Barry Bonds Caught Napping, More Amazing Stories From Rich Donnelly
We call him the greatest batting practice pitcher of all time—and honestly, we don't think there's much of a debate.
Tim and Jeff Kurkjian sit down with Rich Donnelly, a man with some of the greatest baseball stories you'll ever hear. From Barry Bonds to Ted Williams, every story is a treat for baseball fans of all ages.
With the All-Star Game right around the corner, it's the perfect time to celebrate Rich's incredible impact on the Home Run Derby. But his legacy goes far beyond batting practice. As one of the game's best third base coaches, his stories about giving signs, waving runners home, and the split-second decisions that define a game are unforgettable.
Nomar, Cano, and Tim Kurkjian's basketball ability somehow all become important topics of conversation, making this one of our favorite episodes yet.
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Speaker 1: Welcome to Is this a great game or what? And
Speaker 1: our special guest today is my dear friend, rich Donnelly,
Speaker 1: former player, former coach, former manager, one of the early
Speaker 1: stars of the home run Derby, the greatest BP pitcher
Speaker 1: of all time, one of the greatest third base coaches
Speaker 1: in the history of the sport, and a man who
Speaker 1: has made me laugh more than anyone over the last
Speaker 1: forty five years. Rich, say hi to Jeff Kirtschin after
Speaker 1: all these years, Hey, Jeff, is this a great game
Speaker 1: or what?
Speaker 2: Isn't that the truth? Rich?
Speaker 3: And it's about time we got you on the podcast
Speaker 3: because it is truly an honor to be with who
Speaker 3: we call the greatest batting practice pitcher of all time,
Speaker 3: Rich Donnelly, Right.
Speaker 1: Dad, Absolutely no doubt about that. So, Rich, we got
Speaker 1: the home run derby coming up, and I want you
Speaker 1: to take us back to the beginning of the home
Speaker 1: run derby. Even before there was a home run derby,
Speaker 1: there was something else. Explain that to us because I
Speaker 1: was there, I watched you throw. Tell us what happened
Speaker 1: that day at Komiski Park.
Speaker 4: Well, people who had the first home run derby, that
Speaker 4: was the one way back when we were you know,
Speaker 4: ten years old. And then somebody said, let's bring it
Speaker 4: back in a new way. And the way they were
Speaker 4: going to bring it back was they were going to
Speaker 4: pick a guy from each team and go against one another.
Speaker 4: Instead of batting practice, do it before a regular game.
Speaker 4: So in Texas we had Larry Perrish. We go to
Speaker 4: Komiski Park against the White Sox. They picked their home
Speaker 4: run hitter, the great Ron Kittle, And here's how it
Speaker 4: was going to go. I was going to throw to Larry,
Speaker 4: and then I think Ark Kushner was going to throw
Speaker 4: to Ron Kittle. And we were gonna go by innings.
Speaker 4: So if you didn't hit a home run, that would
Speaker 4: count as an out. Okay, so if you hit three
Speaker 4: balls off the wall, that's three outs. Whatever you got
Speaker 4: that first inning, we play five innings. Well, I can
Speaker 4: say this was all new to us, so we didn't
Speaker 4: know what was gonna happen. So I get out there
Speaker 4: and and Larry and I I said, and he begged me.
Speaker 4: He says, come on, he said, I'll give you a
Speaker 4: thousand bucks if we win. And I said, I in
Speaker 4: a man, I don't care. So we go out there
Speaker 4: and we didn't know how was going to work out
Speaker 4: so and I throw a VPTE at Larry every day.
Speaker 4: So it wasn't anything new, but the part that was new,
Speaker 4: Tim and Jeff. When you do the derby, they take
Speaker 4: away the batting cage, they take away everything that you
Speaker 4: are used to every day, and it's naked. You're throwing
Speaker 4: to a guy like he's pitching a batting in a game.
Speaker 4: So I get out there. They put up the screen
Speaker 4: for me, of course, because I don't want to get
Speaker 4: a line to drive off my head and throw. I
Speaker 4: throw the first pitch to Larry. Boom, he hits it
Speaker 4: in the upper deck. Everybody, Oh, second pitch, boom in
Speaker 4: the upper deck. Third pitch, boom in the upper deck,
Speaker 4: and everybody start laughing. Tim, you were there. Seventeen straight
Speaker 4: pitches he hit in the upper deck. Then it puffed
Speaker 4: up and at the end of the first inning, seventeen
Speaker 4: nothing and I seen Kittle hung out. He was waving
Speaker 4: a white towel. I'm done. I quit and we ended
Speaker 4: up winning like twenty eight to four. And then we
Speaker 4: moved on and we played I think, uh the Angels
Speaker 4: and uh they had a home I can't remember who
Speaker 4: it was. And we faced him in Arlington. We won
Speaker 4: that one. Then we moved on and we faced uh
Speaker 4: Kansas City. I faced Greg Lozinski. We got beat.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right, and Rich didn't. Didn't Larry Parrish win
Speaker 1: like a bass boat or something, or the money to
Speaker 1: buy a bass boat based.
Speaker 4: On his homeround all finish and fourth. The first prize
Speaker 4: was fifty grand, and I'm thinking, hey, ten percent of
Speaker 4: fifty grand. I'm in, man, I'm in. So he won
Speaker 4: ten thousand, and I saw him. I saw him. We
Speaker 4: were in Kansas City when we were playing the last
Speaker 4: round and the guy gave him ten grand. And Larry
Speaker 4: used to carry a lot of money with him. He
Speaker 4: whipped out ten hundred dollars bills, gave it to me.
Speaker 4: We got into limbo, drove back to the airport, and
Speaker 4: I thought I won the World Series or something.
Speaker 1: Jeff, I'm not kidding you. I was there that day.
Speaker 1: It was one of the most prodigious power displays in history.
Speaker 1: Every pitch Larry Parish at it was a home run.
Speaker 1: It was unbelievable.
Speaker 4: Tim. And here's here's the part that I forgot to add.
Speaker 4: After the home run derby, he didn't hit a home
Speaker 4: run for a month so much not to hit a
Speaker 4: home run. He couldn't hit one.
Speaker 1: Right, Absolutely amazing. So that's when it all started. But Rich,
Speaker 1: take us back to and this is the best part
Speaker 1: of Rich's story, is when you were the only batting
Speaker 1: practice pitcher in the home run derby. Explain that how
Speaker 1: that happens with Jeff. Jeff, As you know, everybody brings
Speaker 1: along their own batting practice pitcher. Bryce Harper brings his
Speaker 1: dad with him, you know, Todd Fraser brought his brother
Speaker 1: with him, Cal Roley brought his dad. Last year, Rich,
Speaker 1: tell us how you ended up being the only pitcher
Speaker 1: in the home run Derby.
Speaker 4: Well, this was nineteen ninety four. The game was in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna coach with Jim for the Pirates, and they
Speaker 4: they asked your Fregosi was a manager of the All
Speaker 4: Star team, and he says, Rich, would you throw throw
Speaker 4: a hitter for the all home run Derby? I said, sure,
Speaker 4: I'll throw. So we had another we had we had
Speaker 4: two other betting practice pitchers. Uh, and I threw. I
Speaker 4: think I threw the first hitter Boom to hit all
Speaker 4: home runs. And the second pitcher came in and he
Speaker 4: threw five balls in a row, and they waved him off.
Speaker 4: They gave him the hook and they go.
Speaker 1: We want Rich bar During out there.
Speaker 4: And all of a sudden, there's eight tim There's eight
Speaker 4: guys on each team, and as I go to walk
Speaker 4: off the mound, they go, no, no, no, you stay,
Speaker 4: you stay, and junior Junior Griffy said, Rich, you stay.
Speaker 4: All those other hitters, Frank Thomas hit the longest home
Speaker 4: run ever in three Rivers Stadium, five hundred and twenty
Speaker 4: feet left center upper deck. It was unbelievable. I started
Speaker 4: to walk off. He said, no, no, you stay. Well,
Speaker 4: tell me our pr guy. He said, Rich, you threw
Speaker 4: eight hundred and fifty eight pitches in ninety minutes and
Speaker 4: you threw one ball. So that's why they liked me.
Speaker 4: I could find the zone and then, uh, the thing
Speaker 4: I looked at. Ten years later, my son Tim, who's
Speaker 4: now assistant head coach at Marshall Marshall University, he said, Dad,
Speaker 4: did you ever look at that tape of you and
Speaker 4: Frank Thomas? I said no. He says, look where the
Speaker 4: hell you're throwing from. I was thrown from the rubber.
Speaker 4: Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Now they
Speaker 4: throw halfway to home plate. I was at the rubber.
Speaker 4: Try to go to the rubber and throw a strike.
Speaker 4: Now at my age, are you kidding me? I was.
Speaker 4: I was fifty years old in.
Speaker 1: Ridge. Did you throw the whole ninety minutes from the rubber?
Speaker 4: I'm just Frank Thomas, No, because that's the way I
Speaker 4: threw from VP every day. The old coaches like me,
Speaker 4: we all threw from the rubber and didn't even know it.
