2027 Doesn't Look Good For Baseball

0:00At Edward Jones, we believe Rich means opening yourself to new possibilities. That's why your dedicated financial advisor meets you where you are, helping you move forward with confidence. Let's find your Rich. Edward Jones, member SIPC. Lisa, tell them a better new show! We have a new podcast. It's called Don't Lie to Me. I'm Lexi Uwanyu, we're two best friends, 22 years apart, but so close at heart. And I'm Lisa DiGiulio, the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions, and at this point in my 50s, I've lived it all. Now in my 30s, being the founder of New Shoes, good taste is my business. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And welcome back to another edition of Is This a Great Game or what? With the Hall of Famer Tim Kirchian, I'm his son Jeff Kirchian. Hey, Dad! Hey, Jeff, it's the second to last Sunday we are taping this of the baseball season.

1:05So that means we have one more week of baseball and one more Sunday to go in the regular season. And even though some of these penit races haven't turned out as well as we thought, like the Padres got so hot, they've kind of run away with the wild card situation. You know what I mean. But the point is, the final week of the season is still going to be filled with great, great intrigue and penit races and everything else. So this last week of the regular season is so much fun because again, there's positioning here not just to make the playoffs, but for home field advantage and everything else. So you're pumped like everyone else, right? Oh my gosh, absolutely. This has been such a fun time in Major League Baseball. The wild card in both leagues seems to be a really exciting time and we've got some, you know, division rivals going at it this week. It's a really exciting time for baseball. The NL Wild Card

2:08is insane and ridiculous as to what's going to shake out in the next seven days. We don't know, but I'm really excited, Dad, because you're right. This is our second to last Sunday of more recording on Sunday, but our next week of baseball of these episodes will be playoffs, which is crazy. So on that Monday episode next week, we'll be talking about who's in, who's out, the matchups, who's and the wild card will start Tuesday of next week, which is really exciting. And I had a great baseball weekend. We'll get to that to manage it, but what did you do all weekend? I didn't hear much from you. It sounds like you were kind of busy. What's going on? Well, it's more of what my morning, this morning, consisted of, which I think is something respectfully knowing how different the two of you to two of us are. I went to Home Depot with my entire family. So that right there, a little foreign, but went to Home Depot, my favorite place on earth. I bought a vanity, a sink vanity, you know what I mean? And I am removing right before

3:15we recorded, removing a pedestal sink. You know what I'm talking about? Just like the sink with no cabinets and I'm putting in a vanity in its place, cabinets and everything. Have you already accomplished this? No, no, it's proving to be more challenging than I expected. So I stopped dissembling, disassembling. Oh gosh, I hate that. Anyway, I stopped doing that to come do the podcast with you. And then I'm going to go upstairs again and crawl underneath the sink and we we lefty Lucy. You know, dad, I don't want to make you sad, but the first person to ever teach me lefty Lucy, righty, tidy was your brother, my late uncle Matt. Yeah. Well, he's the guy taught you everything. He taught you out of fix things. I I taught you I taught you an avaternal voice. That's good. Well, it's really nice because every time which is a lot when I screw something in or unscrew something, I think of Uncle Matt. So this is the first time I've ever done like a semi major

4:18plumbing project electrical. I've done before plumbing is not something I like to touch normally because it scares me. But yeah, so wish me best of luck, dad, with this project that I am starting on a Sunday and I'm going to have football on in the background. Hopefully baseball on in the background because I got to focus up and get this done in one day. We'll see if I can. Let's be clear. I'm not I have nothing against the home depot. Okay, it's a great store and I just I'm just kind of lost in there. I and I go to lows lows never stop improving all the time. So yeah, I just not sure I just get a little bit confused in there unlike you where you could spend all day in there. And I I can't wait to get that out of there even though there's stuff in there that's very handy. Let's be clear on the lows drop you just did. We are not sponsored by lows. However, when my dad had an opportunity for many years to host a show on ESPN this seam had edition of baseball tonight. Dad had never respectfully correct me if I'm wrong done ad reads on television

5:25before. And so we're all the whole families watching the show and you know, we're we're bumping into a commercial and dad has to go this edition of baseball tonight is brought to you by lows. Lows never stop improving and the way you they told you to take long pauses, right? I I thought I was certain Lawrence Olivier the way that I delivered that it was perfect timing on the pause of lows lows never stop improving. Okay, I think you did pretty good dad. I'm not giving you crap about it. But all right. Yes. All right. That's great Jeff. All right. So my baseball experience over the weekend was much easier than yours because I went to the race Red Sox game in at the top, which by the way looks great Jeff. It's so much brighter. You know, this is the first season of the reopening of the trop and it's it's obvious when you walk in there how much brighter the place is it used to be like walking into a cave or a dungeon and now

6:27it's a lot brighter a lot lighter and it's a lot more fun to watch a game in there. And boy, Jeff the rays are still a lot of fun to watch. They have the best record in the American League. They just as we've talked about they just play a little differently than everybody else. You know, they bunt a lot and that just confuses people. The way they play the game is a throwback. It's an old fashioned fundamental based. Let's let's do some things properly here instead of just sitting back and trying to hit a home run. And Kevin Cash is all a part of this. He's the manager of course Jeff. And he's really good as a manager. But he's also so good Jeff because he doesn't take himself too seriously. I told you the story that when the new Yankee Stadium opened in 2009, Kevin Cash was a player for the Yankee. And I was going to the first game ever played regular

