Tim Kurkjian's Hall of Fame Locks
Tim Kurkjian unveils his list of current players who are as close to Hall of Fame locks as you can get. Do you agree with this week’s Team Tim? Let us know in the comments or on our website!
The Yankees are doing something you rarely see at both the plate and on the mound — even with a giant lollipop sitting on the field. Plus, who should be the National League’s starting shortstop in the All-Star Game? Tim makes the case for two contenders, including one particularly intriguing choice.
Then it’s time for a tale of two pitchers: Jesus Luzardo and Brad Lord. You can probably guess where that conversation leads. We also dive into On This Date in Baseball History, featuring Aaron Nola tying a record, Toby Harrah (still one of the best baseball names ever) going an entire game without seeing a ball, and Edwin Jackson nearly reaching 150 pitches in a start.
We also debate the best last-name “N” pitcher and hitter in Alphabest, open more baseball cards, and wrap things up with a Team Tim that just about every fan should be able to agree with — unless, of course, you really don’t like the Dodgers.
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Speaker 1: Welcome back to Is this a great game or what
Speaker 1: with the Hall of Famer Tim Kirkshin, I'm his son,
Speaker 1: Jeff Kirkshin, And Dad, it's good to see your face.
Speaker 1: You look good today, you look handsome, you look well rested.
Speaker 1: That makes one of us.
Speaker 2: But yefinitely I am not well rested. But I must
Speaker 2: say we've had an interesting week because your niece and nephew,
Speaker 2: Carson and Emma, aged five and three, went to a
Speaker 2: new schools, a summer school, basically starting this week. And
Speaker 2: I'm I'm sorry this has nothing to do with baseball.
Speaker 2: But Kelly, your sister and the second co host on
Speaker 2: the show, called me and said, Dad, I need a
Speaker 2: lunchbox for tomorrow because they need a lunchbox for summer schools.
Speaker 2: So Kelly didn't have one on a Sunday night, so
Speaker 2: I said, don't worry, I have one. So I went
Speaker 2: in my closet and got my Get Smart lunch box,
Speaker 2: brought it over in the morning, and they put Emma,
Speaker 2: age three, her lunch into a Get Smart lunchbox with
Speaker 2: Maxwell Smart, my all time favorite sitcom character with the
Speaker 2: phone to his ear, and a three year old carried
Speaker 2: that into school. On Monday. It was one of the
Speaker 2: greatest pictures taken in the history of the Kirchen family.
Speaker 2: I sent it to a few people who I know
Speaker 2: love gets Smart and love Emma, and they thought it
Speaker 2: was the funniest thing they've ever seen. But jem, the
Speaker 2: preschool has a bunch of little kids there. The teachers
Speaker 2: are all twenties and thirties, okay, and the moms are
Speaker 2: all twenties and thirties. So I'm sure not one person
Speaker 2: a single understood who gets smart.
Speaker 1: Was not a single person knew what was going on.
Speaker 1: But as you told me back in the days of
Speaker 1: you know, one AM, Sports Center and Baseball Tonight's mostly
Speaker 1: when you would make a joke on a highlight reel,
Speaker 1: you said, as long as one person gets it out
Speaker 1: there at one o'clock in the morning, when you make
Speaker 1: a miracle Max reference and only one person gets it,
Speaker 1: and that's worth it. And you know what, in my
Speaker 1: broadcast career, I've learned one thing that is a terrible
Speaker 1: way of thinking of it. But when it's one AM
Speaker 1: and you say no one's watching and nobody cares, who cares?
Speaker 1: Why not? So I love that I saw that photo
Speaker 1: come in and it was absolutely adorable and hysterical.
Speaker 2: Right, And I explained to Emma that this was the
Speaker 2: lunchbox that I used when I was a little kid,
Speaker 2: which is actually not the truth, but I didn't want
Speaker 2: her to feel like I mean, she's supposed to be
Speaker 2: going to school with an Elsa lunchbox, not a Maxwell
Speaker 2: Smart lunchbox, so that made it easy. Then we got
Speaker 2: her a real lunchbox for day number two, so it
Speaker 2: was really good. So like two people at the entire
Speaker 2: preschool summer school got it, Me and Kelly, and that
Speaker 2: was it. I don't even think Mark got it because
Speaker 2: he didn't grow up watching Get Smart like I did.
Speaker 2: And then I passed along to you and Kelly as
Speaker 2: I corrupted your childhood so badly.
Speaker 1: I'll never forget to tie this to baseball.
Speaker 2: Dad.
Speaker 1: We had a Honda Odyssey with a DVD player that
Speaker 1: was the size of most iPhones these days, by the way,
Speaker 1: now crazy is right, it's not even close to the
Speaker 1: size of an iPad. It's like an iPhone. But you
Speaker 1: and I drove up to Cooperstown and I sat in
Speaker 1: the back because you told me to. I would love
Speaker 1: to sit in the front with you and chat on
Speaker 1: the way up and you said, no, I brought something,
Speaker 1: and you brought your DVD Get Smart with you and
Speaker 1: you punched it in and Dad, it was And now
Speaker 1: it's a Dad, I understand. You were like, I felt
Speaker 1: bad and you kept saying no. I can see it.
Speaker 1: I can see it in my head, even though the
Speaker 1: screen obviously is only for the passengers in the back. Now,
Speaker 1: when my daughter watches Toy Story on her tablet, which
Speaker 1: is twice the size of the TV I had, I
Speaker 1: can see it when I'm driving, like in my head.
Speaker 1: So I'm being entertained in a way, which is kind
Speaker 1: of funny. So I am having a full circle moment here, Dad,
Speaker 1: and I remember Get Smart very.
Speaker 2: Well, right, And as I've said way too many times,
Speaker 2: I only know three things in life baseball, basketball, at
Speaker 2: sitcoms from the sixties, So there is a connection here.
Speaker 2: And Jeff speaking of the show, Kent Merker in Tuesday's
Speaker 2: episode was just hilarious and the stories that the stories
Speaker 2: that he told were, you know, we're breathaking. They made
Speaker 2: me laugh, they made me think, and he said about
Speaker 2: told about five to ten stories. I'm not sure I've
Speaker 2: ever heard so Joe Austemeyer, who's our dear friend now
Speaker 2: from Saint Louis. I've never met Joe or I have.
Speaker 2: It's been a long long time, but he said after
Speaker 2: listening to Kent Merker, he sent in this email that
Speaker 2: Kent Merker and he, when Joe is a journalist in
Speaker 2: Saint Louis working and covering the Cardinals and everything, he
Speaker 2: and Kent Merker used to have daily talk seemingly about
Speaker 2: the Kennedy assassination and what happened. Was it a lone
Speaker 2: gunman or was it a conspiracy and all that. So
Speaker 2: he gave this book, which was called Case Close, to
Speaker 2: Kent Merker, and then like three days later, Kent Merker
Speaker 2: got traded again. So Joe thinks, well, Kent's gone, my
Speaker 2: book is gone. And three years later Kent Merker goes
Speaker 2: back to Saint Louis and he has that book with
Speaker 2: him and gives it back to Joe. Austemyer, does that
Speaker 2: not speak pretty highly of Kent Merker? He kept that
Speaker 2: book all that time and then goes, oh, this is
Speaker 2: Joe's book. When I go back to Saint Louis, I'm
Speaker 2: bringing it to him. And he did pretty cool, hunh yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, Kent Merker is just an all around stand
Speaker 1: up guy, absolutely fantastic. That doesn't surprise me at all.