Speaker 4: Then the last hit left tim the last twenty years,
Speaker 4: they moved it up. They moved it up. Now they're
Speaker 4: twenty feet from the home plate. But back in the day,
Speaker 4: you threw from the rubber. They put a mat down
Speaker 4: and you threw it. But I never thought anything about it.
Speaker 4: And here's what happened to him. I remember it was
Speaker 4: hot plate, was in the afternoon, and I threw it
Speaker 4: and Cam Griffy Junior hit six balls in the upper
Speaker 4: deck boom boom, boom boom, six in a row, unbelievable,
Speaker 4: and he wanted to call the the derby. And I
Speaker 4: walked in the clophouse. I was soaking wet. I didn't hurt,
Speaker 4: but my bicep on my right arm was quivering. It
Speaker 4: wasn't hurt. It was just quivering eight hundred some pitches
Speaker 4: and jue Fergosie he come over. He grabbed me, put
Speaker 4: two hands on my shoulders. He said, Richie, that was
Speaker 4: the greatest performance I've ever seen in my lifetime. And
Speaker 4: he whipped out three hundred dollars and gave it to me.
Speaker 4: I can never forget it. I said, oh, thanks, thanks, thanks, Jimmy,
Speaker 4: thanks a lot. I said, but I threw VP every day.
Speaker 4: It was nothing. But you know, back in the day,
Speaker 4: that's the way it was.
Speaker 3: Rich I mean, we're getting ready for an incredible home
Speaker 3: run derby. I live outside of Philadelphia, my wife and
Speaker 3: I and our two kids. I'm a local Philadelphia radio
Speaker 3: morning show host, and so I do this podcast with
Speaker 3: my dad as well to get my baseball fixed. But
Speaker 3: we're so excited for the spirit of the All Star Game.
Speaker 3: And you've been involved in around many a great All
Speaker 3: Star weekends. Do you have any great besides that great
Speaker 3: home run derby? Do you have any All Star game
Speaker 3: or weekend stories that you can share with us.
Speaker 4: Well, the one home one All Star game we had,
Speaker 4: you know, in ninety seven. Of course, we won the
Speaker 4: World World Series with the Marlins. So we're the coaches
Speaker 4: for the next All Star Game, which was in course
Speaker 4: Field and home run derby. Oh lord, a home run
Speaker 4: derby of course Field. Here we go. So we get
Speaker 4: out there and they asked me Rich, and you know
Speaker 4: I'm the All Star coach. You know they know me. Hey, Rich,
Speaker 4: can you throw these guys? Okay, okay, we're gonna do
Speaker 4: an extra We're gonna do a practice round with you know,
Speaker 4: Martin McGuire and Jim Tomy. Well in mal High Stadium,
Speaker 4: I mean, excuse me, in course field, at the top
Speaker 4: of the deck in right field, all the way around
Speaker 4: the right center there's a purple line. It's purple seats
Speaker 4: that's exactly five thousand, two hundred and eighty feet above
Speaker 4: sea level mile high. So tow me me hits four
Speaker 4: balls above above those purple seat He hit him a
Speaker 4: mile high. Then here comes Martin McGuire. And we had
Speaker 4: one of the guys that worked in the office, Jay
Speaker 4: was his first name. He parked his car where we
Speaker 4: park our cars. And the only reason we park our
Speaker 4: cars in left field is because no human being can
Speaker 4: hit the ball in the parking lot. It's impossible well,
Speaker 4: here comes big I throw two balls. He hits them
Speaker 4: to the left of the scoreboard. And about an hour later,
Speaker 4: one of the guys comes up to me. He said, Hey,
Speaker 4: did somebody hit a car in a parking lot. I go, no,
Speaker 4: it's a possible. Well, the windshield is busted. Martin Murguire
Speaker 4: hit one where no one else could ever hit one.
Speaker 4: You park your car there so you won't get it hit.
Speaker 4: He hit it mile high. The ball was flying, unbelievable. Unbelievable,
Speaker 4: a home run derby at Corsfield. That's like heaven for
Speaker 4: the fans.
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Speaker 1: Rich Let's go back to that when you threw from
Speaker 1: the mound for ninety minutes and Jim fragoes he gave
Speaker 1: you thir three hundred bucks. Did anybody else? Did any
Speaker 1: of the players give you any money? Did they too?
Speaker 4: Well, they didn't even thought maybe give me a bat
Speaker 4: or something. And I don't know what the first prize
Speaker 4: was because back then it was in the early stages.
Speaker 4: But I remember Griffy when it was all over, he
Speaker 4: gave me a high five. That's all, he gave me
Speaker 4: a high five. I can't spend that anywhere. But uh,
Speaker 4: nowadays christ they give him cars, they give them bonuses.
Speaker 4: I think now it's a million bucks, isn't it. It's
Speaker 4: it's a lot of prizes, a million. I know Pete Alonzo,
Speaker 4: I think polar Bear. Pete gave a lot of it
Speaker 4: to the fire department in New York after he won
Speaker 4: his derby. But now it's just it's like you say,
Speaker 4: they bring their own pictures that guys that threw every day.
Speaker 4: One other story is that another I threw five home
Speaker 4: run derbys. The one I threw in Chicago or Detroit,
Speaker 4: I can't even remember. Anyway, I was with the Brewers.
Speaker 4: And now this is a great story.
Speaker 1: You you will not.
Speaker 4: Believe this, but I'm gonna tell it anyway. But it's
Speaker 4: the truth. It's all star play and we don't know
Speaker 4: whether Bonds, Barry Bonds is going to play there. And
Speaker 4: you participate in the home run derby. Okay, now this
Speaker 4: is a heck of a story. So Richie Sexon is
Speaker 4: the alternate. He's our you know, first basement big power hitter.
Speaker 4: They said, Richie, if Bonzi don't go, can you go
Speaker 4: he said, yeah, I'll go. I'm on the team. I'll participate.
Speaker 4: So Richie comes to me. He says, hey, I don't
Speaker 4: know if I'm going to go or not, but if
Speaker 4: I go, I want you to throw to me. So
Speaker 4: I said, well, like, what do I do? He said,
Speaker 4: don't worry, go home, and if I find out, won't
Speaker 4: call you. Okay, So I hear nothing. I go back
Speaker 4: to my hometown Stubenville, Ohio. I live on a sixty
Speaker 4: acre ranch in Hopedale, Ohio, with our horses and everything.
Speaker 4: It's about one hundred and twenty degrees and Roberta goes,
Speaker 4: could you please go out and cut the grass? Get
Speaker 4: on the lawnmower, go cut it. What are some parts
Speaker 4: where you can't use a power I mean a rider.
Speaker 4: You have to do a hand more. So I go
Speaker 4: out in shorts. Now you gotta picture this. It's one
Speaker 4: hundred degrees. It's ten o'clock in the morning. I go out, MMO,
Speaker 4: and I see Roberta on the back porch waving at me,
Speaker 4: and I wave back at her. Ye leave me alone,
Speaker 4: don't give me a lemonade. And she said, they just
Speaker 4: called from Milwaukee. They need you in Chicago. Under me.
Speaker 4: I went Now, she says, now, there's a plane that
Speaker 4: leaves in forty minutes from Pittsburgh. Okay, I'm in my shorts.
Speaker 4: I got grass stains all over me. I'm sweating, and
Speaker 4: so here's what I do. I said, I ain't got
Speaker 4: my uniform, and I got nothing. She said, you don't
Speaker 4: need your uniform. They're gonna give you one. So I
Speaker 4: get in a car. I go to Pittsburgh. Takes about
Speaker 4: half hour. I go to the airport in my shorts.
Speaker 4: I look like a gardener. You know, they just did
Speaker 4: the planet. The flow. The grass stanes all over me.
Speaker 4: So I go. I get on the plane. I'm he's sweaty.
Speaker 4: I got an old ball hat on and I fly
Speaker 4: into Chicago. I get into Chicago at about I don't know,
Speaker 4: four o'clock. I get in there, I get a limo.
Speaker 4: They got a limo for me. Boom, straight to Kmiski Park. Boom.
Speaker 4: We go to Kmiski. I go outside. I go up
Speaker 4: to the guy and he looks at me like, like,
Speaker 4: what do you want. I went up, I'm throwing the
Speaker 4: home run derby. He goes, yeah, right, yeah, He goes,
Speaker 4: where's your uniform? I goes I don't have that. They're
Speaker 4: gonna give me one. So he called security. They got me.
Speaker 4: They called down and they called the clophouse and Tony
Speaker 4: LARUSSI said, yeah, let him in. So I get into clophouse.
Speaker 4: I walked in and Tony says, here, we got a
Speaker 4: uniform for you. It's a cup uniform. He said, that's
Speaker 4: all we have something. One of the pictures had an
Speaker 4: extra uniform. I put the cup uniform on. It was
Speaker 4: too long. My pants are hanging down my shirt. I
Speaker 4: put the cup. I go out, boom boom, boom, and
Speaker 4: I throw the home run derby. Now watch this. I
Speaker 4: throw the home run derby and we finished about third
Speaker 4: or fourth. I can't remember who won. I think Bobby
Speaker 4: and Bray. You want it? So now here I am.
