A Visit with Josh Weaver to The Tampa Baseball Museum

Episode: The Tampa Baseball Museum with Josh Weaver

Hosts: Mark Corbett & Mat Germain
Guest: Josh Weaver, Curator of the Tampa Baseball Museum

Episode Overview

Mark and Mat sit down with returning guest Josh Weaver, curator of the Tampa Baseball Museum, to discuss the museum's history, community outreach, future modernization ideas, and the incredible depth of major league baseball talent that has come out of Hillsborough County, Florida.

Key Topics Covered

The Tampa Baseball Museum

• Located in a historic 1905 casita (home) in Ybor City — the former home of Al Lopez, the first player from Tampa to reach the major leagues
• One of only four museums in the U.S. housed in a player's actual birthplace or home (alongside the Babe Ruth Museum in Baltimore, Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum in Greenville, SC, and the Hank Aaron Museum in Mobile, AL)
• Focuses on Hillsborough County baseball history, not just the city of Tampa
• Currently features 121 players born or raised in Hillsborough County who made it to the major leagues, with 89 baseballs on the "baseball wall"
• Four Hall of Famers with Hillsborough County ties: Al Lopez, Wade Boggs, Tony La Russa, and Fred McGriff

Community Outreach

• Mobile museum that travels to little league opening/closing day ceremonies and local events
• Sponsors teams in West Tampa Little League
• Uses artifacts (like Tino Martinez's 2000 World Series jersey) to spark intergenerational baseball conversations
• Partners with local mascots (King Ripple, Finley, SouthPaw) for reading events at schools and libraries
• Hosts intimate "Coach's Corner" events featuring retired players and coaches (e.g., Larry Rothschild, David Magadan, Joe Maddon, Roberto Hernandez)

The Reading Series

• Josh has written a children's book on Baltimore's Camden Yards
• Upcoming releases: children's biographies of local judge and former minor leaguer Robin Fuson, and MLB veteran David Magadan
• Players have full review and editorial control over their books

Future Ideas Discussed

• Virtual reality and holographic technology to modernize the museum experience and attract younger visitors
• A "sandlot game" concept: retired MLB players vs. current regional coaches, to bridge generations and grow community engagement
• Preserving memories of the Tropicana Field via 360° VR before the venue changes
• Collaboration with other small baseball museums (Ty Cobb Museum, Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum) for cross-museum events

Notable Players & Names Mentioned
Al Lopez, Wade Boggs, Tino Martinez, Luis Gonzalez, Fred McGriff, Tony La Russa, Lou Piniella, Pete Alonso, Kyle Tucker, Preston Tucker, Kevin Cash, Brett Phillips, Logan Gilbert, Caglianone, David Magadan, Roberto Hernandez, Joe Maddon, Pop Cuesta, Pete Mulry, Nardi Contreras, Chuck Hernandez, Manny Seoane, Robin Fuson, Randy Myers, Clint Hurdle, Arminda Mata (CEO, Ybor Society)

Resources & Links

• Tampa Baseball Museum website: Search "Tampa Baseball Museum"
• Facebook / Instagram: Follow Tampa Baseball Museum for upcoming events and the newsletter
• Previous episode: Arminda Mata, CEO of the Ybor City Museum Society
• Previous episode: Robin Fuson (judge/former minor leaguer)
• Book mention: Baseball and the Law by Lou Schiff (features Robin Fuson and Tony La Russa)

Florida BaseballBiz is your home for stories, history, and the business of baseball in the Sunshine State.

Transcript

Florida BaseballBiz with Josh Weaver, Tampa Baseball Museum

[00:00:00] 

Mark Corbett: All righty. Okay, everybody, thank you again for joining us here today. And today we are on Florida BaseballBiz and we have a very good friend of ours who's been on the show before and I'm talking about none of them. Mr. Josh Weaver, how you doing, Josh? 

Josh Weaver: Good, mark.

How are you guys doing? 

Mark Corbett: Doing well. Hey Mat. , How's it going up in the great North? My friend? 

Mat Germain: The Great North is, , safe and sound, I guess is the best way to put it. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah, we might join you, but anyway, just down here in Florida, we're kind counting, you know, what's going on. We've had a few interesting folks on Florida BaseballBiz.

One of 'em was Arminda Mata, who is CEO of the Ybor Society or Museum Society. And Mat and Mat also Josh is the curator of the Tampa Baseball Museum and they kind worked together on a lot of things. So, Josh, welcome. How you doing, my friend? 

Josh Weaver: Good. Good. Thanks for having, yeah. Yeah. How'd the show go with Arminda the other day?[00:01:00] 

Mark Corbett: Oh, that was great. She did fantastic. There's so much history in Ybor, Mat. It is. It's just insane when you look at all the people who've come outta there. , I interviewed Jean Cerra a while back who was very instrumental with, with bringing Title IX to life bringing funds to several sports, not just women's sports, but track and field and other ones who were not really getting anything after that.

And then we've had some other good folks on here as well,, today we've got Mr. Josh Weaver, the curator of the Tampa Baseball Museum, and I am looking forward to hearing about sharing with us what is the Tampa Baseball Museum? 

Josh Weaver: Well, what we try to do is we try to preserve. Mostly Hillsborough County.

It's funny because, you know, it is a Tampa baseball museum and when people come in, a lot of times they think they, they, they think it's pattern to the Rays. And I said, well, we have Rays stuff, but we also, we focus in on, on Hillsborough County. 'cause when you go right in the door, it talks about, Al Lopez being the first player to make it to the major leagues from Tampa.

But I usually stop [00:02:00] myself and say, well, it's Hillsborough County. And the reason being is because everybody that focuses, the attention just on Tampa, but it's the entire county. Especially as Tampa gets bigger,, , the further north, or south or east or west,, as the city gets bigger and incorporates the whole county.

We have people that, originally were from Ybor City or West Tampa, , some of , the first guys that, that came through. But now, , you look at Kevin Cash obviously went to Gaither. I the city just kind of spreads out. And even if it's not part of the city limits, technically, , certainly the growth in North Tampa in particular.

