Cardinals Broadcaster and Former Pitcher Brad Thompson: From Mound to Mic

Dive into the fascinating world of professional baseball and sports talk radio with our latest episode featuring Brad Thompson. From dreams of playing in the big leagues in Las Vegas to winning the World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006. As a former St. Louis Cardinals player turned broadcaster, Brad unfolds his inspiring transition from the baseball diamond to the airwaves. Brett and Brad talk about 2024 season predictions and some of the favorites in Major League Baseball. Tune in for an insightful conversation blending baseball, MLB insights, and the business of sports. ⚾🎧 Don’t miss this episode of The Circuit of Success!

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Check out the Youtube Interview Here!

 

 

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I’ve got my buddy, Brad Thompson.

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What’s up, Brad? How are you doing? I’m

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doing great, man. Thanks for having me. I

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was getting bored at the house. I’m glad

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somebody called finally. Well, yeah. You’re doing radio

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now, what? Part time. Is that right? Yeah.

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Filling in a little bit. It’s it’s been

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a change for me. It’s been, as you

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know, I was doing drive time radio,

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on one of 1PM on the fast lane

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for, like, last ten years.

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This past year doing more baseball games, with

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the cardinals, which Brad a blast doing. Season

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didn’t go exactly I had a lot of

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fun doing the games. I’m sure we’ll get

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into that, but,

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I scaled back my work on that side.

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So now I’m not doing that every day,

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and I’m, I’m reintroducing myself of the family

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in the off season. My dog’s not barking

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at me now, so that’s good. Who the

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hell? I’m just gonna change. Yeah. It’s a

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big change. It is a big change, man.

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Well, You are a blast, as I’ve told

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you a million times to watch on, the

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television. I think you do a great job

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with the games. And even despite the season

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we Brad, It was, that’s gotta be tough,

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which I’m gonna ask that later. But, for

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those that don’t know you, two thousand six

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world series champ ESPN Radio, as you mentioned,

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announcer for the Saint Louis cardinals.

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Just an all around great guy, but just

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give us a little bit of lay of

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the background of people that, again, that maybe

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not know who you are. What’s made you

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the man you are today? Yeah. Well, look,

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I I I never

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expected

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or intended to be where I am right

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now. In o’fallon, Illinois live here.

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In the media at all that was never

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a thought. I just saw it was a

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kid who grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada,

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and, I just love playing baseball.

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And,

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it’s

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you generally hear

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people’s story of how they made it to

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the big leagues, and it’s oftentimes the same

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story. It’s like, oh, he’s the best player

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on this team, the best player on his

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high school team, two way player hit home

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runs, played shortstop. That is not my story,

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like, at all. I don’t think I was

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ever the best player on any team that

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I played on, and I’m not talking about

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any big league teams, like Albert Pujols and

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all these guys running around. I’m talking about,

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like, Timmy that picks his boogers wasn’t even

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the best player on on that team growing

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up, but I always loved it. And I

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always, worked hard, and I was just always

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there. Like, you know, I and think that’s

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one of the the biggest things whenever I

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have an opportunity to talk to kids. You

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don’t have to be the best player on

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the team. You don’t have to have the

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best skill set You have to care. You

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have to want to get better and you

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have to work. And if you do those

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things, opportunities might come. And that was the

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case for me. Out of high school, I

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got an opportunity

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right before school was about to start to

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go to a smaller junior college in Utah,

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at the time, Dixie State College,

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now Utah Tech d one school now, but

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a junior college back in the day. And,

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snuck on there did well,

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after my second year there ended up getting

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drafted by the cardinals, and it was just

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a kind of a a whirlwind. Spent two

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years in the minor leagues.

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And a month into my third year, a

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guy called up to the big leagues and

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made a career out of it. And it

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wasn’t the easiest. I I’m well traveled, Brett.

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You know that. I know I know the

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way from Saint Louis to Memphis really well.

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Big leagues to triple a. The ups and

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downs of have been incredibly blessed though to

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be able to to play the game that

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I love and do it as a living

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and now jump into this, which again, wasn’t

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unexpected. Yeah. I think I owe you a

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couple lunches still from little kids baseball. Can

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we talk about that on a podcast? Yes.

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We didn’t do that. We did not bet

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on lunch and his kids We just had

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webs my kids team all the time. And

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We had hunches of gonna lie. I had

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a hunch. Yeah. You were you were betting

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with your heart. It was crazy. Like, he

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didn’t even have a chance, but, hey, we,

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we tried to make happened. So I was

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gonna ask you too. Have you, have you

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seen Tiger Woods lately?

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No. Have you? No. Just in spring training.

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Just in spring. When you and I were

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creeping his restaurant. Damn. So what’s that private

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party out there? Looks like an awful lot

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of security for just a normal private party,

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doesn’t it? You and I are peaking. Yeah.

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Tiger was there. Tucker was there. We were

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in the same restaurant. We’re having dinner, Brad

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and I. And,

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well, my gosh, that’s a lot of people.

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I think I even tried to go to

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the restroom and turn right. And Sorry. You

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gotta go this way. Exactly.

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And then we found out, I think, wasn’t

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it you or me? Somebody got a text

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that Tiger Woods. They didn’t know we were

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there at the restaurant. They’re like Tiger Woods

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is at his restaurant Jupiter, and I’m like,

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oh, crap. We missed him. Yeah. Head his,

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like, daughter, soccer, partner, some either way, I

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think that we could say we had, dinner

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with tag. We had dinner with tags or

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did. Yeah. They were signed their their giveaway.

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You know, my kids, they give away like,

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you know, sour patch kids. I think Tiger’s

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end of the year party. They had signed

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soccer balls from Tiger Woods. That’s pretty good.

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And a whole new bag of clubs. A

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whole new bag of clubs. Well, good for

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them. So,

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let’s talk about post based ball career, man.

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So,

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and you and you already mentioned this, but

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what what did you think you were gonna

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be doing versus what you’re doing now? Yeah.

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So before I ended up signing with the

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cardinals, I had signed to after junior college.

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I was gonna go back to Las Vegas

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go to UN LV. I signed to play,

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there for the for the rebels.

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And my goal was to go into

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criminal justice. I wanted to be an attorney.

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Is is kind of the direction that I

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thought I was heading.

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And, obviously, did not go that route, but

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that was, like, the thought that go get

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into criminal justice. I I thought I wanted

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to go the route of attorney.

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And, that was gonna be the path. Now

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the path took me through baseball. And it

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was tough decision to make at the time

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too because

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I had the chance to get have my

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school paid for potentially get drafted higher maybe

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the next year, make make maybe a little

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bit more money out of the draft, which

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I didn’t make a lot of money. But

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I also thought what if what if I

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never get this chance again? What if I

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never have an opportunity

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to say that I played professional baseball. I

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can always go back to school. Yep. But

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I can’t always get this chance again. So

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ultimately, I landed on that decision.

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And so so grateful that I did. But

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you had never thought that the media side

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was gonna be a thing. And honestly, it

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was it wasn’t even on the radar. I

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wasn’t sure, Brett, what direction I gonna go.

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I knew I was nearing the end of

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my baseball career. I was playing independent ball

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for those that don’t know independent baseball is

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It’s still professional baseball. You get paid. Not

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a lot. You get paid nonetheless, but it’s

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just not affiliated with one of the major

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league teams. I was playing in, the Atlantic

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League which baseball fans will know what the

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Atlantic League is. It’s also been a league

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that’s kinda broken. Some of these major league

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baseball new rules before baseball breaks him in.

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Yeah.

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But a lot of former big leaguers, good

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baseball league. But I was playing there, and

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I just kinda I knew that I was

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I got it. Velocity wasn’t coming back. I

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had Tommy John surgery in twenty ten. And

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for those that know me well, velocity was

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never my thing anyhow. So losing a tick

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off the radar gun, we not a big

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thing, but I got a phone call in

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the off season,

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and this was prior to my final year

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of playing.

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And it was from program director at 01:01

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ESPN. I’m sure I’ve told you this story

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in the past, but he called me and

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said, Hey, I got your number from Chris

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Duncan.

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And Cardinal fans. Remember Chris Duncan. Good. Take

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time. Yeah, man. One of my best friends

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ever, unfortunately, passed away, Brad cancer

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and this was in the beginning of it.

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Dunk was was Brad to leave for some

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medic his, you know, medical issues. And program

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director called and said, Dunk passed along your

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number.

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I said he thought you would be good

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at this.

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Could you fill in on a Monday?

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I said, my wife probably wants me out

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of the house right now. It’s the office.

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Can you pay me a couple bucks? Yeah.

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I’m gonna sit around. I’m gonna sit around

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and watch football all weekend anyhow. That’s probably

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what you’re gonna talk about come Monday. I

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did. And I took over the weekend. It

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was like copious notes, just like you, you’re

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a note taker. Right? I’m Brett down all

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these college games these NFL games, like, come

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in. I get this stack of notes ready

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to go. I didn’t know what to expect.

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I never grew up. I didn’t listen to

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sports talk radio. I didn’t know how big

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of a thing that was. And, like, that

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actually really eye opening to me over the

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years of the connection you can have with

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the fan base actually doing that, but I

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I never had that.

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So one segment in, I get called out

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into the hallway.

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And I’ve said, oh, I must’ve said a

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magic word. I said one of the things

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that you can’t say here.

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And I said, did did that happen? He’s

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like, no. No. He’s like, you’re really good.

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Would you mind staying the rest of the

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week? I said, yeah. Would love to stay

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the rest of the week. And that rest

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of the week turned into the rest of

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the off season, which actually turned into before

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I was going to play, and what what

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was gonna be my final, you know, final

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year didn’t know it at the time.

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But they offered me a full time position.

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At that time,

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on a morning show.

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I said, man, I I I really appreciate

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the opportunity.

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Can’t do it. Like, I need to know

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that baseball’s done. Because the last thing

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that I wanted was to be sitting there

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and doing a job that I like,

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but wondering what could that have been like,

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you know, had I gone back? Maybe I

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found something or maybe magically the arm reappeared.

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Now, fortunately. The arm didn’t reappear, Brett. None

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of that stuff happened. I didn’t want that

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thought. I didn’t want that doubt that, that

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I did the wrong thing. So I went

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back and played. And after a few months

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in, I just knew the timing wasn’t right.

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My wife Andrea, she was pregnant with our

00:09:04.000 –> 00:09:06.000
our first with our first.

00:09:07.000 –> 00:09:09.000
He was born in May. I came home

00:09:09.000 –> 00:09:10.000
for a week.

00:09:11.000 –> 00:09:13.000
And I was like, man, I I’m this

00:09:13.000 –> 00:09:15.000
isn’t the place for me. I got I’ve

00:09:15.000 –> 00:09:16.000
gotta be done. I need to go home.

00:09:16.000 –> 00:09:18.000
I need to be with my family, and

00:09:18.000 –> 00:09:19.000
I need to figure out what is next.

00:09:19.000 –> 00:09:22.000
So I made the phone call, back to

00:09:22.000 –> 00:09:24.000
one one ESPN. I say, Hey, any chance

00:09:24.000 –> 00:09:26.000
you guys still got that job

00:09:26.000 –> 00:09:28.000
sitting there? And he said, we’ve been keeping

00:09:28.000 –> 00:09:30.000
a spot open for you. It ended up

00:09:30.000 –> 00:09:32.000
being in the afternoon show at the with

00:09:32.000 –> 00:09:34.000
Randy Carricker and Demarco Farris. If you’re ready

00:09:34.000 –> 00:09:36.000
to come back, we’re ready to have you.

00:09:36.000 –> 00:09:37.000
I said, well It was just the two

00:09:37.000 –> 00:09:39.000
of them at the time, maybe? Okay. Yep.

00:09:39.000 –> 00:09:41.000
And because it was the three. Chris Duncan

00:09:41.000 –> 00:09:43.000
was the third on that show. And they

00:09:43.000 –> 00:09:45.000
they had left that one open. And,

00:09:46.000 –> 00:09:46.000
fortunately,

00:09:47.000 –> 00:09:49.000
I was able to slide into that, that

00:09:49.000 –> 00:09:51.000
spot and learn so much from them Randy

00:09:51.000 –> 00:09:53.000
Carrick are one of my biggest mentors, and

00:09:53.000 –> 00:09:55.000
I love the way that Demarco Far, who’s,

00:09:55.000 –> 00:09:57.000
you know, he’s now in LA, followed the

00:09:57.000 –> 00:09:58.000
Rams out there.

00:09:58.000 –> 00:10:00.000
I love the way that he went about

00:10:00.000 –> 00:10:02.000
it, the energy and the excitement that he

00:10:02.000 –> 00:10:04.000
had and just kinda feeding off those guys

00:10:04.000 –> 00:10:06.000
and learning along the way and try not

00:10:06.000 –> 00:10:08.000
saying to magic words to get fired. And

00:10:08.000 –> 00:10:10.000
ten years later, you know, here we are.

00:10:10.000 –> 00:10:12.000
It’s amazing. Absolutely amazing. And I I think,

00:10:12.000 –> 00:10:14.000
you know, it’s crazy when you think about

00:10:14.000 –> 00:10:16.000
your career path, what you thought gonna happen.

00:10:16.000 –> 00:10:18.000
I think so many times, you know, we

00:10:18.000 –> 00:10:19.000
do planning for a living. Right? And it’s

00:10:19.000 –> 00:10:19.000
like,

00:10:20.000 –> 00:10:22.000
I plan these things, but, you know, there’s

00:10:22.000 –> 00:10:24.000
other sometimes other plans. And you just don’t

00:10:24.000 –> 00:10:25.000
know what they are. I think when you

00:10:25.000 –> 00:10:27.000
just gotta have trust and you gotta have

00:10:27.000 –> 00:10:28.000
faith and you gotta do great work and

00:10:28.000 –> 00:10:30.000
show up every day. And because I’m sure

00:10:30.000 –> 00:10:32.000
there was days I’ve talked to other players

00:10:32.000 –> 00:10:33.000
that when you when you

00:10:34.000 –> 00:10:36.000
retire, and that thing you love is gone.

00:10:37.000 –> 00:10:40.000
And Yeah. Arguably gone forever, right, that that’s

00:10:40.000 –> 00:10:43.000
probably pretty emotional. And So to find that

00:10:43.000 –> 00:10:45.000
next gear, what what was that process like

00:10:45.000 –> 00:10:46.000
for you

00:10:46.000 –> 00:10:48.000
to find out, and, obviously, you landed into

00:10:48.000 –> 00:10:50.000
that. But was there that emotional thing where

00:10:50.000 –> 00:10:52.000
you had to, like, think and journal and

00:10:52.000 –> 00:10:54.000
dream and do whatever? Oh, you’re huge.

00:10:54.000 –> 00:10:56.000
It was I still remember

00:10:56.000 –> 00:10:59.000
very vividly the drive home. So middle of

00:10:59.000 –> 00:11:00.000
the season Gilliland

00:11:00.000 –> 00:11:02.000
I had, I had given

00:11:02.000 –> 00:11:05.000
my, my manager the heads up, just told

00:11:05.000 –> 00:11:06.000
him I’d say, hey, I’ll stay here as

00:11:06.000 –> 00:11:07.000
long as

00:11:08.000 –> 00:11:10.000
you need to find a replacement for me,

00:11:10.000 –> 00:11:12.000
but I gotta go. I gotta I’m I’m

00:11:12.000 –> 00:11:13.000
ready to go home. He tried to talk

00:11:13.000 –> 00:11:15.000
me into being the pitching coach. I said,

00:11:15.000 –> 00:11:17.000
I I can’t. I gotta And what town

00:11:17.000 –> 00:11:19.000
was that again? This is somerset, New Jersey.

00:11:19.000 –> 00:11:21.000
Okay. Said said, you know, be on the

00:11:21.000 –> 00:11:23.000
same page. She was here. Yeah. She was

00:11:23.000 –> 00:11:25.000
here. Newborn son is here.

00:11:25.000 –> 00:11:27.000
So it it was it was

00:11:28.000 –> 00:11:29.000
flattering that they wanted to keep me around

00:11:29.000 –> 00:11:31.000
and wanted me to be around the team

00:11:31.000 –> 00:11:32.000
and maybe that would have started a new

00:11:32.000 –> 00:11:34.000
patch. Maybe that would have been coaching and

00:11:34.000 –> 00:11:36.000
and going from there. But,

00:11:36.000 –> 00:11:37.000
my heart was here. Right? Had had to

00:11:37.000 –> 00:11:39.000
go home, but I remember the drive. It

00:11:39.000 –> 00:11:41.000
was so bad of calling everybody, calling family,

00:11:41.000 –> 00:11:44.000
calling, like, my wife, Yeah. That’s it. Like,

00:11:44.000 –> 00:11:46.000
it’s a last road trip. So it’s, that’s

00:11:46.000 –> 00:11:48.000
emotional, right, when you’re when you’re going through

00:11:48.000 –> 00:11:50.000
it. But you also know, like, you know,

00:11:50.000 –> 00:11:53.000
something’s over. You know when it’s time to

00:11:53.000 –> 00:11:55.000
move on, and that’s where we were at.

00:11:55.000 –> 00:11:57.000
We were at that that that point. So

00:11:57.000 –> 00:11:58.000
when it comes to like finding a passion

00:11:58.000 –> 00:11:59.000
for a new thing,

00:12:00.000 –> 00:12:02.000
whatever I do, I try to, like, jump

00:12:02.000 –> 00:12:04.000
into. I try to just roll in. The

00:12:04.000 –> 00:12:07.000
energy, the enthusiasm, whether whether it’s it’s doing

00:12:07.000 –> 00:12:08.000
radio, it’s doing an interview,

00:12:09.000 –> 00:12:11.000
hanging out with the family, like, try to

00:12:11.000 –> 00:12:12.000
jump in. There are days where maybe you

00:12:12.000 –> 00:12:14.000
don’t feel like that. Mhmm. But it’s amazing

00:12:14.000 –> 00:12:16.000
if you come in with that attitude as

00:12:16.000 –> 00:12:17.000
you very well know,

00:12:17.000 –> 00:12:20.000
that’s how your day starts going. Right? So,

00:12:20.000 –> 00:12:22.000
I kinda poured into it and it started

00:12:22.000 –> 00:12:23.000
when I got that phone call. Like I

00:12:23.000 –> 00:12:25.000
said, I’m taking the notes and I’m saying,

00:12:25.000 –> 00:12:27.000
if I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna do

00:12:27.000 –> 00:12:28.000
I’m not just gonna show up. And I’ve

00:12:28.000 –> 00:12:30.000
seen this a lot now, especially being in

00:12:30.000 –> 00:12:32.000
the business. You see a lot of former

00:12:32.000 –> 00:12:33.000
athletes

00:12:33.000 –> 00:12:36.000
show up and say, I played. I got

00:12:36.000 –> 00:12:39.000
this. Yeah. And then you’re you’re talking to

00:12:39.000 –> 00:12:40.000
him for a little bit or they’re speaking.

