Forecasting Adley

Subscriber-only episode

Ever wondered how walk-up music became such a cornerstone of the baseball experience? We'll take you on a captivating journey from the first organ installation at Wrigley Field in 1941 to Nancy Faust’s game-changing tunes for the White Sox in the 1970s. Along the way, we highlight unforgettable walk-up songs, like Trevor Hoffman’s "Hell's Bells," and even delve into the cultural impact of the movie "Major League" on recorded stadium music. Whether you’re a die-hard fan or a casual observer, you'll gain a newfound appreciation for the melodies that make our favorite pastime even more exhilarating.

In our heartfelt tribute to Fergie Jenkins, we celebrate his recent statue unveiling at Wrigley Field and explore his enormous influence on modern pitchers. From his illustrious career achievements to his pivotal role in Canadian baseball, we discuss why Jenkins remains a towering figure in the sport. Plus, we unravel the intriguing mystery of the missing Jenkins Cup, offering our theories and updates on podcast merchandise inspired by this fascinating tale. Tune in for an episode that blends history, mystery, and genuine admiration for a baseball legend.

Switching gears, we spotlight the much-anticipated MLB debut of Adley Rutschman and the buzz surrounding his first game for the Baltimore Orioles. Learn about his stellar college career at Oregon State and hear from experts like Darren Vaught on why Adley’s athleticism and composure make him a prospect to watch. Meanwhile, in our "Who You Repping" segment, Brian and I share personal stories behind our favorite baseball memorabilia, from Cleveland Indians jerseys to Pulaski River Turtles caps. It's an episode packed with nostalgia, exciting debuts, and a deep love for the game.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:20

Hello everybody, welcome inside Three Crows Studios, dandridge, tennessee. Once again we are happy to bring you two guys talking baseball. My name is Dallas Danger. I'm joined by my good friend and colleague, brian Logan. Brian, how are you doing this week? I am doing great.

Speaker 2: 0:36

It's been a great week of baseball. I know I say that every week I sound like Tony Schiavone, but that's okay, because when I say it I mean it. It has been a great, exciting week.

Speaker 1: 0:47

Yeah, it sure has. We got some cool stuff to talk about today and last week, you know, we talked, you know, two weeks ago we had the opposite movies the other hadn't seen. So after we recorded that night we had a nice little movie night and, you know, rectified that situation. So we each got to see the movies we hadn't seen. And so last week we kind of kept up the tradition a little bit and we ended up watching a pretty good baseball flick that I had never seen and never really heard much about. That I think now that I've seen it, I think is underappreciated and not talked about enough.

Speaker 2: 1:29

Yeah, I mean it was a great film with a lot of star power in it, did good at the box office in its time, but it's kind of a sleeper now. People don't know about it. It's kind of a hidden gem.

Speaker 1: 1:41

Yeah, and we were talking about the classic bingo longs, traveling all-stars and motor kings billy d williams, james errol, jones, richard pryor is obviously very funny in this flick and it's it's very cool based based on a lot of true events and you know things that were happening in reality in the negro Leagues back in the day. Just a really enjoyable watch, whether you're a baseball fan or not, but we assume that you are, since you're listening to this podcast or watching with us on YouTube. We always appreciate our video stream audience as well. But we're going to get right into it with a segment we do every week, called who you repping. What we do every week with who you repping we bring our a game with our caps, our jerseys, our shirts, whatever we're wearing, and we're going to tell you exactly what we've got on, where it came from, what it means to us. So, brian, who you repping this week?

Speaker 2: 2:43

I am repping the cleveland indians jersey from the movie major league, ricky von give them the heater, ricky the wild thing. The wild thing, and as well as my cap this week, is the indianapolis indians, who is triple a for the pirates organization and one of the best fields I've been to, right next door literally to my favorite JW Marriott.

Speaker 1: 3:07

I know we were actually. We had an opportunity. We thought to stay at that Marriott. It was in the winter, so no baseball was going on. But winter got a hold of us and changed our plans. I was really bummed. I didn't at least get to see the ballpark with my own eyes and see that, marriott, because you talk about it all the time how, how much you love it oh, I love that place.

Speaker 2: 3:28

It's, it's awesome. It's my favorite hotel. Uh, I don't know, though my the hotel for wrestlecade's a pretty good one too. I'd say it's a toss-up between the two, and it would be whether my two worlds, whether it's wrestling or whether it's baseball.

Speaker 1: 3:43

We are hotel connoisseurs. We appreciate a good hotel, that's for sure. But that's another story for another day and we're actually going to be talking about Major League and Wild Thing a little bit later. But I'm repping this week. I've got my t-shirt on.

Speaker 1: 4:08

If you hear any noise, it's just me and the boys bopping 1976 dave parker from that classic uh pittsburgh pirates group. You know, early in the season things aren't really going their way. The offense, which is kind of what they were known for, is not really clicking. And um parker has been quoted as saying that uh, they were really into an album and a song called mothership connection by parliament at the time. And uh, he took some of those lyrics, twisted them, added them to him, threw it on t-shirt because he said that it was his belief that if he walked into the clubhouse even though guys were struggling, they weren't really getting the hits they needed and wanted. If he walked into the clubhouse with all that swagger, wearing a shirt that just said these words, that it would kick everything into gear. And you know Dave Parker, the Cobra, I mean, he's a one-of-a-kind dude Used to swing the sledgehammer in the on-deck circle, I think famously. Most people know he had some kind of facial injury and he wore the hockey goalie mask playing baseball. Just a really interesting guy. This is a shirt that uh kind of tells that story a little bit. Shout out, uh again, I think for me the second time to super 70 sports, for, uh, that's where this t-shirt came from.

Speaker 1: 5:37

My cap this week is the pulaski river turtles of the summer collegiate appalachian league, which I I'll rep a lot and I'll talk about a lot because it's my league. I grew up right in the thick of it and when I was a kid, pulaski was actually the closest minor league team to where I grew up, probably, I'd say, 30 minutes or so from my hometown. And I remember going to Calfee Park there in Pulaski as a kid and it was older, smaller, outdated, little rundown. Flash forward to 2016,. I go back to Calfee and at the time Pulaski was a Yankees affiliate there in the Appy League and the Yankees and the new ownership there in Pulaski had done a lot of work to Calfee Park and I thought, man, they've really gotten this place in tip-top shape. And I went back last summer for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team. Normally during the summer they'll take an international trip with one team. Well, last year, because of COVID, they couldn't travel internationally, so they called in enough players to have two teams and they just toured the Appalachian League, which was really cool, and we went to the Collegiate National Inter-Squad there in Pulaski last summer.

Speaker 1: 7:04

And Calfee Park, even compared to 2016, looks totally different. They have. That place has gotten such a facelift. It is honestly now one of my favorite places to see a game. Just a beautiful facility and they're still working on it. I mean, they are still improving it.

Speaker 1: 7:22

It and the staff is always super friendly and helpful. You know good, good food. It's always I mean, even back in the day it was one of my favorite um ballparks for food. You know just good options and, uh, just delicious stuff and uh, the beer selection's good. I can always find a good beer there now too. So if you're in southwestern Virginia, or at least in shouting distance, I highly recommend you make a trip to Calfee Park in Pulaski, virginia, to see the River Turtles. It's just so awesome to see the Appalachian League, the teams with their own identities. It was never a thing, they were always named for their parent club, but very cool to see that now. It gives the teams and the organizations and the fans so much more of an identity when they have their own name and mascot and colors and all that that they kind of pick out and design. And speaking of the Appy League, brian, that they kind of pick out and design. And speaking of the Appy League, brian, we are getting really close to our fun little trip to the ballpark in Princeton.

