0011: Calvin Schiraldi: Kickin' It with Mr. ATX on the Mound

Calvin Schiraldi on Texas Baseball, the ’83 CWS Run, MLB Lessons & the ’86 Red Sox Reunion | Football Fix

Host Kyle Maxfield (SpotOnMax) welcomes UT baseball legend and former MLB pitcher Calvin Schiraldi, now coaching at Brentwood Christian in Austin, to discuss his path from Westlake High School to Texas and the pros. Schiraldi recounts moving from Northeast Austin to Westlake, learning pitching IQ under Coach Howard Bouchon, and winning a state title as a senior. He covers playing three years at Texas and reaching the College World Series all three seasons, the 1983 team’s historic staff with four 12-game winners, being drafted 26th overall by the Mets, and the business-like reality of MLB. Schiraldi shares stories about Coach Gus, teammates and stars he faced, differences between NL and AL play, pitching approach and travel demands, and his experience at the 40th reunion of the 1986 Red Sox World Series team at Fenway Park.

00:00 Intro & Guest Welcome

05:37 UT Longhorns & College World Series

14:00 Getting Drafted by the Mets

15:39 Facing the Best: Gwynn, Reggie & Roger

21:25 The Art of Pitching & Competitive Fire

24:49 The 1986 World Series

26:54 Life in the Majors: Travel, Pitching & Money

35:51 Coaching & Today's Game

38:53 Wrap-Up

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:01

The sun is down. The lights are bright. Getting live fixed on a Friday.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

All right, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Football Fix. Coach is kicking it to the max. We got a different flavor today. We're talking baseball. I didn't use a good accent with that. Kyle Maxfield here, aka Spot on Max. Very fortunate to have a legend on the diamond. Not on the football field necessarily, but on the diamond. The one and only Calvin Shirauday. Let's go, Calvin.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

So a little backstory. I feel intimidated right now because I was sitting in front of the TV last night. There's a rain delay on the College World Series. I thought this was the perfect time to interview one of the legends of the College World Series. And his special on ESPN came on. And so it aired a couple of months ago, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:09

About a month and a half ago.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Month and a half ago. And it's Calvin in his living room. They had the fancy cameras and the fancy lighting. I told him my cameras probably add 20, 30 pounds.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

I don't need that.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

You're wondering what the heck's Calvin Shirodi doing here. I've been very fortunate to work with Calvin the last few years. He's one of our baseball coaches here at Brentwood Christian. I'm really good friends with both of our baseball coaches. Charles Bollinger goes back to our Snyder days. And then Calvin, of course, is a UT legend, first round draft pick. We'll get to all that. But I appreciate him spending the time. We're down here in the ATX and just kicking it. And he's got so many stories. This episode could be three hours long, but I try to keep it under an hour. So let's go high school ball. Born and raised in the ATX.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Born in Houston, but grew up here. I moved to Austin when I was five.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Five years old. Were you in Ean's ISD the whole time?

SPEAKER_01 2:11

No, I grew up in Northeast Austin. Went to Pierce Junior High. Would have gone to either Reagan or LBJ because my mom worked for AISD. I could have chosen either one. But we moved to Westlake my freshman year and my sister's seventh grade year.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

You probably look back. That's one of the best moves y'all could have made, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Without a doubt.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Without a doubt.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Without a doubt.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

It's like my parents, this is at a different level. We grew up in Amherst, seven miles away with Sudan. Nothing against Amherst changed my whole athletic career.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Same thing with me. I would have gone to AISD versus Eanes. Much better education. Back then, better athletics. It was just a great time for us to move.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

Who was your head baseball coach at Westlake, Calvin?

SPEAKER_01 2:54

I had one my sophomore year, Coach Sanders, and then he moved on. And Coach Howard Bouchon came over my junior year, and that was that elevated my baseball just knowledge. He taught me the game, taught me how to pitch. The IQ. The IQ, yeah, the the IQ, which kids don't have today, but he taught that to me my junior and senior years, and that allowed me to move further on.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Did y'all make some deep runs in the playoffs?

SPEAKER_01 3:27

We won the state championship my senior year. My junior year, we got beat in the first round of the playoffs because back then it was only you had bi-district, regional, and the state tournament. Only champions made the playoffs. It's not like everybody gets a trophy nowadays. But the first round we played, my junior year happened to be playing against Spike Owen at Cleburn. And so we went three games with them and lost. And then the following year we beat Jasper. And then we beat Jasper. Jasper. We beat Jasper and then we beat Brenham. And then we beat Snyder in the semifinals and then beat DeSoto in the championship.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

So that was your senior year. Did y'all play at this fault?