00:12:40.000 –> 00:12:43.000
It’s like, he doesn’t he doesn’t have this.

00:12:43.000 –> 00:12:45.000
Like, it’s it’s very obvious that it’s it’s

00:12:45.000 –> 00:12:47.000
not an easy thing to do. I think

00:12:47.000 –> 00:12:48.000
a lot of people at home are are

00:12:48.000 –> 00:12:50.000
saying, boss, easy. I watch sports, easy to

00:12:50.000 –> 00:12:53.000
talk about. Sure. So sometimes sometimes it is.

00:12:53.000 –> 00:12:57.000
Other times, it takes it takes different little

00:12:58.000 –> 00:13:00.000
avenues or or nuances

00:13:00.000 –> 00:13:02.000
to to get through it. So But it’s

00:13:02.000 –> 00:13:04.000
also, like, you gotta you gotta know, you

00:13:04.000 –> 00:13:06.000
know, when to talk, you gotta know when

00:13:06.000 –> 00:13:08.000
your voice goes up. Right? There’s more to

00:13:08.000 –> 00:13:09.000
it than just, oh, I know about Yes.

00:13:09.000 –> 00:13:11.000
Well, and that’s something that you learn as

00:13:11.000 –> 00:13:13.000
you go to. Yeah. And that is something

00:13:13.000 –> 00:13:15.000
that I’ve had to learn a lot more

00:13:15.000 –> 00:13:17.000
with the TV side of things as I’ve

00:13:17.000 –> 00:13:19.000
been doing those ball games for the last

00:13:19.000 –> 00:13:20.000
couple of years is the

00:13:21.000 –> 00:13:23.000
the picture is there on the screen. So

00:13:23.000 –> 00:13:26.000
I can’t be talking about something that maybe

00:13:26.000 –> 00:13:28.000
even I, like, I care about it a

00:13:28.000 –> 00:13:30.000
lot, whatever. I’ve got a good story. If

00:13:30.000 –> 00:13:33.000
they’re showing on the screen, it’s Miles Michaelis

00:13:33.000 –> 00:13:35.000
or whoever, that’s who we’re talking about or

00:13:35.000 –> 00:13:36.000
that, like, that’s what the story is at

00:13:36.000 –> 00:13:38.000
the time. You have to know when to

00:13:38.000 –> 00:13:39.000
get in, when to get out, but it’s

00:13:39.000 –> 00:13:41.000
reps. Yeah. And it’s caring about that. And

00:13:41.000 –> 00:13:44.000
it’s realizing when you mess something up because

00:13:44.000 –> 00:13:46.000
I in my line of work, I know

00:13:46.000 –> 00:13:48.000
when I mess something up, it’s very evident.

00:13:48.000 –> 00:13:51.000
Like, usually there’s producer near yourself. What was

00:13:51.000 –> 00:13:53.000
that? Don’t do it. Nothing. But you you

00:13:53.000 –> 00:13:55.000
care enough to fix it and just going

00:13:55.000 –> 00:13:58.000
back to the jumping into a new thing.

00:13:58.000 –> 00:13:59.000
This is another thing I like to tell

00:13:59.000 –> 00:14:01.000
kids when I get an opportunity or adults.

00:14:01.000 –> 00:14:02.000
It’s a good thing to remember,

00:14:03.000 –> 00:14:05.000
you never know when an opportunity is gonna

00:14:05.000 –> 00:14:06.000
come your way. Yeah. You never know. Nope.

00:14:06.000 –> 00:14:08.000
You know when one passes you, though. Like,

00:14:08.000 –> 00:14:10.000
you know when something just walks out the

00:14:10.000 –> 00:14:12.000
door and say, I should have done that.

00:14:12.000 –> 00:14:13.000
So I wanna be ready for that. I

00:14:13.000 –> 00:14:15.000
wanna be ready for whatever that next opportunity

00:14:16.000 –> 00:14:17.000
is. Yeah. And I I always talk to

00:14:17.000 –> 00:14:20.000
the old paralysis by analysis. Right? You could

00:14:20.000 –> 00:14:22.000
have that opportunity, but so many people will

00:14:22.000 –> 00:14:24.000
go back and they gotta

00:14:24.000 –> 00:14:26.000
think and think and think. And then what

00:14:26.000 –> 00:14:28.000
happens is they think themselves out of it.

00:14:28.000 –> 00:14:30.000
Yeah. This is a great idea because AB

00:14:30.000 –> 00:14:32.000
and see, but then that negative thought up

00:14:32.000 –> 00:14:34.000
here in our mind says, well, I can’t

00:14:34.000 –> 00:14:36.000
do it because I’m this, and I’m that.

00:14:36.000 –> 00:14:37.000
And I think so many times what try

00:14:37.000 –> 00:14:39.000
to help people with is just just take

00:14:39.000 –> 00:14:40.000
action. That’s one of the circuits on the

00:14:40.000 –> 00:14:43.000
circuit of success. Take action. Doesn’t mean you

00:14:43.000 –> 00:14:45.000
have the whole thing figured out. But if

00:14:45.000 –> 00:14:46.000
you trust yourself, again, I’ve said it a

00:14:46.000 –> 00:14:48.000
million times, you show up to work every

00:14:48.000 –> 00:14:49.000
day.

00:14:49.000 –> 00:14:51.000
Good things are probably gonna happen. For sure.

00:14:51.000 –> 00:14:53.000
Right? So liking this to baseball. Okay? Because

00:14:53.000 –> 00:14:56.000
this happens a lot nowadays, paralysis by analysis.

00:14:57.000 –> 00:14:58.000
We have all of this data. We have

00:14:58.000 –> 00:15:00.000
all of these analytics.

00:15:00.000 –> 00:15:02.000
One of my one of the most important

00:15:02.000 –> 00:15:05.000
things I believe for any athlete is trust

00:15:05.000 –> 00:15:08.000
your gut. Like, trust you, believe in your

00:15:08.000 –> 00:15:10.000
stuff. I don’t care, if this guy can’t

00:15:10.000 –> 00:15:12.000
hit this or can’t do that, what do

00:15:12.000 –> 00:15:14.000
you do well? Yeah. What is your strength?

00:15:14.000 –> 00:15:16.000
And I think that’s one of the biggest

00:15:16.000 –> 00:15:18.000
things in any walk of life. Like, what

00:15:18.000 –> 00:15:19.000
what is your strength? Do you trust in

00:15:19.000 –> 00:15:21.000
what you’re doing? If you trust in what

00:15:21.000 –> 00:15:22.000
you’re doing, good things are gonna happen. It

00:15:22.000 –> 00:15:24.000
might not be the direct route that you’re

00:15:24.000 –> 00:15:26.000
expecting it to happen might not be just

00:15:26.000 –> 00:15:28.000
a to b very easy, but you’ll get

00:15:28.000 –> 00:15:30.000
there at some point if you believe in

00:15:30.000 –> 00:15:31.000
what you’re doing. That’s right. Yeah. A hundred

00:15:31.000 –> 00:15:33.000
percent. I’ve I think about

00:15:33.000 –> 00:15:36.000
I my first job out of college, I

00:15:36.000 –> 00:15:38.000
was there for about, six weeks. I don’t

00:15:38.000 –> 00:15:39.000
think I’ve ever told this on the podcast,

00:15:39.000 –> 00:15:39.000
but,

00:15:40.000 –> 00:15:41.000
I was there for six weeks. I was

00:15:41.000 –> 00:15:43.000
in the financial He’s at a different firm.

00:15:43.000 –> 00:15:45.000
And I got a call on a Tuesday

00:15:45.000 –> 00:15:46.000
night that the guy that I was supposed

00:15:46.000 –> 00:15:48.000
to have lunch with the next day, my

00:15:48.000 –> 00:15:48.000
mentor,

00:15:49.000 –> 00:15:51.000
who I’d never met. Yeah. Tomorrow was the

00:15:51.000 –> 00:15:53.000
big day. Right? Here am twenty two years

00:15:53.000 –> 00:15:55.000
old. We’re living in this tiny condo in

00:15:55.000 –> 00:15:57.000
Saint Louis. My wife’s got an internship at

00:15:57.000 –> 00:15:58.000
Barnes.

00:15:58.000 –> 00:16:00.000
We had one car, and I’m gonna go

00:16:00.000 –> 00:16:01.000
this lunch. I get the call on Tuesday.

00:16:02.000 –> 00:16:02.000
He actually,

00:16:03.000 –> 00:16:05.000
died by suicide. Oh my god. And,

00:16:06.000 –> 00:16:08.000
jumped off a building, actually. And and so

00:16:08.000 –> 00:16:10.000
here I am, this twenty two year old

00:16:10.000 –> 00:16:12.000
kid, I’m getting ready to go start literally

00:16:12.000 –> 00:16:13.000
to knock on doors and try to build

00:16:13.000 –> 00:16:15.000
a business and, you know, got acne. I’m

00:16:15.000 –> 00:16:17.000
like, I look like I’m twelve. You know,

00:16:17.000 –> 00:16:18.000
I’m like, hey, give me your money.

00:16:19.000 –> 00:16:21.000
And so I said I’m never gonna be

00:16:21.000 –> 00:16:24.000
in financial planning. I’m never gonna do investments.

00:16:24.000 –> 00:16:25.000
That’s just not my deal. I actually went

00:16:25.000 –> 00:16:27.000
to Bush Stadium. I was gonna the next,

00:16:27.000 –> 00:16:29.000
you know, now jump as they lucked at

00:16:29.000 –> 00:16:30.000
the time, Mark Lamping. That’s what I thought

00:16:30.000 –> 00:16:32.000
I was gonna do. I applied for a

00:16:32.000 –> 00:16:34.000
job. They said, we don’t have any jobs,

00:16:34.000 –> 00:16:36.000
but not a bartender? I said, yeah. I

00:16:36.000 –> 00:16:37.000
know the bartender. They said, we need a

00:16:37.000 –> 00:16:39.000
bartender for the game tonight. So if the

00:16:39.000 –> 00:16:40.000
old bush that you played in, right, they

00:16:40.000 –> 00:16:43.000
had remember the left field at the stadium

00:16:43.000 –> 00:16:45.000
club. Yeah. Yeah. How’s the bartender in there?

00:16:45.000 –> 00:16:47.000
Long story short, I got another call from

00:16:47.000 –> 00:16:49.000
a company that said, come in. Let’s do

00:16:49.000 –> 00:16:51.000
an interview. I said, look, I’ll come in

00:16:51.000 –> 00:16:53.000
for the practice. I was very upfront. Well,

00:16:53.000 –> 00:16:55.000
I spent twelve and a half years there.

00:16:55.000 –> 00:16:56.000
Now ten years of visionary, and I’ve done

00:16:56.000 –> 00:16:59.000
nothing but investment. That’s good practice. Right. Good

00:16:59.000 –> 00:17:00.000
practice. But the point to that is what

00:17:00.000 –> 00:17:01.000
what is the point of that story. Right?

00:17:01.000 –> 00:17:03.000
Right? But I think the point is is

00:17:03.000 –> 00:17:04.000
you never know because what you said, you

00:17:04.000 –> 00:17:06.000
never know where it’s gonna go. How you

00:17:06.000 –> 00:17:07.000
take it, and then you take it to

00:17:07.000 –> 00:17:09.000
the next level by what you put into

00:17:09.000 –> 00:17:10.000
it. Gilliland,

00:17:10.000 –> 00:17:13.000
like, to your earlier point, a tragic event,

00:17:13.000 –> 00:17:15.000
obviously, with with with your mentor,

00:17:15.000 –> 00:17:16.000
but

00:17:16.000 –> 00:17:18.000
that life is not your life. You know?

00:17:18.000 –> 00:17:20.000
Like, there are different things weighing on him

00:17:20.000 –> 00:17:22.000
than weighing on you. It’s not necessarily the

00:17:22.000 –> 00:17:24.000
industry that you’re in. Don’t care if you

00:17:24.000 –> 00:17:26.000
you could be in the happiest industry in

00:17:26.000 –> 00:17:28.000
the world or the saddest industry in the

00:17:28.000 –> 00:17:29.000
world. You’d be in the happiest industry and

00:17:29.000 –> 00:17:31.000
be a sad person. You could be, a

00:17:31.000 –> 00:17:33.000
sad industry and be a happy person. It’s

00:17:33.000 –> 00:17:35.000
your mindset. It’s the way that that you

00:17:35.000 –> 00:17:37.000
go about it, and you just gotta be

00:17:37.000 –> 00:17:38.000
ready for when that one pops up. But

00:17:38.000 –> 00:17:40.000
that is like, I’m thinking about the conversation

00:17:40.000 –> 00:17:42.000
that you had. It was marked lamping at

00:17:42.000 –> 00:17:44.000
the time. Yeah. So and who runs the

00:17:44.000 –> 00:17:46.000
jaguars now. Right? So Oh, I think that’s

00:17:46.000 –> 00:17:49.000
right. I I I’m just picturing. It’s like,

00:17:49.000 –> 00:17:51.000
I’m interested in this job. No, but bartending.

00:17:51.000 –> 00:17:54.000
Yeah. Like, that’s, like, what what a drastic?

00:17:54.000 –> 00:17:55.000
What just happened? Let’s see if this kid

00:17:55.000 –> 00:17:57.000
will do that. Yeah. He will. Yeah. But

00:17:57.000 –> 00:18:00.000
that’s one of the things too. Like, in

00:18:00.000 –> 00:18:01.000
and this is a big thing in the

00:18:01.000 –> 00:18:04.000
radio industry. If someone asks you, hey, can

00:18:04.000 –> 00:18:07.000
you do x, y, or z. Yeah. Yeah.

00:18:07.000 –> 00:18:09.000
Yes. I can. I can do that. And

00:18:09.000 –> 00:18:11.000
you can dig in, you figure it out.

00:18:11.000 –> 00:18:13.000
It can you interview so and so? You

00:18:13.000 –> 00:18:14.000
might be a young producer

00:18:15.000 –> 00:18:17.000
Yeah. I can do that. That’s a chance.

00:18:17.000 –> 00:18:19.000
Like, that is an opportunity. You might be

00:18:19.000 –> 00:18:21.000
scared to death. Nobody knows what you’re feeling.

00:18:21.000 –> 00:18:23.000
Nobody knows what you’re thinking as you’re going

00:18:23.000 –> 00:18:25.000
through it. Take the opportunity. The answer is

00:18:25.000 –> 00:18:27.000
yes. Can you do it? Yes. I’ll figure

00:18:27.000 –> 00:18:29.000
it out. Yeah. Well, Danny Max said in

00:18:29.000 –> 00:18:31.000
this podcast. He said he started with he

00:18:31.000 –> 00:18:32.000
was running tapes or whatever they called it

00:18:32.000 –> 00:18:33.000
back in. Right? He’s like, literally, it’d be

00:18:33.000 –> 00:18:35.000
on a cart. I’d run him from one

00:18:35.000 –> 00:18:36.000
room to the other so the guys could

00:18:36.000 –> 00:18:38.000
talk about on the air. Yes.

00:18:40.000 –> 00:18:43.000
Cut up tape. And Yeah. It’s crazy. So,

00:18:44.000 –> 00:18:46.000
how did you how do how do you

00:18:46.000 –> 00:18:47.000
draw up on your playing career?

00:18:48.000 –> 00:18:50.000
Now being an announcer. Do you think back

00:18:50.000 –> 00:18:51.000
to your playing days? Like, does that play

00:18:51.000 –> 00:18:53.000
a role in the in the booth? Yeah.

00:18:53.000 –> 00:18:54.000
It does. I I think back to more

00:18:54.000 –> 00:18:57.000
so, like, than referencing my career, which is

00:18:57.000 –> 00:18:58.000
lack luster. Like, I’m actually gonna go back.

00:18:58.000 –> 00:19:00.000
Serious champ, darn right. I’m gonna have you

00:19:00.000 –> 00:19:02.000
say that a few more times as we

00:19:02.000 –> 00:19:03.000
go through this. No. More so I think

00:19:03.000 –> 00:19:05.000
about all, I think about emotions. I think

00:19:05.000 –> 00:19:07.000
about the emotions of what a player is

00:19:07.000 –> 00:19:09.000
going through at a given time because it

00:19:09.000 –> 00:19:11.000
is very easy to sit where we sit,

00:19:11.000 –> 00:19:13.000
you’re high up, and you’re you’re watching on

00:19:13.000 –> 00:19:15.000
a screen, you see the field in front

00:19:15.000 –> 00:19:17.000
of you, game looks easy. Like, it looks

00:19:17.000 –> 00:19:19.000
really easy when you’re watching at home, you’re

00:19:19.000 –> 00:19:22.000
a couple of cold beers. Like, why didn’t

00:19:22.000 –> 00:19:24.000
he hit that ball down the middle that

00:19:24.000 –> 00:19:26.000
I realized I’ve I’ve stood in that batter’s

00:19:26.000 –> 00:19:28.000
box. I’ve been on that amount. I’ve done

00:19:28.000 –> 00:19:30.000
it during the regular season. I’ve done it

00:19:30.000 –> 00:19:31.000
in the post season. I’ve done it in

00:19:31.000 –> 00:19:34.000
the world series. It is a different perspective

00:19:34.000 –> 00:19:36.000
when you’re actually going through it and things

00:19:36.000 –> 00:19:37.000
aren’t that easy. So that’s one of the

00:19:37.000 –> 00:19:39.000
things that I really try to remember

00:19:40.000 –> 00:19:41.000
when I’m in the booth and I’m doing

00:19:41.000 –> 00:19:44.000
games. It’s not that easy. So

00:19:45.000 –> 00:19:48.000
I’m not gonna also lie to somebody when

00:19:48.000 –> 00:19:49.000
you’re watching the game. I’m not gonna spit

00:19:49.000 –> 00:19:51.000
on you and tell you it’s raining. Right.

