Boonie Bite: When Can You Feel It?

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2:02Get started now at helloalma.com. That's helloalma.com. Welcome, welcome to the Red Bull podcast. Explore the mind of MME All Star, Silver Slugger, and Gold Club winner, Red Bull. As he sits down with his friends for the world of professional sports. Now, up to bed. Right. Isn't it weird though, too? It's like we're not going anywhere. We're not dying. But no, of course, right. But a portion of us feels like, I'm sure right now you're in Anaheim and you're getting to see Gooby and you're getting to see Mark Langston. Well, you're used to seeing when you pop into town and all of a sudden you're looking at it like, yeah, I'm seeing you and we're still going to be buddies. I'm never going to be in the broadcast booth next to you anymore. That's the weird stuff that kind of pops into your mind. No, it does because I love going to be doing for the last 52 years. I wanted to do this.

3:02But when I was 12 years old, growing up on the South Side of Chicago broadcast in a game. I wanted to be in the next Louis Apparition. That didn't work out. I played a few years on the JB team in college. It's something Illinois University. That's what I saw a slider and I go, what's that? And my head coach, itchy Jones, and I agreed to get into broadcasting my senior year there. And it was a wise choice. But yeah, it's going to be tough here in the next few weeks. But I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to the next chapter in my life, buddy, travel. When I want to travel, spend time with my grandkids. So it's exciting, the future. But man, it's going to be sad when I wind down here in the next seven or eight days. It's game, too, rather. Why this year? When did this decision come? Yeah, that's a great question. I thought about it prior to the 2025 season. I was going to retire after the 25 season.

4:02Because as you know, my son passed away next three years ago. And man, that was devastating for me. And that was a huge loss for anybody. And I lost a lot of good friends of mine. Dave Henderson passed away a number of years ago and Julio Cruz and a good friend of mine, Joe Winged passed away. And so you know that light at the end of the sudden. I got a little bit brighter for me, Boone. I'm 72 years old. I don't know how many years of good Lord is going to give me. But I want to enjoy the rest of them. I'm tired of the travel, to be honest with you. I loved it. I've loved every second of my journey. I wouldn't trade it in for anything. I've started in 1975 in the minor leagues in AA Alexander Louisiana, Washington, uniform signing the shoes. And the underwear and the jog straps are bruised suit or with the Midland Cubs and Jack Clark, who was with a lot of the drillers and Mitchell Pages. A lot of great players there. And now here I am, the voice of the Baroness for 41 years. It's been remarkable. So that's when I started to think about it,

5:04about the rest of my life. And I want to get on a plane when I want to get on a plane. I've never been to Europe. I'm Italian. All my relatives are from Italy. I want to see Rome. I want to eat my way across that country, Boney, some fresh pasta and everything. And take off in May or something. Or come out to a ball game next year. Watch the mariner's. I can leave in the seventh inning and go back home. But so that's what I want to do. I want to spend more time with my grandkids. Travel when I want to travel. And hopefully stay busy doing other things. Fun things that I want to do in my life. And that's when it hit me was a couple of years ago. That's why I made this decision. The only thing about the travel is, yeah, you can travel when you want, but you're not on the private bird anymore, Rick. Yeah, I'm not going to miss that, man. I'm going to miss that big time. You know, the plane sentence leaving my Cheetos at my seat and my ginger ale, you know, I'm going to miss that. Because let's face it, Boney, we've been spoiled for many many years of when we travel in the major leagues.

