The Strange But Accurate Comparison of Steve Kerr and David Eckstein

All-Star selections are in! Plus, we announce a huge event benefiting an incredible father of three who has been diagnosed with ALS. And what do David Eckstein and Steve Kerr have in common? Find out on today's episode.

The NL Cy Young race is shaping up to be a lot of fun, but we also take time to celebrate an American League reliever who just broke a major record. Dansby Swanson leaves us baffled, and Dalton Rushing and Bobby Valentine are now kindred spirits.

The Cubs accomplished something that hasn't happened since 1894—yes, 1894. Only in baseball! On This Date in Baseball History, we revisit the famous umpire ejection league that Tim Kurkjian was part of during his ESPN days.

Then we spin the Wheel of Kurkjian as Tim riffs on every category. Team Tim also previews tomorrow's guest, PGA Tour golfer Will Zalatoris. We loved having him on, so be sure to subscribe or follow the podcast so you don't miss the episode.

We wrap things up with Mike Schur, the newly appointed commissioner of the podcast, who weighs in on what it really means to be over—or under—.500.

Thanks for listening! For details about Tim and Jeff's fundraiser event benefiting ALS, visit souljoels.com/shop/tickets/anightwithtimkurkjian/. We hope to see you there. Thanks for listening or watching, and thank you for being part of our family!

Use our code for 10% off your next order of MLB tickets on SeatGeek*: seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TERRITORY10 Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount

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Speaker 1: And welcome back to another edition of Is this a

Speaker 1: Great Game or What? With the Hall of Famer Tim Kirkchen.

Speaker 1: I'm his son, Jeff Kirkchhin. Dad, we just had July

Speaker 1: the fourth Independence Day, two hundred and fiftieth birthday of

Speaker 1: our country. That was yesterday. We're recording on July fifth

Speaker 1: for your Monday morning after a holiday weekend. So I

Speaker 1: know it's a slow Monday morning for those listening this morning.

Speaker 2: But what a great holiday it was.

Speaker 3: Dad, it was. We came to Lake Burton in outside

Speaker 3: of Atlanta. We saw fireworks. We did not do water

Speaker 3: skiing as opposed to snow skiing, which we've established is redundant.

Speaker 3: We had a great time. It was so much fun,

Speaker 3: and it was great baseball all weekend. A quick shout

Speaker 3: out to a couple guys. Hutch from Vegas who's always

Speaker 3: chiming in. Guy, he's got some good So he mentioned

Speaker 3: in the Freedom two fifty that the Dodgers on July

Speaker 3: the fourth started Freddie Freeman and Alex Freeland on Freedom

Speaker 3: two fifty day. That's that's pretty good, right, Jeff. That's

Speaker 3: Freddy Freeman. Yeah, Freeman and free Land starting for the Dodgers.

Speaker 1: Pretty good, right, that's pretty cool. Yeah, that's a great

Speaker 1: job lineup right.

Speaker 3: That was good for Hutch And you know last week,

Speaker 3: of course, we gave you the all to fifty team.

Speaker 3: Bo Jackson was a two fifty hitter. Eric Kratz weighs

Speaker 3: two hundred and fifty pounds. Everyone on the team, Tim

Speaker 3: was a two fifty. But Steve Sparks, who just continues

Speaker 3: to amaze us. Steve Sparks sent me this note the

Speaker 3: other day that the combined home runs of Red Chandeas,

Speaker 3: Frank White and Vita Blue is two hundred and fifty Red, White,

Speaker 3: White and Blue Blue. Ah, Jeff, Steve said, are really clever.

Speaker 3: That is really clever. I wish I could come up

Speaker 3: with things like that. But good for Steve Sparks to

Speaker 3: always adding to the show because he's always texting me

Speaker 3: some ridiculous thing that is so fun and so good.

Speaker 3: It's so great.

Speaker 2: That is amazing.

Speaker 1: Well, Steve Sparks, when he joined our show, he asked,

Speaker 1: does this make me a seam head?

Speaker 2: And we said absolutely with.

Speaker 1: All the statuere sharing, of course, seamhead incredible, right.

Speaker 3: All right, Jeff, But as we look forward, who is

Speaker 3: our guest tomorrow, explain, Well.

Speaker 1: Tomorrow, we're really excited we have Will Xalatoris, who is

Speaker 1: a PGA Tour golfer and a great one at that.

Speaker 1: And Dad, I have to say, we did not know

Speaker 1: Will personally before having him on the show, but I

Speaker 1: saw him liking and commenting on a lot of our Instagram.

Speaker 2: Posts and videos and all of that stuff.

Speaker 1: You can follow us at great Game or what for

Speaker 1: all these great videos that we post from the podcast,

Speaker 1: And I thought to myself, he really knows what he's

Speaker 1: talking about. He likes a lot of stuff he's commenting.

Speaker 1: So I, as the kids say, slid into his DMS

Speaker 1: and said you want to come join the show. And

Speaker 1: the first thing he wrote back was I have a

Speaker 1: Tim Kirkchin story to share.

Speaker 2: I said, all right, let's do it. And he was hilarious.

Speaker 1: We did an hour with him. Dad could have done

Speaker 1: four hours with him. He was so fascinating And everybody'll

Speaker 1: get to hear it tomorrow.

Speaker 3: This is really cool, right And as a tribute to

Speaker 3: Will zalatorus the team Tim this week, Will kind of

Speaker 3: combine baseball and golf because Will loves baseball. He was

Speaker 3: a dorm mate of Gavin sheetsible now with the Padres,

Speaker 3: and he told some great baseball stories and some great

Speaker 3: golf stories. So that will be tea team tim this week.

Speaker 3: And we also have Jeff. We've got the commissioner of

Speaker 3: Is this a great game or what? Mike Sure, Yes, Jeff,

Speaker 3: I'm still amused he's got He's like he's one of

Speaker 3: the great comedy writers of all time and he enjoys

Speaker 3: being the commissioner of our stupid little podcast. Do you

Speaker 3: find this funny or not?

Speaker 1: I find it extremely flattering that, on top of creating

Speaker 1: some of the best comedy in the twenty first century,

Speaker 1: shows that will live on forever, forever, he is deciding

Speaker 1: to take the time for our podcast. But the thing

Speaker 1: I love the most is he has made baseball, like

Speaker 1: he says, his whole life. But it for him, it's

Speaker 1: still just a hobby, right, even though it's so much

Speaker 1: of his life. He doesn't work in the game, he

Speaker 1: doesn't cover the game.

Speaker 2: He just loves the game.

Speaker 1: So he has some words that he wants to chime in.

Speaker 1: We have a voice note from him that will play

Speaker 1: kind of to wrap up today's show, So make sure

Speaker 1: you stick around for Mike Shore's big moment.

Speaker 3: Right, and you will be able to chime in on

Speaker 3: this because the question came from avid reader Brian Sweeney,

Speaker 3: who wrote in a pet peeve, I have many pet peeves,

Speaker 3: pananic a little twit that I am, and Brian Sweeney says,

Speaker 3: being fourteen and ten is not four games over five hundred,

Speaker 3: it's two games over five hundred, because five hundred is

Speaker 3: actually twelve and twelve compared to fourteen and ten. Did

Speaker 3: I explain that properly, Jeff?

Speaker 1: Yeah, he's factoring in that you've played twenty four games,

Speaker 1: so if you were five hundred, you would.

Speaker 2: Be twelve and twelve.

Speaker 1: So we went to you know, we're going to dive

Speaker 1: into this, you and I and get the ruling from

Speaker 1: the commissioner of is this a great game or what?

Speaker 2: Mike Sure at the end of the show.

Speaker 1: So I'm really looking forward to debating this with you, Dad,

Speaker 1: because I don't even know where you stand on it,

Speaker 1: so I'm a bit curious as to where you will

Speaker 1: land yourself.