00:19:51.000 –> 00:19:53.000
When something is bad, it’s bad. But I’ll

00:19:53.000 –> 00:19:55.000
frame it in a way where, hey, nine

00:19:55.000 –> 00:19:57.000
times out of ten, he’s gonna make that

00:19:57.000 –> 00:19:58.000
play. Yeah. Because I believe that. Yeah. You

00:19:58.000 –> 00:20:00.000
know, I I believe that the the good

00:20:00.000 –> 00:20:03.000
things are gonna outweigh the bad things you

00:20:03.000 –> 00:20:05.000
have to mention the bad things. I talked

00:20:05.000 –> 00:20:06.000
about the bad season that the cardinals had.

00:20:06.000 –> 00:20:08.000
Twenty games under five hundred. It’s hard to

00:20:08.000 –> 00:20:10.000
sugar coat that. Right? But also have to

00:20:10.000 –> 00:20:12.000
believe in the fact that you didn’t have

00:20:12.000 –> 00:20:13.000
a losing season,

00:20:14.000 –> 00:20:16.000
since o seven before that. We’re very spoiled.

00:20:16.000 –> 00:20:17.000
Yeah. And you know that good things are

00:20:17.000 –> 00:20:20.000
gonna be on the horizon also, but Yeah.

00:20:20.000 –> 00:20:22.000
I I always go back to being in

00:20:22.000 –> 00:20:24.000
those shoes, what it’s like. And then the

00:20:24.000 –> 00:20:25.000
other thing that I lean on a lot

00:20:25.000 –> 00:20:27.000
is the preparation. I know what the preparation

00:20:27.000 –> 00:20:29.000
was like as a player. I know how

00:20:29.000 –> 00:20:32.000
I would dig in and learn about these

00:20:32.000 –> 00:20:34.000
hitters. Now there’s far more information now than

00:20:34.000 –> 00:20:36.000
there was when I was playing. And maybe

00:20:36.000 –> 00:20:38.000
too much information for some guys. I think

00:20:38.000 –> 00:20:40.000
that’s one of the biggest challenges is how

00:20:40.000 –> 00:20:41.000
to spoon feed some of these players the

00:20:41.000 –> 00:20:44.000
information that they need without giving them the

00:20:44.000 –> 00:20:46.000
quote unquote analytics because Some guys can’t really

00:20:46.000 –> 00:20:48.000
handle the numbers of it but need the

00:20:48.000 –> 00:20:49.000
information.

00:20:49.000 –> 00:20:51.000
But I I think about that. And a

00:20:51.000 –> 00:20:52.000
lot of times maybe you’ll hear me during

00:20:52.000 –> 00:20:53.000
a broadcast

00:20:54.000 –> 00:20:55.000
thinking ahead. Say, hey,

00:20:56.000 –> 00:20:58.000
if if in this spot, I would go

00:20:58.000 –> 00:21:00.000
with this slider down the way right here.

00:21:00.000 –> 00:21:02.000
Well, I’ve scouted him just like the pitcher

00:21:02.000 –> 00:21:04.000
scouted him. I scout the other teams, tendencies,

00:21:04.000 –> 00:21:06.000
and all that stuff. So ahead of time,

00:21:06.000 –> 00:21:08.000
I I feel like I know what direction

00:21:08.000 –> 00:21:10.000
they should be going in. Now that So

00:21:10.000 –> 00:21:12.000
you watch film as, I mean Yeah. Yeah.

00:21:12.000 –> 00:21:15.000
I watch video breakdown, scouting reports, all that

00:21:15.000 –> 00:21:18.000
fun stuff before games. I nerd out with

00:21:18.000 –> 00:21:19.000
it now, Brad. Like, this is what you

00:21:19.000 –> 00:21:21.000
do in your hotel room? I do. I

00:21:21.000 –> 00:21:23.000
guess they’re on the Brad, and I’m

00:21:23.000 –> 00:21:26.000
digging into video and watching, you know, hitters

00:21:26.000 –> 00:21:27.000
against the left. Do you have, like, the

00:21:27.000 –> 00:21:28.000
iPad that same when the players are watching

00:21:28.000 –> 00:21:30.000
the same I don’t get their good proprietary

00:21:31.000 –> 00:21:32.000
information. I have to dig in and find

00:21:32.000 –> 00:21:34.000
my own. I should really call in some

00:21:34.000 –> 00:21:35.000
favors and get good stuff.

00:21:36.000 –> 00:21:39.000
The broadcast. All the search engine stuff. But,

00:21:39.000 –> 00:21:41.000
no, it it really is. It’s fun. And

00:21:41.000 –> 00:21:44.000
it’s it’s like anything else. Say, I I

00:21:44.000 –> 00:21:45.000
dig in and do this thing because I

00:21:45.000 –> 00:21:48.000
wanna inform the viewer. Yep. And I want

00:21:48.000 –> 00:21:51.000
to be right. Like, there’s a pride in

00:21:51.000 –> 00:21:54.000
I’m not just saying stuff to say stuff,

00:21:54.000 –> 00:21:56.000
but there’s also the humbling nature of baseball’s

00:21:56.000 –> 00:21:59.000
ever changing. Yeah. And somebody’s thought process is

00:21:59.000 –> 00:22:01.000
totally different. I might know from my and

00:22:01.000 –> 00:22:03.000
this goes back to trusting yourself. I might

00:22:03.000 –> 00:22:05.000
know from my research that I did in

00:22:05.000 –> 00:22:06.000
my hotel room in Milwaukee,

00:22:07.000 –> 00:22:09.000
sitting there that o two

00:22:09.000 –> 00:22:11.000
slider down in a way. That is the

00:22:11.000 –> 00:22:14.000
best pitch for Gilliland Thompson. He’ll miss it

00:22:14.000 –> 00:22:16.000
by a mile. I don’t know what the

00:22:16.000 –> 00:22:18.000
guy on the mound feels when he grips

00:22:18.000 –> 00:22:19.000
his tighter. Yeah. There are times where a

00:22:19.000 –> 00:22:21.000
pitch in your hand feels amazing. There are

00:22:21.000 –> 00:22:23.000
times where even if you know in your

00:22:23.000 –> 00:22:24.000
head it’s a right pitch, you grip the

00:22:24.000 –> 00:22:26.000
baseball. I said, this Gilliland then you switch

00:22:26.000 –> 00:22:27.000
it to another grip, you say, this is

00:22:27.000 –> 00:22:29.000
the pitch I want. Let’s go with this

00:22:29.000 –> 00:22:31.000
one. So, like, that’s where, like, the human

00:22:31.000 –> 00:22:33.000
element really plays in the game of base

00:22:33.000 –> 00:22:35.000
one. I love that. Well, and and also

00:22:35.000 –> 00:22:37.000
you don’t know what he did last night.

00:22:37.000 –> 00:22:38.000
You don’t know if he got an argument

00:22:38.000 –> 00:22:41.000
with his spouse, you know, three hours before

00:22:41.000 –> 00:22:43.000
the game. Right? There’s so much emotion So

00:22:43.000 –> 00:22:45.000
for you, how much of it playing you’re

00:22:45.000 –> 00:22:47.000
playing days? How much of it was physical

00:22:47.000 –> 00:22:50.000
versus, you know, emotional or psychological I I

00:22:50.000 –> 00:22:52.000
think it’s a good balance. The the physical

00:22:52.000 –> 00:22:54.000
part of it during the season, at least

00:22:54.000 –> 00:22:57.000
for me, was maintenance. That was you maintain

00:22:57.000 –> 00:22:59.000
the arm care. You maintain all of the

00:22:59.000 –> 00:23:01.000
stuff that you worked hard in the winter

00:23:01.000 –> 00:23:02.000
to grow. Like,

00:23:02.000 –> 00:23:05.000
that was the growing part of it. But

00:23:05.000 –> 00:23:07.000
playing a big league season, a hundred and

00:23:07.000 –> 00:23:08.000
sixty two games in a hundred and eighty

00:23:08.000 –> 00:23:10.000
something days, like, it’s a lot. It is

00:23:10.000 –> 00:23:13.000
a rigorous thing. So that’s where the mental

00:23:13.000 –> 00:23:14.000
part it comes in. And I did this

00:23:14.000 –> 00:23:16.000
at mainly as a bullpen guy. I started

00:23:16.000 –> 00:23:18.000
a bit in my career too, but mainly

00:23:18.000 –> 00:23:20.000
as a bullpen guy, everyday players that have

00:23:20.000 –> 00:23:22.000
to answer the bell every day, That’s a

00:23:22.000 –> 00:23:25.000
different animal. You go over four, like, three

00:23:25.000 –> 00:23:27.000
days in a row Yeah. And still being

00:23:27.000 –> 00:23:28.000
able to put in the work, and that’s

00:23:28.000 –> 00:23:30.000
where having a routine, and and Brett, I

00:23:30.000 –> 00:23:31.000
know you’re huge on routine

00:23:32.000 –> 00:23:34.000
and just having something that you could rely

00:23:34.000 –> 00:23:36.000
on day in and day out. To me,

00:23:36.000 –> 00:23:37.000
that’s the biggest thing. You put in the

00:23:37.000 –> 00:23:40.000
work. You do during the season and the

00:23:40.000 –> 00:23:43.000
off season. You do what you know

00:23:43.000 –> 00:23:45.000
has made you successful in the past. And

00:23:45.000 –> 00:23:47.000
even if you don’t get the results, you

00:23:47.000 –> 00:23:48.000
yourself in the mirror at the end of

00:23:48.000 –> 00:23:50.000
the night and say, hey, I did everything

00:23:50.000 –> 00:23:51.000
that I could. I’m gonna do it again

00:23:51.000 –> 00:23:53.000
tomorrow. So being able to answer the bell

00:23:53.000 –> 00:23:55.000
and being able to be consistent in the

00:23:55.000 –> 00:23:57.000
game of ball. That’s the hardest thing. Yeah.

00:23:57.000 –> 00:23:59.000
Like, it stinks to be the guy that

00:23:59.000 –> 00:24:02.000
is standing there on the mound at wrigley

00:24:02.000 –> 00:24:04.000
as they start playing that go cubs go

00:24:04.000 –> 00:24:06.000
song. You know what I walk you off.

00:24:06.000 –> 00:24:08.000
Oh, yeah. That sucks. That’s a bad feeling.

00:24:09.000 –> 00:24:10.000
You gotta be ready the next day. Sort

00:24:10.000 –> 00:24:12.000
of the next yeah. That next opportunity might

00:24:12.000 –> 00:24:15.000
be there in often times. Managers just like

00:24:15.000 –> 00:24:18.000
a any manager in any business will likely

00:24:18.000 –> 00:24:20.000
put you right back into that situation again

00:24:20.000 –> 00:24:22.000
to see how you react to it. Are

00:24:22.000 –> 00:24:24.000
you ready for? And I always wanted to

00:24:24.000 –> 00:24:26.000
be ready. My ID is kicking in. So

00:24:26.000 –> 00:24:28.000
my I’m bouncing between your playing guys in

00:24:28.000 –> 00:24:29.000
your fave too. Okay. Good.

00:24:30.000 –> 00:24:31.000
I made me think you told me a

00:24:31.000 –> 00:24:33.000
story one time. I thought it was hilarious.

00:24:33.000 –> 00:24:34.000
Your Scott Rolling story. I think you probably

00:24:34.000 –> 00:24:36.000
know where I’m going. There’s a lot of

00:24:36.000 –> 00:24:37.000
Scott Rolling stories and you were fortunate enough

00:24:37.000 –> 00:24:38.000
I think to go to the hall of

00:24:38.000 –> 00:24:40.000
fame thing. I didn’t go to Oh, you

00:24:40.000 –> 00:24:42.000
did. I was working, working the games. But

00:24:42.000 –> 00:24:43.000
I know what you’re talking

00:24:44.000 –> 00:24:46.000
about. Yeah. Well, I let’s be honest. I

00:24:46.000 –> 00:24:48.000
helped Scott get Paul of Fame. All those

00:24:48.000 –> 00:24:50.000
rockets that I gave up down the line

00:24:50.000 –> 00:24:52.000
that he made these high life plays on.

00:24:52.000 –> 00:24:54.000
No. It was an absolute honor to Brett

00:24:54.000 –> 00:24:57.000
teammates with Scott rolling. And when I when

00:24:57.000 –> 00:24:58.000
I got called up to the big leagues,

00:24:58.000 –> 00:25:00.000
it was two thousand five. It was a

00:25:00.000 –> 00:25:01.000
little over a month, I think, end of

00:25:01.000 –> 00:25:03.000
the season. And I still remember

00:25:03.000 –> 00:25:05.000
walking in

00:25:05.000 –> 00:25:07.000
Bush Stadium. And it was, you know, bush

00:25:07.000 –> 00:25:10.000
to older stadium. I remember the doors opening

00:25:10.000 –> 00:25:12.000
like it’s a movie scene Albert Poolholz is

00:25:12.000 –> 00:25:16.000
walking this way. Matt Morris, Scott Rolling, Reggie

00:25:16.000 –> 00:25:19.000
Sanders, like, guys just like legends. Yes.

00:25:20.000 –> 00:25:21.000
I mean, it was it was I was

00:25:21.000 –> 00:25:23.000
like a kid. I was like a little

00:25:23.000 –> 00:25:25.000
literally like a kid. Twenty three years old,

00:25:25.000 –> 00:25:28.000
baby face. They they barely let me in

00:25:28.000 –> 00:25:30.000
the stadium. They had get somebody come in.

00:25:30.000 –> 00:25:31.000
Nobody the hell is this? Yeah. Nobody believe

00:25:31.000 –> 00:25:33.000
that I actually played. They laughed at me.

00:25:33.000 –> 00:25:33.000
But,

00:25:34.000 –> 00:25:36.000
the Scott Rolling story is when I did

00:25:36.000 –> 00:25:39.000
make my major league debut, you. It was

00:25:39.000 –> 00:25:41.000
Mother’s Day two thousand five. And I remember

00:25:41.000 –> 00:25:43.000
jogging in from the bullpen. And I think

00:25:43.000 –> 00:25:45.000
I made the mistake of looking around, even

00:25:45.000 –> 00:25:47.000
though they say you should soak up the

00:25:47.000 –> 00:25:49.000
moment. Sometimes maybe should be laser focused. I

00:25:49.000 –> 00:25:50.000
don’t know. But I I did this one.

00:25:50.000 –> 00:25:53.000
I started looking around. Oh my god. I

00:25:53.000 –> 00:25:53.000
mean,

00:25:55.000 –> 00:25:57.000
and surrounding you too. You know, the the

00:25:57.000 –> 00:25:59.000
difference in the stadium, it was Gilliland it

00:25:59.000 –> 00:26:01.000
was all the way around you. And I

00:26:01.000 –> 00:26:03.000
get in, I throw my warm up pitches,

00:26:04.000 –> 00:26:06.000
last pitch I throw to it was yachty.

00:26:07.000 –> 00:26:08.000
Throw yachty. He throws it down. They throw

00:26:08.000 –> 00:26:10.000
it around the horn. Yeah. And your third

00:26:10.000 –> 00:26:12.000
baseman comes creeping in. He’s getting the last

00:26:12.000 –> 00:26:15.000
guy to receive the ball. Third baseman, obviously,

00:26:15.000 –> 00:26:16.000
the hall of famer Scott rolling.

00:26:17.000 –> 00:26:18.000
He has the ball. He’s holding in his

00:26:18.000 –> 00:26:20.000
hand. He looks at me. He looks around

00:26:20.000 –> 00:26:22.000
like I did earlier.

00:26:22.000 –> 00:26:24.000
He’s like, Hey, your parents make it in

00:26:24.000 –> 00:26:26.000
town? I go, no. They’re not here yet,

00:26:26.000 –> 00:26:27.000
mister Rolling. They’re be here next week. I

00:26:27.000 –> 00:26:29.000
think I I think I missed it rolling

00:26:29.000 –> 00:26:31.000
him. He goes, yeah. A lot of people

00:26:31.000 –> 00:26:33.000
here. Well, good luck. And he flicked his

00:26:33.000 –> 00:26:36.000
face off. It was like, okay. Okay, mister

00:26:36.000 –> 00:26:38.000
Rolling. Sorry. It was as awesome. Good luck,

00:26:38.000 –> 00:26:40.000
kid. Yeah. Have fun. Let’s see what you

00:26:40.000 –> 00:26:41.000
do with it was

00:26:42.000 –> 00:26:42.000
it was

00:26:43.000 –> 00:26:45.000
a really fun experience, obviously, to make a

00:26:45.000 –> 00:26:47.000
majorly debut. So memorable with that. And it’s

00:26:47.000 –> 00:26:48.000
also,

00:26:49.000 –> 00:26:50.000
really nice to know you have a safety

00:26:50.000 –> 00:26:52.000
net like that over at third base where

00:26:52.000 –> 00:26:55.000
anything that you hit that way, you never

00:26:55.000 –> 00:26:56.000
had to look at the left side of

00:26:56.000 –> 00:26:58.000
the field. Yeah. Because Hammer, David, Xstein, was

00:26:58.000 –> 00:26:58.000
gonna pick it

00:26:59.000 –> 00:27:00.000
up, and you were gonna be good to

00:27:00.000 –> 00:27:01.000
go. And on the right side, you got

00:27:01.000 –> 00:27:02.000
pool holes at first. Yeah. You were gonna

00:27:02.000 –> 00:27:05.000
be good to go. Second basement was We

00:27:05.000 –> 00:27:07.000
it bounced around that year. Hey. I had,

00:27:07.000 –> 00:27:09.000
I think I had some, what, belly yard

00:27:09.000 –> 00:27:12.000
late no. The belly yard late no six.