6:06Absolutely. What does Rick risk do away from the ballpark? Because for, well, even for me, I mean, we traveled together, but we weren't hanging out after hours very often. I mean, we've got a few of those that I might ask about a little later. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I want to share. Yeah, and here in Antivue, you know, you know, we're years ago. But I like to, you know, get up in the morning, get my coffee and do my notes. I love the preparation. You know, I got to be prepared each and every day. So when I do that, then I can spend time at the ballpark talking to you guys, talking to the players, talking to the manager, talking to the coaches, getting in the other dugout, getting in the other clubhouse, talking with the other managers and players. Because the fans deserve that. We need to tell more stories. I think that's what I learned from Dave Neyhouse, you know, when I started in the big leagues in 1983. And then I'll go find lunch somewhere, which I'm getting ready to do here in Antivue. I'll take care of that, then jump on the bus

7:09and get to the ballpark and do my job and talk with the players, find out what's going on, you know, with, you know, yesterday was an honor to a Roberto Climetti. It was a Roberto Climetti day. So I got Poppy, I got Edgar Martinez to come out of the batting cages and spend some time with me talking about growing up in Puerto Rico and what a hero Roberto Climetti was for him and everybody else on the island all the other Latin players and Dominican Republic or whoever they grew up. So that's what I'd love to do. I'd love to chronicle the history of the game until the stories of the players. And then at night, once in a while, go have a cold beverage like you and I did, that one time at Antivue, Dave Neyhouse and I and Kevin Cremon did that quite a bit, you know, when I was with David for 25 years, not so much lately, but it's still fun. I had a beer with Adam Bonero, who was our mental skills coach at a great time talking about life in the bar of the other night. That's what I'm really gonna miss.

8:09Then you get up the next day and you do the same thing over and over again, putting for 50 years and you wake up one day and say, you know, it's time to take care of yourself and do something else. When you talk about the fans, I mean, especially the fans of the Northwest, they've kind of watched you grow up. You came in as a kid. I know someone who was very close to you, is close to a lot of people, Dave Neyhouse, the legendary broadcaster in Seattle, kind of your mentor. You came in with him, but they've seen you kind of grow up before their eyes. You stepped into that role and you never tried to fill Dave's shoes. You went about it in a way where you respected his, what he'd meant to that city, to the franchise as Seattle Mariners. And now you've been doing it. You become in a different way. I mean, for me, Rick, and all the years I've been with you and listening to you sometimes in the clubhouse in between innings, when I'm up there looking at video,

9:11your voice has been, you know, kind of just, that's what Seattle baseball is. And it's gonna be tough. As tough as it was when Dave passed and it kind of passed the time to you. I kind of feel sorry for the next guy that's gotta feel the shoes. Hopefully he doesn't like you did. He doesn't try to fill your shoes. He just tries to write his own chapter, but I feel sorry for the next guy. What do you think about that? Well, I'm gonna make sure the fans realize that, you know, I'm gone. I try to replace the legend and Detroit. That was kind of tough with Ernie Hardwell and he came back and we got him back. So I'm gonna make sure that I'm away and that Gary Hill takes over on Radio Aaron Goulsmith and he's got a great job on TV and Shana Duran pre-imposed. And hopefully maybe we hire somebody from the minor leagues and take over. But Michael is exactly what you mentioned. Not to fill Dave's shoes, but to carry on his legacy. And I wanted fans to make sure that they knew

10:13how great Dave Neyhouse was. Not only the year after he passed away, but for the next, for 10 years after that, 20 years after that, 40 years after that, he's in the hall of fame. He was the first Mariner to go into hall of fame back in 2008. And anytime the bases were loaded, there was a home run, grandma was gonna... Oh, man, a phone call for Rick. We knew we needed to do that, James. It's all of it. We got all of it. All right, great. Keep going, buddy. I'm here for you as long as you want. Three, two, one. All right, where's this portion of the podcast? I usually don't have this, but with you, I want to. All your years with the Mariner's, all the great players. I want a little Rick Riz story time. Oh, yeah. I'm gonna give you a list. I'm gonna give you some topics. We're gonna start with, give me one of your favorite J. BUNER stories over all the years. And he's still in Seattle. He still comes into the booth on occasion.