7:28season game ever played at Yankee Stadium. And Kevin Cash and I arrived at the stadium at the same time. No way. Yes. And we weren't sure where to enter because the stadium had just opened. But Kevin Cash tried to get in the same entrance that I did. And they they wouldn't let him in. The wait a second. I play for the Yankees. And the security guy said, no, no, you don't. He goes, yes, I do. So eventually they let the backup catcher into Yankee Stadium. So he could put on a Yankee uniform and actually play in the game. But instead of being a jerk about it and screaming at the security guard, he thought it was pretty funny as did I. So that's the kind of sense of humor that Kevin Cash has that serves very well when you're managing a major league team, especially in this day and age. And he got that sense of humor. Well, it's natural for him. But Tito,

8:31for Ancona, he worked with Tito for a long time. And Tito was one of those guys who always told him when in doubt, you know, make him laugh and make everyone comfortable around you. Kevin Cash, nobody's better than Tito at that. But Kevin Cash is pretty darn good at it. What's going on, y'all? Seat Geek is the place to go for all of your tickets. Hey, it's Jeff Gertchen from Is This a Great Game or what? And I want to tell you, you know I'm a country music fan, so I get my country music tickets on Seat Geek. But I also get major league baseball tickets on Seat Geek. Why? Well, because they're MLB's official ticket marketplace. Your tickets are fully guaranteed and instantly fulfilled in your account after purchase. I love using Seat Geek because it's so easy. Listen, if you're getting ready to get all your friends together or your family together for a game, it can be really, really confusing getting those tickets. Trust in Seat Geek, just like us, the Kertchen family, we always trust in Seat Geek for whatever event. More than just sports over 70,000 events are actually listed on Seat Geek with 35 million downloads. Seat Geek is the number one

9:37rated ticketing app. So check them out. We've got a code for you actually. Territory 10 for 10% off your next set of MLB tickets at Seat Geek. That's 10% off any MLB tickets with promo code Territory 10. At Edward Jones, we believe Rich is more than caring about the latest and greatest. It's also taking care of what gives your life meaning. That's why your dedicated financial advisor meets you where you are with personalized financial strategies that help protect what matters. So you can preserve your progress while creating a path forward. The key to being rich is knowing what counts. Let's find your rich together. Edward Jones, member SIPC. Yeah, let's jump right into the takeaways. What do you have across Major League Baseball? Give it to me. Well, a couple things. The Padres, as we said, have gotten red hot here. And at this taping, they've won 12 out of 13, Jeff. Now, obviously, they're not going to win the division, but they have

10:40a chance now to be the number one wildcard team and host a wildcard game as opposed to two weeks ago, it looked for certain like they would have to start on the road. But now they might. Now, they've just played so much better, Jeff. We've talked about Jackson Merrill, Fernando to T. Jr. How much more productive they've been in the second half. But even Salis, the palindromics catcher that they brought up 20 years old, he had a multi-homer game the other day for the Padres. So he is the youngest catcher, age 20, ever to have a multi-homer game. And then a few days later, he got the walkoff hit for another resounding win for the Padres. So they've chased down the Phillies, they've chased down the Cubs. And suddenly, the National League looks like they are now six teams, all six playoff teams that I think are going to make it. I consider dangerous in the

11:44postseason. And I'm not sure you can say that in too many seasons. Am I overrating the Phillies or anyone else in the National League? No, I don't think you are, Dad. And you know, if you're watching on YouTube right now, I just pulled up the ranks for the NL Wild card. Obviously, this is heading into Sunday's games. But it has the Padres winning nine of the last 10. And the Cubs, I mean, it just gone 500 in their last 10 games. The Phillies, only one four of their last 10. So it has been a shake up. But the Padres, it's all about who gets hot when, right, Dad? And that's a big difference maker happens all the time. The Blue J's got hot at the right time last year and nearly won the World Series. This is the beauty of baseball. It doesn't happen like this, nearly as much in other sports. But it doesn't baseball all the time. All right, Jeff, I want you to start looking up Jose Ramirez's career stats for us and put it up on the screen because he just got RBI number 1000. He and a second on the list all time among Cleveland baseball players to

12:51Earl Averill and he'll pass him likely next year. That's how good Jose Ramirez has been. And you see these are the season stats, but his career stats, look, he's got 321 steals. He's got 297 homers. So he's going to be a 300 300 guy. That's a pretty short list to begin with, especially when you're an infielder, 1000 RBI is going to have well over 2000 hits when he's done. We've talked about this before, Jeff. He has a chance if he continues all of this to be the greatest Cleveland baseball player ever. And if you're going to pass Bob Feller on that list and I'm not suggesting he's done that already or that he will do that, but he certainly has a chance to do that. Agreed Jose Ramirez. Really, really good player. Future Hall of Famer. No doubt about it. And those numbers say something, dad, 1000 RBI's nearing that 300 home mark. I mean, Jose Ramirez and he's loved in the city of Cleveland. Not that that means whether or not you should be the

