2 Guys Talking Baseball
Dallas Danger and Brian Logan discuss the game of baseball. Two fans, two personalities, Two Guys!
2 Guys Talking Baseball
One of a Kind!
Can the Chicago Cubs turn their playoff dreams into reality? Join us as we, Dallas Danger and Brian Logan, break down their electrifying recent performances and playoff potential. We’ll spotlight PCA's dynamic play and how his infectious energy has filled the gap left by Morell’s exit. Plus, with the Cubs' impressive comeback against Pittsburgh and a promising schedule ahead, we’ll analyze their path to possibly securing a wildcard spot. Expect a mix of insights and excitement as we contrast PCA’s lively presence with Paredes' more reserved demeanor.
Shifting gears to the Los Angeles Dodgers, we'll explore their determined quest for home-field advantage in the playoffs. We’re diving deep into the health and form of key players like Yamamoto, Tony Gonsolin, and Walker Buehler, and how their recoveries could be pivotal. We’ll also ponder the potential impact of Shohei Ohtani in the postseason, discussing how his unique contributions could shake things up. As the Dodgers face tough opponents, maintaining their momentum is crucial, and we’re here to break down what that means for their playoff aspirations.
Finally, we sprinkle in some fun and nostalgia with memorable baseball stories. From the chaos of the Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani bobblehead giveaway to hilarious anecdotes involving legends like Greg Maddux and Chipper Jones, there's no shortage of entertainment. We’ll recount a historic MLB game feat featuring Danny Jansen and take a humorous look at the White Sox's current struggles. If you’re a die-hard baseball fan or just love a good laugh, this episode promises to be a homerun.
Hello friends, countries, countries, countrymen, neighbors that's what I'm trying to say. Welcome inside the Three Crow Studios, beautiful Morristown, Tennessee. This is Two Guys Talking Baseball. My name is Dallas Danger and, as always, I'm joined by my best friend and colleague man I can't talk today best friend and colleague, Brian Logan. Brian, please talk to him.
Speaker 2:It's a great week for baseball, and it really was this week we had a.
Speaker 1:We had a fantastic week. We got a lot to talk about today on the program. Some history made some fun with the white socks. We've had a lot of fun with the white socks. That's going to continue today. But we also watched a really great documentary called One of a Kind. It was the Greg Maddox documentary that MLB Network aired last Sunday. We're going to talk about that and the 14 strikeout game that they aired after the premiere of that documentary. So a lot of great Maddox talk today on the program. But, brian, before we get into all that, it's very interesting to see you sitting in front of the backdrop with a very different shade of blue on you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So, as you are adorned in the colors and the logos and the names of a better team, let's talk about the Cubs.
Speaker 2:Okay, the Cubs have played great. They sure have. They really have. Pca is just. I mean, he is turning out to be just a world beater almost. He's hitting in the park home runs, he's hitting out of the park home runs. He's stealing bases. He is doing it all. He's defense. He's still in bases. He is doing it all. He's defense, he's offense. If he was, you know, driving them all on the bus to the next town, it wouldn't surprise me. They are playing very, very well. The pitching seems to be coming together and they were scoring a lot of runs against Pittsburgh. Maybe the comeback of the season this week against Pittsburgh, down 10-3 and came back to win it. I mean they are looking really good. And for me to have said a few weeks ago that the season's over I was wrong the season we might be in this wild card thing.
Speaker 1:How do you think the New York Mets feel right now about giving up PCA for Javi Baez and Trevor Williams?
Speaker 2:Oh they, just they're hating life right.
Speaker 1:I think they feel better about the fact that they don't have to deal with Javi Baez anymore.
Speaker 2:Right Well poor Javi.
Speaker 1:Yeah, poor guy.
Speaker 2:I mean the nicest guy in the world, literally, and you know he just can't hit the ball, but it's not from him trying. I mean he swings at everything, literally everything. I think they bowled one up there on the ground and he still swung at it.
Speaker 1:But yeah, pca is a really great player now at the big league level for the Cubs and got a lot of years left in him.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So you know, I can't wait to see how the Cubs mess that up.
Speaker 2:Well, he's just fun man. He's just fun to watch play. I think he's feeling comfortable with the team, which is way more than Paredes is. Paredes is not to change the topic, but to change the topic. He is just not getting comfortable with the Cubs. He will hit the ball well, but right at people, and then he will come in at clutch moments and drive in a run, which is what you want. But as far as setting up before the clutch moment, he's just he don't even look happy. So you compare PCA, who is the all-American boy out there smiling, just playing like it's Little League, and Paredes, over here playing like he's mad or completely uncomfortable in his own skin, and it's just night and day. But Paredes does come through, though. Even though it might be once a game, it's a very important part of once the game.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, well, I mean, and I think PCA is standing out so much with what you're talking about, his demeanor and how much fun he has in a youthful exuberance, because you lost all that when Burrell went to the Rams, right, so it's easy to think, well, that's gone now. But PCA has kind of filled that role and stepped up into that kind of vibe that you need to be successful. And to see the Cubs I mean we wereubs First off two, three weeks ago you said the season was over, correct. Since then they've gone from having to leapfrog half the National League to they've got two teams to leapfrog Four and a half, I think, out of a spot now Five and a half or four and a half out of a wild card spot, right, but you know, and that's doable. You know it's not likely but it's doable in 30 games or however many they have left Somewhere in about a month left.
Speaker 2:But they've only got the.
Speaker 1:Mets and the Braves to leapfrog, yeah, and that feels really doable for a team like the Cubs that, in addition to playing really well lately, man, the bulk of their strength of schedule is in the past.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:They got about as easy as 30 games left. As you're going to find Right, not a lot of really good contending teams left on that schedule for the Cubs. So if they keep the ball rolling, they really have a legitimate shot in surprising some people and sneaking into the playoffs. And as we've learned the last couple of years with this new format, all you've got to do is get in and you've got a shot.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely. So I mean, if we keep on doing what we're doing, you know, winning two out of three, three out of every four, we might be in this thing.
Speaker 1:I think the Cubs have a real shot. It's an outside shot, don't get me wrong. This season is going to end up a little better than I think we really could have imagined. It would just not even a couple weeks ago.
Speaker 2:It's night and day from a few weeks ago, yeah, yeah. No, I mean it's night and day from a few weeks ago and it's so exciting to watch him play now. I mean, we hit a few weeks there. It was really tough and frustrating. But I did read today that they may be getting rid of P Wizzle, patrick Wisdom, to avoid the tax, so I hope that's not going to happen. They've been making some moves to get rid of some people for that very reason, and he's the next rumored guy, and thank goodness it's just a rumor. I know we don't like to deal with rumors on this show, but I think that's a good rumor. I think that's something that we can pay attention to. So, yeah, I like Patrick Wisdom a lot. I think he comes in on the clubs when it's needed. A lot of boom on that stick, A lot of boom on that stick Right when it's needed too. I hope we do keep him, but if we don't, I understand why.
Speaker 1:I was looking to see if there were any updates on Drew Smiley. There's just the reports from a couple days ago that he was going to hit the waiver line. I haven't done enough research to really know what that means for the Cubs as far as roster construction, luxury tax, any of that. But that was a name that was a little surprising to see pop up that they were just going to let him walk, which is basically you put a guy on our line of leaders. You're basically saying we're going to let him go find employment elsewhere.
