2 Guys Talking Baseball
Attack of the Killer B’s
Can the comedic styles of the 80s and 90s still make us laugh today? Join us as we revisit last week's movie swap, where Brian discovers the chaotic humor of "Basketball," and I find delight in the classic comedy "Brewster's Millions." Alongside our laugh-filled reflections, we build anticipation for a fantastic day at the ballpark with our upcoming live podcast recording at the Princeton Whistlepigs game on June 4th. It's going to be a memorable day of baseball, food, and fun in Princeton, West Virginia – mark your calendars!
Ever wondered what makes baseball films so timeless? Our conversation takes a playful turn as we discuss "Bad News Bears," and its remake, and our admiration for Baseballism's Field of Dreams-themed t-shirt. We also spotlight the Montgomery Biscuits' unique branding, especially their Korean Heritage Night transformation into the Montgomery Kimchi. The excitement continues as we delve into the cultural differences in recognizing no-hitters between Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan, making for an engaging and insightful discussion.
From nostalgic memories of legendary pitchers to the intriguing story of Kumar Rocker, we explore the fascinating aspects of baseball history. We celebrate the careers of great pitchers like Sandy Koufax and Nolan Ryan, and even share some amusing moments with our 2GTB spelling bee featuring Brian's spelling challenges. To wrap things up, we analyze Byron Buxton's potential as the best player in MLB when healthy and share our thoughts on baseball's future prospects. Tune in for a blend of humor, nostalgia, and in-depth baseball banter that promises to keep you entertained!
Can the comedic styles of the 80s and 90s still make us laugh today? Join us as we revisit last week's movie swap, where Brian discovers the chaotic humor of "Basketball," and I find delight in the classic comedy "Brewster's Millions." Alongside our laugh-filled reflections, we build anticipation for a fantastic day at the ballpark with our upcoming live podcast recording at the Princeton Whistlepigs game on June 4th. It's going to be a memorable day of baseball, food, and fun in Princeton, West Virginia – mark your calendars!
Ever wondered what makes baseball films so timeless? Our conversation takes a playful turn as we discuss "Bad News Bears," and its remake, and our admiration for Baseballism's Field of Dreams-themed t-shirt. We also spotlight the Montgomery Biscuits' unique branding, especially their Korean Heritage Night transformation into the Montgomery Kimchi. The excitement continues as we delve into the cultural differences in recognizing no-hitters between Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan, making for an engaging and insightful discussion.
From nostalgic memories of legendary pitchers to the intriguing story of Kumar Rocker, we explore the fascinating aspects of baseball history. We celebrate the careers of great pitchers like Sandy Koufax and Nolan Ryan, and even share some amusing moments with our 2GTB spelling bee featuring Brian's spelling challenges. To wrap things up, we analyze Byron Buxton's potential as the best player in MLB when healthy and share our thoughts on baseball's future prospects. Tune in for a blend of humor, nostalgia, and in-depth baseball banter that promises to keep you entertained!
Hello again, everyone. Welcome inside the Three Crows Studios here in Dandridge, Tennessee. This, once again, is two guys talking baseball. I am one half of your hosting team, dallas Danger, along with my good friend Brian Logan. Brian, how you doing this week?
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm doing great. How are you? This has been a great week for baseball.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's a lot going on. We got a lot to get into I'm doing well though. So if you were with us last week, you heard when we were talking about what we were wearing. Brian was sporting a nice Brewster's Millions jersey, richard Pryor prominently displayed on his person. I was wearing a shirt from basketball. I had never seen Brewster's Millions. Brian had never seen basketball. We didn't plan that, it just sort of happened that way. So as soon as we got done recording last week, we rectified that situation and we watched both of those films. I have to say, personally, I thoroughly enjoyed Brewster's Millions. I thought it was a classic 80s comedy. I told Brian that I missed comedies that had like a frenetic pace to them. It was very busy, a busy comedy, so I really enjoyed that. Brian, what did you think of Basketball?
Speaker 2:I enjoyed Basketball. It was silly, it was funny, it really was. Before I hadn't watched it because I thought it was just gonna be stupid, but I was pleasantly surprised. Uh, it was a funny little movie yeah I think we all might should try that sport out at some point yeah, I don't think.
Speaker 1:Uh, I don't think that's a terrible idea. It's funny because Brewster's Millions is from 1985, and again that busy comedy was sort of in. That was just a stylish I guess is the best word form of a comedic film, and in the late 90s it was all about dumb, just mind-numbingly stupid. And in a lot of ways basketball is that, you know, for its time, just like Brewster's Millions was for its time. But I'm glad you liked it. It's a movie that I quote a lot and a lot of the one-liners I've been using for so many years I forget where they come from. So watching it again I was like oh yeah, that's why I say that that's where that came from, you know, um, but yeah, we had a good time, it was a nice little movie night after we recorded last week.
Speaker 2:Yes, it was, and you know I liked team america. The same people brought you basketball and uh, so their comedy lived on and and I enjoyed it too. And I was glad to share brewster's millions with you because I actually saw that in the movie theater when I was a kid. So you know that that movie's always been near and dear to my heart and I'm glad I could share it with somebody new yeah, I.
Speaker 1:There's no way I could have gotten away with going to see basketball in the theaters when I was uh younger. My parents would not have allowed that. But I did get to watch the south park movie, uh, with my mom which is another story for another day and it's a hilarious one. But, folks, if you want to hear that story, I'll tell you in person, because you can come watch a game with us in june. Brian, we've got a big announcement to make here at the top of the show well, well, yeah, we, we need to get this out to all the people.
Speaker 2:Where can they watch a game with us?
Speaker 1:So we will be in Princeton, west Virginia, on June the 4th. That's a Saturday for the Princeton Whistlepigs. They are hosting us that day. We're going to be taking part in the festivities that day, checking out the game. We're going to be doing a live uh podcast recording uh on location there. We won't be broadcasting it live but we will be um recording and filming from the ballpark there in princeton um that day and it we're we're really excited um that's. That'll be the the first weekend of uh play in the appalachian league. You know, the thursday before I will no doubt be at tva credit Union Ballpark in Johnson City for opening night there. But yeah, we're starting to make some plans and get things, sort of you know, sorted out for this affair. Brian and I think we're both really pumped up about it.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm very excited to get back to West Virginia and to see the Whistlepigs. I've wrestled in Princeton hundreds of times, but I've never got to see a baseball game there, so I am really looking forward to it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it'll also be my first time at the park there in Princeton so exciting times. You know, something that we had, excuse me, talked about trying to do in the future, but the opportunity came to us. We were fortunate in the early stages here of our show to get this sort of offer, you know, to come be a part of the things there in Princeton, and we're looking forward to it. So we encourage everybody to make plans If you're nearby or you want an interesting trip out. Princeton is not the most budding city, but it's certainly a cool place to see a game, I'm sure as every park in the Appalachian League that I've attended games at is. So, yeah, come out and watch a game with us. We'll have a hot dog and we'll talk baseball in person. Get to meet some of our listeners. That would be a great opportunity for that.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's going to be a great time. Anytime you go to the ballpark it's going to be great. But we're going to be enjoying the food, we're going to be doing a little bit of recording and, of course, we're going to watch the game and we're going to sit down and talk with some of the staff there at the ballpark with the whistle picks.
Speaker 1:it's going to be a great, great night yeah, they've been, uh, they've been very open uh and accessible in terms of, uh, you know, coming on to the podcast. So we're going to be doing some interviews that day and talking all things baseball in princeton. And you know, brian, you mentioned that it's always a good time at the ballpark. I always say a bad, bad day at the ballpark is better than a good day anywhere else.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I mean, you can't go wrong if you're at a ballpark and hopefully nothing will go wrong with this one, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, no telling what we will witness experience there. That's June the 4th it's a Saturday, so make your plans to attend. It's June the 4th it's a Saturday, so make your plans to attend. Princeton, west Virginia, the Princeton Whistlepigs of the now summer collegiate Appalachian League. We're looking forward to being there. But, brian, let's get into the shirts and hats we have on today. This is a segment we do every week. If you're with us on YouTube, you can see us and we like to, just you know, we like to bring our a game with our caps and jerseys and shirts.