Speaker 2: 8:32

West Virginia Absolutely Cannot wait until we're there to see the Whistlepigs. What's the date on that again?

Speaker 1: 8:37

Saturday June, the 4th, we will be in Princeton for the Whistlepigs game. We'll be recording our podcast from inside the ballpark there and we're going to just have a good time. And if you're anywhere around or you want to travel in and you want to check out a game with us, that's your first opportunity. Man, saturday, june the 4th, that's where we'll be and we hope that we see you out there because we're we're gonna be, we're gonna be having an uproariously good time. We're gonna record before the game so we can have some fun and, uh, you know we've we've spent a lot of time in princeton, but I don't know that we've ever had as much fun as we're gonna have june the fourth no, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 9:19

I can't wait to be at the ballpark. Like I said last week, I've never been to this park. I've been to princeton many times, wrestled there hundreds of times, but I've never seen a ball game there and I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to meeting the staff there and I'm looking forward to meeting other guys and girls who are out there watching the game with us. So if you're listening and you've heard it, just come on up and say hello to us. Yeah 100.

Speaker 1: 9:42

We 100% we'll be there. I'm sure we'll be sporting some 2GTB logo stuff from 2GTBstorecom, just so we stand out and you can find us real easy. But that's coming up June the 4th. But today on the podcast, let's take a look at our lineup. This is our topics for this week. We're going to lead things off with Walk Up. This Way, we're going to be talking all about the history of walk-up music and, really, honestly, music in ballparks in general. We're going to have some fun talking about walk-up music, what we like, what we don't like, things like that. Then we're going to go to Fergalicious. Fergie Jenkins is going to be a topic for one segment today Legendary pitcher. We'll get all into his accolades and some interesting things in the life of Fergie Jenkins that we found this week in researching the Hall of Fame Canadian pitcher. Then we've got a couple of quick hits. Normally we have about five. Couple of quick hits not, you know, normally we have about five on the quick hits. We've only got two things really to touch on there, but they're good. You're going to want to stick around for that for sure. And then the really the, the title, the name of this episode, I think, is going to be the name of our cleanup hitter this week, forecasting Adley, of course. Number one prospect Adley Rushman makes his made his major league debut for the Baltimore Orioles just days ago and we're gonna take a look at where he kind of, where he comes from, what he's accomplished so far and what makes him so highly touted and the kind of career we think he's going to have. So that's what we've got lined up today, so let's get right into it.

Speaker 1: 11:29

Walk-up music. You know it's funny, Walk-up music now is such a I mean, it's just ingrained into the fabric of the game. It's such an important part of the experience of being at the ballpark and you know seeing the batter come to the plate or you know the closer come out of the bullpen in a tight game, in a safe situation, and their music hits and everybody knows what their music is. And you know there's the chants and the singalongs and things like that. You know I mean one of my favorite things and obviously this guy gives me a lot of grief because I'm a Dodger fan but the Rockies' Charlie Blackman's walk-up is your Love by the Outfield and the song always cuts in the chorus right before the word tonight. So the music cuts and the whole place just sings the word tonight. So the music cuts and the whole place just sings the word tonight and it's just one of those cool things that even when you watch it on TV it just seems so cool.

Speaker 1: 12:33

But where exactly did walk-up music come from? What are the origins of it? That's kind of what I wanted to get into this week, and MLBcom has a great article covering that's where most of this information came from. So you can really trace music at the ballpark back to. I think, by most accounts, the earliest documented instance of music at the ballpark is the Boston fans that called themselves the Royal Rooters during the 1903 World Series, which was the first World Series between the Red Sox and the Pirates. You know they sing songs like Tessie, which is such a part of the culture of the Boston Red Sox.

Speaker 1: 13:22

Now, that song and just music in general. And that's why, because you can trace it back. You know, well over 100 years at this point. It wasn't until 1941 that an organ was installed at a ballpark and that ballpark was Wrigley Field, which you know for the time. You know 1941, that makes sense, right? Wrigley Field was kind of state-of-the-art or at least as advanced as ballparks were at the time. But that's going to come back around and maybe change a little bit over time.

Speaker 2: 13:59

Yeah, they fell a little bit behind, but they did that on purpose. They thought they made the field more unique, that way nostalgic, the friendly confines, but at one time they were the forerunners of technology in baseball.

Speaker 1: 14:17

Yeah, again, they were as state-of-the-art as it got at Wrigley Field. As state-of-the-art as it got at Wrigley Field. But over time they chose maybe tradition and a classic presentation over staying ahead of the curve, you know, with renovations and technological advances and things like that. So we really start to see the I guess the earliest examples of walk-up music after Nancy Faust was hired by the White Sox to be their organist in 1970. And Nancy got the position because she played an event that some baseball front office people I guess is the best way to describe it, uh were attending and they were so impressed by her skills that when she applied for the position, they, they, they didn't interview her, they didn't ask any questions. They basically said well, we heard you already and we'd love to hire you. Well, nancy was not a big baseball fan. So she decided to buy a radio to keep with her at the organ so she could listen to the radio broadcast of the game while the game was going on and she was playing the organ. So at the time the voice of the White Sox on the radio was one Harry Carey, mostly remembered as the Cubs broadcaster, but at this time was with the White Sox across town. So Nancy starts to get the idea I'm going to play songs based off of Harry Carey's calls, things he's saying over the air. Well, harry, as you might imagine if you know anything about the man, starts to respond on the air and say, oh, listen to the organist she's playing, carry Me Back to Old Virginia. And it became this sort of back and forth that we, you know, we, honestly, we see it, we see it now in almost every ballpark. You know the broadcast team will say something and then, next thing, you know, they notice the organist playing a song that ties into what they said. I know Dieter, the organist at Dodger Stadium is on top of this all the time. I mean, it happens again and it happens all over now. But this was something that started with Nancy Faust and Harry Carey in the 70s, started with Nancy Faust and Harry Carey in the 70s.

Speaker 1: 17:11

So Nancy starts to get. You know, she's really in a groove at this point. She's really feeling more in touch with the game and her role in it. So she starts to get the ideas, not as an all-encompassing idea at once, as an all-encompassing idea at once. But a player has a nickname or something happens of note with a player or to a player and Harry Carey will make a statement about it, and so then that player gets a song based off of that nickname or that moment or what have you. And the next thing you know, nancy Faust invents the walk-up song, but she's playing it on the organ as they come up to the bat.

Speaker 1: 17:52

So we're still not quite to where we are today, but as things do, the technology advances. Ballparks start to install PA systems and that just totally changes the game, because in addition to having an organ player to play the traditional stuff or the things that are more conducive to an organ, you can now play anything over the PA. In my reading I found that originally most ballparks, most teams were were playing organ music that was recorded ahead of time over the PA. So it was even a bit of a slow burn when you know. It wasn't like here's PA systems and now all of a sudden we're playing popular music.

Speaker 1: 18:42

Um, but in the early nineties, teamss teams started to take advantage of this. One of the early examples I saw was the Seattle Mariners. Jay Buhner was a big star for them at the time and he, of course, was nicknamed Bone, so they started playing bad to the bone when he came up to the plate. Pretty cool little tie-in. And then by the late 90s players were picking out their own walk-up music and that's when you started to see the closers coming out. Trevor Hoffman, hall of Famer, from the Padres great closer, comes out to Hell's Bells.

Speaker 1: 19:23

There's been so many examples of that. You know, there's the one guy I can't remember who he is or who he plays for, but I know there's one closer in the majors that that comes out to the undertaker's theme song and they dim the lights and it's just dramatic. You know, it's a very sports entertainment thing, you know. So I mentioned earlier when we were doing who you Ripping, that we were going to come back to Major League and Wild Thing.