Speaker 1: And Dad, ironically, I just started a show on Netflix,
Speaker 1: as if I have any time to watch TV these days,
Speaker 1: I just started a show on Netflix called eleven. What
Speaker 1: is it called eleven twenty two sixty three, right, And
Speaker 1: it's based upon the Stephen King novel. It's a show
Speaker 1: starring James Franco. It came out like ten odd years ago, right,
Speaker 1: I'm late to it, but it's on Netflix. And I've
Speaker 1: always been fascinated. You with sacrifice flies me with the
Speaker 1: Kennedy assassination and Lincoln assassination. I don't know why, I've
Speaker 1: always been fascinated with them, the Lone Gunman theory and
Speaker 1: the Texas Book Depository. I know it sounds weird, but
Speaker 1: I'm definitely into it. And I'm bombed because I didn't
Speaker 1: have Kent Merker. I didn't know that in my head
Speaker 1: or else I would have asked him about his theories
Speaker 1: and his thoughts on that. I know you have, sorry, respectfully,
Speaker 1: no interest other than baseball, but this is one thing
Speaker 1: that like I have a weird obsession with, like the
Speaker 1: Titanic as well, is in my list of like I'm
Speaker 1: not a conspiracy theorist, but I definitely love diving into,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of weird thoughts about all that stuff.
Speaker 2: Right, and Jeff, please, I'm not poking fun or making
Speaker 2: fun at one of the worst days in American history.
Speaker 2: But Archie, speaking of speaking of sitcom characters, Archie Bunker
Speaker 2: called it the Texas school book Suppository into re one
Speaker 2: of the yips. I mean, that's what TV was allowed
Speaker 2: to be TV not anymore. All right, enough of get smart,
Speaker 2: enough of Kent Burker, who was fabulous. If you haven't
Speaker 2: listened to it, go listen to it. You will laugh
Speaker 2: and learn for at least an hour and ten minutes.
Speaker 1: It was great, Right, and Dad, I think it's important
Speaker 1: since we already know ahead of time who is our
Speaker 1: guest next week. Rich Donnelly is going to be joining
Speaker 1: the show, right, And the greatest blinding practice picture of all.
Speaker 2: Tepicture ever and one of the greatest third base coaches
Speaker 2: of all time, and a guy who's been to a
Speaker 2: lot of places with a lot of stories to tell.
Speaker 2: Just another guy who made us laugh out loud for
Speaker 2: an hour straight. So we love that that's what we
Speaker 2: do on this show. We laugh and we learn hopefully.
Speaker 1: So make sure you subscribe wherever you're watching right now.
Speaker 1: We're trying to up those YouTube numbers right so we
Speaker 1: want to hit a certain amount of subscribers before the
Speaker 1: end of the month. We want you to be a
Speaker 1: part of that. Just go to YouTube search is this
Speaker 1: a great game or what? Because if you're not watching
Speaker 1: the podcast, that's cool. I understand. I personally don't watch
Speaker 1: a lot of podcasts. I listen to a lot of
Speaker 1: podcasts because mowing the lawn. Can't watch a podcast and
Speaker 1: mow the lawn, my lines won't be straight at all, Dad,
Speaker 1: not at all. Also, thank goodness for the rain. Side note,
Speaker 1: just a dad moment there, My gosh, my lawn needed it.
Speaker 1: But subscribe on YouTube right now to watch the podcast whenever,
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Speaker 1: If there's a baseball fan in your life that you
Speaker 1: think would love listening to Tim and Jeff Kirsch and
Speaker 1: chat baseball and chat Moe in the Lawn. We want you.
Speaker 2: We want that Chack gets smart, right.
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Speaker 3: Thank you to ze Geek.
Speaker 1: Let's go to the takeaways. What do you have for us?
Speaker 2: Well, it was a fascinating week in baseball, But the
Speaker 2: Yankees look really good again. They've been up and down.
Speaker 2: They went like oh for twenty three runners in scoring position,
Speaker 2: but they still lead the Major leagues in home runs
Speaker 2: and they're just a couple percentage points behind the Brewers
Speaker 2: for the lowest er in the America in the Major League.
Speaker 2: So in the last seventy five years, the twenty twenty Dodgers,
Speaker 2: which was the COVID year, are the only team in
Speaker 2: the last seventy five years to lead the Major Leagues
Speaker 2: in home runs and the Major Leagues in ERA. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's a pretty good and important combination there. In the
Speaker 2: last twenty five years, no American League team, just American
Speaker 2: League team, has led the American League in home runs
Speaker 2: and ERA. So what the Yankees are doing, at least
Speaker 2: so far is potentially historic and really really impressive to me.
Speaker 2: They are the team to beat, certainly in the American League.
Speaker 2: But in this crazy American League where at this taping
Speaker 2: only three teams have a plus run differential, anything is
Speaker 2: possible as we move forward.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and partially thanks to lollipop Jazz Chisholm. You see
Speaker 1: him with the lolly back on the field. Yeah.
Speaker 2: And Aaron Boone has made was not pleased that his
Speaker 2: second baseman was had a tutsi pop or a lollipop
Speaker 2: in his mouth during the playing of the game. And Jeff,
Speaker 2: I don't want to be an old fuddy duddy or
Speaker 2: some angry old man or because I'm not, but I
Speaker 2: think I don't think you should be eating the tutsi
Speaker 2: role with the stick coming out of your mouth during
Speaker 2: a major league game. Am I overreacting? Year Aaron Boone,
Speaker 2: his own manager, was not pleased.
Speaker 1: Well, I agree, but I also and I agree that
Speaker 1: you're not like a crotchety old man. But when you
Speaker 1: said I'm not like that, it sounded like you are.
Speaker 2: Well I'm not, I promise you. But yeah, enough of that,
Speaker 2: all right. The Padres are in a kind of an
Speaker 2: interesting spot at this taping. They are last in the
Speaker 2: major leagues in runs per game, and yet they have
Speaker 2: a winning record. So since nineteen forty, the two thousand
Speaker 2: and three Dodgers and the two thousand and one Mets
Speaker 2: are the only teams since nineteen forty to finish a
Speaker 2: season with the lowest run per game in the major
Speaker 2: leagues and still have a winning record. So it just
Speaker 2: shows you what the Padres are doing is a bit unusual.
Speaker 2: They don't score runs, but they find they somehow find
Speaker 2: a way to win games. And that's of course because
Speaker 2: they have such a among other things, a great bullpen
Speaker 2: and Jeff. The Mason Miller thing is just getting ridiculous.
Speaker 2: Twenty one saves, no blown saves, thirty four innings Jeff
Speaker 2: fourteen hits allowed, and sixty six strikeouts. So here we
Speaker 2: are on June the twenty fourth, on this taping, he's
Speaker 2: averaging almost two strikeouts every inning. I mean, it's insane
Speaker 2: what he's doing.
Speaker 1: Agreed, it's unheard of, and we called it a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago. If he keeps this pace up, there's
Speaker 1: Cy Young conversations there for a reliever.
Speaker 2: It's incredible, right right, incredible, especially when their other starters,
Speaker 2: Christopher sand Jacob Mazrawski, Paul Skains, Chris Sale, just Kyle Harrison,
Speaker 2: They're everywhere.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's amazing aggressive field in the National League. For
Speaker 1: Cy Young. We've talked about it already, so I doubt
Speaker 1: that it'll go to a reliever. But it's exciting to
Speaker 1: see great pitching in the National League. I love it.