Speaker 2:And uh, right now, brian, tell us who you repping this week I am repping my chico's bail bond shirt from the bad news bears and also I am wearing the brand new la dodgers hat. I wore this just for you. I just got this yesterday Usually only wear Cubs wear, but I'm going to branch out from now on, and this is the start of me branching out with the Dodgers. We've been watching them every day together and so I'm kind of rooting for them as well, but still love the Cubbies.
Speaker 1:It's a hell of a start. If you're gonna branch out, that's it. That's a great way to go, would you? Would you believe me if I told you I've never seen Bad News Bears?
Speaker 2:oh my goodness. Well then, we've got a, we've got well hang on.
Speaker 1:I didn't say I've never seen it. I said would you believe me if I said oh, oh, would I believe you?
Speaker 2:okay, all right, I was gonna say how could you not have seen?
Speaker 1:no, I've seen, uh. Uh, I've definitely seen the original. I don't think I've seen the remake, though yeah, I don't think I've seen the remake.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I've seen the original first two, you know yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:I mean that's classic, you know, um, and it was on tv all the time when I was a kid. I mean, just every other week it seemed like bad news bears was on TV, and you know that was back when we only had like four channels. So you know you watched it every time it was on. Yeah, we might have to do another movie night and watch the remake and critique it.
Speaker 2:Well, without a doubt, I think that we are enjoying the movies, we're finding things that each other hasn't seen, and we definitely got to keep up the movie night.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I think that's a good idea and we'll start folks incorporating some of that into the show a little bit more. I'm trying to hold off on a lot of the movie talk just because we're right in the thick of the season. We're about to get into summer, where it's just baseball everywhere, and so we got a lot to talk about right now and then maybe in the winter, when there's not as much going on, we can maybe do some rankings or some reviews of some baseball movies and get some feedback from everybody watching and listening on that as well. And of course, you can always listen to us wherever you find your favorite podcast. Wherever you're. Listening to us now works just fine. And if you want to see who we're repping each and every week, we're on YouTube as well.
Speaker 1:This week I've got on a couple of interesting new pieces Well, new to you guys. One is new to me. My t-shirt is probably my favorite t-shirt that I own. It is from a company called Baseballism. I recommend their stuff highly. I have a lot of it. It's comfortable, stylish and it's all centered around baseball fandom and love of the game. It's a little difficult to see. It is a Field of Dreams shirt On the front I've got a ball player in the corn and then on the back, down the back of the shirt, is the entire James Earl Jones monologue. He of course played Terrence Mann in that film and you know people will come, ray, they will definitely come, and baseball's marked the time. Just a classic monologue, baseball movie or otherwise. Just a great piece of film. But check out Baseballism. They do great stuff. I've followed them on the socials for a while too and they do a lot of cool stuff, a lot of interesting sales and things like that. And they're actually over the last few years they've popped up a lot of physical stores too. They actually have a store at the Field of Dreams site now and that was sort of announced around the time they did the Field of Dreams line. But a lot of cool stuff. If you're a baseball fan, if you're watching and listening to us, we assume you are. So check out Baseballism. They'll do you right and get you some nice, stylish, comfy clothes. And on my head this week maybe the loudest hat I own, maybe the loudest anything I own. So the Montgomery Biscuits down in Alabama double-A team there they're a baseball branding icon, just with their regular identity the Biscuits. They were one of the early teams to really go that far with the sort of wacky, ridiculous identity for their team. They started last year doing a Korean Heritage Night and last year they just did a jersey and they wore a regular Biscuits hat. But this year they decided to do a cap and for one night they became the Montgomery kimchi.
Speaker 1:If you're not familiar with kimchi, it is a staple of a Korean diet like that to sort of step up your cuisine of any kind. Really, I use it in a lot of things that are viewed more as like Southern food and it just kind of gives it an extra kick, really spicy, you know, definitely a funkiness to it since it's fermented. But when they put out the caps and I was like, oh, they put a face on kimchi and put it on a baseball hat. I had to have one and they were very quick with getting them shipped out. I'm sure the demand was high. They put them on sale the morning after the Korean Heritage Night game and, yeah, like I said, they got it out to me quick, took good care of me on that front. So yeah, that's who I'm repping this week.
Speaker 1:Again, we'll do that segment each and every week before we get into our topics and we just want to, you know, like I said, bring our A game. We feel like we've done well with decorating the studio. We've added a couple of things. We're going to continue to add there, but we also want to decorate ourselves and represent some, you know, teams, brands, movies that we appreciate and love, and so we're going to do that each and every week. And again, we're on YouTube with the video stream, if you're just listening to us on audio, and you can see that every week. But without further ado, let's take a look at this week's lineup.
Speaker 1:So, leading off for us this week, just say no. No-hitters have been a big topic over the last week. A lot of things going on, but no-hitters have been sort of a overarching theme almost since the last time we recorded. So we're going to talk no hitters. We've got some cool nuggets of information and we're going to get into that. Then we're going to get into our quick hits.
Speaker 1:If you're new to the podcast, we do this every week as well. It's just a list of things that we can't get a long form segment out of, so we just kind of quick fire some opinions and some thoughts and some information on things happening around the game each and every week. I'm really excited about our third segment. This week we're going to have a spelling bee and I don't want to say too much about that because I want to leave it for a bit of a surprise later on in the show. But we're gonna have some fun, uh, in our third segment today with our first ever 2gtb spelling bee and our cleanup hitter the main event, so to speak, this week.
Speaker 1:The bucks stops here. We're going to be talking all things byron buxton. He's a guy that's been, um been in a lot of conversations lately. He's obviously a very talented player, one of the better players in Major League Baseball for the Minnesota Twins. So we're going to dive into Byron Buxton a little bit later on in the show.
Speaker 1:So that's our lineup for this week and, like I said, we're going to lead off talking about no hitters. So, um, you know, I guess brian the, the, the topic of no hitters really came up um just over a week ago. As we're recording, on may the 10th, 22 year old reed detmer is a rookie for the angels and only his 11th career start in the majors through a no-hitter, really interesting game. The Angels won that game 12-0, so he got a ton of support. But I think the most interesting thing for me and this speaks to his stuff as much, as if this number was higher he only had two strikeouts in that game. So to go nine innings and get a no-hitter with two strikeouts and that's it. I mean that's impressive.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's definitely impressive. I mean, talk about the hard way to do things. I mean the strikeout is essential to a no-hitter, but apparently not in this instance.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean he definitely was getting weak contact, which is good, and you know you think about nowadays we see a lot more combined no-hitters and we'll talk a little bit about that here in a minute. But for a guy to go nine innings whether he's got a no-hitter or not, you've got to keep your pitch count down, especially being a young guy, a rookie, who's really unproven. You know you don't want to stretch that guy too much and I think I heard that Reed Detmer's pitch count that night was the highest he'd ever had in his life. Strikeouts they can get your pitch count up a little bit, you know. So if you can get some weak contact and get some out some quicker ways, it it's kind of weird to say, but it's almost more conducive to pulling off a feet like a nine, like a complete game or even a no hitter yeah, I mean you've got to keep that pitch count down, and I mean strikeouts.
Speaker 2:sometimes you get up to the full counts. You know you throw a lot of pitches and you know getting some help out with some of these hits and put outs on the field definitely led to this situation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but what a performance for an Angels team that we've talked about quite a bit the last couple weeks, because they're really doing well this year and I think I think are going to be in it for the long haul, assuming everybody stays healthy there and and stays on the field. So that was the 10th. On the 11th, excuse me, the following day, which was the last day we recorded last week, brian's beloved Tennessee Smokies, the AA affiliate of his Cubs, combined Peyton Remy, dennis Correa and Yuri Ramos, three pitchers combining for a no-hitter and, brian, I know you have a lot to say on the Smokies no-hitter.
Speaker 2:You screwed me. You and Ashley both screwed me. I wanted to go to this game, I definitely wanted to. We've got a role here, kind of a tradition, that we go, you know, once or twice a week and you know I wanted to record the podcast and I wanted to go straight to the ballpark but you guys didn't want to do that. You guys were just not feeling it that night and you were like we'll, we'll go some other time and of course I missed a no hitter. I missed the only no hitter I could possibly probably I'm ever going to get to see, all because of you guys.