Speaker 1: 19:50

Well, there were some quotes from people that worked in baseball at the time giving some credit for the rise and spread of walk-up music to the scene in Major League where Rick Vaughn comes out of the bullpen and Wild Thing is playing and the whole crowd's going crazy. I mean it's a great scene. I mean they do it in both the original and the sequel. You know, and yeah, there's actually. You know, nobody would give it full credit. But if you line up, if you look at the timeline, major League came out in 1989, and it wasn't until at least a year or two after that that you started to see the recorded music being played to intro players. So they might not want to give it the full credit, but it deserves quite a bit of it, I think.

Speaker 2: 20:49

Yeah, I mean, the movie definitely had an influence on stadiums, didn't it? I mean, it was such a popular movie, everybody knew it, it became part of the lexicon of America, so it would be natural that life would imitate art and it would become a thing at the actual ballpark.

Speaker 1: 21:05

Yeah, for sure, and I think it showed teams that just like the possibility of like oh, I know this is a movie and it's scripted, but I bet if we played Bad to the Bone for Jay Buhner, we'd get a similar reaction, because people know the song and they want to dance and they want to sing and they want to get into it. And that's exactly what happened. So you know, again, kind of referencing back the first organ was installed at Wrigley Field. Well, the Cubs were the last team to implement walk-up music. Wrigley Field did not play recorded music specifically for players coming up to bat or coming out of the bullpen until 2015.

Speaker 1: 21:58

Wow, and it was something that the team said at the time the players had asked for every year, you know, because apparently they did like a survey of the players every year about how to improve and things they could do differently. And that was one of the main things that every year they heard was we want walk-up music, everybody else has walk-up music. We want walk-up music, want walk-up music. Well, in 2015, the the cubs installed the first video board, video scoreboard at wrigley and they just decided, hey, we're kind of ushering in this new wave of technology, a different vibe at wrigley. Let's just do it all at once and, you know, give the players what they've been asking for for so long and implement walk-up music. But 2015, I mean, they were way behind the times on that one well, that was the design also.

Speaker 2: 22:51

I mean, it took them forever to get lights. When lights, you know, everybody had them. They were the last ones, which is interesting because they were going to be the first ones but ended up giving the lights to the military so that they could fight in the war. But yeah, I mean the Cubs, they like to wait till the last minute to implement something. So, you know, it took them a while before they could, you know, cross over to it.

Speaker 1: 23:17

Yeah, well, I mean, to a degree I get it. You know they're such a franchise. You know, to a degree I get it. They're such a franchise, mired in tradition and history, and they want to keep a hold of that and celebrate that as much as they can. It used to be like, and even still now, they don't play a ton of night games at Wrigley. That's sort of. One of the cool things about Wrigley is that 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock, start time. Um, every day you know you're playing during the day, you know, and you know there's the what is it? The Cubs flu or whatever? Where, right, you know you, can you get the excuse for work because you were at the game or whatever.

Speaker 2: 23:59

I mean. That's amazing. The Cubs flu that comes up. That's actually a real thing. When I was a kid I would hear Harry Carey say, oh look, the Cubs flu is outbreaking. And I thought they meant people were getting sick. But what it was is you would see businessmen in suits and they would be sitting there. They had played hooky. They called in sick or left early so they could catch the game, and then they eventually called it the Cubs flu. And now it's a real thing. Now you can actually say I have the Cubs flu and I need time off to go to the game, and some companies will allow it.

Speaker 1: 24:34

Yeah, yeah, it's this crazy thing in Chicago where you get a lot of jobs, you get X amount of Cubs know built into your days off, so it's just part of the appeal. But I'm glad they got on board and everybody's got walk-up music now because it's such a cool part of the game. You know, and you know, with the great number of really talented Hispanic players you see the, you know the Spanish music and and they're representing, you know they're representing their culture and it's just really cool. And then you know the country boys have the country music and you know, then then every now and then you get the guy that's got the the rock song and you're like, oh okay, well, this guy's different. You know it's it's an extension of the player's personality and that's something that I think baseball is is starting to do better with, but definitely for a long time has needed to step up their game and you know, showing the players as individuals and showing their personalities and really marketing them just better than they have in the past.

Speaker 2: 25:47

Well, you know, I'm on the fence, you know, I mean, do we need it? I don't know if we need it. I mean I guess I'm just kind of indifferent to it. I mean it's cool, it does bring out the personalities. And I do like that because I like knowing who's what you know, who's what you know, who's who, who's a country boy and who's Latino and all that. That's kind of cool. But I like the organ man, I like the sound of the old ballpark, the crack of the bat and the organ playing and you know. So maybe I'm stuck in the old times, but I just the two go together yeah, and I and I think they're used well together.

Speaker 1: 26:31

You know you still get a little bit of both um, at least at the major league level, and you know I'm I don't know how many organists there are in minor league baseball, um, but but you know I've I've been to minor league games where they'll they'll play recordings of the organ music to kind of give you that feel a little bit. It's not quite the same, obviously, but you know I think they work hand in hand yeah yeah, I mean without a doubt.

Speaker 2: 26:59

I mean, but, like I said, I mean I can take it or leave it. It's a good thing, you know. I mean they're so short. I mean you know it's hard to be upset at it because you know we're talking a second or two right but then again it's like some of them it's.

Speaker 2: 27:15

They don't make sense. The song doesn't go with the guy either. They've randomly picked it, like in minor league. They just randomly pick, you know, and you know it. Just I don't know. I just don't know if it's that big of a deal yeah, well, I think it is.

Speaker 1: 27:35

I I think it's a. I think it's become such a part of the experience live and um. Again it's. It's showcasing personalities which even you said you know, is a good thing.

Speaker 1: 27:47

We we need, we need to be, you know, promoting these players, uh, and and and giving people reasons to latch on to them and support them, and and and grow the game. You know kids. You know kids hear a song that a guy walks up to. It's a song. They know a song they like. Or maybe it's the first time they've heard a song and they go oh, I like that song, what is that? And the cool thing now is you can pull out your phone and go hey, what's this song? And it'll listen and it'll tell you.

Speaker 2: 28:18

And then you've got a connection with that player. You know and it can, I can see that I can get on board with that. I guess that it makes you feel closer Because you know, ashley, her ringtone is Rizzo's walk-up music. Yeah, so it definitely. They identified with that through the song and it made her feel closer to him.

Speaker 1: 28:37

Yeah definitely, definitely, and it's just cool because it's a form of expression and baseball has muted that a lot in years past the expression on the field Right and again, we've brought so many different cultures into the major leagues in this country now, and it really is this kind of melting pot of the best players in the world. So you've got some guys from mexico, cuba, the dominican republic, guys from japan and korea, so there's all this, you know, and it's just a way for them to um, showcase who they are and and I know I've said it a couple times now, but but I think that's I, I think it's a good thing, I think it's worth doing, for sure.

Speaker 2: 29:26

Well, yeah, you touched on the individualism. Or individualism Is it a word? We have the technology, we'll make it a word, but you know it used to be so uniform and that's what, like in the 70s, every now and then, a Reggie Jackson would break out and he was cool because he was different, he was bucking the system. And then you go all the way to 2017, and Zobrist is wearing black shoes instead of white. That's kind of cool. It's like he's, you know, he's stepping out and showing a little bit more. And now, with the custom cleats that they have and the league is allowing them, as long as they're within the three color scheme, they can put anything they want on it the guys are really breaking out. So I like more personality and this is a tangent. But, speaking of personality and everything, how come we don't have better MLB action figures? That would show personality, that would show individual players? I don't want to really necessarily get into that, because I know when.

Speaker 2: 30:36

I go off the script. You go nuts. But I'm just saying that if the ultimate individual thing is action figures, we need more mlb action figures.

