Small Ball

Ever wondered how a bobblehead of a bat dog can lift your spirits or what it feels like to celebrate a Cubs win with your best friend? This week on Two Guys Talking Baseball, we share personal stories and quick hits from around the baseball world. From Brian's impressive blood pressure reading to the idea of adding a bobblehead shelf to our studio, we keep things light and fun while celebrating the joys of being a baseball fan. There's even a special mention of a notable home run by Paredes that has Brian all fired up about the Chicago Cubs' recent success.

We get passionate as we shift our attention to the Dodgers' recent challenges, dissecting a blown call that disrupted a crucial inning and airing frustrations over umpire errors and lineup changes. Could the return of Clayton Kershaw be the light at the end of the tunnel for this beleaguered team? We also touch on a controversial rant about Jed Hoyer, the Cubs, and the surging division rivals that are making it tough for the Dodgers. Our conversation reflects the highs and lows of the season, capturing the emotional rollercoaster that only true fans can appreciate.

Switching gears, we celebrate Aaron Judge's upcoming appearance on the Nickelodeon show "Rubble and Crew," discussing Judge's crossover into children's entertainment and our own love for dachshunds. We also highlight the unique baseball game at Bristol Motor Speedway and the inspiring story of the Wichita community coming together to replace a stolen Jackie Robinson statue. From the impact of hustle in baseball to a call for support to sustain and grow our podcast, we cover a wide range of topics that will resonate with all baseball enthusiasts. Join us for an episode filled with passion, humor, and heartfelt stories from the world of baseball.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:20

Hello, hello, welcome inside the Three Crow Studios in lovely kind of overcast today, but that's neither here nor there. Morristown, tennessee. This is Two Guys Talking Baseball. Once again, my name is Dallas Danger. I'm joined, as always, by my best friend and colleague, brian Logan. Brian, what's new today?

Speaker 2: 0:36

It's a great week for baseball.

Speaker 1: 0:38

It really is this week. That's not new at all. You say that every every week so much better than last week. Yes, brian has calmed down his blood pressure, has uh 110 over 79, which was remarkable the doctor. The doctor was like what are?

Speaker 2: 0:59

you on and I'm like nothing.

Speaker 1: 1:00

You don't prescribe me, doc, so today we're uh we're gonna have some fun today.

Speaker 1: 1:05

We're going to have some fun today. Basically, we're playing small ball. We do a segment called Quick Hits pretty much every week where we briefly talk about some things that aren't you know. There's not enough meat on the bone, so to speak, for us to do 20, 15 or so minutes of a segment. So this week we're just going to play small ball. We got a lot of little quick hits and we're just going to kind of breeze through everything and talk about it. But Brian's right, there's a lot going on in the world of baseball, especially at the major league level, which is what we're going to focus on for the most part today, as I guess we typically do. But, brian, before we get into all that, oh yeah, and I want to quickly mention, because he doesn't appear on camera, can they see that?

Speaker 1: 1:50

Mm-hmm, this is Rocky the Bat Dog's bobblehead from the Johnson City Doughboys, my hometown team. His tail wags and bobs just like his head. Very good bobblehead, awesome. I've got a few bobbleheads that that team has done over the years. Most of them, uh, well, actually the only two I have. I don't have any cardinals bobbleheads from when they were affiliated. I've got one, uh, that is, and I can't remember either of their names because I didn't. I just pulled this out of my ass and didn't do any research and I'm bad with names. So, uh, daniel norris, I think, was the guy's name.

Speaker 1: 2:23

He, he played, he was from johnson city, okay, so they did a bobblehead of him in his high school uniform. Oh, that's cool. Uh, science hill high school, which is, uh, the big high school there in johnson city, tennessee, but that one that was, that was just kind of cool and niche, uh. And the other one was a guy whose name I definitely can't remember, but he was the longtime commissioner of the Appalachian League and he won the King of Baseball or whatever right before he retired from being the commissioner of the Appy League.

Speaker 1: 2:53

So every Appy League team gave out bobbleheads of him in a crown and a robe. It was very cool and he was at the ballpark glad-handing and meeting people. It was just a neat experience to kind of celebrate a guy who doesn't get a lot of attention but has had a lot to do with, um, the success of the Appalachian League over the years. So anyways, brian, before we get, uh, you know, we delve into everything we've got to talk about today. Um, you know, now that you've had a week to kind of calm down and uh, you got this good blood pressure reading this morning Great blood pressure.

Speaker 2: 3:26

Hey, before we start. Yes, while you were talking about the bobbleheads, you know I think I'm going to put a bobblehead shelf Perfect Right over here. Yeah, you can't see on camera, but we'll show it when we get it up and we can put our bobbleheads in it.

Speaker 2: 3:40

I think that's a great idea yes, right, because there's a perfect area right there. We'll get an actual bobblehead shelf. Yeah, it's made for yeah. Yeah, there you go and we'll put it right there and we'll put my christopher morel and and rocky can stay there sure, yeah, I got a couple more I can probably bring and add to that.

Speaker 1: 3:56

Yeah, um, you know, who knows when we'll be able to do that. But uh, you know, completely unrelated, patreoncom slash 2gtb yes, we need a place to put our toys because things like bobblehead shelves are not free. Neither of us are capable of building one on our own.

Speaker 2: 4:15

No, not even close I mean I could build one, it just wouldn't be symmetric and it wouldn't go to the wall. Rex is laughing at you, I know.

Speaker 1: 4:24

Rex loves it. Brian's dog, Rex, is laughing at him because he's being funny. But anyways, Brian, how are you feeling currently about the Chicago?

Speaker 2: 4:33

Cubs. I'm feeling great about the Chicago Cubs because they are playing as best as they can. They've got a couple wins this week. They've won they're 6 and four in the past ten games, so that's not too bad. You know, I looked that up before we came here.

Speaker 1: 4:55

So you were looking at me like are you sure?

Speaker 2: 4:57

No, I believed you, I believed you.

Speaker 1: 4:59

I'm with you. I looked it up.

Speaker 2: 5:00

So, yes, I had facts this time. There you go. But Paredes hit his first home run as a cup, yeah, which is big. It was huge because he said after the game that he didn't feel like a cub yet. He was nervous and like he hadn't lived up to you know everything the cubs are sure. So he, until he got that first home run under his belt, he didn't loosen up and he didn't feel like part of the team. So I'm hopeful that he will feel more part of the team, smile a little bit more. Uh, his defense is great. Yeah, his defense is is incredible. His batting it's coming around, you know you got to be comfortable.

Speaker 2: 5:42

But uh, craig Council, uh heard that quote and said how, what a human thing to go through yeah that you don't really think about that on these trades, that he's walking into a new place and he's just not acclimated, right two things.

Speaker 1: 5:58

Uh, just bouncing off of what you were saying, number, a lot of the trade deadline coverage that I watched on MLB Network was you know, a lot of their analysts really all their analysts are former players and a lot of those guys have been traded and they've been through these things, or they, at least you know, have been on teams where trades happened. You know, it's an inevitability, every team, every year. And they talked about that. These are human beings. We forget that. We think it's just oh, this guy's going from one team to another, this guy's going from, you know.

