Wally Joyner on Hitting coach blame game, Fan attack w/knife, Recent Angels mistakes, Ump initiation

00:00:01
Speaker 1: We've got former All star, sixteen year big league your former MLB coach, Wally Joiner joining us right now. Wally, great to see you. And also we've got Eric Kratz from his bunker. So I apologize because I know that you too have a history.

00:00:14
Speaker 2: It's a bad history. So how far are you awake? Kratzy? Are we close? Too close? No, we're good.

00:00:20
Speaker 3: Good the statute of limitations, you're you're close, you're within you, you're outside of the five hundred mile radius. So we're good right now.

00:00:28
Speaker 4: What did you do to him? What was it? Twenty thirteen? Krats?

00:00:32
Speaker 3: Twenty thirteen? He was a hitting coach my only year where I spent the entire season in the big leagues, And so basically I made him quit, Like I'm good on like half a year's stint. If I can spend time with a hitting coach for half a year, they won't go crazy. So he ended up quitting baseball forever after that.

00:00:53
Speaker 2: Almost a true story.

00:00:54
Speaker 1: Hey, that's actually a good way to kick this off. How rewarding at times but also of devastating at times?

00:01:01
Speaker 4: Can it be as a hitting coach in Major League Baseball?

00:01:04
Speaker 1: Where the first sign of an issue with the offense is your fault.

00:01:08
Speaker 2: Well, it's more devastating than rewarding. But when the team wins, it's because the front office put a good team together. When the team loses, what's wrong with the hitters? Waally. So, No, I enjoyed it. It was a tough job, but I coached for the Phillies for one year and then I went to Detroit for three years. I had a couple of great hitting teams to work with, and you know, it was just a lot of fun to go out and watch them play. It was rewarding. I'm finished, I've retired. I'm playing this game now behind us and not very well at that. But I enjoy it. But no, I love Philly. What a great team, what a great town. And it's a pleasure being with you guys today.

00:01:54
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, I mean, Kratz, you can speak to observing hitting coach is and them not getting enough credit in general.

00:02:02
Speaker 3: Now never they never get enough credit. They never get enough credit. It's one of those things. I think it's like a year and a half as the average lifespan of a hitting coach in the Big leagues. Wally j assistant hitting coach, moved up to the head guy keeping his job in Detroit for three years. Feels like, feels like it was good. But I have to appreciate it because because in Detroit, I then got traded in fourteen to the Royals, and so fourteen and fifteen we figured out how to make the Tigers not hit anymore. So I figured it was either me and my game calling, or it was Wally and being a.

00:02:37
Speaker 2: Hitting Kich probably a little of both. Cratzy, probably a little of both. That was a tough bullpen to get to with the Royals. So yeah, it was some long nights playing the Royals.

00:02:50
Speaker 4: All right.

00:02:51
Speaker 1: I want to ask you first off about a couple of teams that you were a part of obviously in your career. So you want to Pennant with San Diego in nineteen ninety eight, Do you see what the scene is like now for the Padres and go, Wow, that's impressident.

00:03:05
Speaker 2: No, it is impressive and it's exciting to watch. I think we're talking today about a team tied with the Dodgers, right, we are in the first place until yesterday. It's going to go down to the last game. I remember one of my years, it might have been ninety six, or ninety eight, it went down to the last game against the Padres and Dodgers we swept them to win the National League West. So exciting times in southern California Right now, What was.

00:03:35
Speaker 1: It like then, ballpark wise? Because I've been there a couple of times and it is a scene. It is incredible. They sail out basically every night.

00:03:44
Speaker 4: It's a shot.

00:03:45
Speaker 2: Well, you're probably only seeing about half of what it was like in the late nineties because we played at Qualcomm, which was about a sixty five thousand seat stadium, and it was packed in the postseason. In ninety eight, the Braves came out for the Nash League pennant, and then I went in two thousand to play for the Braves and they were still talking about the noise and how ruckous it was at at Qualcomm. And now they play at Petco. But you know, my memories at Qualcomm were as about about as good as they could ever be.

00:04:20
Speaker 3: Should the stadiums be bigger? Like, I mean, you talk about like sixty five thousand in those in those days when you guys are running running hot, you were winning a pennant? Like, should the stadiums be bigger? Or is the smaller feel, okay, because we're not normally sold out anyway.