Speaker 4: I got no clothes, so I said, well, I'll go
Speaker 4: back to the airport. There's eleven o'clock flight back to Pittsburgh.
Speaker 4: I go to the airport. Blah blah blah. As soon
Speaker 4: as I get to the airport, I look up on a board.
Speaker 4: Eleven o'clock flight to Pittsburgh canceled. Wonderful, wonderful. I got
Speaker 4: no clothes, I got nowhere to go. I got no money,
Speaker 4: I got no reservation. I sleep at the airport. I
Speaker 4: get up at five o'clock. In the airport, the guys,
Speaker 4: the guy's you know, he's waxing the floor. He says,
Speaker 4: could you move your feet? I got to get under
Speaker 4: your chair. So I get up. I get a five
Speaker 4: o'clock flight back to Pittsburgh in my in my clothes
Speaker 4: that I wore. And I go back home and uh,
Speaker 4: I think Richie sex and he sent me a color
Speaker 4: TV or something. So that was one of my memories.
Speaker 1: Rich I've known you for five years. I never heard
Speaker 1: that story before.
Speaker 4: Oh yes, even ask my wife. She goes, you're gonna
Speaker 4: go to the airport looking like that. I goes, I
Speaker 4: can't just this. I got a chance to make a
Speaker 4: thousand dollars. I gotta go.
Speaker 2: And the worst part is you come back and the
Speaker 2: yard is not even done yet. You had to finish
Speaker 2: the yard.
Speaker 4: You know. I had to finish the yard the next day. Yeah,
Speaker 4: she didn't care that I one a thousand dollars. She
Speaker 4: says that back row still needs cut. Get out there.
Speaker 4: So year after that, I threw to Carlos Lee. But
Speaker 4: we practiced for a month after VP ned Yost was
Speaker 4: a manager. He allowed it. He allotted six minutes. He said,
Speaker 4: you and Carlos work on the home runs. Carlos liked
Speaker 4: the ball down and in. I could throw it there
Speaker 4: every time, boom, boom boom. He ended up finishing second.
Speaker 4: He bought me. He bought me two computers, pig, big
Speaker 4: screen TVs, you know, for doing it. So Carlos was
Speaker 4: great to all. Those guys were great to me.
Speaker 1: That is so great. But Rich, the point of all
Speaker 1: this is what a great batting practice pitcher that you are.
Speaker 1: Explain to people who wonder, why can't a guy pitch
Speaker 1: every fifth day? He's got to go every six days?
Speaker 1: That you throw BP every day? How did you do that?
Speaker 1: Especially when you were in your fifties?
Speaker 4: Well, in the minor leagues. I was a backup catcher
Speaker 4: at Denver, and the backup catchers at that time in
Speaker 4: then at Triple A, they threw batting practice to the
Speaker 4: regulars because I wasn't playing. So I'm throwing the Rich
Speaker 4: Billings you remember him, Bill Fayee. I was a third chickter.
Speaker 4: So Dill Wilber, the manager, said, Rich, you can throw strikes,
Speaker 4: you go throw. So I've been throwing BP since I played,
Speaker 4: you know, and then that I tell people. Some guy
Speaker 4: asked me, how did you get so accurate? I said,
Speaker 4: apple fights. He said what I said, apple fights? Said,
Speaker 4: you ever have an apple fight? When you were little?
Speaker 4: On a rainy day in Steubenville, we put apples in
Speaker 4: our shirt, about fifteen of them, and we get behind
Speaker 4: it free and throw at one another. And I could
Speaker 4: throw at seven years old. They still tell his story.
Speaker 4: In Steubenville, there was a big kid who was in
Speaker 4: high school. He wighed about two fifty. His name was
Speaker 4: Raymond Payne. He weighed about two fifty and he threw
Speaker 4: an apple and hit me in the foot, and I
Speaker 4: got mad. I was seven years old, and I picked
Speaker 4: up a green apple and I hit him right square
Speaker 4: in the head and his head went whoop. It just
Speaker 4: came out like that, and he went down to my mom.
Speaker 4: My mom had to put ice on his head. And
Speaker 4: so I said, oh, my dad's gonna kill me when
Speaker 4: he comes home from work. So I come home and
Speaker 4: my dad. Now you go know my dad, He says,
Speaker 4: did you hit him with that apple on the head.
Speaker 4: I said, yeah, Dad. He says, well, don't do that
Speaker 4: no more. He was proud that I hit him right
Speaker 4: in the head. I mean his head went whoop. It
Speaker 4: just came right out like that. But but throwing apples,
Speaker 4: I mean I used to go to state fairs. I'd
Speaker 4: come home with seven, seven or ten stuffed animals. I
Speaker 4: can knock them bottles off right and left all the time.
Speaker 4: And then I used to throw rocks at no parking signs.
Speaker 4: And my goal where I lived in Stupaenville on Langley Avenue,
Speaker 4: there was a no parking sign in our alley and
Speaker 4: it was white with red lettering. And my goal every
Speaker 4: year was to throw so many rocks at that sign
Speaker 4: that I knocked the white paint off it. And every
Speaker 4: August that paint was off. It was just a red lettering.
Speaker 1: Rich. That is rich. But you threw bpen. You said
Speaker 1: you've been throwing it since you've been playing, but you
Speaker 1: threw it every day as a coach.
Speaker 4: Correct, Yeah, you know when you when I first started managing,
Speaker 4: Ted Williams recommended I be a manager because I was
Speaker 4: such a lousy hitter at twenty four. When you manage
Speaker 4: back then, Tim, and you remember when when you're managing
Speaker 4: a team, you had one coach and my coach was
Speaker 4: the great Ed Noddel, who everybody knows in baseball. Well,
Speaker 4: it had an arm operation. He couldn't throw. So back
Speaker 4: then the pitchers hit every day for one half hour
Speaker 4: and they divide up starters versus relievers. They did it
Speaker 4: in the big leagues for years. And you throw and
Speaker 4: like play home run derby, but it's thirty minutes of
Speaker 4: fastball boom. Then you throw to the extras that's about
Speaker 4: fifteen twenty minutes more boom. Then you throw to the
Speaker 4: lineup that's about forty five minutes. So you're throwing two
Speaker 4: hours a day. And the thing I will say, how
Speaker 4: can you do it? You can't throw breaking balls. They're
Speaker 4: all fastballs or straight, not even fast, I call him straight.
Speaker 4: They were all straight. And after a while I could
Speaker 4: I could throw wherever you want the ball. I could
Speaker 4: throw all day. And it was just you know, you know,
Speaker 4: there are a lot of guys that I admired growing up.
Speaker 4: And you remember one of these guys, or a couple
Speaker 4: of them that I admired were Dave Ricketts with the Cardinals.
Speaker 4: Pether Ricketts brothers played basketball at du Cane right down
Speaker 4: the street from Stutneville, So I knew who he was.
Speaker 4: Dave could throw for two or three hours. He was unbelievable.
Speaker 4: And then were Day Laxman was a great thrower. So
Speaker 4: I used to watch all these guys throw. And then
Speaker 4: when I got with the Rangers, Jackie Moore was there.
Speaker 4: And then here I come, and all the coaches go, hey,
Speaker 4: Ritchell throw, Hey, Ritchell throw, Rich will throw. And every
Speaker 4: time there was extra hitting, you know this. We have
Speaker 4: extra hitting in the afternoon for an hour, then we
Speaker 4: have VP. I threw the extra hitting, and then I
Speaker 4: threw to a group like every day, and I threw
Speaker 4: the I got through the Buddy Bell and like I say,
Speaker 4: Larry Parrish and Mickey Rivers. But the best guy I
Speaker 4: ever threw to was fun. When I was with the
Speaker 4: Dodgers was no mar Carcia Parr. No Mar never never,
Speaker 4: never took a pitch. He swung in everything, and in
Speaker 4: the game he never took a pitch. He swung and everything.
Speaker 2: Hey, it's Jeff Kirkshin.
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Speaker 3: I have to ask because you've brushed over such a
Speaker 3: crucial detail here, which is the the fact that you
Speaker 3: played for Ted Williams in the minor in spring training
Speaker 3: and one, I mean, I didn't know you recommended you
Speaker 3: to be a manager, which is like probably the greatest
Speaker 3: compliment you could get from the greatest hitter of all time, right.
Speaker 2: Because even though you joked about not being a great hitter,
Speaker 2: he saw.
Speaker 3: Your mind and nobody knew the game better than Ted Williams.
Speaker 2: What was that experience like.
Speaker 4: Being with Jeff? Let me pat the story. Let me
Speaker 4: tell you the quick story about Ted Williams. I get
Speaker 4: drafted by the Senators during the winter. I was with
Speaker 4: the Twins and Deal Wilbert was a scout who scouted me.