Speaker 1: 6:31

But we've seen that a lot with the Dodgers too, because the Dodgers made a trade with the White Sox and for Michael Kopech to come to the Dodgers from the White Sox, he was like, oh yeah, now I like, oh yeah, now I don't have to manufacture my hype when I get on the mound, you know, um, and on the other side there was a picture uh, that's gone around, at least dodgers twitter of miguel vargas, who went to the white socks in that trade and he just looks devastated. Yeah, dug out, because he went from, you know, a team that's a pent penthouse to To the outhouse.

Speaker 1: 7:03

I mean quite literally almost. Yeah, you know. And the other thing is you and I have talked about this off air, but it's got to be tough to know. To go into a situation like Paredes is in knowing the guy you were traded for and what he meant, not just to that clubhouse and that team on the field, but the fan base and this is a I mean, look, the Chicago Cubs fan base might be the most diehard and loyal out there, not just in baseball, not just in Major League Baseball in the world.

Speaker 1: 7:37

Yeah, that is a strong fan base that loves their team no matter what. Yeah, largely because they've had to over the years. But it's a personality trait of Wrigley Field, of that team, and I think it makes sense for him to come out and say I was nervous, I was scared to come into this situation. And I don't think it's just the uniform he's putting on and the stadium he's playing in. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that he knew Christopher Murrell was kind of the heart and soul of that team and that's the guy that went the other way. And the reaction from everybody when that trade happened was well, shit, if they're trading Murrell, they're giving up.

Speaker 2: 8:15

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 8:20

You know, just from a mentality like a I don't know, just an intangible sort of standpoint that's not a guy you trade away if you think you can win this year. You know what I mean. Regardless of his numbers, regardless of what he's doing on the field, that's not a guy you trade away if you're trying to compete right now. So that's very cool and very awesome of Isaac Paredes to come out and say that publicly.

Speaker 2: 8:48

Well, and also they had mentioned I want to say Boog mentioned it, but it was definitely the commentary mentioned it that when he hit the home run that's the most people he's ever hit a home run in front of. Oh wow, I guess that's true. So he had never, you know, he's never been in front of that many people before.

Speaker 1: 9:04

Sure, so that's got to be unnerving. Yeah, because the Rays aren't really a draw. Right, you know I mean, and yeah, I mean, I'm sure he's played in packed stadiums on the road, but you know the point still remains. You know, to hit that in front of your home crowd and the place is packed, it's a new experience. Yeah, at that level.

Speaker 2: 9:24

Yeah, especially when they cheer instead of jeer. You know if you're the away team, so yeah, I mean, that's I, just I'm. I'm happy that he said that, because I really wasn't liking him.

Speaker 1: 9:36

Yeah, but I'm giving him a second chance yeah, you were really cold on him and I got, and I get why because everybody was from from that, you know, from a cub, cub fan standpoint, just because all you can think about is, well, they got rid of my favorite guy.

Speaker 2: 9:50

Well we have a super fan and he's got a name and I don't know it, but he wears the Cub Lucha mask and the Cub cape and he's got the WWE Cubs belt and all this. He's at every game WWE Cubs belt and all this. He's at every game. And Paredes took a picture with him and tweeted it out after the next day, either that night after the home run or the next morning, yeah, and he was smiling in it.

Speaker 2: 10:18

Right, so he looked happy, so that was the first time I got to see him smile Good, so I'm glad that he's warming up to everything.

Speaker 1: 10:25

Well, good, well, good, well. I'm glad you're feeling better this week, because last week was interesting. Last week was rough. If you have not seen it, please go back to episode 16 and watch. Listen to Brian's rant about Jed Hoyer and the Cubs. It is epic. Epic is the word. Hoyer and the Cubs, it is epic. Epic is the word I was trying to think of.

Speaker 2: 10:50

How do I say it was Don Imus-esque in a nice way, without bringing up Don Imus by name.

Speaker 1: 10:55

Was it that bad?

Speaker 2: 10:56

It was pretty bad, oh wow, it was pretty bad, wow, okay.

Speaker 1: 11:00

I mean, you didn't say anything racist, no, thank God. So it was still better than Don Imus Right, and you know there's far less people hearing it than Don Imus Right, right, right, that's neither here nor there. So I guess I'll talk about the Dodgers now who, by the way, I looked it up while you were talking, the Dodgers are 4-6 in the last 10. Okay, which tells the story about as good as the cubs being six and four. Um, it's, it's.

Speaker 1: 11:28

I'm still very frustrated, um, especially after last night. Um, a bad call derails an inning that turns into, you know, kyle schwarber having like six rbis and just a whole thing. You know, and, and, and, and. I don't want to. I don't want to blame the umps because even when I was an athlete in high school, I was a firm believer, and if you don't put yourself in the position for one call to dupe you, then you can't blame the umps. So don't put yourself in that position. And I get, it's not that simple at a high level, but the Dodgers didn't do themselves any favors after the bad call. But you know, it's just one of those things. It's like the game's going one way, an obviously blown call. The only reason it stood is because, according to Major League Baseball, it's a judgment call that cannot be reviewed and that doesn't make sense because in the rulebook it is a clearly black-and-white defined rule. You can do this, but you can't do that unless X, y and Z. That's not a judgment call, that is a you broke the rule. It gets called and if the team that that call goes against feels like the call was wrong, which it was, they should be able to challenge that. I agree.

Speaker 1: 12:48

So you know and it's the second time this year this same ump, who I'm not going to mention by name because, again, I don't believe in the ump show. We shouldn't know their names. The only umps I know. Their names are the really terrible ones, right, but it's the second time this year. He's really, really screwed things up for the Dodgers in a game, and that's okay. There's a lot of games.

Speaker 1: 13:10

The problem right now, more than anything for the Dodgers, is we're still putting a lineup out there that is not going to be the lineup in October. There are still guys on this team that are not going to be on the roster in a month. Meanwhile, the three hottest teams I just saw this this morning. They talked about it on the game last night but I was like surely they're exaggerating to make their point. No, they were being legit and factual. The three hottest teams the last two weeks in the major leagues are the San Francisco Giants, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Diego Padres the three teams right behind us in the standing. So now the lead in the division is down to three games as of today.

Speaker 1: 13:53

And you know I was on the drive here today to do the show. I was listening to, locked on Dodgers, which I do every day. Shout out to Jeff and Vince. They do a great job over there. Jeff, who is one of the reasons I listen, is because jeff does a good job of calming me down and keeping me positive, especially through the regular season and the 162. But he made a point that you know what? I'd always rather be the team with a three game lead than the team down three games.

Speaker 1: 14:24

yeah oh yeah so you know, and that was some perspective I needed, because it's like three games, it was like 10 a month ago, you know like it's. It's, it seems like it's evaporated quickly. But we said for so long, while the dodgers were like a, a, you know, mediocre team playing 500 ball, that we weren't really losing any ground because the teams behind us weren't playing that well either. Right now they're all hot and the, the, the lead is dwindling but reinforcements are coming. A lot are already back. Uh, kershaw's back. Uh, he, just, he just pitched his third game back and looked pretty good. Look, yeah, he looked real good.