Speaker 3: We've heard the voicemail Jeff and how he what he

Speaker 3: compares to five hundred record fourteen and ten is just

Speaker 3: absolutely priceless classic. Mike Sure, So stick around for the

Speaker 3: end of the episode to hear the commissioner make a

Speaker 3: ruling on whether fourteen and ten is four games over

Speaker 3: five hundred or two games over five And what's our final.

Speaker 1: Thing, Jeff, Yeah, before we jump into the takeaways, I

Speaker 1: have a quick, very exciting live event announcement for members

Speaker 1: of the family, for people who listen to is this

Speaker 1: a great game or what? This is a really awesome

Speaker 1: thing we have a chance to do. So, you know,

Speaker 1: I live in the Philadelphia area, so in Pottstown, Pennsylvania,

Speaker 1: in Montgomery County, PA, about an hour or so forty

Speaker 1: five minutes outside Philadelphia. My dad and I are going

Speaker 1: to be doing a fireside chat on August twenty second,

Speaker 1: two pm at the Sunnybrook Ballroom in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Now

Speaker 1: why are we doing this? Well, as you know, our

Speaker 1: family unfortunately was touched with als. My uncle Matt was

Speaker 1: diagnosed and ultimately passed away in twenty twenty three, my

Speaker 1: dad's brother, best friend in the whole wide world, and

Speaker 1: we dedicated ourselves to this cause. I mean since the

Speaker 1: day he was diagnosed, since before then. Dad being involved

Speaker 1: in baseball, and there is a young dad, Michael Brown,

Speaker 1: who has ALS. He lives in our area. Dad, you

Speaker 1: have become friends with him through the Phillies over the

Speaker 1: last couple of years.

Speaker 2: He has young children. He is an inspiration.

Speaker 1: He's former secret Service, he's a former college baseball player.

Speaker 2: An incredible guy, right, Dad.

Speaker 3: He's great. And we're going to try to raise some

Speaker 3: money and of course we're going to try to raise

Speaker 3: some awareness for ALS. And you and I are going

Speaker 3: to talk and we're going to talk about baseball. It's

Speaker 3: going to be like it's going to be like doing

Speaker 3: the podcast, only we're going to be doing in front

Speaker 3: of people. But we're going to open it up to

Speaker 3: questions the audience, which is my fa favorite part of

Speaker 3: do these things similar things all the time. The questions

Speaker 3: we get from people are just great. So this is

Speaker 3: a tremendous cause and something that our family is all

Speaker 3: in on, given that we lost Uncle Matt three years

Speaker 3: ago to ALS.

Speaker 1: So I'm gonna put the link on our website, Great

Speaker 1: gameer what dot com. But the easiest way to get

Speaker 1: it it's gonna be in the description whether you're watching

Speaker 1: or listening to this episode, So make sure to go

Speaker 1: down now again. August twenty second, two pm at the

Speaker 1: historic sunny Brook Ballroom. All of the money, all the

Speaker 1: proceeds are going to go to Mike Brown and his family.

Speaker 2: This means a whole lot to us.

Speaker 1: If you live in the area or if you're looking

Speaker 1: for a little day trip to Pennsylvania, it would mean

Speaker 1: so so much to us, to their family. We're just

Speaker 1: trying to do something good for a young man and

Speaker 1: his family. So again, August twenty second, two pm, I'm

Speaker 1: gonna put the ticketing information below. All the proceeds go

Speaker 1: directly to Michael Brown. I hope and pray that you

Speaker 1: can join us, and if you want more information, maybe

Speaker 1: you are not close to Pennsylvania. I'm going to try

Speaker 1: to work on a way Dad, to get it up

Speaker 1: online and add a donation link too, so if people

Speaker 1: aren't able to see it, maybe they can watch it

Speaker 1: and say, hey, I'd love to just give some money

Speaker 1: anyway to get back. That's if we can say we

Speaker 1: did one thing with this podcast, Dad, it's it's raising

Speaker 1: awareness for ALS. We've done so much, so many fun things,

Speaker 1: talking baseball, having a good time. But a big part

Speaker 1: of our mission here at is this a great game

Speaker 1: or what is to put als on the forefront so

Speaker 1: we can continue to get research and find a cure

Speaker 1: for this terrible disease. So again information in the description. Hey,

Speaker 1: it's Jeff Kirkchin. Let me tell you you've got to go

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Speaker 1: go to the takeaways, Dad, what do you have?

Speaker 3: Okay, Jeff, we just had the All Star selections and

Speaker 3: I think it's great. I'm not going to get into

Speaker 3: all the snubs who should be there, who shouldn't be there.

Speaker 3: That's what We're just not going to do that, Jeff. Look,

Speaker 3: the fans are in charge of this. For the most part.

Speaker 3: The fans did a really good job on this, and

Speaker 3: we leave the fans out of too many equations in baseball,

Speaker 3: and I thought overall they did a pretty good job. Look,

Speaker 3: Bryce Terrang and the Brewers should be on the All

Speaker 3: Star team, and he probably will be when guys have

Speaker 3: to pull out. Sonny Gray, Justin Robleski, those guys deserve

Speaker 3: to be on the All Star Game, in the All

Speaker 3: Star Game, and they probably will when guys get to

Speaker 3: pull out. But I'm just not going to make a

Speaker 3: big deal out of this, like, how could they do

Speaker 3: such a bad job? They didn't. These are the fans.

Speaker 3: They care they love it, and I think it's great

Speaker 3: for baseball. Am I right about this job?

Speaker 1: Well, I think the fans take a lot of heat Dad,

Speaker 1: and I completely agree with you, though, What is the

Speaker 1: All Star Game if it isn't for the fans?

Speaker 4: Right?

Speaker 1: And yeah, sure, sometimes they make some popularity calls, but

Speaker 1: ultimately it's for the fans and that's why we're doing this.

Speaker 1: So I'm excited for an All Star Game. I'm ready

Speaker 1: for some fun. And you know, I love to see

Speaker 1: the amount of first timers. That always makes me happy.

Speaker 1: That's so exciting when you get to put on that

Speaker 1: All Star uniform and see those guys light up on

Speaker 1: the field playing alongside some of the greats of the game.

Speaker 3: Really cool, right, absolutely, And later in the show, I

Speaker 3: will tell you a first timer story that I've told before,

Speaker 3: but it's one of my favorites. The guys who go

Speaker 3: to the All Star Game for the first time. The

Speaker 3: look on their face. Jeff, Again, I've covered every All

Speaker 3: Star Game since nineteen eighty one, and that is always

Speaker 3: my favorite part of the All Star Game is the

Speaker 3: look on the faces of the guys who are there

Speaker 3: for the first time. It is just unforgettable. Okay, Second thing, Jeff,

Speaker 3: we're talking about the National League cy Young race, which

Speaker 3: we have been all year, and I find that the

Speaker 3: definition of a great race is not that two guys

Speaker 3: are right there at the end and they're so close

Speaker 3: it's almost a tie. To me, a really great race

Speaker 3: is when a bunch of guys get a first place

Speaker 3: vote for MVP whatever, in this case, for the cy

Speaker 3: Young Award. With the way Jacob Miserowski is throwing, he's

Speaker 3: let's say, he's the clear leader to me for the

Speaker 3: cy Young in the National League, but things can change,

Speaker 3: and who knows how many guys might end up getting

Speaker 3: a first place vote. So in twenty twelve, that was

Speaker 3: the last time that five pitchers got at least one

Speaker 3: first place vote for the cy Young ri A Dickey,

Speaker 3: Clayton Kershaw, Gio Gonzalez, Johnny Quato, and Craig Kimbrel. So

Speaker 3: that to me tells you the strength of the cy

Speaker 3: Young that year, and that's where we might be headed

Speaker 3: this year, unless, of course, Misselerowski just goes crazy and

Speaker 3: pitches this way the rest of the year, he's going

Speaker 3: to win the award.