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

And you already signed with Texas? Obviously, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Yeah, I knew I was going to Texas.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

So you were showing out for the home crowd, your senior year.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

That that the place with us being in the finals, that place was packed. There was over 5,000 people there for that.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

I bet that was a cool atmosphere. Very well. I know this is football fixed, but we're coaches that are kicking it. Because the Calvin's coached 20 something years, right? 30 years now. 30. And is actually still involved with action in the summers. Just had a tournament up in Franklin with what's the age group you're coaching this summer? 16U. So he's still all in it. Coaches with others in the spring, of course, with Coach B. Who was the football coach back then?

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Was it Coach Neptune?

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Okay. And the stadium's named after I believe it's named after Coach Neptune. I think that's Coach Dodge's father-in-law.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Yeah. Because Elizabeth, Todd's wife, is such a good person, man. We became friends going to conferences together.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

And she's a year younger than me. Okay, so we went to school together.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Okay, so you know Elizabeth. She got a great personality. Her and Todd are two of my favorite people in the coaching world. And I knew her dad was a legend there.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Very much. He was my freshman and JV basketball coach. And just he was just a good man. Good man.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Good, good people. Okay. You go to UT. You played there four years?

SPEAKER_01 5:37

I played at Texas for three years. You're eligible for the draft after your junior year.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Okay. Is it still the same? Or they changed it?

SPEAKER_01 5:44

It's still the same. You can either be 21 or after your junior year.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

Okay. It seems like those. I know in football, it's always changed. Of course, college, that's a whole nother episode, college sports.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

But they're trying to get it fixed. They're trying. We'll see. We'll see if they can get it done. How many years did y'all make the World Series when you're at Texas?

SPEAKER_01 6:06

All three years.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

All three? You were spoiled, man.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

We were just good. We weren't spoiled. We were good.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

I say that jokingly because I grew up around great athletic programs. Sudan was class A. Y'all were 5'8.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Oh, yeah. It was 3A, 4A. We were 3A.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

I thought when you said Snyder that y'all might have been 3A. Now it's 6A, but back then it was small.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

800 kids in the school, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

I was fortunate to grow up around great coaches and great programs. We won in every sport. Baseball, basketball, track. And then I go to AM and we never lost a game. So I did not really know when I got into the real world and coaching at West Mesquite, my first job, I didn't understand how some people didn't have a winning mentality. But you figured out real quick. And that's kind of how you grew up.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

I grew up exactly the same way. State championship in high school, national championship at Texas. My first three years in the minor leagues, we won the league each year. My first year in the big leagues, go to the World Series. So yeah, there was a lot of winning happening. And it wasn't until you back into coaching that you find out that it ain't all about that. It's a reality check. There's a big time reality check.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

You had to find a way. It was a big learning curve for me to find a way to reach those kids that didn't love the game as much as you and I. The ESPN special. What's the title of it?

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Summer of 83, Texas versus Tide.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

We had a little high school reunion out at LBJ a couple of weeks ago. And my best friend growing up, I lived out in the country and we had three channels. He lived in town and got cable. So we were down in his basement watching y'all every summer, it seemed like, playing the World Series. So I remember watching you pitch with Roger and all those guys, and we rooted for y'all. His family was a big UT fan. Mine was more Texas Tech, but y'all were the bomb back then, man. Y'all probably had more viewers than Major League games when y'all were on TV.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

We had a lot of, we traveled really well. That's why I don't hate to say this, but Omaha loves having the Longhorns at the College World Series because back then the wild bunch, you're talking hundreds of people going up there, and that doesn't include the families and all that. That's just a wild bunch being crazy nuts making their trip up there. And there's a couple thousand people that go to Omaha that literally root for Texas. It's if you look in the stadium, there's a lot of burnt orange out there.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

They're going back. They punched a ticket last night.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Yeah, they did. Yeah, they did.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

I know you went the green, it's not for Oregon, by the way, it's for Brentwood. Had to clarify that one. All of that is great stuff to talk about. But we get to the good stories, the ones that really interest me, because I'm asking him questions every day about people he faced or struck out or this and that. First round pick, they talked in a special about Roger getting the call. And man, I can see where Gus, that would be frustrating. If y'all are getting drafted during the World Series, I know y'all had your mind on that, but it had to be a little bit of a distraction.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

Oh, it was a big time distraction. There were like 10 rounds on the first day, which is a boom. And we had on the first day, we had two first rounders, a second rounder, a fourth rounder, and a fifth rounder.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

Wow. You were one of the first rounders.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

I was one of the first rounders. Yeah, with the Mets.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

What pick was it?

