What Bryce Harper AND Manny Machado Wish They Did As Rookies
Spend Father’s Day with your favorite father-son baseball podcasting duo, Tim and Jeff Kurkjian!
We cover all the latest happenings across Major League Baseball, but first, we kick things off with a Kurkjian Quandary about golf (yes, we love these).
The Marlins are playing great baseball, and so is Bryce Harper. Harper and Manny Machado both reflect on how different the game is today, especially when it comes to facing pitching compared to when they first broke into the majors.
Plus, the commissioner of the podcast, Mike Schur, shares a Quirkjiian that will have you thinking about unassisted triple plays in a whole new way.
And on this date, we celebrate baseball legends Bobby Cox, Babe Ruth, and Willie Mays. We'd say that's a pretty strong lineup.
Then we spin the Wheel of Kurkjian and talk all things baseball—it's kind of the perfect segment.
Thanks so much for listening or watching, and thank you for being part of our family!
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Speaker 1: Welcome back to Is this a great game or what
Speaker 1: with the Hall of Famer Tim Kirkshon, I'm his son,
Speaker 1: Jeff Kirkshon recording on Father's Day. Happy Father's Day, Dad.
Speaker 2: And save to you, Jeff. And now you're a father
Speaker 2: twice with body bell, so this is even more special
Speaker 2: to you. How has today gone for Dad number two?
Speaker 1: Well, if I'm being honest, late last night, so Saturday night,
Speaker 1: my wife kind of looks at me. We are like
Speaker 1: ten days into having a newborn. We have the toddler
Speaker 1: who's almost three, So trust me, I'm glad she's not
Speaker 1: super focused on Father's Day. For goodness sake. I mean,
Speaker 1: my wife is recovering from delivering a baby. We're taking
Speaker 1: care of this new body. We're trying to manage that
Speaker 1: our toddler still loves us. It's a very stressful situation
Speaker 1: over here. But she kind of looks at me and goes,
Speaker 1: what do you want to do? Right like, because that's
Speaker 1: the way my Father's Day goes? And I told her,
Speaker 1: is this not so? Jeff Kirkchin, I said, I want
Speaker 1: to organize the garage and cut the yard. I told her,
Speaker 1: I want to do manual labor on Father's Day, and
Speaker 1: she said, okay, we'll free you up in order to
Speaker 1: do it. And listen. I love the snuggles with body,
Speaker 1: I love playing and coloring with McKinley. But these are
Speaker 1: things that have been on my mind that I need
Speaker 1: to get done, and I want time to do them.
Speaker 2: After you're done organized. Yes, it's not pathetic, Jeff. You
Speaker 2: got that from me. And after you're done organizing your garage,
Speaker 2: I want you to come organize our garage. How about that.
Speaker 1: I can organize my garage on a Father's Day. We
Speaker 1: would need a father's month to get through yours.
Speaker 2: I think we would need a father's year to get
Speaker 2: through our not the point, I'm really quick.
Speaker 1: It's worth noting that you and I both without communicating
Speaker 1: war dad or grandfather shirts. You have a for those
Speaker 1: on YouTube, which you should subscribe right now. If you
Speaker 1: haven't already, check us out Great Game or what dot
Speaker 1: com or that's the website you can get to our
Speaker 1: YouTube from there. Of course, we want you to subscribe
Speaker 1: and be a part of the podcast. Dad. You have
Speaker 1: a pop pop sweatshirt excellent, well done right.
Speaker 2: Wearing it for the first time. It was a Father's
Speaker 2: Day present. From your mother. Being a grandfather is all
Speaker 2: kidding aside, the greatest thing that's ever happened to me,
Speaker 2: because I've got more children and my children are evolved
Speaker 2: in this equation. It's so great. And my dad was
Speaker 2: the greatest grandfather ever. His nickname was pop and since
Speaker 2: I couldn't take that because he's the best ever, I've
Speaker 2: always said it takes two of me to equal one
Speaker 2: of my That's why I am pop pop. And Carson,
Speaker 2: our oldest grandson, oldest grandchild, said the other day that
Speaker 2: you should be pop pop like five times because you
Speaker 2: have five grandchildren, so you shouldn't be pop up. You
Speaker 2: should be pop hoop pop pop pop pop pop up
Speaker 2: pop pop. How about That's that's incredible.
Speaker 1: That's so perfect and so fitting for you. So you've
Speaker 1: got your brand new pop pop sweatshirt. And I have
Speaker 1: this shirt that says girl dad now granted as of now,
Speaker 1: I am no longer only a girl dad. I am
Speaker 1: also a girl and boy dad. I got one of each.
Speaker 1: I got my son Body who's ten days old, and
Speaker 1: I got my daughter McKinley, three in August, and I
Speaker 1: got to get a new shirt obviously, and this one
Speaker 1: is a little bit tight on the dadbod, so it's
Speaker 1: probably good that I can get a new one. My
Speaker 1: chest hair is popping up. Thanks for that.
Speaker 2: Good for you, Jeff. Let's get you a new shirt, dad. Jeff,
Speaker 2: So my dad, since it's Father's Day. My dad was
Speaker 2: the greatest dad ever, and as I said, the greatest
Speaker 2: grandfather ever. And he taught me everything I needed to
Speaker 2: know about baseball. He taught me how to play the
Speaker 2: game as well as my two brothers. He taught me
Speaker 2: how to love the game, and he gave us all
Speaker 2: a great feel for the game. My dad, you remember, Jeff,
Speaker 2: Dad was. My dad was a good hitter. I mean
Speaker 2: I can remember him being a pretty good hitter in
Speaker 2: his seventies. So he used to joke around when he
Speaker 2: was in his seventies that he was a better hitter
Speaker 2: than Joe DiMaggio because at seventy he might have been,
Speaker 2: because I'm sure Joe Demagio never picked up a bat
Speaker 2: after he retired, and my father still loved to swing
Speaker 2: a bat when he was in his seventies. So jokingly,
Speaker 2: I made a license plate frame and the license plate
Speaker 2: frame said better hitter than Joe DiMaggio. So in the
Speaker 2: final ten years of my dad's life, he drove a
Speaker 2: car in which the license plate frame said better hit
Speaker 2: her than Joe DiMaggio. You remember that, right, Jeff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you know, I don't want to speak ill
Speaker 1: of the dead. But the reason, one of the reasons
Speaker 1: why Joe DiMaggio was such a fierce competitor is because
Speaker 1: he was just that. He was fierce. He was no
Speaker 1: joke out there and nothing would upset him more. Any
Speaker 1: player to pick to mess around with Joe Demaggio might
Speaker 1: be one of the last I would want to. But
Speaker 1: the best part of the story is the fact that, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: at his passing, that then became Nana's car, my grandmother.
Speaker 1: So she drove for years better hitter than Joe DiMaggio.
Speaker 1: And people would pull up and see an eighty seven
Speaker 1: year old woman driving.
Speaker 2: Right, and the story there is she's parked at a
Speaker 2: traffic light. Again, this is my mom, the greatest lady ever,
Speaker 2: who grew up in England. So even though she grew
Speaker 2: up in our house, she's not exactly the biggest baseball
Speaker 2: fan ever. And a guy pulls up next to her
Speaker 2: in the car, rolls down as his window and yells
Speaker 2: jokingly at my mother, I bet you're not a better
Speaker 2: hitter than Ted Williams. And she came home and told
Speaker 2: me that story and basically asked, what do you What
Speaker 2: do you think he meant by that? So I had
Speaker 2: to explain the guy in the other car was trying
Speaker 2: to be funny about this, and it was lost a
Speaker 2: little bit on my mother. But that's okay. And as
Speaker 2: you know, Jeff, my dad, the way he taught us
Speaker 2: how to play the game was just so important to
Speaker 2: him and to us. A number of times I would
Speaker 2: take a car ride with him and he would just
Speaker 2: out of the blues say, all right, you're playing third base,
Speaker 2: first and second, you know, ground ball to your left,
Speaker 2: fast runner on you know, where's the ball going. He
Speaker 2: did this all the time, and I'm going to have
Speaker 2: you fill in the blank on this. In the in
Speaker 2: the rec room, he used to routinely after our games
Speaker 2: would throw a pillow down in the middle of the
Speaker 2: wreck room while we're watching baseball at night and tell us, like,
Speaker 2: how to make the double play and what happened on
Speaker 2: the one time where things went a little awry in
Speaker 2: the rec room when my dad was teaching us how
Speaker 2: to make the double play well.