Speaker 2: You agree with that, well, he just is so fun

Speaker 2: to watch too.

Speaker 1: It's just absurd what he's able to do on the

Speaker 1: mound for that many pitches, that consistently and that hard.

Speaker 1: But I really do want to see a race towards

Speaker 1: the end at I'm with you. I could see five

Speaker 1: first place votes for five different pictures, and I hope

Speaker 1: it stays that way. I want a healthy five. I

Speaker 1: want all these pitchers to stay healthy. Nothing's worse than

Speaker 1: an injury down the stretch that takes somebody out.

Speaker 2: I want to race to the very end, right And speaking.

Speaker 3: Of great pitching, Bryce Miller of the Mariners is on

Speaker 3: quite a tear here. Last four starts, jef no walks,

Speaker 3: thirty three strikeouts. I mean, that is ridiculous. In eight

Speaker 3: starts this year he has five walks and fifty eight strikeouts.

Speaker 3: And he's just one of the you know, Logan Gilbert

Speaker 3: of the Marritors is having a great year, his best year,

Speaker 3: a breakthrough season, and with everyone else, George Kirby and

Speaker 3: Brian wu and you know Luis Castillo. The Maritors haven't

Speaker 3: gotten going yet. We know that they haven't scored very

Speaker 3: many runs, but boy, when you look at their pitching,

Speaker 3: of what Bryce Miller has done here lately. Watch out

Speaker 3: for the Mariners if they think they will, because they're

Speaker 3: going to be able to pitch with anyone, especially out

Speaker 3: of the rotation. Speaking of hitters, Junior Cameronaro, who we

Speaker 3: highlighted last week, eleven homers now in his last eleven games.

Speaker 3: Last player to have eleven homers in an eleven games

Speaker 3: fan was Kyle Schwarber in twenty twenty one. And this

Speaker 3: kid is just tearing it up, and so are the Rays.

Speaker 3: As the Yankees stumble here a little bit, the Rays

Speaker 3: have picked it up again, and you look at them

Speaker 3: and say, well, why can't they win the division? Why

Speaker 3: can't they be the best team in the American League

Speaker 3: heading into October? That's certainly a possibility with the way

Speaker 3: Tampa Bay plays the game.

Speaker 2: They've played very consistently.

Speaker 1: And I mean I'm not a betting man, but the Orioles,

Speaker 1: the Red Sox, I did not expect the Blue Jays.

Speaker 1: I mean, I definitely saw the Al East looking a

Speaker 1: lot different than it does right now, and never had

Speaker 1: I never had the raise at the top. This is

Speaker 1: very exciting to see that team performing well.

Speaker 3: All right, and back to great pitching it Roldis Chapman

Speaker 3: now has more strikeouts as a relief pitcher than anyone

Speaker 3: in the history of the game. He just passed Hoit

Speaker 3: Wilhelm on that list. Paul Richards, the great Paul Richards

Speaker 3: from a million years ago, player manager, general manager told

Speaker 3: me once the greatest single pitch in Major League history

Speaker 3: was Hoit Wilhelm's knuckleball, because nobody could hit it, nobody

Speaker 3: could catch it, the umpires couldn't call it when he

Speaker 3: had this really good one. Paul Richards. Now again, Paul

Speaker 3: Richards told me this forty five years ago, and that

Speaker 3: leaves out a lot of I'm just saying that forty

Speaker 3: five years ago. That's what Paul Richards told me. If

Speaker 3: you remember the White Wilhelm story, I told you it's terrible.

Speaker 3: But I'm going to tell you again real quickly. I

Speaker 3: was doing a story on knuckleballers, and you can't write

Speaker 3: a story I was writing for Sports Illustrated. You can't

Speaker 3: write a story about knuckleballers without calling Hoite Wilhelm. So

Speaker 3: Hoite Wilhelm says to me, call me at seven o'clock tonight.

Speaker 3: So I call him at seven o'clock, no answer. I

Speaker 3: call him at seven fifteen, no answer. I call him

Speaker 3: every fifteen minutes until ten o'clock at night, and now

Speaker 3: I don't know what to do, so at ten o'clock, Jeff,

Speaker 3: finally I get through to wit Wilhelm at ten fifteen,

Speaker 3: and I wake him up and he is furious that

Speaker 3: I woke him up. He's screaming at me. I told

Speaker 3: you to call me at seven o'clock, and I said,

Speaker 3: oh wait, I'm sorry. I called you fifty times and

Speaker 3: nobody answered the phone, so I thought you were out

Speaker 3: or whatever. So I ended up talking to him. But

Speaker 3: then I called the hotel and said, what happened here?

Speaker 3: I just called this man twenty times between seven o'clock

Speaker 3: and ten fifteen, and the lady said, oh, I'm sorry, sir.

Speaker 3: There are two Hoit Wilhelms in the hotel tonight and

Speaker 3: we were ringing the other room. Are you kidding met, Jeff?

Speaker 3: Two hot Wilhelms. You've got to be kidding me.

Speaker 1: I would have sworn I'd put money down that he

Speaker 1: was a double unique, honest to god, and there was

Speaker 1: two at the same hotel.

Speaker 3: Crazy, right, that's just just ridiculous. All right? Last thing

Speaker 3: on the takeaways, Jeff, I always get a kick out

Speaker 3: of this. The Nationals played a game at eleven oh

Speaker 3: five the other day am because of the fireworks and

Speaker 3: everything else. And once a year the Red Sox played

Speaker 3: Patriots Day at eleven in the morning. So do you

Speaker 3: remember the story what I told you about Dustin Pedroia,

Speaker 3: how prepared he is that he had to get to

Speaker 3: the ballpark. How many hours before the game started? How

Speaker 3: many hours?

Speaker 2: Wasn't it like seven?

Speaker 3: Eight, eight hours? So if it's a seven o'clock game,

Speaker 3: he would be at the ballpark at eleven o'clock in

Speaker 3: the morning. So on Patriots Day he used to alert

Speaker 3: the clubhouse kids, Okay, game starts at eleven tomorrow. I'll

Speaker 3: be here at three o'clock in the morning, and you

Speaker 3: guys better be here to let me in because I

Speaker 3: will be here at three o'clock in the morning. And

Speaker 3: Dan Defe didn't show up at three o'clock in the

Speaker 3: morning because creature of habit. Dustin Pedrouita, the most prepared

Speaker 3: man in the world, had to be there eight hours

Speaker 3: before the game. Is that insane or what I mean?

Speaker 1: When you hustle and work as hard as he did,

Speaker 1: you know he and he said this, So I'm not

Speaker 1: I don't think I'm acting out of you know, assumptions here.

Speaker 1: He always said, I wasn't the biggest, I wasn't the strongest,

Speaker 1: but I needed to work harder than everybody else in

Speaker 1: order to make it where I made it. And he

Speaker 1: held that throughout his career, and despite a lot of injuries,

Speaker 1: he's an MVP, he's a World Series winner, he's a

Speaker 1: borderline Hall of Famer.

Speaker 2: But uh, yeah, I mean.

Speaker 1: That work ethic is so important, so so important.

Speaker 2: And Dustin Pedroia, well, name another player, Dad, name another guy.

Speaker 1: I'm gonna put you a little little quiz here that

Speaker 1: you think I'm gonna say this respectfully, Like, wouldn't have

Speaker 1: been a Major leaguer had they not had the work

Speaker 1: ethic that they put in, Because there are certain guys

Speaker 1: obviously that are just show gifted. That not that it

Speaker 1: was handed to them. They still got to work hard,

Speaker 1: but maybe that had they not had that kind of

Speaker 1: work ethic, they wouldn't have been playing in the Big league.

Speaker 3: Yeah, Like David Eckstein is one of those guys. He

Speaker 3: won a World Series for two different teams playing shortstop.