SPEAKER_01 9:45

26.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

26. You and Roger are back to back or?

SPEAKER_01 9:49

No, I think he was the 16th. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

How many times does that? I know it's happened, but two pitchers on one college team in a starting rotation get drafted that high.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

It doesn't happen very often, but the thing that we're most proud of is, and it's it says it in the documentary, there's never been a college pitching staff that had four 12-game winners.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

Really?

SPEAKER_01 10:16

Yeah. Never happened.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

I missed that part.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

Yeah, that's 48 wins right there.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

And y'all had that in 83?

SPEAKER_01 10:23

We had that in 83. And if you look at the records of the people going in into the College World Series, if they have 40, 41 wins, they're all happy. And we had four pitchers that totaled 48.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

I saw somebody's record the other day, they had 60 wins. With that softball or baseball, I saw. Yeah, it had to be. But you got to get us a little nugget about Gus. Because I know you have a thousand stories, and people read stuff all the time. He's a Hall of Fame coach, right? Yeah. Give us one good story that you have.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

When you were at the University of Texas, he was definitely not your friend.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

No?

SPEAKER_01 11:02

No. He was not your friend. Pretty serious on TV. No, the thing about Coach Gus was after you left or signed and did all that, and you come back, he's all smiles. Who are you? Type guy. But one story we had was my freshman year, Coach Gus was notorious for if he's walking around and sees a penny or a nickel or a dime, he picks it up and puts it in his pocket. And one of the guys that we had, I believe it was Chris Campbell that did it, super glued a quarter to the to the locker room floor.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

And then Coach was a brave man right there.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

Coach Gus walked by and reached down and picked it up, and it was it was stuck to the floor. The entire locker room just busted out laughing. Did he get pissed? He was pissed. He was pissed. I don't know if we had to run extra or not, but I just know he was pissed.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Did he ever smile after y'all won it all? Like for a little bit?

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Not really. I don't remember. It may be on the videos, but I don't remember it.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

I didn't see it last night watching, but how many years did he coach at Texas? Do you remember?

SPEAKER_01 12:18

He was there from 68 to 96, 98, something like that. So probably 30 years, 20, 28 to 30 years.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

So he went a while after y'all graduated.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

He lasted a long time. And I don't know how it didn't end very well. Oh, really? Which is not a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

No. Never is. Those legends like that. Same thing happened with Coach Locum. Just part of it. Part of business. Part of business. Before we get to some major league stories, it was two springs ago, I think. Did they call it the Hall of Honor at UT or the Hall of Fame?

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Hall of Honor.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

Hall of Honor. Do you even know how many players there are in the Hall of Honor for baseball? You're one of them.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

I really have no idea.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Coach Bollinger took the team. Calvin threw the first pitch out. I can't remember who y'all were playing. But he threw the first pitch out, and I was sitting right behind the plate, and I said, Man, you're a little outside on that. I don't think it's a strike. He was about to fight me. It was a strike.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

That was a freaking strike because that was everything I had in my arm to just to be able to throw it from in front of the mound to get it to home plate. My shoulder was trash.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

I imagine. It was great to see you with some of your family and your grandkids. I know they're the love of your life.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

They're the show right now. Everything's about them now.

SPEAKER_00 13:38

I'm in that game now, too. I went to Brownwood this past weekend. My oldest daughter, Reagan. I have one granddaughter, Sterling, and she turned a year old this past weekend. So I'm in the game. And it was awesome.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

It's great. There's nothing better than playing with your grandkids and then say, okay, they're back to you. Here, here.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

I think she's hungry. Here you go. Dopper change. You get drafted by the Mets. How many years were you with the Mets, Calvin?

SPEAKER_01 14:06

I was drafted in 83 and traded after 85.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

Okay. Is that when you went to the Red Sox. Red Sox? And you weren't in the minors, but what, a year or two?

SPEAKER_01 14:20

Drafted in 83. I got to the big leagues September of 84.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

September 84. Who were some of the big names with the Mets when you got to the big stage?

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Keith Hernandez, Daryl Strawberry. Here we go. Dwight, Gooden, Gary Carter was there, Ray Knight. That's a pretty good list.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

When you're a rookie and you hit the big stage that fast, maybe it was more common to get to the big stage faster than they do now. Was there a lot of hazing and stuff giving you a hard time as a rookie?