Speaker 1: I know people want to see big homers and big scores,
Speaker 1: but I love a pitcher's duol any.
Speaker 2: Day, right, And I tell you on almost every show, Jeff,
Speaker 2: I don't know anyone gets a hit anymore when we
Speaker 2: watch the stuff that these hitters see on a daily basis.
Speaker 2: But Zach Geiloff hit in twenty four straight games for
Speaker 2: the A's. The streak ended when he spiked his own
Speaker 2: hand got his hand got spiked, and he had to
Speaker 2: come out of a game. So it ended at twenty four,
Speaker 2: which again that ties Ted Williams' longest hitting streak in
Speaker 2: his career. So great ron Zach to get a hit
Speaker 2: in twenty four straight games in this hitting environment. Pretty impressive,
Speaker 2: you agree, right, Jeff?
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, And I love what he's doing. It gives
Speaker 1: fans a reason to come out to the ballpark. This
Speaker 1: is to me, it's the little storylines that the real
Speaker 1: fans are watching that make things a big deal, right,
Speaker 1: whether it was Christopher Sanchez's streak, scoreless streak, or you
Speaker 1: know the hitting streak you talked about with the Athletics,
Speaker 1: anything like that, Mason Miller. Right, these are the stories
Speaker 1: that keep fans coming back, especially during the dog days
Speaker 1: of summer. So I love to see that kind of.
Speaker 2: Stuff, right, absolutely. So I did the Levatard Show the
Speaker 2: other day. They put me in a headlog who should
Speaker 2: be the All Star shortstop in the American League as
Speaker 2: of the moment? So I picked In the National League,
Speaker 2: I picked Otto Lopez of Marlins because at the moment
Speaker 2: he's hitting three thirty seven, he's got fifteen stolen bases,
Speaker 2: he's a good defender, and he's got a war over
Speaker 2: three already. So I picked him, and I think I
Speaker 2: picked the right guy.
Speaker 3: But C. J.
Speaker 2: Abrams of the National is having quite a season also,
Speaker 2: seventeen homers, fifty seventeen homers, fifty seven RBIs ops of
Speaker 2: eight ninety five. So this is really really good, Jeff,
Speaker 2: that two guys who aren't considered massive offensive players because
Speaker 2: they're such good defensive players are having tremendous offensive seasons
Speaker 2: and the fact that their athletic shortstops makes it even better.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, Jeremy. Tasha was very very pleased with
Speaker 1: your answer on who she'd be starting all right out
Speaker 1: of Miami. We're hype about it too. Listen, you don't
Speaker 1: need to be upset. We love the guys, but I
Speaker 1: have to tell you brought up you brought up Dan Levatard.
Speaker 1: I turned on the NBA draft last night.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: I grew up a Washington Wizards fan, so I had
Speaker 1: to just see who they're gonna take with the first pick.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 1: My wife comes in with our newborn and she's shocked
Speaker 1: because we don't really watch the NBA or baseball household, Right,
Speaker 1: what are we watching? I said, it's the draft. I
Speaker 1: just want to see who they ta with the first pick.
Speaker 1: An outcomes the commissioner of the NBA, and my wife
Speaker 1: looks at me and says, who is that, And I said,
Speaker 1: that's Adam Silver, He's the commissioner, and he goes. She
Speaker 1: goes respectfully, he's an interesting looking guy, and he is like,
Speaker 1: he's an interesting looking guy. And I turned to her
Speaker 1: and I say, he is by far the most looks
Speaker 1: liked in history of the Dan Levatard Show, and she
Speaker 1: just started laughing because she loves that game. What was
Speaker 1: your what's one of your favorite Adam Silver looks like,
Speaker 1: come on, yeah, you have to remember one.
Speaker 2: He looks like a lone French fry in a bag
Speaker 2: of onion rings. And the story I told the other day, Jeff,
Speaker 2: I was walking through a restaurant recently and this guy
Speaker 2: who I don't even know, just says low, just says tim,
Speaker 2: And he on his table has a has a basketful
Speaker 2: of onion rings and he's got a French fry in
Speaker 2: the middle of it. And he goes say hi to
Speaker 2: Adam Silver. Oh my god, So it was so bad.
Speaker 2: We're not making fun of Adam Silver. He's a great
Speaker 2: commissioner and he's done a great job with the NBA.
Speaker 2: It's just that that looks like game is so incredibly stupid,
Speaker 2: but it is really funny and it is really cleverly done.
Speaker 2: All right, last thing, Jeff Pete crow Armstrong has ten
Speaker 2: homers in June. I mean, we talk all the time
Speaker 2: about his skill level. You know, he's the best defensive
Speaker 2: player at any position on the planet. Great Council said
Speaker 2: his speed, he might be the fastest guy in the game.
Speaker 2: He gets hits, he gets big hits. So let's just
Speaker 2: end it right there. But just for just for understand
Speaker 2: what happened Tuesday night in the Cubs game. Pete crow
Speaker 2: Armstrong is on first and he's attempting to steal second.
Speaker 2: Ball four comes in, so Pete crow Armstrong gets to
Speaker 2: safely advance to second base because it's a walk, but
Speaker 2: he doesn't look in on the stolen base, so he
Speaker 2: does a head first slide, touches second base, comes off
Speaker 2: the bag and Bobashet tagged him out and the umpires
Speaker 2: called him out, So technically he was thrown out on
Speaker 2: ball four. But Jeff, that's the rule correct. He achieved
Speaker 2: the bag by touching it, but by removing himself from
Speaker 2: the bag. The rule is you are protected until he
Speaker 2: went on to the next bag, and even though he
Speaker 2: wasn't trying to go to third, he came off of
Speaker 2: the bag, was tagged out and it's called and out.
Speaker 2: That's the rule. That's the umpire's rule. You umpired, I umpired.
Speaker 2: I triple checked with some of our umpire experts. It's
Speaker 2: all true.
Speaker 1: Agree, I mean, yeah, you've established that you have moved
Speaker 1: to the next base. The walk has been complete, right,
Speaker 1: and now you're you're stepping off a bag, you get tagged.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's baseball one on one right there.
Speaker 1: If you get tagged, you're not on the bag. But
Speaker 1: obviously he had established that he is now on second,
Speaker 1: that's the important part. Obviously, if he hadn't yet stepped
Speaker 1: on second, then there's nothing there because he hasn't established
Speaker 1: he's awarded that base for free, but he's not awarded
Speaker 1: it after he steps on the bag. So I saw
Speaker 1: a lot of fans were upset about it, calling it
Speaker 1: a technicality. It's not a technicality, folks, It's the rule
Speaker 1: we have. We all have brain lapses, we all have
Speaker 1: moments where we go, oops, didn't mean to do that. Well,
Speaker 1: this for PCA not his best moment there, right.
Speaker 2: And and also keep in mind, Jeff, when you are
Speaker 2: stealing second base, and so this is not the case
Speaker 2: because he advanced a second on a walk. If you
Speaker 2: slide through the bag, touched the bag and just slide
Speaker 2: all the way through it and tagged out, you do
Speaker 2: not get credit for a stolen base there because you
Speaker 2: did not achieve the bag by holding the bag and
Speaker 2: so that's a rule too. And get this. I talked
Speaker 2: to Buck Showalter about this the other day yesterday, and
Speaker 2: Buck told me that when he was in college. Does
Speaker 2: this not sound like Buck Showalter? He wrote a paper
Speaker 2: in college about how you do not lose any time
Speaker 2: when you look in while running to second base on
Speaker 2: a stolen base attempt. He wrote a paper about that
Speaker 2: specific topic, and his findings were, you do not lose
Speaker 2: any time by taking a quick look to your left
Speaker 2: to see what's happening. If Pete crow Armstrong had done that,
Speaker 2: he might have recognized this is ball four. But since
Speaker 2: he didn't, he made a slide that took him off
Speaker 2: the base and he was tagged out basically trying to
Speaker 2: go to third, even though that was not his intent.