Speaker 3: He's a little bit taller than you, Jeff, but he

Speaker 3: just cared more than everyone else. He tried harder than

Speaker 3: everyone else, and he made a career at himself. They

Speaker 3: used to joke that he used to sleep with his

Speaker 3: uniform underneath his clothes and ah that yeah, but that

Speaker 3: that is not being That is a compliment to David

Speaker 3: Eckstein because he wasn't the strongest, fastest. He was a

Speaker 3: little guy, but he tried harder than everyone else and

Speaker 3: that's why he was such a good player. And he

Speaker 3: won the MVP of the World Series one year, Jeff

Speaker 3: and he was his teammate was Albert Pooholes. That's impossible.

Speaker 3: Can happen in basketball? That would be like Steve Kerr,

Speaker 3: who is a great shooter. Please don't get me wrong

Speaker 3: on this great shooter, but Steve Kerr cannot be the

Speaker 3: MVP of the NBA Finals ahead of Michael Jordan. It

Speaker 3: just can't happen. Agree, But it can happen to baseball absolutely.

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Speaker 2: All right, dad, let's jump into the quart jins. What

Speaker 2: do you have?

Speaker 3: Okay, you're speaking of July the fourth. Youre Don Alvarez

Speaker 3: of the Astros, who's on a tear again hit a

Speaker 3: walkoff homer on July the fourth. So he's the second player.

Speaker 3: I mean, he's the only player ever to hit two

Speaker 3: home runs on July the fourth. He did it on

Speaker 3: July the fourth twenty twenty two, and then he did

Speaker 3: one in twenty twenty six. So he has two walkoff

Speaker 3: homers in his career and they're both on July the fourth.

Speaker 3: Is that is that great?

Speaker 6: Or what?

Speaker 1: That is the most? That is so crazy to believe.

Speaker 1: I don't even think it's real.

Speaker 2: It's absurd. July the fourth is his stay. Pinch hit him,

Speaker 2: Let's go, it's his stay.

Speaker 3: To hit right. I love it, Okay. Dalton Rushing of

Speaker 3: the Dodgers went four for four out of the number

Speaker 3: eight spot the other day. He's the first I've found

Speaker 3: this interesting. First Dodger since Bobby Valentine in nineteen seventy

Speaker 3: one to go four for four out of the eighth

Speaker 3: spot for the Dodgers. And let's see, let's see if

Speaker 3: you can remember Bobby Valentine's story about his manager, Walter Alston.

Speaker 3: Walter Alston, let's be clear, is a Hall of Fame manager,

Speaker 3: one of the best managers of all time, and he

Speaker 3: worked on a one year contract for his entire career

Speaker 3: and when he was done, he said, you know, it's

Speaker 3: time for me to go. So remember the story that

Speaker 3: Bobby told us about Walter Alston when Bobby made the

Speaker 3: team for the first time. You remember, so you.

Speaker 2: His name, about what he has called? Yes, I do remember.

Speaker 3: You got to tell you, Jeff. They had the welcome

Speaker 3: home luncheon for the Dodgers one year and Walter Alston

Speaker 3: gets up and introduces, this is our team. Names all

Speaker 3: the players. You know, here's Steve Garvey whatever.

Speaker 1: And aren't all the families invited to So this is

Speaker 1: like the families of the new players are there.

Speaker 3: Right, It's a big deal. So Walter Alson called him

Speaker 3: Billy Valentine has made the team, Billy Valentine. And then

Speaker 3: Bobby told me that later on that year, his parents,

Speaker 3: Bobby's parents come to see him play in a road

Speaker 3: game and they're in the elevator with Walter Alston. It's

Speaker 3: mister and missus Valentine, Bobby Valentine and Walter Alston. And

Speaker 3: Walter looks at mister and missus Valentine it says, your son,

Speaker 3: Billy is doing a really good job this year. They

Speaker 3: were standing right there. Oh God, Fortunatelyobby Valdi, who has

Speaker 3: such a great sense of humor, is able to laugh

Speaker 3: all the way through that. And you need a good,

Speaker 3: good sense of humor to play this game, all right.

Speaker 3: The Maritors played their seven thousand, eight hundred and fifty

Speaker 3: second game the other day, and for the first time

Speaker 3: in the history of the franchise, they won a game

Speaker 3: one to nothing on a basis loaded walk. I mean,

Speaker 3: you don't see too many walk off bases loaded walks,

Speaker 3: but interestingly, there have been five of them in the

Speaker 3: last two years, five and in the previous ten years

Speaker 3: there were zero, So I don't know what that means.

Speaker 3: I'm sure it's just a statistical anomaly. But for the

Speaker 3: first time in the history of the Mariners they won

Speaker 3: a game one to nothing on a walk off walk.

Speaker 3: Do you like that?

Speaker 2: I love that. First time, first time for everything.

Speaker 3: Yeah, pretty cool, first time for everything. We had Jordan

Speaker 3: Wisi not the first time, but on the same day

Speaker 3: the other day, Jordan Wicks of the Cubs got a

Speaker 3: save in a game in which his team won twenty

Speaker 3: three to three. So his team won by two runs

Speaker 3: and he got the save. That's the twenty second time

Speaker 3: in Major League history. Well this is since nineteen sixty

Speaker 3: nine that a player got a save and when his

Speaker 3: team scored at least twenty runs in the game. And

Speaker 3: it's happened one other time this year, so it's not

Speaker 3: as odd as it seems to be. Of course, Famously,

Speaker 3: you know, Wes Lyttleton got a save in that game

Speaker 3: when the Rangers beat the Orioles thirty to three, And.

Speaker 1: If you were at your home office right now, you'd

Speaker 1: have a box office or a box score of it

Speaker 1: in your office.

Speaker 2: You have it, and it's huge. It's huge, it's.

Speaker 3: Mass it's huge, it's great. Yeah. Right. And on the

Speaker 3: same day, Jeff Patrick Corban got a five inning save.

Speaker 3: So that's the fifth pitcher in the wildcard eras that's

Speaker 3: mid nineties on to get a five inning saved. So

Speaker 3: in the same day we had a guy who got

Speaker 3: a save in a game that his team won by

Speaker 3: twenty runs, and another guy had a five save. All right, Jeff.

Speaker 3: The Cubs were all over it this week, you know,

Speaker 3: we saw that. You know, they won a game by

Speaker 3: fifteen runs. Oh well, they won by twenty runs. But

Speaker 3: the next game they lost to the Cardinals by fifteen runs.

Speaker 3: So they became the second team ever Jeff to win

Speaker 3: a game by fifteen runs and then the next game

Speaker 3: they lost a game by fifteen or more runs. And

Speaker 3: the last time that happened the Boston bean Eaters over

Speaker 3: the Chicago Colts in ninety four, and Jeff, that is.

Speaker 2: Eighteen ninety four.

Speaker 3: Wow, it's just so good. And as we know, Dance

Speaker 3: by Swanson went absolutely crazy. It's three homers knocked in

Speaker 3: eight runs out of the number nine spot. I did

Speaker 3: not look this up myself, but I saw on the

Speaker 3: MLB network that Tony Klooninger, a pitcher, is the only

Speaker 3: player to drive in nine or more runs in the

Speaker 3: ninth spot in a game. So the only guy who

Speaker 3: did had more RBIs in one game hitting ninth than

Speaker 3: Dance by Swanson was Tony Kloaninger, who hit two Grand

Speaker 3: slams in one game in nineteen sixty six. And I repeat,

Speaker 3: he's a pitcher. Pretty cool, huh, pretty neat?

Speaker 1: Yeah, that's incredible Dancy danceby Swanson just in general, that

Speaker 1: game was insane to watch just then, and.

Speaker 2: His last was so hard. Oh go ahead.