13:54greatest of all time, but he's stuck with that city and it shows they love him. Right. And Jeff, he's about an inch and a half taller than you. And I was with him at the batting cage at the All Star game a couple of years ago. And I just casually joked with him because he was standing right next to Aaron Judge. And I said, Jose, you know, what is this? He's a foot taller than you. And Jose took a muscle. He took his bicep and flexed it. And he just pointed at his bicep as if to say, but I'm just as strong as he is right here. And that's that's Jose Ramirez's good sense of humor. So now, Jeff, this is not this is not a sense of humor story, but because Jared Young, the first basement for the meds is going to be out for the rest of the season because of a really frightening collision that he had with Nolan McLean, the pitcher on his team. You saw the collision, right, Jeff? Yeah, it was it was really sad to see. I don't love seeing that kind

14:57of stuff on a baseball field. Right. And Jeff, again, the lesson here is this is a really dangerous game. Look, this is so unimportant. But when I played in high school, Jason Cludier and Steve Bosque got in an incredible collision in the outfield my junior year. And we both we all thought both of them were dead. And now they both got up and they were okay, but it they were both not unconscious in the outfield. And this can happen. This is what happened to Jared Young, but the the lesson Jeff is and this is the way they teach it. And Buckshaw Waller has told me this a million different times when you're when there's a but play or a slow ground ball between the pitcher and the first basement. Okay. And it's unclear who's supposed to do what here. The pitcher is always supposed to run to the ball, not to the base. And Nolan claim not his fault, but he ran towards the ball. Then he switched gears and ran towards the base. And that's how the collision happened. So that's

16:02that's the technique for a pitcher on that play run to the ball, not to the base. Does that make sense? I think it absolutely does. And I mean, when you're talking about Buckshaw Waller here, I mean, that just goes to show how great that is. Right. And he and Don Maddenly when they work together with the Yankees, Maddenly, of course, one of the great first basement of all time defensively, especially they talked about this all the time. You have to stay away from each other on this play. And if you have that technique in place, it'll work. Speaking to the Yankees, Jeff, we talked about this last week, but Aaron Boone was telling people in spring training, Ben Rice is going to hit 39 home runs this year. Call up Ben Rice's numbers, Jeff. And Ben Rice has 39 home runs this year with a week to go. So I think he's going to surpass it. And Jeff, this is where I get a little bit confused. He has a war of 4.0. Okay. Now Ben Rice has an OPS of 892. He's slugging 530. He's hit 39

17:07home runs for the second best team in the American league. And yet people who go exclusively by war are not going to have him even in the top 10 of the MVP voting because there are least 10 guys that have a war above four. This is just a general reminder that war is an interesting and an important stat. But I look at OPS first and I look at what did you do for your team. 39 home runs 95 RBI's 892 OPS playing multiple positions is that's a really good year for a guy on a team that's going to the playoffs agreed. Yeah, absolutely. How can you help your team? I think that's a big difference maker in this game. And I'm not surprised that Boone said 39 and he has 39. Will he eclipse the 40 mark? We'll see. We'll have to find out. I'm pretty sure that he will. Okay, I again, I got a look at the red socks over the weekend to Jeff and boy, they are an impressive lot.

18:10And the number one thing I learned about them in this turnaround, I kind of already knew it. But this was really hammered in just just how tough this team has become. Okay, the Mickey Gaspers of the world and these guys who are just up for work, they're not just up, but they're up from the minor leagues and they're trying to show everyone that I belong here Caleb Durbin who's played all over the infield. He is one tough little guy. And when guys are fighting for a roster spot and when they're when they're fighting for it, they're saying we're going to win games, the toughness of the team has really, really improved. And that's the biggest reason they went from 14 under to 14 over in 62 days, Jeff. That's just unbelievable. You know, the 1914 Miracle Braves did it in 59 days, but red socks really impressive. And their pitching has, their bullpen, by the way, Jeff is really good underrated good. And Peyton Toley has had a great

19:13second half, especially. He is a top flight pitcher. And I, if they play the Yankees in the wildcard series, and I think they will, I think we should at least, I'm guessing here, we should expect Peyton Toley to start game one against Cam Schlippler, who is the best pitcher in the American league. But Peyton Toley has a great sense of humor, self deprecating, absolutely fearless out there, has a smile on his face, but is a really rugged competitor. And remember, we talked that he had a, an immaculate inning in the first inning against the, the Royals. And I was told that after the eighth consecutive strike. So now he's got two strikeouts and he's 0-2 on the third guy. He kind of looked in the dugout, his own dugout and not in any sort of flamboyant way, but just kind of smiled like, I know what this is. If I throw a strike here and say, I know what's happening. I get an immaculate inning in the first inning of a game. To me, that just shows a sense of place and time that he has.