Speaker 1:The timing too, because we talked last week. It was too, you know, because we talked last week, it was funny.
Speaker 2:Last week we talked hypotheticals on the program in terms of Jackson Hayward, for instance, yeah and right, as we were recording.
Speaker 1:Yeah, as we were recording, we found out later that he had been DFA'd, and the reason he was DFA'd on an off day, the reason he was DFA'd when he was, was to give him ample time to land with another contending team, which would be the most likely team to pick up a guy like Jason Hayward in the middle of August. And so there was a respect there of like we don't see a place for you on our roster. We're going to let you go find a place on a roster right, with enough time to get antiquated and be ready, and before that cutoff of september 1st where if you're not, if you're not on the 40 man, you can't play in the playoffs, right. So the drew smiley news is like man, they're cutting it really close. So I could see some sour grapes there from the Drew Smiley camp. I was like man, if you were going to do this anyways, you couldn't give us two, three more days to find a team.
Speaker 1:He still might land somewhere, I don't know, because here's the thing the likelihood of a team picking somebody up on waivers right now is very unlikely, because that means they're picking up the whole season's salary, to the best of my understanding, whereas if they clear waivers and then you sign them. You can sign them to a prorated contract where you're only paying them for what you're going to get out of them. Timelines I don't know if there's anything any such thing as a surprise when it comes to who gets let go by big league teams. Now, you know, because there's a lot of I mean there's a lot that goes into it. You know, if they're thinking luxury tax, then pretty much yeah, what can you do? Yeah, I mean anybody's, nobody's off limits.
Speaker 2:No, no, and Smiley was one of the two pitchers that was on the team on the roster opening day and I kind of got the feeling they saw that graphic on the game and went, oh well, we'll put a stop to that. We can't have that. We can't have two guys that were here the whole time. Yeah. So that might have you know, I didn't have to do with it, but you know, you never know. Yeah, it might have been Straight.
Speaker 1:Two things have happened, I mean they could trade him to somebody for like a bag of balls or something, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Two splintered bats, a bag of balls and an old 1947 glove.
Speaker 1:And a rotisserie chip and a rotisserie chip, some candlesticks. Given the term rotisserie baseball the whole new meaning. So as far as the Dodgers, I guess I'll segue here. Feeling good, getting healthy, playing good ball.
Speaker 2:Looking great.
Speaker 1:Playing good baseball. Again, our biggest issue is what everybody else is doing. The teams we're trying to get away from in the standings are the only teams playing better than we are. That's okay, we still control our own destiny. I'm encouraged by how we've played against Baltimore in this series that's going on right now, and man, it's just. You know, dave said it a few days ago himself this team is in playoff mode now because we've got to play well down the stretch, gain momentum, keep our lead in the division, win the division and, you know, hopefully be the best record in the National League. So we've got home field throughout the National League playoffs. We wouldn't have to worry about that, you know. You really we're looking at having home field throughout and I think that's important because when you look at the home away splits on the entirety of the season for the Dodgers, we want to play at home more than we play on the road.
Speaker 1:Oh road, Most teams would probably say that, but there have been times this year where the Dodgers were so good on the road that it's like, well, it doesn't happen. But when you look at the total picture of the whole season, I think this is a team that wants to play at home and the way to do that is to have the best record possible in the regular season. So, yeah, really like this club, really like the way it's put together. But, man, I'm on pins and needles. You know, every time somebody gets hit with a pitch or there's an awkward slide or anything that looks abnormal at all, it's like you hold your breath until you know they're okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know we talked before we hit record about Shohei getting his shoulder on the base pads. It was just like ugh.
Speaker 2:We both panicked.
Speaker 1:I think the world at large panics. That's not an injury anybody wants to see.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:I mean, if they have any self respect as a baseball fan. This is a guy who is at a level that nobody else is at right now. You can just shut the fuck up if you don't agree, because you're wrong. This guy is doing things that have never been done In the major leagues before, and there are other guys doing that too, but not at the rake. Shohei is doing things that have never been done before.
Speaker 2:He is a flat-out unicorn.
Speaker 1:I mean, there's just no other way to put it. He's a special individual for baseball and he's never played in October.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that was the thing, him coming to the Dodgers. We're going to get Shohei in October. We're going to get Shohei when it matters, right, when the lights are the brightest, and that's good for this game. You know, yes, I'm a dodger fan. Yes, it's good for my team. But if he played for the fucking padres, I'd say the same thing. Right, I wouldn't say the same tone in our voice, but I would still say because it's still healthy for baseball, it's still good for the game, for this guy that is doing all these amazing things to play in the postseason. That's when you want your best players on the field is in the postseason.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Anyways, not to go on the rant, but yeah, feeling good about the Dodgers, Really like where we're at, Really like how we're playing and we're in a tough part of our schedule, sort of different from the Cubs. We didn't have a very tough schedule until kind of recently. We're really going, I mean we're going through. You know, 11 out of 13 games are against Baltimore, Arizona and Cleveland.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:We're going to be there in October and we're going to Arizona and they got every reason to just beat the brakes off us, because if we go in there for four games and we don't show up, we come out in second place.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:At me maybe third, because the Padres are right there with them too. Right we can't slip up. You know we have to, I mean so it's playoff. We're in playoff mode for the Dodgers and I like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's more exciting.
Speaker 1:It's been a couple years since we had that this early, because we're used to winning the division by this time, september 10th it's like it's wrapped up, Nothing else to play for.
Speaker 1:So you know, I think that's an advantage in ways, it's a disadvantage in ways, but it's also an advantage for this team because again, the goal with the Dodgers is not win. You know, in the regular season we know how to do that, we know we can do that. The goal is to continue to do that, but up the ante when it gets to the post.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's not totally what you want to win right. So yeah, I mean you know I've started the last couple weeks to feel like a broken record talking about the Dodgers, but it's just, things are going good, trying to keep getting healthy, no more major injuries, injuries that are going to alter the plan.
Speaker 1:And, yeah, just trying to get everybody back. Yamamoto looked really good in his first rehab start last night. Tony Gonsolin we found out this past week, has got an outside shot at pitching in the bullpen this season. Did not dream that that was a possibility. Now a lot of things have to go very right, but at the same time, that's another potential option and and more of those we can stack in our favor, the better right. Walker bueller looked pretty old school walker bueller last.
Speaker 1:Yeah he looked really good last night. You know, the stuff was. The stuff was was there a little bit more he had? He had, he had the confidence that we're used to seeing Walker Bueller have in all this stuff and it could be as simple as you know. I mean, listen, he didn't pitch for almost two years. That's a long time, yeah, a long time, and I think a lot of people got this sense of urgency with him because it's a contract year. But he got asked about it the other day and he said, look, you don't talk about free agency when you have a six er, you talk about free agency when you have a two, five and you're blowing through, you know, blowing through the league. So he, he gets it. He knows that he can't.
Speaker 1:He can't worry about what his next contract is going to be, when, when he can't get guys out. That's what he said. He said I'm trying to figure out how to get guys out. You know, that's what I'm worried about. I'm not worried about my next contract, I'm worried about finishing this one out strong. So he's got a good head on his shoulders about it, which is no surprise. His makeup has always been, you know, elite. So, yeah, I mean, you know all good stuff, all good things in the Dodger camp. It's tense, but it's good, it's a good tension. We're not used to feeling that tension in August.