Speaker 2:So okay, okay, okay you know it's basically your fault that my my bucket list won't be fulfilled.
Speaker 1:That is one way of looking at it. Yes, however, you've been to. What three games this year for the Smokies?
Speaker 2:Something like that yes, yeah.
Speaker 1:So let's say three games. Have they given up a hit in any of those three games? In all three of those games? They have. I believe they have. So how do you know that you being there wouldn't have changed the course of history? I mean, you being there could have ruined the no-hitter. Maybe you're the bad luck guy, so now I'm the jinx. Maybe I'm not saying you are or you aren't, I'm just saying you're only looking at this through. You know you got your blinders on.
Speaker 2:Maybe I should just start going without you guys, but might should happen. But it was an incredible night from what I heard and you know, combined effort to get the no-hitter which we've spoke on in the past. It's definitely harder to get it that way, but the Smokies came away with it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so good on them. I'm sure it was a great time. You know, there there's a one thing I can say, um, from my times there at Smoky stadium is that the fan base there is rabid. I mean, there are people that are there every single night that love the Smokies and and root for them as if they were a major league club, you know. I mean you look at the minors and by and large, it's not about wins and losses, it's about the development of players and, you know, focusing in on certain aspects of your game to try and help you get promoted to help the major league club. But the Smokies have a fan base that really just brings it as far as their energy and their intensity and rooting for the Smokies. So I'm sure that night it was fantastic.
Speaker 1:It was a Wednesday, which Wednesdays are a busy night because of the all-you-can-eat tickets, you know. So that's a good draw on a midweek game, so good for the Smokies. You know, couldn't help but laugh, though, because you did bring up going to that game and I kind of drug my feet and we got a later start than we wanted, and so you know, I do think you should look at it from different perspectives, but I'll take it. You know you can blame me if that's what you need to do.
Speaker 2:I'll let that one go. Well, and we missed buffet night. I mean that, right, there is just a crying shame. But not only buffet night and a no-hitter. I mean it's just a tragedy, it's a travesty, it's just a sad turn of events.
Speaker 1:All right. So on the same day, that's May the 11th, in Japan now forgive my terrible Japanese Higashihama of the Softbank Hawks, who are in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, which is the major leagues in Japan, also threw a no-hitter, and I was doing some research on this, brian, and I thought you would find this interesting. In Japan, in the NPB, unlike Major League Baseball, if it's more than one pitcher it is not officially a no-hitter. To be a no-hitter, one guy has to go the whole way through.
Speaker 2:That's very, very interesting. I mean, that makes it even harder right there. I mean, one guy, you can't even have any help, but I guess that's sort of the way it ought to be. So I can kind of see where they're coming from over there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think, if you consider the difference in American culture and Japanese culture, pride and honor are very, very important to the Japanese people. It's something that they really focus on in every aspect of their life. So I could see why they classify no-hitters differently. In that way, it's almost like you don't deserve the honor if you don't finish the game yourself. If your pitch count was a little high or you had some walks and they had to pull you out, it's like okay, great game, you gave us a chance to win, but in order to get that distinction as a no-hitter, you've got to go the whole way and finish it out yourself.
Speaker 1:So a big week for no-hitters and, like I said, that got us thinking about no-hitters and we wanted to talk about no-hitters. So, brian, after the Reed-Detmers no-no, major League Baseball, on their social media platforms, put out a list that was really a graphic of every team's last no-hitter and my immediate thought was I wonder who's gone the longest Right, which teams have had the longest droughts since the last time they had a no-hitter, have had the longest droughts since the last time they had a no-hitter, and I have compiled the top five longest no-hit droughts in Major League Baseball. Would you like to hear them? Absolutely Okay, I'm going in reverse order. We're going to do a countdown. Number five, number five the Texas Rangers. Their last no-hitter was July 28, 1994, and that was Kenny Rogers. I remember Kenny Rogers well from those Rangers teams. That was right, as I was in my formative years, really getting into my fandom for the first time.
Speaker 2:The Gambler Kenny Rogers, the Gambler Islands in the Stream.
Speaker 1:I think it's a different guy.
Speaker 2:Did the guy had chicken? Was he roasting it?
Speaker 1:I, I bet, playing for texas, he had a lot of roasted chicken. Well then, it might be the gambler. I don't think so, just because the singer kenny rogers, by 1994 was like 112 years old and and probably uh, you know, he got a little hefty there at the end yeah, he, he sure did.
Speaker 1:He ballooned a little there he was eating all that chicken, well you know. So that was number five, number four, okay, so there's five teams on this list, obviously, and four of them. When I saw that they had had long droughts since their last no hithitter, it didn't really surprise me. You know, like the Texas Rangers, it's been a while since they've been really good for any period of time. You know, I mean it's hard to think of iconic pitchers for the Rangers over the last. You know what's. It been almost 30 years since 1994.
Speaker 1:This one surprised me and it's Atlanta. Right, because you think of Atlanta, you immediately go to pitching. I mean, you know, this goes back to 94, but even prior to that you know the Glavin, smoltz, maddox rotations there, and most recently, I mean, they've had some very good starting pitching. Um, you know, one of my world series last year, a lot of very, you know, great hitting there, but but some really solid pitching. So to see atlanta at number four with kent merker from april 8th of 1994, that one surprised me a little bit kent merker man I'm trying to picture him, but man that is a long time ago, 1994.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I'm looking it up right now, but I think Kent Merker played for quite a few teams, was more of a journeyman than a staple guy. Yeah, he's got all kinds of jersey number colors up there. Let me see Atlanta for a while. Yeah, so he came up with Atlanta in 89, played there until the mid-'90s, until 96, and then he kind of bounced around Baltimore, cleveland, cincinnati, st Louis, boston, anaheim, colorado, back to Cincinnati, back to Atlanta, the Cubs for a little bit and then finished up with Cincinnati. So yeah, I remember him more from post Atlanta when he was kind of bouncing around, more of a journeyman pitcher. But uh, yeah, he's the last atlanta brave to throw a no hitter and that's. That's quite a piece of trivia.
Speaker 2:That is a piece of trivia. Boy, he took the tour, didn't he? Yeah, I mean, he hit every ballpark, you think? I mean, man, that's incredible to play with that many teams yeah, a real ham and egger as we like to say a real ham and eg a real ham and egger we. We need a fan club for him a kent merker fan club kent merker fan club.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, if anybody knows if there is a kent merker fan club out there, please let us know. Tweet it to us or something, and let us know, because I want to be. I want to be a part of it at 2gtb pod on twitter.
Speaker 1:But we're going to move right along. Number three on the countdown of the longest major league no-hitter droughts is the Kansas City Royals. August 26, 1991, Brett Saberhagen, the last Royal to throw a no-hitter, Brian.
Speaker 2:Well, and what a classic pitcher Brett was. I mean, I remember watching him many, many times and there's a chance I might have been watching that game, but I love Brett Saberhagen. I thought he was a real class act and a heck of a ball player.
Speaker 1:Tough, tough guy to hit. I've heard a lot of players from his era talking about how they thought he was one of the tougher guys uh to face um on the mound. So um again, not a surprise there. Kansas City, with the exception of uh their, their uh World Series win and two years in a row uh being in the World Series representing the AL in 14 and 15 not even really been been competitive a lot in the last 30 years since that no-hitter. You know, and you know I can think of Zach Greenke when he started his career in Kansas City I think it wasn't Johnny Cueto on those World Series teams too. But you know, not guys that not a team. I guess I should say that you're thinking pitching first over the last you know, 20, 30 years with the kansas city royals bo don't know no world series.
Speaker 1:Bo knows a lot of stuff, but he don't know what no world series looks like all right now we're getting we're getting down to it number two the second longest drought in the majors since the team's last no-hitter. We're going all the way back to September 2nd of 1990. It's the Toronto Blue Jays and Dave Steeb.
Speaker 2:Dave Steeb man, toronto Blue Jays going the second longest. I mean a lot of these are going back to the 90s but I mean that's a long time to not have a no-hitter. A lot of these are going back to the 90s but that's a long time to not have a no-hitter.