20:20And I think if he does pitch game one at Yankee Stadium in the wildcard round, which is where it appears we are headed, I don't think he's going to be spooked in any way by that assignment. And I think that's really important when you're pitching at Yankee Stadium. So, Jay, do you ever find yourself crashing in the afternoon, needing a boost, but not one half caffeine that you know is going to ruin your sleep? Oh, you're definitely. Found myself on the golf course a lot lately. And sometimes, you know, it can be long days out there. So I reach in my golf bag. I keep the ultra focus pouch right here with me, keep it in my golf bag. And it's part of my golf bag, as I said. Yeah. And so where are some of your favorite effects of the ultra pouches? Definitely, you know, it gives me a little bit of focus, that little bit of energy that I'm looking for. And obviously not having any caffeine in it is always a plus for me. So I enjoy those things. Ultra is the ultimate guilt-free pouch delivering instant focus and mental clarity

21:21without nicotine or caffeine. New customers can use code baseball to get 15% off at takeultra.com. That's takeultra.com for 15% off with code baseball. After you purchase, they will ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them our show sends you. At Edward Jones, we believe Rich isn't about having life all figured out. It's opening yourself to all the possibilities. That's why your dedicated financial advisor provides long-term planning built around you, meeting you where you are and helping you get closer to where you want to be. So no matter where you're starting from, you can move forward with confidence. The key to being rich is knowing what counts. Let's find your rich Edward Jones, member SIPC. I last think Jeff would take ways and I hesitate to even bring this up with all the greatness going on, but I talked to someone who knows a lot about the labor situation and I just casually

22:26asked him, what do you think happens next year? He said, I think we'd lose the whole season. Now that's just one guy, Jeff. One guy. He may be completely wrong, but he's pretty hooked in on things and he told me there are six different scenarios that he's looking at financially about things and all six of them about next year include a work stoppage. So let's just hope as we head towards the playoffs in the last week of the season that we get this cleaned up. You can help. No fan dad likes to hear that, that you just dropped, but we understand that that's kind of the way things happen. I'd rather be well prepared for this than ill-prepared, so to speak. Let's make sure that we get this done and get this figured out hopefully before spring training next year. What are we even going to talk about on this darn podcast if there's not a season? I don't know. We're not going to do three weeks. We don't have

23:30anything to talk about. We're going to figure out. I don't even want to see you board games or something. Yeah. Yeah. I don't even want to think about that. Okay, Jeff. It's time for the court jins right here on is this a great game or what? All right, dad, kick it off. What do you got? All right. So Eric Miller of the Red Sox, the other name, got a save. Okay, he pitched one inning. He walked two batters. He threw three wild pitches, and he still got a save. And I called Frank from the lives and said, I cannot believe that anybody has ever gotten a save pitching one inning, walking two guys, throwing three wild pitches, and still getting the save. So Frank got back to me that only four pictures have ever thrown three wild pitches, not even in an appearance and gotten a save. And he did it in one inning,

24:36but no pitcher since 1969 has done what Eric Miller did. And that's pitching in and getting a save while walking two and throwing three wild pitches. A Roles Chapman, Jury's Familia, and Mark Wolers all had three wild pitches in a saved game. But, but, you know, Eric Miller did it with two walks in one inning and still ended up with the save. So that's one of those you just go, wow, wonder when the last time that happened. Well, since 1969, it's never happened. Right. That's, and Jeff, you know how much it loves cycles. And we, you know, we talk all the time cycles are just a statistical anomaly, but they're really cool. But Alex Breggman the other day had his second career. He was a single short of the cycle for the second time in his career. Okay. So that's happened three times this year. Mickey Moniac has

25:40had two games this year where he was a single short of the cycle. And Ian Hap had his second career single short of the cycle. I just curious, Jeff, what do you think the record is for the most games in by a player being a single short of the cycle? It can't be more than three or four, I think. The answer, Jeff, that's very astute of you. The answer is three. So Babe Ruth, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson, among many others have the most games three as single short of the cycle. And the last to do that was Maglio Ordonia's of the, I guess he was with the Tigers at the time. Could have been the White Talks. I didn't even look it up, but it wasn't that long ago, but you know, we talk all the time. He's a triple short of the cycle, which that's ridiculous. It's ridiculous, but a single short of the cycle is kind of odd. And now,

26:42so Alex Frankman now has two of them. You can't say Maglio without O-W-O-Maglio. That's right. He was a good hitter in his day. I'll tell you that. All right, Spencer Jones had a bad game for the Yankees the other day. He struck out five times in a game, Jeff. Okay, so that is the sixth time this year that a player has struck out five or more times in a game. So it happened seven times last year and seven times in 2024. And the record for individual five strikeout games is 12 in 2019. Now, Jeff, that was the year where homeruns were completely out of control, like everybody at 30 homers that year. But it was him. And because guys were trying to hit the ball out of the ballpark, they also struck out 12 Jeff, five individual strikeout games in one season. It's amazing to me.

