Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network. Guardians Weekly is front
to you by Progressive helping Guardians fans save hundreds on car insurance. Hi,
everyone, welcome to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhouse along with you from Angel Stadium
in Anaheim, California, where the Guardians are on a West coast road swing.
They're playing four here in Anaheim and then they head up the coast and
they'll play the Giants the first of next weekn And this is a week long
road trip that certainly can be challenging as they try and maintain that flicker of
hope in the American League Central Division Chase, where a win on Friday night
they remain six and a half back of the Minnesota Twins heading into play on
Saturday with only twenty one games remaining. So the schedule is starting to become
a real issue in terms of the amount of games left. But they hang
in there and keep on showing up, and we'll see what happens over the
weekend here with a night game in Anaheim on Saturday, Night Day Baseball on
Sunday, and then on to San Francisco coming up in a little bit on
our show. We will have the Former Outstanding Pitchers segment of our show.
Tom Candiotti will join us. He's been on the road trip with us filling
in for Tom Hamilton. But the former knuckleballer in a sixteen year Major League
vett has some fun stories, as does Mark Langston, who is one of
the radio voices for the Angels, who finished his fine major league career as
a Cleveland Indian, and he'll have some great stories about his time in Cleveland.
We'll also talk hitting with Guardians hitting coach Chris Laika here from Jose Tana,
one of the infielders for the Guardians, and also newly acquired relief pitcher
Matt Moore. So a lot coming up on our show, But first we
checked in with Will Brennan earlier this week. Brennan, he was part of
a big day on Wednesday for the Guardians, who had a tough series against
the Twins back home. Earlier this week. They lost the opener with a
chance to cut the lead down to four games on Monday Night twenty to six,
and then the Twins backed that up with a Tuesday Night eight to three
wins, so that really made things difficult for Cleveland. Here the rest of
the way. But the Guardians did salvage the game on Wednesday, and a
big reason why Will Brennan had both of the RBI base hits in a two
to one win over the Twins. He also had a really nice catch in
left field, and he says, it's always a nice feeling to contribute in
a lot of ways to a big win like the Guardians had on Wednesday.
Yeah, what's up, Rosie. Yeah, always a good day at the
ballpark. You know, when the culmination of things all go right for you
at the yard, if you're gonna leave happy with a win, it's all
you can ask for. And when you look at how things have been going
here, you're finishing strong. And obviously you were up here last year to
get a taste of it, But what have you learned as you've gone through
an entire season now about this game and having success consistently. This is the
definitely the pinnacle of baseball, and it's gonna beat you down, and so
you just kind of have to be able to flush the bad days and show
up and try and put good days together by stacking all the little things that
you do and focus really on everything that you can control, try and leave
the results out of it and pick your head up and see where you're at
at the end of the year. Definitely been a nice roller coaster of a
of a season. So everything you just said about individually, that could you
apply that to the team too, especially considering how the week went early.
I think all of us have very similar mindsets. That's you know why we're
all kind of on the same team, trying to work as a as a
single organism. You know, to take one at the end of that series.
It could have gone either way at the end and left a really bad
taste in our mouths, but you know, be able to get one from
the Twins. Just moving forward, see what they do. And all we
can can do is control how we do against the Angels. So obviously an
uphill battle. It's six game gap with twenty two to go, so not
mathematically by any means. Is this thing over? And and how is the
mindset in that clubhouse, especially after yesterday? I meanthing again, We're just
gonna after control we can can control. You know, the Wines will do
their thing and we'll see if they fold. I mean, we're gonna put
pressure on no matter what we're gonna play hard to the final out, you
know, with with Tito as our leader, that's kind of just been our
DNA. We're gonna play hard and see what happens. And you mentioned Tito,
and obviously there's some some new veterans here at Coole Calhoun. I know
his name has come up a lot. What is he meant to this team
as a younger player who's still going through some things for the first time to
see him come in here and what are some of the things that he can
do. Yeah, he's been amazing to come in and kind of settle into
that that veteran role. You know, age is truly just number obviously because
he's out here doing it and doing it at a really high level. I
think we're you know, we got really lucky to snag him this late in
the season. I couldn't believe that he wasn't on a big league team,
you know, earlier in the season. So I really really fortunate to have
him and kind of the prowess that he brings on end off the field.
