cards, and I just pulled three random cards out, So we're going to see how this goes.

00:39:13
Speaker 3: Okay, all right?

00:39:14
Speaker 1: The first one is Roberto Alomar. Interestingly a Diamondbacks card, but he's wearing a white Sox uniform as you can see from our video here.

00:39:25
Speaker 3: Wow, that doesn't make any sense, all.

00:39:27
Speaker 2: Right, Well, Roberto Alomar is one of the great second basemen of all time and one of the great defensive second basement I've ever seen, and I'll never forget it. When he signed with the Orioles big contract, I went to Porto Rico Sports Illustrated to write a story on Roberto Alomar. So we go to a TGI Fridays for lunch, and he's dressed in a sweatsuit. He looks very athletic in a sweatsuit. He's not dressed like So we eat lunch, we come out of the TGI Fridays and a lady comes up to him and hands him her valet parking ticket and says, could you go get my car? So she thought Roberto Alabar, who just signed this ridiculously expensive deal at least at the time to play for the Orioles.

00:40:19
Speaker 3: And he just.

00:40:21
Speaker 2: Chuckled and said, ma'am, I'm not the valet guy. And then he whispered to me and he said, I could buy this entire chain of restaurants now. So I have a million on the field stories from Roberto Alamar. But that was the story I got when I went to Puerto Rico to do a story on him, and he was a very very gracious host for me.

00:40:44
Speaker 1: The next guard, I'm pulling out of the box. Here, Dad is a Sean Green card.

00:40:48
Speaker 4: Here we go.

00:40:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, Sean Green hit four home runs in a Major League game, had and he also had a double. I mean, it was one of the greatest games that anyone's ever had. And I repeated this story the other day. Jeff, I'm going to tell it again about because it came up when I was talking to Tyler Kepner of the Athletic. He's one of the great baseball minds ever. He's like the greatest. He knows stuff that nobody else knows. He's so impressive remembering guys who played for certain teams and things like that. So I told him the story about the four homer guys because Mike Cameron came by. Mike Cameron hit four home runs in the game for the Mariners, you know, like twenty like twenty five years ago, almost something like that. So and he almost hit a fifth. The fifth one got caught at the right field wall. So I told Tyler Kepner the story of when Juhanio Suarez hit four homers in a game. And I'm driving to Bristol, and I say, well, just to keep past the time, I'm going to try to name all the guys in baseball.

00:41:56
Speaker 3: History, like all twenty.

00:41:57
Speaker 2: I think it was nineteenth time we'd hit four homers in a game, and I got eighteen and I couldn't get the nineteen. So I decided, well, I'm gonna cheat and call Siri Okay on the on the phone while I'm driving, But of course I don't know how to do that on my phone, like Siri, who give me all the guys who had four homers a game? I don't know how to do that. But if you remember, Jeff, Pat Siri was the guy that I was missing, Pat Siri nineteen forty eight. I want to say, hit four homers in a game, and I got it right because I was going to call Siri on the phone and ask her, and that's when it hit me. It's not Siri that the answer woman. It's Pat Siri was the last four homer guy that I couldn't get Sean Green, great hitter four homers in one game and a really good major league hitter for quite some time.

00:42:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'm glad you didn't call Siri because she might have made you leave a voicemail.

00:42:56
Speaker 5: You don't really.

00:42:57
Speaker 4: Call Siri, But we'll go over.

00:42:59
Speaker 5: The verbiage of it later.

00:43:00
Speaker 3: Don't worry.

00:43:01
Speaker 4: Called Alexa or called chat GBT too, but we'll handle that later, don't Yeah.

00:43:07
Speaker 3: We'll read about it in the substack or something, right, all.

00:43:12
Speaker 1: Right, Last, certainly not least I pulled another card.

00:43:16
Speaker 3: Roger Clemens.

00:43:17
Speaker 2: Okay, I know he's much maligned for things and everything else. But look, there is no questioning his work ethic that he put in every single time he went out there. And again I'm not going to defend him completely. I voted for him for the Hall of Fame ten years in a row.

00:43:34
Speaker 3: Not the point.

00:43:34
Speaker 2: The point is I was in New York once and with the covered the Orioles, and Edward Bennett Williams was the owner of the Orioles mid eighties. And I get up early because I can't sleep or whatever. And Edward Bennett Williams is in the hotel lobby at like seven o'clock in the morning and he looks at me and he goes, I just saw Roger Clemens. He went out for a run at seven o'clock in the morning, and he had pitched the night before in New York, and at seven o'clock in the morning went out and ran the streets of Manhattan. Another time, Josh, I went to see the Yankees on a Sunday, and I didn't realize, at least back then, on Sundays you don't have to get to the ballpark till eleven o'clock. Well I eleven am. I didn't know that, so I show up at seven o'clock. The clubhouse is normally open at eight, and there is Roger Clemens at seven o'clock in the morning throwing a football in the parking lot with the trainer. So he's he's strengthening his arm and doing baseball exercises at seven o'clock in the morning with the trainer when he doesn't have to be at the ballpark till eleven am. So say anything you want about Roger Clemens, I get it, but don't ever question how hard he worked to be a great pitcher and he was a great pitch.

00:45:01
Speaker 5: All right, Dad.

00:45:02
Speaker 1: Well, that wraps up today's edition of Is this a Great Game or what? And before we know it, we're going to be in the throes of the season and we're really looking forward to bringing you more episodes weekly, so be on the lookout for that. We'll kind of jump to we'll jump to two a week, and then we'll get into full time three a week, and we'll be adjusting our days a little bit, so we'll be bringing you a Monday episode. So just be on the lookout for how things are going to change in twenty twenty six. For your rhythm of listening to our show, but you know, we'll go over that schedule when we get there, but for now, we're really excited to be taking you through this spring training and Dad, I hope you get home safely.

00:45:45
Speaker 4: You already look tan. Take some time for yourself, enjoy spring training, all right.

00:45:49
Speaker 3: Thank you, Jeff.

00:45:50
Speaker 2: We'll talk next week and go foul Territory Network.

00:45:54
Speaker 4: Yeah, glad to be a part of it.

00:45:56
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening, and as always, thanks for being a part of our family.

00:46:00
Speaker 3: The Snow has