27:47And again, different time, different era, but Joe Demaggio, Tony Gwen, Stan Musil, each had only one three strikeout game and three strikeout game in their career. Bill Bukter and Mike Socia know three strikeout games in their career. And this year, Spencer Jones, who's a great kid and a great athlete and really going to help the Yankees. He became the sixth individual five strikeout game. Jeff, five in a game is a lot. It's hard to go home. Do you remember all the five strikeouts? How that goes three is a hat trick, right? Four is a Zimbrero. Zimbrero five is five is a golden Zimbrero. Right. And what's the horn way to go based at do you remember the player? Sam Horn Sam Horn. And then seven would be a golden horn, right? Is that what we decided Mike Flanagan named all of these. Okay. So he the day Sam Horn struck out for six times in a game first position player ever to do

28:52that. Mike Flanagan called it a horn and he said if anyone ever strikes out seven times, it will be a horn aplenty. So yeah. So we'll always remember that. Speaking of strikeouts, Jeff, Tyler Glass now are the Dodgers struck out 10 the other night. So he is the seventh different Dodger with a 10 strikeout game this year. So that ties the 1967 Cleveland Indians for a team with the most individual 10 strikeout pictures in one season. And we used this note early in the year and I've been dying for someone to get to seven. So that record has now been tied. But Jeff, it just shows you the depth of that Dodger's pitching staff that they have seven different guys on their team that are capable of striking out 10 in a game. So that's why you wonder, you know, they got to get O'Tonney back. They got to get him healthy. But they need him back for their lineup more than they need him for their pitching because they still even without him

29:57on the mound, they have tremendous starting pitching. Agreed? Yeah. I mean, and we saw this last year, dad, the Dodgers injuries. And we just said, if they're right in the playoffs, it's over. And I mean, the Blue Jays came and we're on for the money. Let's be honest. And it was one of the most exciting World Series ever. But if they're healthy, it's going to be a big uphill battle for the NL for anybody else to get through. And then of course, whoever makes it with a weak soft American league this year, honestly, we'll kind of see who comes up on top and stuff. Right. Okay. Jeff, you talked about the Phillies earlier, how they haven't played particularly well lately and picking a bad time for that. They can still burst out of this. But at this taping, they had scored exactly three runs in five consecutive games. Okay. Now three usually doesn't get it done. But it's also a statistical anomaly that any team scores exactly the same number runs in five consecutive games. And in one of those games, Jeff, the Phillies drew 13 walks and won the game

31:02three to nothing. So the last team, Jeff, to score only three runs in a game in which they were walked 13 times or more was the 1955 Tigers. That surprised you at all. Yeah, that's a little way back on that, right? Yeah, absolutely. At Edward Jones, we believe rich means opening yourself to new possibilities. That's why your dedicated financial advisor meets you where you are, helping you move forward with confidence. Let's find your rich Edward Jones, member SIPC. Hey, it's Kelly Rowland. You may not know this, but I have Exema. So I get how it can steal your time. But why let Exema take over when you can talk to your doctor about Ebbgliss. Ebbgliss, Lebrichizmab, LBKZ, a 250 milligram per 2 milliliter injection is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older, who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe axima. Also called a topic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription

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33:13Alright Dad, on the state and baseball history, it is September 21st. Right, and on this state in 1919, Jeff, the Cubs beat the Braves and the game took 58 minutes. And I believe on the same day, the Robins played the Reds and the game took 55 minutes. I mean, how was that possible you played game under an hour? Again, it was the dead ball era. No one's trying to hit homers, people are throwing it over the plate, but those are some pretty quick games. Alright, on this day, Jeff, in 1909, what should a call up? Walter Johnson's 1909 season, okay? I ever tell you I went to Walter Johnson's and I was like, did you? Yeah, so he threw a shut out on this date in 1909. But that season, Jeff, his Tee lost 25. There it is. He went 13 and 25 all time went 13 and 25 and had a 2.22 ERA,

34:17which is just unbelievable. How is that possible? You could have an ERA that low and lose 25 games. Well, here's how the senators, his team got shut out 10 times in his starts. So 10 of those 25 losses is team didn't score any runs and five of those losses were against the same team, the Chicago White Sox. So when we talk about Walter Johnson being the greatest pitcher of all time, it's you have to remember if he had pitched for really good teams at that time, he would have won 500 games because this year, that year, he lost 25 with a 2.22 ERA. He only gave up one home or the whole year. Look at that 40 games, one home run. Now for those who are wondering, you know, we have just really upped our game on YouTube. So if you haven't subscribed to us yet, you got to do so because we now have this thing called Derek Vision, thanks to our friends at the FALT territory network, where we're able to pull up. We have

35:211909 Walter Johnson stats on our screen right now looking at all the numbers. It's a whole new way. To invest in being a part of the family, is this a great game or what? Honestly, it's really cool, dad, right? Then we can pull these numbers and maybe see something that you hadn't even seen before when you were preparing for the episode. All right. Well, Jeff, I'm so glad you're quick there, but pulling this stuff up. I mean, it was up to me to pull up these things. I don't think it would be nearly as efficient. Okay, this date 1970 by the blue pitched a no-hitter. He was the youngest pitcher to throw a no-hitter since Paul Dean, who was Dizzy Dean's brother, and Paul Dean had done it 36 years earlier to the exact same day that Vital Blue did it. How about that? What do you think? That's incredible. Again, these amazing coincidences are so good. I'd on this date in 1984 Jim Traver, who's a dear friend of mine, he played for the Orioles when

36:24I covered the team for the Baltimore Sun. On this date in 1984, Jim Traver came to the big leagues, made his major league debut was the starting DH that day, but this is the kicker, Jeff. He sang the national anthem before the game. So on his major league debut, he didn't just start the game. He sang the national anthem to start the game. Now listen, I know Jim Traver really well, really good basketball player, college football quarterback at Oklahoma State, major league baseball player, and a booming, booming voice. I've heard him sing before. He's a remarkably talented fellow. Can you imagine, Jeff, you sing the national anthem on the day you make your major league debut? No, I sang the national anthem at progressive field, and I couldn't do anything the rest of the day. The whole day I was nervous, and even after my anxiety and my adrenaline was through the roof,