Speaker 1:Well, a no-hitter by nature is a kind of rare thing. It's not something that it's definitely not easy to do. I mean there's been like I don't remember the statistic, but I saw it kind of recently like the number of games in Major League history that somebody's taken a no-hitter or a perfect game into the seventh or the eighth is thousands. You know it's those last. You know five, six, ten outs that can get really, really difficult, you know, especially if it's one guy trying to do it. You know pitch counts, getting up there, arms getting a little tired, stuff is kind of leaving you a little bit. But you know, especially back you know we're talking about the 90s now back then they'd have left him in just simply because he had the no-no going, absolutely regardless of pitch count or any of that. And you know, then he gets in the eighth and he gives up a hit on his 200th pitch or whatever, and they take him out and he gets a big standing ovation and nobody remembers it because it's just another day, because it happens all the time, but to finish it out very difficult to do. So yeah, I mean you can see why it would be so long.
Speaker 1:And again, toronto. You know, right after this um very good team, you know, won a world series, um, and, and since then, though, you know they've had some flashes here and there. But again, how many great pitchers can you name from Toronto? You know that played for Toronto since 1990? I mean, clemens was there for a little while. Roy Halladay you know there's been some guys, but just never were able to put it together and get that no-no for Toronto.
Speaker 2:There wasn't consistency in Toronto. I mean, they had some teams here and there, but the consistency on the pitching and the team itself has just not been there over the years and the decades. Yeah for sure.
Speaker 1:But Toronto's looking pretty good now, so maybe they've got some younger arms there now that are looking pretty good and maybe they'll get off this list in the near future. It wouldn't surprise me.
Speaker 2:I got faith in them. I think they will. I mean I think all these teams are due. So I mean, you know it could be any day now.
Speaker 1:Well, you want to talk about a team being due. We're going to number one on the list the longest drought in Major League Baseball for a team since their last no-hitter nine years, longer than anybody else. Wow, may 15th of 1981. Cleveland and Lynn Barker, cleveland. Now, when I saw Cleveland at, number number one.
Speaker 2:It made perfect sense. Well, without a doubt, I mean that, yeah, I mean man, 1981, that is a long run, but there's, there were some really bad cleveland teams during that that time, really bad.
Speaker 1:I mean ain't no ricky van I'll tell you that right now, Nope, no, Ricky Vaughns in Cleveland for a while. I mean, that's just. I was shocked that. You know, I'm not shocked that it's been since 1981. I'm shocked that there's such a gap between them and the next longest drought. I mean nine years just between the longest and the second longest is insanity. That's almost 40 years since their last no-hitter.
Speaker 2:Well, they're definitely due. If anybody is due, it's the Guardians. Is that what they are now? Yes the Cleveland Guardians. The Cleveland Guardians Well, does that even count, because they're not the Indians anymore.
Speaker 1:No, it counts. Same franchise. Nothing changed there other than the name. You know it's the same bunch, same terrible luck, same, less than stellar city in my humble opinion Same no-no hitters. Yeah, same giving up hits every game for 40 years.
Speaker 1:40 long years, all right. So now let's talk about the other end of the spectrum. Let's talk about the guys who have thrown the most no-hitters all time. So I've got well, I've got four names on the list that sort of separate themselves from everyone else. So there are 25 pitchers all time with two no-hitters, which I thought was kind of interesting. I mean, it feels like a big number, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that is a big number.
Speaker 1:So 25 guys have two career no-hitters Tied for third with three each. Bob Feller no surprise. There I mean a guy who, honestly, I think a guy who, had it not been for losing some playing time during wartime serving the country we might be talking about as one of the greatest pitchers of all time. I think he still sneaks in that conversation some, but I think it would be more so had he not lost the years he did to military service. So no surprise to see him. He's tied with Justin Verlander who, by the way, on the same night that Reed Detmers threw his no-hitter, took a no-no into the eighth. I mean he got really close to bumping up to tide for second and I mean really rarefied air, because second place all time, with four no hitters, is the left arm of god himself, sandy kofax sandy kofax man.
Speaker 2:Does it get any better than that? I mean four no-nos, I mean a legend.
Speaker 1:It just when you talk about pitching, you talk about him yeah, you know, it's well documented that I am a dodger fan and I have been for the vast majority of my life. So I wear a lot of dodger gear out and about and, living in tennessee, we're sort of right in the thick of Braves country. You know. I'd say, um, if you did a poll, the majority of people would call themselves Braves fans. Um, but on occasion I'll be at the bank or the post office or the grocery store and I'll have a Dodger cap on or a t-shirt on, and I don't get stopped a lot because of my Dodgers stuff. But when I do, it's usually guys older than me and their story about the Dodgers always has something to do with Sandy Koufax.
Speaker 1:I can't count the number of times that an older gentleman has stopped me and said oh hey, the Dodgers. Yeah, you know, I used to really love the Dodgers back in the day. Oh hey, the Dodgers. Yeah, you know, I used to really love the Dodgers back in the day. Man, sandy Koufax, you know I saw this game or I saw this happen, or you know he just he's like this mythical being to me. You know, I mean always has been, yeah, and it doesn't get any better. I mean especially from a left-handed standpoint, and for him, you know, I think, something that doesn't get any better, especially from a left-handed standpoint, and for him, I think, something that doesn't get talked about enough with Sandy Koufax, is the fact that he left on his own terms at a very young age, especially for the time, you know, guys played pitchers, pitched until their arms fell off, you know, in the 60s, but he said no, you know what, I don't want to lose quality of life later on because I pitched, you know, five more years and broke myself down physically. I want to be able to, you know, have good years of my life post-baseball.
Speaker 1:And I think that, you know, sort of started to pave the way for a lot of what we're seeing now with, you know, players usage, especially pitchers, and you know the age with which, at which I should say, people are retiring from baseball and stepping away from the game, he really, I think, opened people's minds up because I, you know, when that happened, people were like what do you mean? He's retiring in his early 30s, you know, um, excuse me. So, yeah, definitely not a guy. You, you are surprised to see towards the top of this list, but at the very top and just you know lapping everybody with seven career no hit seven times. Nolan Ryan threw a no-hitter. I mean that is remarkable.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I have seen most of those no-hitters I mean a lot of those I was watching on TV when they happened or they would break in and go from the game you're at and show him pitching the no-hitter. In my opinion, no one rides the grass pitcher that ever lived. I mean, he's the guy and I loved watching him pitch. The intensity that he brought to the game. He looked like he came there to do a job and that he he was going to do it and he was going to strike you out and he relied on the strikeout. So you know, not only is he throwing a no-hitter, he's striking these guys out one after another.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no doubt. I mean he was not concerned with pitch count at all, pitched for like 27 years. I mean he was not concerned with pitch count at all, pitched for like 27 years. I mean just a remarkable career Was well into his 40s when he finally and he didn't quit, he just I mean arm just finally quit on him. You know, I mean he, just he was the opposite of what I was talking about with Koufax. He really pitched until he physically couldn't do it anymore and it's still.
Speaker 1:You know, it's weird to think about Nolan Ryan as an individual who's doing anything other than throwing a baseball. I mean, that's how I agree with you. I think he's the greatest pitcher of all time. It's hard to really argue that from a lot of different standpoints, this is one of them. Them to have almost double the number of career no hitters, uh, that anyone else has, um, you know, just just a remarkable career and a guy that, uh, is going to be talked about for as long as human beings are having conversations about the game of baseball and not a bad uh batter either.
Speaker 2:I mean so I remember in the games he would come up to bat. I mean he could hit it out of the park.
Speaker 1:He was definitely a threat, not like an otani is now, but uh, definitely was somebody you couldn't overlook in the pitching position and the batting position as well yeah mean just tough as nails type of guy that if you were standing a little close to the plate he was going to brush you back and remind you that was his part of the play. Like I said, was not really concerned with pitch count or anything like that, just a guy that, like you said, was there to do a job and was going to do it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I mean, he wasn't no Kenny Rogers, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:Well, I think the proper way to say that is Kenny Rogers was no Nolan Ryan, Nolan Ryan excuse me, that's true.