Speaker 4: He loved me, and he says, Rich, we just drafted you.
Speaker 4: You're going to Pampino Beach. You're going to the big camp.
Speaker 4: And I'm like, oh my lord, I was an a ball,
Speaker 4: a ball, and I'm going I got chills all over me.
Speaker 4: Now you're going to the Senators. You're going to big
Speaker 4: league camp.
Speaker 1: Oh my lord.
Speaker 4: I broke out the sweat. I started doing push ups
Speaker 4: and sit ups. I just went crazy. I went crazy.
Speaker 4: So I go to spring training. I lie down. Now, Tim,
Speaker 4: you could you could identify this. I get the cab
Speaker 4: Joe Maco picked me up. Our equipment guy. Right, we
Speaker 4: go to the we go to the surf Righter hotel,
Speaker 4: and and and we pull up to the surf Righter.
Speaker 4: I got my stuff in the trunk. I get out
Speaker 4: to go to the trunk, and all of a sudden
Speaker 4: I saw the lord. I saw Ted Williams standing there.
Speaker 4: He's six foot four, and you know how he bellows.
Speaker 4: He goes, boy, who the hell are you? And I
Speaker 4: couldn't even know. I didn't know who I was. I go,
Speaker 4: I'm rich Donelly. He goes, yeah. He says, you're that
Speaker 4: kid that can catch, but you can't hear where the crap?
Speaker 4: I go, yeah, me. So he carried my bags into
Speaker 4: the lobby. So I run into I went into the
Speaker 4: pay phone and call my dad. Dad. Ted Williams, he
Speaker 4: just carried my bags into the lobby. He said, that's
Speaker 4: real good. Now go ahead and go to bed or whatever.
Speaker 4: You know, my dad he can so now he tells
Speaker 4: me in spring training, Jeff, he says, you're going to
Speaker 4: Triple A. I go, I am, yeah, you're gonna skip
Speaker 4: high A. You're gonna skip double A and go to
Speaker 4: Triple A with I mean, there were men playing Triple A,
Speaker 4: Cisco Carlos, Joe Foy, Lou Klemchock. These guys are major
Speaker 4: league veteran Dick Nen you know all these guys And
Speaker 4: I go, I am. He said, yeah you are. You
Speaker 4: can catch. But he said, who the hell taught you
Speaker 4: to hit? And I said my dad. He goes, well,
Speaker 4: your dad's a horse crap coach, and I went, okay, y, yes, sir.
Speaker 4: So now now comes again to spring training, Jeff, and
Speaker 4: I'm like, already I'm going to Denver. No, You're going
Speaker 4: to Pittsfield Double A. I'm mad. I'm mad you told
Speaker 4: me I was going to Denver with the big club
Speaker 4: already left. So now I go to Pittsfield opening night.
Speaker 4: Tim You'll remember this guy. Bill Gogileski was a picture.
Speaker 4: I catch the game. I catch the game, we win
Speaker 4: four to one. I go one for four. Dick Gerner
Speaker 4: was the manager. He calls me an aftercaon. He goes,
Speaker 4: I got good news and bad news. He says. The
Speaker 4: bad news say is did you already get your apartment?
Speaker 4: I said, yeah, we just all settled in, me and
Speaker 4: my wife and my dog. He says, you got to
Speaker 4: be in Denver. Tomorrow night. They need you. Oh my lord,
Speaker 4: So I fly to Denver. My wife Peggy God, you
Speaker 4: know God, for she drives the dog and the U
Speaker 4: haul to Denver by herself. So I get to Denver
Speaker 4: and about two weeks later, Deil Wilbur calls me in
Speaker 4: the room. He goes, listener're having trouble with the big
Speaker 4: leagues with catching and me and Bill Faye was a
Speaker 4: number one draft pick. And Dell goes rich or he
Speaker 4: goes rich and Bill that phone's gonna ring and one
Speaker 4: of you guys is going to big leagues. And I'm like, whoa, Well, well,
Speaker 4: I'm sorry it was it was Rickstelle Masic. It wasn't
Speaker 4: Bill Faie Rixsdeale Mashone. It's Rick. They take him. So
Speaker 4: I'm kind of bummed out. Now I'm mad at Ted Williams.
Speaker 4: I've said now he lied to me about does he lied?
Speaker 4: Blah blah blah. So about a week later, Tim you
Speaker 4: guys came in for an exhibition game at Denver and
Speaker 4: I said, I ain't talking to him. I ain't gonna
Speaker 4: say hi, I ain't gonna run up and go high
Speaker 4: mister Williams. No, No, I'm not talking to him. I'm
Speaker 4: mad at him. So the game I'm catching the game,
Speaker 4: Del Wherbury, you're catching. So the Senators players, they have
Speaker 4: a second baseman, God rest his soul, Dave Nelson, who
Speaker 4: led the America League in stolen basis. He gets on
Speaker 4: first he goes to steal Boom. I throw him out.
Speaker 4: Then they come up with Lenny Randall, my good buddy.
Speaker 4: He gets on first base, Boom, I throw him out. Jeff,
Speaker 4: I put my mask up on top and I lost it.
Speaker 4: I looked over at Ted Williams. I said, keep running usob,
Speaker 4: I'll throw every guy you got out And I went,
Speaker 4: oh my god, what did I just do? I went
Speaker 4: home that night and my wife goes, what is wrong
Speaker 4: with your brain? What why? I said, I think I'm
Speaker 4: going to be released. I said, I just cussed out
Speaker 4: Ted Williams. So that was right. The year goes on,
Speaker 4: nothing happens. I don't hear nothing. I said, well, so
Speaker 4: next year they don't invite me to spring training, you know,
Speaker 4: and I'm saying, well, I'm going to be released. I
Speaker 4: go to plan City, Florida, and hal Keller says, you're
Speaker 4: going to go to Denver, but you're going as a
Speaker 4: backup catcher. I was their first string catcher for the
Speaker 4: whole second half. Did real well. We went to the
Speaker 4: Little World Series up at Rochester blah blah blah. So
Speaker 4: I said, I'm quitting. So I walked back Tim. You
Speaker 4: know this. I walked from Plant City Field back to
Speaker 4: the holiday and in my uniform, I took it off.
Speaker 4: I was crying. I told Cal how Keller, I quit.
Speaker 4: I've had enough of this crap. He said, wait a minute,
Speaker 4: don't leave. Thirty minutes later he calls back. He says, Rich, listen,
Speaker 4: Ted waie. We told Ted Williams and he said that
Speaker 4: don't let that boy leave. He says, you make that
Speaker 4: kid a manager. I like his spunk, and so they
Speaker 4: made me a manager at twenty four years old. So
Speaker 4: that's how I got recommended.
Speaker 1: So Rich you became a manager because you cussed out
Speaker 1: Ted Williams.
Speaker 4: That absolutely he.
Speaker 1: Likes.
Speaker 4: He liked because he cussed out more people than anybody
Speaker 4: on earth. You know his vocabulary. There's vocabulary with seven
Speaker 4: words that you can't say.
Speaker 3: That is so great as an assign I just have
Speaker 3: to say, you've told me about Rich Donaldy for years
Speaker 3: and you always say he makes you laugh.
Speaker 2: He is living up to the hype of.
Speaker 3: The stories you've told me since I was growing up
Speaker 3: about Rich Donelly.
Speaker 2: That was incredible story.
Speaker 3: If you're gonna curse anybody out and have the balls
Speaker 3: to do it, Ted Williams, perfect guy.
Speaker 4: Ted Williams. If you heard him talk like Tim has,
Speaker 4: oh my lord. He says words that aren't even invented.
Speaker 4: But he liked that because no one ever talked back
Speaker 4: to him.
Speaker 1: Sure right, it's a Rich. We're gonna pivot to the
Speaker 1: other thing that you're one of the greatest of all
Speaker 1: time at, and that is being a third base coach.
Speaker 1: You coached a bunch of different places, but no one
Speaker 1: coached third base better than you. And I did a
Speaker 1: story Jeff for Sports illustrated on signs and stealing signs
Speaker 1: and all that, and I went to Rich first, and
Speaker 1: Rich told just Rich, how did used to tell me
Speaker 1: that you would practice giving your shot signs in the bathroom?
Speaker 4: Agreed exactly in front of the mirror. And uh, you know,
Speaker 4: I had some Offerwood mentors. I had, you know, Jim Leland,
Speaker 4: Jackie Moore. Uh. But growing up you could ask anybody
Speaker 4: that grew up with me. Everybody wanted to be a player.
Speaker 4: I wanted to be Frankie Crosetti. Frankie Crossetti was the
Speaker 4: third base coach for the Yankees that won all them championships.
Speaker 4: And I said, if I could be a third base
Speaker 4: coach in the big leagues, that would be you know that,
Speaker 4: that would be the top of the mountain. And getting
Speaker 4: the coach for all those years for Jim and you know,
Speaker 4: for Lloyd McLennan and Grady Little third base and being
Speaker 4: in the World Series and did I practiced in front
Speaker 4: of the mirror to see if my wife could get
Speaker 4: the signs. I told her what the signs were, and
Speaker 4: then I did them to see if she can catch them.