37:26Dad, you have to do. I challenge you to do the all debut team. Now keep in mind, I want this to consist of two different things, right? Pudge Rodriguez got married. The day he got called up, right? So there's that aspect of it. Trabes singing the national anthem right before his debut. That's another. And then maybe find some guys who hit three bombs on their debut or hit for this, you know, like, like both achievement on the field, but also fun fact. I think that could be a really fun, I mean, it's tough to do in September, but I mean, some guys are getting called up in order to make those playoff rosters. So that is a great idea. And Jeff, you did a great job seeing the national anthem that day at progressive field. Just tell us one more time what Tito Frank Hona told you. The last thing that you heard before you grabbed the microphone to go sing the national anthem at a major league ballpark. What did Tito say? He said, don't bleep it up.

38:29And Dad, we've talked to him about it. We've talked about it at nauseam here on the podcast, but I think the big difference for me was it actually calmed me down more than it made me nervous, right? Even though it is, it is like advice that one would be like, wow, thanks a lot, but in reality, it made me laugh. It made me smile. And I knew that he was on my side because of that comment. I mean, just just some standard managerial stuff, right? Right. So a picture was taken of you by somebody singing the national anthem that day. And I am in the background because I'm the dug out reporter that day. And I'm on the field at progressive field. And I'm taking a video of you with my phone in this direction. Can you see it? Oh, yeah. I mean, yes. Do you know how there I am in the background going like this? And just to show you how Twitter or X or whatever we call, I got absolutely pounded by some guy the next day who saw this picture and said, what are you doing? You have to use the landscape. How can you have this as a vertical

39:34instead of a horizontal? How am I supposed to know that? You get killed. You get killed on Twitter just by putting your phone in the wrong place while you're filming your son singing the national anthem. I guess you're going to get killed. You got to go horizontal always. You got to do it. Trust me. All right. I'm sorry. I didn't know that. Okay, Jeff. On this date in 1942, Sam McDowell was born. His nickname was Sudden Sam, which is one of my favorite nicknames ever. He led the league in Cleveland Indians. He's already been in the podcast today once. I think led the league and strikeouts five times led the league in ERA once struck out 300 in the season twice at a career ERA of 3.17, 141 games. And what pitched in the big leagues at age 18. So Sudden Sam McDowell is not a Hall of Famer, but he had quite a career. And he's still with us. And today is his birthday.

40:37And Jeff, when I covered the Rangers, look, I have to be careful. I have say this Sam McDowell got himself in some trouble. I think with alcohol when he was a player and quickly turned himself around and for years. And he did this with the Texas Rangers team that I covered for the Dallas Morning News. He came in and and you know, told everyone of the evils of this. And he got a lot of people straightened out. So Sam McDowell had some trouble at times off the field in his playing career. But he came back and fixed a whole lot of people just making sure they knew don't do what I did off the field. Love Sam McDowell, one of my favorite players. And I got to know him quite a bit when he was helping out with the Rangers. So that was pretty good. Okay, Jeff. Last birthday is Cecil Fielder, who was born on this date in 1963. One more time, Jeff, what does he share with his son, Prince Fielder? Well, obviously, both of them have the same amount of home runs in their

41:41career, which is so cool. Jeff, really, what my dad was a teacher in mathematics, probability and statistics. I don't think I ever asked pop who's been gone for years. One of the chances of a father and son finishing with the exact same number of home runs. It's got to be astronomical. And in 1951, call up, I mean, 1990 call up, Princess Cecil Fielder's 1990 season for me. Okay, so he 1990, Jeff. That's not 1990. Here it is. So he had 51 homers knocked in 132 runs and OPS of 969. Now, Jeff, you can't find what he did against left handed pitchers in there. Can you? You know, I might be able to, but maybe not in just the 90 season, but I could do career totals. Is that okay? Okay. Yeah. Well, here's the point. That year, especially, he was slugging like 900 against left handed pitching. He just buried them. Okay. But I did a game in Chicago.

42:48And Prince, this just goes to show you how much the game has changed. I did a game in Chicago in 1990. And Cecil Fielder is tearing it up. But there's a runner at second base with nobody out. And back then, your job, no matter who you were, was to get that guy from second to third with less than two outs. Because that was the job that was required back then. We don't think that way anymore. So here's Cecil Fielder, who just destroys left handed pitchers, did this awkward inside out swing in order to hit a weak ground ball to the second basement and advance the runner to third. I mean, if he had tried that today, slugging 900 against left handed pitchers, people would have looked at him. I looked at him at that time and said, what do you do it? You know, but this just showed you what a fundamental baseball player he was and how the game was played