Speaker 1:We're used to waiting until October and getting hit in the mouth with it by somebody that's been experiencing it for a long time. That's what's happened the last two years Divisional opponent in the NLDS, coming off of winning a wild card series where we've been sitting home after we spent the last month not playing for anything, right so maybe this is a good thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it is. I think it's a good thing because it's keeping their chops up, because, like you said, last season they sat back and they were tired when they came back, and I think this is going to keep their chops up and keep them in practice to do what needs to be done and a lot of guys that haven't played a full 162, a lot of guys that took two months or three months off to recover from an injury and now they're fresh yeah they have just enough time to get into the form you need them in in October, but without all the wear and tear of the 162.
Speaker 1:It's really playing out in our favor. Now, does that automatically mean we're going to blow through everybody? No, because, man, there are like nine teams within three games of the Dodgers for the best record in the.
Speaker 2:Major League, yeah, and that's a lot, a whole lot.
Speaker 1:There's a level of parity in baseball that we have not seen in a while, a while. So I mean it's like it's been the last two years. Once we get to October, it's anybody's ballgame. It's going to depend on who shows up and who plays the best ball. I could go on about the negatives involved in that, that sort of shift in the major leagues, but I think at the end of the day, it's a good thing.
Speaker 1:That parody, that idea that once you get to October and you know the teams that are in, any of those teams could win it all. That's a good thing, because it's. I mean, think about it If you go back and look at the last few seasons, if you just did it the old way, where maybe the best record in each league plays in the World Series, or maybe you get the two best records or you just have the division. However far back you want to go, I think October and the playoffs take a hit. If you don't have Arizona in it last year, the Phillies and the playoffs take a hit. If you don't have Arizona in it last year, the Phillies and the Padres in it the year before, that, you know there's all these examples from the last few years of teams that made a long run that weren't even supposed to be.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So, you know, it sort of recalibrates the way we look at things. In August, when we came back to doing this podcast, we did our midseason predictions. This is what we think is going to happen. My AL pick was the Royals, because I'm not looking at the teams leading their divisions. I'm looking at the teams that have a chance to get hot right now and sneak in or make a run at the end and look what the Royals are doing Right. I mean, they've erased a nine-game deficit at one point and are competing for the division with Cleveland. So you know, I almost called them the Indians, the Guardians.
Speaker 2:The Guardians the.
Speaker 1:Guardians of Cleveland, which is a way better name. I don't care, you can die mad about their racist old name, but the Guardians is a better name, we just got to get used to it. Anyways, so I'm feeling good about the Dodgers. I feel good about your Cubs, man. Yeah, you know. And you I mean listen. If you're a longtime listener to this podcast, you know my feelings on the Cubs.
Speaker 2:They're right there. Yeah, they just got to get together. They're right on the cusp.
Speaker 1:And they have everything necessary. They just got to get over that hump, and they might, in spite of themselves, they might have finally gotten over that hump.
Speaker 2:Maybe Do you think there's a possibility that we saw October, the World Series last night, the prequel with the Orioles, it's possible.
Speaker 1:yeah, I mean, that's two really good ball clubs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what I thought the whole time and, to be honest, from a Dodgers standpoint, I'm all for that.
Speaker 1:Well, listen, we have, for whatever reason and I'm not taking anything away from this guy he's been one of the better pitchers in the major leagues consistently for the last handful of years. For whatever reason, corbin Burns just isn't the same guy as the Dodgers. I don't know if there's something to that, but you know, I think he's an LA product, I think he's a SoCal guy, so that might have something to do with it. I don't know, but we've always had his number, and last night was no different. Yeah, we scored on him.
Speaker 1:Now, most of it wasn't earned runs, but it doesn't change the fact we scored six runs on Corbin Burns.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we got to bring up Decoy. Last night, first time a dog does the opening pitch. What a great night, man, it was.
Speaker 1:If you haven't seen that first pitch Decoy, who of course is Shohei Otani's pupper friend. The Dodgers gave away a bobblehead Not just Shohei, but Shohei was holding decoy and a big deal. Obviously everybody wanted that bobblehead. And um, they did the chase variants again. They did gold this time around and uh, you know that was sought after. Obviously people were were chomping at the bit to see if they got the gold one, because have you seen what that gold one is listed for at home?
Speaker 2:Well, actually I had a story before we get into that. Yes, did you catch the little girl that caught the home run? I did, okay, so she had the necklace, she caught the home run and she got the golden bobblehead. No, she got a gold one too, and they offered her. I guess her dad is from over there, so she's American and he's he's you know, he's dual citizenship. Okay, and they were. They were offering tens of thousands of yen to her for hers because she was the one that caught the thing and she was like no way, yeah, the one that caught the thing, and she was like no way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no way at all. So yeah, those things are going expensive up to five thousand dollars. Yeah, yeah, are you kidding me?
Speaker 2:that's crazy five grand for a giveaway bobblehead I mean, well, I don't want to give out christmas, but you're not getting. Yeah, no shit.
Speaker 1:No shit, man, that's just. I mean, I thought it was crazy the first go-round when they were going for like $300 to $500.
Speaker 2:Yeah $500.
Speaker 1:I mean that's crazy, right we're in the wrong tempest, my car isn't worth $500. Oh yeah, if I had five of those, I could pay off my credit. Where do I get five of them? Yeah, this is a supply and demand conundrum we've got here pal.
Speaker 2:They're going to be in people's houses with like under glass, with lasers. You've got to zoom in and get them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it brings up a bigger issue. Can the Dodgers not afford to make more, 15 grand, more of these things, and just give everybody that buys a ticket one? I don't know, but it's $40,000. I mean, you're selling the place out either way? Yeah, but there were legitimate issues last night and, and unfortunately none of it affected the game, but there were team personnel that were having trouble getting there on time. Yeah, because the chaos of everybody trying to show up early enough to get one of these damn bobbleheads, didn't they say something?
Speaker 2:like they started showing up at 2 o'clock, like five hours before, seven hours before, seven hours, yeah.
Speaker 1:Seven hours before there were people lining up. Yeah that's wild, that's crazy. There is no need for that. Just make enough that everybody gets one and end it. Yes, just end it.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:I mean, good Lord, these things are so sought after and I'd like to have a Shohei bobblehead, but I'm not paying $300 for one, much less $3,000. Exactly, that's crazy talk. You know, we love bobbleheads, love them, and I love Dodger bobbleheads and the Dodgers are the kings of the bobblehead giveaway. Yeah, they have one like every week. I mean, all the time they give out more, a lot more than anybody, any other team does. You know, most teams 10,000, 15,000.
Speaker 2:They give out 40,000 every time. They do one the Cubs do like. I want to say four a year, something like that. I mean that's a slow month for the Dodgers.
Speaker 1:The Dodgers have done four of this home season.
Speaker 2:Yeah so. I mean you know they should be on top of it, and I guess they are. But if you're the 40,000th in one person, you're just out of luck.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's madness, man, but it's good. It's all good for the Dodgers. Shall we talk about this, greg Maddux?
Speaker 2:documentary Sure. Let's talk about it. I loved it.
Speaker 1:I did too. I was going to say first things first. Really well done. Nice peek behind the curtain of Maddux the guy, not just Maddux the pitcher, because we all know about Maddux the pitcher Right, but Maddux the guy and the teammate, the teammate. That was really cool to see.
Speaker 2:Hear about the ribs.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man.
