Episode 20: Shaky Starts & Fresh Ink – Orioles, Tides, and Jackson Holliday

The big 2-0! This week on The Sports Man Dan Show, we break down the Baltimore Orioles’ uneven start to the season and what it could mean moving forward. We check in on the Norfolk Tides and highlight some early trends and standout performances down on the farm.

Plus, I’ve got some new cards to show off—including a few that might be headed straight to the PC, we met Jackson Holliday after a tides game—and we wrap things up with a “This Day in History” segment featuring some notable moments from April 11th.

Transcript

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Sportsman. Sportsman. Sportsman.

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What's up, y'all? Welcome to episode 20 of the Sportsman Dan Show. I know I haven't uh posted an episode here in a little over a week, but I'm excited to get back to talk about well the Norfolk Tides, the Baltimore Orioles, and uh some baseball cards. But uh firstly, I do want to plug. I'm getting the, as you can see, I'm uh dog sitting for my parents again while my dad is uh deployed. But um I'm getting the Welcome Home podcast started again. Um my last episode was an interview with Dale Berg. And for those of you not familiar with the Welcome Home podcast, I interview veterans, particularly you know, combat veterans and Vietnam War veterans, uh, to kind of give them that welcome home a lot of them didn't get uh when they first came back from the Vietnam War. Uh it's a it's very, very uh interesting. Um, you know, some parts are pretty uh emotional, of course, because you know, discussing such a sensitive subject. But I'm excited to get uh the Welcome Home podcast uh underway again. And uh this past week I got to c uh catch up with uh Dale Berg. Um and that that was super great. Uh so I'm excited to get that going. But right now we're gonna talk about baseball, and uh most importantly, we're gonna talk about the Norfolk Tides. I know in my last episode I was so confident, I mean the Norfolk Tides are gonna win another championship. I could not have been uh more certain about this. And uh as it currently sits in the first half standings, the Norfolk Tides are four and nine. Um, a run differential of negative 17 in the International League. They are the second worst team in the International League currently, apart from the Durham Bulls, the uh Tampa Bay Rays affiliate. Now, I don't think it's totally, you know, doom and gloom because last night Enrique Bradfield Jr. did hit his first home run of the season, which ended up being pretty decisive in a 4-2 win over the uh former IL champions, the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp of 2025. Bit early in the season, but this is not quite the start that the Norfolk Todd's had wanted to get off to. Now, to just speak a little bit micro about last night, it was the Enrique Bradfield Jr. coming out game. Apart from that home run, he had an incredibly clutch, excuse me, two uh RBI, got two Ribby stakes on a single up the middle. Um, and that ended up being the go-ahead RBIs to win the game. So Enrique Bradfield Jr., I know he's been trying to get the bat going offensively. I love seeing a bunt. I'm a big small guy, small ball guy, and get that speed on the bases, but you know, when the back comes around, I think you will see EBJ in outfield for the Oriol sooner rather than later. Now, given it is a bit of a uh a losing stretch slump for the tides right now, I'd be remiss not to talk about Jose Barrero. Okay. Uh formerly Jose Garcia. I talked about his story before of changing his last name to honor his late mother. He's batting 313 right now with an on-base percentage of 421 and a slugging of 438. All right. Only one home run, one double, but 10 hits, seven runs. You know, he he's five walks to 11 strikeouts. He has gotten caught stealing three times. One time I think he was safe. He's coming out to play, and he's a gamer and a legitimate option for the Orioles at shortstop. Really happy for Jose Barrero, a guy who's blossoming a bit later in his career. Um, additionally, you know, you want to touch on Creed Willems, right? He's knocked in three home runs for the Norfolk Tides so far. Batting 242, but nine RBIs, two doubles, eight hits. Uh, ten games played for the Norfolk Tides, but I'm excited to see Creed a catcher. Um, I've only caught one game so far, and in that game I actually did get a chance to run into Jackson