11:14I know when I was up there for, we were both together for the 50 year celebration. I had to tell BUNER a few times, because he was kind of telling me what to do. I said, what are you, my coordinator? You're my teammate. You don't tell me where to stand, where to go. And he was laughing about it. But give me one of your favorite bone stories through the years. Well, there's some stories that I can't tell, that are really, really funny in the clubhouse of what he did in Chicago when he put an appetizer on one of the tables that made people kind of gag. But one of the best stories is, he hit one of the longest soap runs ever seen in my life. Oh, by the way, Riz, watch your thumb on your phone. We watch your thumb and yeah, keep it there. So we get a good view for these YouTube guys are gonna come watch. Okay, there you go, keep going. Yeah, J. BUNER hit one of the longest soap runs ever

12:15ever seen in my life. Plenty of Yankee Stadium, Young Guy. And remember that ambulance that was out in La Fille was by the entrance or the exit of the ballpark in the back wall of Yankee Stadium in La Fille. Waitayla was pitching. And J. BUNER had a home run that hit the back of that ambulance. It was one of the longest home runs I've ever seen. Junior hit a lot of home runs. We got a kid now, Los Arral Montez, it's gonna hit a lot of 500 foot shot home runs. But that was one of the longest home runs I've ever seen in my life. J. BUNER was the heart and soul of this team. He took care of things in the clubhouse at Lupinella didn't have to worry about. We were in Cleveland game three of the American League Championship series. He made an error out there in right field in a ball. It by, I think it was Alvaro. Oh, I can't remember who hit it. But if it looks like it killed Randy Johnson, just got a staring at him. But he came back later on in that game.

13:15He didn't let it bother him. And he hit a game winning home run. He was a gamer, he was tough. And I tell you what, he just wanted to play the game. The right way, he was great teammate. He was great to me when we started our choice. We could share it. He was all in along with the other 11 guys and we started. He was just one of the nicest guys, one of the toughest guys I've ever met in the game of baseball, but just a great teammate and a great representative for baseball and Pacific Northwest. Thank God for the trade. Kenny Phelps, you know, to the New York Yankees for Jay Bunter, one of the greatest trades in the history of our franchise. That's a side-filled episode. It was, it became a side-filled episode, you know. They were telling Mr. Steinberger that maybe George Costanza, you know, and his, you know, passed away or something like that. And George Costanza's dad was trying to listen to this, that maybe his son had passed away and he said, I can trade Bunter. He had a cannon for an army, he had a rocket for an army, you can trade beauty, you know.

14:18And Steinberger said, my scout said Phelps, Phelps, but he felt, you know, anyway, it became a side-filled episode which Jay Bunter did, you know, for us after leaving the New York Yankees, but thank goodness we made that trade. All right, I need a Kenny. I need a Griffey Jr. story, Mr. Him and Edgar, kind of the two, you know, the kind of the headstones, the Mount Rushmore if there were only two. The Be Edgar and Griffey, give me a, give me a Kenny story. I knew Kenny was special in spring trading of 1989. He was just a 19-year-old kid and he never grew up, you know, he's 50-something years old, he's still a kid. I wish I could send you the video you had sent me when he found out and everybody found out it was gonna go with the Meredith's, all the fame. I can't show it to you, but it's absolutely hilarious. But in 1989, I got to the ballpark with my son, Nick, was only about eight years old at the time. And I'm out in front of the dugout at 10 p.m. state of my wall by myself.

15:18It's early in the morning, nobody's out of the club house yet. And Junior comes out and he calls Nick over. So my son, eight years old at the time, goes over. I go, hey, this is pretty cool, to and you're talking to my son, you know? And so after they finished their conversation, Nick walks up to me eight years old and kicks me really hard in my leg and it hurt. I go, Nick, what are you doing? He said, Junior said, give me 50 bucks if I walked over and kicked you really hard in your leg. I said, Junior, don't give me that 50 bucks. So from that point on, I knew we're gonna have a wonderful relationship and we did for many, many years. But I can tell you, you know, what he did on the field, we all saw what he did on the field. He was one of the greatest players, Boney, that I've ever seen in my career. But he was a lot more than that. He really cared about people and he really cared about kids. I had a friend of mine who had a friend who's a 15 year old son, only had a few months left to live and she said that this kid's dream