But yeah, he's just one of those special players. It's been around for
a long time, about three ten years. And if you can't learn from
that guy, then you're knocking really going to be able to learn from anybody.
Will nice going yesterday, good luck the rest of the way. Thank
you, awesome, Thanks Rosy, appreciate you. It's Will Brennan who's really
making a strong push here down the stretch to finish his season strong, and
he had a big week this week as he is red hot at the plate
Fort Cleveland. We'll take a break and then come back and hear from young
infielder Jose Tana and veteran reliever Matt Moore. That's next after this. Now
the pinch Brennan ground sit through the whole base hit in the left center Cleveland
takes so one nothing lea. So Will Brennan a two strength single the other
way, knocking in his thirty seventh. Here's the three two. He swings
and aligns it right center field, a base hit that'll score him Menez easily.
Brennan's gonna try for two. Here comes the throne, not in time.
A double for Brennan, who has driven in both runs and the Guardians
now lead it to nothing. Now the one too swung on line toward the
gamp in life center but not deep coming on diving and making the catches.
Will Brandon boy, Will Brendan, whether it's right field, lift field,
he is an outstanding out fielder. Those are sports sounds, and people have
sports so much it makes them pay attention when I say, drivers who switch
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Two down, one nothing, Blue chase for the number nine hitter. The
kid Jose teena left handed batter at short today and the pitch Tina with a
line right pace shit up the middle, his first major league hit, his
first major league arbi and the scores Loriano and we've got a one one game.
How about that? Jose Tina, another one of those highly thought of
middle infield prospects, has spent the year in double A Akron and he wrote
date two out line drive single to center to score Loriano. Here's the pitch
swung on line drive face h hint to right field. That'll tie it racing
for third as nailer. He's in easily hen Tina comes through tie game at
six. Welcome back to Guardian's weekly Rosenhouse. Back with you from Angels Stadium
in Anaheim, Or The Guardians are in the midst of a four game series
with the Angels. Well. Jose Tena received a September call up, and
he has been with the ball club. The young infielder has done some nice
work since being called up at the beginning of the month. In fact,
he had an extra inning game tying bass hit last weekend against the Rays that
was an extra innings and it led to a win over Tampa Bay, and
he joined us along with translator Aggie Rivero, to talk about how he's adjusted
so far to the major league level. Think what has helped me is that
I keep my focus on the first picture of the game, whether I'm playing
or not. I keep that focus from then because I'm aware and I'm working
the assumption that the manager is going to call me at anytime. And on
Saturday night, you're in the on deck circle, but it looked like you
might be pinch hit for and then decisions made to let you take your at
bat and you come through with an RBI single at time is the game?
Take us through the emotions there of what was happening before you even got to
the plate, and how prepared you were to come through call my visit.
But the Brano Yaguando week. Yeah, just like I mentioned before, the
keys to being focused throughout, you know, in the gaming. When I
saw that that happened that they put me in the game, I feel like
I narrowed down even one of my focus and I do that great analysis or
what they've been doing with the previous hitters, and they were just attacking them
with the change up, and that's what I was looking for. So we
talked a lot about hitting. Obviously that's a big key, but defensively you're
moving around a little bit. How challenging has that been and how prepared were
you to be in that spot where you wouldn't just focus on one position.
When you got to the major leagues, the NAM welcome. I feel very
lucky that they're considered in different positions. So every time it happens, I
just tried to do like the best that I can and and I translate that
into preparing before the games and trying to take reps in all the three positions
that I've been playing so far. I would say it spent most of your
year at Double A Akron, one day at Columbus, and then you get
a chance to make your major league debut or at least get called up to
the big leagues. How surprising was that? And what was that feeling like
to finally reach a goal that I'm sure you had for a while? But
how okay? Yeah, I mean the focus was to do my best in
Double A and try to learn as much as I could. You know,
I wasn't expecting to be called up that quickly to Triple AH, and I
felt like, you know, if they called me to Thriple A, maybe
I have a chance late in September to be called up. But everything went
super fast, and I'm really happy it happened. But I was really focused
to just do and learn what I was at the moment. And now you
do end up being a September call up. Surprised at that? Or did
you feel that you put yourself in a real nice position got out opens?
Okay? Yeah, I mean I felt like I was able to put a
good job while I was here, so I was kind of like expecting that
in September we'll have another call up, and and I was away was getting
some feedback from the coaches on there that reaffirmed that somehow I will be called
up in September as well. And you're a middle infielder in an organization that
has a lot of good young middle infielders. Gabriel Arrius, Brian Rokio.