Speaker 1: 14:59

Look closer to the first outing than the, the bad second one, which you know, he's just know he's just at a stage in his career especially after the playoffs last year and that debacle where every time he has a bad outing like that, you go, oh God, is this it? Yeah, is it over? And obviously, like no Dodger fan wants it to be over and any self-respecting baseball fan doesn't want it to be over. Because this is, and I'm the type of guy that if I'm going to ignore half an inning, I'm going to ignore when the Dodgers are on defense, okay, unless certain guys are pitching that I like watching pitch. I would rather watch my team hit than pitch. That's just my personal preference and I watch the whole game as much as I can. But if I need to go to the bathroom and I'm skipping commercials because I'm watching on delay or whatever, I do that while we're on defense. For the most part, I always lock in when Kersh is pitching, because not only is it fun to watch he's great to watch pitch because he's an old school pitcher, not a thrower but also every time he takes the mound we are witness to history.

Speaker 1: 16:06

This is and you can argue this all day, and that's fine. This is one of, if not the greatest pitcher of all time. You don't believe me? Look at the numbers right. Argue numbers. Argue with that wall over there for all I care. The. The fact of the matter is no dod Dodger in history. The Dodgers that have been around since the fucking 1800s Jackie Robinson, pee Wee, reese, don Drysdale, sandy Koufax, the list goes on and on no Dodger in history has a higher war number than Clayton Kershaw and he's done that in 17 seasons. Yeah, I get that. It's a volume stat, but there's something. That's something to hang your hat on. Definitely One of the greatest franchises in the history of the game and you are, honestly, by the best metric we have, the greatest player in that franchise's history.

Speaker 1: 17:04

Nobody's got a lower ERA, at least in the live ball era. I haven't looked these stats up, so I'm just pulling this out of my ass again, but nobody's got a better ERA. I don't think anybody's got a better whip. I mean he's the guy has been for a long time, you know. So you know, with him it's whatever, you know.

Speaker 1: 17:25

I'm just happy he's out there and he's working through it and he seems to be in a good place. I mean, he feels healthy. That's the main thing. You know, it's not the shoulder, it's just ramping back up, getting back in the driver's seat. And you have to remember, with Clayton Kershaw too, he's not really had a surgery in his career. This is the first major, especially arm-related injury he's ever had. Right, and I think at the end of the day, once he gets built back up and he's back in the swing of things, he might be better than he was before the surgery. Just because how long has this been lingering, how long has this been? And him just not knowing because he thought, well, I'm old and I've done this for so long. That's just how it feels. It's just how it feels, so you know. But you know Mookie's coming back soon. Max Muncy and Tommy Edmund are starting rehab stints this weekend. Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw another bullpen yesterday and he feels good, says the injury is not an issue. They're just ramping back up and getting him in a place where he can come back. So he's probably either going to do some sim games like Mookie, or he mentioned minor league games, so I think they've talked about a rehab stint with him as well.

Speaker 1: 18:35

Um, so the reinforcements are coming and and that's good, because if we can lengthen our lineup, you know, we get Mookie Muncy and Edmund back. Kike Hernandez is no longer going to be hitting cleanup, right, and that's who our cleanup hitter was last night was Kike Hernandez, who I love and I'm not disparaging and I'm one of the few Dodger fans left that says there's no, he doesn't need to go anywhere. Right, because again it goes back to the morale conversation Even if Kike never sees the field in October, I want him in that dugout, I want him in that clubhouse. And here's the thing In October, when it's the full, you know, as healthy of a squad as we can put out there and it's full, you know A-team Kike's going to get put in positions to succeed.

Speaker 1: 19:24

Kike has proven he's not an everyday player, he's a super utility guy that against certain pitchers and in certain situations he's the guy you want up there, especially in October. He's got a proven track record. Even when he was in Boston and wasn't playing that well in October he showed up, was one of their best hitters in the postseason. So that's a guy I want in October of their best hitters in the in the postseason. So you know, that's a guy I want in october, just not hitting cleanup and and and starting um. So once we lengthen that lineup and we're going, shohei muki, freddie, teo muncie will smith one through six. Then that's seven, eight, nine. You can play with, you can platoon. Gavin lux is one of the hottest hitters in the game right now and he's he's going to be batting seventh at the highest in October.

Speaker 1: 20:07

This is a really good ball club with a really good lineup and really good pitching. Glasnow's looking good, jack Flaherty doesn't show any signs of stopping and if we get healthy and you've got Yamamoto in that three spot, then you can worry about who four is. Maybe it's Kershaw, maybe it's one of these young guys that makes a run at the end. But I feel really good about that equation when it matters, because this team is not built to win 100 games, and that's it, this team. They've been doing that. They've been winning 100 games every year for five years, six years, with the exception of the shortened season for COVID in 2020. But, yeah, I feel like this team is set up really well for the stretch and for October, and that might just be wishful thinking, but I think, when you look at it on paper, brian, this is a team that, if all these pieces get back and stay healthy and get back to who they are before October, I don't think anybody wants to play the Dodgers in a playoff series.

Speaker 2: 21:13

No, I mean they're going to be the team and they need to be the team because they put all this effort into it and they need to see some results. But you're right, getting all these pieces back are going to really help the equation.

Speaker 1: 21:26

And here's the other thing and this was another perspective thing we just lost a three-game series to the Phillies. We're only like two games out of the best record in the National League right now. Yeah, nobody's playing that much better than the Dodgers. So, yeah, it sucks. Yeah, we're not used to this, but at the same time it's not like we're losing a bunch of ground. I mean, we are still one of the better teams in the major leagues, right, it's just the way the league has played out this year, and I think the new playoff format has a lot to do with it, because there's more competitive teams now.

Speaker 1: 22:03

So it's harder to rip off a 20-win month, for instance. Most teams are going to hover around 500, and every now and then they'll get a streak and go above that, or get a streak and go below that, as we will talk about with the White Sox here in a little bit. But it just you know I'm definitely not hitting any panic buttons, right, it's frustrating. We talked about that a lot last week with the midseason frustration. But you know I still really love this team, I really like the makeup of this team and you know I like our chances. Yeah, when it, when it matters, I do too.

Speaker 2: 22:43

I've been watching them every night um when I can stay awake um, which is which isn't very often, boy, they start mighty late you ain't gotta tell me, brother, you ain't gotta tell me there's a reason I've worked night shift jobs for the last several years. Yeah, wow, but no, I've been watching them and they're looking good. I mean, they're looking really good and you know I've enjoyed watching them play.

Speaker 1: 23:08

Yeah, good ball club and a lot of guys coming back, and so hopefully that will amount to something in October. Obviously that's the goal, and I mean man, the way this season's gone and I don't know how real, this is probably not at all. But I'm starting to get a little worried about Dave Roberts' job if we don't win it this year. You know, not because I think Dave has done anything wrong or done a bad job. I think Dave does a phenomenal job and I think a lot of the things that he does that makes him one of the better managers in the majors. I don't think we see a lot of those things. I think he's a very good manager behind the scenes.

Speaker 1: 23:51

Everybody that's ever played for him loves him. Right, there's no, it's not like Tommy Lasorda. You know where some guys loved him and some guys were like get me out of here on the first train out of town. You know Dave is beloved by everybody who's ever played for him, from the Stars all the way down to the guys that have been DFA three times this year. You know Johan Ramirez is a great example. You know he's a guy that struggled bad, was hitting guys, you know, and that's frustrating and that creates a lot of tension and a lot of unwelcome things, you know, in the air. And for dave to just go out there and hug his neck and just tell him, you know, look there, you're here for a reason and we need you yeah this is a turning point.