Speaker 2: Is that clear?
Speaker 1: Very very clear? And I love that Buck show Walter.
Speaker 1: I mean, we've had him as a guest twice now,
Speaker 1: and he would be the first guy I would call
Speaker 1: when that moment happened to get his thoughts.
Speaker 2: He wrote a paper on it. Jeff, I just love it.
Speaker 2: It's this how Buck, Oh, that's how he does everything.
Speaker 4: When my puppy Bella has something wrong, I'm not going
Speaker 4: to go around googling what to do.
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Speaker 1: Let's go over right now, dad, to our game. Changer
Speaker 1: of the week, What do you have for us?
Speaker 2: Well, the game changer of the week is Kyle Schwarber
Speaker 2: of the Phillies. Now I don't want to say he's
Speaker 2: the game changer of the week, because he's the game
Speaker 2: one of the game changers of the last essentially twenty
Speaker 2: years in baseball, as we've gone to the three two
Speaker 2: true outcomes twenty years, ten years, whatever you want to
Speaker 2: call it, walks, strikeouts, homers. Kyle Schwarber at this tag
Speaker 2: leads the major leagues with twenty nine home runs and
Speaker 2: he's slugging five forty four. He's also on a pace
Speaker 2: to strike out two hundred and thirty five times, which
Speaker 2: would be the most in one season by any player
Speaker 2: in Major league history. So and he's got a chance.
Speaker 2: Sho Heotani holds the record for fewest RBIs at the
Speaker 2: time of their thirtieth homer. Schwarber has twenty nine homers,
Speaker 2: fifty two RBIs. Sho Heotani last year thirty homers, fifty
Speaker 2: five RBIs once he got to thirty homers. But the
Speaker 2: point about all this is Jeff is Kyle Schwarber is
Speaker 2: a really, really good player. So people say, oh, he
Speaker 2: walks too many times, he strikes out too much. No.
Speaker 2: In twenty twenty three, Jef he batted under two hundred
Speaker 2: and got votes for the MVP. Not the first place
Speaker 2: vote or anything like that, but he was put on
Speaker 2: an MVY ballad batting under two hundreds. My understanding, he's
Speaker 2: the only one ever to do that as a position
Speaker 2: player in the major leagues. And you know, he's having
Speaker 2: a much better year this year, but it just goes
Speaker 2: to show you this is the change baseball has made
Speaker 2: ten twenty years ago. Hit the ball out of the ballpark,
Speaker 2: get on base, if you strike out in between, it's
Speaker 2: not that big of a deal. And Kyle Schwarber is
Speaker 2: like the poster boy for this. He is changing the
Speaker 2: game because he's playing on really good teams. He's one
Speaker 2: of the great team leaders. So all these things that
Speaker 2: Dave Kingman did many years ago, and then to a
Speaker 2: lesser degree, Joey Gallo and then Adam Dunn who hit
Speaker 2: nearly five hundred homers, Kyle Schwarber is doing all of that,
Speaker 2: but he's doing it for Champion or for really really
Speaker 2: good teams, and he's an exceptionally effective player. And Jeff
Speaker 2: he's thirty three years old, he's got three hundred and
Speaker 2: sixty nine. What do you think his chancell of hitting
Speaker 2: five hundred are?
Speaker 1: I mean, with that big contract he just signed in Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: that would be really really neat to see a five
Speaker 1: hundred homer club. I mean, the real conversation has to be,
Speaker 1: is he Hall of Fame caliber at the end of
Speaker 1: his career? If he keeps up at some sort of pace,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be having a real conversation about Kyle Schwarber
Speaker 1: in the Hall of Fame. And I know I'm showing
Speaker 1: a little bit of my bias being that I live
Speaker 1: in the Philadelphia area and I cheer for the Phillies,
Speaker 1: So don't come at me for that. But if he
Speaker 1: hits five hundred homers, there's a real conversation about him
Speaker 1: being in the Hall of Fame without a doubt. At
Speaker 1: five hundred home runs will he get There's gonna be.
Speaker 2: A fascinating process. So he is our game changer because
Speaker 2: he has taken the three true outcomes and turned it
Speaker 2: into something really really important for his team and for
Speaker 2: the league.
Speaker 1: Our Game Changer of the Week brought to you by
Speaker 1: our friends at Game Changersolutely Love them the number one
Speaker 1: youth sports app that helps you coach smarter, connect, live,
Speaker 1: and replay the action. You can learn more at GC
Speaker 1: dot com. Game Changer's great, dad, because you know, once
Speaker 1: your grandkids, all five of them, become old enough to
Speaker 1: be playing in some sort of youth sport organized sport,
Speaker 1: you can watch a game from wherever. So if your
Speaker 1: grandson body has a big game, you can watch on
Speaker 1: Game Changer, which is really cool, right.
Speaker 2: Right, Absolutely, he's going to get a hit off of
Speaker 2: what you know, Nick Pucks. He's going to get a
Speaker 2: hit off of Nick Puck's son, Is that.
Speaker 1: Right, Nick Pack? But we'll go with that son, right right?
Speaker 1: Nick Pack was the kid everybody had one in their
Speaker 1: town that was bigger than every other kid before every
Speaker 1: other kid grew And he was a hard throwing, hard
Speaker 1: throwing kid, left handed kid. Yeah. And I like that
Speaker 1: he was lefty because it was a little less scary.
Speaker 1: But I mean I took him over the third baseman's
Speaker 1: head at Darnstown park Man, Good times, Goode.
Speaker 2: Anyway, Swing of your life.
Speaker 1: Jeff, Yeah, only swing of my life. Let's be honest,
Speaker 1: all right, Dan, let's go into the court Gins. What
Speaker 1: do you have for us.
Speaker 2: All right, So, Jake McCarthy of the Rockies the other
Speaker 2: day hit a walk off three run triple. That is
Speaker 2: the twenty first such walk off three run triple since
Speaker 2: in the live ball era nineteen twenty on, and the
Speaker 2: first since Grady Sizemore did it in two thousand and six.
Speaker 2: And the interesting part about both of those guys, Grady
Speaker 2: size More and Jake McCarthy, two tremendous high school running backs. Tremendous.
Speaker 2: I mean, they broke all sorts of records, and here
Speaker 2: they're the last two guys to hit a walk off
Speaker 2: three run triple. So, Jeff, the interesting part about this
Speaker 2: is that you know, the the Rockies were behind two
Speaker 2: to nothing going to the bottom of the ninth inning,
Speaker 2: and then Jake McCarthy won it with one swing a
Speaker 2: hard ground ball over third base, and since he runs
Speaker 2: so well, everybody scored. So only two other players have
Speaker 2: ever had a walk off three run triple when their
Speaker 2: team was down two to nothing. In nineteen fifty three,
Speaker 2: Harry Haynebrink did that for Milwaukee, and in nineteen thirty two,
Speaker 2: Charlie Barry did that for the White Sox. So that
Speaker 2: was a very interesting play. And obviously one that we
Speaker 2: don't see very often because it is hard to hit
Speaker 2: a walk off triple on any level. This was a
Speaker 2: walk off three run triple.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you don't see that too often. But it sure
Speaker 1: got the crowd fired up, that's for sure. I saw
Speaker 1: the replay, it was like, that's exciting. I wish I
Speaker 1: was there.