00:04:39
Speaker 2: Well, you have the two extremes, as you mentioned, sixty five thousand seat stadium when we're in first place. Then in the American League, we went to the old ballpark in and uh, I can't think of the name now, but in Cleveland eighty thousand seats municipal, municipal, and uh it looked like there was two thousand there when when they were in last place. But the Indians picked it up in the mid nineties and their Progressive field has been packed ever since. So you gotta win. You gotta win, Cretzeam, you gotta win.

00:05:14
Speaker 3: Okay, So you need a big stadium to win, Yes, sir, talk you talk about your you talk about your you know, playing in the American League, playing in the National League. We talk about umpires all the time on our show. Your story about going from the American League to the National League is one of the ones that has seared in my memory, and only because you are a great storyteller. Can you tell us what the umpire told you the first time when you went from the American League to the National League.

00:05:43
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know how much time I have. But I played ten years in the American League and I would drive home at night after ball games playing for the Royals and playing for the Angels, and for me, I thought you had to be a complete Major League Baseball player if you got kicked out of a ball game, right. That was one box that I wasn't checking off. And for ten years I got along well with everybody. I thought I was a nice guy. And then I get traded to the Padres and all of a sudden, I'm in the Senior circuit and I thought baseball was baseball, but the Senior Circuit was in the National League, and all of these umpires had a chip on their shoulder, and you know, it was just it was it was just too much. I got kicked out of a game in Philly, finally, and I was the happiest guy on the field even though I got kicked out. And there was some really unremarkable comments during the argument about getting my tired American League but off the field, right, and I'm like, what are you talking about? You know, so, but that was the uh, that was just what the umpire's thought, or some umpires thought, was that the American League didn't matter. National League, and we're gonna make a you know, we're gonna we're gonna set a precedent with all of these American leaguers coming over to the big leagues.

00:07:14
Speaker 1: Finally, Wow, they're like, oh, look at this American League comoers.

00:07:19
Speaker 2: I actually told the story this morning, one of my favorite stories. I was in the American League.

00:07:23
Speaker 1: Uh.

00:07:24
Speaker 2: It was my first year playing for the Angels Friday night Texas Rangers. Nolan Ryan was on the mound sellout crowd, and I'm excited to face Nolan Ryan. And I walk up to the plate and there was an umpire I said hello to. His name was Derwood Merrill, good old country boy. I loved him. He was a great, great guy. I get in the batter's box. First pitch was a fastball this far outside stee rack one. And I look at Derwy and I said, der With, that pitch is a foot outside. And he takes his mask off and he says, son, that's a Hall of Fame pitch. Tonight, swing the bat. So, uh, you can have fun with it, which a lot of the umpires did. But you know a lot of great stories.

00:08:06
Speaker 4: Great good, that's good.

00:08:07
Speaker 1: Well, hey, things are going to change they've been changing, but they're really going to change next year if we have a challenge system, because you can't pull anything off, even for a game. It's one thing when you're getting graded much more tightly, and there's a whole system to it these days, but the challenge system is going to enable someone like you back then to have been.

00:08:24
Speaker 4: Like tap the head.

00:08:26
Speaker 1: Hey, sorry, buddy, hate to do this for a your nice guy, but we don't play like that just because he's really good.

00:08:31
Speaker 4: He doesn't get a foot off the plate.

00:08:33
Speaker 2: Well, I you know, listen, I was old school. I was all about the technology not coming into play. But they've done a great job with the technology. I think that Unfortunately, when you can immediately show replay of a bad call, then that changes the outcome and the fans don't like it, and so I think I like what they're doing. I'm really excited to see what happens with the strike zone. I saw it a few times. Quickly make a difference on both sides. You know, on defense, you want the pitcher not to throw very many pitches, right, and so there's a there was a miscall which could have cost the pitcher to throw more pitches that inning. They went to the replay, it was a strike three. He's off the mail right. And then the top of the next inning, a guy got struck out on a bad pitch. He went to the helmet, it said it was a ball. Next pitch he got a double. So in two separate situations they got the call right and it made a big difference in the outcome of the game.

00:09:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna be career all through stuff, which is what replay has done too, you know, every time when they've gotten the right calls right. Yep, Oka KP. This is your first arena club experience. We're going to open a slab pack together. So first off, we're gonna buy one of those twenty five dollars slab packs and we get to see what is in the pack. There it is the Grail, which is the best card in the pack and worth the most. There are some other cards that we're chasing, and you can see the entire lineup so that you know what you're in the running for. There's the Yamamoto signed card. Now let's open up our pack and see how we do we have ourselves a really cool graphic and then a show Heyo Tani fifty to fifty card from last year. What do you want to do? Should we sell it right back to them for sixteen or should.

