The Cantina Walkup feat. Dana Gutteron

On this episode, Danny sits down with Diehard Mariners fan/Breast Cancer Survivor, Dana Gutteron! They talk about her treating and beating her cancer diagnosis, her early softball days, moving to Seattle, going to her first Mariners game at the Kingdome, the greatness of Randy Johnson, the steroid era, her favorite school lunch, Star Wars walkup music and more! 

Where to find Dana:

instagram.com/danaland711

Her Etsy Store:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/DanalandDesigns

National Breast Cancer Foundation:

nationalbreastcancer.org 

Intro/Outro music-"Sound of Speed" by @infrared_krypto

Listener questions/comments:
foxworthpodcast@gmail.com

Instagram:
instagram.com/dannyfoxworth843

X:
x.com/dannyfoxwrth843

Bluesky:
dannyfoxworth843.bsky.social

YouTube Channel:
youtube.com/dannyfoxworth843

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:26

What is good, good people? You are now listening to another episode of At the Plate with Danny Fox Russ. I am your humble narrator narrator, Danny Fox Russ. And if you're watching, listen, we're we're live on location, and I have an extremely special guest, great friend of mine, Wild Wing North Charleston alumni, breast cancer survivor, diehard mariners fan. Ladies and gentlemen, we got Dana Gutterin on at the plate. Dana, how are you today?

SPEAKER_01 0:50

I'm great. How are you?

SPEAKER_02 0:51

I'm fantastic. So um, first off, let's uh let's talk about your your uh breast cancer journey. So when did your breast cancer journey begin?

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Um, well, I found a lump and um had a doctor look at it, did a couple ultrasound um mammograms, and um that would have been in March or April of 2023.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Yeah, and that journey went real, real fast.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Immediately started, I think it was maybe three weeks I started chemo, then uh had surgery after that in the fall, and the following January did radiation for six weeks.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

Wow, so I can imagine the kind of toll that took on you.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

That whole yeah, it was uh definitely a journey. Uh discovered um kind of some things about myself and my friends and family, but ultimately like the positive, you know, reinforcement for my doctors and just a positive outlook on getting healthy um and getting everything handled. Um that just helped immensely instead of just I don't know, being real, real sad about it.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

Yeah. And right on. Shout out to the power of positivity and thankful that you're still here amongst the living.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

For sure, yeah, every day.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

Yeah. So we're gonna get into some uh some uh diamond talk now. So what were your earliest baseball memories?

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Um, well, I started playing baseball, well, softball when I was five, uh down in Southern California. And my older brother Kevin, he played since before I was born. So I was sort of born into loving the sport. Um, but I played fast pitch softball in Southern California from five until 11. Then I played, I had to switch it up and play slow pitch in Seattle uh until I was 20. I didn't realize you played that long. Oh yeah. Wow. Yeah. I even tried to play uh well into my 20s on some community like co-ed leagues, yeah, but my body was pretty much done with me by that point.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Is that going on you? Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:20

So you speaking of Seattle, actually, let's let's backtrack just a little bit. What position did you play?

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Uh started out playing third base. The hot corner. Yeah, I had a pretty strong arm and um played a little bit of second base, but then when I was when we moved up to Seattle, I switched and played uh catcher from third base. So ended up um finishing off my career as catcher.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

So what was the biggest adjustment from uh third base to catcher?

SPEAKER_00 3:53

Um, I don't know. I was I felt like it was more act and more effective uh position to play because you could see the whole field. Um I you can ask my brothers if I like to boss people around and so being able to see the whole field, I could tell everyone where the play was gonna be, where to throw it, yeah, how many outs there were. I could, if I remembered, I could tell them, you know, what what where the player was gonna hit the ball and that kind of thing. So I kind of like that side of it. Right alms. There's that psychological part too of being right next to the batter, you know, kind of shouting out where they're gonna hit.

SPEAKER_02 4:25

Yeah. So you ever throw any runners out?

SPEAKER_00 4:29

Um, I'm sure I did. Nothing really stands out too much except plays at the plate because I wasn't afraid to like get dirty and get like physical with other people. So um, but I did a lot of sliding as a as a batter. I wasn't a superstar, but I always got on base.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

So getting around the bases was the part that was, you know, very important. So um I learned to slide um early on and just not be afraid to run into people.

SPEAKER_02 4:57

And so you mentioned in Seattle. I mean, the logical order of the steps in the conversation is you're a diehard Seattle Mariners fan. I think you're actually the first Seattle Mariners fan that I ever met in my life.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

So we're a rarity.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

So um talk about that. Um, well, you know, growing up in Southern California, there were so many teams in the state, we didn't really follow any single one. And then when we moved to Seattle, just had the mariners there. And so at the time they had the kingdom, and my dad took me to a game, and I was hooked.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

What year was that?