Speaker 2: Pretty cool. Yeah, So the Yankees have had a lot
Speaker 2: of trouble scoring runs lately. Jeff can't get a big
Speaker 2: hit with runners in scoring position. The other day they
Speaker 2: stole six bases in one game and only scored one run.
Speaker 2: You would think if you steal six bases in a game,
Speaker 2: you can manufacture more than one run. But it was
Speaker 2: the first time since twenty fifteen in Cleveland at Kansas
Speaker 2: City that any team stole six bases in a game
Speaker 2: and only scored one run. Do you find that interesting?
Speaker 1: You would think with that kind of base path movement,
Speaker 1: they'd be just circling the bases all day.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Right, that's frustrating. I wonder what Aaron Boone was saying
Speaker 1: former guests of the show.
Speaker 2: You right, right, Okay, So the other day the Braves
Speaker 2: us Joey Bart, who they just acquired in a deal.
Speaker 2: He is their eighth catcher that they've used this year.
Speaker 2: That's the most catchers that any team has used through
Speaker 2: seventy five games of any season since nineteen one hundred
Speaker 2: and the record for most catchers used in one season
Speaker 2: is nine by the nineteen eleven Phillies, the nineteen fourteen Pirates,
Speaker 2: and the twenty twenty one Cubs. So they are one
Speaker 2: short through seventy five games of having the most catchers
Speaker 2: used in one season. And it hurts that Drake Baldwin,
Speaker 2: their everyday catcher, you know, just came off the injured list,
Speaker 2: and you know they have a bunch of other catchers
Speaker 2: who've been hurt all year. Eight catchers, Jeff through seventy
Speaker 2: five games, that's pretty hard to do. Agreed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we got almost ninety to go and they're only
Speaker 1: won away from the record this point. But being coached,
Speaker 1: let's get it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Pretty cool. Well, speaking of nothing nothing, the Diamondbacks
Speaker 2: and the Cardinals were nothing nothing through eight innings the
Speaker 2: other day and the Cardinal the diamond The Cardinals scored
Speaker 2: three in the ninth and the Diamondbacks scored four in
Speaker 2: the ninth, so it was nothing nothing through eight and
Speaker 2: then four to three in the ninth and that was
Speaker 2: the final score. It was first time since twenty fourteen
Speaker 2: Toronto against Detroit that a game was scoreless through eight
Speaker 2: innings and then each team scored at least three runs
Speaker 2: in the ninth inning. So we've had a bunch of
Speaker 2: those games this year, Jeff, where just these incredible you know,
Speaker 2: it's nine to five after one inning, or you know
Speaker 2: in the extra innings and the Phillies. The Phillies just
Speaker 2: had one of these games, you know, Tuesday night against
Speaker 2: the Nashals. You read about that, right, you were watching that, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, I mean they scored i think eight runs
Speaker 1: in the bottom of the eighth and the bottom of
Speaker 1: the ninth inning, and it was just insane their ninth inning,
Speaker 1: and they in the ninth inning they scored all their
Speaker 1: runs with two outs.
Speaker 2: It was crazy, right, So, Jeff, it was the first
Speaker 2: time and the Elias checked this for us, first time
Speaker 2: since nineteen sixty one, and they couldn't go back any further.
Speaker 2: So who knows how long this went back. Phillies became
Speaker 2: the first team since at least nineteen sixty one to
Speaker 2: enter ninth inning behind the first two guys. Make it out,
Speaker 2: so now they're two outs. Then ten consecutive batters reached
Speaker 2: base and the team leaves the ninth inning ahead. That's
Speaker 2: what happened to the Phillies, first time that's happened in
Speaker 2: you know, sixty five years. And you watch that game
Speaker 2: unless you're asleep because you got to get up at
Speaker 2: four thirty every morning. It's just so so many of
Speaker 2: these crazy games have happened where there's this incredible score
Speaker 2: in the first inning, or nothing happens until the ninth inning,
Speaker 2: or a team gets ten runs as the Giants did
Speaker 2: against the Nationals this year late in the game. All
Speaker 2: sorts of wacky things have happened. So that was that
Speaker 2: was a keeper that game right there. And you know
Speaker 2: how much I love Jeff, You know how much I
Speaker 2: love names. But I'm sure you didn't notice this. Who
Speaker 2: started that game for the Phillies. Jesus Alzardo started.
Speaker 1: You're talking about Brad Lord, Yes, Jesus and Lord.
Speaker 2: Right, Jesus Lizardo started the game and Brad Lord got
Speaker 2: the loss in the game. So we had Jesus and
Speaker 2: Lord pitching in the same game. And him, that's Jesus,
Speaker 2: he's the other one.
Speaker 1: Zus salute Dan Patrick got had to do, Dan Patton
Speaker 1: to do it.
Speaker 2: And Jeff. In that game, Jesus Lizardo pitched six and
Speaker 2: two thirds innings, gave up five earned runs, walked three,
Speaker 2: and struck out thirteen. The last pitcher to do all
Speaker 2: three of those things in any start was Randy Johnson
Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety. So that game was a gigantic courtchain
Speaker 2: finishing with Jesus Lozardo the starter and Brad Lord the
Speaker 2: losing pitcher for the Nationals.
Speaker 1: All right, Dad, let's jump into on this state in
Speaker 1: baseball history. Today's June twenty fifth. You got anything fun
Speaker 1: for us?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I remember this game, Jeff, because I was a
Speaker 2: hopeless San Francisco Giants fan even though I lived three
Speaker 2: thousand miles away. In nineteen sixty eight, I was eleven
Speaker 2: years old and Bobby Bonds came up, played his first
Speaker 2: major league game, and in his first major league game,
Speaker 2: he hit a grand Slam. So he joined Bill Duggleby
Speaker 2: of the Phillies in eighteen ninety eight as the only
Speaker 2: two players to hit a grand Slam in his major
Speaker 2: league debut. And just understand, Jeff, the Bonds father and
Speaker 2: son are the greatest father son combination ever to play
Speaker 2: better than the Griffies, better than anyone. And I watched
Speaker 2: Bobby Bonds a lot growing up. He was a great
Speaker 2: defensive outfielder. He could fly, stole a million bases, hit
Speaker 2: a lot of homers. And so anyone who wonders where
Speaker 2: did Barry Bonds get most of his ability, or at
Speaker 2: least some of his ability from it was from his dad,
Speaker 2: Bobby Bonds. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Also, I think I got this great voice from We
Speaker 1: all passed down different things, right.
Speaker 2: Talk about strikeouts, Jeff, Bobby bod struck out a lot. Okay,
Speaker 2: you struck out with your voice thanks to me.
Speaker 1: Sorry about That's all right, body sounds like a man.
Speaker 1: That'd be great.
Speaker 2: All right, there'll be a quiz after this one, Jeff.
Speaker 2: But in nineteen seventy six, Toby Harrah became the only
Speaker 2: shortstop in Major league history to not have one fielding
Speaker 2: chance in a doubleheader. So he played both ends of
Speaker 2: the doubleheader, played all nine innings in both games, and
Speaker 2: had no fielding chances as a shortstop. So, Toby Harra,
Speaker 2: what is what is the question I'm going to ask
Speaker 2: you about Toby Hara.