Speaker 3: Yeah. His last homer, of course was against a position player,

Speaker 3: which people want to say that really doesn't count. Yes,

Speaker 3: it counts he had a home run in a major

Speaker 3: league game. I don't care if you were pitching, Jeff.

Speaker 3: A homer is a homer, and Swanson, by the way,

Speaker 3: Jeff drove in twenty six runs in a ten game span.

Speaker 3: The only other players in the history of baseball to

Speaker 3: have twenty six RBIs in any ten gamespan. Where Luke Garritt,

Speaker 3: Joe DiMaggio, Jimmy Foxx Mel Ott, and Dansby Swanson. Now, look,

Speaker 3: he's a good player, Jeff, but those are four Hall

Speaker 3: of Famer fam four of the best hitters of all time,

Speaker 3: and dance By Swanson join that list. I tell you

Speaker 3: all the time, Jeff, these lists can only happen in

Speaker 3: baseball because the basketball list always include Lebron, James, Michael Jordan,

Speaker 3: wil Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and you just don't have

Speaker 3: some outlier on that list. It just can't happen. But

Speaker 3: in baseball it does all the time. You agree. You

Speaker 3: love that part, right, I.

Speaker 2: Love that part. That's what makes baseball so unique and

Speaker 2: so different.

Speaker 1: And I love talking when you talk to major leaguers,

Speaker 1: former major leaguers, but who basically had a cup of tea,

Speaker 1: and they're like, well, guess what I can say is

Speaker 1: a part of my record. I think of so many

Speaker 1: of our guests that are that way. All right, Dad,

Speaker 1: on this state in baseball history, what do you have?

Speaker 3: All Right? Not as many this week as usual, But

Speaker 3: on July sixth, nineteen eighty three, fred Linn hit a

Speaker 3: Grand Slam off Attlee Hammerker of the Giants, and the

Speaker 3: American League won the All Star Game. It is still

Speaker 3: the only Grand Slam in the history of the All

Speaker 3: Star Game? Does that, Jeff? We've been playing nineteen thirty three,

Speaker 3: so we're you know, there aren't that many games, even

Speaker 3: though it's nineteen thirty three, but only one Grand Slam.

Speaker 3: That still surprises me, right.

Speaker 2: It's shocking.

Speaker 1: And Dad, remember they used to play two All Star

Speaker 1: Games back in the day, right, So that's I mean, yeah,

Speaker 1: you think nineteen thirty three, okay, almost one hundred games,

Speaker 1: but I mean it's more than one hundred games because there.

Speaker 2: Was two for quite a few years.

Speaker 1: So when you look at like Willie Mays, how many

Speaker 1: All Stars did he make? Listen, he's a Hall of Famer,

Speaker 1: one of the greatest players to do it, but he

Speaker 1: played in two All Star Games multiple years. That's why

Speaker 1: he's so many All Star selections, right.

Speaker 3: We love that. I'll never forget watching Fred Linn run

Speaker 3: around the basis, Jeff pumping his right arm that he

Speaker 3: had hit a Grand Slam. And again, I just love

Speaker 3: it that the game used to matter more than it

Speaker 3: does today. I love the All Star Game. I'm not

Speaker 3: missing it. It's a tremendous celebration of baseball. But just

Speaker 3: another reminder. In nineteen eighty three, guys really cared whether

Speaker 3: they won or lost the All Star Game. Not quite

Speaker 3: that way these days. And frankly, I'm okay with it.

Speaker 3: It's an exhibition game and that's it, all right, Jeff.

Speaker 3: On this date in nineteen eighty six, Bob Horner hit

Speaker 3: four home runs in one game. You know, Bob Horner

Speaker 3: recently died, one of the best hitters. You know, went

Speaker 3: straight from Arizona State to the major league, spent no

Speaker 3: time in the minor leagues. Those short, strong arms could

Speaker 3: not beat him on the inside part of the plate,

Speaker 3: you know. Rip again to Bob Horner on this date

Speaker 3: in nineteen eighty six, four homers in one game, And

Speaker 3: Jeff on this date in nineteen ninety Whitey Herzog resigned

Speaker 3: as the manager of the Cardinals. Now, Whitey Herzog did

Speaker 3: some amazing things as the manager of the Cardinals, but

Speaker 3: it's a lesson here, Jeff is He later acknowledged that

Speaker 3: the players had just stopped listening to him and he

Speaker 3: couldn't get the best out of them anymore, and he

Speaker 3: was angry. He was just acknowledging that maybe I'm not

Speaker 3: right to do this anymore, because if the players aren't

Speaker 3: listening to me, then I can't do my job properly.

Speaker 3: So I thought it was a very honest appraisal by

Speaker 3: Whitey Herzog to say time for me to go because

Speaker 3: they're not listening to me anymore. And that happens, right,

Speaker 3: It happens now more than ever.

Speaker 1: Jeff Right, real tough pill to swallow, but it takes

Speaker 1: a real man and a real manager to recognize that

Speaker 1: incredible all.

Speaker 3: Right, last one, Jeff. On this date in nineteen forty two,

Speaker 3: dale Ford was born. Dale Ford is an umpire and

Speaker 3: a former umpire. And only I wouldn't say only I

Speaker 3: would have a dale Ford story. But as you know, Jeff,

Speaker 3: I play no fantasy leagues. Whatsoever, I can't do fantasy baseball.

Speaker 3: It takes too much time and I find it to

Speaker 3: be a conflict of interest. But for three years I

Speaker 3: was in an umpire ejection fantasy league at ESPN, that's right.

Speaker 3: And you were there, Jeff, for one of the drafts,

Speaker 3: do you remember. Yeah. And jud Birch, my dear friend

Speaker 3: who used to work at ESPN and the greatest umpire

Speaker 3: expert I've ever seen. It's scary how much jud Birch

Speaker 3: knows about umpire as well. He couldn't get in a

Speaker 3: baseball fantasy league because he loved the Phillies so much

Speaker 3: that he couldn't bear to draft anyone on his team

Speaker 3: who wasn't a member of the Phillies. And he couldn't

Speaker 3: root for anyone, couldn't root against anybody on another team

Speaker 3: if he's a Philly, because he loves the Phillies that much.

Speaker 3: So he put together the umpire Ejection Fantasy league. And

Speaker 3: I'm getting to the story here, Jeff. You've draft five

Speaker 3: umpires at the beginning of the season, and whoever has

Speaker 3: the most ejections at the end of the year, that's

Speaker 3: who wins. And Ed Vargo used to be a manager,

Speaker 3: so no one will ever get this, But my name

Speaker 3: for my team was fill thine horn with Oil and

Speaker 3: because right, because fill thine horn with oil and go

Speaker 3: is in the Bible. But since I'm not exactly a

Speaker 3: Bible expert, I changed the name to my team to

Speaker 3: fill thine Horn with Oil and Vargo. So I'm getting

Speaker 3: to the point, Jef. I was doing baseball tonight one

Speaker 3: night with Steve Berthune who was in the Umpire Fantasy

Speaker 3: Ejection League, and dale Ford was one of his umpires.

Speaker 3: And Bert, who was so funny. Now he does Diamondbacks games.

Speaker 3: He announces on the air, Dale Dale, whenever you're ready

Speaker 3: to throw somebody out of a game, please just just

Speaker 3: go ahead. I need your help. And that night, that night,

Speaker 3: dale Ford threw somebody out of a game. And because

Speaker 3: Steve berth you like, begged him to do it. So

Speaker 3: that's that's this date in baseball history. Jeff, We've got

Speaker 3: Fred Lend, Bob Horner, whiteyheir Zog, and an umpire dale Ford.

Speaker 1: All right, Dad, the wheel wheel off Kirkchin. All right,

Speaker 1: we're back with the wheel of Kirkchin. Your suggestions, great

Speaker 1: game or what dot com? We're gonna spin the wheel

Speaker 1: and whatever comes up. My dad's gonna have to riff

Speaker 1: off a story.