43:48differently in 1990 that he said, this is my job. And he got back to the dugout and everyone like gave him high fives because he got the guy to third with less than two outs. Just shows you how much things have changed, right, Jeff? No doubt about it. It's time for the wheel of Kirk Jen here on is this a great game or what? All right, Dad, I've got the wheel here. Before we spin the wheel, Dad, there's even better reason to do this today because of our guest tomorrow. You got to tell the people who we have. Yeah, tomorrow's guest is Pat Sejick, who was on wheel. It was the host of wheel of fortune for years and years and years. And I've gotten to know Pat Sejick here recently. He's a huge baseball fan. He really loves more important understands the game. So I ran into him at Cooperstown this year. I played in a golf tournament here

44:53recently with him. And I met him a couple years ago also. And so when I asked him to come on, I thought he might say, what are you crazy? I got better things to do than this dinky podcast. But he said, I'd be happy to do it. So we're going to have him on tomorrow. And tomorrow, Jeff, we'll have him while we have him on spin the wheel of Kirk Jen in order to feel like an even bigger part of the show. Agreed? And out. Wait. All right, Dad, here we go. Spitting the wheel. Well, I dropped it. Spitting the wheel of Kirk Jen. Now it's messed up in my, okay, minor league Jeff, we should do a minor league note of the week because so many incredible things happen in the minor leagues, but we don't pay attention to them quite as much. But this is one of my favorite minor league stories in 2004. Indianapolis Indians. This is AAA first baseman Jeff Leifer got locked inside of the bathroom, which is hooked to the dugout. And he's actually playing

45:55in the game. And they couldn't unlock it. It took 20 minutes for them to unlock the bathroom, which is hooked right there on the field to the dugout. So it took them 20 minutes to get it done, unscrew the handle and everything else. And finally, what Jeff Leifer got out when he gets, finally gets out to his position of first base, the other team had put a roll of toilet paper on the first base bag just to make sure that yes, yes. And they actually announced there's an Indian's player that is detained at the moment. He is stuck in the bathroom. And as Jeff Leifer told me, said, I don't want to be remembered as the guy who got stuck in the bathroom. But he did. And this is the beauty of minor league baseball. This couldn't happen in the big leagues, but it did in the minor. All right, dad. Next spin of the wheel of correction. Let's go to Mr. September. Interesting. Yeah. And Mr. September. Yeah. I don't, you know, we have Mr.

47:00October Reggie Jackson, but I don't think there's a classic Mr. September. But I do remember this story that Bucky Dent told me. Bucky Dent, of course, famous home run for the Yankees in 1978 in the playoff game against the Red Sox played for the Rangers when I covered the team. One of my favorite people's made me laugh out loud, really good defensive shortstop. And a pretty good hitter in his day too. But he told me that September would roll around. And he would look at his Yankee teammate, Mickey Rivers and say, Mick, it's September. We need, I need the playoff money. I need, we need to make the playoffs. You have to play great in September and get us into the playoffs because I need the playoff money and Mickey Rivers were the funniest people ever. Bucky told me that Mick looked at him and said, yeah, yeah, Bucky, I need the money too. I need the playoff money too. And

48:02then he would go out and play like hell in the month of September and help get the Yankees into the playoffs. So for me, just for that story alone, he is Mr. September. That is so perfect. All right, Dad, do we have time for one more spin you think? Yes. One more quick spin of the wheel. Oh, oh, good. All right, Tito, Tito, Frank Kona. Sorry. It's right next to a blank. So we're going to go Tito, Frank Kona's our final stop on the Wheel of Kirkchin. Right. Well, there are a million Tito stories. So I'm just going to repeat my favorite Tito because I was there. Okay. He had just been fired by the Red Sox and he came to ESPN for one year. So they put me in charge of Tito in spring training because apparently Tito's sense of direction was so bad that they needed somebody to kind of walk around with him to make sure quite literally that he didn't get lost. And Jeff, you know me,

49:04my sense of direction is not very good either. But compared to him, I am Vasco de Gaba. Okay. So I kind of held Tito's hand wherever he went. So he never got lost and he was all because nobody was more on time, more prompt than Tito, Frank Kona. So our first stop in spring training, they put us at a hotel. I've told this story before you, but you're going to hear it again. It was called Camp Wilderness. It wasn't a hotel. It was a bunch of log cabins set in the woods on a Disney property. And so we all have our individual cabin and you walk in and they're bunk beds in there. It was like Tito and I were in the Cub Scouts. It was unbelievable. And he thought, he thought it was a big joke. He told me this later. He thought that once he walked in there like he could have gone to Fox and steady went to ESPN. And he thought someone was just going to jump out behind a curtain

50:06and say, you're not really staying here. Well, as it turned out, he was really staying there. So he called down, he called down for room service to the place we checked in for the hotel. And the ladies said very politely, sir, room service at Camp Wilderness is the Coke machine that you saw here at the building. That is room service. So after like 10 minutes, he is absolutely incredulous that we are staying at Camp Wilderness. And he calls me on the phone. On my cell phone, in my dinky little cabin too, and he goes, Tim, do you want to come over to my cabin? We'll go out the backyard and make some spores. What do you think? And again, Jeff, this is a two-time world series manager who is staying at Camp Wilderness. Absolutely incredible. All right, Dad, we got to wrap up today's show with our team, Tim, and it has a little bit to do