Speaker 1: Toby Harra, is have I ever been to Hara's in
Speaker 1: Las Vegas.
Speaker 2: No, he's a palindrome. Jeff oh hr Ah. I covered
Speaker 2: Toby Harra many years in Texas, got a big kick
Speaker 2: out of him. Really fun guy and a really good player.
Speaker 2: But that day in seventy six, the ball was never
Speaker 2: hit to him at short stup in a doubleheader. That
Speaker 2: is absolutely amazing to me. This is amazing too. In
Speaker 2: twenty ten, Edwin Jackson of the Diamondbacks beat the Rays
Speaker 2: one to nothing in a no hitter. And Jeff, seriously,
Speaker 2: do you think anyone's going to finish a no hitter
Speaker 2: these days when it's one to nothing? Hard to imagine that, right,
Speaker 2: But this is the kicker, Edwin Jackson twenty ten through
Speaker 2: one hundred and forty nine pitches. Oh my, May left
Speaker 2: him in there because history was to be made. But
Speaker 2: it's one thing to keep him in there for one
Speaker 2: hundred and forty nine if you're up ten to nothing.
Speaker 2: It was one to nothing, and aj Hinch the manager
Speaker 2: left him in there. I love that he did, and
Speaker 2: so does Edwin Jackson because he ended up with a
Speaker 2: no hitter. Also on this date, in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 2: your boy, Aaron Nola are kind of a friend of
Speaker 2: the show given our ties to als. Sadly, he tied
Speaker 2: Tom Severs' record by striking out ten consecutive batters. So
Speaker 2: just give me the great kicker to the Tom sever
Speaker 2: striking out ten consecutive batters. What is the great note
Speaker 2: out of that?
Speaker 1: He did it to finish the game?
Speaker 2: Yes, the last ten batters he faced he struck out. Now, look,
Speaker 2: ten batters in a game is consecutive batters is pretty amazing,
Speaker 2: But the last ten you face pretty darn good.
Speaker 1: Let's go to the alphabet, Dad, we're going through the alphabet.
Speaker 1: We're on N. Do you want to start pitcher or batter?
Speaker 2: Well, we always start with the batter everyday. Players always
Speaker 2: go first, and our end is Greg Nettles, who was
Speaker 2: one of the best defensive third basemen I've ever seen.
Speaker 2: He hit three hundred and ninety home runs, most ever
Speaker 2: by a player whose last name starts with an end
Speaker 2: one A couple of goal gloves at third base. There
Speaker 2: are no third basemen, and there's nobody with a last
Speaker 2: name N Jeff position player in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2: Do you find that surprising?
Speaker 1: Really?
Speaker 2: It's kind of weird, kind of weird, right.
Speaker 1: Is there. Yeah, I mean that that that does strike
Speaker 1: me as odd because in the past in alphabet you've
Speaker 1: had to say, oh, yeah, well he's the only whatever
Speaker 1: letter in the Hall of Fame. So we start there,
Speaker 1: but no end. It's interesting, pretty surprising.
Speaker 2: Yeah, really good player. And in retirement he became a coach,
Speaker 2: and he was a coach, the first base coach briefly
Speaker 2: for Buck Showalder's team in New York. And I have
Speaker 2: to tell this story. Mel Hall, who was on the
Speaker 2: Yankees at the time, runs through first base after making
Speaker 2: it out and is so angry that he throws his helmet.
Speaker 2: Throws his helmet not to hurt him, but he throws
Speaker 2: it at Greg Nettles, who was one of the great
Speaker 2: Yankee players, on one of the great Yankee third basemen
Speaker 2: of all time. And it was so disrespectful that Buck
Speaker 2: show all Or had a word with Mel Hall. But
Speaker 2: great Nettles, who is now a coach, not a star
Speaker 2: third baseman, goes into the dugout with Mel Hall's helmet,
Speaker 2: takes out a bat, puts the helmet on the floor
Speaker 2: of the dugout and smashes it into a thousand pieces
Speaker 2: and says, Mel here's your helmet right here, Jeff. The
Speaker 2: lesson there is we are teammates. We do not show
Speaker 2: up anybody on our team. We do not throw anything
Speaker 2: at anybody at our team, no matter how frustrated you are,
Speaker 2: and you certainly don't throw it at the greatest number en,
Speaker 2: I mean, letter N of all time.
Speaker 1: Agreed, Agreed, Let's go to pitcher Dad. What do you got?
Speaker 2: All right? I got Phil Nicro. Phil Nicro very underrated
Speaker 2: because he threw a knuckleball, which I've always objected to.
Speaker 2: People think he's like any knuckleball or is some kind
Speaker 2: of circus act, which is ridiculous. He won three hundred
Speaker 2: and eighteen games, He had a three thirty five era,
Speaker 2: He threw forty five shutouts in his career. And I
Speaker 2: love the Philnicro story. When he won his three hundredth game,
Speaker 2: it was on a Sunday in Toronto, and he told
Speaker 2: me the story that he said, let's understand, the Blue
Speaker 2: Jays had just clinched the division title. So the next day,
Speaker 2: the Sunday, he said, I'm sure, and I'm quoting here,
Speaker 2: they were all hungover. So but the night before Phil
Speaker 2: and his brother Joe, who was also on the Yankees
Speaker 2: made a pact that Joe would pitch in the game
Speaker 2: because he would be if Phil wins. He's in the
Speaker 2: same box score as Phil Nicro went. Phil wins number
Speaker 2: three hundred. So Joe goes to the mound in the
Speaker 2: ninth inning of the game, and Phil has a shutout going,
Speaker 2: and by the way, has not thrown a knuckleball the
Speaker 2: entire game, even though he threw ninety five percent Alcoho
Speaker 2: ball's right. So Phil looks at his younger brother, Joe
Speaker 2: and says, what are you doing out here. You're supposed
Speaker 2: to pitch in the game. You're not the pitching coach.
Speaker 2: And Joe says, well, I just wanted to deliver the
Speaker 2: news that if you pitch a shutout today, you will
Speaker 2: be the oldest pitcher ever to pitch a shutout in
Speaker 2: Major League history. And Phil Nicro looks at his younger
Speaker 2: brother and says, well, get the hell off the mountain.
Speaker 2: I gotta throw a shutout now. So the guy at
Speaker 2: the plate is Jeff Burrows, and they're runners at second
Speaker 2: and third, and the shutouts in doubt. Not really, the
Speaker 2: game is in doubt, but they're still thinking about walking
Speaker 2: Jeff Burrows to load the bases and Jeff Burrows, who
Speaker 2: is a teammate of Phil Necro's in Atlanta, looks at
Speaker 2: Phil Nicro while in the batter's box and motions to him,
Speaker 2: pitch to me, meaning don't walk me intentionally. So they
Speaker 2: pitched to Jeff Burrows, and again this is Phil Necro's story,
Speaker 2: he told it to me verbatim. Jeff Burrow swung at
Speaker 2: strike three, which was a knuckleball that was like three
Speaker 2: feet outside of the strike Joe, and it was the
Speaker 2: only knuckleball that Phil Nicro through in that game. So
Speaker 2: no matter what you hear about Phil Nicro, always remember
Speaker 2: he's an underrated pitcher, not an overrated picture.
Speaker 1: Well, and we can't talk about the Negros without my
Speaker 1: favorite maybe ever Quirkchin, which was Joe Nicro hit one
Speaker 1: career home run in his great career, and it was
Speaker 1: off of his brother Phil.