How do you approach that day to day when when you know there's really good
competition there and you're trying to be a part of that. I feel this
is just met of back going back to being focused. You know, I
know they're really gooding fielders and there's nothing that can control. So he just
met of being able to control what I can do and then let the organization
make the decisions. Jose Aggie, thank you for the time. Thank you,
Dan, thank you appreciate it. That's young infielder Jose Tana. So
we go from one of the youngest players on the team to a savvy veteran
who has just recently acquired. Matt Moore, the left handed relief pitcher who
has done some nice work early on in his Cleveland career so far. He
was one of three waiver wire additions claimed from the Angel's roster last week by
the Guardians to help boaster that bullpen down the stretch. He's a veteran pitcher,
has been through a few transactions throughout his career, and he says it's
always a hectic time when you're changing teams during the season. Yeah, it's
been quick. I haven't been a part of anything like this, and I
don't really remember if I've ever seen, you know, waiver claims like that
on you know, free agents that that are performing well. But it's here
and nor there, you know, looking at it now where we have a
chance to, you know, do something special and squeak in the squeak in
there with a division title. You know, it starts tonight. And what's
your immediate reaction when you find out you've been claimed by a team? What
do you look at that's that's most important to you from that new team.
I don't know if I really think about it like that. It's just more
of a hey, this is where you know, I'm gonna go start pulling
on the end of the rope with these guys, you know, and try
to fit in and you know wherever I can. When you look at trying
to fit any mention at players that you knew here, coaches that you knew
here. Was there much familiarity for you at all? And if you have
or know, how do you catch up quickly and really feel like you're a
part of it. I think just getting in the games. You know,
I didn't know very many people. I knew Days Santos from Philly and twenty
one and I played with Cole last year in Texas and just been buddies for
a while now, you know, but haven't played against these guys you know
on and off, you know. I think it's just a matter of getting
in the game. You know you'll fit in that way and kind of get
into get into the scene, and you know in your stripe, so to
speak, Matt, you'll hear your role. You work out of the pen.
Now, we saw you earlier in your career and you were a top
flight starting pitcher, and explain how that adjustment has gone for you working out
of the bullpen after spending the majority of your career in a rotation. Yeah,
I think, you know, last year was probably the biggest learning curve
of how to get myself ready to throw. I think as a starter you're
usually look at it maybe an hour an hour and a half before the game
starts. You kind of start your your routine, and you know, if
you're to come in somewhere in the middle of the game or towards the end
of the game, you don't have that luxury that you know, uh,
I think just in general, last year was was a little bit of that
curve for me to learn how to get ready for the game, and this
year it's a little bit more of you know, fine tuning that, maybe
not doing as many things, you know, as I thought I needed to
do, and maybe adding a couple more. But having been my second bullpen
you know, of the season, getting to know these guys a little bit,
get to see about how they go about their business, should help a
little bit too from an enjoyment standpoint that do you like one or the other
better? I don't know if I like it one or the other better.
I mean, I know, you know, seven eight years ago, it
was a little bit different of a pitching scene. You know, we're now,
you know, starters a lot more across the league or pitching you know,
for strikeouts, and I never was a big strikeout guy, you know,
so I just think it's it's yeah, it's I don't know if I
like it more or less, but I do enjoy the you know, most
days you're available, and that that kind of you know, keeps you a
little bit more alive throughout the day as opposed to like, hey, I'm
not you know, I'm not participating for a couple more days. So it's
been it's been fun for that. You mentioned availability, and that's such a
big part of this game. Any difference healthwise being a starting pitcher or a
reliever in terms of keeping yourself available and being ready to go, I've actually
felt probably slightly better. I mean, this year is a little different.
I had about six weeks on the shelf for O bleak, so on my
arm, you know, should be in pretty good shape. Haven't only thrown
maybe forty five innings or so. But yeah, I think just if I
only throw one inning the next day, I feel almost as good as I
did the day before. Two innings you kind of start to feel it that
next day. But you know, if you keep it to kind of one
inning stints and you know, don't get more than you know, maybe four
a week, I think that's that's something that I feel like I can I
can handle. You know, you're really just kind of pitching at your threshold
for maybe twenty pitches or so, and I'm kind of shutting it down.