Speaker 2:Get it right, kid.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I think the proper way to say that is Kenny Rogers was no, nolan Ryan. That's true. Get it right, kid. Yeah, I'm trying, I'm multitasking here. I'm getting his career batting numbers pulled up. He was a 110 hitter, so that doesn't sound great, but for a pitcher that's serviceable.
Speaker 2:When most pitchers are hitting 069, 054, you know that's pretty good 1981, for the season he got right at the Mendoza line.
Speaker 1:He hit 216 that year. That's pretty good, great numbers for a pitcher, honestly, in 1981, batting 216. But yeah, so he tops the list and again, not a surprise at all. I mean, honestly, when you think no-hitters, you probably think of one of a couple names. Maybe you think of Koufax, depending on your own life experience, but I think a lot of people, when they think about no-hitters, think about Nolan Ryan.
Speaker 2:Absolutely mean he is, he's the man, he's the guy, he's. He's the model for the pitcher that that takes you the complete game and racks up all these no hitters and strikeouts yep, absolutely so.
Speaker 1:There's some information on no-hitters, since those have been sort of in the news, so to speak, the last week. But right now, brian, it's time for some quick hits. Are you ready to rapid-fire some topics from the last seven days? I am ready.
Speaker 2:All right, are you?
Speaker 1:I think so. So the first one we're going to do. I sent you this video the other night and all you said was wow. So the first one we're going to do? I sent you this video the other night and all you said was wow. Griffin Dorshing of Oklahoma State hit a 513-foot home run over the scoreboard and folks, you've got to look up this video it was not a small scoreboard, this is a massive scoreboard in left field and he hit the ball so far over this thing.
Speaker 2:I mean, it's one of the most remarkable things I've ever seen in my entire life. I mean he nailed it. I mean he literally nailed it, tattooed it, soared it, kept it going. Any cliche you can come up with, this guy deserves it.
Speaker 1:He just knocked it out of the park I still don't think it's landed out of the city limits. Yeah, man, so he's a grad transfer, uh, from northern kentucky. Uh, like I said, he's at oklahoma state now. He's 6'4, 251. He's a big guy, you know, even for a ball player, I mean that's, that's a sizable dude. And I also read that, uh, last month he hit a moving car outside the stadium with a home run. So this is something he's making a habit of is just putting balls into orbit.
Speaker 2:He's taking these balls on tour, and if he can't get in there himself, he'll just launch one into a car, just right into a car. Just take it on to the next town, yep.
Speaker 1:Just call an Uber and when it pulls up, just put it right in there, right through the window, ping All right. Put it right in there, right through the window, ping all right. Speaking of college baseball, a guy who was really highly touted at vanderbilt uh, going into last year's draft, kumar rocker. He was the 10th overall pick by the mets. The mets saw some things in his arm and his medicals that that kind of made them wishy-washy. They canceled his contract.
Speaker 1:So here's a guy that gets drafted highly and instead of going to a ball or double a or wherever, they would put him in the minor league system, he's got a year off. Well, he's a draft eligible again this year and the draft coming up in july, all-star weekend this year he's going to play indie ball for the tri-City Valley Cats until the 22 draft. This is a really interesting story to keep an eye on. I mean, this guy was really highly touted, like I said, but if he's got arm issues, that's causing the team that drafted him to say, eh, maybe not, and he's taking a year off, what's he got left in the tank? I mean, how far down the draft board is he going to fall? I mean?
Speaker 2:you don't take a year off. And the Mets organization will know I mean, obviously they know. They've been watching him day in, day out. They've, you know, seen what's went into his workouts, they've seen what he's throwing, and I mean I just don't know, I don't know if this cat's got it.
Speaker 1:Well, I hope for his sake he does. I mean, the story of last year's draft was really, you know, he and Jack Leiter as teammates in the same draft. How high are they going to go? There were some people that thought they could go one and two, two pitchers from the same school being the top two picks in the draft. You know, rocker falls to 10.
Speaker 1:The Mets pick him up and when I saw that I thought, man, that's a perfect fit, because he's not getting drafted in the first couple picks to a team that's completely rebuilding. He's going to a team that is spending money trying to win now and they're going to try to get him up to the big leagues as quickly as possible and then all this goes down. But we'll see. I mean, he's going to play indie ball and we've heard a lot of stories of guys, even guys, that get all the way to the majors and then something happens. They get a little bit of the yips, something changes in their swing or in their pitching or whatever, and they've got to go back all the way to Indy ball and then they get all the way back. You know, we were just earlier today watching the Arizona Diamondbacks and they have a guy, david Peralta, who never made it to the majors, went to Indy ball, figured it out, and now he's a mainstay for the Diamondbacks. So you know, if this guy's got it, we're going to find out soon.
Speaker 2:Absolutely stay for the Diamondbacks. So you know, if this guy's got it, we're going to find out soon, absolutely, I mean, we're going to find out, you're going to know and you know, there'll be no question to it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and I've got faith in him. I mean, I think he was a talented enough guy, successful enough at a high level collegiately, that I would put money on it. We're going to see Kumar Rocker pitching in the major leagues sooner rather than later, so continuing with quick hits. We've got a couple things from Sunday man. Sunday was a crazy day. One of the things. Sunday night baseball nationally televised. The Cardinals are just whitewashing the stinking Giants. I mean they are just lighting them up 15 to nothing. They need somebody to pitch the ninth inning. They're looking around the dugout going who's going to pitch the ninth? They called me, but I wasn't available because I'd already pitched the day before.
Speaker 1:So Albert Pujols speaks up and says, well, send me out there, I'll do it, and he goes out. You know, as you tend to expect with a position player, pitching Did not do well, but he did it. He pitched an inning and now he's going to be maybe the only first ballot Hall of Famer all time, with a 36 career ERA.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean it's a good start, it's a good pitching career there 36. I mean mean it's a good start, it's a good pitching career there 36.
Speaker 1:I mean no, it's not, it's terrible. That's maybe the worst ERA I've ever heard. I mean, that is a despicable ERA.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean it's going to look great on a baseball card.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, I dare Topps or somebody to print that on his baseball card next year.
Speaker 2:You think a number that big will fit.
Speaker 1:Oh gosh, well, he won't have a lot of pitching statistics, you know, to take up space, so maybe in the little blurb, you know, maybe in the little blurb they write about each player. That's like, oh, you know, his dad owned a grocery store and you know he used to be a catcher but now he's a pitcher. You know, most of the time it's like, okay, who cares? But you know, sometimes you get good stuff and, yeah, that might be a nice little nugget of information for the back of a pool holes card next year. And we talk a lot here, you know, recently, about Shohei Ohtani doing things that haven't been done since Babe Ruth. You know, oh, shohei Ohtani doing things that haven't been done since Babe Ruth. You know, oh, shohei Ohtani's the first guy to do this since Babe Ruth. Or the only two people that have ever done this are Shohei Ohtani and Babe Ruth. The only two people to hit 600 career home runs in the majors and also pitch are Albert Pujols and Babe Ruth. You think that's why he did it.
Speaker 1:No, here's the thing. I got to see a good chunk of albert last season with the dodgers right and I this. This is not the machine anymore. You know, he was so intense and so serious. All the time he understands his time has come. I mean, he understands he's his career is winding down and he is just having a ball. I mean, the guy that the dodgers got last year was was not the albert pool holes I was used to seeing and it was great. He was such a leader, um, not just experience wise and what he can tell you about your swing and your approach, but just as a guy in the dugout in the clubhouse. I mean he was, he was, he was in on all the handshakes and high fives and you know inside stuff with the dodgers that already existed when he got there, um, he, you know every guy that hit a home run. He gave him a big hug in the dugout. It became this huge thing for the dodgers. You know, teo albert is what they called him, uncle albert.
Speaker 1:Um, I think he's just. I think he's out there just loving the game while he still can. I mean I think he's really, you know, I think he's just, I think he's out there just loving the game while he still can. I mean I think he's really, you know, I think he's really gone back to. You know why he started playing the game in the first place, before it became a job, and there was these expectations on him. Once he came to the majors, I think he's just having a blast and it was something he'd never done. And he said, man, how cool would it be for me to be the one to raise my hand and say, yeah, put me out there, I'll pitch. You know, I'm not going to give up 15 runs, you're not going to let me. You know, if I, if I'm, if I'm that bad, you're gonna say, okay, all right, all right, that was fun. But you know, and he got through it, you know, gave up a couple homers, you know, I think he gave up three runs total.
