Well, last night at the Forum in Inglewood, Kendrick Lamar brought out Doctor
Dre in the city that he made fame is so the best we could do
is bring our Dre Day on and certainly a fan favorite did a lot in
his twelve year major league career with the Dodgers. So here is our version
of bringing out Dre Day on Dodgers Radio, the one and only Andre Ethier.
Andre, great to have you back on the show. Do you feel
like this equates to Kendrick Lamar bringing out Doctor Drey on stage last night?
No, not at all. I don't think you're doing Doctor Dre any bit
of a a bit of the rep and and accolades that that guy should be
having. Yeah, I don't think it's it equates very well. So we're
starting off already on it not great here, So let's go. Are you
saying I swung and missed? Well, that's why you're in a bit.
Hey, speaking of doctor Dre, you know people always use that Dre Day
Andre Ethier all that stuff, try to make that cliche in some ways.
But did you ever consider using doctor Dre as a walk up song? I
think I did. I think I do remember using Doctor Dre as a song.
It might have been early on at the end of the Snoop Dogg in
Dtor Dre song that I used early on. Those were probably before your days,
before you were even a Dodger fan or Dodger faithful back in two thousand
and six and seven and eight. Oh yeah, I was. I was
around, but I wasn't paying attention to your walk up song. I was
paying attention to Nomar and for Call and Jeff Kent. Hey, those are
really good players. I was. I was in the same I was in
the same boat as you. I was paying attention to those guys. I
was a a wide eyed pinching myself young, you know, rookie and early
on in his major league careers, the chance to play with guys that I
had just seen years before on the TV, you know, playing baseball.
Now I'm a teammate of them. So yeah, I feel the same way
as you when you look back at those at those days, because you know
it was it was great to do it. And I can't even remember half
the songs I probably had as walk up songs. And I think that was
like right when I think right the early two thousands is when the walk up
songs really started and then you know that it has turned into like this big
you know production now, which is great, and you know, I love
the creativity. You hear some of the places and what is what are your
favorite walk up songs you've heard anywhere? Wow, that's a great question.
I actually started paying attention more to when pitchers warm up. I feel like
that grabs my attention more because it's playing longer. So Bobby Miller, he
has Little Dirk last year, and now he has the theme song to uh,
the original Creed soundtrack. Obviously, Kershaw's warm up song is is kind
of iconic now, so I feel like that's what's grabbed my attention more than
any hitter per se. I mean, you didn't even mention your guy Kenley's
Kenley's walk up song. Yeah, yeah, California love when he came in.
Yeah, the Closers really have a production these days. I thought Charlie
Blackman's was really good. Oh yeah, the Outfield. I love that song.
Yeah, the Outfield right, like I thought his was always one.
I went on the road and I thought it was a really good song.
The stadium got into it and you know, participated and who I think it
was Jason Wirth had one right with with Washington. Yeah, yeah, he
did too, You're right. Yeah, he's a he's a wacky guy.
And did you know his horse won the Belmont Stakes? Yeah? I did.
I mean I think he really won. Was his out his look,
his look, can outfit was top notch. And I'm not making fun of
a new way. I think it was. You know, he looked like
the stud up there up on stage with that, you know, his typical
long hair and hat and his glasses, and he definitely was very deserving of
the winder circle with that outfit on. I'm not going to get into the
reasons why, but I have thought about the possibility, real possibility, if
at the time Dodgers management would have handled his situation better, the Dodgers could
have had Andre Ethier, Matt Camp and Jason Worth in the same outfield.
How does that sound. I think there's a lot of persons that sound really
good with some of the players, you know, we could have would have
had, you know, over the years. But yeah, I think Worth,
you know, what he grew into as the player and the you know,
the leader, and you could see what he brought to those teams in
Philly and and Washington. What he would have you been able to do to
you know, he wasn't necessarily an older player, but he was one who
had a little bit more experienced than me and Matt coming up at that time,
and you know, all the would could have shut as of that time.
Adding a bat like that into a lineup of some vection guys they had,
and you know, Loney, Russell, Martin, myself, Matt Camp
and Jason Work doesn't sound like too bad of a combination, not at all.
But the Dodgers found a way to get to back to back nlcs is
in eight and nine with those group of players, and Manny Ramirez. Andre
Ethier is our guest, all right, Andre, the Dodgers closing out their
series at Coursefield today. You've played left field, you've played center field,
you've played right field. What is so challenging about playing that outfield at Course
Field? It's big, that's it. It's big. It's big. It's
bright out there. It seems to be brighter than a lot of places.