, It's interesting to track people, at the schools and , obviously when people come in, that's a big competition as far as, locals. They love to say, , I went to Plant High, and they look, they start looking at our baseball wall. But most of the guys, not everybody, there's 89 there currently, but they were born or raised in Hillsborough County and it's kind of a pride issue for all the,, Jesuit, Jefferson,, Hillsborough Robinson, you can go through the list, Chamberlain of all the, you know, all the schools.

They're just, I don't even know all the schools. 

Mark Corbett: Wow. [00:03:00] Wow. Well, you talk about everything expanding. Is the museum itself expanding?, What kind of structure is it? I mean, or, or can you add additions to it? 

Josh Weaver: Well, it's interesting because Arminda mentioned that recently, spatially we're kind of tied up to everything.

What we have is because we back up to hillsborough County Sheriff's Office so there's not space right now. And it's basically when people come in, they look around, they walk in the door and they're like, , how big is this place?

And I said, well, it's the size of a typical Tampa Casita. And then you start telling the story of Al Lopez and the fact that his dad moved the family from Spain to Cuba and then on to America. And that , his dad worked in a cigar factory. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Josh Weaver: So people look around and they're like, okay.

And I also tell people that it's been gutted. , This is what it looked like, because we gotta make room for, , all the exhibits and everything. 

Mark Corbett: This is interesting 'cause the casita is actually a home, like you said, where Al it's, it's the largest artifact you have, right?

Because it is the home of Al Lopez. 

Josh Weaver: What I tell people when they come in that the, [00:04:00] the, you know, the jewel of the museum is really the building itself and how rare it is to my knowledge. And you guys can correct me if, if you've heard of another one. My, to my knowledge, there's only four like it in the country.

You have either, that's either a museum that was a player home or a birthplace. 'cause I was obviously in Tampa. You have the birthplace in museum in Baltimore for Babe Ruth, the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum in Greenville, South Carolina, and the Hank Aaron Museum in Mobile, Alabama. Now they're talking about doing the same things in for Mickey Mantle's out in Commerce, Oklahoma.

But that one I don't think has been completed yet. And then if the fifth, you know, our sixth one, however you wanna phrase it, Jim Thorpe. But he did do baseball as far as minor league. But obviously you think of him as a, as an Olympian and then you think of him as football terms.

So I think the man could do everything or anything he put his mind to. So my understanding is that is another museum too. But as far as strictly a baseball player, that's right now it's just the four of 'em. 

Mark Corbett: You guys actually do reach out in the [00:05:00] community above and beyond that. What I would like to ask you about though, Josh, is what is the importance of this museum? I mean, if I came and I moved to Tampa, why would that be important to me? 

Josh Weaver: Well, if you're a baseball fan or you're a fan of history, I think it teaches people the significance and the longevity of baseball in Tampa or Hillsborough County.

Obviously the Ray's play in St. Pete and it's funny, it, if you go, if you talk to certain people, even today, , they say that, St. Pete and Tampa, people don't go to Tampa. They don't go to St. Pete, , and Tampa Bay is the water. It depends on if you're talking about, , somebody, they grew up in Florida, in that in the Bay Area.

They're like, no, no, there's Tampa and there's St. Pete and there's Clearwater, and you know, they start splitting it up. But it's like the Tampa Bay is the water. 

Mark Corbett: True, true. But you all do outreach in the community., As far as events and such. You attend 'em, but you do more than just attending them.

, What are some of the things when you if it's a, a little league opening [00:06:00] day? 

Josh Weaver: Well, yeah, what we have, we have a mobile museum, which is actually pretty interesting because like you said, we'll go to opening day ceremonies, closing day ceremonies or any event that they would like to have us, especially in some places that we actually sponsor, like West Tampa Little League for example.

We sponsored a team again this year, so we try to reach back and give back to the community. And partly what we do is we have this mobile museum and we take artifacts from the museum. And a lot of times kinda just introduce people because the kids know who Kyle Tucker is, they know who Pete Alonso is, but believe it or not, mark, they don't necessarily know who even Luis Gonzalez, or Tino Martinez.

And , then you go all the way back to Al Lopez and they just look at, you're like, who's Al Lopez? Um, so partly what we do is we try to teach generationally. And it's funny because sometimes we'll take Tino Martinez as game, his World Series Jersey, and as you know, the Yankees don't have their num, you know, they just have numbers.

They don't have the player names. So you can see when the dads and the grandfathers come up and they see , the [00:07:00] 24, and they're like, ah, Tino. And then the kids are like, well, who's Tino? And so that's part of it. Baseball is generational and,, going to the little league games.

And then, then you have people, and you probably experienced this too, mark, you, you have people that come in and they talk about, oh, well I played with Tino or against Tino, whether it be on Little league or in high school. You know, these guys may not have made it to the major leagues. But they're proud of their time in Tampa.

And people will talk about, well, if, if I played anywhere else, I probably would've been, an all star. But, 'cause I played in Tampa, , I was just like second string, third string. 

Mark Corbett: Well it is interesting when you think about that and, and as the museum shares so many stories in history, it sounds like a lot of folks that come in there have their own stories that, that they share , with you as well.

. That's gotta, that's gotta be great. Mat. I tell you what, when you look in Tampa, I would, I first started here 20 years ago, moving down from Louisville, Kentucky, and I would never have thought, I would see the volume [00:08:00] of players that have come from Hillsborough County. And as, uh, Josh had just stated, , we got Tino Martinez and Luis Gonzalez and these guys are growing up at the same time.

Josh, did they go to the same high school together? 

Josh Weaver: . They spent two years at Jefferson after Tino transferred over. So yeah. Can you imagine, those two lefties on that team? 

Recently had an event that we did a mobile museum for a golf tournament for Pete Mulry.

Mm-hmm. 

Mark Corbett: You 

Josh Weaver: know, he's one of the legendary coaches. 'cause sometimes people ask, well one of the main questions people ask is how do we get to have 121 players now that were born or raised in Hillsborough County that have made it to the major leagues. That's, numbers when you get into, over a hundred, that's a lot.

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Josh Weaver: , And so you have people like Pete that, he was at Tampa Catholic back in the day and they were just dominant and , so you have people like Pop Cuesta over at, at way he was at Jefferson. Right. So you start breaking down where these guys, and then there's other coaches too. You don't get more Tampa than a guy named Pop [00:09:00] Cuesta.