Speaker 1: 30:46

Yeah well, we've got some cool ones. We, if you're on, if you're on the video stream with us, we've, we've added a, a few, a few new friends this week. Uh, we've got, we're filling out the space a little bit, which is one of my number one goals with this podcast. So, um, you know, if you're just listening to us audio, we, we, we, we'd like to encourage you to also check out the video stream on YouTube to see what we're talking about. But so, brian, you've, you've kind of uh, expressed that you're, you're, you're ambivalent to walk up music. You kind of expressed that you're ambivalent to walk-up music. And so, do you have a favorite walk-up, like a player's walk-up that you would say is your favorite, or is it even something that you've thought about?

Speaker 2: 31:33

Well, it wasn't really something that I sit around thinking about, but I do know it wasn't one individual thing. The Cubs had a theme night of Game of Thrones and all the music that night was from the Game of Thrones soundtrack. I thought that was really cool to have Jon Snow's theme playing when someone came up to bat. So that would be. My favorite night is when they do theme nights, maybe like a Star Wars night or something like that, and the music fits.

Speaker 1: 32:04

Yeah, it matches with the theme and that's almost more of a minor league thing too. But yeah, no, I get that that's cool and again, that's just adding to the experience of the game and I think that's cool Because I don't know that's cool, you know, cause, cause you know, I don't know that it's a great number, but I'd say there's at least a a, you know, a sampling of people that hear about such a thing, that are into Game of Thrones, that maybe aren't really into baseball that much, you know, or somebody that has a friend, somebody that's into baseball, who has a friend who's not really into the game but likes Game of Thrones and says, hey, why don't you come to this baseball game with me? They're doing a Game of Thrones night and I think you might enjoy it, right. And then they go and they say, oh my gosh, this is so cool, I want to come to baseball games. Now, you know, it's another extension of you know, and it's growing the game, so that's very cool.

Speaker 1: 33:05

I love that Charlie Blackman that I talked about earlier, even though he's on a rival team, and he is really, really good. So a lot of times I'm kind of cursing him as the game's going on. But I love that. That's what walk-ups should be. It should be that connection with the crowd and everybody kind of with it. You know the music stops. You know what to do. You know, and I've even seen a couple of games where he kind of cracks a smile. You know like it kind of gets him. You know, even though every at bat at Coors Field, you know 81 games a year there, you know he hears it, but sometimes it's like man, that's really stinking cool, you know.

Speaker 1: 33:55

But I think, just off the top of my head, a favorite walk-up for me would be and he, he doesn't use it anymore and it kind of upset. Honestly, the whole dodger team upset me when, after, uh, they won the world series in 2020, they all started changing their walk-up songs. And I'm going, no, no, stick with what worked, don't go changing everything just because we won. Like, calm down. But will smith, who's one of the better catchers in the game, he's really, um, starting to really, you know, come into his own, uh, phenomenal hitter and and really has learned defense and calling the game.

Speaker 1: 34:40

But for a couple years there, he, his walk-up was the theme to fresh prince of bel-air. Will smith, will smith right, absolutely, it was great and it was just so fun and so it's a song everybody knows. It's a song everybody loves, you know, and, um, it's a cool little tie-in so so I always loved it when he would come up and you'd get to hear that few seconds of the, you know, of the Fresh Prince theme song, so that I think I'm going to go with that as my favorite. But there's so many, you know, that are just really cool and it's, it's such a neat thing. Um, well, brian, I think this is this is the real question of of the day, at least when, in terms of walk-up music, if you were a player right now, what would you pick as your walk-up song?

Speaker 2: 35:38

Wow, if I was a player, what would be? You know, I used to be the player, but that's a whole nother story. Many, many years ago I would have to say that my walk-up music would be Long Way to the Top to Rock and Roll. If you Want to Rock and Roll by ACDC, yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, I think that fits really really well and um, tells the story, gets in your head the right way, has that beat that motivates you and the crowd can sing along so it kind of checks all the boxes yeah, it definitely does.

Speaker 1: 36:13

That's one that gets the the the blood flowing a little bit.

Speaker 2: 36:17

Yeah, I like and I've heard it before there are guys out there that use it I don't remember who, but I know I've heard it.

Speaker 1: 36:26

If my answer to this question, if I ever heard the song I would pick as my walk-up, it would blow my mind because it's not really a well-known song. It's by a band called Funeral for a Friend and it's a song called called funeral for a friend and it's uh, it's a song called roses for the dead and it's got this great opening guitar riff that just every time I hear it it just I'm ready to just like run through a wall. And you know, back several years ago, when that song was sort of had sort of first come out, um, my brother, my younger brothers and I had one of the uh baseball video games and you could upload music, your own music, to it and use it. And so we put that song to the test, you know, in digital form, and would use it as a walk-up song.

Speaker 1: 37:25

And ever since then and that was probably like 2004, 2005, maybe a little after that, but early 2000s ever since then that's always been my answer to the question, because it's just that song for me, that that if I was walking up to get in the batter's box, clearing the mechanism, getting my head right, that's what I'd want, because it just would like hone me in and get me going and I'd be pumped up and ready and probably strike out cause I could never hit a baseball. But but I do it in style, I'd do it in style, I'd do it in style. So yeah, it's not a real well-known song, it's kind of a niche band, you know.

Speaker 1: 38:08

But, um, yeah, if I heard a player use that in real life, I would freak out, I'd be their biggest fan because, right, because it's never gonna happen right, because it goes back to your personal experience yeah, 100, yeah, so so yeah, that's kind of our little um walk down, you know, the the memory lane in terms of history of walk-up music and and what we like and what we would use if we got a say in it. But I think, you know, although you're saying you'd be fine without it, you know, I think we can agree, it's a positive thing and it's a good part of the game in modern times.

Speaker 2: 38:52

It can. I mean, again, I'm not opposed to it and I like it. And I mean, you know, if we could just get everything and I know this is going to be controversial if we could just get MLB cooking like WWE, with the merchandising and the character and the walk-up and then with the great play that baseball has, now we're cooking. I mean, I know they're mostly video game oriented because that's what the kids want, right. But man, if you could get all that cooking together, that would be incredible. But maybe that's just the wrestler in me going wow, I wish I had this for that stuff.

Speaker 1: 39:31

Yeah, yeah um, you know, and one of the cool things I've seen and I think I've actually mentioned this on on the podcast uh before but the apple TV broadcasts that are new this year that have gotten a lot of criticism. I actually have enjoyed them for the most part. They do have their faults, but national broadcasts are not as good as the regional network broadcasts with the guys you're used to and the format you're used to. It's just the way it's going to be for all time. But one of the cool things I like is in the bottom right corner. Sometimes when a guy's coming up and you can hear the walk-up song, it'll show the little music icon and tell you what the song is Right, and that's so cool.

Speaker 1: 40:14

And there's entire websites devoted to keeping track of what players' walk-ups are Platemusiccom. I think that could be wrong. I'm sorry if it's incorrect, but I have it saved in my phone because every now and then I wonder what Max Muncy's walk-up song is. I don't really remember ever hearing it. Or you know random player from random team, what's their walk up? So you know, you've got a good reference point there. Take this and just continue to evolve the way you know baseball is marketed and the players you know are marketed and all that. I think that's a definite thing for Major League Baseball to really work on.

Speaker 2: 41:20

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's awesome now and it'd be awesome then. You know we like to connect with our heroes, the gladiators of our chosen arenas, and you know the way pop culture is, the more we can consume, unfortunately, the better our connection is, and you know it'd be an awesome thing if it was like that. It's an awesome thing now, you know, and maybe who knows it was, the start was the walk up music. Well, start was the organ, then the walk up music and maybe, you know, later on, 20, 30 years from now, we'll be at that level yeah, yeah, I hope so.