Speaker 4: And then but I learned. I learned a whole bunch.
Speaker 4: And what I would do, Tim, I was always I
Speaker 4: was always like, well are they going to steal my signs?
Speaker 4: Because there was a lot of guys around John Vukovich, Uh,
Speaker 4: Joe Nassik, they could steal signs. What I would do, Tim,
Speaker 4: if you were the first hitter and Jeff was the
Speaker 4: second hitter, I'd get you two together and I say,
Speaker 4: come here, guys, I said, the second pitch, Uh, Jim,
Speaker 4: Jim or whatever, they want you to hit and run,
Speaker 4: I'm not going to give you a sign. And so
Speaker 4: they did the hit and run with no sign or
Speaker 4: the opposite. I said, here's what I'm going to do, Tim, Jeff,
Speaker 4: I'm going to give you the hit and run, but
Speaker 4: it ain't a hit and run. Don't do it. And
Speaker 4: if they pitch out when I give that sign, then
Speaker 4: I know they got him. If they don't pitch out,
Speaker 4: I'm giving you the hit and run. Boom boom, hit
Speaker 4: and run. If they don't pitch out, they ain't got him.
Speaker 4: So you have to find a way. And then the
Speaker 4: other thing is I used to practice. Tim. Some guys
Speaker 4: when they give a sign, they go real fast or
Speaker 4: they go real slow, and Jackie Moore taught me just
Speaker 4: go the same every time. And what I would do
Speaker 4: when I played against some teams, I would go fast
Speaker 4: on purpose to make them think I'm giving a sign.
Speaker 4: You know, I go real fast and they pitch out
Speaker 4: and I laugh. I said, I got him, I got him.
Speaker 4: But there's an art to it. There's an art to it.
Speaker 4: I've talked to my dear friend Tim Flannery. God. We
Speaker 4: talked almost every night about positioning where you are what
Speaker 4: you have to do, blah blah blah, But there's an
Speaker 4: art to it. And anybody who's ever been over there
Speaker 4: in a Big League game with sixty thousand people there, wow,
Speaker 4: it's a great it's a great rush.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Rich, you told me that one of the clubhouses
Speaker 1: you were in on the road, you were pretty sure
Speaker 1: it was bugged by the home team, so you took
Speaker 1: your players to different places, not in the clubhouse, to
Speaker 1: go over the signs. Do I have that right?
Speaker 4: Absolutely? I would someone. Ray Miller thought that every every
Speaker 4: clubhouse was bugged, and he thought that there was a camera,
Speaker 4: which there might have been. He thought the concessionaire, he
Speaker 4: thought the popcorn guy at the astronom was given the signs.
Speaker 4: I mean, so he talked me into it. So when
Speaker 4: I give my signs, we'd go out in the outfield,
Speaker 4: or or we'd go to Jim's suite in Houston up
Speaker 4: at the top twenty third floor. I'd invite the whole
Speaker 4: team up there to give my signs. I wasn't going
Speaker 4: to do it in the clubhouse, like you said, cameras, microphones,
Speaker 4: And after talking with Ray Miller, yeah, Ray thought every
Speaker 4: place we went that a concessionaire an usher. He thought
Speaker 4: the usher. It's misky Park was or Duck and Miski,
Speaker 4: but it wrigularly feel he thought the usher every time
Speaker 4: he took his hat off, it was a basketball ball.
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, what the heck you know? But
Speaker 4: I believed him after a while, so I'd have the
Speaker 4: guys come up to my room to get the signs.
Speaker 3: So rich. Obviously, another part of being a third base
Speaker 3: coach is sending guys home, which I believe in all
Speaker 3: of major sports might be one of the most direct influences.
Speaker 3: Obviously there's play calling in football and all that stuff,
Speaker 3: but I that might be the hardest, most nerve wrecking
Speaker 3: job that I never had a chance to do. But
Speaker 3: I can't even imagine the pressure would feel sending a
Speaker 3: guy home, especially with a game on the line, especially
Speaker 3: in a moment of tents. You know there's a lot
Speaker 3: going on, big game, Bottom of the ninth, bottom of
Speaker 3: the eighth.
Speaker 2: Do you have any stories surrounding sending or not sending
Speaker 2: a guy home.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, when you're over there, as many times
Speaker 4: as I was, you have some good nights and then
Speaker 4: you have some bad nights. And I've had times when
Speaker 4: I made the right call, like with two outs in
Speaker 4: a base and usually send them the cats her for
Speaker 4: the right fielder throws the ball three hundred feet on
Speaker 4: top of the plate out and everybody boos you, Well,
Speaker 4: you made the right call. Then on the other hand,
Speaker 4: I've had a situation where I made a bad call,
Speaker 4: a bad call. They had the guy out by ten
Speaker 4: feet at home. The catcher dropped the ball and I'm
Speaker 4: going to dugout and everybody's going good sending Rich that
Speaker 4: was great, and I'm going, oh god, I got I
Speaker 4: lucked out. Every third base coach will say that they've
Speaker 4: lucked out at some point, But you try to coach third.
Speaker 4: The best advice I forgot. See, when you're in the
Speaker 4: minor leagues as a manager, you're managing the team, Jeff,
Speaker 4: and you're coaching third. And I remember Jim Ling, and
Speaker 4: Jim told me the first year, he said, Rich, don't
Speaker 4: go out there and try to manage the game. You
Speaker 4: just get the signs and give them because like I'm up,
Speaker 4: I'll give you a situation if I could. We're playing
Speaker 4: in Cincinnati one night and Brian Fisher had just came
Speaker 4: over from the Yankees. He had never hit because they
Speaker 4: had dh so we got him over here. He had
Speaker 4: never been at the plate in his life. So Rick
Speaker 4: Rusher gave him a bat, which we later found out
Speaker 4: was courked, but he gave him a bat. And Jim's
Speaker 4: in the dugout. Now. Jim's bunt sign was if he
Speaker 4: took the Marlborough in the right hand and puffed it
Speaker 4: with the right hand. So here comes Fisher up raffee.
Speaker 4: Billiard's on first. There's no out. Fish is gonna bunt right.
Speaker 4: I'm looking over at Jim. He's sitting there like this,
Speaker 4: no cigarette, no Marlborough, no nothing, ball one, and I'm going,
Speaker 4: what the heck? And Jim is screaming at Fish. He's screaming,
Speaker 4: get the butt down, get the butt down. He looks
Speaker 4: at me and he goes, pay attention, wake up, wake up.
Speaker 4: And I'm going, what the hell is going on. You
Speaker 4: didn't give me no sign, you didn't give me no Marlborough.
Speaker 4: I don't know. The next pitch is a fastball. Brian
Speaker 4: Fisher hits a two run home run. I walk in
Speaker 4: the dugout Jim. Jim is up to me and I'm
Speaker 4: like this, you know what happened? He goes, hey, buddy,
Speaker 4: we got him, buddy, we got him, We tricked him.
Speaker 4: Then we I goes, yeah, you got me too, but yeah,
Speaker 4: but that was Jim. He was screaming and Tom Browning.
Speaker 4: Tim was the pitcher, so he knew great who he
Speaker 4: was going to get a fastball. He's going to take
Speaker 4: a chance, fast boom, go ahead and hit. He threw
Speaker 4: the ball, boom, home run. So Jim was a genius.
Speaker 4: That was such a genius he thought all these things.
Speaker 1: Jim told me a story once when he was a
Speaker 1: minor league manager, coaching third, of course, because that's what
Speaker 1: managers did. I think. The guy's name was Kirby Farrell,
Speaker 1: and during the minor league game, he gives him the
Speaker 1: bunt side and Kirby doesn't get it. He gives it
Speaker 1: to him again and Kirby doesn't get it. So Jim
Speaker 1: Leland cups his hands around his mouth and yells to
Speaker 1: Kirby Farrell bunt, and Kirby Farrell looks back at him,
Speaker 1: cuffs his hands and says, what I mean, like.
Speaker 4: Rich, Jim, there are many there are so many things
Speaker 4: that go undering the game. I remember Chuck Kenner taught
Speaker 4: me this. Here's the situation. Ah, And Chuck taught me
Speaker 4: this in instructional league. He was managing the parts and
Speaker 4: we were playing him and I saw him do it
Speaker 4: and ask him about it later, and Chuck became a
Speaker 4: very good friend. Runners on first and second, Okay, you
Speaker 4: tell the hitter bunt the ball to third, walk down
Speaker 4: and tell the hitter halfway down, bun itt to third,
Speaker 4: bunn Itt to third. Well, what's the defense gonna do nothing?
Speaker 4: Third baseman's gonna come in. But we had games where
Speaker 4: I would point, bunt the ball right here, bunnet here.