Speaker 1: 24:36

he literally went out there and said this is a turning point for your career. You can either take it one way or you can take it the other, but it's your choice now, yeah, on how to react. I'm giving you this moment and you get to choose. And yeah, he ended up DFA'd a little while down the road, but he had a pretty good run. He got better. You know he stopped. He stopped hitting guys every other batter, which is something right. But I am getting a little worried if we don't win it this year, that Dave's job might be in jeopardy. But when I think about it logically, it's like who are they going to go get that's going to be any better? Exactly, who can they honestly say this guy gives us a better chance to win a World Series than Dave Roberts? I don't know that that guy exists without poaching from another team. And even then it's like who are they poaching? Right, you know, yeah, council's the highest paid guy and he's really highly touted, but how many rings does he have?

Speaker 2: 25:33

Oh, I know, you know, I know, and we're in an experiment to see if it works out anyway, right, I know, and we're in an experiment to see if it works out anyway, right, and that's a big contract they gave him.

Speaker 1: 25:43

I mean, he might not even be back next year. He'll be back next year. He'll work out that contract. He ain't getting fired. You don't think so? No, he's the biggest star on the team.

Speaker 2: 25:50

Well, they've done crazier things.

Speaker 1: 25:54

Yeah, I guess you're right. I guess you're right, all right. Well, I guess we'll get rolling now. Like I said, we got several things to talk about. We're going to try to keep them all as quick as possible, but if you've listened to us before, you know that that's probably not going to happen in reality. No, we'll just meander around.

Speaker 2: 26:11

We're kind of winging it today, aren't we? We're not phoning it in.

Speaker 1: 26:21

We're not phoning it in. We're here, we're coherent, but we are freestyling. Yeah, well, we, you know we've talked the last few weeks about trying to be more free-flowing and loose, so sometimes you gotta lay down a bunt. This is an experiment, uh, you know, uh, in that in that regard. So, first things first. Uh, as, as anyone who knows us at all knows, we're big animal lovers. Brian, specifically with the dogs, he's a huge dog guy. Yeah, um, the dogs are part of the family here they're, they're, they're brian's kids basically. So, in that vein, it was announced recently that aaron judge, obviously, of the new york yankees, on august 26th is going to appear on the nickelodeon show rubble and crew, which is a Paul patrol spinoff. And Brian, we loved this news and the more we've dug into it and found out, you know more about it. We, we, we love it even more. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 27:08

I mean it's. It's going to follow Penny and Gus and I believe Penny is a voice by Savannah Samantha, Samantha, Samantha, Okay, I was close. Yeah, you were in there. I was in there, but anyway, that is Judge's wife and she's going to voice one of the characters.

Speaker 1: 27:27

Yeah, and Penny and Gus are Judge's pets, his pet dachshunds. Yes, I've seen some video of him with one of the two I think it was Penny, but I don't remember yeah, on the field before a game and that was just adorable. My family growing up, we grew up with dachshunds. We had several dachshunds over the years and that was sort of like our family breed and so I love dachshunds and I think it was Penny, but I don't want to mess that up. But whichever one of the two, um, excuse me, that he had with him gorgeous long hair like white, like almost white, like the walls, gorgeous, gorgeous pup. Um, but yeah, very cool, aaron judge, uh, you know, uh, doing the paw patrol thing. Um, I want to see it.

Speaker 1: 28:14

I want to watch the episode, yeah yeah, it'll be cool and and I read a little bit of like a synopsis and basically it's like I think what it is is he's trying to have a home run, derby, but he doesn't have anywhere to do it, so they help him build the ballpark or whatever. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, yeah, because it's all about you know, rubble, who's like the construction worker dog. Okay, okay, I guess I don't know, I've never watched paw patrol, but so it's not the paws that upholds the laws, it's the other one.

Speaker 1: 28:41

Yeah, it's the, it's the, it's the worker dog the worker one I like it. But yeah, very cool, uh, you know, and and um, I mean, it's just so cool that his like his wife is is voicing one of the dogs, and his dogs are in it. It makes me, it makes me think we should produce a cartoon with you and and your dogs.

Speaker 2: 29:00

We totally should do that. That would be awesome to have, like me and uh, quinny and rex in a cartoon. Yeah, I mean, that would be.

Speaker 1: 29:09

That'd be awesome I just got a great idea. Okay, we're on the air, but we're going to talk about it anyways. Uh, we should, for patreon, do a meet the dogs. We should.

Speaker 2: 29:19

That's a good idea. Where?

Speaker 1: 29:20

we film the dogs doing their thing. Yes, and let the let the listeners meet rex and quinny yes, that's a. That's a really good idea I would say we could do one for rhythm, my cat, but no one wants to see the inside of my home at all. So, uh, we're not gonna film inside my house and rhythm would probably run from the camera. He's not going to cooperate because he's a cat, right, they don't cooperate with really anything.

Speaker 2: 29:47

Well, the dogs, they'll ham it up. Yeah, they'll enjoy it. Yeah, that's a good idea. We should do that. What would the plot be of the cartoon? Well, we would have to solve mysteries like Scooby-Doo. Yeah, I've got. Well, we would have to solve mysteries like scooby-doo. Yeah, I gotta throw that homage out, gotta throw that in there. So we're just driving around in the ox terra and, uh, trying to go to coolville and figure out who the werewolf is. I love it I love it.

Speaker 1: 30:11

We're developing that as soon as this uh, this show's over, oh, we're hiring artists and everything yeah, well, and hopefully we can get enough steam that we can get Gunnar Henderson to guest star yeah. That Scooby-Doo baseball connective tissue there, right? I think that's great. Be a great idea, right.

Speaker 2: 30:26

We'll go to Baltimore to solve a mystery.

Speaker 1: 30:28

Oh, God, I don't want to go to Baltimore.

Speaker 2: 30:31

I told you that's an easy trip to.

Speaker 1: 30:32

Baltimore yeah, it's, once you get there, that sucks. You get there, that sucks. I don't know, I've never been to baltimore, I'm just having some fun.

Speaker 2: 30:39

uh, baltimore speaks highly of you I do love the orioles, so it'd be cool to go to camden yards.

Speaker 1: 30:46

It would be. Yeah, that's on our list, all right, well, also on our list now. Uh, we, we, we. I'd heard I read this somewhere as a rumor, uh a while back, uh, not recently at all and then it just got. There were reports within the last week that Bristol Motor Speedway, which is just right down the road it's literally 30 minutes from my house, a really famous NASCAR track. For those that aren't familiar, bristol Motor Speedway, bristol baby it's, bristol baby is set to host the Braves and the Reds in a major league game next year. Yeah, that's cool. What Crazy right. What in the world?

Speaker 2: 31:24

That's insanity. They can do it all at Bristol.

Speaker 1: 31:26

Man.

Speaker 2: 31:27

They just push a button and the racetrack turns into something else it's a transformer. Yeah, more than meets the eye.

Speaker 1: 31:35

It's going to be cool, I imagine I remember when we first talked about this, brian, one of my hangups with potentially going was that tickets might be hard to get but they're going to put like 100,000 people in there. I don't know how difficult it's going to be to get a ticket. It might be not that bad Now it's going to be pricey, but you know, I I think we can get in there if we really, if we want, I want to go, I think we should go, I think we're going to get in there. Um, my brother's uh said he was might try to get credentialed even so to cover it, not have to buy a ticket, which would be great for him um, I don't know that our viewer count is high enough yet, uh to to pull that.