Mark Corbett: Across his record, how many of his players do you think have made it into MLB? 

Josh Weaver: That's a good question. You, I mean, you look at Pop 

Mark Corbett: Jefferson's had a lot, right? And he's been there a while. 

Josh Weaver: And you know, one of the classic stories, and I'm sure you know this, you guys know this story is when he actually did not he, he didn't have Fred McGriff on the team one year.

'cause he said he was basically too small. That's my understanding, when you're talking about Fred McGriff, who's obviously a Hall of Famer, not making it on a team, that's, that's saying something. But Fred, obviously he made up for that and then some. So, and out of our group, just real quick, we have four Hall of Famers.

Al Lopez was the first, Wade Boggs was the second Wade wasn't born in Tampa, but he grew up in, in Tampa. His family was in the military, so they came, he was very young when he came across. And then Tony, La Russa the third, and then the crime dog, Fred McGriff. And it took, in my opinion, way too long. And Mat, you, I can imagine, how you guys feel in Canada too, because you know Fred on the, those years on the, the [00:10:00] Blue Jays too.

Speaker 4: Yep. Absolutely. He's a great guy. 

Mark Corbett: . We're, very fortunate to have so many of this great talent. And how many of 'em give back? I know., If we look just at Plant High School alone, you are going to see, and correct me, 'cause I know there's more, I'm gonna see Wade Boggs. A Hall of Famer. 

Speaker 4: Yep.

Mark Corbett: I'm gonna see Pete Alonso, I'm gonna see Preston Tucker, I'm gonna see Kyle Tucker. And to me that is just stellar, literally. When you have that kind of history of players coming through your school, 

Josh Weaver: No, you, you guys are exactly right. I mean, and those are just off the, off when you just start counting off the top of your head.

Mat Germain: Mm-hmm. 

Josh Weaver: What's also cool is the fact that so many of them still live in the Bay Area,, or Tampa. , Tino still lives there. , , it's, you go through the list of,, Lou Pinella still lives there, Fred McGriff, David Magadan still lives in the area.

It's pretty amazing that, well, I mean, a lot of people [00:11:00] come to retire in Tampa, so these guys just came home. 

Mat Germain: I was just gonna mention something that came to mind, and, and it's because I've, I've spent, a lot of times I've gone to the Negro Leagues museum. I've gone to the Babe Ruth one that you mentioned earlier in Baltimore.

I've gone to a lot of different ones, and I've also gone to some museums that I've gone through modernization updates. And one of the things that I've noticed is a, a movement towards virtual reality. So in my mind, when I think of baseball and virtual reality, I think of, let's say you could put on VR goggles and you could be in a stadium, whether it's a minor league or a major league, or an environment or certain game, et cetera.

There's certain things that you could have preloaded where people just grab the headset, they put it on, and boom, they're transported into that moment. So, for example, in our, in, in your area if you had had somebody when the rays were in the World Series. Recording it to the point where you could actually have it [00:12:00] loaded and feel like they were in that ambiance and looking around that is quite, a, a statement.

You could do the same thing for even the museum itself. They could walk around but virtually. So they're not able to get around because they're in wheelchair, et cetera. If there's up upper floors downstairs, et cetera, they can do the same thing. Uh, there's a lot of different dimensions to it. And if you have really good video from way back when, like, I don't know, you can only go back so far, but you can also preload it for that and have that same kind of experience.

So if you think of like Lou Gehrig and actually being standing there next to him, right, and giving that speech, you could actually have that, feeling of being like right next to him with the best sound quality. , It, I think that's something that it wouldn't take up much space, but it, it attracts the younger crowd and it gives them a different experience that would actually, leave them with a, a better sense of what it was like and what you're, what the museum is trying to portray in that moment.[00:13:00] 

Josh Weaver: I think that's a great point, Mat, because I, and I'll be honest, I think that one of the only. Maybe critical things that sometimes people will say is, well, how much does is there for kids to do? 

Mat Germain: Mm-hmm. 

Josh Weaver: And I think to your point, getting more modernized and the house itself is from 1905, right. You know, in a historic district.

So I think most people know what they're getting into when they come in there. But to your point, like we have a, , just on the ground, it's, it's basically a giant sticker, if you will. It's a little field that the kids love running around. Right. Arminda is talking about modernizing that to where, you know, we take the bat up and then have a, a screen, you know, that that images the field.

And I said, you know, what'd be kind of cool is if maybe we have the players, maybe have Tino Martino at first base, , Wade Bogg at third, fred McGriff, wherever we wanna put Fred. Al Lopez is, is, , the catcher. And even if we have their names, not necessarily them, depending on how state of the art we get, I think it's a [00:14:00] good idea.

And she also mentioned the idea of creating a space where you could do um, basically have your own baseball card, 

Mark Corbett: you 

Josh Weaver: know, and I know, I know Cooperstown does that and some other places. To your point, Mat, you know, there's great innovations going on at at baseball museums, and I think, one thing we probably do need to do is, is modernize a little bit.

And it, and to your point, I don't think, because we spatially we don't have a lot of room, but with that, you don't need a lot of room. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: You don't. Yeah. So my, my thought is like, let's say right now we know there's an end life to the, uh, the Trop. So if you had somebody walk around the entire Trop, all the inside areas, all the, you know, get all to all the nooks and crannies from all the different angles and record it, , it doesn't have to be during a game.

It can be during a game, which would be ideal, or even during batting practice or whatever you want it to be. Uh, but then people could still go there and have that experience of being at the Trop. And, and for some people that are attached to it, it would actually [00:15:00] give them, a lot of enjoyment that you couldn't get, in any other place.

Josh Weaver: I, I think that's a valid point. And, , and you guys know this, people talk a lot about the Trop. Like they did, , in Oakland,, but,, it's everybody's, , for us in, in Tampa, and I'll say the Tampa Bay area, it's our ballpark. We had the same memories that, I took my daughter there when she was little.