16:19was just to meet Ken Griffey, Jr. And Junior did a lot for kids. He signed all kinds of photographs and took care of him. So I brought him out to the ballpark and I took him into the club and I said, Junior, there's a young man out here and he's been really bad shape. He just liked to meet you and he's only got a little bit of time. He's bringing him in. Never hesitated. So bring him in the clubhouse. So I brought Andrew in the clubhouse. They sat down Boney for about 20 minutes, 30 minutes and played his Nintendo game in his chair in front of his locker. Frenchie, our manager, Jim LaFiever, was right, where's Griffey? Where's Griffey? And I said, he's inside right now. He said, go get a bad practice started. So I walked inside, there was still having a good time. He and Andrew, on his own, this is before a ball game. And so he took Andrew out to the cage, where them walked out to the cage, took bad practice. And then when he was done with his round, he stood there and talked to him. His mom and dad were standing on the one-inch rack at the King Dome with me. They were just ballin'. And then finished up badting practice

17:23and said goodbye to Andrew. Andrew was mid-throw and radio TV at that night ensuring up for a couple of months later, he passed away. But Junior on his own did that. He didn't have to do it, but he made this kid's last two months of his life, you know, a remarkable experience for him. But that's Ken Griffey, Junior. Not enough people, I think, here, those kind of stories. But he was amazing on the field and even more amazing, I think, off the field, especially when it came to kids. How about, let's go, everybody's fascinated with him. And I've got so many stories, but I wanna hear the Rick Rizz version of, give me an EACH ERO story. Wow, I need your old story. Spring training, 2001. You were there, if you recall, in the early part of the spring, each year I was hitting line drives over loose head sitting in that folding chair. He was just hitting the ball the other way, hitting the ball the other way, hitting the ball the other way. And one time he almost knocked him off his chair.

18:23I don't know if you remember that or not. So I'm down at the lower field, all by myself, field one in Piori, Arizona. And Luke comes down and he's shuffling down there. He said, where's Ted Hyde? Where's Ted Hyde? Ted Hyde was the interpreter for each row back in the 2001 season. I said, Luis Friday, the club boss are up to the dining room or something. So Ted Hyde showed up, you know, down at field one, he said, hey, can you please tell each row to pull the ball one time? Just one time, I wanna see him pull the ball. He said, okay, so Ted Hyde sat down at some point after that conversation and talked and said, hey, Lou wants you to pull the ball. So anyway, that afternoon, we're playing the San Diego Padres. First at bat, each row hits a home long, home run to right field over the berm and right field. And each row rounds the basis, that's where someone goes to the dugout. He said, we okay, and Lou says, okay, we're okay. So that's what I remember first of all about each row.

19:23He hit the ball the other way, like crazy and get a ton of bases. But what he wanted to is you know, you could hit the ball out of the ballpark with the best of them. But I thought that was a great introduction for each row to look at all about how he prepared it. You know, that's what he did for the first two weeks of the spring at the ball the other way. And then he was ready to go and hit the ball all over the place. But he was a lot of fun to watch. He's still prepared. This guy, he's like a, he's a psycho. I love the anime. When we were in Seattle, I'm watching him from the booth during the home run derby. He's doing long toss and warming up like, like he's got an event and it was an event for him. That's the kind of the cool part of each row because I've never met anybody that once they finish, not only their career, but a Hall of Fame career, to continue to go to the ballpark and interact and throw, throw batting practice. He's a unicorn and he's funny. All right, I'm going to leave the last player for you.