00:27:12.000 –> 00:27:13.000
Gritzelonic

00:27:13.000 –> 00:27:15.000
was there in two thousand and five.

00:27:15.000 –> 00:27:17.000
So bouncing around a little bit on that

00:27:17.000 –> 00:27:18.000
side of the infield. What did what did

00:27:18.000 –> 00:27:20.000
it seem though? At Jim Edmonds in center

00:27:20.000 –> 00:27:22.000
field, like, just hit it. Go ahead and

00:27:22.000 –> 00:27:23.000
hit it. Try it. Just go over to

00:27:23.000 –> 00:27:26.000
anybody. Yeah. Don’t walk anybody. You’d be good.

00:27:26.000 –> 00:27:28.000
So how do you prepare for a game

00:27:28.000 –> 00:27:30.000
now? Like, what’s that like for you. Yeah.

00:27:30.000 –> 00:27:31.000
A lot of it is, like, we were

00:27:31.000 –> 00:27:34.000
talking about before is one of my first

00:27:34.000 –> 00:27:36.000
things that I do is I prepare, like,

00:27:36.000 –> 00:27:38.000
I was pitching against the opposing line. So

00:27:38.000 –> 00:27:40.000
I’ll dig in. I’ll I’ll look at the

00:27:40.000 –> 00:27:40.000
tendencies

00:27:41.000 –> 00:27:42.000
and all of that stuff. I’ll look at

00:27:42.000 –> 00:27:43.000
their last couple of weeks of what they’ve

00:27:43.000 –> 00:27:44.000
done and,

00:27:45.000 –> 00:27:47.000
all the heat zones all all that good

00:27:47.000 –> 00:27:49.000
stuff, then you’re obviously looking at your starters

00:27:49.000 –> 00:27:51.000
arsenal for the day.

00:27:51.000 –> 00:27:54.000
But, I’ll dig into Bullpens who’s been who’s

00:27:54.000 –> 00:27:56.000
throwing a lot late who’s likely gonna be

00:27:56.000 –> 00:27:59.000
down, try to manage my way through games

00:27:59.000 –> 00:28:01.000
like a manager would. Turns out I don’t

00:28:01.000 –> 00:28:03.000
make some of the same moves as other

00:28:03.000 –> 00:28:04.000
managers because I’m not I don’t think as

00:28:04.000 –> 00:28:06.000
fast. As some of these guys do.

00:28:07.000 –> 00:28:09.000
But that’s that’s part of the preparation. Just

00:28:09.000 –> 00:28:12.000
watching. And it’s it’s a lot easier

00:28:12.000 –> 00:28:14.000
doing the games the more you do. So

00:28:15.000 –> 00:28:16.000
the the reps that I got this past

00:28:16.000 –> 00:28:19.000
year, it was it was easier to do

00:28:19.000 –> 00:28:21.000
the job because you’re around these guys every

00:28:21.000 –> 00:28:23.000
day. You’re watching them every day. When you’re

00:28:23.000 –> 00:28:24.000
in and out, it makes it a little

00:28:24.000 –> 00:28:25.000
bit more difficult. You feel like not that

00:28:25.000 –> 00:28:27.000
you’re not watching at home, but it’s different.

00:28:27.000 –> 00:28:28.000
When you get your family running around, you’re

00:28:28.000 –> 00:28:31.000
cooking dinner, and like everybody watching games, you

00:28:31.000 –> 00:28:34.000
miss certain parts of it, but the repetition

00:28:34.000 –> 00:28:36.000
part of it just makes it big. And

00:28:36.000 –> 00:28:38.000
and that’s one of the other things. I’m

00:28:38.000 –> 00:28:40.000
around, I wanna be around the players. They’re

00:28:40.000 –> 00:28:42.000
the story. Like, what you’re it’s not about

00:28:42.000 –> 00:28:43.000
me. It’s not about what I did. It’s

00:28:43.000 –> 00:28:46.000
not about chipping eyes banter and forth, it’s

00:28:46.000 –> 00:28:47.000
about what are these guys doing? What are

00:28:47.000 –> 00:28:49.000
they going through? What are they working on?

00:28:49.000 –> 00:28:51.000
And that is a lot of the preparation

00:28:51.000 –> 00:28:53.000
is in being around these guys and getting

00:28:53.000 –> 00:28:55.000
that information. And I think too, that prep

00:28:55.000 –> 00:28:57.000
shows. And, obviously, you love what you do.

00:28:57.000 –> 00:28:59.000
And I think I know about you the

00:28:59.000 –> 00:29:00.000
same thing. You take lots of notes, you

00:29:00.000 –> 00:29:01.000
prepare.

00:29:01.000 –> 00:29:03.000
That’s important. And that comes across in the

00:29:03.000 –> 00:29:05.000
microphone. Too. Right? But I I talked to

00:29:05.000 –> 00:29:07.000
Chip Carey. He was on the podcast, not

00:29:07.000 –> 00:29:09.000
to keep name dropping podcast guest, but, he

00:29:09.000 –> 00:29:10.000
said you were one of the biggest

00:29:11.000 –> 00:29:13.000
helper. Like, biggest helps for him to embrace

00:29:13.000 –> 00:29:15.000
being in the Saint Louis cardinals. Right? You

00:29:15.000 –> 00:29:16.000
got a new guy. You’re replacing a guy

00:29:16.000 –> 00:29:18.000
that’s twenty four years everybody loved.

00:29:19.000 –> 00:29:20.000
That was tough, but he said that about

00:29:20.000 –> 00:29:22.000
you. So what was that relationship like for

00:29:22.000 –> 00:29:24.000
you and Chip? And then I came into

00:29:24.000 –> 00:29:25.000
the booth with you, at spring training this

00:29:27.000 –> 00:29:28.000
year. It would have been nice to know

00:29:28.000 –> 00:29:30.000
that he’s, like, six six. Oh, he’s enormous.

00:29:30.000 –> 00:29:32.000
I had no idea. He stood up. I’m,

00:29:32.000 –> 00:29:33.000
like, oh, I feel like I’m hanging out

00:29:33.000 –> 00:29:35.000
with Fredberg. Yes, dude. Yeah. Except her. Chip

00:29:35.000 –> 00:29:36.000
talks a lot more. Exactly.

00:29:37.000 –> 00:29:39.000
So what’s that like for you, you guys’

00:29:39.000 –> 00:29:40.000
relationship? Yeah.

00:29:40.000 –> 00:29:43.000
It it was really amazing how quickly

00:29:44.000 –> 00:29:46.000
things click. Like, between him and I, and

00:29:46.000 –> 00:29:48.000
I, hopefully, that’s something that really comes out

00:29:48.000 –> 00:29:49.000
on air,

00:29:50.000 –> 00:29:52.000
really close, really fast. Now had the good

00:29:52.000 –> 00:29:52.000
opportunity

00:29:53.000 –> 00:29:55.000
to meet Chip over the years last couple

00:29:55.000 –> 00:29:56.000
of times. Okay.

00:29:56.000 –> 00:29:58.000
And you know how close I am with

00:29:58.000 –> 00:30:00.000
with Danny Mack, love him to death. And

00:30:00.000 –> 00:30:02.000
Dan was one of my biggest advocates

00:30:02.000 –> 00:30:05.000
of doing more games and helping me and

00:30:05.000 –> 00:30:05.000
really

00:30:06.000 –> 00:30:08.000
really mentored me through through a lot of

00:30:08.000 –> 00:30:09.000
things. And I know that there are gonna

00:30:09.000 –> 00:30:10.000
be a lot of big things come for

00:30:10.000 –> 00:30:12.000
Danny Mac as well, but they made the

00:30:12.000 –> 00:30:14.000
change, and I don’t think that you could

00:30:14.000 –> 00:30:16.000
have picked anybody better than than Chip Carey.

00:30:16.000 –> 00:30:17.000
If you were gonna make that change,

00:30:18.000 –> 00:30:18.000
the personality

00:30:19.000 –> 00:30:22.000
is fantastic, his energy, his love of life.

00:30:22.000 –> 00:30:24.000
And, like, that’s easy to feed off of.

00:30:24.000 –> 00:30:25.000
Right. So when you have,

00:30:25.000 –> 00:30:27.000
couple of guys that have that sort of

00:30:27.000 –> 00:30:30.000
energy. I don’t care if you’re down ten,

00:30:30.000 –> 00:30:31.000
nothing in the first inning.

00:30:32.000 –> 00:30:34.000
You’re a fan. Do you wanna listen to

00:30:34.000 –> 00:30:36.000
a couple of guys just beating a dead

00:30:36.000 –> 00:30:38.000
horse early on and negative and down in

00:30:38.000 –> 00:30:40.000
the dumps? No. Like, at least I don’t.

00:30:40.000 –> 00:30:42.000
I and maybe some some fans do. And

00:30:42.000 –> 00:30:44.000
I do get that I get the pushback

00:30:44.000 –> 00:30:46.000
of you’re too positive. You don’t say anything

00:30:46.000 –> 00:30:49.000
Brad, like, maybe maybe to a certain extent.

00:30:51.000 –> 00:30:53.000
But I’d rather just be happy too instead

00:30:53.000 –> 00:30:55.000
of and again, I’ll talk about the bad

00:30:55.000 –> 00:30:58.000
things that are there. I’ll spin them positive

00:30:58.000 –> 00:31:00.000
somehow or another because I want this to

00:31:00.000 –> 00:31:02.000
be entertaining. I don’t want you to tune

00:31:02.000 –> 00:31:04.000
into a ball game. It’s down. You’re down

00:31:04.000 –> 00:31:06.000
five runs and you just go wanna watch

00:31:06.000 –> 00:31:08.000
jeopardy. Don’t forget that. Yeah. Stay here. Yeah.

00:31:08.000 –> 00:31:10.000
We’ll have some fun. These guys are gonna

00:31:10.000 –> 00:31:12.000
put on a show for you and let’s

00:31:12.000 –> 00:31:14.000
entertain like at the end of the day,

00:31:14.000 –> 00:31:17.000
it’s still an entertainment business. Like I mentioned,

00:31:17.000 –> 00:31:20.000
the players, the coach, that’s your product. That’s

00:31:20.000 –> 00:31:22.000
what we’re watching and that’s what we’re propping

00:31:22.000 –> 00:31:23.000
up. But our job in between all of

00:31:23.000 –> 00:31:26.000
that is keep you engaged. Keep you loving

00:31:26.000 –> 00:31:29.000
the game. Keep you love the cardinals wanting

00:31:29.000 –> 00:31:31.000
to come back, and I wanna build that

00:31:31.000 –> 00:31:34.000
relationship. One of the biggest, like, compliments that

00:31:34.000 –> 00:31:36.000
I can get is when I meet people,

00:31:36.000 –> 00:31:39.000
said, man, I I love listening to you

00:31:39.000 –> 00:31:40.000
guys. I would just love to have a

00:31:40.000 –> 00:31:42.000
beer with you. Like, I wanna build that

00:31:42.000 –> 00:31:44.000
relationship where I’m, like, part of your

00:31:44.000 –> 00:31:46.000
your evening. Well, you’re in everybody’s house. Every

00:31:46.000 –> 00:31:48.000
night is creepy. You hit really creepy. When

00:31:48.000 –> 00:31:50.000
I when I talk to kids, I say,

00:31:50.000 –> 00:31:51.000
Hey, I’m the voice that puts you to

00:31:51.000 –> 00:31:53.000
bed Yeah. Like That’s not real. I mean,

00:31:53.000 –> 00:31:55.000
that’s what Mike Shannon was. Right? It’s it’s

00:31:58.000 –> 00:31:59.000
it’s fun to be part of such a

00:31:59.000 –> 00:32:01.000
a legacy line that. And so that we

00:32:01.000 –> 00:32:03.000
have so many great people that work around

00:32:03.000 –> 00:32:05.000
it. You look at the the radio side

00:32:05.000 –> 00:32:08.000
of of things with John rooney and Ricky

00:32:08.000 –> 00:32:10.000
Horton and Mike Clay warrant. They do such

00:32:10.000 –> 00:32:12.000
a fantastic job.

00:32:12.000 –> 00:32:14.000
Ship is great to work with. Jim Edmonds

00:32:15.000 –> 00:32:16.000
is every time I listen to Jim, I

00:32:16.000 –> 00:32:18.000
learn something about baseball. He’s just got an

00:32:18.000 –> 00:32:19.000
incredible

00:32:19.000 –> 00:32:22.000
baseball mind. The entire crew that works over

00:32:22.000 –> 00:32:25.000
there is is is great. Alraboski has helped

00:32:25.000 –> 00:32:26.000
me out a ton. I’ve got that’s one

00:32:26.000 –> 00:32:29.000
of the biggest things that I’ve been so

00:32:29.000 –> 00:32:32.000
pleased with and just honestly really impressed by

00:32:32.000 –> 00:32:34.000
is how that whole group is in erased

00:32:34.000 –> 00:32:37.000
me. New guy coming in.

00:32:37.000 –> 00:32:39.000
It’s a competitive industry. There’s only so many

00:32:39.000 –> 00:32:41.000
of these jobs. Right? There’s only so many

00:32:41.000 –> 00:32:43.000
reps that are out there. And

00:32:43.000 –> 00:32:45.000
you know, specifically talk about analyst

00:32:45.000 –> 00:32:48.000
guys, Rick Horton and Alraboski have, like, been

00:32:48.000 –> 00:32:51.000
my biggest helpers ever. Yeah. Like, I have

00:32:51.000 –> 00:32:53.000
a question about something, I can call them

00:32:53.000 –> 00:32:55.000
up. They they help me out. Give me

00:32:55.000 –> 00:32:57.000
advice. It’s been Which, how cool is that

00:32:57.000 –> 00:33:00.000
to think about their character I mean, that

00:33:00.000 –> 00:33:02.000
you’re taking games or reps as you say

00:33:02.000 –> 00:33:04.000
away from them. Right? And it’s like, here

00:33:04.000 –> 00:33:05.000
they are still helping you. Do you think

00:33:05.000 –> 00:33:07.000
that’s go ahead. No. I was gonna say,

00:33:07.000 –> 00:33:10.000
I that’s but that’s baseball. Yeah. Like, that

00:33:10.000 –> 00:33:12.000
is that is the mindset or at least

00:33:12.000 –> 00:33:14.000
the mindset of the great ones is

00:33:15.000 –> 00:33:17.000
I am gonna I’m trying to pass this

00:33:17.000 –> 00:33:19.000
along. Trying to pass this along. Yes. I

00:33:19.000 –> 00:33:20.000
wanna do this as long as I can.

00:33:20.000 –> 00:33:22.000
Talking about Friday baseball level. I wanna do

00:33:22.000 –> 00:33:24.000
it at the highest level, and I’m trying

00:33:24.000 –> 00:33:25.000
to to keep my ab ads, keep my

00:33:25.000 –> 00:33:28.000
innings, but I also know that someone helped

00:33:28.000 –> 00:33:30.000
me get here. Yeah. And I wanna help

00:33:30.000 –> 00:33:32.000
this guy get to that spot. And that

00:33:32.000 –> 00:33:33.000
guy is gonna help the next guy. And

00:33:33.000 –> 00:33:35.000
that’s something we’ve been so blessed with in

00:33:35.000 –> 00:33:36.000
the cardinal organization

00:33:37.000 –> 00:33:39.000
is they’ve passed these things down, and you’ve

00:33:39.000 –> 00:33:41.000
passed down what it means to be a

00:33:41.000 –> 00:33:43.000
cardinal, and and what it means to put

00:33:43.000 –> 00:33:45.000
on that jersey, Those things don’t happen if

00:33:45.000 –> 00:33:47.000
you don’t have players helping each other. And

00:33:47.000 –> 00:33:49.000
that’s actually what I was gonna go with.

00:33:49.000 –> 00:33:50.000
Wearing the birds in the bat as a

00:33:50.000 –> 00:33:53.000
player. Now wearing, quote unquote, wearing the birds

00:33:53.000 –> 00:33:54.000
in the bat as an announcer. You can

00:33:54.000 –> 00:33:55.000
work for You can work for a suit.

00:33:55.000 –> 00:33:57.000
That’d be a nice suit. Nice shirt. Yeah.

00:33:57.000 –> 00:33:59.000
We’ll see if there’s dust that made. Somebody

00:33:59.000 –> 00:34:00.000
will be less a custom suit guy. Get

00:34:00.000 –> 00:34:03.000
Brad a suit with custom bats on it.

00:34:04.000 –> 00:34:05.000
What was I saying? The card organization. So,

00:34:05.000 –> 00:34:07.000
obviously, you you don’t know they work for

00:34:07.000 –> 00:34:09.000
the cardinals. I think that’s okay to say

00:34:09.000 –> 00:34:10.000
that. Right? Yeah. You work for the ballies.

00:34:10.000 –> 00:34:12.000
Yeah. You’re employee of ballies. Yeah. But, yeah,

00:34:12.000 –> 00:34:14.000
how much does the cardinal organization

00:34:14.000 –> 00:34:15.000
run

00:34:15.000 –> 00:34:16.000
through

00:34:16.000 –> 00:34:16.000
valleys

00:34:17.000 –> 00:34:18.000
deep into you guys and all that stuff.

00:34:18.000 –> 00:34:19.000
Yeah. I think it’s a partnership.

00:34:20.000 –> 00:34:20.000
Obviously,

00:34:21.000 –> 00:34:22.000
and I I don’t even know what the

00:34:22.000 –> 00:34:24.000
logistics of are, but I believe that the,

00:34:24.000 –> 00:34:26.000
you know, Carlos are are in on ownership

00:34:26.000 –> 00:34:29.000
of that too. Like, they they bought into

00:34:29.000 –> 00:34:29.000
that.

00:34:30.000 –> 00:34:32.000
But I I feel like they’re they work

00:34:32.000 –> 00:34:34.000
together. Like, that’s kinda how the crew is.