One story. She's, we were supposed to get, we were trying to get father daughter shirts that day. You know how they have the giveaways? And she's like, I couldn't get 'em in time. She's like, daddy, it's okay. We can wear a matching BJ Upton shirts. So to your, you know, I love that. So she, right. So, so she always tries to be on, on the positive side of things, but No, to your point, Mat, it's, you know, it's gonna be gone at some point.

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Josh Weaver: Or it's gonna be morphed into something different, even if it's still there. And it, people have their memories. , We saw a great baseball game., The 2008, I didn't make it to a World Series game, but I made it to the, all the other stages. And you talk about an exciting,, world [00:16:00] Series, , and run up to the World Series, even in the American, well, us against Boston in the American League championship series was great.

Mm-hmm. I don't think I've ever been in a place louder than that ballpark. . , That's a really good point, Mat, because everybody has , their ballparks that they love, that they grew up in or that they took their kids to. And , there's memories there. And even to your point about the past, especially at, , the Tampa Baseball Museum, that's a really good idea as far as integrating,, even if's, just photographs, somehow transferring those into a a 3D type image of the old plant field, , the Al Lopez field.

Because I can't tell you how many times people, especially Al Lopez, because, I think plants really the last year of plant being plant for, for baseball was 1954 as far as regular spring training games. Am I right about that Mark? 

Mark Corbett: That sounds right. I couldn't tell you. I'd have to look at the wall.

Josh Weaver: But I think that, Al Lopez, field e even some of the players still had great memories there. Pete Rose, my understanding is Pete loved playing there. Wade Boggs, I think found out he was going to be a major leaguer. [00:17:00] It was going up to the major leagues there. And then you had the big red machine go through there.

So to your point, Mat, every field, whether it be a minor league field, a spring training field has great memories and especially the ones that are gone now. 

Mat Germain: You could get a video of the Rays sabotaging steinbrenner field so that the sewage backs up.

You could get the video of them actually doing that. 

Mark Corbett: I love it. What was it? Uh, a Boston fan buried a Boston jersey in the cement as they were building the new Yankee stadium back then. 

Josh Weaver: Right. 

Mark Corbett: I like that. I, i, with you all talking about the, uh, 3D presentation, it brought my mind to a couple things.

One, I went, when I, Karen and I were in Boston going to Fenway. There was, I guess a Boston Tea Party exhibit, uh, with an old ship. They actually had the history while people were there dressed and talking. They also had one room you walked into and there was a holographic person, representation, having [00:18:00] a talking in a scene.

Now, you may have seen this other one year, a couple of years back about this holocaust survivor and the Holocaust. I think it's at the Holocaust Museum in New York. I could be wrong. Anyway, they had him sit down and ask him a series of questions over time, and then they took what they shot of him and made it so he was interactive.

So all the questions they answered. Did you either one of you all see that information? You outta it? 

Mat Germain: No, I've seen similar things done where? And, and it's becoming a thing. Remember, I know there, uh, there's a show called Upload on, on Netflix. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: Uh, sorry. On Prime, which is exactly that. Right?

You're, you're basically uploading a person into a virtual environment based on pictures, et cetera, and it builds an actual 3D model of that person. 

Mark Corbett: Wow. Well this is cool because you can interact and he I dunno if you ever saw iRobot, but in there there is the professor and he leaves [00:19:00] clues for this detective to find him.

But he can only answer so much. That's not the right question. Mm-hmm. And so the thing is, with this gentleman at the Holocaust Museum, he gets to the point where, you know, he can't answer maybe something that's too specific 'cause they didn't record something to address that. But if they could do that, my gosh.

With a player, oh. Or, you know, and. I think of, of the Negro League museum, I think of all the sculptures of the characters they have out there on that diamond. Can you imagine if you, I, which I would never take anywhere from those statues, but if you don't have a budget, if maybe the holograms would be cheaper and you could get that done.

I don't know. It's a great idea. My gosh, I have no idea of the cost of something like that though. 

Josh Weaver: And not only that, mark, the fact that I, and I don't know the technology aspect of this because I have a history degree and, and you know, my, my senior thesis was pretty much kept me in the basement of the library.

I don't think, I think it was [00:20:00] surprised most people at USF that there was a basement at the library. So I'm not necessarily , the most techie person, but I like the concepts and especially, , so many of our guys. Still live in the area. And I think what we need to do, talking about , if you wanna follow Mat's train of thought, in my opinion, is we need to get these guys on record.

Yeah. And, and to what you're saying Mark is get them where you have, okay. This is you know, this is Lou Pinella, and if even if we, you did something zoom wise with Tony. La Russa, I 

Mat Germain: have the 

Josh Weaver: solution. 

Mat Germain: I have the solution, please. You throw a Sandlot game where Lou Pinella manages one side.

Joe Maddon manages the other, and the players who used to play at then are from Tampa region, et cetera, go and play a sandlot style game. Everybody throws a mitt in the middle of the mound and somebody gets blindfolded and just throws mitts to one side and the other, and then they end up being on those [00:21:00] teams and you hammer it out in the fun game, just kind of, you know, and you charge people a buck each for the tickets to watch and you have fun, you sell concessions, whatever.

You know 

Josh Weaver: that, that's actually 

Mark Corbett: wonderful idea. I'm sorry. 

Josh Weaver: It's not that far off from Tampa baseball. I had this guy one, one weekend come in and he had probably in his late seventies, had his whole family with him. Mm-hmm. And he said, when I was on, when I was a kid, I used to play on the sandlots with Lou and Tony.

And I typically believe people when they come in the museum, , because if they're coming in making up stuff, I'm like, , okay, that's kind of weird. But anyway so within 30 minutes, I had another guy come in, he same age, um, had his whole family with him and he said, when I was a kid, I used to play on the sand lots with Lou and Tony.

And I said, well, you need to go around the corner and talk to the other guy. I said, you probably know each other. And they did. Mat, I mean, it's so, it's not that far off. I don't know if you guys know of this, but, and, and I, and I did talk to our former chair when I, [00:22:00] when I first started at the museum, in Royston, Georgia, they have the Ty Cobb Museum.

And then in Greenville, like we mentioned before, they have the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum once a year. I still think they do this. They play, and I don't quote me on the year, but let's say it's like an 1880 style baseball game between the two museums. It's so, it's, it's not that far off from what you're thinking.