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Yeah, I actually I didn't get I didn't get too bad because I was a little leery of it. They did one of the things with Kevin Mitchell, one of the things that that they did was when he got called up, it's basically the dead man lift, and you have the main guys in the middle, and then you put two guys on the outside that interlock him to where he basically he can't move, and then somebody's supposed to step over the top of him and say that they can lift him, and he you know he's going, No, no, you you can't do that, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. And then while they're down there, they just get hammered with shaving cream and all that other stuff, just dumped on the guy in the middle.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

Just dumped on the guy in the middle. So I was a little smarter, stayed away from all that.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Had your head on a swivel.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

Yeah, I did. Yeah, I did.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

Some of the Hall of Fame guys that that you went face to face with, if Reggie Jackson, which you faced, if he goes one for four, you consider that a win?

SPEAKER_01 15:49

I do. I mean, hitter fail 70% of the time, supposedly, and that's that puts me at 75. So yeah, I'm happy with that.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

And the thing that we talk about, and we don't have to go into the numbers when I was playing ball at AM, but I was happy to get a scholarship. Just like you were probably happy to get a signing bonus in a contract. Did you have an official agent?

SPEAKER_01 16:13

No, my dad was my agent. The thing about then, if you got an agent, you couldn't play anymore. It's not like today, and there was no such thing as an advisor. It was basically you and your folks were the ones that were negotiating a contract. If you had any inclination of going back to school. To college. Yeah, going back to school, you couldn't hire an agent.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

Interesting. So was your dad ready for all that? I guess he knew it was coming.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

He knew it was coming, but no. My dad would have been. No.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

But I mean, I love my dad, but Dim is my agent? Woo!

SPEAKER_01 16:46

Yeah, same. No, I didn't know any better either. I I knew what first rounders were getting, but with me and the Mets, it was a it was a different story because they also they had two first round picks ahead of me. Oh I was the third first round pick that they had that year.

SPEAKER_00 16:59

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

You don't really know the dynamics of how that all that works out. And I got enough money that I was fine. I got me a car.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

And that was that was that's big. That was good.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

I got a bicycle when I was at AEM, I think. A little 10 speed. And I had to most of lines to get that. Y'all's contract compared to what it is now. That's what I was getting to with NIL even in college. Major league, a first-round draft pick. They're pretty much set for life.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

Very much, yeah. I got drafted in 83. My son got drafted in 2014 in the 14th round and made more money than I did.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Wow. That's an interesting fact. Who drafted your son?

SPEAKER_01 17:47

Seattle.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

Seattle? How many years did he play?

SPEAKER_01 17:51

He was 14 to 19. Five years.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

Five years? And you were in the major leagues how many years?

SPEAKER_01 17:58

I was in them from eighty-four to ninety-one.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

Okay. Which is a pretty good career.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

I'm not complaining. I was there long enough that I got a good pension.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

Uh made enough money to me, that's an awesome career. I was just trying to compare it to the average lifespan of a pitcher.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

It was longer. The average span, I believe, is like three years.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. It's double your career.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

So that that five years or whatever plus total five or six years total was huge because then I could get a pension later on. It's different now. You get a pension for having one day in the big leagues.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

Really?

SPEAKER_01 18:47

Yeah, they've changed that, the way the pension funds work. They've changed all that. But yeah, back then you had to be in the big leagues for four years before you could start, before you could qualify for a pension.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

I like to talk to my guests about some of their favorite things. First of all, let's talk about your batting average. You hit a couple of dingers, right?

SPEAKER_01 19:04

I did. I had two home runs. We're not gonna talk about bat and average. I had two home runs. I had two home runs and I had four game-winning RBIs.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

Let's go. Did you bat a lot at UT?

SPEAKER_01 19:15

I got nothing at UT.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

No.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

I hit in high school. My coach in high school said, just go up there and swing for the fence. Because I was hitting 60 in high school, which sucks. So he just said swing for the fence because I could hit home runs. Yeah. I had five home runs in high school in your year. I could hit the ball out of the ballpark. And I did that twice in the big leagues.

SPEAKER_00 19:35

Would you say you had a better stick than Roger Clements?