00:34:34.000 –> 00:34:36.000
I know that the cardinals have a say

00:34:36.000 –> 00:34:38.000
of who is on their airwaves and who’s

00:34:38.000 –> 00:34:39.000
talking about their game

00:34:40.000 –> 00:34:40.000
and,

00:34:41.000 –> 00:34:43.000
I’m I’m so happy that I’ve been able

00:34:43.000 –> 00:34:45.000
to carve out a niche and and have

00:34:45.000 –> 00:34:47.000
the relationships that I have

00:34:47.000 –> 00:34:49.000
with, you know, with people within the organization

00:34:49.000 –> 00:34:51.000
not, like, just like I did as a

00:34:51.000 –> 00:34:53.000
player. Every time that I’m doing a game

00:34:53.000 –> 00:34:54.000
now as a broadcaster,

00:34:54.000 –> 00:34:56.000
I’m trying to keep my job. Like, I’m

00:34:56.000 –> 00:34:58.000
trying I’m trying to get Like, I wanna

00:34:58.000 –> 00:35:00.000
get better every day, and I I want

00:35:00.000 –> 00:35:03.000
to learn more and more. And I also

00:35:03.000 –> 00:35:05.000
realize something’s always coming for this job. Right?

00:35:05.000 –> 00:35:07.000
So I wanna put my best foot forward

00:35:07.000 –> 00:35:10.000
every single day and just continue to try

00:35:10.000 –> 00:35:12.000
to stay in everybody’s good graces and

00:35:12.000 –> 00:35:14.000
and do his of a job as I

00:35:14.000 –> 00:35:16.000
can. What’s been the most memorable,

00:35:17.000 –> 00:35:19.000
baseball moment for you as an announcer?

00:35:19.000 –> 00:35:21.000
Man, that’s hard. There there have been so

00:35:21.000 –> 00:35:23.000
many good ones, especially in the last couple

00:35:23.000 –> 00:35:24.000
years. I mean, you you had

00:35:25.000 –> 00:35:26.000
being able to be on the call two

00:35:26.000 –> 00:35:27.000
years ago

00:35:28.000 –> 00:35:30.000
as we knew the future

00:35:30.000 –> 00:35:31.000
of Yadi

00:35:32.000 –> 00:35:34.000
and Albert, you knew that they were gonna

00:35:34.000 –> 00:35:36.000
retire. Didn’t know at the time, the future

00:35:36.000 –> 00:35:38.000
of Adam Wayne. Right? But those three walking

00:35:38.000 –> 00:35:39.000
off the mound together.

00:35:40.000 –> 00:35:43.000
I mean, it’s just an unreal site, a

00:35:43.000 –> 00:35:46.000
picture that you’ll see forever in cardinal history.

00:35:46.000 –> 00:35:48.000
That is a a big one.

00:35:48.000 –> 00:35:50.000
Albert Puhl’s hitting number

00:35:51.000 –> 00:35:51.000
07:03,

00:35:51.000 –> 00:35:54.000
like the final one Yeah. Was a big

00:35:54.000 –> 00:35:56.000
one too in Pittsburgh. Now I would say

00:35:56.000 –> 00:35:58.000
six ninety nine and seven hundred. Mhmm. But,

00:35:58.000 –> 00:36:00.000
you know, I literally thought about you that

00:36:00.000 –> 00:36:01.000
night. We were in my basement. We had

00:36:01.000 –> 00:36:04.000
people over on Apple TV and my god

00:36:04.000 –> 00:36:06.000
sucks. Really Albert, both of them. Couldn’t take

00:36:06.000 –> 00:36:07.000
the side off.

00:36:08.000 –> 00:36:10.000
That hurt. So that’s that’s one. And maybe

00:36:10.000 –> 00:36:12.000
I’ll change this story. It’s like one of

00:36:12.000 –> 00:36:14.000
those fishing stories, you know. Like, I was

00:36:14.000 –> 00:36:16.000
there. Yes. Because I was in LA. We

00:36:16.000 –> 00:36:18.000
were just saying because you did it the

00:36:18.000 –> 00:36:19.000
night before. The night before, did it the

00:36:19.000 –> 00:36:22.000
night after, Brett. But, yeah, I was watching

00:36:22.000 –> 00:36:25.000
that one on my iPad in my hotel

00:36:25.000 –> 00:36:26.000
room. And they asked me to say, hey,

00:36:26.000 –> 00:36:28.000
you do you wanna take it for the

00:36:28.000 –> 00:36:29.000
game? I said, no. I’m I’m going to

00:36:29.000 –> 00:36:30.000
games every day. I don’t need to take

00:36:30.000 –> 00:36:32.000
it for game? What’s he gonna end it?

00:36:32.000 –> 00:36:34.000
It possibly happened tonight. In a couple years

00:36:34.000 –> 00:36:35.000
though, that story will be like, yeah, and

00:36:35.000 –> 00:36:37.000
he hit the home run. And then do

00:36:37.000 –> 00:36:38.000
you remember him going back and giving the

00:36:38.000 –> 00:36:40.000
high five that was me? I was there.

00:36:40.000 –> 00:36:42.000
It wasn’t Beltrey. It was right. Right.

00:36:42.000 –> 00:36:45.000
That was funny. Speaking to Beltran, you said

00:36:45.000 –> 00:36:46.000
Beltrey, I think you said. Yeah. I think

00:36:46.000 –> 00:36:49.000
you said. Beltran. Yeah. Beltran. What was that?

00:36:49.000 –> 00:36:51.000
Moment like I mean, he was a cardinal

00:36:51.000 –> 00:36:54.000
killer. Right. Oh, yeah. And two thousand six,

00:36:54.000 –> 00:36:55.000
NLCS,

00:36:55.000 –> 00:36:57.000
two men on. I think cardinals rep, what,

00:36:57.000 –> 00:36:58.000
three to one

00:36:58.000 –> 00:37:00.000
bottom of the ninth, tight.

00:37:00.000 –> 00:37:02.000
I mean, I remember, like, his yesterday watching

00:37:02.000 –> 00:37:04.000
that game. What was that like, obviously, being

00:37:04.000 –> 00:37:06.000
there and having a uniform on? The,

00:37:06.000 –> 00:37:10.000
the NLCS and specifically that game seven is

00:37:10.000 –> 00:37:11.000
far more memorable

00:37:12.000 –> 00:37:13.000
than the world series to me. And I

00:37:13.000 –> 00:37:15.000
think that for anybody that was in it,

00:37:16.000 –> 00:37:18.000
and doing it. Like, that was you go

00:37:18.000 –> 00:37:20.000
to a game seven. You have so many

00:37:20.000 –> 00:37:22.000
ups and downs throughout it. You still remember

00:37:22.000 –> 00:37:25.000
the Andy Chavez robbed home run of Scott

00:37:25.000 –> 00:37:28.000
Gilliland we’re, like, where did that come from?

00:37:28.000 –> 00:37:30.000
Like, Tyler Johnson left handed reliever and myself

00:37:30.000 –> 00:37:32.000
were right behind Like, you see you see

00:37:32.000 –> 00:37:34.000
Shaba’s arm? We’re right behind that wall on

00:37:34.000 –> 00:37:36.000
the bowl family. No. No. I was gonna

00:37:36.000 –> 00:37:38.000
catch that. Yes. Yes.

00:37:39.000 –> 00:37:42.000
But that, that place was so loud. Shea

00:37:42.000 –> 00:37:43.000
was loud. Have have you ever been to

00:37:43.000 –> 00:37:45.000
Shea State, anyway? Had you been there? No.

00:37:45.000 –> 00:37:48.000
So it was crazy loud. Old school speakers

00:37:48.000 –> 00:37:50.000
in center field, Apple would pop up. I’m

00:37:50.000 –> 00:37:52.000
telling you the place would sway. Like, you

00:37:52.000 –> 00:37:54.000
could see it sway. It was just an

00:37:54.000 –> 00:37:55.000
energy there was New York. Like, it was

00:37:55.000 –> 00:37:56.000
New York, passionate.

00:37:57.000 –> 00:37:59.000
Sports fans in the biggest Thompson.

00:38:00.000 –> 00:38:02.000
And then Adam Wayne Wright, the rookie

00:38:02.000 –> 00:38:04.000
comes in and does that. And I know

00:38:04.000 –> 00:38:06.000
you’ve heard Adam talk about him and yachty

00:38:06.000 –> 00:38:08.000
going through that. He starts him out with

00:38:08.000 –> 00:38:09.000
a change up, which is a pitch that

00:38:09.000 –> 00:38:12.000
he never throws. Like, it just it just

00:38:12.000 –> 00:38:14.000
had the body’s like, hey, this is the

00:38:14.000 –> 00:38:17.000
is the pitch. Do it. And then set

00:38:17.000 –> 00:38:19.000
everything else up. Let’s change this whole career

00:38:19.000 –> 00:38:20.000
probably. Right? I mean, you think one, the

00:38:20.000 –> 00:38:23.000
confidence, but number two, the the confidence to

00:38:23.000 –> 00:38:24.000
listen to a guy

00:38:24.000 –> 00:38:26.000
tells me in this moment to throw a

00:38:26.000 –> 00:38:28.000
pitch. It’s not my best pitch that I’m

00:38:28.000 –> 00:38:30.000
not the best at. Right? Yeah. Throw it.

00:38:30.000 –> 00:38:32.000
Trust it. He did it in then, holy

00:38:32.000 –> 00:38:35.000
crap. Yeah. Well, that’s and and remember too,

00:38:35.000 –> 00:38:37.000
that was, I mean, what, two years into

00:38:37.000 –> 00:38:40.000
Yati’s career. Wasn’t like he was six. He

00:38:40.000 –> 00:38:41.000
came up in o he wasn’t the cagey

00:38:41.000 –> 00:38:43.000
vet. Yeah. O four. O fours is for

00:38:43.000 –> 00:38:45.000
sure. Yeah. Well, he wasn’t like the cagey

00:38:45.000 –> 00:38:48.000
veteran at the time. But you already knew

00:38:48.000 –> 00:38:50.000
you knew what he was and you knew

00:38:50.000 –> 00:38:53.000
the preparation that was there. And Adam had

00:38:53.000 –> 00:38:54.000
that trust in him and also had the

00:38:54.000 –> 00:38:57.000
trust in his ability. If that’s what you

00:38:57.000 –> 00:38:59.000
believe is gonna be right, let’s do it.

00:38:59.000 –> 00:39:00.000
And I’m sure that if he felt it

00:39:00.000 –> 00:39:02.000
in his hand and he was like, this

00:39:02.000 –> 00:39:03.000
isn’t it, he wouldn’t Yeah. You know, but

00:39:03.000 –> 00:39:05.000
he he trusted in in yachty. He made

00:39:05.000 –> 00:39:07.000
the pitch, then obviously made the pitch with

00:39:07.000 –> 00:39:10.000
the biggest breaking ball of his career. Michael

00:39:10.000 –> 00:39:12.000
Charlie was probably sure was. But I I

00:39:12.000 –> 00:39:14.000
think you bring up a great point. Like,

00:39:14.000 –> 00:39:15.000
what if what if that went a different

00:39:15.000 –> 00:39:17.000
direction? Right? What what if it

00:39:17.000 –> 00:39:19.000
Beltran hit it out of the ballpark? Now

00:39:19.000 –> 00:39:22.000
I still believe that Adam Wayne, right, a

00:39:22.000 –> 00:39:24.000
man of conviction, a man of the he

00:39:24.000 –> 00:39:26.000
he’s not gonna he’s been knocked down plenty

00:39:26.000 –> 00:39:27.000
in his career. I still believe that he

00:39:27.000 –> 00:39:30.000
would have carved himself out quite a career.

00:39:30.000 –> 00:39:32.000
But what a way to start it? Or

00:39:32.000 –> 00:39:35.000
you you do that, and then you transition

00:39:35.000 –> 00:39:37.000
into starting cardinal hall You’ll transit one. You

00:39:37.000 –> 00:39:39.000
weren’t even to close busy was to close.

00:39:39.000 –> 00:39:40.000
Yes. Right. Well, he was, and then is

00:39:40.000 –> 00:39:41.000
he got hurt and then he had to

00:39:41.000 –> 00:39:43.000
say over. Yeah. So he had to learn

00:39:43.000 –> 00:39:44.000
that on the fly. And again, you wanna

00:39:44.000 –> 00:39:46.000
talk about mentorship You wanna talk about a

00:39:46.000 –> 00:39:48.000
guy that was going through probably one of

00:39:48.000 –> 00:39:50.000
the lower times, injured,

00:39:51.000 –> 00:39:53.000
hip, everything was was banged up for for

00:39:53.000 –> 00:39:55.000
Jason Iseringhousen who is, he, one of my

00:39:55.000 –> 00:39:56.000
biggest mentors

00:39:57.000 –> 00:39:58.000
as a player and one of the best

00:39:58.000 –> 00:40:02.000
people I’ve been around, but he he helps

00:40:02.000 –> 00:40:04.000
mentor Adam Wayne, right, through that? What it’s

00:40:04.000 –> 00:40:06.000
like at the back end of games? What

00:40:06.000 –> 00:40:08.000
to expect? The highs, the lows? Like, all

00:40:08.000 –> 00:40:11.000
of that. That’s a hard thing to learn.

00:40:11.000 –> 00:40:14.000
When you are you’re like a middle relief

00:40:14.000 –> 00:40:16.000
guy, you have a safety net. Your team

00:40:16.000 –> 00:40:18.000
could come back and, you know, you gave

00:40:18.000 –> 00:40:19.000
up three, but who cares? You guys are

00:40:19.000 –> 00:40:21.000
like, well, we won. Like, do that as

00:40:21.000 –> 00:40:22.000
a closer,

00:40:22.000 –> 00:40:25.000
you lose. Yeah. And then you’re you’re the

00:40:25.000 –> 00:40:27.000
goat and not the good one. Yeah. And

00:40:27.000 –> 00:40:28.000
then you gotta come back the next day

00:40:28.000 –> 00:40:30.000
and you have to have the right mindset.

00:40:30.000 –> 00:40:31.000
I think that was a learned mindset. It’s

00:40:31.000 –> 00:40:34.000
all So Adam Wainwright just has that something

00:40:34.000 –> 00:40:36.000
special. He’s just just get the x built

00:40:36.000 –> 00:40:37.000
that way. Of course.

00:40:37.000 –> 00:40:40.000
But having that mentor early, I think helped

00:40:40.000 –> 00:40:42.000
him as well. Yeah. So talk about the

00:40:42.000 –> 00:40:43.000
adrenaline of that. You know, I’m one of

00:40:43.000 –> 00:40:45.000
these guys that I watch sports, and man,

00:40:45.000 –> 00:40:47.000
I feel the moment. Like, you know, I

00:40:47.000 –> 00:40:50.000
just would dream about walking into that stadium

00:40:50.000 –> 00:40:52.000
or walking out of that cord or making

00:40:52.000 –> 00:40:53.000
that putt. Whatever it is,

00:40:53.000 –> 00:40:56.000
I feel the adrenaline at a much different

00:40:56.000 –> 00:40:58.000
level, obviously. But you can feel it. So

00:40:58.000 –> 00:41:00.000
for you, having the adrenaline, man, you know,

00:41:01.000 –> 00:41:02.000
phone rings, they call it up. Brad, you’re

00:41:02.000 –> 00:41:04.000
coming in. Game’s online. Right? You’re coming in.

00:41:04.000 –> 00:41:06.000
You’re walking out of that fence. You gotta

00:41:06.000 –> 00:41:08.000
run to the bull or run to the

00:41:08.000 –> 00:41:11.000
pitcher’s mound. Like, that adrenaline explained that adrenaline

00:41:11.000 –> 00:41:13.000
Gilliland how hard was that to know that

00:41:13.000 –> 00:41:15.000
you I mean, you’ll probably never feel that

00:41:15.000 –> 00:41:19.000
adrenaline again. Yeah. Look, aside from the camaraderie.

00:41:19.000 –> 00:41:21.000
And thankfully, in the job that I have,

00:41:21.000 –> 00:41:24.000
I get that. I still get that around

00:41:24.000 –> 00:41:26.000
the ballpark, hanging out with the guys, like,

00:41:26.000 –> 00:41:29.000
are the broadcast crews, our own team. We

00:41:29.000 –> 00:41:31.000
all hang out, everybody on the road, go

00:41:31.000 –> 00:41:32.000
out. And so it’s so I get the

00:41:32.000 –> 00:41:34.000
camaraderie part of it still.

00:41:34.000 –> 00:41:36.000
The adrenaline aspect,

00:41:36.000 –> 00:41:38.000
I have not been able to find that

00:41:38.000 –> 00:41:39.000
in life. Like, I don’t know what that

00:41:39.000 –> 00:41:42.000
is. And I you brought up the perfect

00:41:42.000 –> 00:41:43.000
example of the phone ring.

00:41:44.000 –> 00:41:47.000
Like, pavlov’s dog. It’s like, is it me?

00:41:47.000 –> 00:41:48.000
Is it me? Is it me? And then

00:41:48.000 –> 00:41:51.000
it’s you. It’s like, boom, get up, start

00:41:51.000 –> 00:41:54.000
throwing. It’s such a it’s such an amazing

00:41:54.000 –> 00:41:57.000
feeling. It’s such an exciting feeling, and everything

00:41:57.000 –> 00:41:59.000
just starts beating a little faster. Right? But

00:41:59.000 –> 00:42:02.000
it’s it’s still controlled. Yep. But it is

00:42:02.000 –> 00:42:04.000
energetic. It’s exciting.

00:42:04.000 –> 00:42:06.000
And I like there are things in my

00:42:06.000 –> 00:42:08.000
life that excited about. There are plenty of

00:42:08.000 –> 00:42:10.000
things in my life that I’m passionate about.

00:42:10.000 –> 00:42:11.000
There are not too many things that I

00:42:11.000 –> 00:42:13.000
have found. And maybe that’s your next big

00:42:13.000 –> 00:42:15.000
idea, Brett. You find that find that adrenaline

00:42:15.000 –> 00:42:15.000
factor.

00:42:16.000 –> 00:42:18.000
Get that going, but I do miss that.