So it's you know, I'm built slightly different than I was when I was
starting. Well. Best of luck down the stretch and the pen for the
Guardians. Thanks Loft for coming, but I appreciate it. Thank you.
That's beteran relief pitcher Matt Moore, who has been a nice boost to the
bullpen for the Guardians in a very short period of time. Well, we'll
switch from the mound to the batter's box and talk hitting with Chris Falco when
we come back after this on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network. Now,
Matt Moore trying to deliver the pitch got him swinging him up high, changeup.
I what a job by Matt Moore. Yes, he does give up
the game tying homer, but the Twins had minute second and third with one
out and didn't score after that. It's the third beginning tonight that Minnesota has
had a runner at third with less than two down and didn't get that run
home. Jim Rosenow's back with you, from Angels Stadium and Annaheim. We
welcome you back in the Guardians Weekly. Thanks so much for tuning in,
and we're gonna talk some hitting now with Chris Flaka, the Guardians hitting coach,
and a lot of changes to the roster throughout the season this year and
right now, the Guardians in September see never a pretty good mix of young
players and some veterans as they had down the stretch, and Chris says they
like the koy the club has handled the challenges that they've had to face over
the course of a long season. You know, I'm I'm really really proud
of the way of these guys have gone about this year and then especially you
know going into this last month. You know, some guys getting opportunities and
seeing you know, areas get to play every day, like you talked about,
you know, bow Naylor getting in there. You know, just seeing
seeing guys have the confidence that knowing you know, good, bad and different,
that their name is going to be in the lineup every day. I
think that that that breeds some confidence for us, but it also breeds confidence
for them. And are there some mechanical things that that you've seen them grow
in that's allowed them to have more success statistically. Yeah, you know,
I think they're there. There's always going to be things to work on with
these guys, and you know, our our team does such a great job
with providing us the resources. And you know, I think for Bo,
you know, some of the stuff, you know, controlling the strike zone,
managing the top of the zone. We've seen things tick up with that.
And you know, without getting away from his strengths, he's he's been
able to cover some holes and you know areas you know, getting in there
and starting to play consistently. We're seeing the impact that we know he had,
you know, with him driving the ball over the field. So you
know, guys are guys are you know, making the adjustments and doing a
good job just trying to you know, win as we develop right now.
I thought it was interesting because at Arius Nailer rookies, so it's different for
them than it would be for Stephen Kwan. But he's still a young player.
What are the challenges that he goes through in his second major league season?
Yeah, you know, I think early on, just like last year
with him, you know, they're they're still the growing pains, but you
know, you're seeing Steven, you know, start to settle in. We're
seeing a lot more consistency of contact out of him. You know, he's
starting to impact the ball harder on a more consistent basis, and those are
the things that we're looking for, you know, but that takes that takes
time. You know, he's coming up on twelve hundred at bats in the
big leagues over the last two years, so you know, it's not a
you know, you get here and the pizza's done. These guys are still
working on things while they're here, and you know, it takes time and
we have to be patient with that. But you know, I think the
future is bright with a lot of these guys veterans, he can't replace him,
and a younger veteran, Josh Naylor, has come back to the lineup
from entry. What type of impact can that make not only having him back,
but for the rest of the lineup. You know, I think I
think it's huge having Josh. You know, it's the it's a shot in
the arm for us knowing that he's in the lineup. But I think having
him in the lineup makes Jose better. You know, having that guy be
able to hit behind you and you know Coole Calhoun, the the the bats
he's put together since he's been here. You know, I know we're talking
about Josh and you know he's really evolved. You know, he's turning into
the player that we all all know he he can be. You know,
building off the year that he had last year. You know, kudos to
him, especially with the way the year started for him and him grinding through
some of those adversities and hitting the ball hard, not getting any results from
it, to to not deviate and stay the course like he did, and
you know he's he's reaping those rewards right now. Your reference Cole Calhoun,
and unusual to see if veteran be able to come in and have this type
of impact on a team at this stage of the season. I think,
you know, he's unique and you know everything that we heard about him was
just the ultimate teammate. You know, we've seen him playing you know,
across the lines and have loved the makeup, loved the player. So you
know, for him to step in here day one, you know, he
was mentoring these guys from the start, going out there handling his own business.