Speaker 1: God bless your mother. First of all, three boys, really
Speaker 1: four boys when you count her husband, who was a
Speaker 1: kid at heart up until the day he died. And
Speaker 1: I want to tell a pop story about how much
Speaker 1: of a kid he was, even to me when he
Speaker 1: was well into his eighties. But what had happened was
Speaker 1: turning the double play, threw a ball right through the
Speaker 1: glass door. He had one of those paneled glass doors crash.
Speaker 1: Of course you hear nana, boys, what happened? And Pop
Speaker 1: goes to you, youngest, little timmy can do no wrong. Hey,
Speaker 1: take the fall for this and I'll let you off easy.
Speaker 1: And that's exactly what happened. What did he take you
Speaker 1: out for ice cream after?
Speaker 2: Tell Mom that you did it, and I'll get you
Speaker 2: off easy. That's what my father said. Of course, my
Speaker 2: mother figured all of this out, and she knew her
Speaker 2: mischievous husband was just kidding around on this anyway. But Jeff,
Speaker 2: I told you what a good hitter he was. This plaque,
Speaker 2: which was your brainchild, is in my office, my baseball office,
Speaker 2: and it lists the ten greatest hitters of all time.
Speaker 2: And for those who can't read it, these are the
Speaker 2: ten greatest Babe ruth Ty Cobb, Ted Williams, Lou Garrig,
Speaker 2: Jeff Kirkchin, Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, Mickey Mannle, Hank Aaron
Speaker 2: and Stan Musial. So, according to this plaque, my dad,
Speaker 2: who played at Watertown High in outside of Boston and
Speaker 2: would have played at MIT undergrad except for they didn't
Speaker 2: have a baseball team while he was there. He's one
Speaker 2: of the five greatest hitters of all time according to
Speaker 2: a plaque that hangs in my office.
Speaker 1: How about that, Well, it's so funny too, being named
Speaker 1: after your dad, my grandfather, Jeff Kirkchhin. Now, one day
Speaker 1: when that gets asked on to me that plaque, my
Speaker 1: kids are gonna have a lot of questions. And let
Speaker 1: me just say we've spoken of this. I was a
Speaker 1: theater kid in high school. I was not a ballplayer.
Speaker 1: I got the fear of the ball. I didn't grow
Speaker 1: fast enough and I had to leave baseball in the past, which,
Speaker 1: by the way, Dad, just on an aside, you did
Speaker 1: an incredible job raising me and allowing me to go
Speaker 1: after something that I clearly cared about, which was performing.
Speaker 1: You did everything right. But I will say going down
Speaker 1: the music route, taking piano. All of that was because
Speaker 1: of my grandfather. My grandfather, this great baseball player who
Speaker 1: loved sports more than anything and loved raising four boys,
Speaker 1: three boys, excuse me. He always told me do not
Speaker 1: give up playing the piano, because he always wanted to
Speaker 1: be able to play the piano and play and sing.
Speaker 1: He was the guy who stood up at his own
Speaker 1: birthday party when the power went out and started singing
Speaker 1: Frank Sinatra just so the party could keep going. That
Speaker 1: is who I was raised by and keeping with piano lessons.
Speaker 1: Pop died when I was ten years old. Every time
Speaker 1: I got discouraged, I thought about Pop telling me, never
Speaker 1: give up on this, because you'll be grateful. And now,
Speaker 1: at age thirty two, I can sit down and play
Speaker 1: a song and sing and entertain people at a bar,
Speaker 1: or in the basement or wherever. And I'm grateful to
Speaker 1: Pop for doing that. It's the sign of a great
Speaker 1: father in you, Dad and letting me pursue a dream
Speaker 1: of performing, and a great grandfather for doing just the same.
Speaker 1: I mean. And as a dad, Now, those are lessons
Speaker 1: I've learned. You have an image of what you think
Speaker 1: your kids will be. Right. I have this idea that
Speaker 1: McKinley will be this great dancer and performer and be
Speaker 1: on the stage just like her dad. But she could
Speaker 1: be a lefty softball second baseman in a second, you know,
Speaker 1: one of those slap hitters that gets on base that
Speaker 1: could change everything. But it's pouring into those kids like
Speaker 1: you did and like Pop did to me and Kelly.
Speaker 1: That is so important, and so on Father's Day. I
Speaker 1: think of you too all the time, and I know
Speaker 1: you're the most humble man in the world. But you
Speaker 1: learned how to be a dad from your dad. That's
Speaker 1: why you're a great dad. And I learned how to
Speaker 1: be a dad from my dad, and that's why I
Speaker 1: like to think I'm becoming a great dad. And I
Speaker 1: want to just give a quick shout out to all
Speaker 1: of the dads out there who grew up without an
Speaker 1: example of a father, because your job is incredible and
Speaker 1: incredibly hard to become something that you never had a
Speaker 1: good example of. I think my job's easy because I
Speaker 1: just I'm just sacked as goofy as my dad, and
Speaker 1: I just get to be like my dad and how
Speaker 1: I remember him when I was a kid. But to
Speaker 1: those who didn't have a dad growing up, Hats off
Speaker 1: to you. To the single moms out there that have
Speaker 1: to be dad, Hats off to you. To the stepdads
Speaker 1: who have stepped up, Hats off to you on this
Speaker 1: Father's Day because all of you have an important role
Speaker 1: to be played. And a happy Father's Day to all
Speaker 1: the members of the family out there.
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Speaker 2: It's also the first day of summer today. Another reason
Speaker 2: to celebrate. Another reason to celebrate is we have Kent
Speaker 2: Murker on the show, former Major League pitcher. He'll be
Speaker 2: on on Tuesday. Jeff, how many times do you think
Speaker 2: you laughed out loud with Kent Murker in the hour
Speaker 2: and ten minutes we had him on.
Speaker 1: It was so great, Dad, It was so much fun.
Speaker 1: His stories about the what did we count seventeen Hall
Speaker 1: of Famers he played with right? Does that sound right?
Speaker 2: Right? Thematic stories, the Chipper Jones stories, the Bobby Cox stories, priceless.
Speaker 2: And I thought I had heard a lot of stories
Speaker 2: because I collect stories for a living. He told at
Speaker 2: least five stories that I hadn't heard before. And that's
Speaker 2: what really makes it great for me. And last thing, Jeff,
Speaker 2: Today's Father's Day is also the final round of the
Speaker 2: US Open, And we're just going to have a little
Speaker 2: fun with this. We're not here to hurt anyone's feelings.
Speaker 2: We are just trying to make a point about the
Speaker 2: different levels of athlete that we meet in sports, and
Speaker 2: these PGA Tour players are just so unbelievably good, and
Speaker 2: I'm not sure the average fan truly truly understand. So
Speaker 2: I'm going to ask you again, Jeff, what does an
Speaker 2: eighteen handicap shoot on the final day at Shinnecock, the
Speaker 2: diabolically difficult course where the US Open was held this year.
Speaker 2: Going into the final round, I think only five players
Speaker 2: were under par. That's how hard this course is. So
Speaker 2: the eight Let me describe who I think the eighteen
Speaker 2: handicap is. He's a guy who plays his little home
Speaker 2: course and a god love him for going out there.