Speaker 1: 42:01

I really do. But we're going to switch gears now to our two-hitter, our Jeff Kent, our Roberto Alomar, if you will, and we're going to talk for a little bit about the great Fergie Jenkins and Brian. This was an idea you had. This is a segment you were kind of fired up to do. Why exactly did you want to talk today about Fergie Jenkins?

Speaker 2: 42:30

Well, they debuted the statue on May 20th, last Friday, at Wrigley Field and they did the documentary special on Fergie and it was a great ceremony. It was very moving. In his speech he thanked other players I mean, he was so humble he didn't want to talk about himself and then he thanked the wind, because the wind was blowing and blowing his notes around and he thanked Wrigley's wind for helping him, which, if you know anything about Wrigley Field, the wind is part of the game there. She's alive, wrigley Field's alive. She can give us or take us away at any second with that wind. And they started showing some clips of him and then talking about his accomplishments during the game. And of course he was on the game and I thought, man, this guy's cool, we need to talk about him.

Speaker 1: 43:28

Yeah, and I obviously know who Fergie Jenkins is. I've heard him talked about but I've not really seen him pitch a lot because he retired before I was even born and so it's just an era that I wasn't as familiar with. But when you look this guy up, the first thing you notice is that he is heralded in Canada, where he was born and grew up. He's on the Canadian Walk of Fame. He's won their Sportsman of the Year I don't remember the name, official title but basically the Athlete of the Year for the country. He's won that multiple times. I mean, he is a. He's a real celebrity in Canada and there's good reason for that. I mean he was the first Canadian to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991. And until just a couple years ago, until 2020, when Larry Walker went in, he was the only Canadian in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Speaker 2: 44:38

So you know he is baseball royalty, not only here in the united states but but especially in canada yeah, I mean, uh, canadian, uh, and there's a great story on why they're canadian, you know, with his parents, um, and I, I have watched him when I was little, but I was little, so I know I've seen him. But I got to go back and re-look at some clips of him and he's just so amazing with his strikeouts. His 3,000 strikeout, which is on YouTube, is great with Gary Templeton, is great with Gary Templeton and the respect that the players showed him after that was moving, they stopped the game and everybody shook his hand and that was an incredible moment. But yeah, there's plenty of clips there to take a look at and he was just such a great athlete 12th all-time in strikeouts 3192.

Speaker 1: 45:52

He's 29th all-time in his strikeout to walk ratio, which is which is huge. You know we we talked last week a little bit about Nolan Ryan and you know Nolan's struck out. He struck out more people than anybody has, but he also walked a lot of people. You know it was just part of his game and Fergie Jenkins was one of those guys that really commanded and attacked the strike zone. He didn't really need to go out of the zone to accomplish what he was trying to do and that's remarkable.

Speaker 1: 46:19

You know all-time pitchers with 3,000 strikeouts or more and less than 1,000 walks Greg Maddox, curt Schilling, pedro Martinez and Fergie Jenkins Four all-time. I mean that's really good company and I think for me personally, the most striking thing when I saw that was Maddox. Schilling Martinez are all kind of from the same era. Right, they're all broke in late 80s, early 90s, played through the 90s, had their heyday in the 90s and maybe a little into the 2000s. So they were all kind of at their peak around the same time. Well, here's a guy doing what they were doing years before, a guy who retired before any of them broke in to the major leagues and you know, anytime you've got a guy who's the only, the only player from his era to do something like that. I mean, you were right. This is, this is a. This is a player we needed to spend some time talking about.

Speaker 2: 47:23

Yeah, I mean absolutely. And you were talking about Nolan Ryan. Fergie was effortless when he pitched. It was a smooth machine. Nolan Ryan, a grunt sweat. You know he's going at it, he's throwing 100 miles an hour and you can see it. But with Fergie he's smooth man. He's just there throwing those pitches one after another, not letting anything get to him, and it's just a great contrast between the two. Is that a word? We'll make that a word. We have the technology. We have the technology.

Speaker 1: 48:03

But yeah, it's just, he was amazing and that was one thing that stood out to me when I when I took a look at him was how smooth and calm he was yeah, that finesse pitching and and it's cool that you know I just mentioned that list that he and greg maddox are both on and it's cool that they wore the same number for the Cubs and that number was retired for both of them, because I get the same sort of vibe from the way they they each pitch. I mean they're very similar in that way of they're not grunting and throwing a hundred like Nolan Ryan. They're not, you know, blowing them past you, but they're so pinpoint and they're so meticulous in the way that they pitch that that's how they're getting you out. And yeah, he's definitely a nice smooth pitcher, especially compared to a guy like Nolan Ryan who's just got a cannon and is just going to try to blow it past you, who's just got a cannon and is just going to try to blow it past you.

Speaker 2: 49:02

I got a feeling that Fergie in life as a man is a cool customer man.

Speaker 1: 49:07

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 49:15

He just walks in the room, takes over the room. You know, just smooth. In general that's the vibe I got, seeing him with Taylor up in the stands and then just, you know, talking and doing the interview. He was very cool and he would plug his stuff. You know, usually they don't want you to plug your stuff. Right, oh, he got that in. Of course he did. I mean, he got that in flawlessly, like I don't even know if they even noticed it. Right, it was just smooth. So I I imagine he's just a cool customer yep, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 49:44

And uh, just going down some more of his accolades three times he was an all-star, he was the nl cy young winner in 1971. Uh, 284 career wins, which is the most uh still to this day by a black pitcher, so that's remarkable. And and apparently is a a-carrying member of the Black Aces, the Black 20-game winners, who all have this cool little you know brotherhood, you know where they celebrate each other, and he's apparently really proud of that and one of the you know, kind of one of the godfathers of the Black Aces, you know which makes sense because, again, to this day, the most wins by a black pitcher and you can say what you want about wins and how much a player, a pitcher's performance has to do with them or not, but you know it's, it's still impressive that he holds that distinction.

Speaker 2: 50:42

I think no, I think that's impressive too. I mean, yeah, I mean a win's a win, and the and the winning pitcher gets the credit, and that's just the way the game goes. And yeah, I mean that's, that's amazing that he's part of that.

Speaker 1: 50:55

Yeah, absolutely. So I dug up some pretty cool stuff about Fergie Jenkins. Twice, two years, 67 and 69, he actually played basketball for the Harlem Globetrotters. So clearly this guy is a top-level athlete. I mean, you know, and the Globetrotters, especially in the late 60s, I mean during that time that was a big deal. You know, they didn't just let any old guy play basketball for the Globetrotters. You know, and here's a baseball player, a pitcher from Canada, who's like, yeah, I'm going to spend my winter playing basketball for the Globetrotters. I mean that's so cool. I mean I can't imagine having been able to see that with your own eyes. You know, because the Globetrotters were a traveling circus act and still are, you know, it's something that you go to see as a family and it's a big deal. And you know, back in the day with like guys like Curly Neal and Metal Lark Lemon, and you know those famous Globetrotters, I mean they were on Scooby-Doo.

Speaker 2: 52:05

You don't get any more famous than that. I mean, they were on Scooby-Doo, like all the time.

Speaker 1: 52:10

Yeah, yeah, they had their own show with Scooby-Doo for a period of time. Yeah, it was like Scooby-Doo and the Globetrotters solving mysteries.

Speaker 2: 52:16

Yeah, I mean, when you're with Scooby and you're solving mysteries, you're on a whole nother level, brother.

Speaker 1: 52:22

Different stratosphere man?