Mat and I kind of said at the time, a couple years ago, I said, maybe we should get involved in this and take a road trip,, whichever one it is in Royston or Greenville and, and get as many baseball museums together. 'cause that, that to me would be a really cool concept. I mean, and they're already doing it, at least those two.

And I'm sure that they would welcome other, other groups in. 

Mat Germain: You could have the, the quote would be if not for the bananas come for the cigars.

Right. Bananas thing is kind of include Love it there, right. And. 

Doing little [00:23:00] dances, whatever you want to do. I don't care. It's a sandlot game. They do whatever they want. So, 

Josh Weaver: yeah. Yeah. And it's really cool because, and it, , obviously it's good for the two museums, and I just thought , if we started, if we got involved in this, and then granted, it's their, it's their game.

They've been doing it for years now. You know, maybe over time they would be like, Hey, let's, let's take it to Tampa. Or if we got, the Hank Aaron Museum involved too in, in Mobile, Alabama. I mean, this could be something regionally and you guys know, but just like our museum, it's very small.

And so many of the museums are small and, anything that can get out there. And I think just the comradery of having a bunch of baseball people together, you know, talking and also talking about experiences we had Bruce, he is actually out in, in Colorado, in Denver. , He does the National Ballpark Museum.

He came in one day and he's like, how do you guys make this work? You know, because basically his story, my understanding is he had it in the basement of his house, [00:24:00] his collection. And people said, dude, people need to see this. So he finally did, and you know, he's using a lot of his own funds and, and I know he's, he told me he's had to sell some of his items to help keep the museum going.

You know, so most of the museums are small. 

Mark Corbett: Mm-hmm. 

Josh Weaver: , They're mostly, , as far as I know, they're almost all nonprofit. But, to get that attention out there and to get that camaraderie, I think it's a good idea. 

Mat Germain: So I, on that note, I know somebody for the Expos who has that, he has this Museum of the Expos in his house or in his apartment or basement, I don't know which one it is.

And people do pay to go and, and see things there and what he does. To make money is essentially brings a good portion of his memorabilia to an event that he throws every year. And he has all the ex Expos show up and they make a huge amount go. And people pay like a hundred dollars a ticket to go to this event.

And they meet all the players. They get [00:25:00] autographs, they talk to 'em, they have stories told, et cetera. And they have a draw for a whole bunch of prizes. And, and so it's a huge event that he throws every year at a really decent restaurant and it, it helps him fund his museum as well as keep the, the spirit of the Expos alive, right?

So that's something that can actually, you know, it's a one version of many that you could do with something similar, but, uh. Those events do, that's why I mentioned the sandlot thing. 'cause to me you could do it in any number of ways, right? You could, Sandlot game could also be night game, right? It could have different things to it.

Like the, I know the grit and glow is a big thing and a whole bunch of, of things that you can have fun with kids. So then you can have fireworks go off, you can do like a whole bunch of things depending on how you want to do it. But, um, I, I just think it's one of those fun avenues where the whole baseball is fun from Brett Phillips, especially him being from that region as well goes right into that.

So 

Josh Weaver: I, it's funny you [00:26:00] mention that, Mat, because obviously with opening day , we had a panel and we do, so we do things like that at the museum. It's, it's not out, it's not a baseball game, but we had Joe Maddon was there. Joe McGrain was there, Mat Joyce, Richie Garcia, which is a little unusual to have an umpire at, at an event.

But you know, it was a, it was based, primarily Rays folks. Roberto Hernandez was there, and one thing I learned about Roberto is I didn't realize the man had 300 saves. Oh, 

Mark Corbett: yeah. 

Josh Weaver: He's 20th on the all time list. And you're looking at the, and , he played it till his early forties. So, I digress a little bit, but to your point, , we're, we do events like that where we had one with Larry Rothschild.

And David Magadan, we call it the coach's Corner. And people get a kick out of that because, the museum's small, it's pretty intimate. 

So the first hour they can hang out and get photos and autographs from the, from the guys. And then the second hour, we usually do a, a, um, question and answer.

And believe it or not, I think that's the guy's [00:27:00] favorite time. Because then it's just like, because these guys they've all been retired and it's pretty fun to see these guys just kick back and start relaxing and they just they'll talk about anything and everything because they can and they, they really good right.

Mark into some of these events it's, it's pretty interesting. Sometimes they let loose, almost a little bit too much, but, you know, and, and it's what's fascinates me is their memories, especially Joe Maddon. He can break down something from 20 years ago and it seems like it was yesterday to him.

And I don't, I don't, I can't remember what I ate yesterday, let alone what happened 20 years ago. It's pretty cool. And so that's, that's one of the things we do. We like I said, we do the mobile museum. We do, and we're doing a reading series again. . We did it last year as a test run.

We did about four of 'em. What we discovered is we did three of them at the museum. And because we don't, we're small and one, we don't have a lot of parking in the area. Even though it's a free event, sometimes people are reluctant to go down to Ybor City because [00:28:00] parking can be difficult. But what I tell people is the first two hours are free if you go to some of the lots.

Mark Corbett: Mm-hmm. 

Josh Weaver: Um, and usually for the kid events, they're not gonna last longer than that anyway, so we're, we're, we're still trying to get the kids out there, but No, to your point, there's a lot of really good ideas. But I do what, what is 

Mark Corbett: the reading event? What, what is the reading event like? What 

Josh Weaver: is that?

Mark Corbett: Well, 

Josh Weaver: what we did last year is normally, I wrote a book on, um, the Orioles Park Park in Camden Yards. 

Mark Corbett: Mm-hmm. 

Josh Weaver: And what we would do is we invited mascots from the local teams. We had King Ripple from the Tarpons. We had Finley from the Phillies, and we had SouthPaw from the Flying Tigers. And. After I, I would read either my story or a similar story, and then it was a, again, there was a q and a session, and those are the most challenging.

I find that any, with any type, because no one, the kids don't care about me. They start asking the questions of the mascots, and, and as you guys know, the mascots can't talk. You know, trying to ad-lib with a mascot next to you and then trying [00:29:00] to explain, you know, oh, what do they eat? Where do they sleep?