Speaker 2:We'll get to that.
Speaker 1:Let's save that, because that segues into a great Brian story. People are just going to lose their minds. I've heard it a thousand times, but to y'all that are going to hear it for the first time, it's going to rock your world. Brian has had a run-in with Chipper Jones and it is a great story, so we'll get to the prankster.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:I got some notes on that. I guess I want to start with something they talked about really early on. Greg Maddux is the reason guys cover their mouth with their glove now Because in the 89 playoffs, when he was still with the Cubs, they're playing the Giants and the Cubs felt like the team that year. Well, there's a meeting on the mound, will Clark is getting ready to come up and he reads Greg's lips inside fastball, fastball inside. He read his lips, waited on that pitch, got it and it changed the complexion, yeah, of the playoff set.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and, and I didn't know that, I was unaware that that was kind of the start of the guys covering their mouths with their gloves or their hand or you know.
Speaker 1:I mean it's common, it's common practice yeah you know, it's like learning that the high five came from the 70s or whatever. Right, it feels like it's something that's like, oh well, man was created and they started covering their mouths in mountain business. Right right, man was created and started doing the high five. Well, that's not necessarily true. You know it all comes from somewhere. But, yeah, I found that super fascinating. That was one of my biggest takeaways of the whole thing.
Speaker 1:I said, wow, perhaps the greatest pitcher of all time, I would argue for Greg Maddux as the greatest pitcher of all time. He's the reason that they do that now Just mind-blowing stuff.
Speaker 2:I agree that he is the greatest pitcher of all time, the way he approaches it. Yeah, the cerebralness of it.
Speaker 1:Verducci brought up a Greg Maddox quote that I was familiar with, but it fit really well where they put it in the documentary. And that is Greg Maddox's goal Because, look, he's not a great athlete. They called him the professor because of how he looked. It fit his pitching philosophy too. But they called him that because he looked like a college professor. He looked like an athlete, and back then pitchers were tall and big and foreboding and devastating, looking intimidating Because they talked to Randy Johnson, who's like the polar opposite. Power pitcher Gets in your head just looking out at the mound, going Jesus, what's coming out of this guy's hand? Maddox was the opposite, but he made the balls look like strikes and the strikes look like balls. You can do that even at that level. You've got a long career and make a lot of money.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, and I like the part where he threw the guy the pitch and let him take it deep.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, let's talk about that. So Eddie Perez who, when Maddox was with the Braves for a big portion of his career, was his personal catcher he's talking about their playing Houston in the regular season and it's a blowout. It's like 8-0.
Speaker 1:And Maddox, I don't want to give away every detail because I want people to be able to watch this if they want to. But long story short. Maddox intentionally throws a pitch. They had game planned not to throw Jeff Bagwell and Bagwell hits it into the next town over, as would be expected, and Eddie's talking. He's like I'm pissed man, I'm wondering why we threw this pitch after the whole game plan was don't throw him that pitch, right? Maddox says very good team, we might see them in October. He's going to be hunting that pitch. So they get him in October. Bagwell comes up, they throw him three change-ups, all swing and miss and he's done. All swing and miss and he's done. And Max is like hey, hey, remember a couple months ago? And then he's like no, what are you talking about? And he's like don't you remember? I threw him that pitch and he hit it deep and then he was hunting it. So, when it mattered, he's looking for that pitch. I mean it's like chess checkers. I mean he's literally playing chess while these hitters are playing checkers.
Speaker 2:He may be playing 3D chess.
Speaker 1:Good hit.
Speaker 2:That's way ahead. A Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1:Jeff Bagwell yeah Is playing checkers and Greg Maddox is playing chess. Wow, I mean riveting stuff. Riveting stuff? Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:All right, it was amazing. I loved everything about that. All right, I'm about to put some mints in. Okay, Do that kid.
Speaker 1:And that means you're about to do some talking. Okay, so they talk about Greg Maddox, the prankster. You know they had a nice few segments where it was him, glavin and Smoltz sitting together in what looked like a living room. Great stuff, because I mean, when you think of the 90s Braves, the first thing you think of is that rotation Maddox, gladden, smoltz it didn't matter Steve Avery, whoever else they threw out there the other two days you get in the playoffs. Good luck with that. I mean those three at the top.
Speaker 2:I agree.
Speaker 1:They just needed one other guy to start every now and then who was half-assed decent, and they were good In theory. That's the other thing. They won one World Series, that whole run. But you know that just shows how hard it is to win at baseball.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is, it's hard.
Speaker 1:So Chipper tells a great story about he gets a big hit and he's in the shower after the game. Maddox is in the shower. Man, that was great, it was really impressive. He's like he's really baiting Chipper here, right, and Chipper's talking about it and the next thing he knows he looks down and Maddox is pissing on his leg in the shower and you know the guys are like who does that shit? Who does that to a teammate? And Maddox just goes. Well, it's just good team fun. Everyone can share it.
Speaker 2:And me and. Brian are watching this live and we're texting each other and I was reminded that Brian does not care for Lawrence Chipper Jones, the floor is yours, okay, well, back in the mid-'90s, I lived in Atlanta and worked for World Championship Wrestling, which was owned by Ted Turner as well as the Braves, and we hung out in Marietta.
Speaker 2:Which is right below where Ackworth and Smyrna, where the baseball field is now. So there was an old Walmart building that they turned into this country bar, sort of like Gillies, a big, big bar that had like a stage, pool tables, a dance floor, a board you could ride. You know, hey, this place was huge, right, so we would all go there. So it was called Cowboys I don't know if I mentioned that, but anyway. So we go there on a regular basis. Well, the Braves would go there on a regular basis too. So I happened to be most of the WCW guys were down on the dance floor and I had walked up to the upper bar where the mechanical bull was and that's where the Braves were. And I'm getting a beer and I'm noticing that the women there are not really enjoying the company of the Braves.
Speaker 2:The Braves are being a little obnoxious and Chipper didn't get like mean with this girl. It just he wasn't as charming as, uh, he thought he was going to be and she was having nothing of it. And he doesn't grab her, but he kind of touches her arm and she, she flips out. So I go over and I say, hey, you need to let go of her, and he goes what are you going to do? Kick my ass? And I said maybe. And he's like I'm chipper jones, you can't kick my ass. And I said you want to think about that again, pal?
Speaker 2:and about that time all the braves grabbed him and one disco inferno from wcw grabbed me and says come on, let's go down here and and Chipper's just missed taking an ass whooping by about an inch and a half.
Speaker 1:Friendly reminder folks no matter where life takes you, if you are in a bar and you think the guy next to you can't whip your ass, he might be a highly trained killer who has been taught how to take care of himself in a bar, because if he gets his ass beat in a bar he loses his job.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because that's how the wrestling landscape was back then. Yeah, if you got your ass beat in a bar, guess what? You're supposed to be a brutalizer on TV. You lose your job. Yeah, because that's just how it was.
Speaker 2:Right, right. Well, you know, and Chipper's an athlete, and you know, I was an athlete too, but he looked like an athlete, I looked like you know, I had big blonde hair and I was pretty muscular, but you know I looked like a freak and he looked like a normal human being, right? So I know he's thinking to himself, you know. I got this and I was like I don't know.
Speaker 1:I don't know.
Speaker 2:You know it's not going to pan out the way you think, chipper.
Speaker 1:All I got to do is sit behind you and put you in that sugar old pal. That's it.