Speaker 2: 52:24

Yes, different stratosphere, that's a whole different ball of wax. But I mean to be a Globetrotter. Can you imagine that today you got your contract and all this and you're going to go. Oh, by the way, in the winter I'm going to go over here and I'm going to do this basketball thing and you know, no, no, you're not. Well, it's okay because it's, you know, it's choreographed a little bit, it's not, you know, but we're really going to play the game while that's going on.

Speaker 1: 52:50

Right.

Speaker 2: 52:51

And yeah, I think the ball team with the club would go crazy.

Speaker 1: 52:55

Shut it down.

Speaker 2: 52:56

Oh, they would go nuts.

Speaker 1: 52:58

Wouldn't happen. I'm sure every major league contract has a clause that covers that.

Speaker 2: 53:02

Yeah, don't play for the Globetrotters, it's the Globetrotters, paragraph A, section 12.

Speaker 1: 53:10

Right, exactly so, brian, you alluded to this earlier. Fergie was the only child of Dolores Jackson and Ferguson Jenkins Sr. His father, ferguson Sr, was the son of immigrants from Barbados and his mother was actuallya descendant of American slaves who escaped through the Underground Railroad and ended up settling in southwestern Ontario, which is where Fergie was born and grew up. And it's just I found that so interesting that you know he's heralded as this great Canadian ballplayer I mean just a great Canadian period. Obviously he's on the Canadian Walk of Fame and the reason he is Canadian, if you connect all the dots, is because his mother's family was fleeing slavery in this country. I just found that to be really an interesting piece of his story. And his father was first-generation Canadian from Barbados. So you know very, very neat sort of the makeup of Fergie Jenkins and I think it helps tell the story of the guy we're talking about and why he is the way he is and why he was able to be so successful in his career.

Speaker 2: 54:37

Yeah, I mean his upbringing. Just I'm amazed it's one of those butterfly effect things that things ended up happening the way they did because all the pieces fell in line. So many different things could have happened. His parents could have been born in the United States and he would have had a different life and maybe not have cultivated his craft as much or, god forbid, something would have happened and maybe he wasn't born and then we would have missed out.

Speaker 2: 55:11

I mean, there's so many factors to get him to that moment, to being born and being raised the way he was and becoming the man that he is. I mean, that's an amazing story.

Speaker 1: 55:22

Yeah, yeah, he's got a great story and I was very excited to talk about it today because when you suggested it, I was like, eh, I don't know. When you suggested it, I was like, eh, I don't know. You know, obviously a great player, but what's really there as far as the story? And when I saw things like that, it was like, oh yeah, this is a guy that deserves a few minutes on our podcast just being celebrated and talked about and his story being shared with more people celebrated and talked about and his story being shared with more people. So I also found some interesting things from his life after he retired from Major League Baseball in 1983. He retired from the majors, but he wasn't done playing.

Speaker 1: 56:11

He actually pitched two seasons for the London majors of the Inter-County Major Baseball baseball league in Canada, and in 2003 he was appointed commissioner of a league that's now defunct. That was called the Canadian Baseball League, and this, I think, is the most interesting nugget of information I found regarding Fergie Jenkins. So the Canadian Baseball League's trophy for the team that won the championship each year was named after Fergie. It was the Jenkins Cup and it has been missing since the league folded. Now, brian, I ask you where is the Jenkins Cup if it's not in Fergie Jenkins' basement?

Speaker 2: 56:57

Well, it's in fergie's basement. I mean, of course he's got the cup. I mean, wouldn't you keep the cup? I mean it has to be there. We're gonna have to send our researchers out there. We're gonna have to get our own scooby-doo people out there and find out, if you know, where, where's where the cup?

Speaker 1: 57:17

I'm already working on it. The first batch of guys that I was prepared to hire for this quest couldn't get across the border to Canada, right, right.

Speaker 1: 57:29

Been there done that? Yeah, for sure. So you know, I'm looking into a new team to try and get to the bottom of this because I really honestly I don't know where else it could be if it's not somewhere in the possession or the home of Fergie Jenkins and nobody's ever confronted him about it, nobody's ever suspected him and he thinks it's totally cool that he has it. But this trophy has been apparently missing since the Canadian Baseball League folded. It's just. You know there are questions that need answers here. I want to know where in the world is the Jenkins Cup?

Speaker 2: 58:14

Well, yeah, we got to find out. I'm going to get Tracy on this and Tiffany, I'm going to get them both on this. I may have to send them third class to Canada, but we are going to get there and we're going to find out. We need to know. We need to know where this thing is. I mean, it's a piece of history. We have to find it.

Speaker 1: 58:34

Absolutely, and now it's a piece of 2GTB history and, who knows, we have been known to put things like this on a T-shirt, brian, we have.

Speaker 2: 58:45

And we now have the Beware of the Curse, beware of Curse of the National League Player of the Week. So that's available in our store. Be sure to go there and check it out, along with our other fine, fine items such as phone cases for every kind of phone. There's imaginable T-shirts, ball caps, plushie toys, pets, toys, pets, bandanas, women's clothing Anything you can imagine is right there in our store. And where is that store, dallas?

Speaker 1: 59:18

2gtb storecom, and I say it every week, but it really is true, we've got something for everybody, uh, and and you know, I I hear it said all the time, folks it doesn't cost you anything to take a look. So head on over to 2gtb storecom, see if there's anything that tickles your fancy. And and that's the best way, uh, currently to support us financially, which we, you know we, we appreciate your, your ears each and every week and your eyes if you're with us on youtube. But you know that that's the best way to uh throw us a bone, as I like to say, and, and that that nl player of the week curse T-shirt is really sharp. I'm excited to get one to wear myself because it's really cool looking. We know how to design a T-shirt around these parts.

Speaker 2: 1:00:05

Well, we suggested it last week and then we got our crack staff on it and you know, tiffany and Tracy, they were great, they were on the ball and they got this stuff up online for us and it was just it's. It's a cool shirt and honestly, it's so cool. I just want to wear one. Yeah, you know that's great, it's in the store, but I want one.

Speaker 1: 1:00:30

Yeah, yeah, you're. You're going to notice that trend a lot folks If. If we decide we want something dumb that we said to be on a t-shirt, we're probably going to make it a t-shirt, whether we think anybody else will buy it or not.

Speaker 2: 1:00:41

just, because we want to wear it ourselves. Yeah, absolutely, and they may be one off, so they may be million offs, but you know, either way they're still going to be cool and we bring that energy to everything over there.

Speaker 1: 1:00:52

I mean the pet wear you were so passionate about, because, you know, brian is a great dog lover and a dad to three really fantastic dogs and he got his wife, ashley, involved in the designing of the women's wear because we wanted to make sure it was something that women would actually like and it wasn't just our opinion of what women's wear should look like, you know, because who cares what we think in that department? I know I don't. So, yeah, something for everybody. 2gtbstorecom, give it a look and help us out. But right now, brian, I think we need to do some quick hits. You ready for some? We don't have much this week, but I'm going to rapid fire a couple things. All right, we got it. Let's do the quick hints. Okay, so I saw this week a video. It was tweeted out by the Frisco Rough Riders, who are the AA affiliate of the Texas Rangers.

Speaker 1: 1:01:49

A lot of attention on them right now. Jack Leiter, highly touted draft pick pitcher, son of the great Al Leiter, is in Frisco right now. So a lot of eyeballs on him. And they had this. They deemed it a hidden ball trick. Now I don't think it's a hidden ball trick, just because it's not like they were hiding the ball. The first baseman just never gives the ball back to the pitcher. Goes to first base, the guy gets a hit, gets on base. So the first baseman keeps the ball in his glove, walks over to the base. He's like, hey man, what's up? The runner takes his foot off the bag. First baseman tags him, the guy's out. I don't know that, I'd call it a hidden ball trick. But, brian, if you were that first base coach and this happened on your watch, how would you react?