Speaker 2: 32:18

Who do? We got to grease the palm of to get that done.

Speaker 1: 32:21

I don't know, but I can find out. Hey, listen, I've spent a lot of time in Bristol and I've greased some palms. Well, that might be how you do it. I know a lot of really greased up palms too, which is more important. No, I bet there's some greasy palms in Bristol that I got on speed dial. Well, maybe that's how we need. I don't know, we'll see, you know, but, but we're going to try and get in there because you know, uh, when I talked to my brother darren about it, uh, he, he made a good point. They're probably I mean most likely they're going to set the all-time major league attendance record. How cool would it be to say you were there for that. Oh, I know right, and you're in your braves garb today. I am reppin del murphy. Yeah, love that. Uh, shout out to anybody that listened back in 2022, when we went down to a little who you reppin, who you reppin, yeah.

Speaker 2: 33:10

And when we went to a braves game, a couple games game and did it.

Speaker 1: 33:13

Did a from the hotel yeah, we did an episode from the hotel. Yeah, it was very cool. Again, patreoncom slash 2GTB. You'll be able to see those old episodes Not old Classic, classic, original episodes Caught myself that time. But yeah, it's interesting.

Speaker 1: 33:32

And I had some friends that were at the Battle of Bristol or whatever they called it, when they did the Tennessee-Virginia Tech football game there. It's a battle, obviously it is a battle. Love you, tracy. Yeah, it was a much different vibe.

Speaker 1: 33:49

Obviously football brings a different kind of vibe than a baseball game, which is one of the reasons we love baseball as much as we do. Yeah, brian's a football guy, but I am just not, because it's too for me. I like chill stuff, so baseball is a little more chill. Not that a baseball game at Bristol with 100,000 people is going to be chill at all. That's going to be off the hook.

Speaker 1: 34:11

But you know, the one thing that I remember hearing a lot when they did the football game was there wasn't really a good seat anywhere. Okay, it was more about being there and the experience and being able to say you were there and like and like the party aspect of it that it was like oh, I'm going to watch the game. You know it was way more of like a I don't know, just an experience and a vibe you know. So I don't know how they're going to set this up. Obviously they're not going to let people down on the track Right. Obviously they're not going to put seats down. I don't know, maybe they do put seats down on the actual playing field, like a select field.

Speaker 2: 34:52

I don't know.

Speaker 1: 34:53

I don't know either. I've seen some funny mock-ups of like oh, it's going to be like the polo grounds, it's like 700 feet to straightaway center. That would be great, yeah, because you know it's an oval. I think people pay good money to see a robot hit the ball 700 feet yeah, yeah, that'd be great, but, uh, yeah, it's, it's going to be interesting and, and you know, um, I don't know, man, I really would like to try to go, just because Ellie De La Cruz is going to be playing 30 minutes from my house.

Speaker 2: 35:23

Yeah, I mean we almost have to go. It's almost. I mean we're doing a podcast about baseball and a big baseball game's happening 30 miles away. We got to go.

Speaker 1: 35:32

We got to try at least right we definitely got to try. We got to make an effort.

Speaker 2: 35:36

Find a hole in the fence, we'll go through, it'll be all right. Sure, yeah, that's how Bill Murray gets into Wrigley. Still, what a great story. I know that is a great story.

Speaker 1: 35:49

Man, man. But yeah, bristol Motor Speedway hosting the Braves and Reds sometime next year. If you're interested in learning the date and when tickets go on sale and all that, bristol Motor Speedway has announced a press conference tomorrow, as we're recording, which is August the 9th, so if you're listening to this after that, that information should still be out there. I assume they're going to announce those things tomorrow. I don't know why else they'd have a press conference if they're not announcing those dates. But yeah, we're going to try and make it.

Speaker 2: 36:19

We're going to try and go and if we do, there will obviously be content somewhere along the way Somewhere yeah, we got to get in first and then we'll worry about it we get in, maybe we wear GoPros and put that on Patreon. Oh man, just the whole experience just recorded Just like home video, shaky.

Speaker 1: 36:37

We'll get an old uh magnavox uh camcorder that you put the vhs tape directly in. Yes, yes, you can carry that around all day, mr pro wrestler oh, yes, I ain't carrying, I ain't putting that damn thing I'm gonna put it on a helmet cam oh, a helmet cam, that's even better. Yeah, now we're talking. Yeah, now we're talking. That won't stand out at all. No, no, hey, there's going to be some weird shit at that game.

Speaker 2: 37:03

There will be.

Speaker 1: 37:04

There's no way that many people in that environment and here's the thing y'all, I mean, I've been to Atlanta there's weirdness here, outside of the big cities, that does not exist in the big cities. Now, there's weirdness in the big cities that doesn't exist here. Right, that's why we made the choice to live in a place like this. But there's a weirdness here that cannot be described. It can only be experienced.

Speaker 2: 37:31

Yes.

Speaker 1: 37:35

And I mean a lot of non. Here's the cool thing for the game of baseball A lot of non-baseball people are going to be at this game Because, number one, there's a ton of seating. Again, they're going to break the attendance record probably, but you know there's going to be people that go just because it's something to do in Bristol, right. Again, this isn't Atlanta or Cincinnati where it's like, oh, do we go to the game or do we go over here, do we go do this? Or you know such and such.

Speaker 2: 38:03

It's a big happening.

Speaker 1: 38:04

Yeah, this is a huge deal to a place like Bristol. All roads lead to Bristol. Bristol, virginia, slash, tennessee, which is a long story for another day is a city, or a pair of cities, depending on how you look at it where three times a year there's a big blowout. That's two NASCAR races at Bristol Motor Speedway and then a festival called Rhythm and Roots Reunion. It's like a country and bluegrass and that kind of music festival, because Bristol, if you are not aware, is where the first ever country and western recordings were made in 1927. So it is literally deemed by the Smithsonian Institute the birthplace of country music. So it's a big celebration of you know, the music that is a part of the culture here that was born in Bristol and also I'm a part of the musical artist community in the area and I've told people for years for us, the members of that community, the performers, the best part of Bristol Rhythm and Roots reunion is the reunion, because it's the one time all year that we're pretty much all in the same place on the same weekend, right? So there's a lot of catching up, there's a lot of seeing people you don't see that often. There's a lot of seeing your friends play that you don't get to see play that often because you're booked yourself somewhere else. So it's a big shindig. But this is going to be a real happening in Bristol.

Speaker 1: 39:43

I saw an article this morning. There's already news outlets talking to local businesses. They're already preparing for the boom and the bump in revenue that's going to come from this. And that's the thing is. Bristol, for all its faults, is pretty set up to do something like this, right, because again they do two NASCAR races a year. They did a major college football game there. You know this is going to be a big, big deal in Bristol. So back to my point. A lot of the people there are just going to be Bristol people or Tri-Cities people that are like, well, we got to go because it's such a big deal for our town or our area, but we're going to try to go for sure and we'll keep you posted on all that as we try to figure out how our broke asses can go to this probably expensive game.

Speaker 2: 40:33

Oh, we'll figure it out, there'll be some way, somehow there's a way, there's always a way, and and, like I said, if we can't, we'll find a hole in the fence rex update.