What do they do? So it's, it's, you know, when they're not, so it was pretty interesting. But to your point, mark, that, or just to your question, that's kind of what we do is, um, we're hoping to do something similar this year. , We find that going places, , it was kind of a fluke thing. They had transportation issues, so we, we asked SouthPaw if he'd load up and go with us.

So we loaded up our a, basically a kind of a, a hybrid mobile museum. I read a. We had southpaw with us and we just went to the kids and it actually, it was just so impromptu, but it worked really well. So that's one of our initiatives. And I've written a book this time on Robin Fuson, one of the local judges, but , he's had a really good minor league career, didn't make it to the majors as a player.

Um, so he is the first of a reading series we're gonna do, hopefully later this month where I'm working with Robins to try to figure out a date that he can come by. And we're gonna have the premier, the book Premier and then the second book. [00:30:00] And we're, and works with David Magadan. He is going to be the second person that's gonna be, you know, part of the series.

And, and David's on board with the idea, he's correcting me. Now we're, we're in the early stages and you know, you think, you know, but especially when it comes to family situations, you know, as far as making sure every detail's Correct. So the, the players have total. Control, basically, if there's anything they don't like or anything that's not right that they want or they want changes, they can make changes to the book.

So over time, what we're hoping is the reading series will focus in on either Tampa players or people that have been through the system with the Rays or, but mostly have connections to Tampa in one way or the other. 

Mark Corbett: , When you think of all the different players, I mean, you say you've got like, what's it, 89 balls in there now?

And there's probably another 10 or 20 that you could probably put in in there as well. 'Cause every day, I mean, you just, who, who's the most recent event I've been thinking of? Caglianone. Who's with the Kansas. Kansas City. 

Josh Weaver: [00:31:00] Yeah. 

Mark Corbett: And then who's the gentleman with, uh, the Mariners? 

Josh Weaver: Oh, I, I can't 

Mark Corbett: remember his name.

Think he's a catcher. It's, I'm, I'm testing you. He's a catcher. Believe. Oh, no, no, no. He's, you know what? He's an outfielder. He's an outfield, isn't he? Mat? Addison, 

Mat Germain: uh, Addison Barger? 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. Yeah, I think it's him. I think it's him. 

Josh Weaver: Oh, in Toronto? 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. Yeah. I, I, since I don't know who is anywhere these days, I've got a still crunch on, on the rosters,

Josh Weaver: but you, what you talk about another fun event real quick is, during spring training is when we got to go see the, the Canadian National Team play the Blue Jays, you know, talk about the World Baseball Classic.

I mean, I know that's not the point of this discussion, but and one thing that is gonna be interesting is if we get a new stadium, I can really see that, you know, the, the love of baseball in Tampa that I can see Tampa hosting. Well, first off, an all-star game, which has never happened in St. [00:32:00] Pete. We're the only city that's never had, or area, if you will, major league team, however you wanna phrase it.

That's never had an all-star game. Secondarily, I think it's be a logical place. Especially, you know, still Florida. Obviously the success in Miami, but I could see it doing very well in Tampa as far as us hosting a round of the World Baseball classics. 

Mat Germain: I think the person Mark was thinking of was Logan Gilbert.

I think that's who was from the area. Right, 

Mark Corbett: right. He's, he's a, a phenomenal pitcher. Phenomenal. Yeah. And I know he actually was with this, uh, what's it called? There's, they call it the Armory, I think the, uh, down here in Plant City where he's done some training. You know, it's amazing, Mat, how many different training places there are for players.

And I'm not talking about, you know, just get your high school kid in there. I'm talking about places that are, that are really elevated mm-hmm. For the folks that they're taking in there. And there's, uh, the one lady, , [00:33:00] who has a place in, uh.

Anyway, I gone in there once or twice and you see, you know, Vlad Jr. And maybe for a few other names in there working out during the off season. But, uh. There is so much in Tampa to be with that. And I'm glad you're doing the, the sessions where the people come to the museum. I mean, have you got some stars?

But I want to do what Mat was talking about. I want to see that sandlot. Lucky I want to break out retired announcers and put 'em out there in that sandlot field as well. I, I mean, can you imagine the joy that would bring to people and don't you think if. We're, we're always looking to engage young people into this game.

Can you imagine the parents and grandparents who would wanna bring their youngsters to that? And if we build enough excitement with something like that, 

Mat Germain: here's how I would do it. I think. 

Mark Corbett: Okay. 

Mat Germain: I would put it as the veterans that have played major league baseball that people would recognize. And they go up against coaches that are [00:34:00] coaching right now in the entire region, whether they're from universities or high schools or whatever.

That way you're bringing in all of their players that are students of the game and they get to rub shoulders with these guys and they actually get to, , have that conversation. So you're, you're infecting the youth and the current team leaderships with what is actually established and, and veteran in the region.

So that was good merging of the two. 

Josh Weaver: It's interesting because not too long ago. Augie who was one of our staff members and I went over to West Tampa and they had a clinic. So you're exactly, pretty much what you're talking about. But it was a, it, it was not nearly a game. What it was is you had University of Tampa guys going and helping out the little kids.

Speaker 4: Right. 

Josh Weaver: And, and, and because, you know, UT just won last year, their 10th national championship at their level. I mean, that's unheard of. 

. 

Josh Weaver: And [00:35:00] Sam, there is one of our guys, he's one of the coaches there, and he is on our baseball wall because he actually played in major league baseball to your, so it's a, a natural normal flow because you got these guys that are there anyway.

And whether it be USF, because you know, there's USF, there's UT so there, there's, there's colleges around, there's high schools around. And even the high school kids, like we talked about before, are really good. I mean, it starts all the way down to little guys. And so to your point, to have a game.

Where, I mean, you talk about a good fun, Mat, you're onto something. We're gonna, we need to get you on our board. Right, mark? 

Mat Germain: I think, I think there'd be a little animosity too. And here's where I'm gonna go with that. You're gonna have guys that are completely analytics driven, even that youngest ages going up against the guys that are old school.

So there's gonna be that clash between the two. Right. And they can have fun with it and just kind of, 

Josh Weaver: oh, just to, you know, Mat, it's just wor, it's worth seeing if we do it just to have Lou Pinella throw a base one [00:36:00] more time. 