Speaker 2: And he's playing fifty nine hundred yards from the white
Speaker 2: tees and he's raking three footers, taking gimmes. He's not
Speaker 2: sure the rules of the game. You know, some guys
Speaker 2: will take a triple maximum that type of thing. So
Speaker 2: I'm asking you that guy gets dropped into the eight.
Speaker 2: He gets dropped into the final pairing of the day.
Speaker 2: He plays with Wyndham Clark and Scotty Scheffler. With the
Speaker 2: game that he has from his little course, what is
Speaker 2: he going to shoot on the final day of Shinnakok
Speaker 2: when it is televised. He's playing with gallery surrounding him,
Speaker 2: and he's playing with the best player of the world,
Speaker 2: Scottie Scheffler and Wyndham Clark, And what is that guy
Speaker 2: gonna shoot?
Speaker 1: He's playing by all and he has.
Speaker 2: Right and the only rule for this day is you
Speaker 2: have to put out and you have to follow all
Speaker 2: the rules of golf. There there are marshalls there checking
Speaker 2: every single move. So what do you think that guy
Speaker 2: is gonna shoot today? And this is nothing against an
Speaker 2: eighteen handicap, but.
Speaker 1: Well, I like to think, honest to god, if I
Speaker 1: were to keep a handicap, which I don't anymore because
Speaker 1: I got two kids and my life is full of
Speaker 1: other things. But I like to think today, if I
Speaker 1: were to keep an honest handicap, I'd be like a twenty.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: I always say I'm a bookay, so I always think
Speaker 1: of it in in me And honestly, I think I
Speaker 1: think I'm shooting a one eighty. Is that crazy?
Speaker 2: I don't think so. I started at one eighty and
Speaker 2: I am willing to go up on this and I'll
Speaker 2: never forget to ask.
Speaker 1: I always say, like, there's no cap, we're not doing
Speaker 1: a double, Like a double par is what I would
Speaker 1: cap today, right, Like if you are in a ten
Speaker 1: on a par five, you just write ten, pick it up,
Speaker 1: let's go. But listen, if you hit two, you're scoring
Speaker 1: a twenty on a whole. You absolutely are because you're
Speaker 1: gonna put off the green. You're gonna you're gonna six
Speaker 1: or seven put some holes because these PGA players put
Speaker 1: too far and put off the green.
Speaker 2: Think about that, right, And I'm idian that Jeff I said, well,
Speaker 2: I asked this to former Major League pitcher Ed Farmer,
Speaker 2: one of my favorite people in the world, the late
Speaker 2: Ed Farmer, and he was a really good player. I
Speaker 2: got about halfway through, you know, all the elements of
Speaker 2: this question. I didn't even get to explain everything. You
Speaker 2: gotta put out all that. He interrupted me and said,
Speaker 2: two hundred two hundred is what a eighteen to twenty
Speaker 2: handicap is going to shoot. And again, with all due respect,
Speaker 2: just don't tell me that with all that pressure, you're
Speaker 2: just gonna get up there and hit three seven irons
Speaker 2: perfectly and get to a park. All right, It's just
Speaker 2: not happening.
Speaker 1: That's what people say on social media when we've brought
Speaker 1: something similar up. They're like, I'm going seven iron, seven iron,
Speaker 1: seven iron, and you know, I'm getting an eight on
Speaker 1: every hole. And I'm like, if you could do that,
Speaker 1: why wouldn't you do that in your normal game. You
Speaker 1: can't clean a seven iron four times in a row
Speaker 1: on your municipal course. Why how are you doing it
Speaker 1: every hole under the hole under the pressure of the
Speaker 1: US and You're I'm shooting.
Speaker 2: One to eighty.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm accidentally hitting a woman with her baby. Right,
Speaker 1: I'm so shaken. I'm gonna break a club because I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be hitting off some crazy surface because I'm stuck somewhere.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna drop. Let's see eighteen holes. I'm dropping on
Speaker 1: average twice a hole because there's gonna be holes where
Speaker 1: I can't hit it over a water or I can't
Speaker 1: you know, people don't realize the difference between a scratch
Speaker 1: golfer and a PGA player, right right, Think about that,
Speaker 1: the scratch golfer is the best player you've ever played with, right,
Speaker 1: and he he's plus twenty on that course? Am I wrong? Here?
Speaker 1: Is he playing book golf on that course.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna. I'm not getting an I'm.
Speaker 1: Gonna I agree with you the different But he's plus nine,
Speaker 1: plus ten.
Speaker 2: The different levels, right, the different levels, Jeff. And again
Speaker 2: we're not here to bash an eighteen handicap. We are
Speaker 2: here to explain how unbelievably good these tour players are.
Speaker 2: So when I tell you all the time about how
Speaker 2: great baseball players are, no one would put a ball
Speaker 2: in play in a hundred swings, you know, against Paul's schemes.
Speaker 2: It's the same idea about these tour players. They deserve
Speaker 2: our utmost respect for the work that they do on
Speaker 2: the golf course. So we'll get into that. We'll have
Speaker 2: some discussion on that. Just remember, Jeff, when I asked
Speaker 2: you the other golf question at the Masters. If I
Speaker 2: gave you a six shot lead at eighteen, if I,
Speaker 2: as I put it, if I dropped you on the
Speaker 2: tee with a six shot lead, could you hold it?
Speaker 2: To which Steve Rushing, the World's Funniest man, said, I
Speaker 2: thought you were going to say, if I dropped you
Speaker 2: on the green with a six shot lead, Could you
Speaker 2: hold it? That's how hard he thought putting at Augusta
Speaker 2: would be and the pressure that you would be under
Speaker 2: to try to make I saw a couple guys miss
Speaker 2: two foot putts this week. Eighteen handicap's going to miss
Speaker 2: that a bunch of times because their hands are going
Speaker 2: to be so steady. Okay, enough of golf. I love golf,
Speaker 2: but it's just another reminder make sure you understand the levels.
Speaker 2: I'll never forget. When I talked to Chris Mullen, one
Speaker 2: of the great shooters of all time, we were talking
Speaker 2: about shooting and what people don't understand. He just looked
Speaker 2: at me with that beautiful New York accent, Chris Mullen.
Speaker 2: He goes, Tim, you just got to learn to stay
Speaker 2: in your lane. Stay in your lane. And I'm just
Speaker 2: saying the US opened at Shittacock is a lane at
Speaker 2: an eighteen handy CUK has never been in ever.
Speaker 1: Absolutely All right, Dad, Well, let's stick with what I mean,
Speaker 1: at least somewhat of what we know, which is baseball.
Speaker 1: Let's go into our takeaways, sponsored by Simon's Heart and
Speaker 1: Babe Ruth League, Inc. Who are partnering this spring to
Speaker 1: protect the hearts and lives of young baseball and softball
Speaker 1: players everywhere. Dad, what do we have for the takeaways?
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, heart is the key word here for the
Speaker 2: first takeaway, Jeff, I consider doing a whole riff on
Speaker 2: Father's Day moments because there's so many of them. Ken
Speaker 2: Griffy Junior and his dad hit back to back homers,
Speaker 2: not on Father's Day, but that's as good a Father's
Speaker 2: Day moment as baseball has ever seen. But on June twentieth,
Speaker 2: twenty ten, Father's Day, John McDonald had made a promise
Speaker 2: to his dad to always go down on the field,
Speaker 2: which he did all the time anyway, and greet all
Speaker 2: the fans who are on the field for Father's Day,
Speaker 2: just because that's what big leaguers should do, you know,
Speaker 2: engage with the fans, especially kids on Father's Day. But
Speaker 2: John McDonald's father had died five days earlier, But in
Speaker 2: keeping his promise to his dad, he did exactly what
Speaker 2: his dad had asked him to do. He went down
Speaker 2: on the field and engaged with fans everywhere. And it's typical.
Speaker 2: John McDonald one of the best defensive players I've ever seen,
Speaker 2: as good a guys you'll ever see who played the game.