Speaker 4: The third baseman will go over at me and go,
Speaker 4: are you guys button? I go, yeah, We're gonna bunt
Speaker 4: it right to you. Okay, So he moved in. We
Speaker 4: butted it right to him. He threw the first we
Speaker 4: got the sacrifice, and then he looked over at me
Speaker 4: and go, you did you did bunch of third? I go,
Speaker 4: I know, we did.
Speaker 2: I love this game so much.
Speaker 4: So many things that went on in the game during
Speaker 4: the game. I can give you one thing. My son
Speaker 4: told me to score a story tim the other night.
Speaker 4: I never I never knew Rick Roden's pitching for us
Speaker 4: one night right and uh Ray Miller goes out and
Speaker 4: talks to him. So the next trip, you gotta take
Speaker 4: him out, right, Well, Jim didn't want to take him out,
Speaker 4: but they had a pin shooter come up. I think
Speaker 4: I don't know who it was. So Bubba, my son
Speaker 4: was a bat boy, he said, Bubba, Bubba, Yes, Skip,
Speaker 4: He said, get the rosen bag and take it out
Speaker 4: the rodent. He said, he got a rosen bag. He said,
Speaker 4: go out there, take the rosen bag and tell him
Speaker 4: to throw sliders to Sosa. So Bubba picks up the
Speaker 4: rosen bag. Bat Boy runs out to the mound and
Speaker 4: Ricky goes, Bubba, what the hell you doing out here?
Speaker 4: I got a rosenbag? And Bubba it just quiet. He goes,
Speaker 4: Skip says to throw Sosa sliders down the way. Put
Speaker 4: back on the dugout. He throwing three sliders, fight three
Speaker 4: innings over. Those kinds of things are priceless.
Speaker 1: So it wasn't even a trip to the mound, because I.
Speaker 4: Mean, how am I going to communicate it to him?
Speaker 4: I sent Bubba out there. Bubba tells a story. He says,
Speaker 4: rick Road was screaming at him. Well, but what the
Speaker 4: hell you doing out here? He goes, I got a
Speaker 4: rosen Beg and Skip says, drove Sasa down on the
Speaker 4: way sliders.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And Jeff Rich told me the story once that
Speaker 1: so many managers are so secretive about things that and
Speaker 1: I know this. This has been confirmed that Tony LaRussa
Speaker 1: would occasionally have his trainer, Barry Weinberg, give the steel side.
Speaker 1: And as Rich told me once, he said, yeah, what
Speaker 1: Barry pulls out his tongue depressor. It's a steal. Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: looking every night, but no one's looking at the trainer,
Speaker 1: and they'll hit the tunout.
Speaker 4: For fourteen years of Jim Leland, I was the third
Speaker 4: base coach. I never had a steel sign. I never
Speaker 4: gave a steel sign. I never knew if they were stealing.
Speaker 4: The steel would come every night. Every night. Somehow Jim
Speaker 4: would get trainer uh Kent bigger staff or Dave Tumbus
Speaker 4: or Varshow or backup half fielder. One night he gave
Speaker 4: he said Milt Milt May was our hitting coach. He said,
Speaker 4: Milt sip beside me, when you cross your arms, that's
Speaker 4: a steal. Okay. So we're playing in Pittsburgh. It's April.
Speaker 4: It's freezing out. One night and Tom Prince the slowest guy.
Speaker 4: We used to time him with a calendar. He was
Speaker 4: so slow. He gets on first base. He gets on
Speaker 4: first base and there's two outs. Man. Prince looks in.
Speaker 4: He's looking for Milt, and Milt looks over at Jim.
Speaker 4: He goes, it's freezing in here.
Speaker 1: Like that.
Speaker 4: When he crossed his arms, Prince he took off. Jim goes,
Speaker 4: what the hell's going on? They threw it in the
Speaker 4: center field. He goes the third and Jim was He said,
Speaker 4: what the hell you and Princey came in. He goes, Princey,
Speaker 4: what are you doing? What do you do? He said, well,
Speaker 4: he crossed his arms, and then he goes, milk, did
Speaker 4: you cross your arms? He said, well, yeah, it was cold.
Speaker 4: But Jim used to in his steel. Yeah, if Biggie,
Speaker 4: one night, you're right with a tongue depresser. Then the
Speaker 4: next night he told Dave Tumbus, our assistant trainer, if
Speaker 4: you if you bring that can or freeze out, sit
Speaker 4: by me, and if you bring it out, that's the steal.
Speaker 4: And he'd tell the runner look at Rich for the
Speaker 4: hit and run. That's the only sign you're gonna get.
Speaker 4: And then glance in for me. Don't stare at me,
Speaker 4: just glance in. Jim gave all his steals from the dugout,
Speaker 4: every single one of them. But he gave it to
Speaker 4: a different guy every night. A trainer, Warren sip our
Speaker 4: strength coach. He gave it to him one night. You know,
Speaker 4: he said, Warren, if you if you wipe your face
Speaker 4: like that, that's the steal. So don't do it unless
Speaker 4: I give it to you. I mean, it was unbelievable.
Speaker 4: It was fun, It was fun.
Speaker 1: Rich. Some guys must have been great at getting the
Speaker 1: signs and others with others. You had to be. You
Speaker 1: can't make it too complicated otherwise they're not gonna understand
Speaker 1: it correct.
Speaker 4: Absolutely. We used to go and if you talk to
Speaker 4: different coaches, we used to go to clap system. All
Speaker 4: these signs. Nothing. I may give him a sign. They
Speaker 4: don't even know them. I get, well, one clap is
Speaker 4: a bun and then we go boo boo, boom boom.
Speaker 4: Two claps is a hit and run. Or if I'm
Speaker 4: walking and I'm giving signs, nothing's on. So if I'm
Speaker 4: walking towards you and I'm giving you the signs, whatever,
Speaker 4: nothing's on. If I'm still that's when the sign's on.
Speaker 4: So you find all different ways to do it, you know.
Speaker 4: But some guys just can't get them. They just can't
Speaker 4: get him. But what I used to do, Tim, I
Speaker 4: started this when I was with Seattle, and I think
Speaker 4: coaches should do this. I kept a notebook and say
Speaker 4: I had you and Jeff. If I get say it's
Speaker 4: a Monday, if I didn't give you or Jeff a sign,
Speaker 4: I have a little graph and I'd go in your box.
Speaker 4: I didn't give you a sign Tuesday, I didn't give
Speaker 4: you a sign another X. If I go four days,
Speaker 4: I'd go up to that guy, Hey, Jeff, what's the
Speaker 4: hit and run? Uh No, that's the bunch, Jeff. So
Speaker 4: if I didn't give a sign in four days, I
Speaker 4: would review to see if they knew it, because I
Speaker 4: don't want to go six days. Didn't give you the
Speaker 4: bunt and you look at me like I got six hids.
Speaker 4: So I started keeping a track of how many times
Speaker 4: I gave you the sign. Some guys never got a sign.
Speaker 4: Robbie Cano to this day, if I call him, I said, Robbie,
Speaker 4: I got a check for a million dollars. Tell me
Speaker 4: what the hit and run. Was got no idea because
Speaker 4: I never gave it to him. He never gave it
Speaker 4: to him, never ever. But how about this one Tim
Speaker 4: Barry Bonds. Barry would tell me, he said, give give me,
Speaker 4: give me signs even though they're fake, because I might
Speaker 4: get a pitch out. Now I get to one an
Speaker 4: o cow. Barry was pretty smart. He said, give me
Speaker 4: the signs. They may pitch out on me on as
Speaker 4: a hitter, and I, you know, and I may I
Speaker 4: may get a one an o count.
Speaker 1: Right. Barry wasn't just really smart rich, especially in Pittsburgh,
Speaker 1: he was. He was great. What was it like being
Speaker 1: on the same team as a young up and coming
Speaker 1: Barry Bonds.
Speaker 4: Well, when he first came up, he had struggled and
Speaker 4: if you look at his numbers, he had two two
Speaker 4: twenty nine his first year. Jim had him leading off
Speaker 4: when he came up. Jim thought, here's a bass stealer
Speaker 4: who has occasional power. Well, he struggled three one pitches
Speaker 4: to him. He was following him late over third base.
Speaker 4: So Jim said to hepathetic, He said, he's not a
Speaker 4: lead officer. I'm dropping him down to three. Who gets
Speaker 4: dropped down to three. The greatest thayer we've ever seen.
Speaker 4: He gets dropped down to three and boom. He took
Speaker 4: off from there, but he struggled. But here's here's the
Speaker 4: thing about Barry. I tell the stories all the time.
Speaker 4: Most most times, he took about three swings of batting practice.
Speaker 4: He went in and took a nap on a couch.
Speaker 4: Every night he took a nap, and he woke up,
Speaker 4: like five minutes of the game. He'd walk out, throw
Speaker 4: his glove on the thing. He goes, Hey, who'll be
Speaker 4: playing to night? And we go we're playing the Cubs.
Speaker 4: He goes, who's pitching. We go, uh, I don't know, Traxel.
Speaker 4: He goes, I'll kill him, no problem, and he would.