00:10:29
Speaker 4: We keep it?

00:10:31
Speaker 3: You should give it to me, I'll.

00:10:32
Speaker 1: Keep good answer, Fine, I will give it to you. Since the Blue Jays didn't getto Tani, you can get this fifty to fifty card instead and use the code foul foul to get yourself twenty percent off your first slab pack or card purchase. Yes, you get to keep that card if you want it. They send it to you foul at Arena club dot com slash foul Right, I want to take you to the Angels. So yeah at Wally World rookie year. Awesome with the Angels, great run with the ball club in general. Well, where are you out on this team now? Because they just they haven't been able to do anything during Mike Chioud's career, and you know this is going to be another season where they're going to fall short of the playoffs. There's definitely a young core there, But is it frustrating for you to watch from the outside and.

00:11:14
Speaker 4: Hope that you know, they could bring things back to how it was?

00:11:17
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think you know it's frustrating for for ex players. It's frustrating for fans. I'm sure it's frustrating for Ardy Marino. I don't think that he's you know, his intentions were to have this this type of an outcome. The history doesn't portray a positive picture. For six years, they had arguably the top two players in the game, and now they only have one and the other one is doing great with the Dodgers show Hao Tani, and the Angels got nothing for him, you know. That was what was so devastating, was we you know, and I know that already was trying to sign him, and so you can't try to sign him and also trading, but you just you can't not get something for that guy. And the Angels came up with nothing, you know, no prospects, no great players in return for losing show. Hey. So I know that that was very frustrating and disappointing. Injuries play a big role in every season and every team, and the Angels have had their fair share. Mike Trouts had his fair share, which is unfortunate. And he's he's trying to get healthy and you know, hopefully he can get back to playing the outfield, but it hasn't happened. So far. So, I think just frustration. You know, I look at the Angels as a mini situation as the Chicago Cubs for one hundred years.

00:12:49
Speaker 1: Right right, right, This is a microcosm of what Cubs fan shot with for a long period of time in twenty twenty three. Were you surprised when the trade deadline passed and you were like, they didn't trade him?

00:13:00
Speaker 2: I was so shocked. Yeah, you know, the likelihood of he of him signing back. I think already thought he had an inn on that. But unfortunately agents and players they have their own sights on somewhere, and you know, to lose them to the Dodgers even hurts a little bit worse.

00:13:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, it stings a lot right now for Angels fans. All right, So I'll take us to a different subject. I was looking back. You were in the nineteen eighty six home run derby. I was okay, you tied with Daryl Strawberry allegedly allegedly. Okay, Well there's more to the story.

00:13:38
Speaker 2: I won. You want we can tie?

00:13:40
Speaker 4: Okay? Do you what do you have? What happened?

00:13:42
Speaker 2: My my? I'm old, but I thought I won. But the difference we were in in in the Astrodome, Okay, the biggest ballpark that was around at the time, and uh, little Wally Joiner was hitting it right over the fence and Darryl Strawberry was hitting the speakers up in the up in the rafters. It was a huge discrepancy, but it was uh, you know, a home runs a home run, and uh, you know, listen, I was honored to be a part of that, uh opportunity. I was, you know, the first rookie ever to be elected to start in an All Star Game that year, and then uh, to have a chance to go in the finals for the home run hitting contest. Some great memories.

00:14:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, it felt like a win. Then I just saw it crats because I'm like, wait, you tied. I mean, I know it was early days, you know, I.

00:14:27
Speaker 2: Don't know how they said, but we tied. I mean, I have a contest. If you're going to come up with the tie, I think my recollection, I mean, Darryl Strawberry probably says he won. I don't know who.

00:14:38
Speaker 4: He probably beat you on the distance side. They were doing that as the tiebreaker.

00:14:41
Speaker 2: I didn't have that his one was equal to my two, but so maybe that's what they were counting.

00:14:46
Speaker 4: Yeah right, it's like three point ball or something like that.

00:14:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, but that was great.

00:14:51
Speaker 4: Yeah, Love, I'm confused.

00:14:54
Speaker 3: So you tied? You have the same I don't. I'm really confused.

00:14:59
Speaker 2: I I've heard both stories. I'll stay with the one that makes me look good, which I won the home run hitting contest, but I don't know it was gosh it was. I don't even think they had they have video of that. It was so long ago.

00:15:14
Speaker 1: So hey, they were still convesion this year when Kyle Riley ended up winning, but in in earlier rounds it was Brent Rooker didn't even know what's going on.