Maybe it's the altitude. Maybe it's the altitude, you know, And of
course, I mean, this is what a four game series they just have
there Denver on a four game swing after a travel day of you know,
no day off with that travel day at the twelve ten start is just a
it's a tough it's a tough road trip. It's a tough place to go
play four days in a row. It's a tough place to have a get
away day game, especially at twelve ten day game. But you know,
that's that's kind of like, you know, one of those advantages for the
Rockies to have is you know they get to be there all year or most
of the year and train at that altitude and you know that dryness and you
know it's it catches up to you definitely on that last day, and you
know your biggest thing is you're just hoping you're you know, keeping your players
healthy as you're as you're getting out of there. Andre Ethier is our guest
as the Dodgers and Rockies gets said for first pitch, Andre, I've heard
the stories. Actually, JP Howell actually told me with no shame that he
had to go to the oxygen mask when he was pitching in relief. For
you guys, do you remember any other stories where the altitude got to a
player. I mean, we can talk about all those Kenley times, right,
like Kenley fell out, even pitch pitch in Colorado because you know,
unfortunately as some type of you know, heart digulation stuff going on regularly,
and when you get there it would uh act up a little bit more.
So, Yeah, you see cases of it. I mean it's bad.
It's a it's a bad excuse because everyone goes in there and does it.
But it's it's one year you sometimes are aware of as a player, but
you definitely feel a lot more tired on the back end, you know,
of a series there. Yeah, in playing outfield, the outfielder is I
think the outfield is almost twice the size coverage wise, and Dodgers outfield you
know at Dodger Stadium mess, yeah, no doubt. You know, like
the square footage right, the gaps are huge, and the you know down
straightaway rights shadoway right field, we left field bigger, the line for longer,
so you're adding almost double the coverage of outfield grass what you're accustomed to
doing and running and chasing balls of down at and you know, like I
said, it just kind of gets tea after a while. And I think
we've seen a lot of good outfielders play there, and a lot of good
outfielders have to switch physicians. You know, in Colorado after playing there for
eight nine ten years, Andre Ethier had a thirty game hitting streak back in
twenty ten, and unfortunately he broke his pinky while swinging the bat in the
cage and you were leading the National League in triple Crown categories, all three
of them. Can you relate to Mookie Betts breaking his left hand in a
different way obviously being hit by a pitch, you know, the feeling taking
that much time off, How is this going to impact Mookie He's season when
he returns. I think it starts and stops that. And you know,
in common of me and MOOKI and breaking our hands, Mookie's Mookie's one heck
of a player. And uh, he's a he's a year long triple crown
guy, not a I guess month and a half season guy like I was.
And uh, you know, it's it's tough, it's a it's it's
a you feel for him, you feel for the team. You know,
I feel like Mookie if you could say this, I don't know if if
if it's you know, but he's really come into his place as being not
only a major leaguer, but being a Dodger, you know, superstar,
this guy who is accountable on a nightly basis and comes up with you know,
big hits, big at bats, big plays. We know the the
journey he's had transitioning to shortstop this year and this you know, and you
can call it selfless, you can call it uh, you know, just
you know that mentality of you know what Dave in the locker room like to
say, next man up, you know, next guy up to fill what
we need. We know what we have. We have great players in here
that are going to do great things, but we need guys to always fill,
uh, the spots in between, when guys get hurt, when guys
aren't struggling. And you know, Mookie was able to step up with the
position void and roll right into that from second to short you know, with
all these different things. Yeah, I think you're gonna miss more than just
movies that you're missing a guy who you know it really is, is like
a jack of all trades at superstar level, and it's gonna be tough.
It really is gonna be tough for him to come back and just not miss
a beat. Uh, let's just say six weeks at the best case scenario,
Are you going to be as strong, you know, physically in your
legs and you know, in your rotation, in your swing, in your
hands, all that stuff. Are you to be you know a little liarly
of staying in there and trusting the ball is not going to hit you when
it's a you know, when it's a tough front door slider, you know,
stuff like that. So there's a lot of things that to go through.