Speaker 2:Grab a leg, take you down and you're done. But here's the thing I didn't get the. You know you would think the girl would be happy. Right, the girl would be happy. All this is going on. We look around, she's just gone.
Speaker 1:She's just gone.
Speaker 2:She didn't want anything to do with either of us. Gone, didn't care about nothing, like, oh thank God you saved me. No, she's just out and she never went back to California. No, no, no, no, no, she's downstairs and out the side door and never come back.
Speaker 1:She moved to Norway, she's like.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she moved up there in Wyoming or someplace where there's nothing. Cody.
Speaker 1:Wyoming.
Speaker 2:It's his neighbor now yeah. Disco Inferno. Yeah, lone Disco. What was he going to do? Yeah Right, like, think about now, I would have took Chip, yeah, but I wouldn't have took the other rest of the team. It's impossible. And my team was Disco Inferno, that's it. You know, couldn't be like Bagwell and Steiner and all those guys.
Speaker 2:Ming, ming, yeah you know Bagwell and Steiner are way over on the other side of the bar, like couldn't even see or hear it if it went down, you know. So yeah, me and Disco, we fought off the whole break. I love it.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry if you don't know who these people are, if you don't know anything about wrestling, but, man, the fact that Disco, his wrestling name, was Disco Inferno and he was all Brian had in his way back up against the entire Atlanta Braves team, jesus Christ, it was a good time.
Speaker 2:It was a hell of a bar.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's a great story. Yeah, oh, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I need a minute after this. Oh Chipper, oh, Chipper Jones, yes, but yeah, it was a hell of a bar and I really liked the team that year. I thought they played good man. I mean, you know, I liked him right up until I met him. That just goes to show. Don't meet your heroes.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Especially in a bar named Cowboys in the mid-90s.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if there's a mechanical bull, that's not where you want to meet your heroes. Oh yeah, and they were all up there, they camped out up around the mechanical bull.
Speaker 2:So that right there tells you you know what kind of night they were having wide open Because they were waiting to see which girls got on.
Speaker 1:That, of course. And they were like there you go, of course, low-hanging fruit, exactly.
Speaker 2:I mean, if you're a guy in a bar trying to score, I guess that's a pretty good strategy, in my experience Well that bar was if you were male or female and wanted to meet someone you were going to meet someone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was the place you went to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you had to really put an effort not to meet someone. I mean because there was plenty to do there in that good old country place.
Speaker 1:Meanwhile in Cody Wyoming.
Speaker 2:Meanwhile in Cody Wyoming, the one girl is, you know, but anyway, yeah, the documentary was fantastic.
Speaker 1:I loved it. It was great.
Speaker 2:It was very good and it was very thorough.
Speaker 1:It was, and they covered all the bases without getting too deep in the weeds on any one thing. It was a stick and move flow because they only had so much time.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But I felt like they covered everything really well. And the Vegas motif because I think that's a part of his story that not everybody knows is that he's from Vegas and still lives in. He loves Vegas, he's a Vegas guy.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And coming from a Vegas guy, because, man, I've only been once, but I could live there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's great I love that town.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what a town, but yeah, really really good documentary. And immediately following they aired Maddox's career-high 14 strikeout game. It's 2001 against the Brewers and man. 2001 is so peak of my fandom because I am a card collector to this day, I took a break, but I'm back in it. The 02 top set, which is sort of like capturing the 01 season, is my favorite set of all time.
Speaker 1:I love that set. It is so cool. I remember being a teenager and in 2001,. The rookies of the year were Albert Pujols in the National League and Ichiro in the American League. I remember in 2002, it probably was in the update set later in the year but they did a Rookie of the Year card for Ichiro and a Rookie of the Year card for Pujols and those were so cool.
Speaker 1:Those guys were like in my baseball fandom, I had not seen one rookie season like that, much less two at the same time. Right, and those guys were cool as could be, and the Bonds record home run season. So we're watching a game from the peak of my baseball fandom as a youth, a young youth.
Speaker 2:A young youth as a youth.
Speaker 1:So I gotta first off say it was nice to see that Brewers look, and I get it. I'm the one guy in the world that doesn't love that stupid ball in the glove logo. Just call your team the baseball team, because your logo is a baseball in a glove. A little bit it's the end of the beat. Yeah, but they're lowercase and they should be capital dumbass like don't get me started when they actually had the barley wheat on it, you know, and it looked like what a team called the brewers would wear. Man love that. I should also say right out of the gate that the Brewers manager at the time was Davey Lopes. I love me some, davey Lopes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do too, I do too. You said he's your all-time favorite doctor. He's my all-time favorite doctor because of the way he hustled. I like the guys that hustled and he hustled man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, base runner.
Speaker 2:St the way he hustled. I liked the guys that hustled and he hustled, man, yeah, base runner.
Speaker 1:Stole some bags. Oh yeah, it was very fun to watch Legged out some base hits, you know, just a great ball player and a great baseball personality who also got the opportunity to manage a little bit at that time. So that was cool, yeah, man. But just hearing everybody talk about what made Maddox great and then getting to see him immediately after, here's an example. Here's Exhibit A on why Greg Maddox is the greatest pitcher of all time, or at least you know. Leo Mazzone, the famous Bobby Cox pitching coach for all those years at Atlanta, said you know, well, hell, he's the best I've ever seen with my own eyes. Cover some ground. Oh yeah, cover some ground, I mean. And what a great example. I mean and I'll admit it's not an all-time great Brewers lineup If you could get around Richie Sexton and Jeremy Bernitz, you were doing pretty good, and they're not Hall of Fame great all-time hitters.
Speaker 1:They were solid don't get me wrong. That was a team that could flirt with making the playoffs right. You know I had a little bit of pitching, you know, but I get it, you know 162,. You're going to play some teams that you know you should throw 14 strikeouts, but you still did.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:You can't take that away from him, but he still did it, he still executed it. So just give me your takeaways from watching that game. Seeing Maddox hit 14 strikes and the other thing too, was like seventh, eighth inning he's at like eighth.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he finished so strong. That's what I was going to say was is it didn't get fast and out of control. It stayed slow and methodical at an even pace Not a boring pace, an even pace and then just brought it home strongly Because we made the comment of wow, he's really going to finish off strong here. And he did. And he just didn't. He just would walk off, just all calm. That's just such a pro, I know, and I.
Speaker 1:And he just didn't, he just would walk off, just all calm and that's just such a pro and I'm not ever going to be the guy that's like, well, the way it used to be was better, because that's the way it used to be. That's just bullshit. The game is at an all time high. We are living through a golden age of baseball at the major league level, maddox getting better as the game goes on. You don't see that. Guys throw so hard all the time now that they're not even seeing the lineup the third time through right you know, and that's the thing when you compare the two and it's like well, why is offense down?
