Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network. Guardians Weekly is brought
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Welcome to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosen House along with you from Toronto this weekend
where the Guardians are taking on the Blue Jays and a three game weekend series
that started on an upbeat note on Friday night. They'll play again Saturday afternoon
at three seven and one more time on Sunday afternoon at one thirty seven to
wrap up what has been a three city road trip that has gone well so
far, the Guardians winners of four of the six games played to this point.
Coming up in just a little bit on our show. The second half
of our show, we'll hear from Senior Vice President Bob Dibiasio another edition of
at the Ballpark with Bobby d. Also a minor league report with farm director
Robserfolio, and we'll talk outfield play, which has been a strong suit for
this ball club with outfield coach JT. McGuire. But first our weekend review
as we begin after Monday's off day with Tuesday night's game in Cincinnati, where
the Guardians were taking on the Reds for the first time this season, and
the Reds jumped in front with a run in the first inning, and it
would have been even more if not for some stellar defense from center fiet Tyler
Freeman. Here comes as two to one to Spencer Steer, swung on and
there's a high fly ball to deep center back on it's Freeman. He's at
the wall, he leaps and he made the catch at the fence. Back
to second as Candelario. Tyler Freeman does it again. A great play in
center won and won the count on Frehley. Here's the pitch and that swung
on and lifted high in the air. This one to deep right center.
Moving back, Freeman leaps at the wall and he made another catch, and
this one may have saved a home run. What an inning for Tyler Freeman
defensively, and he did save a home run. Oh man. We head
to the bottom half of the first inning. It is still only one nothing
Cincinnati, thanks to Tyler Freeman that kept it reasonable and the Guardians offense got
to work. In the third inning, a walk to Brian Rochio and a
bow Naylor double set the table for Stephen Kuan. Here it comes from Martinez,
swung on ground ball third base, past the third baseman, down the
left field line. It scores one and two. Here comes Naylor with the
second run and the Guardians take the lead two to one. And the wizardry
of Stephen Quan at the plate continues as he's in at second base with a
two run double. Later in the inning, Josh Naylor drove home another run.
Here's the pitch to Naylor. There goes the runner and the pitches grounded
through the right side base It that will score Quan from third into third,
goes Freeman, and Naylor comes through with an RBI single to make it three
to one. Guardians and those fans who have come down from Cleveland making themselves
heard here in Cincinnati. The Reds pulled to within one with a run in
the sixth, but the Guardians got that run right back in the eighth inning
with Naylor leading things off. Josh Naylor leads it off eighth inning and his
first pitch, swinging, drives one high and deep right field way on out
of here bout run Josh Naylor, seventeenth on the year for Nailer a mammoth
blast and the Guardians now lead it four to two. Then in the top
half of the ninth inning, Josh Naylor's big RBI night continued. He one
swung on ground ball first base side sliding stop by Steer, throws to second
for one, back to first, not in time. Safe at first is
Nailer. That allows his brother Bo to score from third and the Guardians had
a run. It's now five to two Cleveland. The Reds did scratching cloth
for a rare runoff of Emmanuel Classe the bottom half of the ninth inning that
made it five to three. But in the end the lead was plenty for
class A to nail down another save. Here's his pitch and it swung online
to short, caught by a Rocchio and the Guardians hang on for the win.
Whoo. The final score five to three, so a nice win for
the Guardians to open the Cincinnati series. The Reds bounced back and they won
the finale of the brief two game series four to two on Wednesday night.