So you know he's been he's been out standing for us. You oversee
a roster of hitters and it's such an important part of your life. But
you've had a great life experience here the last two weeks. Tell us about
being a dad for the first time. It's amazing, you know, a
little little Olivia. It's been you know, ten days now, you know
it's it's the best job in the world. I thought being a major league
hitting coach with the best job. But this is this is for our surpasses
that. You know, it's tough being dad from FaceTime right now and being
away, but you know, hopefully we get back from the West, get
her up here and be able to spend more time with them. Great stuff,
Chris, thanks for the time. Thank you appreciate it. That's hitting
coach Chris Blaka, and he has had an ever changing roster this year,
but doing some good work to get everybody pointed in the right direction. Stay
with us. We'll take our final time out and then come back with Tom
Candiotti and Mark Langston, two pitchers who had fine major league careers, and
we talked to them about a variety of subjects when we come back after this
and progressive we love sports and saving you money so we bundled them together.
The final horse now in the gate and they're off, shutting off with a
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last frame. Here comes the actual jump. They bundled their home at Auto
Insurance with Progressive of it when strike sendings Gold Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and
other insurance discount not available in all states or situations. Welcome back to Guardians
Weekly. We're joined now by Tom Candiotti, who has joined us on the
road swing here in Anaheim and then San Francisco. And for those with long
memories of the days back in the late eighties and early nineties and then the
very end at the end of the nineties, the Candy Man had a nice
little run of success with Cleveland seven years total out of the sixteen you played
in the big leagues. And when you get around the ball club again Cleveland,
I know the name is different, but the franchise is the same.
What's it like for you to come back and be around it. You know,
it's so great to be involved again, you know, with the now
Guardians, and you know, and and even coming here to do the games
and seeing guys that that I played with, Guys like Sandy Alamar, guys
like Tito we were all teammates together, and uh and and just being able
to catch up with everybody and visit and also, you know, ever since
I left Cleveland, basically in my career, I grew up in Cleveland,
you know, as a major leaguer, and so regardless of what team I
played for after that, I always would check the box score and always kind
of had them in the back of my heart, you know that, you
know, hoping they were going to do well. And they had a good
run some of those years. So you play long enough, and a lot
of years I'm sure run together. But nineteen eighty eight you were teammates with
Terry Franco his one year as a player with Cleveland, and he was saying
earlier in the day on Friday that that was a fun team. And I
know you're blow five hundred, but what made that team a lot of fun
in your mind? Well, I mean, I think it was a team
that was kind of growing up. You know, we were in nineteen eighty
seven. The Indians at that time were really were favored. They were on
the cover Sports Illustrated. Yet Joe Carter at Corey Snyder and you're supposed to
win, you know, the American League and possibly the World Series. He
had very very high expectations in nineteen eighty seven and it went straight downward.
That year had just nothing worked out. So in nineteen eighty eight, it
was kind of a cautious approach. You know, you had some new guys
coming in. You had John Farrell really joining the rotation at that time and
was starting to come into his own. You know, Swindale was throwing the
ball really well. I was throwing the ball very well. You just seem
like you your pitching staff was growing at that point, and then also the
hitters, and so it seemed like, okay, well this team that we
had in eighty seven, with a couple of different additions, in eighty eight,
I think we're pretty good. And we started to we started to get
improvements. Tim candy Otti joining us, he referenced the knuckleball. How did
it come about for you? The knuckleball that really extended your career for such
a long time, it really did. I always threw the knuckleball since I
was a little kid. It was just a fun thing that my dad and
I would do. I'd wait for him to get home from work. The
gloves would be on the driveway as soon as he could even come into house.
He had to play catch. So at that time he had a knuckleball,
and so I tried to throw it, you know, like he did.
And so it was just kind of a father's son thing. And then
every once in a while I would throw it in a game, just try.