Speaker 2: Here we go baby delivery. Wow.

Speaker 1: So I remember this one came through the website when

Speaker 1: my wife had our son body and they were like,

Speaker 1: there has to be some good stories about that.

Speaker 3: Well, the best one was the nineteen ninety World Series.

Speaker 3: The Reds are playing the Oakland A's in the World

Speaker 3: Series and Tom Browning's wife Tom Brownie, really, the late

Speaker 3: Tom Brownie, What a great guy he was. His wife

Speaker 3: was pregnant and she was in Oakland for the World

Speaker 3: Series because the Reds were in Oakland for the World Series.

Speaker 3: So Tom Brownie is ready to go to the hospital

Speaker 3: as soon as his wife calls him and says, all right,

Speaker 3: let's go. So it's about halfway through a World Series

Speaker 3: game in Oakland and Tom Brownie gets the call I'm

Speaker 3: in the hospital, So he leaves the ballpark. He's a

Speaker 3: starting pitcher, okay, so he's not supposed to pitch that night.

Speaker 3: But as it turns out, the game gets really complicated

Speaker 3: and Lou Panella, the manager of the Reds, calls down

Speaker 3: to the bullpen I mean and says, you better get

Speaker 3: Browning ready. We might need him for extra innings and

Speaker 3: they had to tell Loup Panela Tom Browny's not here.

Speaker 3: He went to the hospital. His wife is having a baby.

Speaker 3: So Tom Brownie left the ballpark, took a cab. I

Speaker 3: think he took a cab to the hospital. He showed

Speaker 3: up in full uniform and was there for the birth

Speaker 3: of his child. Amazing, and he was right by. So

Speaker 3: I asked him like the next day, I said, Tom,

Speaker 3: did anyone say anything to you when you showed up

Speaker 3: in the hospital in full uniform? And he looks at me,

Speaker 3: he goes No one said anything. I think they just

Speaker 3: thought I was like a really big fan of risk.

Speaker 2: That's incredible.

Speaker 3: Yeah, so that actually happened during the nineteen ninety World Series.

Speaker 3: It wasn't exactly body Bell, but it works. Okay, here

Speaker 3: we go.

Speaker 2: Next one up, First time all Stars. Now, Dad, I'm

Speaker 2: gonna correct.

Speaker 1: You don't have to do it about this year's first

Speaker 1: time All Stars. You can do it about any first

Speaker 1: time All Star Stars.

Speaker 3: You have, right, And I just told you the beginning

Speaker 3: of the podcast, Jeff that first time all Stars are

Speaker 3: my favorite part of the All Star Game. And like

Speaker 3: I said, I've been to everyone since nineteen eighty one.

Speaker 3: The look on their face is absolutely priceless. So Jeff

Speaker 3: made the All Star team for the first time many

Speaker 3: years ago, and he was such a good hitter. So

Speaker 3: he's on the Brewers and he's going to the All

Speaker 3: Star Game and this is this is pre nine to eleven,

Speaker 3: pre you know, all this stuff. And he gets on

Speaker 3: an airplane and he is recognized by somebody on the

Speaker 3: airplane and the fellow says to him, aren't you Jeff Sirillo,

Speaker 3: And Jeff Sirilla goes, yeah, I'm Jeff. And Jeff Sorilla was,

Speaker 3: you know, kind of flattered, you know, Milwaukee, He's a

Speaker 3: young guy, not everybody knows him. He goes, yes, I'm

Speaker 3: Jeff Sirillo. And the fan on the airplane says, aren't you.

Speaker 3: Aren't you going to Cleveland for the All Star Game?

Speaker 3: And Jeff Sarrilla goes yes, and the guy, the fan

Speaker 3: on the plane said, well, this plane is going to

Speaker 3: New York. So he was on the wrong plane and

Speaker 3: he got off of the wrong plane and went to

Speaker 3: the right place in Cleveland. I told that story several times.

Speaker 3: Jeff Cirillo gets a kick out of it, and he should,

Speaker 3: because all you want to do is get there safely

Speaker 3: and everything else. So Jeff Cirillo made it really good

Speaker 3: hitter in his day, one of my favorite guys.

Speaker 1: All right, last one, third, final spin. Let's see what

Speaker 1: we got. Oh, ballparks, Dad ballparks.

Speaker 3: All right. So I shouldn't bring this up, but I

Speaker 3: did baseball tonight the other night and David Ross was

Speaker 3: in a discussion with Boot Shambi and Eduardo Perez about

Speaker 3: how many different ballparks that David Ross has played a

Speaker 3: game in, and the answer was like, he played a

Speaker 3: game in like thirty three or something different ballparks. And

Speaker 3: I shouldn't have done this, But when they came back

Speaker 3: to the studio and we did a highlight, I just

Speaker 3: I told ROSSI I said, oh, by the way, ROSSI,

Speaker 3: I have covered a game in fifty nine different ballparks,

Speaker 3: and sometimes, Jeff, I only covered in one game there,

Speaker 3: like Fort Bragg or you know London or you know

Speaker 3: williams Port, even though I've covered more than one game there.

Speaker 3: But fifty nine different ballparks I've covered a game in.

Speaker 3: And I get asked all the time, what's your favorite ballpark? Well,

Speaker 3: Fenway is still my favorite. I'm an old man and

Speaker 3: I love the history of the game. It opened in

Speaker 3: nineteen twelve. Riegley is my second favorite, just because it's

Speaker 3: the second oldest, and then then I have to separate

Speaker 3: to the newer ballparks, and Camden Yards is my favorite

Speaker 3: of the newer ballparks even though it's over thirty years

Speaker 3: old now. Pittsburgh is my second favorite, and then San

Speaker 3: Francisco is my third favorite. So if I'm going to

Speaker 3: pick my five favorite ballparks of all time, I'm gonna

Speaker 3: go Fenway, Wrigley, Camden Yards, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco. How's

Speaker 3: that list, Jeff, That's a pretty fire list.

Speaker 1: We'll have to ask members of the family, people who

Speaker 1: are listening to the podcast or watch on our Instagram

Speaker 1: and Facebook and TikTok and YouTube, what do you think

Speaker 1: of that list? Great game or what dot com? You

Speaker 1: can let us know or you can always, of course

Speaker 1: let us know in the comments. Dad, that is a

Speaker 1: really good list. And I think it's worth noting too

Speaker 1: that Fenway is near and dear to your heart because

Speaker 1: it's the ballpark your dad grew up going to. I mean,

Speaker 1: he is from Watertown, Massachusetts. And let's not get it twisted.

Speaker 1: This does not mean my Dad, the guy who's dedicated

Speaker 1: his life to covering this game roots for the Red Sox. No,

Speaker 1: don't think of it any other way. He still just

Speaker 1: roots for the story. For so many years, the Red

Speaker 1: Sox were the story, especially in those early two thousands

Speaker 1: teams with the Curse of the Great Bambino.

Speaker 2: But Dad, I can understand.

Speaker 1: Why Fenway because your parents went on dates to Fenway Park.

Speaker 2: How special is that?

Speaker 3: Right? And the first game that I can remember going

Speaker 3: to was at Fenway Park. I'm sure I went to

Speaker 3: a game at Griffith Stadium with my father, but I

Speaker 3: was too young to remember. But I remember the game

Speaker 3: I went to at Fenway Park. Felix man Tia hit

Speaker 3: a home run. The first sitting. Ballparks are really really

Speaker 3: special today these days, Jeff and I will tell many

Speaker 3: more ballpark stories as we go along, But that's just

Speaker 3: a quick start to the ballparks in which I've covered

Speaker 3: at least one game fifty nine of them. Again, how

Speaker 3: lucky am I? How lucky am I Jeff to have

Speaker 3: done this all these years?