00:42:18.000 –> 00:42:21.000
I I miss that that energy of going

00:42:21.000 –> 00:42:24.000
in. And then that feeling, and and honestly

00:42:24.000 –> 00:42:27.000
even even the bad day, Right? It’s it’s

00:42:27.000 –> 00:42:28.000
a different feeling. Like, you went out there

00:42:28.000 –> 00:42:31.000
and you gave everything that you had in

00:42:31.000 –> 00:42:32.000
what we all know is a game. Right?

00:42:32.000 –> 00:42:34.000
There are bigger things that are going on

00:42:34.000 –> 00:42:36.000
in the world. But in your world right

00:42:36.000 –> 00:42:38.000
there, just like anybody that is going to

00:42:38.000 –> 00:42:39.000
their job, that’s your world. That’s a big

00:42:39.000 –> 00:42:41.000
deal. Others might not look at it as

00:42:41.000 –> 00:42:42.000
a big deal, but to you is and

00:42:42.000 –> 00:42:45.000
it should be when you put everything out

00:42:45.000 –> 00:42:46.000
there on the line and you just let

00:42:46.000 –> 00:42:48.000
the chips fall where they make, like, that’s

00:42:48.000 –> 00:42:50.000
a freeing feeling Yeah. When you have that.

00:42:50.000 –> 00:42:51.000
That’s it’s it’s incredible.

00:42:53.000 –> 00:42:54.000
Let’s see what I’m trying to think the

00:42:54.000 –> 00:42:56.000
next question I wanted to ask here. So

00:42:56.000 –> 00:42:57.000
so how did you,

00:42:58.000 –> 00:42:59.000
when you talked about the camaraderie,

00:43:00.000 –> 00:43:01.000
how do you how do you stay a

00:43:01.000 –> 00:43:03.000
student in the game with what you’re doing

00:43:03.000 –> 00:43:04.000
now? And you’ve kinda touched on that, I

00:43:04.000 –> 00:43:06.000
guess. Yeah. Yes. Continue watching stuff. Yeah. You

00:43:06.000 –> 00:43:08.000
have to you have to keep watching, and

00:43:08.000 –> 00:43:11.000
you to be willing to change too. Yeah.

00:43:11.000 –> 00:43:12.000
You know, I mentioned earlier some of the

00:43:12.000 –> 00:43:15.000
the data and the analytics, and I’m sure

00:43:15.000 –> 00:43:17.000
that a lot of baseball fans, and especially

00:43:17.000 –> 00:43:19.000
in St. Louis, you you’ve got an old

00:43:19.000 –> 00:43:21.000
school baseball fan. Right. You have got, you

00:43:21.000 –> 00:43:22.000
know, Bob Gibson,

00:43:22.000 –> 00:43:26.000
Lou Brock, Ozzie, Smith. Like, yes, legends. And,

00:43:26.000 –> 00:43:28.000
like, that’s the style of baseball that you

00:43:28.000 –> 00:43:31.000
like is throwback in old school. Things have

00:43:31.000 –> 00:43:34.000
changed. Okay? It’s It’s three true outcomes. It’s

00:43:34.000 –> 00:43:37.000
home run, strikeouts, and walks. It’s missing bats

00:43:37.000 –> 00:43:39.000
as a pitcher. It is velocity.

00:43:39.000 –> 00:43:42.000
It’s spin rates. It’s exit velocity. City. It’s

00:43:42.000 –> 00:43:45.000
all of these different things. And I can’t

00:43:45.000 –> 00:43:48.000
be again, talk about a job is to

00:43:48.000 –> 00:43:50.000
grow the game. Mhmm. I can’t sit there

00:43:50.000 –> 00:43:52.000
and be like, that doesn’t anything. That doesn’t

00:43:52.000 –> 00:43:53.000
matter. It does matter. Like, and it does

00:43:53.000 –> 00:43:56.000
mean something. These evaluators are evaluating off of

00:43:56.000 –> 00:43:59.000
some of these things. Scouts are scouting off

00:43:59.000 –> 00:44:01.000
of some of these things. Guys are getting

00:44:01.000 –> 00:44:03.000
paid off of a lot of these different

00:44:03.000 –> 00:44:04.000
power numbers that are out there. It means

00:44:04.000 –> 00:44:07.000
something to a lot of these different So

00:44:07.000 –> 00:44:08.000
one of my biggest things that I try

00:44:08.000 –> 00:44:09.000
to do is,

00:44:10.000 –> 00:44:11.000
even if it’s something I’ll read on the

00:44:11.000 –> 00:44:13.000
surface first or or see a new stat

00:44:13.000 –> 00:44:16.000
come out, like, that seems stupid. Let me

00:44:16.000 –> 00:44:18.000
dig into it at least. Like, let me

00:44:18.000 –> 00:44:20.000
let me open my exactly. Let me continue

00:44:20.000 –> 00:44:22.000
to learn about this. Or let me figure

00:44:22.000 –> 00:44:25.000
out a way where I can feed it

00:44:25.000 –> 00:44:27.000
to a viewer or somebody just passing by

00:44:27.000 –> 00:44:28.000
and say, hey, you know, what does this

00:44:28.000 –> 00:44:31.000
mean? Say, let me make it make sense

00:44:31.000 –> 00:44:32.000
to them and make it matter to them.

00:44:32.000 –> 00:44:35.000
Yeah. Where it matters to people in, like,

00:44:35.000 –> 00:44:36.000
the analytics community. But,

00:44:37.000 –> 00:44:38.000
I try to keep up as much as

00:44:38.000 –> 00:44:40.000
I can with all of the other teams

00:44:40.000 –> 00:44:42.000
in baseball. I get home. I’m watching MLB

00:44:42.000 –> 00:44:44.000
network, like every other baseball fan, because a

00:44:44.000 –> 00:44:47.000
lot like playing. And he’s, like, turn that

00:44:47.000 –> 00:44:48.000
crap off. Oh, yeah. For sure. I’m I

00:44:48.000 –> 00:44:49.000
have to go in the basement. I go

00:44:49.000 –> 00:44:50.000
home. I go the basement.

00:44:51.000 –> 00:44:53.000
But a lot like playing, I can’t just

00:44:53.000 –> 00:44:54.000
go home after a game. I don’t care

00:44:54.000 –> 00:44:56.000
how long the game was. I can’t just

00:44:56.000 –> 00:44:58.000
go to sleep. There has to be that

00:44:58.000 –> 00:44:58.000
unwinding

00:44:58.000 –> 00:45:01.000
period because that’s as close as I get

00:45:01.000 –> 00:45:02.000
to the adrenaline now that we were just

00:45:02.000 –> 00:45:05.000
talking about that in my ear, right, in

00:45:05.000 –> 00:45:07.000
the headset, three, two, one,

00:45:08.000 –> 00:45:10.000
live. And, like, boom. Okay. Here we go.

00:45:10.000 –> 00:45:12.000
Like, this is real. Brad don’t say any

00:45:12.000 –> 00:45:12.000
bad words.

00:45:14.000 –> 00:45:15.000
This is the same about a bad tension.

00:45:15.000 –> 00:45:17.000
Yes. That’s I don’t wanna get used to

00:45:17.000 –> 00:45:19.000
it here though. Right. Exactly. And then and

00:45:19.000 –> 00:45:21.000
then do it, do it a little bit.

00:45:21.000 –> 00:45:23.000
Well, Brett said. Yeah.

00:45:25.000 –> 00:45:26.000
Talk about the pitch clock. Did that change

00:45:26.000 –> 00:45:28.000
the game this year? It did. It it

00:45:28.000 –> 00:45:30.000
it did and

00:45:30.000 –> 00:45:33.000
being an old school base. Spall person. I

00:45:33.000 –> 00:45:35.000
hated the idea. Yeah. Hate the concept of

00:45:35.000 –> 00:45:38.000
it. I liked being able to be that

00:45:38.000 –> 00:45:40.000
high horse guy, Brett, where it’s like, well,

00:45:40.000 –> 00:45:42.000
we’re the only game that doesn’t have o’clock.

00:45:42.000 –> 00:45:44.000
Oh, yeah. Yeah. We’re not. Now we’re not.

00:45:44.000 –> 00:45:45.000
But

00:45:45.000 –> 00:45:46.000
from

00:45:46.000 –> 00:45:48.000
and this isn’t just a broadcaster

00:45:48.000 –> 00:45:50.000
standpoint. Look, I get a half hour backup

00:45:50.000 –> 00:45:52.000
night. It seems like. True.

00:45:52.000 –> 00:45:54.000
So that part of it is nice, but

00:45:54.000 –> 00:45:56.000
I really do believe the game wasn’t meant

00:45:56.000 –> 00:45:59.000
to take three hours every Right. We we’ve

00:45:59.000 –> 00:46:01.000
slowed things down, and a lot of it

00:46:01.000 –> 00:46:03.000
has been the information slows it down. Like,

00:46:03.000 –> 00:46:06.000
a lot of that takes time and the

00:46:06.000 –> 00:46:06.000
evolution

00:46:07.000 –> 00:46:09.000
of the utilization of bowl pens where it’s

00:46:09.000 –> 00:46:12.000
match ups in the six, seven, eight, nine.

00:46:12.000 –> 00:46:15.000
We’ll do it again. Exactly. And, obviously, that

00:46:15.000 –> 00:46:16.000
rule changed too at least with the three

00:46:16.000 –> 00:46:18.000
better minimum a couple of years ago. So

00:46:18.000 –> 00:46:20.000
that sped things up. But I really don’t.

00:46:20.000 –> 00:46:22.000
There’s no reason

00:46:22.000 –> 00:46:25.000
to be out there and hold the ball

00:46:25.000 –> 00:46:27.000
for thirty seconds. Yeah. Like, there’s not. Now

00:46:27.000 –> 00:46:30.000
I don’t like the limited takeoffs. I don’t

00:46:30.000 –> 00:46:31.000
I don’t enjoy that. I think that you

00:46:31.000 –> 00:46:33.000
should be able to do that ten times

00:46:33.000 –> 00:46:34.000
in a row if you want to. I

00:46:34.000 –> 00:46:36.000
also believe that the pitcher should be granted

00:46:36.000 –> 00:46:38.000
a time out just like they or his

00:46:38.000 –> 00:46:40.000
grand time out. I feel like that should

00:46:40.000 –> 00:46:41.000
be a thing. Great point. It just doesn’t

00:46:41.000 –> 00:46:44.000
make sense. Right? She writes that in being,

00:46:44.000 –> 00:46:45.000
I I put it in Rob Manford’s,

00:46:46.000 –> 00:46:48.000
little his box out there, the suggestion box.

00:46:48.000 –> 00:46:50.000
We’ll see we’ll see how it goes. I

00:46:50.000 –> 00:46:51.000
think a lot of pitchers have been beating

00:46:51.000 –> 00:46:53.000
that drum, but that I think that’s something

00:46:53.000 –> 00:46:54.000
that might end up happening.

00:46:54.000 –> 00:46:56.000
At some point, but I do think that

00:46:56.000 –> 00:46:57.000
the pitch clock,

00:46:57.000 –> 00:46:59.000
it did a good job of speeding things

00:46:59.000 –> 00:47:01.000
up. And I really do believe, and I

00:47:01.000 –> 00:47:04.000
don’t know if there’s actually hard data to

00:47:04.000 –> 00:47:05.000
back this up. I’m sure there is because

00:47:05.000 –> 00:47:07.000
there’s data for everything now.

00:47:07.000 –> 00:47:07.000
It’s

00:47:08.000 –> 00:47:11.000
I think that it has affected the hitters

00:47:11.000 –> 00:47:14.000
as much if not more than the pitchers.

00:47:14.000 –> 00:47:16.000
Do you have a lot of hitters that

00:47:16.000 –> 00:47:18.000
take their sweet time getting into the box

00:47:19.000 –> 00:47:22.000
redoing their batting glove. Fifty times.

00:47:22.000 –> 00:47:23.000
Skip Schumacher,

00:47:24.000 –> 00:47:26.000
manager of the year. Congratulations

00:47:26.000 –> 00:47:28.000
to help. But they’re guys and skip will

00:47:28.000 –> 00:47:29.000
do it Alright? Skip being in the box

00:47:29.000 –> 00:47:31.000
too. If there’s some guys that would take

00:47:31.000 –> 00:47:33.000
such a long time doing stuff like that,

00:47:33.000 –> 00:47:35.000
there’s no need for it. Get the box,

00:47:35.000 –> 00:47:36.000
get ready to hit. Get on the mound,

00:47:36.000 –> 00:47:37.000
get ready to throw

00:47:37.000 –> 00:47:40.000
Now, the the only one that I’m, again,

00:47:40.000 –> 00:47:42.000
I’m not sure I love is the pick

00:47:42.000 –> 00:47:44.000
offs. And I think that one of the

00:47:44.000 –> 00:47:45.000
biggest weapons

00:47:46.000 –> 00:47:48.000
that a pitcher has again, I understand why

00:47:48.000 –> 00:47:49.000
baseball is doing it. They want to speed

00:47:49.000 –> 00:47:51.000
up the game, but they also wanna add

00:47:51.000 –> 00:47:53.000
more excitement stolen bases are exciting. One of

00:47:53.000 –> 00:47:55.000
the biggest weapons that you have though with

00:47:55.000 –> 00:47:57.000
runners on base is your ability to hold

00:47:57.000 –> 00:47:58.000
the baseball.

00:47:58.000 –> 00:48:00.000
So if you are there and you got

00:48:00.000 –> 00:48:01.000
a burner at first base, if you can

00:48:01.000 –> 00:48:04.000
just hold the Gilliland a few seconds feels

00:48:04.000 –> 00:48:05.000
like an attorney for a base stealer that’s

00:48:05.000 –> 00:48:07.000
ready to move. Back and slow them down.

00:48:07.000 –> 00:48:09.000
Yeah. Now you have a countdown.

00:48:09.000 –> 00:48:11.000
So that means that the next time you

00:48:11.000 –> 00:48:12.000
go quicker. So you keep getting with your

00:48:12.000 –> 00:48:14.000
kid for sure. Yeah. For sure. So that

00:48:14.000 –> 00:48:17.000
changes a little bit, but you still have

00:48:17.000 –> 00:48:19.000
twenty seconds. Now they’re talking about bringing that

00:48:19.000 –> 00:48:22.000
down to eighteen with with runners on. You

00:48:22.000 –> 00:48:24.000
still have the ability to do it. You

00:48:24.000 –> 00:48:25.000
just have to mix it up a little

00:48:25.000 –> 00:48:27.000
more. You know what? Drives me nuts. I

00:48:27.000 –> 00:48:28.000
don’t know why it drives me. I’m like,

00:48:28.000 –> 00:48:30.000
the old man, Brett, getting mad at the

00:48:30.000 –> 00:48:31.000
shit baseball players.

00:48:31.000 –> 00:48:32.000
When they pull, you know, they get their

00:48:32.000 –> 00:48:34.000
back pocket and they’re pulling Carda. I mean,

00:48:34.000 –> 00:48:36.000
I understand what they’re doing, but I’m like,

00:48:36.000 –> 00:48:38.000
at what point do we not let’s just

00:48:38.000 –> 00:48:40.000
work. We’re professional athlete, and we gotta put

00:48:40.000 –> 00:48:42.000
some work in, and it’s not some guy

00:48:42.000 –> 00:48:43.000
hitting me car and say, okay. When this

00:48:43.000 –> 00:48:45.000
guy’s up, then you’re gonna stand. He like,

00:48:45.000 –> 00:48:47.000
like, I I just missed the gut feeling

00:48:47.000 –> 00:48:49.000
and doing what you think she should do.

00:48:49.000 –> 00:48:51.000
That’s part of the game. Yeah. And,

00:48:51.000 –> 00:48:53.000
I I agree with that. I think there

00:48:53.000 –> 00:48:55.000
are a few things. I think that we

00:48:55.000 –> 00:48:57.000
get so caught up and he’s supposed to

00:48:57.000 –> 00:48:59.000
do this. That when he does the other

00:48:59.000 –> 00:49:02.000
thing, we’re not ready. Yeah. So letting those

00:49:02.000 –> 00:49:02.000
instincts,

00:49:03.000 –> 00:49:05.000
letting that athleticism take over I think is

00:49:05.000 –> 00:49:07.000
important. It just goes back to where is

00:49:07.000 –> 00:49:09.000
the fine line. I think that if you

00:49:09.000 –> 00:49:12.000
are if you’re neglecting the data and all

00:49:12.000 –> 00:49:14.000
of the things that have happened, you’re doing

00:49:14.000 –> 00:49:16.000
it wrong. If you’re just going fully on

00:49:16.000 –> 00:49:18.000
gut instinct, you’re doing it wrong. Where’s that

00:49:18.000 –> 00:49:20.000
middle ground? Where where can we find out

00:49:20.000 –> 00:49:22.000
where we still allow the athleticism?

00:49:22.000 –> 00:49:24.000
We give you the prior knowledge tendencies,

00:49:25.000 –> 00:49:27.000
but you know that anything could happen.

00:49:28.000 –> 00:49:29.000
So I I

00:49:29.000 –> 00:49:31.000
I like that part because our athletes now

00:49:31.000 –> 00:49:34.000
in the game of baseball they’re bigger, stronger,

00:49:34.000 –> 00:49:35.000
faster, more athletic than they ever have been

00:49:35.000 –> 00:49:38.000
before. We’re not seeing it. We don’t see

00:49:38.000 –> 00:49:40.000
that athleticism anymore. And I think that that

00:49:40.000 –> 00:49:41.000
was part of the idea

00:49:41.000 –> 00:49:43.000
of limiting the shift

00:49:43.000 –> 00:49:46.000
is having more rangey athletes

00:49:46.000 –> 00:49:47.000
is not having

00:49:48.000 –> 00:49:50.000
a second baseman standing in right field when

00:49:50.000 –> 00:49:52.000
a guy hits absolute missile that was

00:49:53.000 –> 00:49:54.000
used to be a hit. Well, just about

00:49:54.000 –> 00:49:56.000
really, man. Carpenter’s great. Oh, for sure.

00:49:57.000 –> 00:49:59.000
For sure. So, again, I don’t know if

00:49:59.000 –> 00:50:01.000
like that either, the limiting of the shot.