Speaker 2: He got one at bat that day, Jeff. He batted
Speaker 2: in the bottom of the ninth inning, and he hit
Speaker 2: a two run homer five days after his father died.
Speaker 2: And that of that's one of three dozen stories we
Speaker 2: could tell about guys honoring their father on this day,
Speaker 2: but that one has always kind of stayed with me
Speaker 2: because John McDonald I think had thirteen career homers at
Speaker 2: the time. I know he finished his career with twenty eight,
Speaker 2: and yet as he was honoring his father, he had
Speaker 2: a two run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Speaker 2: How great is that? It brings a tear to your eye,
Speaker 2: doesn't it? It's so perfect done well, it does to me.
Speaker 1: It does to me too, absolutely, it's so beautiful.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, let's move on. Zach Geloff of the
Speaker 2: A's going into Sunday, so we're a little outdated here,
Speaker 2: had hit in twenty three consecutive games, and Jeff, just
Speaker 2: a reminder how hard that is speaking of the levels, Okay.
Speaker 2: Ted Williams's longest hitting streak was twenty four games, Babe
Speaker 2: Bruce's longest hitting streak was twenty six games, and Luke
Speaker 2: Garrett never hit in twenty consecutive games. Now, of course,
Speaker 2: the understanding here is those guys walked so many times
Speaker 2: that it was most unusual for them to get five
Speaker 2: at bats in a game because they were always getting walked,
Speaker 2: sometimes two three times a game, So they didn't have
Speaker 2: They were not exactly the prime candidates to have a
Speaker 2: long hitting streak. But I just want you to know,
Speaker 2: twenty three games in a row, no matter where this ends,
Speaker 2: pretty darn impressive. Agree with that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a different game back then, obviously, so
Speaker 1: when you talk about the reach base safely streaks, you
Speaker 1: see a little bit more for Ted Williams and Babe Ruth.
Speaker 1: But is that's so crazy for a guy this day
Speaker 1: and age to be getting on base twenty three games
Speaker 1: in a row as of Sunday.
Speaker 2: That's exciting, right, getting a hit twenty three games in
Speaker 2: a row? Okay? The Marlins in June, going into Sunday
Speaker 2: thirteen and four in June, Max Meyer is one of
Speaker 2: their pitchers. He's eight no with a two point eight zero,
Speaker 2: And our good friend Elliott Johnson, former Major League infielder,
Speaker 2: told me several years ago, wait do you see Max Meyer?
Speaker 2: He's got one of the greatest arms I've ever seen
Speaker 2: on a young pitcher, and all these injuries have kind
Speaker 2: of piled up. But now Max Meyer is the pitcher
Speaker 2: that Elliott Johnson told us about, and he is absoluttely
Speaker 2: dominating right now, as are so many others, especially in
Speaker 2: the National League. Otto Lopez of the Marlins is hitting
Speaker 2: three point thirty two. He's leading the major leagues and
Speaker 2: hitting and Clayton McCollough, the manager, has done a really
Speaker 2: good job with that team. I know a scout friend
Speaker 2: went in there, hadn't seen the Marlins in a long time.
Speaker 2: He called me, he volunteered. He just called me to say, boy,
Speaker 2: the Marlins are really playing the game the right way,
Speaker 2: and that manager knows exactly what he's doing. We don't
Speaker 2: talk much about the Marlins on this podcast, but they
Speaker 2: deserve some credit, especially with the way they've played in
Speaker 2: the month of June.
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Speaker 2: A couple of weeks ago, Jeff by Tony aren't too
Speaker 2: many right handed hitting outfielders out there? Because it's true,
Speaker 2: there aren't too many really good right handed hitting outfielders,
Speaker 2: and not very many of them are gonna be available
Speaker 2: at the trade deadline. But a guy to keep your
Speaker 2: eye on is Byron Buxton. Who's had another really good year.
Speaker 2: I mean, he's a tremendous defensive player, but he's hitting
Speaker 2: the ball out of the ballpark. He's really strong. I'm
Speaker 2: not saying the Twins are going to trade him or
Speaker 2: should trade him. In fact, he came out and said,
Speaker 2: I'm a twin. I want to stay a twin. But
Speaker 2: who knows if someone comes over and bowls them over
Speaker 2: like the Phillies. How do you think the Phillies would
Speaker 2: look with Byron Buxton added to their outfield. You, being
Speaker 2: a Phillies fan, you'd be pretty happy about that. Right.
Speaker 1: I called you the other day. It was not family related,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't technically podcast related. It was simply trade
Speaker 1: targets for the Phillies related. You remember who I asked
Speaker 1: Hi about?
Speaker 2: Yes, right, right and everything?
Speaker 1: Okay, I said, Junghu Kim, what does contract look like?
Speaker 1: Can we get him? That was the only one. Then
Speaker 1: you said no, no, it's got a big contract. I said, okay,
Speaker 1: all right, see it? By right, rare you to talk baseball.
Speaker 1: That's non podcast related. And when we're not talking pot,
Speaker 1: we're talking family. This was simply fandom question because every
Speaker 1: once in a while when your dad sim Kirks, and
Speaker 1: you can ask him these questions, but you didn't have
Speaker 1: a good answer for me, not your full The answer
Speaker 1: was probably not.
Speaker 2: Jeff Right, White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery is off to
Speaker 2: an amazingly good start in his career. He just hit
Speaker 2: the five hundred and eighteen at bat mark, which is
Speaker 2: roughly like a full season. And in that full season, Jeff,
Speaker 2: even though it's over two years, he's got forty one
Speaker 2: homers and one hundred RBIs in five hundred and eighteen
Speaker 2: at bats and he's a shortstop. And last I look, Jeff,
Speaker 2: the only guys who have more homers than him. This
Speaker 2: may not be true, still, I think it is since
Speaker 2: his day that he came to the big leagues last
Speaker 2: season are Aaron Judge and Shoheo Toni. So you know,
Speaker 2: this is why the game is in such good hands
Speaker 2: right now. These young kids come up and they are
Speaker 2: ready to go. Colson Montgomery is ready to go. I
Speaker 2: got a kick out of this. The other day, Jeff,
Speaker 2: I was talking to Bryce Harper about the pitching that
Speaker 2: we see today, and Bryce Harper told me that Manny
Speaker 2: Machado got to first base in their game against pottery.
Speaker 2: This was a couple of weeks ago. But he looks
Speaker 2: at Manny Machado and he says, he said, boy, we
Speaker 2: should have taken more advantage of twenty twelve in the
Speaker 2: major leagues when both of them were just kind of
Speaker 2: coming along, right, He said, Back then, guys through eighty
Speaker 2: eight to ninety they throw their curveball at seventy five
Speaker 2: miles an hour. He looks at me, it laughs, he goes,
Speaker 2: those days are over. And Manny just shakes his head
Speaker 2: and goes, those days are over. It's unbelievable. We talk
Speaker 2: about the stuff all the time, Jet, but that was
Speaker 2: fourteen years ago, and Bryce Harper is just shaking his
Speaker 2: head at a curveball at seventy five miles an hour.
Speaker 2: That never happens. Today, we see a curveball at ninety
Speaker 2: five miles an hour. We see we see Jacob Mizerowski
Speaker 2: one hundred and four with the four seams.
Speaker 1: He's he's throwing up right three in a complete game
Speaker 1: in the ninth.
Speaker 2: In right right, All right. A quick correction here, Jeff,
Speaker 2: not for anyone in particular, but I saw something the
Speaker 2: other day about four strikeouts being a golden sombrero. Now,
Speaker 2: that is not what I grew up understanding that to
Speaker 2: be okay, three strikeouts in a game is a hat trick,
Speaker 2: Four is a sombrero. Five is a golden sombrero. So
Speaker 2: if you strike out five times in a game, as
Speaker 2: as Kyle Schwarber and others have this year, that is
Speaker 2: a golden sombrero, not a sombrero. I'm right about that,
Speaker 2: because I know when I first started covering that came up.