SPEAKER_01 19:39

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Yeah, without a doubt.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

Oh, it's crazy. I will say in that special, Roger was giving you some cred, man. He was giving you props because he said you were going right after the guy from Alabama that he was batting over 500. Yeah. Still a record, I think.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

Dave Magadin. He was hitting he hit 529 that year, which I don't know if it's still the record, but you're talking division one. I think it is for Division I. But that's Well, you're playing in the SEC and then go to the College World Series and you start the College World Series eight for eight. You make believers out of people real quick.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

He seemed like a good dude too.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

He's a good dude.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

A little side note, I don't think my slow pitch average was 528. My cousin Mel used to say, if you're not betting 750 and slow pitch, you need to quit. Exactly. I would go maybe three for six in a game, and I'd be like, man, if I was following Mel's advice, I need to stop playing. But every town I would move to, we'd go to the church. I'd be a part of the church league. This is my famous slow pitch. They'd put me right field bat ninth. By the 34th game, Calvin, they'd have me clean up, playing rover, shortstop, third. I had to prove myself every time I took a new job.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

But I love doing it.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

I love church league fall.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

It's funny.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

I love it.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

When Roger was giving you props, is when you had faced Hagan and he got a base hit on you. You talk about the sequence and going low and he got it. Then the next time he came up, there was a lot on the line.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

The game was on the line.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

The game was on the line. And he went right at him with he never caught up to it.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

Coach Gus came out and said, just try to keep it up and in. And I did, and it worked out.

SPEAKER_00 21:23

You did it worked out. Did you feel like besides the velocity on your pitches, when you were in your zone pitching the best ball you ever pitched in the major leagues, was it more velocity or control? I know it's both together, but when you could pinpoint, was that when you were at your top of your game?

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Today, it doesn't matter if you throw nine. 103.7. They can the hitters can still turn down. They still got time. They hitters are so good that if you don't know where it's going. And you're just throwing it, you're going to get lit up like a Christmas tree. It may not happen every time, but there are going to be times where you just get lit up, the Greg Maddox. If he was to pitch today, he would never get drafted. Because he doesn't throw 95 to 100, which is all that they look for right now. And but they don't see that he can hit at 60 feet six inches right there with movement. Hitters hate that. Hitters hate it.

SPEAKER_00 22:25

Who was the best hitter that you played with?

SPEAKER_01 22:28

That I played with. Actually, I played with both of them. I played with Wade Boggs and Tony Gwen.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

Both. That's two of the best.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

Yeah. I never faced Wade, but I did face Tony, and he had the cycle in his first four at bats against me. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

That's the thing I love about Calvin. He'll keep it real. If he dominated somebody, he'll let you know. If somebody got the best, it is what it is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

I couldn't get him out. I'm gonna throw it away and let you have your single. Hit it to left field and then single. And then sometimes he'd roll over it or just he'd fly, he'd hit a line drive to left field and he'd be out. But most of the time he hit it hard.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

Who was your favorite catcher that ever caught you? Do you have one?

SPEAKER_01 23:08

Damon Berry Hill or Jody Davis was Chicago.

unknown 23:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

They were both in Chicago. The first year I was in Chicago was Jody Davis, and the second year was Damon Berry Hill.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

Did you ever ring somebody up or get somebody out where once you get to the big leagues and you're playing against the best of the best in the whole world, Hall of Famers, did you ever have to pinch yourself and be like, is this real? Or you just get into it and that is what it is?

SPEAKER_01 23:35

It is what it is. You can just fight. At that point, that's my first September call up is when I realize that it's not a game anymore. A business. And so you approach it as a business. So you try not to get too high, you try not to get too low. It's sometimes it's hard, but you have to keep a steady pace because it's not a game. It is a business, and you have to take care of your business.

SPEAKER_00 24:00

Nobody's your friend out there.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

Nobody you can make friends, but they but it's like I mean at the plate. You hate every guy that comes up there. You have to. Even like I played with a lot of those guys on the mats, and sometimes it's hard to differentiate, but at that particular time, it's okay. I think I've got an advantage. They think they've got an advantage because we know each other. They know what I've got, I know what they can do. So it's it's give and take and see what we're doing.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

Start playing some mind games.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

Yeah, try to try to, and sometimes it works, and then other times it doesn't.

SPEAKER_00 24:33

We got to talk about the reunion you had this spring up in Boston. Or where's the park at?