Speaker 1:Well, motherfucker, because nobody sees a four-seam fastball anymore. You know, I mean, and this has been. You know, if you want to dig and get the data, it's out there, right, because these studies have been done, aaron Judge sees so many fewer four-seam fastballs than Ted Williams saw. I'm not taking anything away from Teddy Baldwin, not the point of this conversation, but if you want to try to say that just because the offensive numbers are down, that makes Ted Williams automatically a better hitter than Aaron Judge, I think it almost makes Aaron Judge a better hitter than Ted Williams. That's your argument, because he's doing something that's a lot more impressive, right, you know? Then you think about how many times a season or in a career does Judge see these pitchers? It's way less, because he's playing way more different teams.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And the way rosters are constructed. You don't see the same guys over and over again. Right, it's just, guys, pitchers don't go nine and get better the last two innings anymore. You don't see that. Not that you saw it that frequently back then, but it's so impressive to see, from any era, a guy enter the eighth inning with eight strikeouts and ended with 5-14. Like that's just, it's incredible. It was so cool, monumental, I mean. That was just, and Maddox didn't throw that hard. No 91, 92 on the fastball Didn't have to.
Speaker 2:He had those corner sweeps and he knew how to set them up. Like he said, baiting the hook, that's what he did.
Speaker 1:Better than anybody. He was a pitcher. He wasn't a thrower, he was a pitcher. He talked about that in the documentary. He knew that he wasn't able to do what other pitchers of the time did, so he had to do it his way. Never been anybody better other pitchers of the time did, so he had to kind of do it his way. You know, man, never been anybody better. So, if I'm not mistaken, they won 1-0. The Sir Hoff home run. Can we talk about Bob Dews, the Atlanta bullpen coach, catching that home run in the bullpen? Very?
Speaker 2:interesting. Like he'd done it 300 times earlier in the day Just reached up Like he's Reached up and caught it. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like he's sitting in that bullpen during batting practice. He's going Got that one, got that one.
Speaker 2:And everybody else ran.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they ran. The ballplayers are like scattering. The ballplayers are like scattering. He's just like I got it Nerves of steel. Yeah, man, just it's great. And the other thing I wanted to make sure we talked about Greg Maddux helping his own call running out an infield single.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely yeah, he wasn't for a pitcher, he wasn't a bad batter.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, he was a pretty decent hitter.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we don't even get to see pitchers hit at all now, no, that's a thing of the past, and for good reason.
Speaker 1:It's a good thing, idiot. I was going to say we're not saying it was better when pitchers got the hit, because, come on, it's not. We're really arguing that.
Speaker 2:When Nolan Ryan stopped batting, that was when I was like, okay, maybe Even so, nolan Ryan was a heck of a batter.
Speaker 1:You just keep babbling on about how great Nolan Ryan was, and I'm going to look up the numbers to prove you wrong.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, from an emotional standpoint, I remember you would get excited by Nolan Ryan Before you had your stat cast kid, he was a very exciting player to have out there Stat cast.
Speaker 1:I'm going to look up his fucking batting average now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's all statistical and I'm all emotional here. It was a heck of a thing because he could have possibly hit one.
Speaker 1:Standard batting here we go.
Speaker 2:What do we?
Speaker 1:got 27 years what it's like 079? Would you like to venture a guess? 079.
Speaker 2:125.
Speaker 1:110. For a pitcher, that's great On base career 148. Well, his career OPS plus 100 is league average. Well okay, league average hitter is 100. He's a negative 18.
Speaker 2:Well, did you ever watching play, or were you not alive yet?
Speaker 1:I don't need to. I don't want to see a negative 18 OPS plus hitter ever.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I'm telling you, when this guy come up, you believe that he would either throw it past, you could possibly hit one out, or maybe just beat you down, and for a kid like me that was pretty exciting.
Speaker 1:Sounds to me like you were smoking the hopium. Well maybe, maybe. I can't wait for AI to pick that up and put that in the description the word hopium. What happens when Nolan Ryan smoked a bunch of hopium and beat guys up at the play.
Speaker 2:And still pissed with a bloody nose.
Speaker 1:Hey, that's the other thing, just kind of circling back to the Dodgers playing the Orioles. What about James McCain?
Speaker 2:With the face thing.
Speaker 1:Well, you know why that is?
Speaker 2:Yeah, because he caught the fastball with the nose.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he took the foul ball off the face or whatever and his eyes swollen shut. And he catches the rest of the game, not just hits a couple times, not just goes out to the outfield and picks grass. No, he caught the rest of the game. Yeah, he's playing with a damn face shield on. Yeah, man, incredible Balls, balls.
Speaker 2:Definitely balls.
Speaker 1:Good player, good for him, and that's not a gendered term. I've met women that got bigger balls than any man I've ever met. James McCann's got some cojones. Yeah, hats off to James McCann, because that, come on, I'd have been like you know what.
Speaker 2:I'll retire. That's a sign I'm finished. That's a sign from above that I should never play baseball, ever again. Could we possibly get a timeout, maybe? Or just give me a minute, I'll walk it off. Can I have a minute to rub some dirt on?
Speaker 1:yeah, rub some dirt on it, it'll be all right can I make sure I don't have permanent vision loss and damage?
Speaker 2:to my eyes. You know the batter's like here, and hands him his eyeball back. He's like you, you drop this. Yeah, you, you can have that.
Speaker 1:Oh my, so, anyways, we thoroughly enjoyed the Maddox documentary and reliving the 14 strikeout game. You know, again, for me that was taking me back in a time machine to when I really, I think truly fell in love with the game of baseball. Yeah, that 0-1, you know, around that turn of the millennium was like peak fandom for me.
Speaker 1:that's when I really started just like getting baseball yeah, I'd always liked it because we were a sports family, so all sports but man that was when. That was when the majesty and the romance of baseball swept me up for the first time. Yeah, so getting to go back to that time period, uh, hear that awful announcing just the worst game call I think I've ever heard it was pretty bad, it was terrible? Yeah it was. It was a little rough too I can't even tell you their names.
Speaker 2:No idea who they were well, didn't I text you a couple times? What the hell are they?
Speaker 1:talking about? Yeah, we talked, we texted several times Like what are they even going on about? Like there's an all-time great game going on and they're just like babbling about nonsense.
Speaker 2:Did you hear? Hey, we're going out with Chipper Jones after the game tonight. We're going to go have some beers at this bar.
Speaker 1:That would have been more entertaining.
Speaker 2:We need to get Chipper Jones on the show and see if he remembers that night.
Speaker 1:You know, my brother Darren has interviewed Chipper.
Speaker 2:Jones, I wish he would have asked. I bet nine times out of ten. I bet he don't remember.
Speaker 1:Of course he doesn't, no Come on.
Speaker 2:There's no way.
Speaker 1:You know how many guys he almost got in a fight with in that bar.
Speaker 2:Probably. It was probably like a weekend thing, yeah, like every night. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Every night of every homestay. He was in that bar.
Speaker 2:He's up on a haystack going. You can't whip my ass Do you know who I am.
Speaker 1:You know, mark Wohlers is going. God damn it, not again, chipper.
Speaker 2:Can we go out and?
Speaker 1:have a beer one time. Oh gosh, All right. Well, yeah, so we loved the Maddox stuff. Shout out to MLB Network for giving us something to talk about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was very nice, they promoted it nice and then it delivered. A lot of times they promo those things and they don't quite deliver, but that delivered.
Speaker 1:Well, that was the thing is, I had seen some of those teaser clips that they've gotten out and I was like we've got to watch this. Yeah, this is going to be good. I love that those clips weren't even the best clips from the whole document.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they were better.
Speaker 1:It's like you see a good movie preview and you go see the movie and you're like all the funny jokes were in the preview. I just wasted $30 on this movie ticket to see what I'd already seen.