Speaker 2: And let's see if you can remember, Jeff, I told
Speaker 2: this story what six strikeouts in a game will be
Speaker 2: called from now on?
Speaker 1: Well? Is six a horn?
Speaker 2: Yes? Yes. I was at the game when Sam Horn
Speaker 2: of the Orioles struck out six times in one game,
Speaker 2: and I went to see the eight Great Mike Plan
Speaker 2: again after the game, and I said, all right, Planny,
Speaker 2: three is a hat trick, four is sombrero. Five to
Speaker 2: golden sobrero? What is a six? And without hesitation, it's
Speaker 2: like he'd already thought it through. He goes six will
Speaker 2: be forever known as a horn, and if anyone strikes
Speaker 2: out seven times in a game, it will be called
Speaker 2: a horn of plenty.
Speaker 1: You know, Dad, I just googled really quick. July seventeenth,
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety one. So we're coming up on the legendary
Speaker 1: thirty five year anniversary of the six strikeout Horn.
Speaker 2: Right, Sam Horn, the first position player to strike out
Speaker 2: six times in a nine inning game. That's pretty amazing.
Speaker 2: So and last thing, Jeff, I just want to make
Speaker 2: this clear, and I want to open this up to
Speaker 2: our best readers, listeners. Whatever. Okay, when a pitcher makes
Speaker 2: an error, it is counted and the run scored. Let's
Speaker 2: say it is counted as an unearned and a lot
Speaker 2: of people object to that. They think if the pitcher
Speaker 2: makes an error it should be an earned run. I've
Speaker 2: seen this many many places. I've seen this many places
Speaker 2: for the last forty five years. Just curious what you
Speaker 2: think about this, Jeff. If a pitcher makes an error,
Speaker 2: should it be an earned run or an unearned run?
Speaker 1: If that guy scores easily, it needs to be an
Speaker 1: earned run. But there's no debate in my mind that
Speaker 1: that needs to be an earned run, because not that
Speaker 1: someone could have the wherewithal to think this quickly ahead,
Speaker 1: but you could make something look like an error to
Speaker 1: try to make it an unearned run. If you're the
Speaker 1: pitcher and you know you might not be able to
Speaker 1: make a play on the ball, right, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't think you have the wherewithal to do that
Speaker 1: ahead of time. However, my point is you're the one
Speaker 1: making the mistake. The reason why there's unearned runs is
Speaker 1: because the left fielder dropped an easy fly ball, and
Speaker 1: it shouldn't be on the pitcher that he dropped it.
Speaker 1: But if the pitcher's the one who made the mistake,
Speaker 1: it's an earned run, right, Okay, Jeff, I think you're
Speaker 1: I think most people feel the same way that you do.
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna give you the rule book definition of this. Okay.
Speaker 2: Earned runs and unron runs are supposed to gauge the
Speaker 2: value of a picture. As a pitcher, when he releases
Speaker 2: the ball, he is no longer technically the pitcher. He
Speaker 2: is now a fielder. So we should not punish the
Speaker 2: pitcher for being a bad defensive player because that's he's
Speaker 2: a fielder now, not a pitcher. Does that make any
Speaker 2: sense to you?
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I get it. We need to kind of
Speaker 1: separate the two statistics, right, there's fielding statistics and then
Speaker 1: pitching statistics. But to me, pitching has everything to do
Speaker 1: with playing the field too, but I mean right, all.
Speaker 2: Right, it's an interesting question. It's an interesting question, much
Speaker 2: like batting around and all that stuff. But boy, that still.
Speaker 1: Rages up up again.
Speaker 2: No, we're not We're not doing that, all right. Those
Speaker 2: are the takeaways Jeff and uh I have a million more,
Speaker 2: but for time, let's move on.
Speaker 1: We'll move on from there, and our takeaways today are
Speaker 1: brought to you by our friends at Simon's Heart. If
Speaker 1: you're a Babe Ruth League player, coach, or parent, you
Speaker 1: can win exclusive side merchandise from foul Territory from is
Speaker 1: this a Great game or what? And other prizes from
Speaker 1: Simon's Heart. You can visit right now just aball dot
Speaker 1: org to learn how to enter for a chance to win.
Speaker 1: Thanks again to our friends at Simon's Heart for being
Speaker 1: a part of our podcast. All right, dad, let's go
Speaker 1: into the quirk jins. What do you have for us?
Speaker 2: Well? Saturday, the Phillies game against the Mets was basically
Speaker 2: an entire quarts in itself. We talked about this a
Speaker 2: few weeks ago, but the Phillies became the second team
Speaker 2: ever to have a player hit three home runs in
Speaker 2: a game and a teammate hit for the cycle in
Speaker 2: the same game. So Kyle Schwarber had a three homer game,
Speaker 2: including two home runs in one inning, and Bryce Harper
Speaker 2: hit for the cycle. And if you remember, Jeff, we
Speaker 2: just used this a couple of weeks ago, Tony Lazeri
Speaker 2: of the thirty two Yankees, he hit for the cycle.
Speaker 2: And remember he hit for the cycle in order, single, double,
Speaker 2: triple home run and the home run was a Grand Slam.
Speaker 2: And in the same game, Luke Garrigg hit four home runs,
Speaker 2: not three like Kyle Schwarber did. So not to diminish
Speaker 2: what the Phillies did the other night, I mean, that
Speaker 2: was an amazing night, but hitting for the cycle in
Speaker 2: order and the home run is a grand Slam, and
Speaker 2: the other guy h's four homers in a game pretty amazing, Jeff.
Speaker 2: This is what struck me as odd, well not odd,
Speaker 2: but this is the fifth three homer game of Kyle
Speaker 2: Schwarber's career, so he joins a bunch of others, like
Speaker 2: four other guys. He's no, he's one of six guys
Speaker 2: who have hit had five games with three home run
Speaker 2: five three homer games, okay, and three players have six
Speaker 2: three homer games in their career, Sammy Sosa, Hall of Famer,
Speaker 2: Johnny Mize, and Mookie Betts. How about that? So the
Speaker 2: record for three homer games is six. Let's keep it
Speaker 2: not a slam here. Hank Aaron had one three homer
Speaker 2: game in his career. Babe Ruth in the regular season
Speaker 2: had two, but he had two more in the postseason.
Speaker 2: And let's see if you can remember even one. I've
Speaker 2: used this stat before, Jeff even one, five hundred home
Speaker 2: run hit career, who never hit three home runs in
Speaker 2: a game, And now Kyle Schwarber has done it five times.
Speaker 1: So Hank Aaron had won. I always remember that, right,
Speaker 1: five hundred homer guy who never hit three homers in again.
Speaker 2: Three in a game. And again we're not being critical.
Speaker 2: Three homers in a game is a lot, but Kyle
Speaker 2: Schwarmer's got five of those games.
Speaker 1: I'm Jonah Blaker, help me, all right.
Speaker 2: David Ortiz, Raphael peal Merrow Gary Sheffield all had five
Speaker 2: hundred career homers and never hit three in a game.
Speaker 2: Pretty cool, huh?
Speaker 1: That is pretty cool. All guys from like the same
Speaker 1: era too. That's kind of nuts that would happen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, kind of nuts, all right, this is I'm not
Speaker 2: sure what this means yet, but through seventy eight games
Speaker 2: entering Sunday, the Orioles had been shut out one time
Speaker 2: all season, and they had pitched thrown one shutout all year.
Speaker 2: So I needed to know the last time a team
Speaker 2: got this deep into a season having only been shut
Speaker 2: out one time and only threw one shutout. So the
Speaker 2: answer is the two thousand and five Reds that was
Speaker 2: twenty one years ago were the last team to go
Speaker 2: this deep into the season with less than two shutouts
Speaker 2: four and against. Does that surprise you at all?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it really does. It really does, because the shutout
Speaker 1: number there is I mean, you just see a lot
Speaker 1: of those. I feel like lately with the pitching game, right.