SPEAKER_01 24:39

Finway.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

Finway. And you talked about how special it was and how great of an experience it was to see everybody and just be a part of that. So tell the audience a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

We had the 40th reunion of the 86 World Series team. And so it was at it started off at the hotel right across the street from Finway, and that's the first time I'd seen those guys in 20 years. I went to the 20th and I hadn't been back. I'm not a traveler, so I don't go back to Boston. I don't go to games, but it was opening day. They were playing San Diego. It was raining when I got there. It was raining and cold, and then opening day, it was 60 degrees, and it was just gorgeous. And we spent the night, had a dinner at the hotel. All of us were there, and just to see the guys that I haven't seen in 20 years, see what they look like, and all that kind of stuff. That was and the conversations at the dinner tables were it was phenomenal. I sat next to Oil Cann and he hadn't changed a bit, just as crazy as ever. And those conversations, and then the next day getting up and walking over to actually they drove us in a van, and it we're on a one-way street, and we're literally 150, 200 yards away from the hotel, but it took us 30 minutes to take a van down a one-way street because being open in day, traffic was just uh the place was packed. But the funniest thing was we walk onto the field and they're announcing everybody, and we're supposed to get around the mound, and whoever's the tradition at Fenway is for somebody to come out and say, play ball. We're around the mound, and they bring out the mayor and the governor, and the stadium, it was deafening the boos that were being shouted down. You had people coming from the upper deck coming down to scream at the mayor and the governor because they couldn't stand them, and they hollered out, play ball, and nobody heard it. So we had to holler, they had to say pipe down a little bit so that we could so that they could say it again.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

Boston fans, they keep it real, huh?

SPEAKER_01 26:50

They're they are different. Yes, they are. Yes, they are.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

What was the biggest challenge for you as a major league player to me from the outside looking in? I would think just the traveling, the travel across country and just trying to stay fresh.

SPEAKER_01 27:06

That's hard because it's it's a long season. And because back then there wasn't interleague play, so you played American League teams 162 games. So there's 16 teams. You're playing them. We would play the Yankees, I think it was 18, 18 times during the regular season. Wow. But we also had to have two West Coast trips, play California, Seattle, and Anaheim.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

Would you go out there two different times a year?

SPEAKER_01 27:34

Yeah, we go out there one time and then come back, and they'd come here, and then we go out there again later. And like when my first year with the Red Sox in '86, right after the All-Star Break, or right after the All-Star Bake, they started on the West Coast. So I got called up to Seattle and met them on the West Coast. And that's because especially it's not as bad going from Boston to California because you got three hours to make up. Coming home, if you're playing a five o'clock game in in California, by the time you get home, it's five o'clock in the morning. And most of the time you have a day off, but if there's no day off, it's okay, take a nap and get back to the ballpark.

SPEAKER_00 28:17

What kind of rotation were y'all on?

SPEAKER_01 28:19

Starters are five or five days. And it's still that way? Yeah, every five days.

SPEAKER_00 28:23

Most of the time?

SPEAKER_01 28:24

Most of the time, yeah. Most of the time. Sometimes they change it. They've changed the game a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

I think there might be a few more days off than what we had back then. I think we had one day off every we were supposed to have one day off every 20 days.

unknown 28:40

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 28:41

Were you a complete game kind of pitcher? It seemed like there was more complete games back then. There were because pitch counts weren't.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

When I was starting, I had a couple of games. I had one game, I had 156 pitches.

SPEAKER_00 28:56

In one game?

SPEAKER_01 28:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:57

Has anyone pitched 156 balls in the last five years?

SPEAKER_01 29:02

No.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

No way. And then they wouldn't do that because probably why you should talk.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

But yeah, you look at guys like Nolan. There was a game in 79 between Nolan Ryan and Luis Tian, where they both threw 15 innings. Nolan threw, I think, 209 pitches, and Tion was like 190. And to tell you what, they both started four days later.

unknown 29:24

Man.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

And that's the way the game has changed. That aspect is a quality start with six innings. And now it's I don't even know if they keep that stat anymore because very few starters go six innings. They're happy after five innings. Oh, let's let the relievers do it. That can work against you because you're expecting four guys to come in and all four of them are supposed to be sharp. That's not going to happen very often where all four of them are sharp enough to get you to the finish line.

SPEAKER_00 29:54

That's what was interesting when y'all were playing Alabama. Usually you were a starter, but who was the starter of that game when you came and relieved.

SPEAKER_01 30:04

He wanted to start the lefty. Started lefty because he did that against Mississippi State because Mississippi State had Will Clark and Rafael Palmero that year. So they started Steve and he freaking just dominated them.

SPEAKER_00 30:16

Mowed him down.

SPEAKER_01 30:17

Yeah. So go to Alabama, you got Dave Magadin and Brad Elban, both of their best two hitters, their leadoff and their three-hole are left-handed. And Steve did well against them then.

SPEAKER_00 30:27

What inning was it you came in? He got in a jam. In the fifth. Fifth. And you finished it out. Yeah. In ten innings? So he got five innings?