00:50:01.000 –> 00:50:03.000
I go back and forth because,

00:50:03.000 –> 00:50:04.000
like, in my brain,

00:50:04.000 –> 00:50:07.000
I say evolve. Right? Evolve as a hitter.

00:50:07.000 –> 00:50:08.000
Yep. They’re all standing over there, hit it

00:50:08.000 –> 00:50:10.000
over that’s what I don’t understand. I’m like,

00:50:10.000 –> 00:50:12.000
for Carpenter, I’d be yelling at the TV

00:50:12.000 –> 00:50:13.000
like that stupid fan. I’m like, if they’re

00:50:13.000 –> 00:50:15.000
all over there, just slap that thing down

00:50:15.000 –> 00:50:17.000
the line and fix it. Couple of things.

00:50:17.000 –> 00:50:19.000
Right? Couple of things that go into. And

00:50:19.000 –> 00:50:20.000
it hearkens back to when I said it

00:50:20.000 –> 00:50:22.000
looks easy from up here when I’m watching

00:50:22.000 –> 00:50:24.000
the game. So I wouldn’t even stand at

00:50:24.000 –> 00:50:26.000
the batter’s house. I’d be scared to death.

00:50:26.000 –> 00:50:27.000
A lot of times, they say, Hey, just

00:50:27.000 –> 00:50:29.000
hit a ground ball the other way. Well,

00:50:30.000 –> 00:50:30.000
the pitcher

00:50:30.000 –> 00:50:33.000
knows what your tendency is. They that you’re

00:50:33.000 –> 00:50:35.000
a pull hitter. They’re gonna pitch you to

00:50:35.000 –> 00:50:36.000
it. You’re gonna get a lot of cutters

00:50:36.000 –> 00:50:38.000
and you’re gonna get a, they’re gonna let

00:50:38.000 –> 00:50:40.000
you hit it that way.

00:50:41.000 –> 00:50:43.000
It’s very difficult when somebody’s trying to get

00:50:43.000 –> 00:50:44.000
in your kitchen to hit it the other

00:50:44.000 –> 00:50:47.000
way. And then the the other part of

00:50:47.000 –> 00:50:48.000
it, Brett, is monetarily

00:50:49.000 –> 00:50:49.000
monetarily,

00:50:50.000 –> 00:50:52.000
you don’t get paid to hit three hundred.

00:50:52.000 –> 00:50:55.000
And it sucks to say, but you these

00:50:55.000 –> 00:50:57.000
guys get paid for doubles and homers. And

00:50:57.000 –> 00:51:00.000
doubles and homers aren’t coming slapping the other

00:51:00.000 –> 00:51:03.000
way. So this is this is next level.

00:51:03.000 –> 00:51:05.000
This is Rob Manfred and company Brett get

00:51:05.000 –> 00:51:07.000
together with, like, Elon Musk or something.

00:51:07.000 –> 00:51:09.000
But like how do we incentivize

00:51:09.000 –> 00:51:11.000
the game where that does get you paid?

00:51:11.000 –> 00:51:13.000
Where it’s it’s the ground ball to the

00:51:13.000 –> 00:51:15.000
right side to get the guy over. That’s

00:51:15.000 –> 00:51:18.000
quantifiable stat. Like, winning ball, winning baseball should

00:51:18.000 –> 00:51:21.000
be the goal all the time. Realize that

00:51:21.000 –> 00:51:21.000
people have,

00:51:22.000 –> 00:51:25.000
you you have a small window

00:51:25.000 –> 00:51:27.000
to go out there make your money. Yep.

00:51:27.000 –> 00:51:29.000
And you get it again. It’s strikeouts,

00:51:29.000 –> 00:51:32.000
for pitchers, it’s home runs, it’s doubles. But

00:51:32.000 –> 00:51:33.000
man, there are times in the game where

00:51:33.000 –> 00:51:35.000
I need a ground ball that one side.

00:51:35.000 –> 00:51:37.000
Yeah. Where I need that sacrifice fly. I

00:51:37.000 –> 00:51:39.000
feel like there’s gotta be a way to

00:51:39.000 –> 00:51:41.000
encompass that more into

00:51:41.000 –> 00:51:44.000
winning baseball for everybody. And you know, have

00:51:44.000 –> 00:51:47.000
a pool of money for for that or

00:51:47.000 –> 00:51:49.000
the guy that hits the single and hits

00:51:49.000 –> 00:51:51.000
three hundred or, you know, whatever

00:51:51.000 –> 00:51:54.000
I feel like we’re losing our complete baseball

00:51:54.000 –> 00:51:56.000
players, and it’s not the fact that these

00:51:56.000 –> 00:51:58.000
guys can’t do it. Like, that’s the frustrating

00:51:58.000 –> 00:52:00.000
part. It’s just the fact that the game

00:52:00.000 –> 00:52:02.000
doesn’t benefit them doing it. Yeah. That’s a

00:52:02.000 –> 00:52:03.000
good point. That’s a good point. So do

00:52:03.000 –> 00:52:05.000
we talk about the, O’Tani deal? I mean,

00:52:05.000 –> 00:52:06.000
do we do we dare go there? I

00:52:06.000 –> 00:52:07.000
mean,

00:52:07.000 –> 00:52:09.000
I should play better. That’s one of the

00:52:09.000 –> 00:52:11.000
one of the first things that I think

00:52:11.000 –> 00:52:12.000
about. Well, you should have been a right

00:52:12.000 –> 00:52:14.000
fielder as well as a person. I think

00:52:14.000 –> 00:52:16.000
so. And talent did. And, yes, No. That

00:52:17.000 –> 00:52:19.000
those all would be good. Seven year, seventy

00:52:19.000 –> 00:52:20.000
million dollar deal with what was it? Sixty

00:52:20.000 –> 00:52:20.000
eight per deferred? Yeah.

00:52:24.000 –> 00:52:26.000
That’s So here’s my my question. And you’re

00:52:26.000 –> 00:52:28.000
the financial Gilliland so here’s what I don’t

00:52:28.000 –> 00:52:30.000
understand. Maybe you know this, maybe you don’t.

00:52:30.000 –> 00:52:32.000
And I haven’t read it in to see

00:52:32.000 –> 00:52:33.000
if it’s out there. So if I’m the

00:52:33.000 –> 00:52:35.000
fan, let me go on my soapbox for

00:52:35.000 –> 00:52:36.000
a minute. If I’m the fan, that’s just

00:52:36.000 –> 00:52:38.000
great for the net. Is it seven years

00:52:38.000 –> 00:52:39.000
or ten years, whatever it is? Oh, yeah.

00:52:39.000 –> 00:52:41.000
I’m sorry. Ten years. Yeah. Ten years, seven

00:52:41.000 –> 00:52:42.000
hundred hundred million.

00:52:42.000 –> 00:52:44.000
I’m excited for the next ten years, assuming

00:52:44.000 –> 00:52:45.000
it stays healthy.

00:52:46.000 –> 00:52:48.000
But what about the eleventh year? Right? So

00:52:48.000 –> 00:52:50.000
now the guy is getting paid sixty eight

00:52:50.000 –> 00:52:51.000
million dollars.

00:52:51.000 –> 00:52:53.000
To not play for you. They they talked

00:52:53.000 –> 00:52:54.000
about Bobby Baniya,

00:52:55.000 –> 00:52:57.000
like his deal, right, with the Mets? Remember

00:52:57.000 –> 00:52:58.000
that one? Yep. Still getting paid, I think.

00:52:59.000 –> 00:53:01.000
But point is is now I’m paying sixty

00:53:01.000 –> 00:53:02.000
eight million dollars. So number one, I don’t

00:53:02.000 –> 00:53:03.000
know if I liked that as a fan.

00:53:03.000 –> 00:53:04.000
But number two,

00:53:05.000 –> 00:53:07.000
as the financial guy, O’Tani, is I’d rather

00:53:07.000 –> 00:53:09.000
have my seventy million today

00:53:10.000 –> 00:53:12.000
because my fear would be, what if what

00:53:12.000 –> 00:53:14.000
if they’re not around? Obviously, the dodgers probably

00:53:14.000 –> 00:53:15.000
aren’t going anywhere. Yeah. That’s what you think

00:53:15.000 –> 00:53:17.000
Right? What if they’re not there? So I

00:53:17.000 –> 00:53:18.000
don’t know if they buy an insurance policy

00:53:18.000 –> 00:53:20.000
on that, but he’s putting a lot of

00:53:20.000 –> 00:53:23.000
trust in the Los Angeles Dodgers to, to

00:53:23.000 –> 00:53:24.000
pay me pay me in ten years. Brad,

00:53:24.000 –> 00:53:25.000
I didn’t even think about that.

00:53:26.000 –> 00:53:27.000
That’s why I have guys like you. That’s

00:53:27.000 –> 00:53:30.000
right. They’re thinking about things like this. So,

00:53:30.000 –> 00:53:32.000
what what are the ways, I guess, that

00:53:32.000 –> 00:53:34.000
he is able to do this, not that

00:53:34.000 –> 00:53:35.000
it, like, you want your money and you

00:53:35.000 –> 00:53:37.000
wanna be able to utilize it and wanna

00:53:37.000 –> 00:53:38.000
be able to grow it. I guess one

00:53:38.000 –> 00:53:39.000
of the ways that he’s doing it, they

00:53:39.000 –> 00:53:41.000
say he makes at least over fifty million

00:53:41.000 –> 00:53:42.000
dollars a year off the field. That helps.

00:53:42.000 –> 00:53:44.000
Okay. I shouldn’t know that. To be able

00:53:44.000 –> 00:53:45.000
to do that. I figured he wasn’t going

00:53:45.000 –> 00:53:47.000
broke. No. But chances are. I think I

00:53:47.000 –> 00:53:48.000
was I was looking at this the other

00:53:48.000 –> 00:53:50.000
day. I think that with the

00:53:51.000 –> 00:53:53.000
the two million that he’s technically making. As

00:53:53.000 –> 00:53:55.000
you and I were talking before the podcast,

00:53:55.000 –> 00:53:57.000
though, like, it’ll it’ll cost more or it’ll

00:53:57.000 –> 00:53:59.000
look like more Yeah. At least when they

00:53:59.000 –> 00:54:01.000
do the luxury tax, whatever. But for the

00:54:01.000 –> 00:54:03.000
two million that he’s making, I think he’s,

00:54:03.000 –> 00:54:05.000
like, the tenth or eleventh highest paid player

00:54:05.000 –> 00:54:07.000
on the Dodgers. Right? Now. Like, it’s it’s

00:54:07.000 –> 00:54:09.000
it’s kind of a silly figure that is

00:54:09.000 –> 00:54:12.000
out there. But, yeah, I I don’t know.

00:54:12.000 –> 00:54:14.000
I don’t know how this shakes out at

00:54:14.000 –> 00:54:15.000
the end of it. I don’t know how

00:54:15.000 –> 00:54:17.000
it works out for him, but I do

00:54:17.000 –> 00:54:19.000
know it allows the dodgers a team with

00:54:19.000 –> 00:54:21.000
a lot of financial flexibility anyhow, obviously, to

00:54:21.000 –> 00:54:23.000
be able to sign a deal like this.

00:54:23.000 –> 00:54:24.000
At some point, you’re gonna to pay the

00:54:24.000 –> 00:54:26.000
piper. Yeah. But it also allows them to

00:54:26.000 –> 00:54:28.000
go out there and add more pieces. You

00:54:28.000 –> 00:54:30.000
know, they already made the Brad. They brought

00:54:30.000 –> 00:54:33.000
in glass now. Yeah. And they signed him

00:54:33.000 –> 00:54:36.000
to an extension. Apparently, they’re still in on

00:54:36.000 –> 00:54:36.000
Yamamoto

00:54:37.000 –> 00:54:39.000
Yeah. Which is crazy. And who knows, by

00:54:39.000 –> 00:54:41.000
the time somebody watches this, maybe Yamamoto has

00:54:41.000 –> 00:54:43.000
signed. Right. He’s met with a few different

00:54:43.000 –> 00:54:44.000
teams. Don’t believe the cardinals are one of

00:54:44.000 –> 00:54:46.000
them at this point. Maybe maybe they are

00:54:46.000 –> 00:54:48.000
the mystery team. We’ll go with that mystery

00:54:48.000 –> 00:54:52.000
team, but, it’s if you are able to

00:54:52.000 –> 00:54:54.000
structure a deal like that, it sure does

00:54:54.000 –> 00:54:56.000
provide your team some flexibility. And I wonder

00:54:56.000 –> 00:54:58.000
I wonder, like, what doors is this gonna,

00:54:59.000 –> 00:55:01.000
like, or this Pandora’s box. Yeah. Like doing

00:55:01.000 –> 00:55:01.000
sixty

00:55:02.000 –> 00:55:04.000
dollars. They’re gonna be able to get. They’ll

00:55:04.000 –> 00:55:05.000
pay for that. Yeah. They’ll pay for that.

00:55:05.000 –> 00:55:08.000
That’s why, I mean, unfortunately, Anutani can’t, like,

00:55:08.000 –> 00:55:10.000
as he can. But to come to Saint

00:55:10.000 –> 00:55:11.000
Louis is gonna be hard versus you gotta

00:55:11.000 –> 00:55:13.000
be in LA or New York for that

00:55:13.000 –> 00:55:14.000
amount of money. You would think. You would

00:55:14.000 –> 00:55:17.000
think so. Right? So, I’m

00:55:17.000 –> 00:55:19.000
I’m interested to see it. Like, I I’m

00:55:19.000 –> 00:55:21.000
looking forward to you. Think about that lineup.

00:55:21.000 –> 00:55:23.000
You think about three guys or you have

00:55:23.000 –> 00:55:24.000
three hall of famers in a row. You

00:55:24.000 –> 00:55:27.000
got you got Muokey Brett Shohaeotani and Freddie

00:55:27.000 –> 00:55:28.000
Freeman? Stop.

00:55:28.000 –> 00:55:30.000
It’s incredible. Yeah. You know who’s gonna be

00:55:30.000 –> 00:55:32.000
calling his game. Who’s that? Brad Thompson?

00:55:33.000 –> 00:55:35.000
That’ll be fun. I mean, right? Hope I

00:55:35.000 –> 00:55:37.000
get the Dodgers series. Did and that who

00:55:37.000 –> 00:55:39.000
we open it against? Oh, yeah. In LA,

00:55:40.000 –> 00:55:42.000
right in the beginning. I mean, Brett It’s

00:55:42.000 –> 00:55:44.000
no hate time. Because he he’ll be, yeah,

00:55:44.000 –> 00:55:46.000
he’s back. He just has the DH next

00:55:46.000 –> 00:55:47.000
year. Right? Just the DH. But he’ll be

00:55:47.000 –> 00:55:48.000
he’ll be ready for opening day. Real quick.

00:55:48.000 –> 00:55:50.000
Yeah. And he will be.

00:55:50.000 –> 00:55:52.000
That’s one of the that’s another thing. You

00:55:52.000 –> 00:55:54.000
wanna think about this investment. That just tells

00:55:54.000 –> 00:55:55.000
you off the field they’re gonna make all

00:55:55.000 –> 00:55:56.000
their money. They’re they’re gonna be fine. You

00:55:56.000 –> 00:55:58.000
have a lot of smart people crunching the

00:55:58.000 –> 00:56:00.000
over there, with the Dodgers.

00:56:01.000 –> 00:56:02.000
What what if he doesn’t pitch again? I

00:56:02.000 –> 00:56:05.000
know. He he’s had two elbow surgeries. He’s

00:56:05.000 –> 00:56:07.000
had Tommy John, and then he’s had whatever

00:56:07.000 –> 00:56:09.000
this last one was, which that they’ve kept

00:56:09.000 –> 00:56:10.000
close to the vest. Obviously, the Dodgers have

00:56:10.000 –> 00:56:13.000
to know exactly what he Brad. But that’s

00:56:13.000 –> 00:56:15.000
a lot. That is an enormous risk, but

00:56:15.000 –> 00:56:18.000
it just tells you that unicorn that Shohae

00:56:18.000 –> 00:56:21.000
O’Tani is, that even with the murkiness of

00:56:21.000 –> 00:56:22.000
the future, it makes them it’s not murky

00:56:22.000 –> 00:56:24.000
at all. I just think two surgeries, one

00:56:24.000 –> 00:56:25.000
area,

00:56:25.000 –> 00:56:27.000
is a little scary when you’re investing like

00:56:27.000 –> 00:56:29.000
that. Yeah. Like, that is that is a

00:56:29.000 –> 00:56:31.000
lot to be thrown out there. For one

00:56:31.000 –> 00:56:32.000
thing, the rehab, I mean, you know that

00:56:32.000 –> 00:56:34.000
from experience. Right? I mean, the rehab become

00:56:34.000 –> 00:56:36.000
that who knows what’s gonna happen with the

00:56:36.000 –> 00:56:39.000
arm? It’s scary, man. So, last question for

00:56:39.000 –> 00:56:41.000
you, Brad, is, you think about your amazing

00:56:41.000 –> 00:56:43.000
well, now I got two questions for you.

00:56:43.000 –> 00:56:44.000
One of them is about your kids. What

00:56:44.000 –> 00:56:46.000
what do they think? You know, obviously Dylan

00:56:46.000 –> 00:56:48.000
playing baseball and stuff now. I’m sure your

00:56:48.000 –> 00:56:50.000
daughter pays attention to that stuff. And what

00:56:50.000 –> 00:56:51.000
do they think about Brad

00:56:52.000 –> 00:56:54.000
you know, doing what you’re doing now. Yeah.

00:56:54.000 –> 00:56:55.000
They,

00:56:55.000 –> 00:56:57.000
they’re finally at the point where I think

00:56:57.000 –> 00:56:58.000
that they understand

00:56:58.000 –> 00:57:00.000
what what it is that I do. And,

00:57:00.000 –> 00:57:02.000
as as I mentioned earlier, year. My son

00:57:02.000 –> 00:57:04.000
was born Gilliland,

00:57:04.000 –> 00:57:06.000
of my career, wasn’t in the big leagues

00:57:06.000 –> 00:57:07.000
anymore. So he never got to see that.