Speaker 1: So good, I know, Dad, And now you've created a

Speaker 1: Hall of Fame baseball career around it, and you're just

Speaker 1: incredible I was at the Fourth of July party yesterday

Speaker 1: and somebody found out that I was your son, and

Speaker 1: they asked me, and I'm not being funny, They said,

Speaker 1: how long has your dad been covering baseball?

Speaker 2: Fifty years?

Speaker 1: I said almost. He was kind of being pretty clean.

Speaker 1: This is just kind of you know, throwing a number

Speaker 1: out there. And when do you say you formally started

Speaker 1: when you were twenty two?

Speaker 3: Yeah, I was nineteen seventy nine is when I started

Speaker 3: being a baseball writer. But they're different levels of it.

Speaker 3: Nineteen eighty two is when I started covering full full

Speaker 3: time as a beat writer. But you know, I was

Speaker 3: a backup beat writer in eighty and eighty one, so

Speaker 3: I was covering baseball for a long time. It's been

Speaker 3: a great thing and I'm the luckiest man ever.

Speaker 1: Every single episode we bring a team Tim. This has

Speaker 1: become the most popular part of the show. Dad a

Speaker 1: team Tim for today, what are you going to do well?

Speaker 3: We have will Zalatorus as our guest tomorrow, And as

Speaker 3: I told you at the beginning of the podcast, We're

Speaker 3: going to combine golf and baseball here since they are

Speaker 3: so easy to combine because so many baseball players love

Speaker 3: to play golf. There are similarities between the swings. It's

Speaker 3: great and Will is so funny talking about golf talking

Speaker 3: about baseball. So I came up with my all golf

Speaker 3: team based on baseball players. Now this doesn't mean these

Speaker 3: are the greatest players who ever played, the greatest golfers

Speaker 3: ever to play in the Major League. Frankly, I just

Speaker 3: have a story about each position here. So I'm not saying, Hey,

Speaker 3: I'm gonna leave somebody out here and you're gonna say,

Speaker 3: how about you not put that guy in good question,

Speaker 3: That's not the point of this. So my catcher is

Speaker 3: Brandon Inge. We started out as to capture that moved

Speaker 3: to third base. But Andy bans Like told me once

Speaker 3: that Brandon Inge could hit a golf ball over four

Speaker 3: hundred yards. And I'm quoting here. Andy told me that

Speaker 3: Tiger Woods would have to hit from the red teas, yeah,

Speaker 3: to hit it to where Brandon Inge hit it. So, look,

Speaker 3: do I know is that true? Of course, I wasn't there.

Speaker 3: I don't know. I'm just trying to make a point that,

Speaker 3: you know, guys hit the ball off the edge of

Speaker 3: the earth. And he and Andy Vanslke said that Brandon

Speaker 3: Inche is like as long as anyone he's ever seen.

Speaker 3: And Andy was a scratch player, by the way, so

Speaker 3: he knew what he was. He knew what he was watching. Okay, okay,

Speaker 3: our first baseman is Gavin Sheets, who, as we are

Speaker 3: going to find out tomorrow, was a college you know,

Speaker 3: like dorm mate of Will's alatoris. And he says, tell

Speaker 3: some really good stories. But Jeff, this is how it works.

Speaker 3: I went to Gavin Sheets, and this was this year,

Speaker 3: and he loves to talk golf. So I said, I said, Gavin,

Speaker 3: what are you Are you like a two handicap and

Speaker 3: he looks at me. He wasn't offended, and he said, no,

Speaker 3: I'm a scratch. And then Will told us that he's

Speaker 3: a plus one or a plus two, meaning he's even

Speaker 3: better than a scratch. There are so many good, so

Speaker 3: many good players. Jeff McNeil might Jeff McNeil now with

Speaker 3: the a's, might be the best golf golfer in the

Speaker 3: Major league right now. Again, there are others who are great.

Speaker 3: So this is not what this is about. But buckshow

Speaker 3: Walter found out how much Jeff McNeil loved playing golf,

Speaker 3: and beyond the center field fence at the old at

Speaker 3: the Port Saint Lucie Stadium when Buck was the manager

Speaker 3: of the Mets and Jeff McNeil played for the Mets,

Speaker 3: he set up a pitching like area and a putting

Speaker 3: area beyond the center field fence, so Jeff McNeil and others,

Speaker 3: of course, could go out there and pitch and put

Speaker 3: in between games, in between batting practice, or just go

Speaker 3: there before a workout started. Only Buck would do that, agree.

Speaker 1: Well, He's always looking to get the best out of

Speaker 1: his players, and if it means we can distract for

Speaker 1: a little bit the baseball season's long, He's one of

Speaker 1: the best at doing that.

Speaker 3: I love that right all right. My third basement is

Speaker 3: Buddy Bell because I when I covered the Rangers, they

Speaker 3: had an off day golf outing, and me being the

Speaker 3: beat writer of the Rangers, I went to the golf

Speaker 3: outing just to see if I could get any notes,

Speaker 3: and I wrote a little story about here's what the

Speaker 3: Rangers did. And there on their off day, they had

Speaker 3: a tournament and Buddy, who was the most is the

Speaker 3: most modest man in the world. I finally found out

Speaker 3: that Buddy won. He shot seventy four and I said, buddy,

Speaker 3: when's the last time, when's the last time you played?

Speaker 3: He goes, I played a year ago at the tournament

Speaker 3: last year, so he hadn't played in a year.

Speaker 4: One.

Speaker 3: He shot seventy four. Wow, Jem, that's that's pretty impressive.

Speaker 2: Agreed, absolutely, Wow.

Speaker 3: If you take if you take a year off, you're

Speaker 3: shooting seventy four.

Speaker 2: Do you think one seventy four?

Speaker 1: Maybe?

Speaker 3: All right? Our shortstop is JJ Hardy, who's like, he's similar,

Speaker 3: like he shoots seventy two playing once a year. This

Speaker 3: is when he was playing. That's how good. And his dad,

Speaker 3: of course was a former tennis like on the tennis tour,

Speaker 3: and his mother was on the LPGA tour. So the

Speaker 3: great hands that JJ Hardy has comes directly from his father,

Speaker 3: who was a professional tennis player and his mother who

Speaker 3: was a professional golfer. And then JJ built like a

Speaker 3: had like a pitch and had like a green in

Speaker 3: the backyard where he could practice pitching and putting in

Speaker 3: the backyard of his house. That would be a good

Speaker 3: thing if you want to get better, right, need it.

Speaker 1: I have one of those I can't even remember what

Speaker 1: it's called, but it's a little game where you can

Speaker 1: chip and putt into buckets, and we were going to

Speaker 1: use it for the Fourth of July, but unfortunately all

Speaker 1: of our yards were so crispy and not watered well,

Speaker 1: we're like, well, the conditions aren't right to be chipping

Speaker 1: in this, so we we didn't want to do it

Speaker 1: because we didn't want to look stupid, So we'd played

Speaker 1: corn hole instead, which was still a really good time

Speaker 1: and a lot i will say, a lot more fun

Speaker 1: and a lot more manageable for everybody.

Speaker 3: Right, Okay, So that's so my outfield. Aaron Hicks, no

Speaker 3: longer playing in the major leagues, was, according to people

Speaker 3: who played with him, was the best major league active

Speaker 3: major league golfer baseball player. And he's a switch hitter.

Speaker 3: He plays golf right handed, and he's been playing since

Speaker 3: he was five years old. So a good lesson, Jeff.

Speaker 3: If you want to be really good at this game,

Speaker 3: pick it up young as opposed to age twenty like

Speaker 3: you did. It's a hard game. You've got to pick

Speaker 3: it up young. Aaron Hicks certainly did, and so did

Speaker 3: Ken Harrelson, the Hawk, who's in the Hall of Fame

Speaker 3: for broadcasting and one of the really good Baseball Players

Speaker 3: League and RBIs. One year he tried to play on

Speaker 3: the professional tour. It didn't work out, but just to

Speaker 3: shout out to Hawk Harrelson because at when he wasn't

Speaker 3: playing baseball, he was a tremendous golfer. And we're gonna

Speaker 3: include Jeff frank Corer on this list. We're not going

Speaker 3: to tell the Bobby Cock story for the fiftieth time

Speaker 3: on this podcast, but we have to have Jeff frank

Speaker 3: core on the as one of our outfielders. Jeff, just

Speaker 3: because of the Bobby Cox story, right.