Speaker 2: 1:02:41

Well, I would think of what would Pete do. And Pete would be, you know, saying screaming. You know, pay attention, look and see where the ball is. You know, don't get off the base. You know, wait until I tell you to get off the base. You know, what did the coach say? I mean, did he say it was okay to get off the base Because the player should have stayed on there, because that's the coach's job? So it is ridiculous. I mean, again, I don't know if it's a hidden ball, but he just kept a hold of it. We saw it the whole time. The only person that didn't see it was the runner.

Speaker 1: 1:03:14

Yeah, I mean, it was just such an interesting thing. And when I saw the video I said man Brian would flip out over this, because that lapse in judgment is just you know in a way it's unacceptable.

Speaker 2: 1:03:34

In a way it's completely unacceptable. What was he thinking about?

Speaker 1: 1:03:37

I mean, he just wasn't in the game, he just wasn't thinking straight and good on the Rough Riders, good on Frisco for putting it out there and making sure people know about it, because I mean that's the great thing about baseball. I mean you don't see anything like that in other sports, right, because of the nature of the way they're played and the rules and baseball. You know you don't see this often, but that's what makes it so cool when it does happen yeah, you know, when somebody's dumb enough to fall for it you know, and it wasn't.

Speaker 1: 1:04:07

It was around that same time when when this kind of went viral on baseball twitter that I was watching my Dodgers and Justin Turner on a ball on a throw to third sort of motions, as if the ball went past him and up the line. Well, jt Real Muto of the Phillies comes off third and starts running home and then quickly realizes oh, oh shit, he's got the ball, but by the time he slid back in, the tag was right there and he was out. I mean, it was similar, not same, but just that gamesmanship that I'm thinking in a way that you're not, that can get you a leg up in baseball.

Speaker 2: 1:04:53

Right, right, I mean there are wacky, wacky plays out there, let me. Let me blow your mind with this one real quick. So the last time carl yastrzemski faces fergie he strikes him out. But the inning before that was the second triple play of 1979. So the ball comes into the right fielder, right fielder catches it, zooms it to the first baseman who catches the third. The guy runner on third sleeping napping, and throws it over there, gets that, comes back the next inning. Uh, the last batter he faces carly ustremsky strikes him out for the fourth time and the last time he ever struck him out yeah, that's wacky.

Speaker 1: 1:05:34

Yeah, just you gotta love it, man, this game is. It's so, it's so fantastic, it is in every way, it's it's it's just beautiful. So something that is not quite as beautiful that we've been keeping track of. We've been keeping a close eye on this. The curse, the curse of the national league player of the and this week's Player of the Week.

Speaker 1: 1:05:58

I was worried, brian, I know you were. I was worried because I had just watched a series between the Phillies and the Dodgers where Bryce Harper was. You couldn't get him out. Every time he came to the plate it was damage. And this is with an injured elbow Right, and he's still slugging the ball. You know, just was really locked in. So he's named player of the week. I get a little worried. But the day before he got that distinction, on Sunday, he gets an injection in his injured elbow. So he's going to be off for a day or two. You know he's got to have time to recover from getting his elbow injected. Well, he ends up missing five games A little bit more complicated of a process than they were expecting and he comes back the three games after the five that he missed for the injection in his elbow. He hit 153. Wow, the curse, ladies and gentlemen, is alive and well. It even got Bryce Harper and I couldn't believe that. I mean, we've been so on top of this for weeks.

Speaker 2: 1:07:15

Yeah, I don't know if anybody else has this story.

Speaker 1: 1:07:16

Nobody else is following this. That's why it's on a, a t-shirt. We've got to get the word out there. People need to know. People need to know that this is going on, that this is a real thing. I mean, it's the new madden cover curse. Yes, because it's affecting everybody the best in the game yeah, every week, every single week so far. So our next victim of the nl player of the week curse potentially is miami allegedly. Allegedly is miami marlins pitcher sandy alcontra, who's been fantastic. Uh, a big part of a pitching staff there in Miami that's doing remarkable things, really good staff. So this will be the first time we've had a pitcher, though it's been hitters so far.

Speaker 2: 1:08:08

That's going to be a little tougher, because how do we judge a bad night? I mean, is it going to be less stats than he normally puts up, or is it going to be he completely loses it and gives up 125 runs.

Speaker 1: 1:08:22

Well, right, so we might only get to see Alcantara once over the next week. So I've got to keep a closer eye. I can't just look at the box score for every night in a stat line. I've got to really hone in on when's this guy pitching?

Speaker 2: 1:08:39

Yeah, I've got to watch the game. Yeah, I've got to find the game and I've got to watch it and see. I've got to take an eye and look at it.

Speaker 1: 1:08:45

Yeah, for sure. So it's going to be a little different this week, but, man, after Harper, I'm convinced this thing's going forever it's had too much. It's too much. It's building momentum. It really is. It's like a snowball and I was. Honestly, I was worried this week that Mookie Betts was going to be the player of the week because he is just on red hot fire, yeah, and I was like, no, I can't have this curse on my team. I can't have it. I already saw it once with Cody Bellinger.

Speaker 2: 1:09:14

Dude didn't get a hit for a fucking week after he was named the player of the week, I mean I can't have any more of this in Dodger land man.

Speaker 1: 1:09:21

But fortunately they got it wrong and gave Al Contra, the player of the week, right Not to take anything away from what he's doing. He's a fantastic pitcher. But, folks, the curse is intact. The T-shirt is for sale 2gtbstorecom.

Speaker 1: 1:09:36

All right on to our main event, our cleanup hitter this week Adley Rushman, number one prospect in minor league baseball for the Baltimore Orioles, making his major league debut this week to obviously much fanfare. It's always a big deal when a highly touted prospect like this gets called up, and this is especially important because he might be the most heralded prospect since Bryce Harper, who we just talked about. Right, you know who, from the time he was in high school, sort of had that LeBron James treatment. The attention was on him before he had any of the pressure. So they're applying pressure to a guy who's not even been drafted or in a system yet.

Speaker 1: 1:10:27

Well, adley Rushman, 2018, he's at Oregon State, they win the College World Series and he's named the most outstanding player the following year, 2019, he's named the most outstanding player the following year, 2019. He wins both the Golden Spikes and Dick Hauser awards. Uh, both of those go to the best player in college baseball and um, because of all that, he was the first overall pick in 2019 in that draft by the Orioles um, but this is a guy that I don't know. Brian, you've been keeping an eye on him since he got called up. What are you seeing so far from Adley Rushman?

Speaker 2: 1:11:08

I like the kid, I really do. He's got a great eye at the plate. His debut night he called the game very well. I thought for a rookie His pitcher was not having the greatest night, but that's not his fault. He had no communication problems, so the pitching was great. Whatever sign he put down, the pitcher was falling.

Speaker 2: 1:11:31

So that told me that there was unison between the two, so the kid didn't care to go out there and call the game, that there was unison between the two, so the kid didn't care to go out there and call the game. Then when he batted, he struck out the first time, but I mean it's his first time and the entire stadium stood, they completely stood up and I mean everybody was watching this kid and he strikes out. It was okay, didn't put his head down, just walked back calmly to the dugout. Next time he comes up he gets a walk very good eye very, very good and drew a lot of pitches to get that walk. So not only did he get on base, which is the name of the game, but he also took that pitch count up and that's very, very important, if not the most important thing.