20:24Not even a player at personality. The one and only give me your best loop in Ella story. Oh my goodness. My best loop in Ella story. I think it's just, it's a combination of lose, desire to win. My best loop in Ella story that was on the field were Flanagan Cleveland. And Russ Davis ran out of the baseline according to Derwood Merrill and was called out and Lew was upset. So he walked all the way out to Derwood Merrill out at second base. And he had an argument with Derwood Merrill got thrown out of the ball game and he slammed his hat on the ground. This is not by second base. Slammed his hat on the ground. Then he started kicking his hat towards first base. He kicked it, he kicked it again, he kicked it again, he kicked it again as he got toward the bag. He kicked it past the first base bag. He kicked it again toward the dugout, he kicked it again. And I saw Junior and J. Buehner laughing behind their gloves

21:28because it was actually hilarious. Then Lew took his hat, fired it up in the crowd. A fan got to it, a fired it right back at him. And so, but that was Lew Pennelli. It was passionate about winning. And all he wanted to do was get to the postseason, get the fans of the postseason. But you know, that was Lew Pennelli. I loved doing the pre-game show interview with Lew because he was still sometimes in a little bit upset if something happened night before. And I just let him vet a little bit, but he was the best. He was absolutely beat, taught us how to win. You played for him, you know what it was like. And then he goes, okay, let's do the interview, Rick. I go, okay, Lew, I've been waiting for you. Let's do this. And every night he just wanted to win and get to the postseason. So I'd love being around, you know, Lew Pennelli. And then there was the time, you know, coming back from a spring training game, you know, when the ball club wasn't playing well, it's spring training. And on the way, on the bus right back to Peoria,

22:30there was a park with some kids playing. And Lew yells to the bus driver, hey bus, hey bus, hey stop the bus. He says, let's get out. Maybe we can beat these guys over here. You know, talking about the kids. But he was a lot of fun to be around. You know him as well as anybody, better than anybody. And I mean, we got a million soys, we'd be here all day talking about Lew Pennelli. I love the guy and what he did for Seattle. He taught us how to win. He got to the postseason for the very first time. But another story real quick, if we have time. Absolutely. We go to New York. It's the American League Division series. It's a series that saved baseball in Seattle in 1995. We lose the first two games. It's the best of five series. We lost the second game in 15 and a Jim Leyrez hit a home run to win game two. Now it's late at night. Yankee stated, we get out of there probably about one o'clock in the morning. We got a bus to the airport, fly all the way back to Seattle to get ready for game three. We got to go back home to the kingdom

23:31and win three games in the kingdom. So we get on the flight. We start to fly home. And it was about halfway across the country. It's pitch black in the airplane. And everybody was asleep. But I got up, walked to the front of the plane. I couldn't sleep. And I saw somebody get up and walk toward me, Boone. And it was Lou. And Lou walked right up to me, looked me in the eyes. And I didn't say a word. And Lou looked at me and said, Rick, he said, we're going to win this thing. I said, you're right, Lou. We got Randy going tomorrow. Get game, sneak game four. We get him in game five. He said, Rick, we're going to win this thing. And I swear to God, Boone, I thought I saw a flame shooting out of his eyes. And sure enough, Randy Johnson, one game three. I had your one game four with two home runs, including a grand slam, that he won game five in the next three games. With the biggest hit we had, the double. But it was Lou Penella. His passion to win, his desire to win, his knowledge, the way that he treated the guys in that clubhouse. All he had to do was show up on time and play hard.

24:33And Lou was the best manager in the world. But I'll never forget Lou coming up to me and telling him, we're going to win this thing. We're down two games to nothing. And that up wedding and beating the Yankees in that safe baseball. And so yeah, I don't lose safe baseball. And so yeah, I love the guy. What's up? I'm Dre Maan Green. And when I'm not hosting the Dre Maan Green show, I'm usually working out in the gym and on the court. Anybody can have one good day in the gym. But the key is recovery. That's why athletes are taking Omega XL sport. Omega XL sport is a premium recovery supplement powered by Green Lipped Muscle Ola Extract with three key cleaning ingredients and backed by over four decades of research. It's in SF certified for sport, which is such an amazing distinction. It's free of 290 band substances that's trusted by athletes and recognized by major sports organizations. My body is taking a beating over the years. And recovery becomes more important to longer you stay active. That's why Omega XL sport caught my attention. Omega XL sport helps support your body's natural recovery

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