After an off day Thursday, it was on to Toronto for the Guardians and
they opened a three game series on Friday night. Impressive again. They got
the scoring started in the second inning with back to back doubles, first from
Will Brennan, then from Daniel Schnemann Schneeman, another versatile player in center field
tonight at the plate since being called up five for fourteen. The pitch to
him and he swings and drills it to left center that gets down for a
base head and it sneaks on through, scoring Is Brennan into second, is
Schneeman and the Guardians take the early lead at one nothing. In the fourth,
the Guardians added onto that lead thanks to Will Brennan. Here's his pitch
and it's swung on and blasted high and deep to left. Has a chance
home run well Brennau into the bullpen opposite field to nothing Cleveland. Good power
the opposite way by Brennan, which we haven't seen a whole lot of that,
but that has to be encouraging for him to know that he can take
a picture deep the opposite way. And they were back at it. In
the fifth, Brian Rochio with a lead off double and then Andres Jimenez delivered
the one to zero. Is drilled through the right side of base, it
headed for third being waved around is Rochio. Here's the throw up the line
Rochio's safe throw back to first, diving back in his Himene and his base
hit drives in Brian Rocchio and the Guardians now lead it three nothing. Then
on the mound, Logan Allen, for a second consecutive outing, was turning
in a solid start. Here's Logan Allen's payoff pitch. Justin Turner grounds it
to the shortstop, Rochio to second for one on the first double play and
with one pitch, Allen's out of the inning again the second time tonight.
That his infielders have turned two and we'll head to the fifth and this his
back to back strong starts for the lefty. The three to two swung on
popped him up third base side. Hosey's there and Ramirez makes the catch and
it's another good inning for Logan Allen. Five complete in Toronto, it's the
Guardians three, the Blue Jays nothing. Toronto did pick up a run in
the sixth off of Allen, but coming out of the Guardian's bullpen, Kate
Smith tried to keep that lead at two runs, two outs. Runner at
first, the one to two pick swung on a high chopper to second,
hauled in by Jimenez. Time to throw and he gets him at first base.
Great work by Kate Smith. Again we head to the seventh, it's
the Guardians three, the Blue Jays one. I What a special night for
Smith as he was pitching in his home country for the first time, and
that's a big deal. He was part of the national team, the World
Baseball Classic team and now in the major leagues for the first time, pitching
in Toronto. Following Smith out of the pen, it was Scott Barlow,
Sam Henches and Hunter Gaddis. They kept the Blue Jays off the board in
the seventh and eighth innings before turning it over to Emmanuel class A in the
night. Here's the one swung on ground ball to the second baseman they sought
to do it. Jim Enez has it, throws to first and the Guardians
take the opener of this three game series, winning tonight here in Toronto.
So a nice win to open the series for the Guardians on Friday night at
the Rochet Center. And we mentioned Kate Smith being able to pitch in his
home country for the first time at the Rogers Center in his rookie Major league
season and how special that was for him. For the Naylor Brothers Josh and
Bo. Well, they're playing at the Rogers Center, which isn't too far
from their hometown of Mississauga, Ontario, and we had a chance to catch
up with Bow before the game. He's played here before in his rookie season
a year ago, but he talked about it before the game on Friday,
what it means to come back to Canada and play in his home country.
I feel like it's so special because of you know, how deeply it's ingrained
in the culture that we have here. I mean, you know, when
people are here for baseball, it's it runs deep, you know, so
you know, just to kind of understand how invested everyone is in this sport,
in the team that they support, it's I feel like it's super special.
And so, you know, to be able to play on the field
against that team, you know, with my brother surrounded by you know a
lot of the people that have been there throughout the years to support us,
it just makes the moment that much greater. And along those lines, you
were pointing out a special game that you were at that I think Cleveland fans
remember and always well for a long long time, not from the postseason in
sixteen, but regular season in sixteen Philloson, Yeah, it was, you
know, just what we thought was going to be, you know, your
your average Blue Jay game. One of the parents on our club I think
I was around like thirteen fourteen, maybe got us some tickets to the game.
We were in the box and you know, it just came to enjoy
and it turned out to be one of the longest games I think, And
it might have been blue Jay history, I think all history. But what
was like sixteen innings nineteen Oh my gosh. Yeah, yeah, so you
know we stuck it through for all nineteen of those innings. It was amazing,
definitely something I can't forget. And when you look at coming back this
time around, you've been grinding it to get it going this season and get
yourself to a good place, and I know certain spots your game are coming
along quicker than others. Helpful to be back home where you feel good and
have a chance to see some family and be so grounded as I know you
guys are. Yeah, without a doubt, we I feel like in this
clubhouse, you know, we're very supportive with each other. We always you
know, want to make sure that everyone feels comfortable and understands that you know,
this is it's a long game. Honestly, you know, we have
so many months in this game, so you know, understanding that you know,
you can't you know, let certain individual days get to you. Just
understand that it's a process and you know, as time goes by, as
long as you're trending in the right direction, things are going to turn out
to be good, especially when you're playing the game the right way. And
I feel like, you know, as a recent that's kind of been the
trend for me, and you know, every opportunity I get to be out
there is super special. But yeah, being being back home kind of you
know, release some of the nerves a little bit, playing in front of
my family. Just understanding that, you know, this is a moment to
be grateful for. I know you mentioned earlier good vibes going back to Mississauga
and hopefully some good vibes this weekend. Thanks, thank you appreciate it.