Speaker 2: Right like twelve hundred plate appearances, he hit one homer
Speaker 2: and it was off his brother Phil. Again, this is
Speaker 2: the beauty of baseball, the symmetry, how things just line
Speaker 2: up so perfectly. So that's our alpha best n which
Speaker 2: you know, the end was a little easier to come
Speaker 2: up with, and we had Maze and Maddock. This week
Speaker 2: was pretty good Nettles and Nicro, but some number some
Speaker 2: letters are a little harder than others.
Speaker 1: Yeah, make sure you get your guesses in a little
Speaker 1: bit early. Here for oh, we want to hear from you.
Speaker 1: Great game or dot Com? You can go on right now,
Speaker 1: if you scroll down, you can hit a button, hit
Speaker 1: a box and message us directly. When we talk about
Speaker 1: guys like Joe Ostermeier we talked about at the top
Speaker 1: of the show, all he does is go online great
Speaker 1: game or dot Com. That's how he gets in touch
Speaker 1: with my dad. That's how he gets in touch with me.
Speaker 1: So you can do the same, Great Game or what
Speaker 1: dot com? Is how you do it? Three cards in
Speaker 1: the bathroom, Bampa Penampha. I don't know why I went
Speaker 1: into that theme song, but what do you got? Three
Speaker 1: cards in the bathroom?
Speaker 2: Let's see them right. So the first one I picked
Speaker 2: out today was Walt Weise, who is the manager now
Speaker 2: of the Atlanta Braves. He's doing a terrific job with
Speaker 2: that club despite all of these injuries. Walt Wise, of course,
Speaker 2: won a World Series as the shortstop for the eighty
Speaker 2: nine Oakland A's switch hitter Incredibly reliable defensive player baseball
Speaker 2: iq off the charts. And he used to use a
Speaker 2: glove I'm sure I told you this, Jeff, that was
Speaker 2: so old it was basically falling apart in his hand,
Speaker 2: but it felt perfect on his hand, so he wasn't
Speaker 2: about to break in a new glove. He wore that
Speaker 2: glove for like his entire major league career. He called
Speaker 2: it the Creature, which I just love that a guy
Speaker 2: would name his own glove and call it the Creature.
Speaker 2: And you know, he went to North Carolina and was
Speaker 2: a great college baseball player, played for Mike Roberts there,
Speaker 2: and Mike Roberts does some interesting things in teaching people
Speaker 2: how to run the bases and everything else. When they
Speaker 2: were in college, bj Seroff and Walt Wise, those guys
Speaker 2: they used to learn how had to steal bases and
Speaker 2: run the bases while running in their bare feet, and
Speaker 2: they used to take infield sometimes without using a ball.
Speaker 2: And Mike explained it to me. He said, by doing
Speaker 2: it without a glove, you know, without a ball, without
Speaker 2: a glove on, and without your shoes on, it helps
Speaker 2: you get in the flow, kind of like yoga. I'm
Speaker 2: quoting here. Mike Robertson. Mike learned from Hal Smeltzy, who
Speaker 2: was the baseball coach at Florida Southern, how to do
Speaker 2: these drills. And they they really seem to work out.
Speaker 2: They really worked out for Walt Weisse as a player,
Speaker 2: very good player and now a very good manager for
Speaker 2: the Braves. All right, Next number two, Number two is
Speaker 2: Dave Steve. If you remember last year we named when
Speaker 2: we did Team Tim, you know, best of all Tim.
Speaker 2: We had him as the best Toronto Blue Jay ever,
Speaker 2: the second best, second best era of any starting pitcher
Speaker 2: in the eighties, second most wins to Jack Morris of
Speaker 2: any pitcher in the eighties for in a three month
Speaker 2: in a twelve month period, Jeff he had three no
Speaker 2: hitters broken up in the ninth inning, three in a
Speaker 2: twelve month period, and then eventually nineteen ninety he did
Speaker 2: throw a no hitter. He had great stuff. He had
Speaker 2: a tremendous slider. And I don't know why I remember
Speaker 2: stupid things like this, but he told me once that
Speaker 2: he you know, he's handed, bat's right handed, throws right handed.
Speaker 2: Of course he shoots a basketball with his left hand.
Speaker 2: I mean, is that how weird is that I've given
Speaker 2: you all the weird ambidexterities. But here's one of the
Speaker 2: better right handed pitchers of the last fifty years, and
Speaker 2: he shoots a basketball left hand.
Speaker 1: We realize he was amphibious. That's incredible, all right.
Speaker 2: Last one is Ron Hassey. Ron Hasse was a really
Speaker 2: good dude and a still a good dude, and a
Speaker 2: very good catcher. The only catcher to catch two perfect
Speaker 2: games in his career. He caught Len Barker's perfect game
Speaker 2: for Cleveland in nineteen eighty one, and then ten years
Speaker 2: later caught Dennis Martinez's no hitter for the Expos. And
Speaker 2: I got a kick out of this, Jeff. And I'm
Speaker 2: not poking fun at Ron Hassey. He'll be the first
Speaker 2: to tell you he's one of the slowest runners baseball
Speaker 2: has ever seen. And what is he doing in this
Speaker 2: baseball card picture, Jeff? What does it look like he's doing?
Speaker 1: Is he laying down a bunt?
Speaker 2: He's dragging a bunt, it looks like to me. And
Speaker 2: I forgot to double check how many bunt singles Ron
Speaker 2: Hassey had in his career. I'm sure there weren't too many.
Speaker 2: That just struck me as odd. A guy who doesn't
Speaker 2: run very well. Instead of having he's a good hitter,
Speaker 2: instead of having him swing the bat he was a
Speaker 2: good catcher behind the plate, they have him with a
Speaker 2: drag butt, you know.
Speaker 1: Pretty cool, not exactly fitting of his character. It'd be
Speaker 1: like your professional headshot and what you're You're holding a
Speaker 1: power drill. You're like, that's not what Tim Kirkchen's known for.
Speaker 1: The oil on his car, which you did. I'm not disputing.
Speaker 1: Oh you've done it before.
Speaker 2: Yeah, many times. And last thing, Jeff on this, what
Speaker 2: is my little pet peeve about the drag bunt? Do
Speaker 2: you remember this. I don't want to overdo this, but
Speaker 2: this is the pedantic, you know, little twit. Tim Kirchen
Speaker 2: saying that I think the only drag bunt that there
Speaker 2: is in baseball is when a left handed hitter drags
Speaker 2: the ball with him down to the right side of
Speaker 2: the infield, you know, in between the pitcher and the
Speaker 2: first baseman, towards the second basement, because he's dragging the
Speaker 2: ball with him. If a left handed hitter bunts down
Speaker 2: the third baseline, to me, that's a push bunch. You
Speaker 2: can call it whatever you want, but I don't think
Speaker 2: it should be called a drag bunt, and anytime a
Speaker 2: right hand handed hitter buns for a hit, he's either
Speaker 2: pushing it up the first baseline or he's dropping it
Speaker 2: down the third baseline. The verbs are very important here,
Speaker 2: but I think the only time that you have a
Speaker 2: drag bunch, it can only be accomplished by a left
Speaker 2: handed hitter. Am I being way too much of a
Speaker 2: pedantic little twit here? Well?