Speaker 4: Then he would. So one night, one night, Gerry varshow versus,
Speaker 4: I'll tell you what he says. When Bonzie takes that
Speaker 4: nap before the game. We'll get our clubhouse guy, Red Red,
Speaker 4: you go up and you change the clock till game time,
Speaker 4: and then everybody's going to leave the clophouse and Barry'll
Speaker 4: be sleep and you wake him up. So one night,
Speaker 4: here's Barry snoring like hell, okay, we have an hour
Speaker 4: before game time. Red climbs on the ladder. He changes
Speaker 4: the clock till twenty eight. After games is seven point thirty.
Speaker 4: Everybody goes out of the clophouse in the hallway. Red goes, hey,
Speaker 4: mister Bonds, Hey, mister Bonds, you want to get up,
Speaker 4: and very goot and goes, oh my god, Oh my god,
Speaker 4: oh my god. He runs over. He puts his uniform
Speaker 4: on backwards. He runs out of the hallway. The whole
Speaker 4: team's out there, and oh, man, was he hot. But
Speaker 4: but in a strange way, he liked it because now
Speaker 4: he was one of the guys. They were playing a
Speaker 4: trick on him. He was one of the guys. But
Speaker 4: this guy without a whole lot of practice. And then
Speaker 4: he tell you what he's going to do. He hit
Speaker 4: numerous home runs off Lee Smith and he would tell
Speaker 4: in a dugout, he says, Richie, go tell. He says,
Speaker 4: if you see Gracie running out, can you tell Gracie
Speaker 4: to tell Smithy. He throws me one more slider. I'm
Speaker 4: going to hit it in the third deck. He threw
Speaker 4: a slider and he hit it. That's how good he was.
Speaker 4: He did it all the time.
Speaker 1: He was he was he was amazing. Wrench. You You've
Speaker 1: been around so many good players, so many good hitters.
Speaker 1: I mean, you were with Larry Walker in Colorado. I mean,
Speaker 1: how lucky have you been? Rich to be with as
Speaker 1: many teams as you've been with, and see this many
Speaker 1: great players over the years.
Speaker 4: Well, I tell people this all the time. I've had
Speaker 4: a less life in baseball. Ah. And I got to
Speaker 4: meet guys like Don Zimmer. I got to meet guys
Speaker 4: like Joe Torri, not only meet him, know them. I
Speaker 4: got to be dear friends with my idol, Bill Mazerowski,
Speaker 4: Bill Verden. I tell people tim my baseball cards. When
Speaker 4: I was little, I played with him every day. I
Speaker 4: played a game every day, every day. My baseball cards
Speaker 4: became alive. I got to be dear friends. I used
Speaker 4: to go to the racetrack with Don Zimmer or the
Speaker 4: casino with Don Zimmer where Joe Tory. I go all
Speaker 4: these guys and then all these great players, you know, Bonds,
Speaker 4: Larry Walker. I mean, I'm go on and on, Todd Helton,
Speaker 4: you know, Chico Lynn, all the guys we had in Pittsburgh,
Speaker 4: just great, great players. And I'm just so blessed. I mean,
Speaker 4: I stand out. I used to stand out. And remember
Speaker 4: when I coached with the Dodgers and we had great
Speaker 4: teams out there, we got no more. And you know JD.
Speaker 4: Drew and Greg Maddocks. Greg Maddox I coached him, and
Speaker 4: we're out. I didn't coach him, but I was on
Speaker 4: the staff and I just pitched myself. I said, I
Speaker 4: can't believe this. Here, I am from Langley Avenue, Steunville, Ohio.
Speaker 4: I used to go out in the yard and hit
Speaker 4: rocks all day long and pretend I was in the
Speaker 4: ninth inning of the World Series. And then all of
Speaker 4: a sudden, you are, you are, and you can't believe it.
Speaker 4: You can't even breathe. And then the Texas Rangers, all
Speaker 4: the great all the great stories about those teams, Mickey Rivers,
Speaker 4: Buddy Bell Up, all the way through pat Corrals, Uh,
Speaker 4: the great Eddie Chowles, the owner. The whole thing about
Speaker 4: Texas was so convoluted, all the all the goofy players.
Speaker 4: Sparky Loud became my best friend. Sparky Lou Are you
Speaker 4: kidding me? He knows me. I can call him right now.
Speaker 4: He knows me, Sparky. I admired him for ten years.
Speaker 4: I'm sitting with him every night, every night, and he's
Speaker 4: my buddy. Are you kidding me? I mean, I'm from Superville.
Speaker 4: I wasn't number one draft pick, I didn't hit six
Speaker 4: hundred home runs. And I'm a best friend with my
Speaker 4: room with Charlie Pride. You know that I roomed with
Speaker 4: a finger. I threw batting practice to Brent Musburger, to
Speaker 4: Mary Olamu, to the Group of Alabama. Are you to
Speaker 4: meet Loaf at the World I threw batting practice to
Speaker 4: meet Loaf? Me? I mean, are you? I said, I'm
Speaker 4: so blessed. I can't even believe it. You can't make
Speaker 4: and half the stuff I tell you, guys, I haven't
Speaker 4: told the other half. Like all these stories I'm telling you,
Speaker 4: I haven't told hardly anybody because I said, who cares me?
Speaker 4: You guys no baseball and you appreciate it. But but
Speaker 4: I mean the time we had in Texas with Eddie
Speaker 4: Chowles and all that stuff, and three managers in one night,
Speaker 4: remember three? Yes, I worked with Billy Martin. Billy Martin,
Speaker 4: he gave me his car for the winner. Here drive
Speaker 4: my car, Billy Martin. One night, Tim, I told you
Speaker 4: I got one more story. About Billy. I coached Mike
Speaker 4: Cargrove or managed him in a ball. He goes to
Speaker 4: spring training and Billy says, Rich, I think I'm taking
Speaker 4: him the big leagues. What am I going to say?
Speaker 4: I went here, you are Wow, You're taking him from
Speaker 4: low eight to the big leagues. Yeah, he was rookie
Speaker 4: of the Year. So I go home in September, I
Speaker 4: was I was managing of my leagues. Tim. This is
Speaker 4: a true story. I'm sitting up in a press box
Speaker 4: with the GM Eddie Robinson. They're playing the Oakland A's
Speaker 4: and we're closing in on him. We're about three games out,
Speaker 4: the great Oakland A's that won three in a row. Well,
Speaker 4: Hartgrove comes up against Darryl Knowles the eighth inning and
Speaker 4: they had a pitching change. So he's coming in and
Speaker 4: the phone rings in a press box and it's for me.
Speaker 4: I'm thinking it's my wife calling something's wrong at home.
Speaker 4: It's Art Fowler from the Dugout. He go, Richies, hey boy,
Speaker 4: he said, Billy wants to know if Hargrove can bunt.
Speaker 4: And I now, Hargrove ain't bunted since he was ten
Speaker 4: years old. And I go Oh yeah, he's a hell
Speaker 4: of a butner, great butter. The next the first pitch,
Speaker 4: Darryl Nose throws squeeze play. He gets it down. Billy
Speaker 4: looks up at a press box and give me a
Speaker 4: thumbs up. And that from that moment on, I was
Speaker 4: his man, Billy Martin. Billy Martin was my man. I
Speaker 4: was his man. Are you nuts? It don't happen? It
Speaker 4: can't happen. It did.
Speaker 1: Rich one of the great baseball lives ever. So we're
Speaker 1: gonna we can do this all afternoon, Rich, But let's
Speaker 1: go back to batting practice pitching again because you're the
Speaker 1: best ever. And we're going to the home run derby.
Speaker 1: Just tell us who's the worst batting practice pitcher you've
Speaker 1: ever seen?
Speaker 4: Oh that's easy. Uh Tommy Sant Remember Tommy Santon, Tommy
Speaker 4: sans Well, Tommy Sant. Jim gave him a nickname, Lucky Strike.
Speaker 4: He was lucky. Tommy tried but he could, he just couldn't.
Speaker 4: And Tommy was a great player for the Oakland A's.
Speaker 4: He was a great player. He's the one that discovered,
Speaker 4: uh what the clubhouse guy that became a rap singer,
Speaker 4: You know what I mean? Uh, oh jeez. In Oakland
Speaker 4: Hammer MC Hammer Hammer was Tommy Sant's best friend, and
Speaker 4: Tommy was Hammer's best friend. He shined his shoes every day,
Speaker 4: but Tommy couldn't throw, couldn't throw.
Speaker 1: He and Jeff Rich told me the story that John Candelosi,
Speaker 1: who was about your height, great guy, good player, but
Speaker 1: he took a lot of pitches. He took a lot
Speaker 1: of pitches in BP. He took a lot of pitches
Speaker 1: in the game. And Rich tell the story about when
Speaker 1: Tommy said it through batting practice to John Candialosi.
Speaker 4: What happened, Well, I'm not sure. I'm not sure what
Speaker 4: the ending was, but he probably walked out because he
Speaker 4: didn't throw them strike. I know that.