Speaker 1: 40:42

We have a sploot. Oh, we did. Whoa nice, he heard his name. Yes, sorry, buddy.

Speaker 2: 40:48

All right, you got anything else on the bristol baby no, I just, I can't wait man yeah, I can't wait I mean I don't want to go there and see anybody, right, I just want to go.

Speaker 1: 40:58

Oh well, if we go, we're going to see. I'm definitely going to see people Like everybody we know. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 41:04

I mean half the people I know is in this room.

Speaker 1: 41:10

Yeah, sorry, I won't go into what I was doing because you can't smell through the YouTube machine. Yeah, but anyways. Yeah but anyways, yeah. So, moving on to our next topic, right before we hit record today, I showed Brian a video. It was a video of Glaber Torres hitting a towering shot that pinged off the wall in left field and looked off the bat like a guaranteed extra base hit. Well, the camera switches and you see Gleyber Torres lightly jogging to first base, making his turn and then just going back to first base he's thrown out at second for the third out of that inning, so he just stays on the field. Well, the next inning he doesn't come out of the dugout and he's seen talking to Aaron Boone, the manager of the Yankees, and it looked a little not heated but not pleasant either. So clearly and I haven't watched any of the interviews or heard any of the comments from either side on this but Brian Gleyber Torres was clearly benched by his manager for not hustling that double out and he should have been okay well, talk to me.

Speaker 2: 42:24

Well, I mean, the name of the game is hustle. I mean you've got, you got to run them all out every. You got to leg them all out, no matter what. I mean, okay, he thought maybe it was a home run and he was going to trot, okay, whatever, but you run as good as you can until you see it's a home run. You know, I mean you've got to hustle and he should have been taken out of the game. He should have been taken out of the league because he should have been saying hey, you don't want to hustle at this level, then we'll go send you back down a level and see if you want to hustle there.

Speaker 1: 43:03

Well, the problem with that is that it's not that simple for a player that's a veteran like Torres. But I get, I get your sentiment and I think I don't know. Man, it's tough. That's a tough one because you know was, was was Aaron Boone making an example out of him, because that's, at the time, that's one of your hottest hitters too, right.

Speaker 2: 43:22

Well, didn't it cost him a run, they said.

Speaker 1: 43:23

Yeah, I think so. I think there was a situation where it ended up costing him a run. I didn't watch the whole game, I just watched the relevant clips. Yeah, I don't know, man. I see both sides to a certain extent, but I'm leaning towards agreeing with you on this one because you know what would Pete do. Well, let's not get into that. Pete would have picked up first base, thrown it at the second baseman drop, kicked him rounded second. Everybody's looking around going what Next thing? You know, pete's sliding headfirst into home and taking out the catcher for no reason Before it all hits the wall. Yeah, yeah, this is the different.

Speaker 2: 44:06

This is a different conversation that Pete Repp doesn't need to be a part of.

Speaker 1: 44:10

But you know, there's something to be said, even at the major league level, for running out every ball Right, you know, and I think, if I'm getting paid millions of dollars and here's the thing, most of them are getting paid millions of dollars to do this, to play a game, I'm, you know, to do something you would do for free if you could, why are you not running that out? Yeah, you know.

Speaker 2: 44:38

It's kind of prerequisite. I mean that's the name of the game. You're playing a game where you have to run. I mean you're trying to beat it, you know. I mean it's. He thought it was a home run and it just wasn't. Maybe, maybe.

Speaker 1: 44:55

But I I don't know, though, the way he very nonchalantly went back to first. It wasn't like, ah shit, I messed that up. It was like, oh, no big deal, business as usual.

Speaker 2: 45:04

Well, I actually okay. The last at-bat I ever took was in a softball league in 1993. Oh this is going to be good and I hit the ball. I played for the cops, the Morristown City Police team, which was interesting in it.

Speaker 1: 45:22

For so many reasons that our listeners don't even understand. That was the most ironic placement, yeah, so me and Anthony Michaels played for them.

Speaker 2: 45:32

So, anyway, so I hit the ball's, I knocked the cover off. The softball it's going, it's beautiful, and I'm I'm looking at it and I'm walking and I'm thinking, this is out, this is it, I've done it. And it just hits the bottom of the fence and I get to first and I'm like, oh, my god, I should have ran. You know, I'm yeah, because I wanted to see it and it was so big, you know, so pretty. But that was my last at-bat I ever took in my life and it should have been.

Speaker 1: 46:01

And it haunts you to this day.

Speaker 2: 46:03

It haunts me to this day that I didn't hustle and turn that into more.

Speaker 1: 46:10

That's good stuff. They kicked me off the team after that. Listen, man, we are not the smartest baseball analysts out there, but you are going to get shit like that just anywhere. No, you can only get stories like that here. Yeah, you know, since it's just you and me talking and nobody else is involved in this. Another idea I had that I haven't brought up to you yet Brian for the Patreon uh, two guys talking wrestling, yeah, every now and then, just yeah, do a little bit on wrestling, because we're both wrestling guys and you know it wouldn't be bad on the patreon, I mean.

Speaker 2: 46:44

No, I think. I think that would be good talking about some of that weirdo stuff that we've seen and done, god, we've done some weirdo shit we have six years we've known each other.

Speaker 1: 46:53

And you had 25 years ahead of that.

Speaker 2: 46:56

Yeah, 32 total. Yeah, that's a lot of weirdo shit. It's a lot of effort on my part.

Speaker 1: 47:03

Hey, if you are listening, please let us know. We're on Twitter at 2GTBpod or I guess you can comment on the YouTube or anywhere you think you can get a hold of us. Get a hold of us and let us know if you'd be interested in hearing some wrestling stories on the patreon, because that's something we, I think we'd be willing to do, um, not as the main thing for the podcast, because this is still a baseball podcast, but every now and then, you know, we can talk some wrestling. Yeah, you know, and I think it'd be cool to talk about, you know, uh, the crossover, because there there is some crossover throughout the years. You know, jeff Torberg, dale Torberg comes to mind.

Speaker 2: 47:39

Yeah, I could tell you all about being at the power plant with that guy.

Speaker 1: 47:42

Yeah, so that might be a good first, that might be a cool first. Which?

Speaker 2: 47:47

actually leads from me being in Puerto Rico with Gene Simmons. There you go. That might be a good one to cross over. Yeah, yeah, we might do that today.

Speaker 1: 47:57

Okay, yeah, that sounds like fun, all right, so back to actually doing the podcast.

Speaker 2: 48:06

Right, right, right Back to where we are. Are we on air? Is there anyone out there?

Speaker 1: 48:11

I don't know man, I never know, so you know, fuck it one out there. I don't know man, I never know, so you know, fuck it all right. And on that note, we're going to talk about some, uh, some things that are a bit of a bummer.

Speaker 1: 48:23

yeah, uh, first off, uh, I wanted to mention uh billy bean, passing away being with no e, uh, this is not the money ball billy bean, but, uh, an impactful, uh individual in the world of baseball nonetheless. And I just realized I'm not prepared, so I'm going to get prepared as I'm talking and push the wrong button. This is riveting radio, right? Riveting, just riveting.

Speaker 2: 48:47

What a way to do a tribute.