Speaker 1:No, they drew us in and they delivered 30 bucks on this movie ticket. Yeah, yeah, yeah, to see what I'd already seen, you know. Uh, no, they, they. They drew us in and they delivered yes On the documentary. And again, seeing the game was just, uh, uh, a great little trip down memory lane. And we get to tell Brian's trip and go story.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we get to talk about disco. That's right. Shout out to Disco, disco, a pop man. Hey, he's a Vegas guy.
Speaker 1:He's out there with me, man.
Speaker 2:So yeah, glenn, if you're listening. What's up, brother? All right.
Speaker 1:So we've got a couple more things we want to talk about here today. I'm going to name this episode one of a kind, partially because that was the name of the documentary, but also a first time everything happened in the major leagues. And it's a pretty cool one because Danny Jansen, who I love I love catchers, to begin with, with the glasses and just the way he plays, I just really dig Danny Jansen. He became the first player in major League history to appear for both teams in the same game.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you might be saying well, how does that even happen? Well, there was a game I think it was from like June 26th the Blue Jays and the Red Sox. Well, on June 26th, danny Jansen was in the lineup catching for the Blue Jays. The game is suspended While Danny Jansen is at bat. The game is suspended due to weather. They resumed it this past Monday. Danny had been traded to the Red Sox and as soon as that trade went down, everybody was speculating is he going to do it? Because they knew the game was going to be resumed at some point, is he?
Speaker 1:going to do it.
Speaker 2:Is he going?
Speaker 1:to do it.
Speaker 2:Is he?
Speaker 1:going to do it and then, like a few days before, the media is asking Alex Cora, the Red Sox manager hey, is this going to happen? You just like tell us so we can like keep talking about it or shut up about it, depending on it.
Speaker 2:And he's like come on, guys, let's make history.
Speaker 1:He's got to be in the lineup. He's got to do it. I'm going to let him do it. So Danny Jansen not only played for both teams in the same game, he batted and was the catcher. Insane at bat, crazy, right. That's wild. I mean, what do you even say? You don't? I mean, I don't even know what to say about that. It's incredible.
Speaker 2:It's one of those trivia questions that doesn't sound quite possible. You know what it is. Do you remember the old when it would rain? The you Make the Call. Yeah, that's an episode of you Make the.
Speaker 1:Call yeah Right, it's crazy. And football, I dare you, I dare you to pull that one off football.
Speaker 2:You don't have a hair on your ass.
Speaker 1:Football, you can't touch that, only baseball man Only baseball. Only baseball. That's why it's the king of the major sports. That's it right there, because you ain't getting that in any other sport. Basketball, come on, ain't happening. Ever, ever, never happened in basketball or football or hockey. It just ain't happening. Now somebody's going to tweet at us. Well, actually it happened in the NFL in 1935.
Speaker 2:Well, if they do well, we'll deal with them.
Speaker 1:I'll admit it, I'm not going to sit here and say I'll eat my hat or anything like that. Yeah man, really remarkable. Here's the other cool thing. I saw Billy Wagner famous closer from, I think, tasswood, somewhere close to where I grew up, because I remember the joke when he was in the major leagues when I was a kid Was everybody like, oh yeah, old Hokies boy, because everybody knew his dad.
Speaker 1:Because his dad was just like one of those small town personalities that everybody knew, even in other small towns. His son Will I think it's Will went 0-4 in the resumed game. Well, he officially now went 0-4 on June 26th. His major league debut was in July.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's funny.
Speaker 1:So he officially went 0-4.
Speaker 2:Before he was in the league, before he was actually a major league player. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Unreal man.
Speaker 2:That's a good trivia question so great right.
Speaker 1:So great yeah and good man. That's a good trivia question. So great right, so great yeah, and good for Danny Jansen, Again a player that I've loved for a few years. Just remarkable and again the type of thing that only baseball can do Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Just one of a kind literally.
Speaker 1:It's a game full of ghosts and Danny Jansen will not be a Hall of Fame, but he'll be in Cooperstown forever.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean he's a part of that story forever now, Because nobody can ever say they did it before he did it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I don't know that anybody will ever do it again.
Speaker 2:Right. I don't know if they'll do that either.
Speaker 1:I mean it could happen next year.
Speaker 2:But do it again, right? I don't know if they'll do that either I mean it could happen next year, but how then?
Speaker 1:But it could never happen again. You know, that's the crazy thing about something like this it's so random and weird and like A novelty, a real novelty, yeah, a true novelty, that I mean. Who? Knows Again it could happen next year, but it could potentially.
Speaker 2:I think it's more likely it never happens again. Can you imagine us telling our grandkids about that? Yeah, Back in our day these guys played in both teams in the same game. Grandpa, come down, come down. You're way off in the left field.
Speaker 1:Just take these pills, Grandpa.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm going to take you a little nap. We're back with Monday Guys playing for both teams in the same game. Take your pills, grandpa. Take your pills, okay, how are we doing?
Speaker 2:on time, we're at the top of the hour.
Speaker 1:Okay, good, all right, so we're winding down. You know, relatively short episode for us this week, yeah, but anyways. So the last thing, brian, I wanted to talk about. We've had some fun with the White Sox.
Speaker 2:Yes, well, who hasn't?
Speaker 1:The Chicago White Sox. Nobody involved with the team. I'll tell you that. Just look at the change in expression on the face of Miguel Vargas after he got traded from the Dodgers to the White Sox. I'll tell you everything you need to know about who's not?
Speaker 1:having fun Anyways. So we've had some fun. If you're joining us for the first time, you're not really fully aware the Chicago White Sox are kind of on pace to be the worst team in recorded Major League history. I know a couple days ago they had to go 11-19 or worse the rest of the way. Now that might sound hard to do until you realize that they were at that point 4-30 since the All-Star. That means they've won four and lost 30 in their last 34 games. They got a real shot at the worst record in major league history. They are so bad and I saw pictures from right before the first pitch yesterday. You could count the number of people in that ballgame. Oh, I don't doubt it, and people were like there's literally like 75 people.
Speaker 2:It was bad let them out for free. Charge them to get out well, I got better thanks to the onion.
Speaker 1:Shout out to the onion one of the I mean the originator of parody news online, and you know, when it was just them, it was great. Now that everybody's doing it, it sucks because it's doing it. It sucks because it's like it's hard to keep track of what's a parody account.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But the Onion always does it in a way that's funny. It's obviously not real. They're not trying to fool anybody and be an asshole, they're just having some fun. So what if, brian Okay, give it to me the first nine White Sox ticket holders that go through the game and enter the stadium, those nine people are put into the starting line.
Speaker 2:I love it, and here's what I would say.
Speaker 1:You don't fit the people to the position they get assigned, the position as they come in, so, like the first person pitches, the second person catches, the third person pitches.
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely All the way through, because I would pay money good money, your money to see a 90 year old lady in a wheelchair be a catcher. That'd be great, and I bet she's got an arm too. Oh yeah, because you know, if she's that old and she's coming to a game, she knows what she's doing yeah and I think it'd be better than their catcher, or she thinks she does enough. Yes, that it would be really entertaining. Absolutely, absolutely. And that's saying grandma can play some ball.
Speaker 1:What about? Her pitcher is like a five-year-old kid. Yeah, who's like. I just wanted to go to the game. I didn't want this pressure. I don't even know what the coaches are talking about. I just want to eat a hot dog. I had a good time with my friend and his friend's out in center field like Hi, I miss you. We're never coming to a baseball game ever again. I hate sports. I'm going to get into dancing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think they should totally do that man. Here's the thing. Could it make it any worse?