Speaker 1: 1:12:14

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:12:14

And then he comes up the third time and what does he do? He hits a triple in his first major league hit and the place goes bonkers. You'd have thought he hit a grand slam. They went crazy. I like this kid. Later on in the week they had him just DH-ing to get him more at-bats, which is exactly what he needs. I like him in that DH position and I'm not a fan of the DH, but I like him in that position. So I think this kid has a future and I think if he keeps on, stays healthy, then he's going to be a bright star and really help the Orioles. He's so good. I'm going to go on record. I'm searching for an AL team. I may like the Orioles because I enjoyed watching the game to watch this kid. So it's now between the Angels and the Orioles for me to decide who my AL team is.

Speaker 1: 1:13:04

You have a history of rooting for losers, so I got a feeling the Orioles might have the advantage there. But no, talking about Adley, this is a guy that you know. I spoke with my brother, darren Darren Vaught. He is the voice of USA Baseball. He knows Adley a little bit. He's covered him and called his games for some years and trying just to get a good gauge of you know, you can watch the guy and see certain things, but what sort of separates him from the next guy on the list? Like what makes him that guy? That's like oh, he's Bryce Harper. Now he's this heralded prospect and you know Darren likes to tell this story about the collegiate national team in 2018.

Speaker 1: 1:13:57

So it's July 4th the team's in Durham, which is a place they play on, or around the 4th every year with the collegiate national team, and Adley Rushman gets off the plane literally hours before first pitch and has just had like maybe 48 hours off since Oregon State won the College World Series and the guy didn't miss a beat Gets inserted into the game against Japan and has a clutch hit, puts one off the wall. Uh, on the fourth, the first time he ever puts the USA baseball jersey on. I mean this guy. To me when I look at Adley Rushman, this is a kid who has all the physical attributes. I mean to be a switch hitting catcher is one thing, to To hit and play defense and call games at a high level is another. But this guy is such an athlete that he was the kicker for Oregon State's football team his first year there. He's got all the most. Since the first time I ever kind of caught wind of this kid at Oregon State who's doing great things and getting all this attention was he just seems to have ice water on his veins at Camden Yards and kind of like takes the moment in and looks around and kind of like appreciates the moment. And then he throws the mask on, gets down and it's like all right, let's go to work. Right, the hoopla and the fanfare and the hype, it's over now. Yeah, I gotta. I gotta get down here, I gotta do my job and and I got to prove that I'm worthy of all of this Got to produce All this. Yeah, so I like that.

Speaker 1: 1:16:03

I love the way that he seemingly handled that moment. Didn't seem to get too emotional, didn't get too jacked up, just cool, calm and collected man and I love that and I think, especially when you're a young kid and you're thrust into a position for a major league team like catcher, where you're the general of the infield and you're commanding the pitching staff and in some cases he's going to be telling pitchers that have been in the majors for a long time, who are much older than him, what to throw, and having to kind of command that and know when. You know when it's okay for the, the pitcher to kind of take the lead with that, you know, and and when he has to kind of stand firm and say no, you know, this is the game plan, this is what we're doing, and I think he's going to handle that really well. I mean, he just to me really comes off as a guy who doesn't take any of it too seriously, doesn't get too wrapped up in any moment or any situation. He just is ice water on the veins.

Speaker 1: 1:17:21

Like I said, I mean just a really impressive kid in that regard and again, has all the physical attributes. So you know, and some of that he gets honest. His grandfather, legendary baseball and football coach at a d3 school, linfield, um. So obviously adley, you know, growing up played both sports, um and then for for one season. Like I said, when he first went to oregon state, you know was the kicker on the football team as well as playing baseball. But but yeah, man, I mean I think this guy's, I think he's got it all. I mean I I'm having a hard time coming up with, or finding anybody else that can come up with, a flaw in this guy's game yeah, I mean it was exciting to watch him.

Speaker 2: 1:18:09

Um, even with the hoopla and the ballyhoo he was, he handled it very, very well. He uh, he took his moment when he took the field and then he went straight to the umpire and introduced himself. Yeah, that's class and that's also like. I'm sure he's being polite, but I'm sure he's thinking this is my house now. Yeah, welcome to my house, right right and I think he's going to do great.

Speaker 1: 1:18:36

I do too. I mean, I really, you know, the one question mark for me as far as like trying to predict his future is that organization in Baltimore. How committed are they to building around him? How committed are they to keeping him around? You know, down the road, a few years, when he hits arbitration and he can become a free agent and all this stuff starts happening, are the Orioles going to say we have to keep this guy here because he's the face of the franchise, or is he going to end up somewhere else? And then a lot of variables, I guess, is what I'm trying to say. When, when you hit free agency and you go somewhere else and you don't really know what you're, walking into 100. That can go a lot of different ways and I think he's good enough to get past all that, no matter what happens.

Speaker 1: 1:19:37

Honestly, he could be a guy who starts out in Baltimore and then, when he gets to free agency or the Orioles decide we can't resign him, so we're going to trade him off. He might go to one of those big powerhouse teams. I mean, there's always going to be that top echelon of teams that are looking to spend and looking to get the best players and build championship. You know seasons or championship teams. So you know, I don't know. I mean I would obviously love to see him be a part of a really nice rebuild in Baltimore. You know, I have the connections from my youth to the Orioles and you know they're so built and predicated on those longstanding, stalwart guys. You know, when you look at Jim Palmer, who only ever played for the Orioles, cal Ripken Jr, who only ever played for the Orioles, cal Ripken Jr, who only ever played for the Orioles, these are defining characters in the story of the Baltimore franchise and if they are committed to making sure they give Adley everything he needs to do it, I think he can be that guy.

Speaker 1: 1:20:59

This could be a guy that in 15 years we're talking about, as you know, this future Hall of Famer who's playing his whole career with one franchise which you just don't see anymore. You know it's so rare nowadays. I mean, even by the time Cal Ripken Jr's career was over, he was a unicorn because he never left the Orioles. So I don't know man. And they've got other good pieces. You know, cedric Mullins is a really nice player, I mean just does a lot of good things, plays really good defensively, hits the ball. They've got this sort of young foundation that they're laying and if they're, if they, if they'll do it, they can build around it and and I mean good grief. Then we're talking about a division in the ao east. It's got five teams that can compete right and that's, that's a good thing for everybody. Yeah, I, I mean this kid has one problem.

Speaker 2: 1:21:59

This kid's problem is he's not a cup Right. That's his problem right now. We could fix everything that's wrong in his life if he was a cup.

Speaker 1: 1:22:08

Yeah, yeah, I knew that's where you were going with that. But yeah, man, I think the future is very bright for Adley Rushman. I think he's the type of guy that, even if you're not an Orioles fan, you can get behind and you can care about his success. He's a star. There's no other, better way to say it. He's a star. Major League Baseball is full chocked full of stars right now, and he's just another one. And this is you know, we talk about it a lot. This is a great time to be a fan of the game of baseball. This is a golden age and Adley Rushman is a part of that. And you know, with his quick rise to the major leagues, he's going to extend that era, that golden era, because I hope he's going to play for a very long time at a high level.

Speaker 2: 1:23:03

Right, I mean you're exactly right with that. So I mean I can't wait to watch more of this kid.

Speaker 1: 1:23:10

Well, there you go. That's what we think will happen in the future of Adley Rushman, but it looks like we are out of stuff to talk about this week. But we appreciate everyone watching on YouTube, listening wherever you are, enjoying this and all your other favorite podcasts, and we just appreciate everybody that's given us feedback that's been listening or watching over the early days here. We're excited to keep bringing you this podcast and if you are interested in any of our social media outlets, you can go to 2gtbcom and there's links to all of our social medias. There's links to everywhere our podcast is available. And again, if you want to support us a little bit financially, 2gtbstorecom. We've got all kinds of great products over there. But, Brian, is there anything else you wanted to cover this week? Nope, We'll see you at the field. All right, folks For Brian Logan, I am Dallas Danger and until next week. Happy baseball everybody.