Holiday. It's on the Instagram. Um, but I'm excited for this team. I'm not quite as excited. I know in my right the last episode, I didn't have the total roster, but it looks like Will Robertson's in the outfield. Um, I was correct about Weston Wilson, but we also have Willie Vasquez at third base. You know, Willie's batten 226, um, no extra base hits, but four RBIs, um, two stolen bases, but also caught stealing twice. I mean, none of these new guys have made quite of an impact. Uh Sam Huff batten 167. I do think he will get it together eventually. You also have Jonathan Rodriguez, who actually has been a huge impact to the Norfolk Tides. Eight games played, uh, eight hits, and uh batten 333 with uh you know eight strikeouts with eight walks. I think that's super interesting, and I love to see that. He's had a lot of great at-bats um for us and uh a newcomer to the Norfolk Tides. Also, just want to touch on uh Maverick Hamley. I I think he's gonna be a big part of this team along with Reed Trimble. Both of them are currently injured, but when they come around, I think you're gonna see the tides go from a 4-9 team uh to possibly a 500 team, hopefully. Pitching-wise, uh, I think there's still a little bit to be desired. Overall, though, we're gonna have to talk about uh Trey Gibson, right? A 5.25 ERA, that's gonna come down. Um, he should have a win. Uh he started three games, played uh pitched three games, 12 innings total. Bit of a rocky start for Trey, but he is the future ace of the Norfolk Tides, and I do believe that. Um couple other guys have struggled who I didn't expect, possibly, right? Uh Chase McDermott, uh Nestor Herman. I think they get it together. Uh Cameron Foster. Uh I think they end up calming down. Cade Povich, right? These are a few guys who I think we're gonna end up with ERAs under four. Um, not where they're currently at. Last guy I want to talk touch on, and he might be on the Orioles sooner rather than later, is Andrew Magno. This guy's been legit. 5.2 innings pitched, allowed one hit, a whip of 0.71, and he's got a save to boot. Okay. Oh, and he's also started a game for us. Uh, this guy is unreal. I I need to learn more about Andrew Magno, but from what I'm seeing, Norfolk Tides pitchers to watch. I mean, this is a new guy, no one was expecting this from him. And uh, well, other than of course the Norfolk Tides staff and Andrew himself. But I hope he continues this, and he's been super fun to watch on the mound. I mean, absolutely shoving. All right, for the Mid-Atlantic Minute today, this is Dan's Mid-Atlantic Minute. Uh I said there's gonna be more recurring segments, and there will be. However, uh I don't want to let, you know, what perfection be the uh the opposite of progress. So uh I will be incorporating more visuals, but this episode's not gonna have it because I need to get my thoughts out and ramble. Um, mid-Atlantic Minute. I went up to the nation's capital in DC to see the Los Angeles Doyers. Let's go Doyers play the Washington Nationals, and let me tell you what, the Doyers put on a show. Um Shohei Otani in person is just as magical of an experience as you would expect. I've only had that a few times for a couple players. Aaron Judge in spring training, when I saw him up close in person, it was like, holy shit, that's Aaron Judge, right? I imagine that's probably what it was like to see Babe Ruth, how people felt, or Hank Aaron or Willie Mays, right? Then the other guy was Rich Hill in AAA, just because of the lore of Rich Hill and any time. I mean, this guy was like 42, 43 years old, playing against like a 20-year-old Kobe Mayo, and um, he would grunt every time he threw it was crazy. Um, so anyway, that was that was one of those guys I was watching. I was like, this feels like a movie. Um, and there probably will be a movie about Rich Hill someday, and uh Dennis Quaid will probably play him um somehow. Uh anyway, I digress. Shohei Otani. Uh seeing him in person was awesome. He didn't have the greatest game. I went on Saturday up there in DC, and by the way, had a great time in DC. It's one of my favorite cities to visit. Um, museums, everything. We went to the Holocaust Museum uh on Sunday, and that that was a that was a very moving experience, of course. Uh, but a fantastic museum overall, worth the visit. I love the Air and Space Museum, I love the Smithsonian natural history, but I mean there was history being made on that field, uh, seeing those Dodgers. I don't