Speaker 2:But, um, just three, yeah, three or four you know, 36 ERA.
Speaker 1:36 ERA for Albert Pujols. Also on Sunday we've been talking about no-hitters. Cincinnati Reds rookie Hunter Green. Man, he's been impressive, he almost had a no-hitter, but he gets pulled. The bullpen gives up some runs without giving up a hit, but the Pirates beat the Reds 1-0, even though the Reds did not give up a hit. Now, they didn't pitch all nine innings, obviously because they lost the game, so it doesn't go down as a no-hitter. But the Pirates? Here's the thing, man. The Pirates are not good, the Cincinnati Reds are worse.
Speaker 2:I mean this whole scenario is hard to explain. I mean it's a really weird phenomenon that happened. I mean this might be a once-in-a-lifetime thing we witnessed.
Speaker 1:Well, it's the first time it's happened in the majors since 2008. It's only the sixth time ever, I heard, which is crazy. I mean, how many tens or hundreds of thousands of major league games have there been ever? And this has happened six times. I mean, you're right, we may not see this again in our lifetime. We may not see this again ever like in history. So, uh, yeah, just a crazy thing that happened and two really bad teams just showing off how terrible they are. I mean, good grief, one to nothing, you didn't get a hit and you won the game. I mean, back in the day, if that happened, it would be because, like, oh, the two best pitchers in the world were duking it out. Neither one of them wanted to give the other team anything, right. And now it's like two teams just begging the other team to win. I mean, they're just trying to give it away.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's crazy, but it was exciting at the same time.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, great that we have this stuff to talk about. All right, last but definitely not least, this is something we've been talking about for weeks here on the show the curse of the National League Player of the Week. Dun dun dun, checking up on Rowdy Tellez, the defending winner of the award. And the curse is still intact. Rowdy Tellez, since being named NL Player of the Week, a 153 hitter, only three RBIs after I think he had 12 of the week. He won the award. Willie Adamas, his teammate in Milwaukee that won the week before he's on the IL. Now the streak is intact, but I don't know for how long, because the newest winner of the National League Player of the Week is the defending MVP, the Phillies', bryce Harper.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, here's the thing. Can he stay healthy? He's got one week to stay healthy to break this curse. I mean, obviously we started off talking about it as ha-ha-ha and now here we are, three weeks later, and it's still going on. So there's something to this thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, and Harper, you know, is, I think the remarkable thing about Harper winning this award from a health standpoint is simply that he did this with a banged up elbow. He's not playing in the field right now, he's DH and only he's taking getting injections every few days in his elbow. So he's hitting at a high level, a really high level, already kind of hurt. So he's playing hurt and putting up these kind of I mean every at-bat. The last week for him has been appointment viewing because he's just so locked in right now. But you're right, maybe that elbow gets a little sore. I don't know, man, this curse.
Speaker 2:We'll have to see what the baseball gods have in store for him, because there is definitely a curse.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think we have proven over the last three weeks that this curse is real. It's a real thing that's really happening. So beware players in the National League. Beware of being awarded the Player of the Week honor.
Speaker 2:Yes, watch out, guys Dun dun dun.
Speaker 1:You know, brian, I think we need to design a National League Player of the Week curse T-shirt. Yes, we do, to put up for sale at our awesome store at 2gtbstorecom design a National League Player of the Week curse t-shirt. Yes, we do To put up for sale at our awesome store at 2gtbstorecom.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. We've got such great items in there already as far as t-shirts for men and women, ball caps. We've got stuff for puppies as far as mats for them to lay on or put their food on, we have bandanas and we have all kinds of different T-shirts, cups in there, we've got phone cases, we've got jerseys, baseball jackets, you name it. It's in there, and I think we need to add this the Curse T-shirt for next week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's a good idea. We should probably get our uh, our design team on that post haste, because I think it would be. I would love to sit in this chair and record this podcast wearing a shirt that says beware of the curse of the national league player of the week. But we got like you said. We got all kinds of awesome products for you, your significant others. You know we've got some great women's wear obviously t-shirts, hats, the normal fare, but phone cases, a Bluetooth speaker. That's really nice.
Speaker 1:You can listen to us on each and every week. Something for everybody. That's really what I like about our store 2gtbstorecom is no matter who you are or what you're into or what your style is specifically, you're going to find something you like over there, and this is the best way to support us folks Directly support what we're doing here to keep us afloat. Pay for all this nice stuff we're decorating the studio with 2gtbstorecom. Pick up some swag today and hey, and wearceton, june the 4th to see us at the whistle pigs game absolutely absolutely all right, so we're gonna move on.
Speaker 1:I'm so excited to do this, so, yeah, I I need to give a little bit of a backstory here.
Speaker 1:This, uh, this is going to be our first ever 2gtb spelling bee, so a couple of weeks ago I was thinking about different fun things we could do here on the show. Obviously, when you're starting a podcast, you want to think of ways to differentiate yourself, to stand out from the crowd, so to speak, of not only just podcasts in general, but baseball podcasts specifically. So Brian, my esteemed colleague and best pal, is maybe the worst speller I've ever met in my entire life, and I don't even think it's close. Like I can't think of an example of anybody who's even close to as bad at spelling as Brian is, which is remarkable because he's a really smart guy, he's well-read I mean, he's written two books that are published. I mean he's not an unintelligent or uneducated guy, he just can't spell for shit. I mean, it's incredible. So I'm going to give the floor to Brian, because Brian would like a moment to explain from his own perspective why he can't spell for shit.
Speaker 2:Well, in high school I only learned two things for all the years I was in school and Marilyn Montgomery she was one of my teachers in high school and she taught me the two things that I have used on a regular basis, and that is how to tell a story with a beginning, middle and end in the hero's journey, and also how to balance a checkbook, because she came in one day she had overdrawn her checkbook and she wanted to teach us how to balance our checkbook. But what Marilyn didn't do is she did not teach me how to spell, because I cannot spell for anything. I'm very challenged in the spelling uh category and apparently you're going to exploit that today I'm going to try, um the.
Speaker 1:I just want to get in here, uh, while we're having fun with your expense. Uh, the autocorrect on brian's phone is a nightmare. Oh, completely. Some of the, some of the stuff he texts me that he didn't mean to send it, just autocorrected to it is indecipherable. It's like if a baby got drunk and started texting people Texting a monkey yeah, and the monkey replied.
Speaker 1:And the monkey replied, and the monkey was also drunk. So what we're going to do here today is I have a list of eight players some current, some former from Major League Baseball, and I'm going to read these names off, one at a time, and we're going to see if Brian can spell these names. And I assure you he has no idea what I'm about to throw at him Our notes. I will take a picture and post it on social media to prove the notes that we have for the show. All this segment says is spelling bee. There's literally nothing else on the notes. So he has no clue what I'm about to throw at him. So, brian, are you ready? I'm ready.
Speaker 2:I guess I'm going to be made a fool of is what's going to happen.
Speaker 1:Well, you agreed to this. Just remember when it gets bad. You agreed to this.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:I would have never sprung this on you without asking, and I can't believe you're agreeing to let me do it All right. So I want to take it easy on you to start with. So let's start with a name that is not complicated, but also a name you know very well, and that's Pete Rose.
Speaker 2:Okay, complicated, but also a name you know very well, and that's Pete Rose.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right. P-e-t-e-r-o-s-e.
Speaker 2:All right, one down. That was easy. All right, all right, I'm good, I should probably quit right on my head.
Speaker 1:Well, if you'd have gotten that one wrong, I probably would have just gotten up and walked out like okay, this was a bad idea. This a terrible idea. Okay, so next up. Uh, this is not a long name. Uh, it might be a little tricky, but it's not a long name. I think it's. I think it's a, I think it's a layup. Um, and that is the young slugger of the washington nationals, juan soto you okay, juan soto, j-a-u-n-s-o-t-o.
Speaker 2:Oh, you were so close you were so close.
Speaker 1:It's j-u-a-n so close so close.