00:15:23
Speaker 4: They're right, guys, can we be transparent about this?

00:15:26
Speaker 2: I did like the way they finished the All Star Game this year, though, the swing off.

00:15:29
Speaker 1: I figured you'd like that, Love, that's basically the antithesis of what we're talking about.

00:15:33
Speaker 2: You're much better than ending the game and the time. Yes, right, So I loved the excitement and what a way to end it with schwarbel right.

00:15:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, very cool.

00:15:45
Speaker 1: Okay, one more one more for me, and again, I'm just looking back at the history books. In August of nineteen eighty six fan incident that I feel like a lot of our young fancy For me, I didn't catch or know at the time happened. If you wanted to share with us, is this the Yankee stadium? So we had a two game series with the Yankees nineteen eighty six.

00:16:09
Speaker 2: The Yankees weren't doing very well. Mike wit threw a complete game and we swept him two games and he threw a complete game. So we're all on the mound congratulating Mike Whitt for a complete game. And he's about this tall, and I look up at him. I said, nice, go on, give him a fist bump. And I turned and we were probably about this far apart, and I feel something right here, and I think it's him doing this to me. So I looked at him. I said, what do you want? He goes, what are you talking about? And I said, you hit me? And goes no. And we looked down and there was a buck knife, a blade about this big sticking in the ground. We don't know where it came from, but it he could have one inch one way or the other could have been damaging. Yeah, And it landed in the in the ground and the next thing I saw was the dugout. I quickly ran in. You know, I don't know what came of it, but yeah, it was Uh. I think it happened so fast that you didn't get nervous about it. But it just you mean, thinking about it just makes you realize how possibly dangerous it could be out there.

00:17:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they didn't have cameras set up. I mean, nowadays, you find that person, you could find him.

00:17:19
Speaker 2: Yeah. The rest of that story was the Yankees came out to Anaheim to play a week later and Dave Winfield runs out to right field, which was Wally World. Yeah, so be careful, Dave. So he goes running out there and there was about two hundred rubber knives thrown at him that said welcome to Wally World. So it was pretty cool. Wow, it was great. Wow.

00:17:39
Speaker 1: But yeah, so a fan, I mean attacked from a distance, obviously you would.

00:17:45
Speaker 2: Think it was a fan. Yeah, he was angry about with the Yankees, but they were already in the dugout. He couldn't get to them. So next best thing, let's go after the start. I think it was thrown at Mike Witt. Sure, don't hurt me. I made the outs that day.

00:17:57
Speaker 1: So you know, yeah, yeah, they come on. But that that is crazy. Christ did you know that story.

00:18:05
Speaker 3: I did not know that story. They I mean, they used to say Yankee Stadium was a jungle. I didn't realize it was really a jungle.

00:18:11
Speaker 2: For you, Jay, it was really a jungle. It was uh you know, listen. I love Yankee Stadium. The old the old ballparks were fabulous, and uh, I I just I have I have no bad memories of anything that happened in the big leagues, good or bad.

00:18:29
Speaker 4: Right right.

00:18:30
Speaker 1: That's why sometimes people are like, oh, fans are getting so bad. No, there's there's always been problem. Listen, there's always been problem. We just were able to report on them a little quicker and find people and all of that.

00:18:40
Speaker 4: All right, let's finish on a high note.

00:18:43
Speaker 1: Person, you're most excited to spend time with this week or see whether it's something you already know or somebody knew.

00:18:49
Speaker 2: No this, uh, this opportunity. I got invited about a couple of months ago, and I was flattered to get the call. In the invite, we have eighty players here from all four of the major sports. I love hockey. I saw Bernie Nichols, who I've been with for about thirty years. Good to catch up with him. All these names were people that I enjoyed watching and were fans of, and so now to to see him again on the golf course, it's gonna be a lot of fun. I hope. I just don't embarrass myself. Some great players. Yeah, I'm playing for like forty of the place right now, so I'll be happy.

00:19:24
Speaker 1: That would still be above that's about fifty percent right around the great curve.

00:19:27
Speaker 4: Okay, just just beat Kevin Mallar for it.

00:19:29
Speaker 2: I could do. I played with him tomorrow in our first match on the first day, so I'll do that for you.

00:19:36
Speaker 1: Tell him it's hot, you know, cocktails the little thing, right, just take care of him.

00:19:40
Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly, all right, Hydra, right.

00:19:43
Speaker 2: All right, gratch you good to see you. Good to see Thank you, thank you, Thank you both