That's Bou Naylor with a special night Friday night, along with Josh Naylor and
Kate Smith, three members natives of Canada getting to play in their home country
at the Rogers Center. Stay with us, we'll talk outfield play with J.
T McQuire, the Guardian's outfield coach. When we come back after this
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Oh, anesthesiologist. He was an anesthesiologist. Changerments coming up. We had
another interurist, not availd in mind estates now the one one pitch a swing
in another lazy fly shallow center. It is dropping diving freeman beat a catch
and there's a run saver at least one run. Who knows how many more
would have scored this seting on a blooper to center. That freeman charged it
at the last moment. Dove made a diving, tumbling then rolling catch and
hung on. Welcome back to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhouse along with you from
the Rogers Center in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where the Guardians are playing
the Blue Jays this weekend. They won the opener Friday night three to one.
Earlier in the week they were down in Cincinnati to play the Reds and
it was defense galore for the Guardians, particularly Tyler Freeman, who had a
huge night defensively on Tuesday night with two unbelievable grabs in center field and fair
in mind field is not his natural position. He was an infielder really the
entire time prior to this offseason, but the organization asked him to make a
change. He worked hard with JT McGuire, the outfield coach for the Guardians,
to make that transition, and it certainly has been a smooth transition for
Tyler Freeman. We caught up with J. T McGuire and talked to him
about Freeman and others, but particularly Freeman and how quickly he's adapted to a
new position. I mean, I've been coaching for probably fifteen years now,
and this is definitely the biggest project that I've encountered. Not because Tyler is
not a good baseball player by any means it's because he's played infield all of
his life and he's trying to make the transition of playing center field in the
major leagues. So that's a tall task for anybody. But you know,
he's tackling it head on, and any information that I can give him,
you know, he's soaking it in. Luckily, I've got guys that have
played the outfield for an extended period of time, like Will Brennan and Stephen
Kwan who can give him tips throughout the game and throughout practices as well.
So he's getting it from all angles, not just myself, he's getting it
from the players as well. He is there one or two things that have
really enabled him to pick it up so quickly, maybe in spring training,
maybe even before that. I don't know if I can pinpoint anything specifically.
You know, he just has a knack for finding the baseball anyway. You
know, being an infielder, he was always getting dirty. He was always
you know, making tremendous plays on the dirt, and then kind of transition
into how he plays the outfield. I mean he attacks everything aggressively. He
has good anticipation on you know, where balls are going to be hit,
and then he just like I said, his instincts take over and he just
goes and gets the baseball. And he was saying prior to Tuesday night's game
that you've been working on him on going back to his left, and sure
enough, both both great catches were involving that going back to the wall to
his left. How do you identify that and what are some of the indicators
that you get that say, hey, this is an area you need to
work on. Well, we're super fortunate with our resources that you know,
the kind of the behind the scenes stuff where it show identifies players' strengths and
weaknesses. And right now I would say, like it's not a major weakness,
but it's part of his weakness is going back to his left and into
his right. So in work prior to the game, you know, when
we're doing individualized work, that's our area of focus is going back to his
left and in into his right. And it just so happens that you know,
we were working on it yesterday before the before the game, and it
panned out. So he's the new guy. You have a gold glover out
there and Steven Kond how different is the work with him to keep him in
a good spot as opposed to getting him to a good spot. Kawannie's a
special person and a player, so he's not the type where you know,
he'll let you know that he won gold. So anything that we throw out
there, he's he's right in the mix and does it. And it's it's
great from a standpoint of, you know, I almost have a player coach
out there with me because if i'm if I'm, I can prep Kwannie prior
to the day and say, hey, this is this is the area of
focus that we want to work on. It's kind of tailored towards Free.