51:06with, well, everything to do with our guest tomorrow, right? Right. So Pat SayJack is our guest tomorrow. Again, Big Baseball fan really understands the game, goes to a million games. He actually went, Jeff, to the 30 to three game Rangers and Orioles. When Rangers became the first teams since 1900, Discord 30 runs in a game. Pat SayJack was there. So we'll ask them all about that game. But so I loved game shows growing up. So this was really hard to do, Jeff, because it's hard to, I didn't know whether to use the guys first name or his last name. You're monologuing. It's a stretch. We know. It's okay. Don't worry. We get to the team. What do we got? So our catcher, and this is a tribute to Pat SayJack, is Pat Borders, the world series MVP one year. First baseman is Will Clark. Of course, Dick Clark hosted American bandstand, which of course

52:09was indeed a game show in a way. Clark Syracuse University graduate, mind you. Really? Yeah, we could go. All right. Our second baseman is Howie Kendrick, because Howie Mandel was a great game show host, much more recently than when I used to watch him in the 60s. Of course, Alex Bregman is our third baseman after Alex Trebek, the second host of Jeopardy. Of course, Art Fleming was the first one. He's the one that I used to watch growing up. So we should have a shout out at least to him. Our short stop is Gene Alley, named for Gene Rayburn, who was the host of the match game for years. He was great at that. How outfield is Andre Dawson. Of course, Richard Dawson hosted family feud. And most people

53:09called him Richard. So I consider putting J.R. Richard on there. But I've got Andre Dawson, everyone knows Richard Dawson. Mel Hall is one outfielder. Monti Hall, of course, did. What do money hall do? Let's make a deal. Let's make a deal. Yeah, good job. Almost forgot. Let's make it. That's terrible. And Chuck Hinton, who used to coach at Howard University against Uncle Matt and Uncle Andy when they played a Catholic you. Chuck Hinton was a really good hitter in the major leagues, including with the Washington Senators when I was growing up. So there are several game show host named Chuck. Number one for me is Chuck Beres, who hosted the Gong Show. And Jeff, the Gong Show was so popular when I was in college in the mid to late 70s that we would we would time things to make sure we were home to watch the Gong Show because Chuck

54:10Beres, the host, was so, so funny. He would always say we'll be back with more stuff right after this. He was great. Yeah, they had the unknown comic who would tell Joe so the bag over his head. It was really great. So, okay, those are our everyday players, our pictures. Of course, Len Barker. Bob Barker is probably, Price is right. It's probably Jeff. Is he the most famous game show host ever? Maybe. Yeah, Bob Barker for sure. Yeah. All right, Brian Harvey, really good reliever. Steve Harvey, of course, has done a lot of game shows in his career. You all, you banks, I did this, especially you, E. L. Never heard of him, of course. But Bob, you banks hosted the newlywed game when I was a kid. And we always got a lot of chuckles out of that. And this is my favorite one, Jeff, even though I don't even pretend to know who Jim Perry is. But Jim Perry hosted Card Shark, sorry, Jim and Sale of the Century. And he shares the name with Jim Perry, who is

55:14Game of the World, Perry's brother and G. Jim Perry, one was co-winner of the American League Saiyong one year. So, we actually found a real baseball player who had the same name as a famous game show host. Very cool. Very. Pretty good. I think you did really great on on this team Tim. You said it was a stretch, but I think it was awesome. Well done. All right. Well, this is for all of our people who grew up like I did watching, you know, game shows and everything else. It was so much fun, so much fun. So, yeah, again, third time, Pat Sejack will be our guest tomorrow for a big interview. And we'll ask them all sorts of baseball questions because he really loves and understands the game. Yeah, actually, do us a favor. If you have a question that you want to share with Pat Sejack, we would love to hear it. Just put it in the comments of this video or you can always message us great game or what.com. It's that easy. Now, Dad, just for fun, tell me what you're doing the rest of the day. And people will truly get to know how different you and I are.

56:18What is the rest of your day look like? It's a Sunday. I'm going to Kelly's house to see the three grandchildren who I didn't see yesterday because I was out of town at the race Red Sox game. That's the first thing. And then I'm going to come back and watch the commanders while I'm going to watch baseball. It's going to be on one TV, but I'm also going to watch the commanders play the Cowboys because I grew up and Cowboys Redskins was appointment viewing back then the Redskins were really good. Manders not so much today, but it's almost it's almost like an obligation. You have to watch the commanders against the Cowboys. I hope the commanders win, but not leaving so much hope there. So I would much rather do what I'm doing than put together a vanity sink. Is that's what it's called? Yeah, vanity. And we're going to see how it goes. Trust me. I mean, I've got the bucket for the dripping water. And I'm going to have to muscle this thing out of the wall. My wife woke up one

57:21day and said, we're redoing the whole half bath. And I came home, dad, from an event an all day event. And there were two ladders in a room that's about 12 square feet, it feels like. And all of a sudden, we're off to the races. And that's how projects start in my house when my wife's in charge is it just charts. And I got to play catch up the whole time. So we went home, Depot. We bought what she wanted. And she says, okay, Jeff, I'm going to go play with the kids. You tell me when you're done. Let me know if you need me. Right. Home Depot. Home Depot never stop improving. Oh, dad, we're going to get in trouble for that one. I'm just kidding. Thank you so much for listening. And it's always thank you so much for being a part of our family.