Speaker 1: 48:48

Yeah, Jesus, I'm pissing on this guy's grave. So Billy Bean, former player, you know he was a Dodger for a little while, openly gay and most recently was the senior VP for diversity, equity and inclusion and special assistant to the commissioner of baseball. You know this is important, I think, because of everything that Billy had done for the game of baseball. I mean, he's a very impactful figure, like I said, and you know, anytime somebody passes away that has any sort of notoriety, it's always interesting seeing the response and seeing what the people who knew him them personally um had to say. And uh, john marosi, who I respect a lot, um made a tweet uh about billy bean and uh, the impact that billy bean had on him. And I'd like to read that because I think it sums up Billy Bean and what he meant to people in baseball and in his life really well.

Speaker 1: 50:00

So John Marossi, on August 6th at 6.04 pm, tweeted out the last text I received from Billy Bean was funny and uplifting, even as he acknowledged the depth of his battle with leukemia. That was Billy. He's been one of the most impactful people in MLB over the past decade. He made us smile, he made us thank, he made us better. I am heartbroken that my friend is gone and I am grateful for all the conversations we've shared. Whenever we take the time to listen, to be empathetic, to be curious, we will honor him at the ballpark and beyond. And man, I mean, that's a eulogy right there.

Speaker 2: 50:40

Yeah, that kind of sums it up I mean, what else do you say?

Speaker 1: 50:43

I mean, that's a guy that every life he came in contact with he at least did everything in his power to make better, and there's something to be said for that, especially in this crazy world we live in nowadays where hate and division sort to make better and there's something to be said for that, especially in this crazy world we live in nowadays where hate and division sort of reign supreme. And not to get on a political path, because we are absolutely never going to do that here, because baseball to us and to everybody is a distraction and an escape from that crap. But you know, just wanted to mention Billy Bean because you know, because of that, you know that impact and I know I've used that word 600 times in the last minute and a half, but you know there's no better word.

Speaker 1: 51:27

You know the impact he had on people's lives, that he had on the game, and inclusion is something that baseball has not always been good at. You know, um, you know we talk about well, I mean a good example from the history of the game. We talk about babe ruth. Like he's more than a man, you know he's. He's not human, like he's, he's a legend. Now he's not even a person, he's this whole thing. But josh gibson is that, if maybe more so. The legend of josh gibson has grown over the years, so beyond, I think, the level Babe Ruth. And there are people to this day that say Josh Gibson was not the black Babe Ruth, babe Ruth was the white Josh Gibson. That's the impact Gibson had. But he was restricted from playing in the major leagues because of the color of his skin.

Speaker 1: 52:31

So inclusion has not always been the best thing. You know baseball's best quality, right. Obviously, times have changed, things are better, but and we'll get into this later there's still a lot of work to be done in our society, in our culture, in our country, and for baseball to not only you acknowledge and recognize billy bean but to give him a position specifically to that cause. I thought was really, uh, really great um, and and you know uh, the league office takes a lot of crap sometimes, rightfully so, uh, but kudos to them uh for having billy being in their ranks uh for as long as they did and and allowing him uh to make these changes in the game and to improve the quality of life of everybody he came in contact with. So, uh, sad, sad, sad day, but we can always celebrate uh, the life of Billy being and, again, the impact he had uh on everybody around him.

Speaker 1: 53:33

So, uh, absolutely so. Rest in peace to Billy being, um, and again the impact he had on everybody around him, absolutely so. Rest in peace to Billy Bean and, yeah, again, kudos to the league office for having him there. So, if you're a White Sox fan, this is a bit of a bummer as well. But the White Sox historic losing streak, epic Tied for the longest losing streak in American League history 21 games. They snapped it two nights ago, august the 6th, against the A's. They won 5-1. But you know this is shaping up to be one of, if not the worst season by a team in Major League history.

Speaker 2: 54:19

Yeah, it's tough. I mean they just couldn't do anything right, they just couldn't catch a break.

Speaker 1: 54:25

No, they're not playing good ball. They're not together. You know it's bad.

Speaker 2: 54:31

And then they were covering the game in the ninth inning of you know, like it was a World Series or something. Three outs until they can break it yeah, the Dodgers broadcast was doing that too Two more outs One more away.

Speaker 1: 54:45

Yeah, yeah, I mean it was a big story and sort of breaking before we got on the air.

Speaker 1: 54:53

Today too, in news, you know, changes being made there absolutely pedro grafall being dismissed and, uh, grady sizemore you know he's gonna be great with a name like grady, the interim manager now of the white socks young guy, you know, um, early 40s. So you know, um, I don't know man, a longtime player. Uh, got out of the game for a little while and came back to it and ended up in the coaching ranks this year and right, uh, getting kind of and. But here's the thing. I mean, he's getting really rushed into managing a major league team and right, and he's not in an enviable position. So, you know, do they look for someone else in the offseason? Uh, does he have a shot? Are they saying, you know, show us what you got and maybe you'll be the guy? Or is it just this is what we got, we'll deal with it in the winter.

Speaker 2: 55:45

It's got to be, this is what we got. We'll deal with it in the winter. I mean, where do you start? Yeah, I mean you fire everybody. I mean that's, that's what you have to do. You have to start from scratch.

Speaker 1: 55:57

Well, yeah, that's one way of doing it. For sure, I don't know. It's just tough right now for the White Sox and you know a lot of their. You know, I mean really a lot of the guys that were performing well this year got shipped off at the deadline and I don't know that they got much back. I mean I mean there's reason to be excited about Miguel Vargas, but I don't know, man, it's just a, it's just a sad state of affairs for the, for the White Sox, right now. Tough time on the South side. I was just going to ask which side. I can never keep straight.

Speaker 2: 56:36

which side is which the uh, north is the cubs and then the south is, uh, the white socks I should be able to remember that, since the uh white socks city connects, say south side.

Speaker 1: 56:47

Yes, I never remember. Yeah, I've done a lot of damage to the to brain cells over the years yeah, so you know, you know tough times. Tough times for the White Sox, Tough time for my brain. Tough times.

Speaker 2: 56:59

Tough, tough times yeah, so how long?

Speaker 1: 57:02

we been at this today, brian, we are coming up on the hour, are we really? How close are we to an hour?

Speaker 1: 57:08

Well three minutes. Oh good, wow, this worked out perfectly. We did. Well, we're going to end our bullet point episode, our small ball episode, on a positive note, since we brought the vibe down a little bit with death and long losing streaks. League 42 is a youth baseball and softball league in Wichita. Youth baseball and softball league in wichita and, uh, sometime back. So they had a. They had a jackie robinson statue, a really gorgeous statue of jackie robinson, um, you know, obviously honoring him for for obvious reasons, and someone literally just yanked that statue. So I'm sorry, some bitch took it and left nothing but the feet, just just the feet. I mean, they literally tied a chain around it, put the other end of the chain on a truck and just pulled it out of there.

Speaker 1: 57:59

I mean uncalled for crazy right yeah, you know, just hateful and awful, um and despicable, yes I mean a despicable thing to do.

Speaker 1: 58:09

Um, you know, and and and and that sucks, but, uh, league 42 has really done a fantastic job of taking what could have been a really devastating event and spinning it to a positive, and they so, basically, they've replaced the statue now. They unveiled the statue the other day. Replace the statue now. They unveiled the statue the other day. Um, they put it on a very high platform to hopefully prevent from having it again something like that happening in the future.