Speaker 1: You always are, But I think in this case we
Speaker 1: need to ask members of the family let us know
Speaker 1: in the comments Great Game or what dot com. And
Speaker 1: I'm also going to send a note over to Mike Sure,
Speaker 1: the commissioner, to see and maybe I'll get a voice
Speaker 1: note from him for next week and we can see
Speaker 1: what he thinks about this whole drag bunt fiasco. I
Speaker 1: will say, I haven't heard this from you in the
Speaker 1: history of the pod three seasons, so we'll we'll see
Speaker 1: what people have to say. Great gamer dot Com again,
Speaker 1: you can chime in there and I'll reach out to
Speaker 1: the commissioner and see what he has to say.
Speaker 2: And Jeff, speaking of that, many many many years ago,
Speaker 2: Mickey Mantle was in Yankees camp as an instructor and
Speaker 2: a much aged instructor, and he was teaching all the
Speaker 2: young players in Yankee camp how to do a successful
Speaker 2: drag bunt. And I always thought that was like the
Speaker 2: coolest thing. Here's a guy who hit over five hundred homers,
Speaker 2: won a triple Crown, but because he ramps so well
Speaker 2: and because his baseball IQ was off the charts, he
Speaker 2: knew how to do a drag bunt better than anyone
Speaker 2: and he hit over five hundred homers. Do you find
Speaker 2: that cool?
Speaker 1: It's so special when you're great, you're great at everything.
Speaker 1: And there's no doubt about that one.
Speaker 2: All right, pretty much, Mickey Mantle team.
Speaker 1: Tim wrapping up the show today, I don't even know
Speaker 1: what it's about. What do you got?
Speaker 2: All right? So Joe Ostemeyer, who started the show with
Speaker 2: his great story about Kent Merker and a book and
Speaker 2: all that stuff, he said, Tim, and this is controversial,
Speaker 2: this is hard, this is not my style, but he said,
Speaker 2: come up with the all Hall of Fame team of
Speaker 2: active players, guys that you think are going to or
Speaker 2: have the best chance at each position to end up
Speaker 2: in the Hall of Fame. And I changed it to
Speaker 2: you know, we're not going to pick anyone who is
Speaker 2: under thirty years old, because we don't want mass statistical
Speaker 2: projections for Paul Skins and Bobby Witt Junior and all
Speaker 2: these other young guys who have come up and just
Speaker 2: taken the game by storm. So you have to be
Speaker 2: at least thirty years old to be on this list.
Speaker 2: But Jeff, this just proves again the great spot that
Speaker 2: baseball is in right now. You look around almost any
Speaker 2: night and you're going to see a future Hall of Famer.
Speaker 2: I think I'm right about that. I'm not saying all
Speaker 2: these guys are in now, but if you look at
Speaker 2: where the trajectory of their career, I think you can
Speaker 2: project that they have a really good chance or a
Speaker 2: good chance to make it to the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2: All right, you understand the rules, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1: Understand the rules. Future Hall of Famers that are playing
Speaker 1: now over thirty.
Speaker 2: Go right. Salvador Perez is our catcher, one of the
Speaker 2: better defensive catchers ever and just past George Brett for
Speaker 2: the most home runs in the history at home of
Speaker 2: the Kansas City Royals. And you know he played on
Speaker 2: a World championship team, so he's my catcher. There are
Speaker 2: several first basemen, including Paul Goldschmidt, but I'm going with
Speaker 2: Freddy Freeman, who has a pretty good art going towards
Speaker 2: the Hall of Fame, although Paul Goldschmith's numbers are pretty
Speaker 2: darn good too. Jose Altuve is my second basement. If
Speaker 2: he keeps up this pace, he's going to get really
Speaker 2: darn close to three thousand hits with a bunch of steels,
Speaker 2: a Gold Glove batting average above three hundred, a bunch
Speaker 2: of homers, and one of the best postseason resumes you'll
Speaker 2: find on hardly any player. It's ridiculous. Third base is loaded.
Speaker 2: We've got Manny Machado, Nolan Era, Orado have a shot,
Speaker 2: but I'm going with from the Cleveland Guardians, Jeff. Jose
Speaker 2: Ramirez agreed there. Right, that's a really hard choice because
Speaker 2: you know, all three of those guys are really good.
Speaker 2: But Zany Ramirez has a chance, Jeff to someday, you know,
Speaker 2: replace Bob Feller as the greatest baseball player in Cleveland history,
Speaker 2: and that that is really saying something given how long
Speaker 2: the Indian Slash Guardians have been around. I'm playing Mookie
Speaker 2: Betts at shortstop because I'm not sure I could find
Speaker 2: another shortstop, but he you know, he's won an MVP
Speaker 2: and finished second three different times, hits home runs. You know,
Speaker 2: he's really closing in on three hundred homers now, an
Speaker 2: amazing career for mookie bets, and I think someday he'll
Speaker 2: be in the Hall of Fame. We've got him as
Speaker 2: our shortstop. So outfielders, Mike Trout, he's already in despite
Speaker 2: all of these injuries. Bryce Harper, We're gonna play him
Speaker 2: in the outfield because the majority of his games have
Speaker 2: been in outfield as opposed to first base. Aaron Judge
Speaker 2: certainly on the fast track to the Hall of Fame,
Speaker 2: given with all the home runs that he has hit
Speaker 2: and the other amazing things that he has done. Show
Speaker 2: Heyo Tani of course, is our DH who we could
Speaker 2: also use as a pitcher. And we have also got,
Speaker 2: speaking of pitchers, Justin Berlander and Max Schurzer, our two
Speaker 2: guys who I'm pretty certain right now are going to
Speaker 2: be Hall of Famers. So this is a Joe Austermeier list.
Speaker 2: These are the guys that I picked. Again, some difficult
Speaker 2: choices here. I left some really good people off. I repeat,
Speaker 2: I'm not saying all these guys are in now, or
Speaker 2: all of these guys are gonna be in. I'm just saying,
Speaker 2: these are the players at each position that have the
Speaker 2: best chance eventually to get in. Have I explained that properly? Jeff?
Speaker 1: Absolutely? I only have one question because we talked about
Speaker 1: Kyle Schwarverer's home run count and his current Do you
Speaker 1: think Aaron Judge will reach six hundred home runs three
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty five as of taping? Will he reach
Speaker 1: six hundred home runs? What do you think?
Speaker 2: Well, he's thirty four years old, so he's gotta hit.
Speaker 2: He's gotta hit two hundred and fifteen more homers. All right,
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna say no, but that's certainly.
Speaker 1: My five five sixty.
Speaker 2: Yes, Oh, he'll be in the mid fives. He'll hit. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he'll he'll hit two hundred more home runs, but you know,
Speaker 2: two hundred and fifty more homers, that's going to be
Speaker 2: hard to do.
Speaker 1: We'll see, all right, Well, we will follow up in
Speaker 1: five years, six years with this podcast, right, I'll have
Speaker 1: two elementary school kids at the time. It'll be crazy.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, Dad, a great team, Tim, Thank you
Speaker 1: to everybody for always chiming in great Game or what
Speaker 1: dot com is?
Speaker 2: How you do that?
Speaker 1: And of course if you take a minute, do us
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Speaker 1: and leave us a rating. Whether you listen on Apple
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Speaker 1: our podcast get discovered to do baseball fans. All right, dad,
Speaker 1: Well i'll talk to you soon. I know you got
Speaker 1: to go pick up your other grandkids, so I'm gonna
Speaker 1: let you go. Thank you so much for listening, and
Speaker 1: as always, thanks for being a part of our family.