Mat Germain: Yes, yes. Kick 

Josh Weaver: sand. I mean 

Mat Germain: somebody, 

Josh Weaver: but, right. I mean, I mean it, it would be epic and I, it would be interesting because you know, there's so many generations to your point.

, Lou is now probably, I would say Mark, wouldn't you agree? Kind of our senior statesman in Tampa. Yeah. Him and Tony. Tony doesn't live in Tampa, but Lou still lives there. Then you got the people kind of in the middle, like Fred McGriff and Wade Boggs. And I mean, even people that didn't have as long a careers, Nardi Contreras is there.

You have Chuck Hernandez who didn't make it to the majors as a player, but to your point, Mat, who is a retired pitching coach, , , you could field an amazing team and generationally you could have, I mean, if we could get someone like Pete Alonso or Kyle Tucker in the off season and I think if they understood the importance, and I know that these guys do a lot 

Mark Corbett: Yeah.

Josh Weaver: And it's so, it's not out of the realm of possibility to, to make that happen. 

Mark Corbett: , The resources are available in Tampa and I like Mat, the idea, from [00:37:00] a marketing and baseball business perspective is across platform. I mean, we're talking age, we're talking, and I like the idea of the collegiate coaches and maybe even some other other coaches from high schools or whatever because then how many of their students and such would come to see this, you know, our alumni would come to see this.

Because I think that's essential is trying to find not just a core that's going to attract people, but if you have, a cross platform, I think of uh, different ways to appeal to that audience or audiences that would be outstanding. 

Josh Weaver: And if to you guys what you guys are talking about, if you get one of them or two of 'em, and, and you guys know how baseball works.

They all know each other. And if you could, if we could get a David Magadan and you know, somebody that's a good friend of the museum already. Or Robin Fuson. Mm-hmm. 

, Or , a Nardi Contreras, people, , the other day at the mobile museum we had, just real quick, and you'll see where I'm going with this.

When we, we went [00:38:00] Pete's Golf Classic, like I said, he spends a long time, about 10 years at just a dynasty. He built at Tampa Catholic. Nardi Contreras was there. Nelson Valdez. He didn't make it to the majors, but he made it to the minors. And even some of the guys that didn't actually play for him that were there, I mean, David Magnan came by with his brother and, you know, we had, we had everything set up on the table and we, and we, a lot of times we'll bring David's jersey.

'cause David actually donated three jerseys to us. So we use, a lot of times we'll bring in Tampa smokers to talk about the way back then we'll bring in maybe Tino's World Series Jersey. 'cause people just get a kick outta that. And you know, the fact that it is actually his World Series jersey from 2000 and then David Magine.

'cause so many people know David and he's such a great person that, , 'cause David walked by and we talked for a couple minutes and he was there to help out for this golf classic. And, and he, so he looked at his jersey and he just it's funny how humble these guys are too. He just says, thanks for that.

And what he was saying is, thanks for bringing my jersey. And you know, these guys, it's their memories that they're given to the museum. [00:39:00] And I think they like the fact that we're actually utilizing them and we're passing on their stories. And,, we have baseball cards of, of, , Lou and, and David and I tell people the story and , that they're first cousins and that Lou is actually David's godfather, , and then we put.

People like sometimes will have the McCullough's father and son. And so then it goes back to,, just the pedigree and the history of baseball in Tampa. , You got the Kyle, like you mentioned before, and you had Kyle Tucker and Preston Tucker Brothers, you go down, you have brother-in-laws, with Chuck Hernandez and, and Nardi Contreras.

I mean, it's, it's pretty remarkable when you look at just the family connections and if , we could have a throwback and call it we are family and have a family game this and did and do a tribute to the Pirates one day. Speaking of that, Clint hurdle was actually at the golf tournament too.

I didn't get a chance to talk to him, but, I guess he lives down, I think in Brandenton or Sarasota. So he came up for Pete's Classic. I mean, those are just a couple of the [00:40:00] guys that Manny Seoane who is on our baseball wall. Cool dude came up. I mean, we hadn't met before Mark, , and I told him, I said, you know, you're representing in the museum.

And after we exchanged numbers, and then he texted me before we even got back to the museum, and I sent him a photo of the baseball wall, and then I sent him a closeup of, of his baseball. 

Mark Corbett: Right. 

Josh Weaver: I think these guys take incredible pride in being from Hillsborough County. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. And 

Josh Weaver: to your point, Mat, I mean, the other thing too is when we ask these guys to do stuff, we don't have to go through agents.

Mark Corbett: Yeah. We don't have to go through agents. They don't have to say, well, well, my team say, oh my gosh, I can't say anything about this, that, or the other. Uh, I mean, they're not saying anything negative, get injured. Right. You know, he said, so there's, there's none of that. But, uh, another thing I want to point out, and that is the books and merch that you have there, one.

Well, I must, you've got a, you've got a book there and you're gonna have another one. You mentioned Robin Fuson. Now [00:41:00] I wanna let you know, we've already talked about him on the show. He's been on this show, but much more recently, we had an author who's already, who's already written about Robin, and it's a good friend of ours, the Honorable Lou Schiff.

And Lou is all about baseball and the law. So he has several different people from Major League Baseball who you've been involved with the game in one capacity or another, who are also lawyers. And he tells the story of Robin. I, you know, as far as how he was able to, to what his career was, a little about that, but also about his journey coming into law.

And you know, what he did with it? And I, he also did Tony La Russa in there too, right? It's baseball, the law. But we're gonna do shameless plugs here. So that's one we're gonna promote, Lou, and you guys check that out. The other one we're gonna talk about your book 'cause you've got one, there's, you already have something like a child's book [00:42:00] for walking through Camden Yards, which I love.

And then you have also, , this one coming out on Robin and another on David Magadan. 

Josh Weaver: Yeah. Yeah. So the one is out, like I said, it's going, we're gonna do the release party this month. Our premier, however you wanna phrase it. With Robin, we're just trying to figure out when he can come by and it's, it's interesting.

It's a little bit of pressure to write about a living person. 

Mark Corbett: Right. 

Josh Weaver: Because you don't want to screw it up guys, because just like with David, . I said, David, can you review the first? And, and he, there were some corrections and it's a little embarrassing because you're like, you think you got it?