Speaker 1: Well, here's the story you told me. You said, Tommy
Speaker 1: threw to John Candlosi. He took thirty pitches in a row,
Speaker 1: and they called it to day he didn't swing. What Yeah,
Speaker 1: because Tommy couldn't throw it over and Candilosi.
Speaker 4: Was gonna swing anyway. Well, kids, you didn't want to
Speaker 4: walk out after five pitches. So and then they asked Jenjie,
Speaker 4: why was he touching on good on bass guy? He said,
Speaker 4: I had a lot of practice taking pictures from Tommy
Speaker 4: because Tommy, the greatest guy in the world, great infielder,
Speaker 4: great player, could not throw a strike from the mound.
Speaker 4: He had to. You know, some guys have the you know,
Speaker 4: they can't throw. Steve Sachs, Mackie Sasser, they just can't
Speaker 4: throw the ball sixty feet. They could throw it one
Speaker 4: hundred feet, can't throw it sixty And Tommy just couldn't throw.
Speaker 4: He's the only coach, he said, he's proud of this.
Speaker 4: He said, he's the only coach to coach twenty years
Speaker 4: in the big leagues that never threw one day about
Speaker 4: him practice a lucky strike. That's what Jim called him,
Speaker 4: lucky strike.
Speaker 2: Amazing.
Speaker 3: Rich, I have to ask and I have to bring
Speaker 3: up those days with the Rangers, because if I have
Speaker 3: this correct, that did did he coach your basketball team?
Speaker 1: Yes, Rich, we had a Rangers basketball team that originally
Speaker 1: started with some of the like coaches, like Tom Greeb
Speaker 1: was on the team the first Tom Greeb was like
Speaker 1: the farm director and he was on our basketball team.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna Rich is gonna tell the rest of
Speaker 1: the story. But we we lose the championship game one
Speaker 1: year and Rich the next year, is so angry that
Speaker 1: we lost that he goes out and gets Reggie and
Speaker 1: Charles from another team two ringers, and gets him on
Speaker 1: our team so we can win the championship. And we
Speaker 1: ended up doing that. But go ahead, Rich, tell Jeff
Speaker 1: the story about the championship.
Speaker 4: I got mad that we lost because we had big
Speaker 4: league players, that we got beat by a bunch of
Speaker 4: you who's in the city league. So I said, we're
Speaker 4: gonna We're gonna load up. We're going we're getting some
Speaker 4: nil money. So I get these two, these two brothers
Speaker 4: about six seven who played at West Texas State, Charlie
Speaker 4: and James, And I said, listen, James, if anybody asked you,
Speaker 4: you played right field at Gastonia, So anybody asked you
Speaker 4: you played shortstop at Indianapolis or whatever, you are minor
Speaker 4: league players. They never picked up a baseball in their life,
Speaker 4: like Jim said, they were ringers. So we went and
Speaker 4: now we're in there, we're playing, and we're beating everybody.
Speaker 4: In fact, our ranger team one year we used to
Speaker 4: go on the road in the winter, not in the tournament.
Speaker 4: We were eighty two, and oh we beat everybody. We
Speaker 4: went down the walks of hatch. He beat everybody. We
Speaker 4: had good player, Mike Harrove, Larry Bittner. You know. So anyway,
Speaker 4: now comes to the championship game and they had a
Speaker 4: rule if you're down by thirty, had second half running clock.
Speaker 4: Well one night we're out there, your dad's on the
Speaker 4: team and Larry Bittner and we're just getting our butts waxed.
Speaker 4: And I'm like the player coach and I said, you know,
Speaker 4: the guys at halftime, I said, Tim, here's what we're
Speaker 4: gonna do. It's a running clock. Every time you get
Speaker 4: the ball, shoot every time. Don't you dare pass? You
Speaker 4: are best shooter. Shoots him threes. Try to get us
Speaker 4: back in the game. Well, lo and behold, he goes
Speaker 4: out there. I don't think he missed second half and
Speaker 4: he gets down and all I can say is he
Speaker 4: hit the winner but about five seconds ago. And we
Speaker 4: won the Arlington City Championship. That was better than any
Speaker 4: World Series that I've ever been in.
Speaker 1: Well, I am not going to follow that, but let
Speaker 1: me just tell you what happened at the end. Jeb Charles,
Speaker 1: one of the ringers, is the guy where Rich sets
Speaker 1: up to play, and he says, get the ball to Charles,
Speaker 1: get out of his way, and we're gonna win this game.
Speaker 1: So ball comes into me. I pass it to Charles
Speaker 1: and he throws it right back to me like immediately,
Speaker 1: like I.
Speaker 4: Don't want it.
Speaker 1: So now I have a choice, So I shake my
Speaker 1: guy once, I make a three at the gun and
Speaker 1: we win. We got into Charles, he threw it right
Speaker 1: back to me.
Speaker 4: It was hey, hey, Jeff, we have so much fun
Speaker 4: in a way her At one time we had there
Speaker 4: was a guy, a car dealer there in Arlington at
Speaker 4: Lowry and at had a like a Winnebago. He put
Speaker 4: the whole team into Winnebago. We go to Waxahatchie Mansfield
Speaker 4: and we play like the coaches, the high school coaches.
Speaker 4: For charity. We went to Waksahtchie. We had twenty seven
Speaker 4: hundred people, and we went over to TCU and we
Speaker 4: had like eight thousand people and we played Derek coaches.
Speaker 4: But the basketball players, your dad was the best player.
Speaker 4: I'm telling you not because this year he was the
Speaker 4: best player. We had. Larry Bittner, Mike Hargrove, Toby Harri
Speaker 4: was the heck of a player. But these guys. Nowadays
Speaker 4: you can't do it. They won't let you do it
Speaker 4: because you're afraid to get hurt. But if we had
Speaker 4: so much fun doing it. The Texas Rangers are coming
Speaker 4: to Mansfield, Texas. The gym was packed. They give autographs,
Speaker 4: blah blah blah. And I told him, I said, look,
Speaker 4: you guys make the money for your booster club. You
Speaker 4: give each one of them back. Now, this is back
Speaker 4: in the eighties. Give each one of my player hundred bucks.
Speaker 4: They were all in every night. They were calling me, Hey, Rich,
Speaker 4: we've got a game of night. Hey Rich, we've got
Speaker 4: a game of night. I think we scheduled eighty two games.
Speaker 4: We played, more than the NBA. It was unbelievable. It
Speaker 4: was so much fun.
Speaker 1: All right, Rich, again, we could be here all day.
Speaker 1: Let's just finish though. We had so much fun today, Rich,
Speaker 1: isn't baseball supposed to be fun? Isn't it the fun
Speaker 1: that has carried you from your playing days through cussing
Speaker 1: out Ted Williams managing at twenty four and all the
Speaker 1: VP threw.
Speaker 4: Wasn't it all about the fun? People don't understand it.
Speaker 4: You have to do it, and you have to have
Speaker 4: fun in baseball because there's so much downtime. You're in
Speaker 4: the dugout, you're in the clubhouse, you're always talking. And
Speaker 4: I can't believe any other sport. Basketball's fast movements over
Speaker 4: games over, Football's rough, bang bang bang games over, and
Speaker 4: you're playing once a week. Baseball you're playing every day.
Speaker 4: You're with the same bunch. You're with like when you
Speaker 4: were there with Randy Galloway and all the guy You're
Speaker 4: with the same group for two hundred days, probably fifteen
Speaker 4: hours a day. They become your family. You do practical jokes.
Speaker 4: We used to do practical jokes on a road. We
Speaker 4: cut guy's pants on getaway. Dacily ain't got no pants.
Speaker 4: I mean, you don't hear about that stuff. Baseball. The
Speaker 4: funniest characters of all time were in baseball, and we
Speaker 4: were lucky enough to have most of them on our
Speaker 4: team or on the opposing teams. From Doug Raider to
Speaker 4: Mickey Rivers to Billy Martin. Forever you could there were characters.
Speaker 4: They don't have as many anymore. I don't think tim
Speaker 4: and probably never will.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a shame, but Rich, we're so happy to
Speaker 1: have you on today, especially with the homebrun Derby coming up, Jeff,
Speaker 1: how about my friend rich Dolly. I told you he's
Speaker 1: the greatest storyteller ever. It's so good.
Speaker 2: Absolutely well.
Speaker 4: I enjoyed it. I love telling the stories to you, guys.
Speaker 4: I like especially Jeff with your dad, because he was
Speaker 4: there for all these so called lies. I tell Reno.
Speaker 4: Reno is the winningest coach in the state of Ohio.
Speaker 4: And he said just about me, he says, Rich, never
Speaker 4: lets al, never lets lets a lie get in the
Speaker 4: way of a good story. They're not lies. It happened.
Speaker 4: It happened.
Speaker 1: It happened, and you're right, and I was there for
Speaker 1: a bunch of them. Rich. Well, we will see you soon.
Speaker 1: But thank you so much for enjoying it.
Speaker 4: Guys, I enjoyed it. Thank you.