Speaker 2: Jeff, their teams like the Red Sox and the Giants
Speaker 2: have been shut out. I know the Giants have been
Speaker 2: shut out eight times. I think the leading shutout pitching
Speaker 2: team has nine. The Orioles have one of each. I
Speaker 2: just found that kind of interesting. And again, this is
Speaker 2: the game we played today. Spencer Steer of the Reds
Speaker 2: entering Sunday was in a three for forty five slump.
Speaker 2: Three for forty five in his last fourteen games and
Speaker 2: all three were home runs. So last forty five at bats,
Speaker 2: he only had three hits and they were all homers.
Speaker 2: Does that not speak to the game that we played today?
Speaker 1: Jeff, Absolutely, We're going yard, dad, and if we don't,
Speaker 1: we're striking out.
Speaker 2: Well, that's kind of how the game works. So Nick
Speaker 2: Kurtz of the A's the other day had four strikeouts
Speaker 2: in a game, which four in a game is what Jeff,
Speaker 2: we just went over this four is.
Speaker 1: A four is a zombrero.
Speaker 2: Right, So he had four strikeouts in the game, but
Speaker 2: he got the game winning RBI, the walk off RBI
Speaker 2: with a bases loaded walk. So seems kind of odd
Speaker 2: a guy strikes out four times in the game but
Speaker 2: walks the game off. In this case it was a
Speaker 2: bases loaded walk. So Alex Kirloff in twenty twenty four
Speaker 2: for the Twins was the last player to punch out
Speaker 2: four times in a game but have the walk off RBI.
Speaker 2: Did you think it would be further back or closer
Speaker 2: to now?
Speaker 1: I think it'd be further back too, But nothing surprises
Speaker 1: me anymore. Did you call Frank with that one?
Speaker 2: No, that was in our regular That was in our
Speaker 2: regular stuff. So in our regular ESPN stuff, So that
Speaker 2: was good. But I did call Frank for this. This
Speaker 2: is a little this is very old, but I just
Speaker 2: finished the story on the hit by pitch rate, which
Speaker 2: I've told you about. JJ Weatherhold, a young player for
Speaker 2: the rookie for the Cardinals, got hit five times. I
Speaker 2: mean got hit in five consecutive games. Hit by a
Speaker 2: pitch in five consecutive games. So I said to Frank,
Speaker 2: when you know, when's the last time. So we went
Speaker 2: back the live ball era in nineteen twenty nine, twenty
Speaker 2: nineteen twenty on. Carlos Quinton in two thousand and eight
Speaker 2: is the only other player to get hit by a
Speaker 2: pitch in five consecutive games.
Speaker 1: Five I mean, I mean that's a rookie where five
Speaker 1: straight game. That's that's how game respect in the clubhouse,
Speaker 1: right because any any way to get on base, you're
Speaker 1: doing it for the team. I so sad this day
Speaker 1: and age, and I know pitchers are throwing hard, so listen,
Speaker 1: I was afraid of the ball. So no disrespect to
Speaker 1: our major league players. But like when it's so hard
Speaker 1: to get on base and you see guys kind of
Speaker 1: diving out of the way, wear it let's go. We
Speaker 1: need base run.
Speaker 4: Let's go.
Speaker 1: When there's Jacob Misrawski out there, get on base because
Speaker 1: he's gonna throw it really hard. It only hurt for
Speaker 1: a minute.
Speaker 2: I think I think it's gonna hurt for longer than that.
Speaker 2: And you know how much I love playing around with names.
Speaker 2: I had a little trouble this week. But Zach short
Speaker 2: Is plays for the Mets, and he was playing shortstop,
Speaker 2: and Nathaniel Lowe was playing first base for the Reds
Speaker 2: and Short put down a sacrifice bunt and was thrown
Speaker 2: out at first base. So we had something resembling a
Speaker 2: short Low put out at first Low short, short, low reach.
Speaker 1: Well that's what we considered naming the podcast Short and Low.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the good point, Jeff. Hey, So the commissioner, Mike Shure,
Speaker 2: who's got way more important things to do in his life,
Speaker 2: send us a send us a text message. What two
Speaker 2: o'clock in the morning. I know it woke me up
Speaker 2: at two o'clock in the morning. My thing goes off
Speaker 2: and I'm thinking, who is texting me at two o'clock
Speaker 2: in the morning. It was Mike. Sure, So tell everyone
Speaker 2: what the commissioner of is this a great game? Or
Speaker 2: what came up with and why it fascinated him so much.
Speaker 1: Well, trust me, I if you had told me five
Speaker 1: years ago that I would get a late night text
Speaker 1: message from Mike Shore, I would say you're absolutely nuts.
Speaker 1: But I mean he did send it a group text
Speaker 1: to the two of us. It contained a screenshot which
Speaker 1: is a list of all of the unassisted triple plays,
Speaker 1: and he writes, going down an unassisted triple play rabbit hole.
Speaker 1: Now gonna He is West coast, right, So it was
Speaker 1: one twenty three am, which is about ten twenty pm
Speaker 1: right his time. How did I never know this? Only
Speaker 1: fifteen in history and two on back to back days.
Speaker 1: So think about how long we've been playing baseball. There's
Speaker 1: fifteen of them and two of them happened back to
Speaker 1: back days. This is incredible, right, And then you know
Speaker 1: he decided to go down a rabbit hole more and
Speaker 1: he's texting us, the commissioner of the Game of the
Speaker 1: podcast obviously texting us yeah.
Speaker 2: But he's right. So Jimmy Cooney of the Cubs a
Speaker 2: shortstop unassisted triple play on May thirtieth, nineteen twenty seven,
Speaker 2: and the next day, Johnny Noon First Basement for the
Speaker 2: Tigers gets an unassisted triple player Noon. He's the first
Speaker 2: baseman first and second. Nobody out line drive to him.
Speaker 2: That's one out tags first because the guy and then
Speaker 2: he runs and tags the other guy and it's a
Speaker 2: triple play all by himself. So pretty hard to do that.
Speaker 2: But that's what Johnny Noon did. That's what Jimmy Cooney did,
Speaker 2: and they did it on back, back to back days
Speaker 2: in nineteen twenty seven.
Speaker 1: Pretty neat so beautiful, all right, dad, on this date
Speaker 1: in baseball history, it's Monday, June the twenty second, What
Speaker 1: do you have for us?
Speaker 2: All right? So in nineteen sixteen, Babe Ruth, very underrated
Speaker 2: pitcher in his own day, was one.
Speaker 1: Of the stop there. I thought you were about to say,
Speaker 1: Babe Ruth, very underrated player back in his day, Right,
Speaker 1: I would have lost my marvels if that was secure, right.
Speaker 2: All right? Better than Matt Stares, let's just put it
Speaker 2: that way. Babe Ruth pitched the three hit shutout. Babe
Speaker 2: Ruth has as many career shutouts, by the way, as
Speaker 2: Pedro Martinez, who, at least for a brief period five years,
Speaker 2: is the best pitcher I've ever seen for a five
Speaker 2: year period. So Babe Ruth pitched a three hit shutout
Speaker 2: that day and the game lasted one hour and eighteen minutes.
Speaker 2: That's how the game was played back then. Babe Ruth
Speaker 2: just got it and threw it. And on the same day, Jeff,
Speaker 2: fourteen years later, Babe Ruth hit hit It completed a
Speaker 2: two game stretch where he hit five homers in two games,
Speaker 2: six homers in three games, which tied a major league
Speaker 2: record for that many homers in so few games. So
Speaker 2: it just shows you, Babe Ruth has pitching records and
Speaker 2: home run records and hitting records, which is why he's
Speaker 2: the greatest player of all time for me still and
Speaker 2: people yell at me for that, but it's my list,
Speaker 2: so that's where I'm going. And he's the best hitter
Speaker 2: on this list. Jeff Kirchen's the fifth best hitter there.