SPEAKER_01 30:38

Yeah, five, five and a third.

SPEAKER_00 30:40

Five and a third. We talk about things that you turn on the ESPN, it's just people debating who's gonna win the World Series and this and that. To me, the interesting conversations I have with you is how do you decide your bat length or your bat size and how to grip a ball on the seams, just the little fine details that are part of the game that the average Joe has no clue about.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

That stuff do you learn as you go along. For me, grips of a baseball are what feels comfortable. It's gotta feel comfortable. If it doesn't feel comfortable, it's not gonna work. And I sucked as a hitter, but I liked a big long bat with a big barrel because most of the time I'm gonna bunt.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

But but I still gotta be able to get that big barrel through the zone if I'm not bunting. Everything is a it's all about comfort.

SPEAKER_00 31:30

It seems like they used to make a big deal. I know it's not as big now because of the interdivision play, but going from the Mets, which was National League, to the Red Sox American League, did you notice the game was played different?

SPEAKER_01 31:43

Back then it was definitely played different because in the American League you had the DH.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

DH.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

And in the National League, it was more you had the pitcher hitting nine-hole for the most part, which you considered that's an automatic out. And usually the eight-hole was in most instances a second baseman or a shortstop who you're not having to worry about home runs. So you in the American League, you replaced that out with a home run hitters. Okay, I don't have an out in the lineup now in the National League. In the National League, you got to the bottom half of the order. Pitchers are drag bunting. So you have to be prepared to be able to field a bunt, which in the American League, nobody ever buns.

SPEAKER_00 32:25

And then it seemed like the National League, there was more people stealing bases and whatnot.

SPEAKER_01 32:29

National League they ran.

SPEAKER_00 32:30

Yeah. Talking about Ricky.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

No, Ricky never stole a base off of me.

SPEAKER_00 32:34

There we go.

SPEAKER_01 32:35

Ricky never stole a base off of me. Didn't happen. But you get the Cardinals had Vince Coleman, Ozzy Still.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

He can fly.

SPEAKER_01 32:42

Willie McGee, and McGee could fly too. Yeah. The white dude. White dude. Yeah. You had their top four guys. You put three, you put Vince, Ozzy, and Willie at the top three, and then you got to face Jack Clark in the four-hole. Jesus Pizo.

SPEAKER_00 33:02

They were talented. Yeah, they were. They were fun to watch, too.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

That was awesome to watch.

SPEAKER_00 33:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:06

It sucked to be able to take time with them.

SPEAKER_00 33:09

That was Mel's favorite team growing up, the Cardinals. I don't know how he got hooked on them when he was a little kid, but he was a big Cardinal fan.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

I had to face them one time and I had a no-hitter for four innings, and I didn't get out of the fifth inning. There's like high chopper base hit, bunt base hit, just ground ball base hit. It could change so quickly with them.

SPEAKER_00 33:29

What was the closest that you ever got to a no-hitter? Like D? Do you remember getting real?

SPEAKER_01 33:35

In in the major leagues, in the major leagues, no.

SPEAKER_00 33:40

Did you have some at UT?

SPEAKER_01 33:43

I had one at UT where it was zero to zero going into the top of the seventh. Two outs in the top of the seventh. We were at home facing TCU and a wind blown home run. I gave up wind blown home run and lost one to nothing. Oh and came in to the dugout and I grabbed my stuff and I went to the locker room and destroyed the locker room. And Jose Tolentino comes up. What's up? What's up? Why are you so pissed? And I said, That was a freaking no-hitter. You guys can't swing the bat. Yeah, exactly. Oops.

SPEAKER_00 34:23

Oh man. But that just proves you're a Hall of Fame pitcher. The stars have to line up for that stuff, man.

SPEAKER_01 34:30

Unless you're Nolan Ryan. I didn't have the stuff for no-hitters. Like you go back and look at it. I don't think Roger ever had a no-hitter. But because he he was so controlled around the zone. If he hit you, it was because he wanted to. Nolan, batters were scared to death because he, if he wanted to hit you, he would hit you. But then again, he could also throw it at your head by accident. Yeah. And so they're on their toes. That would scare me a little bit. I was that, yeah, I wouldn't want any part of that.

SPEAKER_00 34:57

We were talking about Todd and Elizabeth earlier, and he got to know Roger. Todd was there when y'all were playing.

unknown 35:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:04

We were the same age.