Speaker 1:No it can't possibly get worse. You might as well try to sell some tickets while you're at it, absolutely. Because, they're definitely not doing that.
Speaker 2:That team ain't selling you a ticket and if somehow they win because you've got to emphasize why they would do it then they get that week's pay of the ballplayers.
Speaker 1:Oh, but they've got to win.
Speaker 2:They've got to win. If they win, then you get what the catcher would have made for that game.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just the game, because those guys make such good money. That's life-changing money, right? That's selling tickets. That's selling tickets, chicago, jerry.
Speaker 2:Reinsdorf. I think he's still in the White Sox. We just sold you some tickets. We did, we did. I should be marketing. I should be sitting up there in an office with a cigar going yeah, you know what we need, see, let me tell you what we need.
Speaker 1:It's funny because I'm typing this into the format and we've already talked about the idea that they should hire a new manager every time they lose, right? Excuse me, we talked about that on the show. Yeah, the idea that they hire a new manager and as long as he's winning, he stays the manager.
Speaker 2:But as soon as he loses, he's out of place.
Speaker 1:And you keep doing that all year. I'm typing this and thinking, man, we're really, really dogging the White Sox and coming up with some cockamamie schemes to sell them some tickets. Bill Beck owned the White Sox in that book. The White Sox were the ones that did the the disco demolition yeah, that went sideways. Yeah, that is still talked about to this day as an in-game promotion. I mean come on guys, if you're going to be in the spats, entertain us a little bit, and that makes me think too.
Speaker 2:Let's put it all together One big night. You've got the guest manager, you're the first nine people through the door. Well, let's say you've got to have relief pitchers in case the five-year-old doesn't come out. So let's say the first 12 people through the door. Then they get position plays, and if they win the ball game they get the night's pay of the position player that they took over for. And for the rest of the people that don't get in there, it's nickel beer night.
Speaker 1:Jesus Christ, they'll burn the place down, I know but it'll be epic, I'll tune in.
Speaker 2:Come on, grandma, I'll have another.
Speaker 1:I'd watch that on TV.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't want to be there, but I would watch it I don't want to be anywhere near that. It all takes place inside a steel cage.
Speaker 1:Around the.
Speaker 2:Around the arena.
Speaker 1:You'd have to put up the cage because they'd be throwing it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah 12 people in her. We'll leave when we can.
Speaker 1:That's a good one, good stuff, I mean, they need to do something in Chicago.
Speaker 2:Oh, they got to.
Speaker 1:The South Side is a state of affairs I know.
Speaker 2:It's rough there, and it's naturally rough there, much less when the ball team's not playing.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, that's what I've heard. Yeah, I've heard you don't want to drive.
Speaker 2:No, you don't want to cross that street. I can't remember what street it is, from the north side to the south side. You don't want to, unless you know, you know what you're doing. Yeah, if you know what you're doing, it's fine, no big deal. But yeah, you know, like two gringos like us walking across the line, you might uh not have such a good time I've heard about bo james driving around that area. I wouldn't.
Speaker 1:That wouldn't surprise me, it's pretty entertaining to hear him explain what's going on out there in the south side of Chicago.
Speaker 2:I bet, I bet Again apologies.
Speaker 1:No one listening probably knows who we're talking about. If you did, it'd be really funny.
Speaker 2:It would be hysterical. Just look up Bo James on Facebook. Just read for a little bit or stick around a day.
Speaker 1:How's it going, bo? If you ever hear this, we'd love man. Bo James is one of my favorite people on the planet yeah mine too. All right, you got anything. Any more ground you want to cover today in the world of baseball? Brian Logan.
Speaker 2:Well, I do. I want to have a shout out to our Alabama listeners and our listeners this week. If you guys are listening again, we love having you. Feel free to shoot us a message, keep listening, we love you.
Speaker 1:Are we still getting hits in Germany?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I figured I'd move over to Texas.
Speaker 1:No, no, listen, You're spreading the love. I like that.
Speaker 2:I do. But yes, we got the German contingencies back and we picked up Texas and Alabama.
Speaker 1:Texas and Alabama. That's cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is.
Speaker 1:Thanks everybody for listening. We really appreciate it. We're happy to be out everywhere now and not just doing the YouTube thing exclusively. We've added if you're a YouTube music user, you have access to our podcast. Now that was an oversight, I guess on our part. Just you know an extra box to click. That we didn't click and got some feedback.
Speaker 2:Saying that the Android users wanted to have it so they could pull it up on their phones, and I immediately went to the thing and checked the box and got us rolling with it.
Speaker 1:So we're out in the airwaves and we're happy that you are listening. If you want to follow us, twitter is probably the easiest and best option. Brian is at 3CrowsBri. I am at Dallas Danger. If you're watching on YouTube, those are on the screen for you and the show is at 2GTVPod. You can always just go to 2GTVPod. You can always just go to 2GTVcom. That'll get you episodes, links to everything.
Speaker 2:The one-stop shop for everything. Two guys talk in baseball.
Speaker 1:Good hub there we have a store 2GTVstore. Shirts, hats, coffee mugs, stuff for your pets, stuff for your partner, stuff for your kids a little something for everybody. Back in 2022, when we first founded this show and did some episodes back then, we took a lot of pride in building a merchandise store that everybody could find something at, and useful products, yeah.
Speaker 2:And you know, decoy had his own jersey on last night. He did, and Rex loves his 2GTV jersey, so maybe we will find somebody who's looking for that. They can find the pet shirt that I call the pet jersey.
Speaker 1:There you go, absolutely, and it's free to look 2GTVstore. Just go, take a gander and see what you see. Another way to support us directly financially is patreoncom. I did good the beginning, I goofed. In the end I'm goofing Patreoncom. Last week we did a little story time. Jeff Torberg is a famous major league manager and a pretty accomplished catcher. We found out in our research.
Speaker 1:Yeah, had caught quite a few no-hitters in historic games. His son, dale, was a wrestler and Brian encountered him on his wrestling journey and we talked about that on Patreon. In addition, our original 11 episodes from 2022 are on Patreon Two episodes of a podcast Brian did with his wife called Married with Baseball, and a lot of other bonus stuff. We talked about bobbleheads. We've done our favorite ballpark food at one point. So a lot of fun extras on Patreon and we've kept it really cost effective. So it's just a few bucks a month, uh, and it would go a long way for us, obviously, um, to have that little extra cheese on our whopper, so to speak. Uh, every month for you.
Speaker 1:So if you like what you hear, uh, and then, uh, you know, wherever you're watching or listening, please subscribe, especially if you're on YouTube. We want to expand what we do with our youtube channel and the only way for us to have the capability to do some of those things is to get our subscriber count up. So, even if you don't listen on youtube, we really appreciate a youtube subscribe and help us out there, and if you just want to listen, you don't want to spend any money, we appreciate your listens. Yeah, we love youtube. Yeah, we love everybody.
Speaker 2:We just want to listen and you don't want to spend any money. We appreciate your listens. Yeah, we love you too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we love everybody. We just want to give you the option to take your 2G TV fandom to the next level. Correct, so yeah. But with all that said, we'll be back in seven days and enjoy the baseball. In the meantime, a lot of good games going on every night right now, and for Brian, I'm Dallas. We'll.