Speaker 2:I wrote it down on my paper wrong I'll give you partial credit okay, I get a half for that.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna write that okay, all right, half point, half point, okay. Up one of my personal favorites from my beloved Dodgers, cody Bellinger.
Speaker 2:Cody Bellinger, c-o-d-y-b-e-l-l-e-n-g-e-r.
Speaker 1:Oh, man, you were one letter off. One letter. It's B-E-L-L-I-N-g-e-r. Man, I you deserve a half point for that. Okay, because I thought this is where it was going to start to go off the rails. Now, number four, I'm going to start making sure this goes off. This is a guy that we've talked about a lot here on the podcast. He's doing remarkable things. He's one of the most exciting players in the game right now, and he was Brian's American League MVP pick. I'm talking, of course, about the Japanese sensation, shohei Otani.
Speaker 2:Okay, I know I'm going gonna get this wrong.
Speaker 1:s-h-o-a-i-o-t-a-n-i shohei otani is spelled s-h-o-h-e-i-o-h-t-a-n-i that was close yeah, not really, not really, were you, not really?
Speaker 2:I had the last part.
Speaker 1:You got the show part.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And the Ani part.
Speaker 2:And you know, I play baseball on my Nintendo Switch every night, so now I'm trying to remember what this looks like on the screen.
Speaker 1:Well, I know for a fact this next name is not on your team on your baseball video game you like to play.
Speaker 1:And he's a young up-and-comer. He's a guy who's seen some play in time for the Cardinals. The next name I want you to spell is Lars Neutbar. What a great name. By the way, in a game with a history of great names, we now have a guy coming up through the ranks whose name is literally lars newt bar and that is a great and that sounds like a name from a movie, like a character.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah okay, so l-a-r-s n-e-w-t-A-R.
Speaker 1:Oh, you actually got closer than I thought you would. You got Lars Newt Barr is N-O-O-T-B-A-A-R. Oh, but you got closer than I thought you would. I think that's a commendable effort.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:All right, I got three more. So the next one is a guy who people have a lot of fun with his name. He's a pretty serviceable major leaguer. I think he's known mostly for his glove work not a great bat, but you know he's consistently in the big leagues, and I'm talking, of course, about Rough Ned Odor Wow, or Rough Odor as lots of people like to call him.
Speaker 2:Okay, r-f-n-e-d-o-d-o-o-r.
Speaker 1:Ah, you almost got the last name. Okay, roughnit Odor is spelled R-O-U-G-N-E-D-O-D-O-R. Wow, so you almost got the last name. I almost did, almost.
Speaker 2:But that ain't cutting it. I'm starting to be like Albert Pujols' ERA here.
Speaker 1:Close, but no biscuit. Okay, no kimchi Close, but no kimchi. So next up is a former major leaguer who, uh, I don't really have much to say about, other than I thought it would be fun to torture brian with trying to spell his name, and I'm talking, of course, about former major league pitcher jason isringhausen oh, my god, jason is J-A-S-O-N-I-S-R-E-I-E-N-H-O-U-S-I-E-N. You got Jason. All right, Isringhausen is spelled I-S-R-I-N-G-H-A-U-S-E-N Isringhausen. Yeah, just like I spelled it. Kind of Same language, same. You know.
Speaker 2:I'm going to wake up in the middle of the night and it's like spelling things randomly. Ashley's going to be like what's wrong? I'm like I got to study. I got to study, okie dokie, last one, I promise.
Speaker 1:okie dokie, last one. I promise, and I only I'm only doing this one, because you brought up this guy's grandfather when we were talking about doing this segment okay so the giants have a outfielder. He took some time to get up to the major leagues, but now that he is, he's actually done really well and he's the grandfather of a hall of famer. I'm talking of about Mike Yastrzemski, wow.
Speaker 2:M-I-K-E-Y-A-Z-S-T-R-E-M-S-K-I.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you have all the right letters, but you got them out of order. See, that's the tricky part, folks, about spelling the name. Yastrzemski is where in the world do you put the Z? Yeah, I was close with the Z, no, but you had the right letters. You just put them in the wrong order. So Yastrzemski is spelled Y-A-S-t-r-z-e-m-s-k-i. Wow, so you actually got. Yeah, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna tell you you did better than I thought you would.
Speaker 2:I got what? Uh, two points out of eight.
Speaker 1:I was two for eight yeah, yeah, because we gave you a half point on two so I was two for eight.
Speaker 2:So I I got Pete Rose and two half points. So yeah, man, that's tough. But yeah well, miss Montgomery, I have failed you again, just like you failed me in junior high or my junior year in high school. No, I love you, miss Montgomery, I really do. But man, I can't spell worth anything. Oh my gosh. I couldn't even spell worth anything if.
Speaker 1:I had to spell worth anything. Oh my Lord, that was so much fun. Thank you for agreeing to do that. That was a blast. I'll try to refrain from using that segment again. I'll at least give you a break.
Speaker 2:Yeah, maybe once a year will. Once a year, the annual spelling bee.
Speaker 1:If you give me a year, I'm going to research the worst names known to man in the history of the major leagues. Like it's going to get worse if you give me too much time to think about it.
Speaker 2:The thing with this is that, other than a couple of them, they weren't that hard. I'm just not good at it. Yeah, I'm just not good at it at all.
Speaker 1:Well, that's okay, that's okay. I love you anyway.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, I love you too, but I mean, and to be a published author of two books, thank goodness that they have people that will go in and edit these things. And and because I mean, can you imagine how bad my manuscripts look? I can't, oh, it's, it's horrible, it's terrible. But you know, like I said, thank goodness there are people that come in and and make me look like a million bucks, because I sure can.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and I've read one of your books and it was fantastic.
Speaker 2:So well, thank you the other one's great too. No one's read it, but.
Speaker 1:I just haven't got around to it that's the congregation available on amazoncom.
Speaker 2:no one's read it, but it's a good fiction novel yeah, I've read your autobiography that was stellar it was.
Speaker 1:It was very good. Alright, it went plywood, yeah, just like my music album, also available wherever you uh stream and buy your music. So let's move on to our last segment of the day today, our cleanup hitter, as we like to say, the bucks. Here I've been hearing a lot from different media personalities and sources about how, when Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins is healthy, he might be or is is what's been said as well the best player in the majors. And the first time I heard somebody say that I was like I don't know, is he? Have I just not been paying close enough attention to Byron Buxton? So I wanted to dive in and get some numbers crunched and everything, look at some things and try to figure out where I stood on the idea that, when healthy, byron Buxton is the best player, or in contention to be the best player in major league baseball.
Speaker 1:So, um, some things I found interesting and then, brian, I'll get your take, because I know you've watched some twins games recently to kind of brush up on your on Byron Buxton um, you know, the only season that Buxton has really been, um, that really played a full 162 game season.
Speaker 1:He played 140 games in 2017 and that was kind of early in his career. He hit 253, 16 homers, 51is a 728 OPS and a 4.9 WAR. Now, if you're listening and you don't quite know what WAR is, it stands for Wins Above Replacement. That is a cumulative stat Takes in all aspects of the game and the idea is if a team replaced a league average player with you, what difference would it make for the team? So in 2017, if you had replaced a league average player with Byron Buxton, your team would have won five more games. And that's substantial because we get to the end of the year and a lot of these division races, wild card races, they're decided by a game or two. A lot of these division races, wild card races, they're decided by a game or two.
Speaker 1:Right and a four-war season is viewed as like really stinking good. So you know there's something to all this. Now, the issue I think with Buxton has always been staying on the field, staying healthy, staying on the field, staying healthy. So I looked at since 2019, and since 19,. He has an 11 war, which is 29th amongst Major League players, and he's top 10 in OPS, which is on base plus slugging percentage. He has a 9-10 OPS, well above average and he's 10th in the majors since 2019. So you know, I looked at his on-base percentage and it was good, but didn't have him up towards the top. I looked at some other statistical categories and it was hard to find other things that he was towards the top of that list and a lot of that has to do, again, brian, with the fact that he's had trouble staying healthy and staying in games and staying on the field.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, that's the name of the game, that's the theme. You have to stay healthy, you have to be out there to play. It doesn't matter if you're the greatest player in the sport or any sport. If you're not on the field and you're not in the game, if you're not playing, it doesn't matter how good you are if you're sitting on the bench. And I watched this kid and, yes, he was good, he was very good. But was he stellar? Was he outstanding? I don't know, I just didn't see it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was the striking thing that you told me the first time you watched the twins you, you, he didn't really pass the eyeball test for you?