You know, I could do it in the front lawn, listen,
why can't I do it on the mound? And would I would do it,
you know, from little league to Babe Ruth, to high school to
end the college and even once in a while in the minor leagues. And
then you know, when once I got to the major leagues, I was
just really a conventional pitcher. I had good control, I had a really
good curveball, but I was a little bit short on velocity. And if
I needed to if I wanted to stay in a major leagues, I needed
something, something else, And so I started to make a concerted effort to
really develop my knuckleball. I'd gone to uh, you know, in Triple
A and US used it almost exclusively in nineteen eighty five, and then went
to winter ball and after that season, and it really started to come around
for me. And then I was signed by Joe Klein and the Indians when
I was in winter ball as a minor league free agent. And then I
got to spring training in nineteen eighty six, and lo and behold, I
won sixteen games that year and completed seventeen games and through I don't know how
many innings, two hundred and seventy innings, I don't know, something like
that. So it just kind of really took off for me, and it
landed you a key role in a major motion picture. One of my favorite
baseball movies is sixty one, which Billy Crystal made, depicting the home run
chase with Maris and Mantle in the nineteen sixty one season. And late in
that year, Hoyt Wilhelm was trying to shut down Roger Morris in a game
in Baltimore, and you played the knuckleballer Wilhelm. How did that come about?
I had so much fun filming that. I mean, my role was
a very minute role in that film, but it took about eight or nine
days to film. And I got a call one day from Billy Crystal,
who I had met when I was a member of the Dodgers, and he
told me about this film that he was going to do and they were trying
to find a knuckleball picture to fill the role of Hoyt Wilhelm, but nobody
knows how to throw it. So he asked if I would if I would
do it, and I said, sure, I'm a blast doing it,
and so they give me my own trailer. It was, I mean,
it was. It was so much fun. We filmed in the La Coliseum
at that time, from dusk till dawn, and I mean, just a
great time. So you know, at that game, I think it was
Game one fifty four because that was you know, with the expansion in nineteen
sixty one with two hundred and sixty two games, and you know, there's
a whole deal with whether Roger Marris is a home run record is gonna be
legit or not. So anyway, that as that season progressed for Marris and
the Yankees, they go into Baltimore in Game one fifty four and incomes Hoyt
Wilhelm, and which was me and I had to pitch, and Barry Pepper
was playing Roger Marris, and I'll never forget this. You know. Billy
wanted to make it as as realistic as possible, so he told me to
pitch like you pitch, and I said, okay. And because I was
just shortly out of baseball at that time, so my arm was still in
really good shape. And the first ball I threw to the catcher, who
was supposed to be gust Triandos, it hit him right in the section where
you can't say anything, got no glove on it. He went down and
so and then after that recovered and Barry Pepper swung and missed sixteen straight times,
you know, of course, and then, uh, you know,
Billy said, trying to throw him something slow so we can hit it.
We're running out of film here, so I tried to throw him a slow
knuckleball, and it hit him right in the ribs and he went down like
he just got hit by Randy Johnson. And now his uniform is all dirty.
So they had to go in and do new makeup, get a new
uniform, as you could see, it was really fun. But meeting all
those guys and doing all that stuff was a blast. We played Pepper every
single night, you know, with all those guys, so I got a
chance to meet him and I felt like a movie star for about a week.
For the record, those scenes came out great. He hit him into
the wind right and then knocked it down and that was a big deal.
And but just wonderful. And you did great work as Hoyt Wilhelm. You're
doing great work. Is Tom Candyani on our trip, So thank you.
Great to see you, and I'm sure we'll enjoy the remainder of the trip.
Yeah, it's been a pleasure. You make it easy for me here,
believe me. And it's Tom Candiotti, the knuckleballer. And he had
a fine career. Sixteen years in the major leagues. For Candiotti, the
same number of years that Angels broadcaster Mark Langston achieved in his major league career.
A lot of the really good ones. You may remember him with the
Angels, with Seattle, with Montreal, but the last season he played,
the final pitch he threw in the major leagues was in a Cleveland Indians uniform
with the nineteen ninety nine ball club, and when we caught up with him
earlier on this visit to Anaheim, he says it was one of the most
memorable years in his career, you know, truly one of the most funnest
summers I've ever had in my entire life. I went to spring training with
San Diego, was released in the vast last week of the season, came
home, which I lived here in Anaheim. The Indians were opening the season
against the Angels. Here. My Asian called me and said, hey,
they want you to throw simulated game. So I ran out, came out
here. Dwight Gooden and I were throwing a simulated game. And it was
very ironic because Doc and I both came up the exact same year in nineteen
eighty four, and here we were, you know, for me for certainly
the back end of my career, kind of the back end of his career.
He pitched a little bit longer, but out there throwing a simulated game.
I guess the Indians liked it. I ended up signing and by time
they got off the road trip because they sent me to Florida real quick to
do rehab. By time they came off the road trip, they made a
call and said, you're come on up to Cleveland. So spent the entire
season. One of the funnest teams I've ever played on my entire life.