Do you mind going out there and being a player coach almost and and he
has taken that, you know, to harden And one of his strengths right
now is is being a good leader. And he takes that leadership and he
and he helps out Free with that. So it's been it's been incredible.
Well, it has been fun to watch gold glovers like Steven Kwan and emerging
outfielders like Tyler Freeman among others. The j T great work. Thanks a
lot for coming by, Appreciate it. Appreciate your ros A's outfield coach j
T MC talking specifically about Tyler Freeman, but others as well as the Guardians
outfielders have certainly been a plus defensively for this ball club. Stay with us.
We'll have more to come as we continue from Toronto after this. Welcome
back to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhause back with you from the Rogers Center in
Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Great to have you with us for Baseball Talk
on the radio. You can hear our show each week on the Guardians Radio
Network and in Cleveland and surrounding areas on our flagship station WTAM that means seven
am every Saturday. You can also hear it on different radio network affiliates as
well as in podcast for wherever you download your favorite podcasts. Rob Sorfolio is
The Guardian's director of player Development, and on this week's Farm Report, we
caught up with Rob just after a recent trip to the Dominican Republic to see
some of the youngest players in the entire organization, and Rob fills us in
on the purpose of his visit as their season in the DR is now getting
underway. For the fans that maybe don't have as much visibility into what happens
down there, it's really the first the first grade. In a lack of
a better analogy of our baseball school, and you know, we have an
entire department of international scouts led by Richard Conway and in several others that spend
days, hours, years recruiting scouting really young players across all of Venezuela,
the Dominican Republic, Columbia. And then when we sign those guys, they
matriculate into our academy and this is the time of year when when those guys
start to play for the first time. So unlike our full season affiliates that
start in April, these guys don't start their season till June, so they're
almost like two months behind the cadence of a player that you would see at
Akron or Lake County or Columbus or wherever. So their spring training just finished.
And that was kind of the point of the trip on my end,
was to go down there and really see a lot of these players, you
know, playing full games for the first time. So we have some players
that are our guys that have been in our system for a year or two,
and then there's a large group of about twenty new players. So one
it was just an opportunity to see those guys, interact with them obviously,
like interact with our coaching staff that you know, a lot of those guys
live down there year round. We also have some some coaches that travel in
for the season, whether they're American or Puerto Rican or wherever. So really
it was just to you know, help get our ducks in a row for
the start of the season. And you know, unfortunately, part of that
is like setting rosters and we have to you know, we can only have
seventy players, so we had to make a few releases. But really,
more so than anything in mind, just opportunity to see those guys, help
support the players and staff with their season that just started this past Monday,
and make sure that we were ready to rock. Rob. You mentioned some
of the new players and some as young as sixteen, which would put them
in high school if they were in the States. Is it more on the
field or off the field that you have to get them going and up to
speed in Yeah, I mean it's everything, I would say, yes.
So these guys sign at sixteen, most of them are playing as seventeen year
olds. Eighteen year olds for some of the new guys. But it's almost
like watching you know, high school varsity baseball in a lot of ways.
So you know, they play in the mornings around eleven o'clock. We have
our training period that goes on before that from a baseball standpoint, and then
the rest of their days is really you know, athletic development, whether that's
becoming bigger, stronger, faster in the weight room or things out in our
agility field, just to like really develop the skills from an athlete standpoint that
we think are really important for major leaguers down the line. And then so
much work goes into these guys from a classroom standpoint, so that that could
be you know, baseball and reviewing what they did in the games, or
preparing for the next day with our with our actual coaches, or learning English
or life skills, and trying to just like prepare these guys to be you
know, productive citizens, whether that's in their home country or when they matriculate
to the States. So trying to prepare these guys, and their schedule really
runs from eight am to about three pm because of how many things, you
know, we're trying to do with with these guys. And I think a
big credit goes to our education, our life skills department. You know Ali
Airs who lives down in the dr and and really really runs organizes, you
know, the majority of these efforts in person every day, and I know
our players are a lot better because of it. And just for a perspective
one point in time, a while ago, now, Jose Ramirez was one
of those youngsters just getting started at that age. So there's your perspective.