But you know, it's only as good as the resources you can pull from. Right. And especially when you talk about, his dad, which I'm gonna talk about David's dad some and his brother. When you get into family details, it's not as easy to find stuff Yeah. As you would think,, and, and to make sure you're right.

And, one quick anecdotal story that I took out because I thought it was. Randy Myers basically with David Magadan. You guys got time [00:43:00] for a quick David Magadan story? 

Mark Corbett: Absolutely. 

Josh Weaver: So basically what happened is in, when he came up in 1986, he was a very late call up in September, but he helped the team get, for the World Series.

He didn't play in the World Series but Randy Myers, you know, so what they did is they did not give him a World Series ring, David. That is, so my understanding is Randy just went year after year after year back and said, you know, we need to give David, and I think there may be in four, maybe five other people that he felt should get a World Series ring.

So I put that in the story, but then I took the name out and because,, I didn't want it to get it, too quagmire. 

Mat Germain: Yeah. 

Josh Weaver: Hang on guys, just a second. 

Mat Germain: Alexa, 

Josh Weaver: cancel. Sorry about that. Mark. I can, I can start that story again real quick. I forgot at nine that there's a, there's a K reminder.

So, yeah. So with David, basically what happened is that Randy's [00:44:00] stuck for years for him and the other guys to get a World Series ring. So I put that in my initial draft, but I took it out and then when David read it, he says, can we put his name in there? Because Randy fought basically for years to get David and these other guys a World Series ring.

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Josh Weaver: And like nine years later, he finally got it. And so it meant something obviously to David, to, he's like, no, I want Randy's name in there. I'm like, David, it's your book. So it is interesting though, to, to work with living people,, because it, obviously, it's a kid's book, but yet it's a biography.

Mat Germain: Mm-hmm. 

Josh Weaver: You wanna make sure it's done properly and correctly. But yet have a, a story, and part of, part of the story with, with David, and he's okay with this, is talking about family and about him and Lou, , and their connection. So it's, so you try to have a moral story, but you also try to have the biography part.

And with David, there's a lot, I mean, even back to West Tampa when he was a kid then in Alabama then,, his playing days and he spent 20 years as a coach. So [00:45:00] that's a long career. So it, it's almost like I'm gonna have to rely some on the illustrations to make sure that, that we get the story looking pretty good.

Mark Corbett: Well, I, I, I thank you for all you're doing there, Josh, and, and sharing those stories, and I can't wait to see those, , books come out as well. , So when people come to the museum, not only are they gonna get a great experience when Josh is there and sharing the stories and a lot of people who come in and share their stories, but they'll have the ability to come in and, and pick up and take one of those stories home that they could share with other folks too.

So I'm looking forward to when Fuson comes out there and when Magadan and too. That should be a lot of fun. 

Josh Weaver: Yeah, we're hoping that I, I think, I think Robin is gonna enjoy it, and I think that David is, is still processing because it's, it's new. We're, we're in the early stages with David, but I think he's wrapping his head around the idea that there's gonna be a kid's book on him and, you know, should be a lot 

Mark Corbett: of fun.

No, go, go ahead. 

Josh Weaver: I was gonna say, Mat, you, you know, I don't know, you may know this more than me, but to my knowledge, a book that a [00:46:00] person that's never had a book done on them, a complete book, even a kid's book is Fred McGriff. I mean, do you know anything about that? Because you talk, he's a hall of famer and obviously it's his time in, in Toronto and his time at the Braves.

I, it is, I was shocked. So obviously Fred, if he's willing to do it, would be somebody down the road. I just didn't know if you knew if there's actually a book about him. 

Mat Germain: I don't know one off the top of my head. So I, I have to say that I, I don't think there's one that, that. That has been put out,, that I have access to in Canada.

Now. He did spend some time in, in San Diego and other locations. I can't speak to whether or not somebody put one out there, uh, in Atlanta as well. So there, there might be one out there that I'm not aware of, but it, there's always like, it's so interesting to think of like living people, you know, writing things that are relevant today that people will actually want to pick up and read because they're still fresh in the memories of, of the people that are interested in that subject, that they're, that would be ideal really, because [00:47:00] sometimes, like you said before.

There's a detachment between generations where they just, they can't get into that book because it's so far beyond their recollection that there, there's no attachment there or draw for them to, to go on. So it's almost, you could argue that writers today have a responsibility to highlight those that will be read in a appropriate period of time so that people can get access to that information while they're still relevant, which is kind of interesting.

Mark Corbett: Josh, I, I wanna thank you for, for sharing so much of this brother. The, the books that you're doing and telling us about the, the remote museums and, and folks that come in there, there's so many more stories and they can learn so much. I guess, what's the website again? If they wanna just find out more information.

Josh Weaver: If you go ahead and just look up Tampa Baseball Museum, it'll take you right there. Mm-hmm. And then you hit on the website. And one thing it'll do too is talk about upcoming events. 'cause I, I tell people to either follow us on [00:48:00] Facebook or to go to that, because we do have a newsletter too, mark.

But, you know, sometimes we, we do these things pretty quick and the newsletter is, is a little, sometimes a little slow. So definitely. Yeah. Thanks for, thanks for making people, you know, point out the idea of going to the website. And also, like I said, they could follow us on Facebook, which is tied to Instagram.

Mark Corbett: Yeah. And, and those, I think a lot, a lot of folks may be a little bit more in touch with that, uh, in, you know, social media than actually website, so that'd be a good idea too. Josh, once again, thanks buddy. We appreciate you coming here. 

Josh Weaver: Oh, thanks for having it. You know, anytime you want us on the show, we'll definitely be here because I can talk about that museum clearly all day long.

Mark Corbett: Oh, wow. Okay, everybody. Well, thank you again for joining Mat and I on Florida BaseballBiz with none other than the curator of the Tampa Baseball Museum. And that is Mr. Josh Weaver who's joined us here today, and the excitement about the game, and there's so many things, it's about the future to come, and I want to explore [00:49:00] that one concept with you, with Mat, with the, I think we just need to look at that, guys.

Let's see. All righty. Well, thanks once again and we'll talk with you again real soon