Speaker 2:um, not at all. I mean, he came out, he, he did have a good eye on some counts and then he, he hit a home run in the game that I that I first watched, uh, in his first at bat, which was last week, but it wasn't anything where, if I wasn't looking for him, I would go, hey, wow, look at this kid. This kid really stands out to me. He stood out because I had came there to watch him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I mean he's a difference maker and I don't want this to come off like we're shaming a guy for having injury troubles. You know there's only so much you can do, um, to prevent that or to deal with that, you know. So we're not saying that he's a horrible guy, uh, or a lesser man, because he's, he's. He's had some injury issues. I'm just trying to wrap my head around the idea that he could be considered the best in the game when healthy, when the sample size of that is really small. He's spent a lot. I mean, even when I had told you I wanted to talk about this on the show and do a segment on Byron Buxton, he had just gotten back in the lineup from missing some time this year and his numbers this year are good. I mean, he's at 1.4 war already this season. His OPS is over 1,000, which is really good, considering the league average this year is under 700. So he's doing a lot of good things. But I think and this is maybe something, brian, that I think you'll agree with, because it lines up more with your thinking on matters like this To me, in order to be considered one of the best players in the game, you've got to play most of the time, when we talked a couple weeks ago about current players that have a shot at 3,000 hits.
Speaker 1:Of the players we talked about, the one guy, mookie Betts, that we thought had the best chance is the guy who played the most games in a year. His average games per season was higher than everybody else on the list and we went. Well, that's it. That's how you get to 3,000 hits. That's how you get that marker that just automatically puts you in the Hall of Fame category is by staying on the field and playing at a high level a lot for a long time.
Speaker 1:So this one's hard man, because I believe in war, I believe in that statistic. I think it's a good way to measure an overall player. I think it's a good way to look at it. And he has good war numbers, even though that's a cumulative stat. So the more you play, in theory, if you're playing at a high level, the better your war number is going to be. So, yeah, when he plays, he's at, he's at a high level, but it's hard for me to say he's one of the best in the game until we see another full season or a couple full seasons, um, where he's playing 120, 130, 140 games, games and staying at that level all the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean he is going to have to play most of the season, exactly like you said, for him to be at that level. And if he's not at that level, then how can he be one of the greats or the greatest in the game? I should say, I mean he's a great player now, but I'm saying one of the greatest in the big overall scheme of things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So I'm looking here to in 2020, which everybody knows was a shortened season, you know, 60-game season. He played 39, so, you know, not 162 games, not 162 games like a normal season, but did play a vast majority of the games that year. He let me see here, 13 home runs, 27 RBIs. That 13 home runs, that's big. It's really when his power numbers started to kind of really really take off. You know, stole a couple bases, batted .254. Ops was over .800. You know, again, good numbers. I don't know, man, I'm kind of on the fence with him, you know. You know, again, I like a lot of the numbers. You know, uh, the value numbers, the war and things like that. Um, but it's just hard to give him that top distinction and I don't know, you know it's hard. I'm trying to figure out where it's coming from. You know, I'm trying to.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to figure out what people are seeing, that I'm not seeing to put him in that upper echelon well, I think they're seeing things that happened, like last week that I was talking about, that he he gets deeper into account and then he hits a home run and that helps the club out, which is the name of the game. But I don't think they're looking at the overall picture, the the way we are, because the stats just aren't there because of the the him being injured and not playing yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So you know I'm looking at his 162 game average. So this is basically in in 162 games what his average statistics are. And again, that war number is really high. It's a 5.5. I mean, that is remarkable, that's really top-tier player numbers from the war standpoint. Yeah, man, I don't know, I don't exactly get it. Again, he's a difference maker. He's definitely a guy that you know the straw that stirs the drink, so to speak, for the Twins, and if he plays a good chunk of the season he's going to be in the MVP conversation in the AL. But yeah, man, I was just so, I was so taken aback when I heard somebody say that and then I kept hearing it from two, three different other places. You know, oh yeah, well, when Byron Buxton's healthy, he's the best player in the game. Well, to be the best player in the game, you got to be better than Mike Trout, you got to be better than Shohei Otani, you got to be better than Manny Machado, bryce Harper, mookie Betts. I mean there's so many guys. You know Aaron Judge right now who's just putting up monster numbers for the Yankees in the AL.
Speaker 1:I mean for me personal opinion, and that's all this is. This is just two guys talking baseball, giving our opinions on things. He could crack my top ten. Maybe, maybe you know, maybe things, um, he, he could crack my top 10, maybe maybe you know.
Speaker 1:But but putting him at the top of that list, I just he's not in the top five. I don't see it. No, no, he's definitely. You know, he's definitely not in the top five. You know, even quote unquote, when healthy, he he's not in the top five. There. I mean I can think of five guys off the top of my head that I would put above him. And again, I think that's because we've not seen enough of him. You know, um, I hope he proves us wrong. I really do. I really hope he, he gets and stays healthy, um, and you know, continues to to have gold glove defense, you know, incorporate the power more as he has the last few years. And I hope he proves me wrong. I mean, I hope he turns out to really be an upper echelon guy. But until we see him on the field for again, you know, 130, 140 a year, it's hard for me to to give him that distinction me too.
Speaker 2:I totally agree. I mean time will tell, we'll see, we'll find out. That's what's so great about this game is is anybody can have an opinion and there's a lot of games out there to watch but we will find out in the end if you are the greatest or if you're not, if your ERA is 36, if you have a curse. If there's not, we will find out, because the game is all telling.
Speaker 1:Right, and one of the great things about baseball is there's no time clock.
Speaker 2:Well but, there is a time clock. We've went over that Making them pitchers, just keep going.
Speaker 1:Well, don't get off on a tangent. The point I'm trying to make is you have to get out yes you have to get out.
Speaker 1:You can be up a hundred to nothing and you still got to get three outs in any till the end of the game. Yep, so that's part of what you're saying. That's why this game, you know, we'll, we, we will find out how good anybody is at any point, because you have to play the game. You can't kneel on the ball, you can't run out the clock. You've got to get outs and you've got to get hits and you've got to pitch the ball. So I'm also interested to see how long Carlos Correa hangs around in Minnesota.
Speaker 1:A lot of people, myself included, were really surprised by that signing this offseason. You felt like he was going to go to one of the usual suspects, maybe one of the bigger market teams. But Correa ends up in Minnesota and now you've got Buxton and Correa in the same lineup. I think that could really help Buxton. But is it just for this season? We don't know. I mean, the way that deal is structured, it could be this year and that's it for Correa in Minnesota. A lot of people think he's just leveraging to get next year the deal he wants that he wasn't able to get with the market the way it was this season. So I don't know. Like I said, I hope he proves us both wrong. I hope we see really remarkable things from him outside of what he's already doing. Yeah, I guess what I'm trying to say is I hope he continues to play at a high level, but is able to do it more and stay healthy and stay in the lineup, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I mean, time will tell, we will find out 100%.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I think we're already starting to repeat ourselves on Byron Buxton a little bit, so I don't know if there's anything else to say. Brian, you got anything else you want to cover this week? No, I think we're good. You don't want to go on a soliloquy about the pitch clock.
Speaker 2:Well, the pitch clock is asinine and we don't need it, and that is the only clock they have in baseball and it's pointless.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm glad you got that off your chest buddy.
Speaker 1:I feel so much better to say that again. You people don't understand. You had to hear that, yes, but now I don't have to hear it after we're off the air. But with that, I think we're going to wrap it up for this week. Thanks, as always, for listening and watching If you're on YouTube. If you are on YouTube, please make sure you like the video, subscribe to the channel so you'll know as soon as we post the new video each and every week. Otherwise, keep rocking and rolling with wherever you find your podcasts. We're going to continue to be there. 2gtbcom there's links to all of our social medias there. 2gtbstorecom for those great products we talked about earlier. And until next week, folks, happy baseball. We'll see you at the field.