think anyone's gonna beat them in the NL. I I was hopeful that the Mets could do it, but I mean Tyler Glass now was on the bump, right? And if Tyler Glasnow is your fourth or fifth pitcher, you're gonna be just fine. Um, it really is unreal the team they've assembled. Kyle Tucker, the forgotten about piece, right? Oh, yeah, they got Kyle. I mean, that guy's a legitimate superstar on some teams. It was really cool seeing the Dodgers, the Doyers, right? I've never seen him in person before. My grandpa saw the Brooklyn Dodgers back in the day. So uh very cool experience for me. And that's my mid-Atlantic minute, which we're gonna tighten that up in the future. Do not worry. Next up, the Kobe Mayo corner. I am the number one Kobe Mayo collector. Me and Evan. Uh, he's also the number one Kobe Mayo collector, but between the two of us, we are the number one Kobe Mayo collector. Uh it's been a bit of a rough uh offensive performance from Kobe so far in the air. He started off spring so hot. Spring training, the bat was fantastic. Uh, it's interesting enough though, his defense has been above average. Actually, if you look at outs above average, he is the best defensive player on the Baltimore Orioles. Now, people are at his throat, you know, the bat's not there, his bat in average is under 200, no home runs, you know, no extra base hits, I don't think, or one extra base hit, just a double, mostly singles. He's a Florida boy, all right? He's a Florida man. It's cold. They were playing in Chicago was 40 degrees. Kobe's bat's gonna come run in time. I am not worried. In fact, I think now's a great time to buy uh Kobe Mayo. Overall, give him time. If he ends up going down to Norfolk, which I'd be surprised, okay. He'll be back up in maybe 15-20 games. Um a little longer, that's fine. You know, he's got enough. I think I think he has enough career at bats up there that they're gonna they're gonna have a pretty pretty long leash with them in that, hey, if we send you down, you're coming right back up, we're gonna work with you. You want uh you as a part of this team with or without Westburg. Now, I might be wrong about that, and uh, you know, maybe I'll have to eat those words, but overall, Kobe Mayo, I think uh defensively, that has been the biggest surprise to a lot of people, and I've been very happy to see it. Offensively, everyone goes through slumps. It's been 12 games. Um, I wouldn't write them off just yet. I'm gonna be including another recurring segment where I want to kind of get some more listener engagement. I know I did some questions for interviews, but why not just do questions during an episode? So I do not have any for this episode, but uh coming up we'll be doing that. Um, particularly, I think, in episode 21. Um, I got a little mail day here, so we're gonna cover some cards here. Uh, David Sandlin, if you didn't see the interview with me and David Sandlin, um, please check it out. Uh, super cool guy, Star Wars nerd, and I'll be looking forward to having him back on the pod. But uh, this is Bowman Chrome First, you can get it for a very, very reasonable price. So I've just been stacking those. Uh, of course, I have the rainbow, but anytime I can pick up a cheap Sandlin, Bowman Chrome First, I'm taking it. This one's for the PC. This is a Stadium Club insert from 2025. Yours for the taking. Um, little rookie card there of Kobe Mayo. Uh nice little cheap edition. I believe that was $2. And then I traded some of my Jackson Holiday cards to my buddy for that Jackson Holiday ball. Oh, uh, my buddy caught a foul ball from Jackson Holiday, and then we met him after the game, and he got it signed, but he didn't really want it. He wanted to give it to me, and I was like, well, we gotta do a trade. That's how this works. So I hooked him up with a bunch of Jackson Holiday cards, some cool Dylan Beavers autograph, Bowman Chrome first, uh, variations, some numbered stuff. But anyway, I uh but now I was like sad because I traded with some of my Jackson. So I got the spotlight there, Bowman Chrome, love that card. Not the rookie, but still cool. These are cool little inserts. The prospects of Jackson, got a couple of those, and then I think just some nice Bowman chrome. Uh the what is that from the Mega? The Moho and cheaper stuff. I like stacking that now. I mean, honestly, I'm looking just to get every rookie card of Kobe Mayo. I don't need all the variations of the parallels and the numbered stuff with the