SPEAKER_00 5:35

Probably 88.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Um, maybe 89. I don't think I was in high school yet, so uh that sounds about right. But uh yeah, I just fell in love with. I mean, they were in the kingdom at the time too, so that was a totally different experience than seeing a game outside. So yeah, it was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

Um do you remember who they played the first game?

SPEAKER_00 5:56

I don't. I have a picture somewhere floating around on the internet of me and my dad and my friend Pauline. Pauline, if you're out there, you know what I'm talking about. It's really hot. I think we both have uh side ponies.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

Yeah, I gotta see this pick. So um keeping it mariners, who are um who are some of your favorite mariners players? I mean, stayed in the obvious looking at your shirt.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Of course, of course, Junior. But um, I think overall my favorite uh Mariners player is J Biener. Oh Baldi. Yeah, yeah. He's he's just an amazing player. He's someone that likes to have fun while he's out there, and um just very, very good player, like um consistent. Um, and then of course E through. Of course. I mean, I was just watching something about him, and it was incredible to see him just step up to the plate and not just hit the ball, but also like his running, you know, it was just incredible. Um, and then I think I'm gonna skip over A-Rod because I don't really he's not my favorite. But we gotta go with Randy Johnson, right?

SPEAKER_02 7:05

The big unit. That's the big unit for the bird killer himself.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

Yes, and now my my new favorite is Cal.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

The jumper. Yes now with each hero, he's always been one of my favorite players because it's almost like his batting approach, it's almost like a softball approach. It's like when he makes contact, he's already running towards first base.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Yeah, it's it's incredible to watch him play.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

Yeah. And then um, yeah, Jave Yuner. I just remember seeing that big bald head with that with that goatee. Like he always reminded me of Stone Cole. Well, I should say Stone Stone Cole reminded me of Jake Buner. Did he play third base or he played outfield?

SPEAKER_00 7:41

He played right field.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

We played right field.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Yeah, they um when they were when they were at their prime in the 90s and they were you know promoting them and trying to get people because they're trying to get them to stay in Seattle, they had uh to sell season tickets, they had them fostered on the metro buses driving around town. And they had um Randy Johnson and Jake Uner on the same side of one of the buses. I was thinking, like, either you're gonna buy tickets because you love the manors or they might scare you into buying. It's not the best look.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

And you know, especially Randy Johnson having such an intimidating presence. Oh, yeah, and especially on the mound, he's probably I know he's definitely in my top five pitches. I actually brought him up on a uh on an episode I have to put him not in my five favorite pitches of all time. I think he was either number three or number two, and um he's a dominant lefty, like six ten.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Yeah, six ten, like he's halfway to the or third of the way to the plate.

SPEAKER_02 8:41

Yeah, like it's crazy, like 4,000 plus career strikeouts.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

Like, it's just I think that's my favorite fight, is I forget who charges the mound, but he he almost I think he just pitched an inside pitch, and the batter thought that he was actually throwing at him. And without swearing on your podcast, he said, uh okay. I believe he said, if I wanted to fucking hit you, I would have fucking hit you. I'm not sure who got thrown out of that game, but he probably did.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

Yeah. Speaking of thrown out of games, you just threw a lab right to me. Lou Pinella.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Oh, Lily. Oh, sweet Lou.

SPEAKER_02 9:21

Well, and there's nothing sweet about the way he conducted himself. No. But yeah, he was one he's one of my absolute favorites, man. Just to lose his damn mind.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

Yeah, I was just watching a show about um the Mariners, and they show this graph of where he kicked his hat, threw his hat, then kicked his hat again, kicked his hat again, kicked dirt on the um. I mean, it was hilarious to watch this just spiral. And then he finally leaves, throws his hat into the stands, and somebody actually threw it back to him.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

Really? I gotta see that. I missed that.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

That's like his famous one with the marriage.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

But just seeing him just raise hell at the umps and then kicking dirt on him, and then going like a time and he lost it and went and just dug the base out of the dirt and just struck it in the outfield.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Maybe first base.

SPEAKER_02 10:11

He is unhinged.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

Yeah, he definitely passed up La Sorda for Temper Cantrooms.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

I'd love to see him and La Sorda in a steel cage.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

Oh, like the celebrity deathmatch.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

Yes. Yes, missed opportunity.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

For sure.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

Man, but um Ken Gersby Jr. The kid, yeah, the iconic swing, the guy on your shirt. For sure. What what impressions do you have of him?

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Um, just an amazing person overall, but also as a ball player. I mean, he he didn't get down on himself, but I think later when he came back, you know, tried to make a comeback. I think he kind of did. But for the most part, it was, you know, practice and and do your best, you know. And he really just he was a good overall player. No matter good, that's understating it, but he was a great overall player. And um just all the stories I heard about him outside of the field, you know, he just was a just a great guy.