Speaker 1: One of our favorite scroll back check it out. We've

Speaker 1: only said it a million times other than the interview

Speaker 1: two years ago. But Dad, I don't want to jump ahead,

Speaker 1: but are you gonna have a bunch of Braves pitchers.

Speaker 2: In there too? Cause we talk about those pictures.

Speaker 3: All the time, right, Well we haven't. Now we got

Speaker 3: the pictures, Jeff, so I'm just going with one picture. Look,

Speaker 3: we could have we could have Tom Glavin and Greg

Speaker 3: Maddox on there and we would be fine, but we're

Speaker 3: just gonna take one Braves picture. So there's not a

Speaker 3: monopoly here. John Smoltz, who last time I talked to

Speaker 3: him about this has eleven holes in one, and he

Speaker 3: told me he thought he thought the tenth hole in

Speaker 3: one was gonna be never to be topped, because he said,

Speaker 3: I got it on a par four. So he got

Speaker 3: a hole of one on a part four. Not surprising

Speaker 3: with John Smoltz. Eleven holes in one and he's like

Speaker 3: a plus two. Also great player and still is part

Speaker 3: of He's like the commissioner of a league where former

Speaker 3: players in all sorts of sports play golf together keep

Speaker 3: up their competitive nature. John Smoltz is all over this

Speaker 3: and what a tremendous golfer he is. Rick Roadin former

Speaker 3: Pirate Yankee, he was he like played on the Myague Tour.

Speaker 3: Mark Mulder is on this team. Mark Moulder is also

Speaker 3: played on like the minor league Golf Tour. And he

Speaker 3: told me once, Jeff this, I always found this amazing.

Speaker 3: So he plays in these really big time tournaments, but

Speaker 3: they're not like PGA tournaments, not that good. But he said,

Speaker 3: that's as nervous as I've ever been taking a club

Speaker 3: back in golf, even though he's great at it. But

Speaker 3: I said, Mark, you were a great major league pitcher,

Speaker 3: and you were a great major league and you were

Speaker 3: a great hitter and pitcher in college. And he said, well,

Speaker 3: golf is a different thing. Everybody's quiet, lined with people

Speaker 3: all that stuff. Do you find that surprising? He got

Speaker 3: that nervous even though his skill level was ridiculously high.

Speaker 1: Well, I mean you'll hear in our interview tomorrow with

Speaker 1: Will zelatoris the game changes when you line the course

Speaker 1: with fans.

Speaker 2: And he's saying that a guy.

Speaker 1: Who almost won the Masters, who plays on the tour,

Speaker 1: and even he is saying, yeah, you know it gets

Speaker 1: in your head. Average Joe or Jane is going to

Speaker 1: play a different game if they have fans that they

Speaker 1: could sorry kill with an errant drive right right there,

Speaker 1: standing looking at you.

Speaker 3: Okay, Jeff, I could name about fifty other guys on

Speaker 3: this all golf team, but I'm not. I'm just gonna

Speaker 3: name two more. One of them is a Maddox, but

Speaker 3: it's not Greg Maddox as his brother Mike Maddox, who's

Speaker 3: won pitched in the major leagues, of course, and one

Speaker 3: of the best pitching coaches of all time. Mike Maddox

Speaker 3: had two holes in one in one round, and I

Speaker 3: happened to be around. I think he was with the

Speaker 3: Brewers at the time. Don't hold me to this, but

Speaker 3: I saw the scorecard. There there were two ones, both circled.

Speaker 3: He got two holes in one in the same round

Speaker 3: of golf. Is that incredible or what?

Speaker 2: What are the chances? What are the chances of.

Speaker 3: Right? And we've used this one, Jeff. This is one

Speaker 3: of my favorite baseball player golf stories. Is that Jim

Speaker 3: Cott Hall of Famer, one of the great pictures ever,

Speaker 3: one of the great fielding pictures ever, one of the

Speaker 3: greatest athletes ever to play the game. He shot his

Speaker 3: age twice in one week. He was like eighty years old.

Speaker 3: He broke eighty twice in a week. And he did

Speaker 3: it once playing left handed, and the next time he

Speaker 3: did it playing right handed. That's obsess You shoot your age,

Speaker 3: that's impossible. He did it twice in a week, but

Speaker 3: he did it playing left handed and right hand. How great?

Speaker 3: Even Will Zalatoris can't do that right.

Speaker 1: No, no, But we'll talk to him about a whole

Speaker 1: bunch of golf and a whole bunch of baseball tomorrow

Speaker 1: on the podcast. So make sure you're subscribed and you're

Speaker 1: following wherever you like. The listener watch so you don't

Speaker 1: miss it. All right, Dad, we have teased a great

Speaker 1: visit from Mike Sure, who is the commissioner of our

Speaker 1: podcast of is this a Great Game or What? So

Speaker 1: let's break through again, talk about the member of the

Speaker 1: family who sent our what does it mean to be

Speaker 1: five games over five hundred message, and then we'll get

Speaker 1: to Mike Sure's message.

Speaker 3: Right. Well, first off, Mike Sure volunteered to be the

Speaker 3: commissioner of this is a Great Game or What. We

Speaker 3: didn't even ask him. He loves baseball so much he

Speaker 3: just wanted to be in on specific rulings. So this

Speaker 3: is the ruling for Mike Sure. When you're fourteen and ten,

Speaker 3: is your team four games over five hundred or as

Speaker 3: Brian Sweeney, one of our listeners, one of our readers,

Speaker 3: who sent us an email saying, I think if you're

Speaker 3: fourteen and ten, you're only two games over five hundred.

Speaker 3: So we left it up to Mike Sure to make

Speaker 3: a ruling on this.

Speaker 6: Here we go, Hi, everyone, Mike Sure the commissioner here

Speaker 6: with a ruling on a argument I've had many times

Speaker 6: with my more pedantic friends. So the question is, if

Speaker 6: your team is fourteen and ten are you four games

Speaker 6: over five hundred, as is commonly stated, or are you

Speaker 6: actually two games over five hundred, because if you had

Speaker 6: lost two of your previous games, you would be twelve

Speaker 6: and twelve. So to me, this is just a question

Speaker 6: of are you looking backwards or forwards? If you're looking

Speaker 6: backwards saying like, how many games if we had, if

Speaker 6: the outcome had been different, would get us to five hundred, yes,

Speaker 6: you're two games over five hundred. But I think what

Speaker 6: you're commonly doing when you're announcing how many games over

Speaker 6: five hundred a team is is you are looking forward.

Speaker 6: You're saying we're four games over five hundred, meaning if

Speaker 6: we lose the next four games, we will be at

Speaker 6: five hundred, which is a better way of evaluating your

Speaker 6: team's record and how good your team is. So I

Speaker 6: think that for clarity's sake, you should just say how

Speaker 6: many games you would need to lose in order to

Speaker 6: or win in order to get to five hundred, meeting

Speaker 6: look forward, So I would say you are four games

Speaker 6: over five hundred, And to me, the people who say, well, actually,

Speaker 6: technically your two games over five hundred, because blah blah blah,

Speaker 6: that those people are the same people who will tell

Speaker 6: you that actually Frankenstein was the name of the scientist,

Speaker 6: and what you mean is Frankenstein's monster. It's like, yes, technically,

Speaker 6: logically you are correct, but like when I say Frankenstein,

Speaker 6: you know what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the

Speaker 6: guy