autograph, right? Just the base rookie stuff. Um, the low numbered stuff is when it gets crazy. Um so we're slowly stacking some of those, like, you know, this guy, which I didn't even want a PSA 10, but I guess I'll take it. I really just want to collect them raw, right? Uh, but that is the excuse me, the geometric, black geometric to 10. Um, so I'm not too worried about the autograph stuff. It's fun for me just to collect the cheap rookie cards, um, especially now. Uh, but now's a good time to buy Kobe Mayo. I'm also going to the National. I'm super excited for that. And my goal for the National is to complete my 1986 New York Mets autograph collection. So I want an in-person autograph of the entire 1986 New York Mets team. And um, I'm slowly getting there. I'm about halfway through. And I think next episode, I'm gonna cover that. But first, I need to do this day in history. Because uh I gotta go to my buddies and watch the UFC fights tonight, and he wants to hit some golf balls. So, Wyatt, that's the same buddy who caught the Jackson Holiday ball. So I'm pretty excited, but no, uh I'm excited to get this episode out. I might record another one after the fights, who knows? But uh this day in history, April 11th, in 1970, Apollo 13 mission launched. Um, the mission to the moon that turned into a survival story. Houston, we've had a problem moment. Um, Houston, we've had a problem with this episode. I'll say that. I'm not gonna edit it, we're just gonna do it live. But anyway, that makes sense. Houston, we've had a few problems, so let's remember that Apollo 13 mission today. Also, in 1968, on April 11th, the Civil Rights Act of 1968 was signed into law. This was major legislation uh following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. And uh this is a pretty impactful moment in history, so definitely needs to be covered. Uh also in 1951, Douglas MacArthur was relieved of command by Harry S. Truman. This was a big power move during the Korean War, pretty much Yathiaid before was cool. I like Douglas MacArthur. My grandfather liked Douglas MacArthur, General Douglas MacArthur. He's buried in Norfolk. The MacArthur Museum is there. Uh, yes, there's something there more than the MacArthur Mall. It's not as visited as it should be, but uh I like the MacArthur Museum and memorial there. And uh he was a very controversial figure, but he was a great general for the most part during World War II. Um, this day in sports history, my favorite segment, Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers. It was an exhibition game, but this was a first step towards breaking MLB's color barrier. Uh the official debut would be April 15th. And I mean, come on. We talked about the Doyers enough today, but no, I mean those Los Angeles Doyers. Uh they keep making the news. And uh sorry, I gotta do that for my buddy Pookie. Uh we love the Doyers, and uh, I have the best time with Dodgers fans, and I did again this weekend. I was hanging out with Dodgers fans more than Nationals fans, and that's for sure. Uh no, last one here, 2006. Barry Bonds hits career home run number 714. I remember I remember being I was 11 years old. I remember the next day because I missed it. Uh I was watching on SportsCenter in the morning, I was so mad. But anyway, I mean this is kind of a little bit of a uh steroid controversy, right? Because I don't think Babe Ruth was on steroids, to the best of my knowledge. Didn't seem like a steroid build. But hey, Barry Bonds caught him. 714. It's an insane. It's honestly it's more insane to me that Babe Ruth hit that many home runs than the fact that Barry Bonds did. But uh for Barry Bonds to do it, he is the best hitter in all of baseball. He is on my Mount Rushmore baseball legends because I remember as a kid being so captivated by that home run chase. Um that's it for this day in sports history and this day in history. Uh, and for this episode 20. I'm gonna get back to my A game. Not that this wasn't, uh I enjoyed it, but uh I we're gonna I've been doing a lot. I've been super busy. More segments, more visuals. Um, I'm listening to what people have said and uh you know more card content for sure to come. Uh what do I got coming up? I just I just did a show at the Norfolk Masonic Temple. It was fantastic. And then I got another show coming up May 2nd and 3rd at the Virginia Beach Fieldhouse. Uh so come on out, uh, talk some sports and uh look forward to seeing you all. Let's go O's and let's go Tide.