It was so much fun and just to see that team, and still to
this day, it's the best lineup I had ever seen. I always explained
to people. They always asked me, what's the best line up you've ever
had? I go, it's not even close. That ninety nine Indian team
that I played on, best lineup up and down, an all start,
every position. They just mashed and it was fun to watch him on a
nightly basis. And the vibe in the city you came in as a visitor
before than Jacob's Field night and day when you came back as a player for
the Cleveland Indians. Oh, definitely. Once they put Jacob's Field into play,
it was. It really revived the downtown area. It was fun to
come there and play. And in fact, once I got there, I
still remember this. I would try to get some cable TV for my apartment
that I was in and they said, sorry, it's going to be about
three weeks. I go, oh man, three weeks, how about some
tickets to the Indians game, and immediately guy goes, I'll be there in
ten minutes, and ten minutes later the guys knocking on my door, looking
my cable up. Here's six tickets for you. Because you couldn't get a
ticket to those games. Those games were sold out. Every game every night
was sold out. Forty five thousand people every night. It was the happening
place. And that team was so much fun to be around, and the
city really embraced them, and they had a you know when I got there,
there already had a really good run, and I think the people were
excited to just sit and watch the talent on a nightly basis. I were
going to take some fans down memory Lane for off the field stuff. Music
and baseball have a great relationship. You were part of that at a time
where there were some other musicians on the team. Tell us about that.
Yeah, in ninety nine, Richie Sexon and I we used to bring our
guitars on the road and we'd sit in the rooms and play the guitars and
goop around. I go, you know, we should do like a charity
event. Let's throw something together, and we literally did in like three weeks
we put together. I think that we called Tribe Jam and so we did
it down in the flats, the little amphitheater that was down there, and
we didn't know what was going to happen. I think we charged like ten
dollars and all the money was going to charity, and we had all the
participation of all everybody on the team. All the players show it up and
Jim told me had a guitar, he couldn't play it, but he acted
like he's gonna play it, and he ended up breaking it on stage.
Omar, who was a drummer, actually got up and played the drums.
Dave Berba saying everybody participated and it was really a fun time. Bernie Kozar
the very first one. He came out and was firing footballs into the crowd
for the people. We packed the place in and I literally in my mind,
going only here in this town, with this team, could you pull
this off? Because that's how embraced everybody was the team with the fans,
the fans with the team, and to see these guys outside of what they
saw Jacobs Field, to see them goofy and having fun on stage was really
a special time and I felt very blessed we put that together. I did
it one more year in two thousand and it was so much fun being part
of that and again to show the fans a different side of these Indian players.
For the most part, players can't pick when it's over as a player.
It turns out that's your last year. Looking back on it, you're
okay with that. That that's how it ended. Sure. I went to
spring training two thousand with the Indians. In fact, I talked to my
buddy Chuck Finley into You said, hey man, this is a great team.
You gotta come check it out. And he ended up signing that spring
and I went to spring and it just wasn't I wasn't having a great spring.
And I remember the last time I was on the mound. We had
we'd seen our buddy Eddie Money the night before Chuck and I and I just
remember it just the start that I wasn't even started. Chuck actually started the
game, and then I came in right after Chuck, and I think I
gave up five runs, some base you know, some some little blue hits,
and then a three run home run that I gave up, and I
just went it's time to take it to the house, you know. So
you know, I was fighting that for the last probably two or three years
of my career, but I felt like that was the time. And I
remember John Hart goes, you know, you make this team. You don't
have to performance spring training. I go, I know, but I feeled
the tug of going home. My daughter was going to be a freshman in
high school, so I felt like I need to go protect the door with
her, you know now being a freshman in high school. Great memories.
Thanks for sharing and enjoyed the game tonight. My pleasure. Always great catching
up with you. Always fun talking to the Indians baseball one of my funnest
summers ever. Man, that guy could tell some stories. Mark Langston,
fine broadcaster now for the Angels and a really good Major leaguer for sixteen years
and one of the better pictures of his era in the big leagues. Well,
it's gonna do it for this edition of Guardians Weekly, Thanks so much
for tuning in. Our engineer on site has been Mike Noo. Brian Mase
puts together our show every week and does great work at that. This is
Jim Rosenhouse reminding you that you have been listening to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland
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