But I don't put any doubt that he will be successful coming back because
the guy's good at everything he does. I know, when you're in it,
you don't appreciate the big picture, But now that you've been out of
the game for seven years, you seem to have a more big picture perspective.
Do we all appreciate Max Munsey more now than we did, say,
even a year ago. Yeah, I think you know, every everyone has
their their you know, they're hot cold with Max monthly, right, and
you love him when he's hit home runs and don't like him when he's swinging
and missing and striking out and you know, doing that stuff right, like
that's that's what it is. But some of those strikeouts are a product of
him working counts and getting deep in counts and seeing a lot of pitches is
and uh, you know, having at bats where yeah, he's very very
picky, very stingy with his strike zone. You know, he has one
of the best strike zone. Uh you know eyes in the game. You
know the way he looks at it, why he sees it, he sees
you know, when he says he sees a ball an inch off and you
go back and look and it usually is right around that spot of an inch
off or just got a corner type thing. And you know, when a
guy's having at bats like that, you know, in a lineup that packs
the ball a ton, it helps to you know, I had a little
wrinkle in the pitcher's game planner, and yeah, I think you're definitely gonna
see it even more if you weren't seeing it already, and I think we
were seeing it. Uh, you know how much of a hole he fills
and how much of a stable point he is in that lineup. Andre Ethier
gracious with this time. Always great to hear his voice before I let you
go. Tan Griffy Junior was your favorite player growing up. I know you're
mister Dodger. He played your entire major league career with the Dodgers, and
obviously you don't like the Orange and black. But did you ever have a
chance to be introduced to Willie Mays and all those years playing for the Dodgers.
I did. I got a chance to meet Willie a few times.
They're at you know, off in San Francisco, they're at at the ballpark
and uniforms aside, all that stuff aside. Anytime you got a chance to
meet, uh, you know, one of these great old players, you
know you were at on the road or in spring training. You took it.
Uh you know, you took advantage of it. And you know you
could sell this for a lot of people. But Willy Mays was my dad's
favorite player. So I remember my dad, you know, freaking out when
he found out that I got a chance to meet Willie Mays. I don't
know what year that was, at six seven eight was the first time,
you know, I got to meet Willie Mays and you know, shake his
hand and talk to him. And you know, I believe also when we
were at the Civil Rights Game in Atlanta that year for the hate Aaron stuff
that Willie Mays was there for that also, so you know, got a
chance to be around him then, and yeah, it's uh, it's it's
a real concert reminder, you know, of the quality level of ballplayers.
And when you go down that rabbit hole of watching Willie Mays highlights and and
you know the stuff he did and in the number and his longevity and his
you know, durability and everything he breaks. I think the one that is
still amazing to me that you know, people are making the rounds on you
on Instagram and all the social media stuff, is that catch he made in
the old timer's game in the Mets don't have Yeah, yeah, you know,
it's like he's still an agent of I don't know what he was.
He fifty something or something. They said that he was still making over the
shoulder running catches against the you know, against the wall on the warning track
there, and that just shows you the grit and you know play that those
guys always brought. And you know, you hate to say, I don't
play at that level of grit, and I know this generation isn't doing it
either of just determination and tenacity and the want and love to be on the
ball field every day. And you know, That's what made Willie Mays was
him being this ballplayer that he was, and he never once shied away from
that, you know, honoring this game. And uh, I think that's
why we got to keep honoring guys like Willy Mays, because you know,
not only we know what they've did for you know, the the uh you
know, you know the color barrier of this game, the all the stuff
that they bought, the you know, the stuff they had a face when
they were players, you know, minority players in the major league game back
in that day. But looking beyond that, they were top five, top
to top, you know, top one players ever, you know, the
number one player ever to play in this game. That's unbelievable. Well said
from a guy that played his entire career with the Dodgers but certainly respects the
history of the game. The one and only Andre Ethier. Another layer of
why Dodger fans always took to you. So awesome hearing your voice and sharing
your voice with the fans. And hopefully see you at Dodger Stadium with the
family in the home run seats soon, I hope. So I'm looking forward
in July. I'll be out there for sure, and I'm gonna hit up
you know, the Dodgers staff there for my home run seats. I love
sitting in. Oh, hold on to your nachos sometimes they get spilled,
for sure, I hear you. I'll say something for you out there.
Thanks Dray, Thanks a lot for coming on, and I feel like I
got out of this clean. Anytime I can pick you up, Thanks Dray.
All right later,