Speaker 2: You go, very good, okay. On this date in nineteen
Speaker 2: fifty one, I love this. Willie Mays hit his first
Speaker 2: extra inning home run of his career. Now, Jeff, and
Speaker 2: putting you on the spot, you might look really bad
Speaker 2: about this, but Willie Mays hit the most extra inning
Speaker 2: homers in his career on this date in nineteen fifty
Speaker 2: one he hit his first How many extra inning home
Speaker 2: runs did Willie Mays hit? Just take a guess, I
Speaker 2: would say, maybe this is really hard. I don't I
Speaker 2: didn't want to most ambush you with home runs.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say five? Am I way up here?
Speaker 2: He? Yes, he had twenty two extra inning home runs.
Speaker 2: How about that? I believe, if I remember correctly, Charlie
Speaker 2: Maxwell hit five extra inning home runs in one season.
Speaker 2: Oh that's pretty good. I think that's the record. I'm
Speaker 2: doing that off memory. Don't yell at me if I've
Speaker 2: got that wrong. All right. On this date in nineteen ninety,
Speaker 2: Bobby Cox took over for Russ Nixon as the manager
Speaker 2: of the Braves. Bobby was the general manager of the Braves,
Speaker 2: and then he took over, and of course history followed,
Speaker 2: because the Braves went to the World Series the next
Speaker 2: year and went on to win fourteen division titles in
Speaker 2: a row. And I say that again because Kent Merker,
Speaker 2: former Braves pitcher and former pitcher from ten other eight
Speaker 2: other teams. He's our guest. He tells some fascinating, hilarious,
Speaker 2: great Bobby Cox stories.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we love I said it on the interview and
Speaker 1: you'll get to hear it tomorrow. I don't think anything
Speaker 1: brightens our day more than Bobby Cox's stories, and we
Speaker 1: re explore the stories that Jeff Frank core Frenchie told
Speaker 1: us on the podcast back in season one. You absolutely
Speaker 1: cannot miss. So make sure you subscribe and follow wherever
Speaker 1: you're listening or watching right now so you don't miss that.
Speaker 1: Share the podcast with a friend. Kent Murker, incredible storyteller,
Speaker 1: Love love loved having him on and can't wait for
Speaker 1: you to all hear it tomorrow.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be great, right, Okay. In nineteen seventy eight,
Speaker 2: Willie Harris was born, and in nineteen eighty two, Ian
Speaker 2: Kinsler was born. So these are two major league second
Speaker 2: basemen born on the same day in nineteen seventy eight,
Speaker 2: and they hit a home run in the same game
Speaker 2: on their birthday, their shared birthday. It's the only time
Speaker 2: in Major league history that two guys on their shared
Speaker 2: birthday each hit a home run in that game. I
Speaker 2: told you. Ian Kinsler came up to me the next
Speaker 2: day and he said, I know something that you don't know.
Speaker 2: You'll never know this, And he told me that and
Speaker 2: I checked it out. He was right. I don't know
Speaker 2: how he knew that. But in that grade, the two
Speaker 2: starting second basement, one for the Rangers and one for
Speaker 2: the Nationals. And it doesn't matter who the teams were,
Speaker 2: they the two starting second basement, on their shared birthday,
Speaker 2: each hit a home run. So that was this date
Speaker 2: in baseball history.
Speaker 1: All right, Dad, the wheel? Wheel up off, Kurtain. Are
Speaker 1: you ready to spin?
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's spin the wheel.
Speaker 1: All right, here we go. We put your suggestions great
Speaker 1: game or what dot com? You can make your suggestion
Speaker 1: right there. We love Kirkchon. Now a Monday specialty. Here
Speaker 1: we go. I'm gonna give it a spin. Dad has
Speaker 1: to riff off whatever h pick off moves? Pickoff moves? Dad,
Speaker 1: is that we landed on?
Speaker 2: Oh boy? Yeah? Someone mentioned like, who's got the best
Speaker 2: pickoff move? That's a really good question. Kenny Rogers had
Speaker 2: a great pickoff move. There are a bunch of guys
Speaker 2: who had great pickoff moves. There was a guy named
Speaker 2: Paul Doyle. I think I've got this right, and in
Speaker 2: the minor leagues he picked off like thirty six guys
Speaker 2: in one season, thirty six guys off of first base.
Speaker 2: But the only pickoff story that I really know that
Speaker 2: is worth telling is that Tippy Martinez in nineteen eighty
Speaker 2: three picked off three batters in the ninth I mean
Speaker 2: three runners in the ninth inning. Now, remember Tippy Martinez
Speaker 2: is trying to save a game or keep the game tied.
Speaker 2: But because Joe Altabelli, the manager of the Orioles, had
Speaker 2: used up the entire bench, he had to pick. He
Speaker 2: had to use len Saccata, who was the second baseman,
Speaker 2: as his catcher because he ran out of catchers and
Speaker 2: Lenzcatta had never caught before in a major league game.
Speaker 2: So the three it was like Barry Bunell, Dave Collins,
Speaker 2: Willie Upshaw. I think it was in that order. First
Speaker 2: guy gets on, he goes, well, I'm gonna go steal.
Speaker 2: They've got a second base, don't plate pick. Tippy picked
Speaker 2: off the first guy, and then Barry Bunnell came up
Speaker 2: next and gets on base, and Tippy picked him off.
Speaker 2: And then the first base coach told Willy Upshaw, the
Speaker 2: third guy to get on first, whatever you do, just
Speaker 2: stand here and don't move, and Tippy threw over and
Speaker 2: picked off Willie Upshaw. Also, as far as I know,
Speaker 2: it's the only time in Major League history that one
Speaker 2: pitcher has picked off three runners in one inning, which
Speaker 2: is just amazing. And the great Mike Flannagan, who I
Speaker 2: will quote again, once told me. He said, he said,
Speaker 2: Tippy had the worst pickoff move of any left handed
Speaker 2: pitcher I've ever seen. And he said, I bet he
Speaker 2: picked off a handful of guys in his career other
Speaker 2: than those three games, but in those three and years later,
Speaker 2: Jeff I did kind of a you know, a remembrance
Speaker 2: of that, and I said, Tippy, like, do people still
Speaker 2: remember that? And Tippy Martin is one of the best
Speaker 2: guys you'll ever meet. Looks at me and he goes, Tim,
Speaker 2: I'm not kidding you. Not a day goes by in
Speaker 2: my life, and Tippy's in his sixties. Not a day
Speaker 2: goes by in my life where people don't look at
Speaker 2: me and say, hey, you're the guy who picked off
Speaker 2: three guys one innte Tippy Martinez, how about that.
Speaker 1: Might have had a bad pickoff move, But you know
Speaker 1: Tippy was always tipping pitches too.
Speaker 2: You say, all right, well he wasn't tipping to throw
Speaker 2: over the first that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Sure, Yeah, all right. At least in that game. Okay,
Speaker 1: next one, here we go golf slash baseball. As if
Speaker 1: we didn't get enough of.
Speaker 4: That today in the start of the show, right well,
Speaker 4: and Kent Mrker on our episode tomorrow is going to
Speaker 4: talk a lot about golf and Maddox and Glavin and
Speaker 4: Smoltz and everything else.
Speaker 2: And it's it's just priceless, priceless stuff. And I have
Speaker 2: a story where I played in a charity golf tournament,
Speaker 2: the Davy Johnson Charity Golf Tournament. This was probably twelve
Speaker 2: years ago or so, and Justin Verlander was in the
Speaker 2: group behind us. Okay, and I asked him at the turn.
Speaker 2: We're playing a scramble. I asked him at the turn,
Speaker 2: how are you guys doing? He said, we're ten under Birdie.