00:57:07.000 –> 00:57:09.000
And he never, my my kids never got

00:57:09.000 –> 00:57:11.000
to come to the field with me and

00:57:11.000 –> 00:57:13.000
and go play in the field. Like, stuff

00:57:13.000 –> 00:57:14.000
that I I got to see all these

00:57:14.000 –> 00:57:16.000
other guys do. Yeah. Or I was like,

00:57:16.000 –> 00:57:18.000
look at these old guys. They’re kids.

00:57:18.000 –> 00:57:20.000
My kids never got to do that. Yeah.

00:57:20.000 –> 00:57:21.000
Like, what a great thing it is for

00:57:21.000 –> 00:57:23.000
all these these kids. They get to kinda

00:57:23.000 –> 00:57:24.000
grow up in a clubhouse.

00:57:25.000 –> 00:57:28.000
Well, I they kinda get a little bit

00:57:28.000 –> 00:57:29.000
of that now with me doing what I

00:57:29.000 –> 00:57:31.000
do. They can come up to the booth

00:57:31.000 –> 00:57:33.000
and kinda see see what that is like.

00:57:34.000 –> 00:57:36.000
But I hope they think it’s cool. There

00:57:36.000 –> 00:57:38.000
there are downsides to it. Right? Like any

00:57:38.000 –> 00:57:39.000
other job. Yep. We were talking about youth

00:57:39.000 –> 00:57:41.000
baseball earlier. Unfortunately,

00:57:41.000 –> 00:57:44.000
you know, the youth baseball season, which, like,

00:57:44.000 –> 00:57:46.000
if perfect world. You know, if I weren’t

00:57:46.000 –> 00:57:47.000
doing that, I’d be coaching all the time.

00:57:47.000 –> 00:57:49.000
Like, that’s it. I’d be I’d have a

00:57:49.000 –> 00:57:51.000
youth academy and be doing all of that.

00:57:52.000 –> 00:57:53.000
I miss a lot. I miss a lot

00:57:53.000 –> 00:57:55.000
of the kid stuff during the summer, and

00:57:55.000 –> 00:57:57.000
that that part of it is very difficult.

00:57:57.000 –> 00:57:59.000
And that’s why this time now in the

00:57:59.000 –> 00:58:01.000
off season is so great to be home

00:58:01.000 –> 00:58:03.000
be able to pour in a lot more.

00:58:03.000 –> 00:58:04.000
But I I think that they like it,

00:58:04.000 –> 00:58:06.000
but I’ll be honest with you. I think

00:58:06.000 –> 00:58:08.000
the biggest thing that they get a kick

00:58:08.000 –> 00:58:10.000
out of is that I know Fred Bird.

00:58:10.000 –> 00:58:11.000
That’s it. Like that And I do your

00:58:11.000 –> 00:58:13.000
show. Fred Bird’s my end. Yeah. I got

00:58:13.000 –> 00:58:15.000
the Partners kids TV show. That’s my end.

00:58:15.000 –> 00:58:16.000
That’s awesome. And that last question I was

00:58:16.000 –> 00:58:19.000
gonna talk about is the community is very

00:58:19.000 –> 00:58:21.000
important to you, and you and your, amazing

00:58:21.000 –> 00:58:22.000
wife, you guys do awesome stuff for our,

00:58:22.000 –> 00:58:24.000
for our community here in Saint Louis. But

00:58:24.000 –> 00:58:26.000
when when you think about legacy, I mean,

00:58:26.000 –> 00:58:27.000
what do you what do you got the

00:58:27.000 –> 00:58:29.000
Thompson family to be known for.

00:58:29.000 –> 00:58:32.000
And, what’s important about that to you? Man,

00:58:32.000 –> 00:58:33.000
it’s it’s a great question. Honestly, I I’m

00:58:33.000 –> 00:58:35.000
not sure how much I’ve actually thought about

00:58:35.000 –> 00:58:38.000
leg Like, I thought about down the road.

00:58:38.000 –> 00:58:40.000
But I know this, I I don’t ever

00:58:40.000 –> 00:58:43.000
wanna be the person that is is walking

00:58:43.000 –> 00:58:44.000
up and you’re like, oh, here you go.

00:58:44.000 –> 00:58:46.000
Or are, like, I I want to be

00:58:46.000 –> 00:58:48.000
somebody that that leaves,

00:58:48.000 –> 00:58:51.000
when somebody thinks about me or what I

00:58:51.000 –> 00:58:53.000
do, like, they smile. Like, and,

00:58:53.000 –> 00:58:56.000
they I wanna bring excitement. I wanna bring

00:58:56.000 –> 00:58:58.000
happiness, and I I want to be able

00:58:58.000 –> 00:59:00.000
to give back. And I think that that

00:59:00.000 –> 00:59:01.000
is important, Brett. And I know that something

00:59:01.000 –> 00:59:03.000
that you and your wife do a ton

00:59:03.000 –> 00:59:05.000
of in in our community. And, it’s something

00:59:05.000 –> 00:59:07.000
that I would love to just build something

00:59:07.000 –> 00:59:09.000
more than the right here, the right now,

00:59:09.000 –> 00:59:11.000
the the this game. And, you know, that’s

00:59:11.000 –> 00:59:12.000
kind of a a process. But I think

00:59:12.000 –> 00:59:14.000
it’s also a great example.

00:59:14.000 –> 00:59:16.000
You’ve got a, you know, a young family

00:59:16.000 –> 00:59:19.000
who learning how important that is that it’s

00:59:19.000 –> 00:59:22.000
more so than just the the I am

00:59:22.000 –> 00:59:23.000
doing this right now and say, no, what

00:59:23.000 –> 00:59:26.000
we doing? What are we doing as a

00:59:26.000 –> 00:59:27.000
as a community as a as a people?

00:59:27.000 –> 00:59:30.000
So, I’d like to continue to grow that.

00:59:30.000 –> 00:59:32.000
But I think that any way that, you

00:59:32.000 –> 00:59:34.000
know, I can help in the community. I

00:59:34.000 –> 00:59:36.000
like to do. I like to to be

00:59:36.000 –> 00:59:38.000
around and I like to just be a

00:59:38.000 –> 00:59:40.000
part of things. And it’s special being here,

00:59:41.000 –> 00:59:42.000
being a part of the community of Saint

00:59:42.000 –> 00:59:44.000
Louis and the greater Saint Louis area

00:59:45.000 –> 00:59:45.000
is,

00:59:45.000 –> 00:59:48.000
it’s big. But it’s small. Right. It feels

00:59:48.000 –> 00:59:50.000
like, a Gilliland it’s it’s nice to be

00:59:50.000 –> 00:59:52.000
a part of it. Looking for the date

00:59:52.000 –> 00:59:54.000
exactly. I should know that.

00:59:54.000 –> 00:59:56.000
But speaking of stuff for the community, for

00:59:56.000 –> 00:59:58.000
those listening, February tenth, put that on your

00:59:58.000 –> 01:00:01.000
calendar, the the KC Hall in Ofoul in

01:00:01.000 –> 01:00:03.000
Illinois, Rock for Hope. Oh, nice. For Hope,

01:00:03.000 –> 01:00:06.000
Charity got a Brad, the Nashville All stars

01:00:06.000 –> 01:00:08.000
is what we’re calling about. It’s like big

01:00:08.000 –> 01:00:10.000
country music people. It’s like their guitar player,

01:00:10.000 –> 01:00:12.000
their drummer, their what Yes. When they’re not

01:00:12.000 –> 01:00:14.000
traveling with their main people, they come together.

01:00:14.000 –> 01:00:16.000
And so they’re coming here from Nashville, Tennessee

01:00:17.000 –> 01:00:18.000
on, February tenth

01:00:19.000 –> 01:00:20.000
at the KC Hall, we’re gonna raise some

01:00:20.000 –> 01:00:22.000
money. We’re gonna kick cancer’s ass and listen

01:00:22.000 –> 01:00:24.000
to an amazing band. So maybe you’ll see

01:00:24.000 –> 01:00:26.000
Brad Thompson there. Oh, no doubt. If I’m

01:00:26.000 –> 01:00:28.000
in town, I’m there. You’re there. How long

01:00:28.000 –> 01:00:30.000
have you guys been going with swingpro?

01:00:30.000 –> 01:00:31.000
It’s

01:00:32.000 –> 01:00:34.000
been amazing, man. It’s a long time. And

01:00:34.000 –> 01:00:37.000
so, you know, my the story, my mom’s,

01:00:37.000 –> 01:00:40.000
my mom’s mom and her grandma and two

01:00:40.000 –> 01:00:41.000
of her aunts were all diagnosed with cancer

01:00:41.000 –> 01:00:43.000
at the same time within about a six

01:00:43.000 –> 01:00:44.000
or seven month period.

01:00:44.000 –> 01:00:46.000
And, so that that was a lot. And

01:00:46.000 –> 01:00:47.000
so

01:00:47.000 –> 01:00:49.000
we were driving and thinking what are we

01:00:49.000 –> 01:00:50.000
gonna do about this? And so we started

01:00:50.000 –> 01:00:52.000
our charity. And so with amazing people in

01:00:52.000 –> 01:00:54.000
the community, look out the windows here. I

01:00:54.000 –> 01:00:55.000
mean, we couldn’t do what we do without

01:00:55.000 –> 01:00:57.000
the people on our our board and people

01:00:57.000 –> 01:00:59.000
like you that show up to events. It’s

01:00:59.000 –> 01:01:01.000
just it’s awesome, man. So thanks for asking.

01:01:01.000 –> 01:01:03.000
But it’s, this is about Brad Thompson.

01:01:04.000 –> 01:01:06.000
Two thousand twenty four season. What were we

01:01:06.000 –> 01:01:06.000
predicting?

01:01:07.000 –> 01:01:09.000
More wins. Yeah. More wins. That’s for a

01:01:09.000 –> 01:01:11.000
quote. Hey, look. The cardinals, they they made

01:01:11.000 –> 01:01:13.000
some additions. I know a lot of people

01:01:13.000 –> 01:01:14.000
joking around. I was like, man, they got

01:01:14.000 –> 01:01:16.000
older. It got better is is what they

01:01:16.000 –> 01:01:18.000
did. And, at this point,

01:01:18.000 –> 01:01:21.000
three additions to your rotation, Sunny Gravee, and

01:01:21.000 –> 01:01:23.000
the headliner who I think is a fantastic

01:01:23.000 –> 01:01:24.000
you have a three year deal for Sunny

01:01:24.000 –> 01:01:26.000
Gray guy that knows exactly what he’s doing.

01:01:27.000 –> 01:01:28.000
I think that he’s gonna be Brett. Second

01:01:28.000 –> 01:01:30.000
in the Sa Young voting last year.

01:01:31.000 –> 01:01:33.000
Lancelyn and Kyle Gibson adds certainty in the

01:01:33.000 –> 01:01:36.000
middle of your rotation, and especially Lance Lynn

01:01:36.000 –> 01:01:38.000
and Kyle Gibson adds leadership for sure. But,

01:01:39.000 –> 01:01:42.000
Lance Lynn adds an element that you didn’t

01:01:42.000 –> 01:01:44.000
have, somebody that a little porcupine,

01:01:44.000 –> 01:01:45.000
a little bristle,

01:01:46.000 –> 01:01:48.000
in there that will push back. And I

01:01:48.000 –> 01:01:50.000
think that’s an important thing to have club

01:01:50.000 –> 01:01:51.000
houses. So I I know that he’s gonna

01:01:51.000 –> 01:01:53.000
add that. You picked up a couple of

01:01:53.000 –> 01:01:55.000
bullpen arms, wanting to trade with Boston, other

01:01:55.000 –> 01:01:57.000
in the rule five draft. I I don’t

01:01:57.000 –> 01:01:59.000
believe that they’re done yet when it comes

01:01:59.000 –> 01:02:01.000
to the pen. So I’m excited. I’m excited

01:02:01.000 –> 01:02:03.000
to see the young guys. I wanna see

01:02:03.000 –> 01:02:05.000
a year two of Jordan Walker. Yeah. Can’t

01:02:05.000 –> 01:02:07.000
wait to watch Mason win, man short stop

01:02:07.000 –> 01:02:09.000
for a season the kid is. So he’ll

01:02:09.000 –> 01:02:10.000
start. They already said that. Yeah. I believe

01:02:10.000 –> 01:02:12.000
so. Like, that’s the plan, at least, that

01:02:12.000 –> 01:02:13.000
he’ll be the guy.

01:02:14.000 –> 01:02:17.000
So I’m looking forward to that. Gilliland Aronado,

01:02:17.000 –> 01:02:20.000
another year with those guys. Like, everything is

01:02:20.000 –> 01:02:21.000
right there for the cardinals

01:02:22.000 –> 01:02:24.000
to compete and hopefully win the central. Other

01:02:24.000 –> 01:02:26.000
teams have been pretty quiet in the central.

01:02:26.000 –> 01:02:28.000
I don’t expect come to stay quiet the

01:02:28.000 –> 01:02:30.000
entire time other than hiring Craig Council away

01:02:30.000 –> 01:02:33.000
from the Milwaukee brewers, which is crazy. You’re

01:02:33.000 –> 01:02:35.000
in division, isn’t it? Yeah. Well, especially how

01:02:35.000 –> 01:02:37.000
much money they paid Right? Gave him a

01:02:37.000 –> 01:02:39.000
a forty million dollar deal over five years.

01:02:39.000 –> 01:02:39.000
Pretty impressive.

01:02:40.000 –> 01:02:42.000
So you would believe that they’re not done

01:02:42.000 –> 01:02:43.000
adding to it. But I think that they

01:02:43.000 –> 01:02:45.000
should be competing for their vision this year.

01:02:45.000 –> 01:02:47.000
And I know cardinal fans, like, hate to

01:02:47.000 –> 01:02:49.000
hear it because they they wanna talk about

01:02:49.000 –> 01:02:51.000
building what the Dodgers Brett. Right? Go out

01:02:51.000 –> 01:02:53.000
and just spend all all of this money,

01:02:53.000 –> 01:02:54.000
but it is very true. And I think

01:02:54.000 –> 01:02:56.000
the Dodgers can tell you this too is

01:02:56.000 –> 01:02:58.000
they don’t win the world series every time

01:02:58.000 –> 01:03:00.000
they get there, get into the post season,

01:03:00.000 –> 01:03:03.000
get yourself and specifically win your division,

01:03:03.000 –> 01:03:05.000
win your Gilliland

01:03:05.000 –> 01:03:07.000
you never know what’s gonna happen when you

01:03:07.000 –> 01:03:09.000
get into October. So that’s the hope this

01:03:09.000 –> 01:03:11.000
year that we have a deep run into

01:03:11.000 –> 01:03:13.000
October, I think you got the right pieces

01:03:13.000 –> 01:03:14.000
to do. And I also know that you

01:03:14.000 –> 01:03:16.000
have the right prospect capital. If you get

01:03:16.000 –> 01:03:18.000
close to the trade deadline, you believe that

01:03:18.000 –> 01:03:19.000
you’re a piece short,

01:03:19.000 –> 01:03:21.000
that John Jose logged, Michael Gers, they can

01:03:21.000 –> 01:03:22.000
go out and make a deal like. Yeah.

01:03:22.000 –> 01:03:24.000
That’s awesome. Where do our listeners find more

01:03:24.000 –> 01:03:25.000
of Brad Thompson?

01:03:26.000 –> 01:03:28.000
Right here. On this podcast is where you

01:03:28.000 –> 01:03:30.000
find out. I’m, hopefully be doing a lot

01:03:30.000 –> 01:03:32.000
more games on on Valley sports,

01:03:32.000 –> 01:03:33.000
doing a lot of fill in work on

01:03:33.000 –> 01:03:36.000
01:01 ESPN as know, I’ve scaled back, but

01:03:36.000 –> 01:03:37.000
I can’t stay all the way out. You

01:03:37.000 –> 01:03:39.000
know, Andrea doesn’t want me home all the

01:03:39.000 –> 01:03:40.000
time, Brad. I gotta be able to get

01:03:40.000 –> 01:03:42.000
out of the house. So, hopefully, you hear

01:03:42.000 –> 01:03:44.000
me popping up a little bit more here

01:03:44.000 –> 01:03:45.000
this new year. Man, thanks so much for

01:03:45.000 –> 01:03:47.000
being on the circuit of success. I appreciate

01:03:47.000 –> 01:03:49.000
having you. I think I think you might

01:03:49.000 –> 01:03:51.000
be the only three time guest because you

01:03:51.000 –> 01:03:52.000
were I looked at this last night. Really?

01:03:52.000 –> 01:03:54.000
We did this in April.

01:03:54.000 –> 01:03:57.000
I started this February six two thousand seventeen.

01:03:58.000 –> 01:04:00.000
You were on an April of two thousand

01:04:00.000 –> 01:04:01.000
seventeen. I looked, so our kids would have

01:04:01.000 –> 01:04:04.000
been, like, three. That my fourth and your

01:04:04.000 –> 01:04:06.000
oldest would have been three. And then we

01:04:06.000 –> 01:04:06.000
did,

01:04:07.000 –> 01:04:08.000
which was a blast for me. Hopefully, it

01:04:08.000 –> 01:04:10.000
was fun for you all. Me, you, Jason

01:04:10.000 –> 01:04:11.000
Iseringhausen,

01:04:12.000 –> 01:04:15.000
Kyle McClellan, Jason Simonachi, and Brian Jordan. That

01:04:15.000 –> 01:04:16.000
was a fun one. That was awesome. We’re

01:04:16.000 –> 01:04:18.000
all at home. Remember that? It’s supposed to

01:04:18.000 –> 01:04:19.000
be open today? It’s supposed to be opening

01:04:19.000 –> 01:04:21.000
day for the cardinals, and we had an

01:04:21.000 –> 01:04:22.000
amazing, I don’t know, hour and a half,

01:04:22.000 –> 01:04:24.000
two hour deal. So that was awesome. So,

01:04:24.000 –> 01:04:26.000
brother, thank you for being with us again.

01:04:26.000 –> 01:04:27.000
It’s awesome having you. Thank you for having

01:04:27.000 –> 01:04:28.000
me as honored three times.