SPEAKER_02 11:06

Yeah. Like I was I remember watching an interview with him when he was on the pivot. I didn't even know he was a pilot.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

Pilot.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

Oh, pilot.

SPEAKER_02 11:16

Like he like flies private jets. Yeah. Like I think he said like he has a private jet and he flies it himself. Well, go find it. And then on top of that, being like this big, big, this big deal photographer at all these sporting events. Like he was did photography at the Masters, he did photography at the Super Bowl. It's pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Yeah. I mean, you could just sit back and count your money at that point, but take your maybe hobbies to a new height.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

Yeah, no shit. Talk about a character, just like a character arc.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

It's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

For sure.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

So, um, what were some of your favorite moments as a Mariners fan?

SPEAKER_00 11:50

I mean, recently was our little playoff run there.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Pretty great. Um any of the maybe not I guess as a fan of Mariners players, the home run derbies are always my favorite to watch. Um, those guys are incredible. But I don't know. I mean, just any day at the ballpark is is great for me. It's like going to Turkish drones, do you know? Yeah. I don't know. Any I would love to see them again.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

That would be a huge thing for me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

In their new stadium too. I hear it's great.

SPEAKER_02 12:24

So um who are some of your who were some of your favorite uh non-Mariners players?

SPEAKER_00 12:30

That's a tough one because I'm so biased. Um, does it have to be now?

SPEAKER_02 12:36

It can be past or present.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Okay, well, I grew up, uh my brother loved Reggie Jackson, so grew up to October.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

Um, and then we were Angels fans when we lived in Southern California. So there were a couple of them. Um I got to meet, it was like my whole class one time got to go to Angels Stadium, Angels, which was kind of cool. Felt like VIPs, but um, I'm sure they were like great kids. Um so I guess I'd have to say the Astros were sort of in my heart because I lived uh in Texas for a while. My mom was from there. Um, so they liked that. I guess it was that same era. Um what was the guy with the crazy stance?

SPEAKER_01 13:24

Wait for Astros?

SPEAKER_00 13:25

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Man. Uh Jeff Bagwell.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

Jeff Bagwell and Bigio.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Biggio.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Yeah, those two were real fun to watch. Um, so I liked that. And then I think I was Big Justice, David Justice, David Justice man. Yeah. Um But yeah, I just I like my guys. Fair enough. I did like watching Sammy Sosa and uh Mark McGuire back in the day too. But then when you find out what's going on there, it kind of ruins the whole thing. So I guess at the time I liked them.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

Oh, yeah. I'm um HGH brought me back to baseball because I was I was done with baseball after the 94 strike. Because it was two things, it was two milestones that we possibly could have witnessed during that time. Number one, you know, their the aforementioned King Griffey Jr. was on pace to break Roger Maris's home run record, and also Tony Gwynn was hitting 394 during that time. And then they went on strike. I'm like, well, you know what? Fuck baseball. And yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

Well, didn't Bonds have something in there too? Some kind of record that he was breaking, and then they found out he was using something.

SPEAKER_02 14:35

I'm not sure. Oh, I don't know if it was during '94. It might have been like after um after McGuire and Sosa, yeah, for sure. But I think his was like a couple years after that. But um, yeah, so now we're going to get into the five question segments. So the first and last question are the same question I ask every guest I have on here. Sure. Questions two through four are 100% random. So question number one, what were Dana's go-to school lunch items?

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Um, I liked the uh taco salad day. They had that. They had meat and beans like they have at Taco Bell. Really? Yeah. Um, like that's a guilty pleasure for me.

SPEAKER_02 15:13

Where was the what's where was this?

SPEAKER_00 15:15

This was in Redmond, Washington.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

Yeah, Redmond Hive. Gumma Stanks. Um, but yeah, they had like a whole spread, and I just wasn't into pizza because I had brothers, and that's all they ever wanted to eat. Oh, that makes sense. So taco salad day was great. Um, and then when I was younger, my mom used to always pack uh hard-boiled egg, and I had these little teeny tiny morton salt and pepper shakers that she would put in there, like I was VIP or something. So that was that that has to be true.

SPEAKER_02 15:48

So if you put the salt and pepper shakers in with the egg? With the hard-boiled egg. Wow, that's all right. Good looking now, mom.