Speaker 2: So you've played scrambles before, Jeff, And he I said,
Speaker 2: what does that mean? He goes, well, when you're in
Speaker 2: a scramble, you can't get you can't calculate under par
Speaker 2: because it's a given you have to be under par
Speaker 2: on every hole. The question is how many eagles are
Speaker 2: you gonna make? So they were ten under after nine
Speaker 2: and they finished twenty two under par. So they made
Speaker 2: all birdies and four eagles. Now, all four guys were
Speaker 2: really good, and Verlander of course was the best of
Speaker 2: the group because he's a great player and absolutely is competitive,
Speaker 2: like this was the biggest deal in the world for
Speaker 2: him that day. We're gonna win this tournament and I'm
Speaker 2: gonna win the long drive contest, which of course he did. Jeff,
Speaker 2: We're in the group in front of him, and twice
Speaker 2: he hit into our group while we were putting on
Speaker 2: the green and it was a par four. Twice he
Speaker 2: drove a par four and I look back at him
Speaker 2: each time, and Justin Verlander, who had just won the
Speaker 2: MVP of the American League and the cy Young is
Speaker 2: like raising his hands above his head, look what I
Speaker 2: just did, because he knew he had probably won the
Speaker 2: long drive. That's just how competitive he is. How competitive
Speaker 2: all those guys are. And Kent Murker will explain the
Speaker 2: pairings and the golfers on the braves during their glory years.
Speaker 1: All right, last one for the Wheel of Kirchhin. Here
Speaker 1: we go giving it a spin no hit jinks, which
Speaker 1: is also really good for Kent Murker. Our guest tomorrow
Speaker 1: who threw a no hitter and was involved in a
Speaker 1: joint no hitter, correct.
Speaker 2: A combined no hitter. Yeah, only only three pictures. I
Speaker 2: believe four pictures have ever been involved in a no
Speaker 2: hitter and a combined no hitter. Kevin Millwood, Kent Murker,
Speaker 2: Vita Blue, and Mike Witt. Those guys were all all
Speaker 2: through a no hitter and were involved in a combined
Speaker 2: no hitter. Yes, so, Jeff, I'm not sure I haven't
Speaker 2: no hit jinks. But we were told a great story
Speaker 2: by Steve Sparks a few years ago. I'm going to
Speaker 2: be serious about this. Yeah, when you're a broadcaster, and
Speaker 2: I'm not telling any broadcaster, especially play by play guy,
Speaker 2: how to do his job. But when you're when you're
Speaker 2: doing a game, I think it is your responsibility to
Speaker 2: tell everyone who's listening on the radio what's going on
Speaker 2: in the game. And there is no such thing as
Speaker 2: jinxing a guy's no hitter. Do you have? XM radio
Speaker 2: is the greatest invention in the world as far as
Speaker 2: I'm concerned. I drive all over the all over the
Speaker 2: country in my car, and the best part about it
Speaker 2: is I can get crystal clear baseball games whenever I want.
Speaker 2: If I tune in and a guy's got a no
Speaker 2: hitter going in the seventh inning and the broadcasters don't
Speaker 2: mention it after the inning. Sorry, I don't think they're
Speaker 2: doing their job. Am I being unfair about this?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 1: I definitely think you owe the audience because I'm not
Speaker 1: looking at a box score, right, especially even even on TV,
Speaker 1: I'm just seeing runs, right in ninety nine percent of
Speaker 1: the time, I'm not even seeing hits. Right, you're not
Speaker 1: really following each player, oh for two, oh for three,
Speaker 1: whatever it might be. Yeah, you owe it. I don't
Speaker 1: think there's a jinx there at all, right.
Speaker 2: Right, you are the eyes and the ears of the listener,
Speaker 2: especially on the radio, and you have to tell him
Speaker 2: what's going on in the game. If there's a no
Speaker 2: hitter going on in the game, you have to say,
Speaker 2: Mike Witt is through seven innings, he's got a perfect
Speaker 2: game here. If that's the case, and I'm driving around,
Speaker 2: I am going to stay on that game because I
Speaker 2: want to hear the end of that no hitter or
Speaker 2: perfect game. I'm right about this, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, Dad, You're absolutely right. That's our wheel of kirkshin.
Speaker 1: If you want to add to it, all you got
Speaker 1: to do is hit us up great game or what
Speaker 1: dot com? Scroll down you'll see a thing that says
Speaker 1: talk to Jeff and Tim directly. By that, I mean
Speaker 1: Tim directly because I haven't responded to a message in months,
Speaker 1: because that loves it and I love I don't play.
Speaker 2: If people are going to take time to write to us,
Speaker 2: then I'm going to show the respect and right back
Speaker 2: because we get some really really fun stuff, and we
Speaker 2: got something this week. Jeff, I'll tell you about the
Speaker 2: Team Tim. Todd Addington wrote to me late last night.
Speaker 2: You got to do the All father Son team for
Speaker 2: Team Tim today. Now, Jeff, as you know, I've done
Speaker 2: the All father Son team the last two years, so
Speaker 2: I decided to take a detour and try something else
Speaker 2: because I've already done it two years in a row,
Speaker 2: the All father Son team, as Todd mentioned, you know,
Speaker 2: the Griffy's, the Bonds, the Boons, the Bells, the Bearras,
Speaker 2: all this stuff. So I decided to go another direction
Speaker 2: since we've already done that before, even though Todd came
Speaker 2: up with a great list, so I did. Since this
Speaker 2: is the first day of summer, I did the All
Speaker 2: Summer team for Team Tim. Is that a good idea
Speaker 2: or bad idea. Yeah, okay, we are going to start
Speaker 2: with our catcher, Steve Lake. Sometimes you go to the
Speaker 2: lake for the summer, all right. Our first baseman is
Speaker 2: Razor Shines, one of my favorite names of all time,
Speaker 2: and years ago the Mets. I hope I got this right. Yes,
Speaker 2: the Mets hired Razor Shines to be their third base coach.
Speaker 2: And Razor Shines batted like seventy five times in his
Speaker 2: major league career and never scored a run, and yet
Speaker 2: he was hired to be the third base coach whose
Speaker 2: job it is to send guys home so they can
Speaker 2: score a run. Razor Shines is our first baseman. Jackson
Speaker 2: Holiday is our second baseman. O'Neil Cruz used to be
Speaker 2: a shortstop is our shortstop because people go on a
Speaker 2: cruise during the summer. I was going to use nap
Speaker 2: leisurewe again, but he's really a second basement on a
Speaker 2: third baseman, So I went with nap Reyis because summertime
Speaker 2: is a good time to take a nap. Jeff, how
Speaker 2: much do you need a nap right now? And I
Speaker 2: could ask you this at any point, to do this, Okay.
Speaker 2: The outfield is Champ summers. He's the perfect guy for
Speaker 2: our all Summer team. Jerry Sands is one outfielder, Drew
Speaker 2: Waters is another outfielder, and our pitching staff. I'm just
Speaker 2: gonna limit it to six. Could have gone more. Matt Beach,
Speaker 2: Sun Wu, Kim Bobby c doc Ellis chan Ho Park
Speaker 2: and of course we end with Sandy Kofax.
Speaker 1: Excellent.
Speaker 2: How about that? Jack. So that's that's the All Summer team.
Speaker 2: With all due respect to our fathers and sons. We
Speaker 2: talked about them a lot. I've done that list a
Speaker 2: couple of times. This was the All Summer team because
Speaker 2: today is the first day of summer. As we tape right, excellent.
Speaker 1: That a great team him kicking off the summer. It's
Speaker 1: baseball season in June and to July. This is my
Speaker 1: favorite time. Oh just makes me happy.
Speaker 2: Dad.
Speaker 1: I'm glad it could be on with you for an
Speaker 1: hour for Father's Day. So special and well. I love you.
Speaker 1: I hope you have a great rest of your father's Dad.
Speaker 1: I wish we were together.
Speaker 2: Well, I love you too, Jeff, Go take a nap
Speaker 2: like nap rays. Okay, that's the plan.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening and watching, and as always,
Speaker 1: thanks for being a part of our family.