SPEAKER_00 35:05

Same age? Yeah. He's the quarterback for UT, right? He said that Roger was the most competitive guy that he'd ever been around. They were at some place playing pool one night, and he just went into his competitive zone and wasn't going to get beat.

SPEAKER_01 35:20

That's the way a lot of us were back then. Yeah, it was who could outdo the other staff. It doesn't matter what game it was. It was freaking video games, pool. Yeah, I mean, it could have been Tedley Winks. It was the same.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

It's funny you say that because it doesn't matter what sport. Baseball was yours, football was mine. I remember those same personalities at AM. Bucky Richardson, when he was our quarterback, you, if you were playing marbles, he was gonna beat you. And that's why made him so great.

SPEAKER_01 35:51

That's what's lacking in today's kids, and I think a lot of it, and this is just my opinion, has to do with the everybody wins a trophy type situation, but that's based on the parents. Like for me, I never my dad never let me win anything.

SPEAKER_00 36:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:07

Ever. If I beat him, it was because I beat him. He was trying to kick my butt.

SPEAKER_00 36:11

One of the sympathy.

SPEAKER_01 36:12

Yeah, no, he was trying to kick my butt because he knew that I'd be talking trash if I did. I was the same way with my son. He said, You're not gonna beat me anything. If you beat me, it's gonna be because you earned it. But I don't think a lot happens a lot today.

SPEAKER_00 36:24

I know.

SPEAKER_01 36:25

But that makes you work harder to get to the point of being good enough to be able to beat your old man.

SPEAKER_00 36:30

That self-drive is what I had because my dad he played in high school. We never really competed against each other. We did in a church basketball game once, and I remember that, but he was real laid back. So mine was just more an inner, just self-driven, one to be the best. But you talk about everybody gets a trophy. I have two Daniel's boys, Barrett and Parker. Man, they're ballers. They play a lot. They play out at Oak Hill all the time. You probably played a few games.

SPEAKER_01 36:59

Played a few games back there growing up.

SPEAKER_00 37:00

Well they're in these tournaments, and Max was like, I saw Barrett got a ring. They got second place, and he still got a ring. That's what you're talking about. Yeah. Exactly. But they played really good. Barrett's a good little player, and Parker is too, but they have Capri Sons and Candy for the kids after the game. I bet that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

Oh, yeah, I hate that.

SPEAKER_00 37:20

The only way I got a snow cone at the game is if I chase that foul ball. Yeah. Down the road.

SPEAKER_01 37:25

Foul ball gets your snow cone or a coke.

SPEAKER_00 37:26

That's it. But I loved playing ball. I wished I I would have been in a that's the only thing about growing up in Sudan. We didn't have organized baseball at the high school level. We played in the summers, and I played a bunch of ball in the summers, but for you to be coached as well as you were at Westlake to get you to where you needed to be. You always wonder if I had the stuff. I was not a pitcher, probably, even though I could throw hard, but I always wondered if I could have made it even at college as a baseball player. Just with some coaching.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

When I moved to Westlake, I was a gym rat. I was in the gym all the time. And then reality checks in, I'm six foot five and white. That's just not gonna go in in the basketball.

SPEAKER_00 38:23

Right.

SPEAKER_01 38:24

But I tell you what, it's pretty darn good for baseball. And no one that I still love the game and still played it, but focus changed from basketball to baseball.

SPEAKER_00 38:34

That's something a lot of kids aren't willing to do. They stay with their first love and don't realize. And I love multi-sport athletes, I encourage it all the time. But for you to realize that and focus your attention to that and get to one for the best, that says a lot. So I'm giving you props. Alright, man, I appreciate your time. Easy to talk to, great stories. We could probably have 10 episodes of all the guys you faced on the mound and and the traveling and all this stuff, but I appreciate your friendship. And we actually got our CDL certification last summer together, which was not an easy thing to do. No, that was freaking hard. For a couple of old men. For a couple of old men, it was hard.

SPEAKER_01 39:22

Going back to school sucks.

SPEAKER_00 39:25

But I appreciate it. Good luck with what y'all's next tournament with your 16U.

SPEAKER_01 39:29

We play at TCU this weekend.

SPEAKER_00 39:30

Woo! At the university? Yeah. I was about to say Eamon Carter, but that's a football field. I don't even know what the baseball is. I don't either. But it'd be nice, huh? Yeah. Is it grass or is it turfed out? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 39:42

I think it's turf.

SPEAKER_00 39:43

Yeah. It'll be nice and cool up there.

SPEAKER_01 39:45

Yeah, sure will. Thanks, Calvin. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me. The sun is down, the lights are bright, getting life.