SPEAKER_00 15:53

Yeah, oh, and she used to do um roll-ups with the lunch meat and then cream cheese. That was a good date when I found those in the lunchbox. Cream cheese. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

It rolled up in the uh in the cold cut. How about that? Yep. Ingenuity right there. Question number two. What do you get? Three favorite swings from players not named King Griffey Jr.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

So Ross. Okay. Well, we'll go with Easter row. His um, you can just see that and know that you're about to see each room. You don't have to see his face or anything.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

Just tugged it, he just tugged his the top of his sleeve.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Yep. Um, and then I wish I knew which one it was, Bagwell or Biggio. I think it was Bagwell that had that crazy stance.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

I mean, his legs were so wide apart. I don't know how he didn't fall over. Um or how he even had room to step when he would swing.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

Um, and I don't know, I probably would have to go with someone like I hate saying Yankees.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

I don't know, just there's something about the they know when they hit that ball, you know, and just the stance and the run, all of it does it for me. Um but maybe I don't know, Sammy says all those guys in the 90s, especially Mark McGuire would just like explode when he hit that ball.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

But again, like there's an asterisk by there, so yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

All right. Uh question number three.

SPEAKER_02 17:26

What would your walk-up music be?

SPEAKER_00 17:29

I mean, I'm a Star Wars nerd. So if I wanted to be intimidating, maybe the Imperial March. If I didn't want to be intimidating and wanted to be funny, I'd have to go with the cantina music.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 18:02

That's gone. I should have prepared the music.

SPEAKER_02 18:08

Oh man, I'll do my industry right there. This one's gonna go downhill. Oh shit. I forgot my next question. Uh who's your least favorite mariness player? That's question number four.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

Jeez, I don't know. I don't, I can't have a least favorite. Yeah, I can. I sure can. I sure can. Arod. You hear me? You hear me, A-Rod? Listen, he went from the Mariners, and my one of my favorite all-time things is he played, it was his opening day game. They were playing in like Puerto Rico or something. I don't remember who he was with, it was not the Mariners. Um, but he the first ball was hit to him. He tripped over his shoelace, barely got to this dribbling grounder, and then missed the throw at first. It was a happy day.

SPEAKER_02 19:03

Yes. And then question number five. Uh what was the last thing that really made you laugh?

SPEAKER_00 19:12

So went to a river dock team with Aaron Meener and her daughter Blake and assorted other family members. And it was mascot night, so that was great fun. But then afterwards, Blake still had her jump castle from her birthday party the day before. And so we were in the jump castle as one would do at my age in the middle of the night. And Blake said, You want to see something fun? I said, Yes, I do. And she made a running start from the corner of the jump castle. They had these little, they might have been this tall, these little um you know, blown-up things, sort of like obstacles, so you can kind of run through them. But she made a running start from the corner, jumped on this thing, elf style. If you remember when he jumps on the people star up, jumps on it, smacks right into it. The thing flies down. I mean, it was the funniest thing ever to watch her do it. You want to see me do it again? I sure do. Like she must have done it 20 times in a row. It's like greatest. I don't know. Kids make me laugh a lot.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

So that's great. So uh there's anything you want to plug or promote, or just tell the people where they can find you?

SPEAKER_00 20:24

Um yeah, sure. So, number one, like ladies out there, um, please touch yourself. If you feel something that you don't like, um take it to a doctor and don't be afraid to fire doctors. I've I think I'm at three or four now that I've fired just because they're not, you know, paying as much attention as I think they need to, which is a good thing because that's sort of how we caught my um my breast cancer soaps, you know, when it was so small. Um but the there's a lot of different groups out there that take money for um breast cancer awareness. And really what I think money should go to is breast cancer research. Um, I think breast cancer is such a almost a normal thing now, which is unfortunate. Um, but the research is where it's at. Uh, some of the medications, the chema that I had, it was all new, you know, like the stuff that my mom had to use was awful. So um, you know, definitely if you're gonna donate, donate to a research foundation. Um, National Breast Cancer Foundation is the one that I like the most. Um, NBCF is what it's called. Um, and then also I'm on Etsy, Dana Land Designs. I do fun crafty stuff like aprons, and um, I do some of these plant hangers and all sorts of just fun stuff. But um I like to support local and support small businesses.

SPEAKER_02 21:47

So where can they find you on social media?

SPEAKER_00 21:49

Oh, I'm Dana Land7Eleven at everything. Not hard to find. Yeah, Instagram, uh definitely. I'm not on Twitter anymore or X, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

Um, but yeah, Dana 7E11. And I'll have the links to all of her things that she plugged in the show notes. So, Dana, thank you for being a guest on here. This was a lot of fun. And thank you for listening. Make sure you like download and subscribe to Add to Play with Danny Foxworth. Subscribe to my YouTube channel. You can find me at Danny Foxworth 843. There you can find videos of every episode of this podcast, as well as my candle podcast, The Wicked Good Time with Danny Foxworth. Since we last spoke with Danny Foxworth and Growing up low country with Liz and Danny. And for Dane and myself, it's been another episode of At the Plate. And until next time, y'all be good. Three strikes.