Speaker 2: 58:42

You know it's a beautiful, beautiful new statue, yeah it's gorgeous.

Speaker 1: 58:46

But, uh, they got in touch after the initial um, you know, vandal, vandalizing and stealing of the statue. The crime, the crime, yeah, that's a good word for it the incident, the incident League 42 got in touch with Major League Baseball and opened a dialogue with them about, you know, what could they do to help, what can we do moving forward, and that led to Major League Baseball making a $100,000 donation. Yeah, and the new statue, mm-hmm man. Again, what a way to take something really bad and turn it into a positive. A positive, yeah, absolutely. You know, just a really great example of the human spirit and how a community can come together and overcome just about anything. Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 59:39

I mean, they rallied around this thing. Major League Baseball got involved, and where are the shoes now that were left?

Speaker 1: 59:46

Yeah, that's what I was going to get to. This is the coolest part. So we watched a video, I think Major League Baseball shared it a few days ago. You can find it on their socials and everything if you're interested.

Speaker 1: 1:00:00

But Bob Kendrick the very, very wonderful president, I think, is his title of the Negro Leagues Hall of Fame and Museum in Kansas City, so not terribly far from Wichita, kansas City, so not terribly far from Wichita. He was there for the unveiling of the Jackie statue, appropriately, I think, and he said that the cleats that were left when the original statue was stolen are now at the Negro Leagues Museum and he said that's because they are a symbol of not only the perseverance of Jackie Robinson but the work we still have to do. Yes, and the way he said was the work we still have to do in our country to end hate of any kind, right, which I thought, man. That's why Bob Kendrick is the man you know, because he's right, man, you know, because he's right.

Speaker 1: 1:00:56

We've come a long way. We have these great examples, like Jackie Robinson, of the work that has been done and the progress that has been made. But we got a long way to go, yeah, a long way to go, and that's okay. This life was never promised to be easy for any of us for any reason. So you know just a really great story reason. So, um, you know just a just a really great story, a feel-good uh note to end on, I think, uh, brian, that, yes, that league 42. Uh, in wichita, the community came together, didn't let this stop them, didn't let the.

Speaker 2: 1:01:27

This wasn't even a setback, they just rolled with the punches and just got a new one and just came together and just moved on down the road, just furthered the whole league instead of letting it be a setback 100 so hats off.

Speaker 1: 1:01:42

Their setback was a setup for a comeback 100 man, yeah, and good on them and and, um, you know, obviously kudos to everybody involved in that process and for the second time today, kudos to everybody involved in that process. And for the second time today, kudos to the league office for Major League Baseball, because that was huge and they had a representative there talking about how important it was for them because Major League Baseball definitely in this country but really around the world, is sort of the standard bearer for the game and he talked about that. I didn't write down the name of the representative from the league and I apologize for that, but he talked about how they view it, as any way they can further the game of baseball and or softball, they're going to take advantage of those opportunities because it's just good for everybody, it's good for them, you know.

Speaker 1: 1:02:41

So, man, what a great feel-good story. That could have been a huge bummer, and was a huge bummer for a while.

Speaker 2: 1:02:48

Yeah, no, it was a big bummer, but they ended up with a beautiful statue and, more importantly, the community rallied around it.

Speaker 1: 1:02:57

Yeah. So big ups to everybody out there in Wichita. You keep doing what you're doing Because if that's any indication of how you feel and how you share the game of baseball within your community, you're doing the right thing. So, please keep it up, league 42. And we'll keep an eye on you for future reference and bring you up anytime we can. Let's go there too. Yeah, let's go to Wichita and see some Little League games. That'd be great right, why not?

Speaker 2: 1:03:26

Why not man?

Speaker 1: 1:03:27

Yeah, that'd be a lot of fun. We were talking before we hit record too. We got to go to the Negro Leagues Museum. Got to, got to, it would be so cool. Yeah, it seems like a really cool spot, and everybody I've ever known who's went has said you know, make it a point. Yeah, you know, make it a point, do what you got to do to get there. So you know, maybe at some point we'll go do an episode. Yeah, that'd be wonderful, right? Yep, all right. Well, I think that just about does.

Speaker 1: 1:03:55

Does it for us today? Yep, you got anything else for us? Brian, I do not give. Give rocky one more, uh, one more view on camera because, as long as everything goes to plan, we'll be speaking on the show next week to Rocky's mom about the Rocky Foundation. Yeah, I'll leave it at that and we'll get into what the Rocky Foundation is hoping to do next week and we're looking forward to that conversation a lot. Our interactions with her have been wonderful thus far and so hopefully, you know, barring any setbacks or disasters or scheduling changes, that's the plan for next week. Yeah, but in the meantime, head over to twitter. I'm at dallas danger. Brian is at three crows. Bri, uh, we the show is at 2gtb pod. We've got a little bit of a merchandise store with hats, t-shirts, phone covers, notebooks, stuff for your dogs, A little bit of everything. Yeah, all kinds of stuff. A couple years ago, when we initially started this podcast, we put a lot of thought into our merchandising.

Speaker 1: 1:05:03

Yeah stuff you can actually use. Yeah, we wanted to be able to offer more than just another T-shirt or another hat or something that's not going to ever see the light of day or take up space. We want some practicality options as well. So that is all available at 2gtbstore and it's free to take a look around. Everybody, you know we don't charge you for that, so go see what it's all about. We actually, when we first set up that store two years ago, we ended up we bought a bunch of it at cost, just for ourselves. Yeah, and it's all great stuff. You know, rex, one of Brian's dogs, has a little sweater, a little jersey that he can wear.

Speaker 2: 1:05:43

Yeah, calms him down when it storms.

Speaker 1: 1:05:45

Yeah, yeah, just a lot of cool stuff. So, yeah, 2gtbstore there, and we've talked a lot today about the patreon and kind of kicking around ideas of what we want to do for the patreon. You can find us at patreoncom slash 2gtb. Currently, we have some bonus stuff that we've done over the last few weeks, but also all of our original episodes from 2022, a couple episodes of a podcast brian did with his wife called married with baseball.

Speaker 1: 1:06:13

Right, uh, you know, and we're going to keep adding you, we're going to keep trying to give you bang for your buck over there, because we're not trying to I mean, we're not trying to rip you off, we're not trying to take your money and run. We want to offer. You know, if you like what we do, we think you'll like the extra bonus stuff we do over there as well, and it's a good, good way to support us directly. Again, we are both broke. So, uh, you know that little bit of money could go a long way for us and for the podcast, because we're obviously trying to make this a long-term thing, this go round. And, uh, in order to do that, we need uh, we need to, you know, have some money in the bank every now and then to to maintain things and is there?

Speaker 2: 1:06:51

anyone out there?

Speaker 1: 1:06:55

And, of course, please subscribe to the YouTube. I know I've been begging for weeks, but that's a big deal for us. Right now, we're really trying to get some subscriptions on YouTube so that we can do more things with our YouTube channel and incorporate some new elements into the show. That we just can't do until we get our subscriber count up, and we would appreciate you spreading the word in that regard as well. So please hit, subscribe, tell your friends and yeah, I guess that's it for this week. So until seven days from now, I'm Dallas. That's Brian. See you at the ballpark.