Who knows, maybe the next one is down there right now, and we'll
see him down the road. Rob Sorfolio joining us. It's the weekly farm
Report. He's the director of player development for the Guardians. And Robbie hads
some movement in the system recently, some players moving up from Single A Lake
County to the Double A level. And I don't know we should lump these
two guys together, but man, their numbers were off the charts at Lake
County. C J. Kaphis and Nate Furman, And what have they done
to really improve their stock here as the season moves along? Yeah, well,
you know we can. We can start with Firman just because he's in
a second year with us, and obviously firm did a lot of really good
things last year to prepare himself for for what we saw in Lake County,
and that began with you know, him really kicking off his pro career in
Lynchburg this time last year, and quite frankly, he dominated that level,
and we challenged him in Lake County and and he had some struggles for probably
the first time in his life as a hitter. And part of our discussions
the end of last year and and right at the end of season was was
really to try and challenge firm to you know, kind of take the next
step of, you know, what does it mean to be a complete hitter?
Like there were some really strong attributes that he has, like he he
knows the strike zone, he knows how to execute a plan, he's a
tough guy to strike out. But you know, we felt like there was
there was an opportunity to put him in a more consistent position to impact the
baseball And some of that was just like his overall capacity from a strength that
speed side of things, but a lot of that was also just like his
mindset on what he was trying to do and going up there with intent to
like hunt certain pitches at certain times in his at that and try and do
damage with them. So it's you know, not dissimilar conversations that you know,
roll the clock back a couple of years that we had with Kwannie or
Tyler Freeman or some of these guys that had similar performance profiles. But I
think man a lot of credit goes to Firm on how he handled hearing some
of that feedback. And then you know, this guy is is really impressive
to watch work and I think, you know, his work ethic and just
his desire to want to get better. You know that that's a huge credit
to our scouts were able to assess that on the front end, and obviously
a huge credit to him to be able to digest that information that we talked
about the end of last year and really work his tail off in the off
season and challenge himself with some of the intent level items. And you know,
I think that's why we're seeing a huge gap in some of just his
ability to impact the baseball, whether it's from an exit velocity standpoint or just
from an overall like power performance side of things. You know, those are
the really fun stories where we're kind of all of our domains are working holistically,
like our physical groups, working with our hitting group, and we're coming
up with a plan and involving the player in that plan. And it's been
awesome to see, you know, some some real positive trends with with firm
early the early part of this year. And CJ similar story, c J
capis, Yeah, so, you know, similar, but a little different
in the sense of this is you know CJ's you know, first full year
with us. He got like a really small taste of affiliate ball out of
the draft last year when he went to Lynchburg, and you know, it's
it's tough for those guys that play a long college season. You know,
he Miami guy, played in the ACC, so it wasn't a lack of
being exposed to good competition. It was just, you know, they played
from February all the way to a and then they had a month off and
the draft happens, and they're trying to get up to speed on you know,
what professional baseball is. And you know, this is a guy just
seeing him in his first full year all the way back to spring training,
just the consistent quality at bats that he puts up is really impressive. And
then obviously we challenged him going straight to Lake County after just a small stint
in Lynchburg last year. And he was up to that challenge and you know,
really impacts the baseball like hit hit for a lot of power in the
middle of that lineup, but also just does some of the other things that
we think we think is the reason why we're so excited about this guy moving
forward. And obviously he's gotten off to you know, right right where he
left off in Akron so far a couple of games in so you know,
a really uh smart and advanced college hitter that that has been fun to watch
this year. All right, Rob, we I think we can wrap up
the Variety edition of the Minor League Report this week. Thank you so much
for for all the updates on different Yeah, thank you, Rosie, I
appreciate it. That's ropster Folio, the Guardians director of player Development, and
we always appreciate Rop's time for our weekly farm report. Stay with us.
Our final segment comes your way shortly on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio on netboard.
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Royals again down to their last strike, Garcia and Second Base too down in
the ninth eight to five, Cleveland on the payoff pitch, a swag and
a mess bogie front door cutter got him and the Guardians keep rolling. Welcome
back to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhouse along with you from the Rogers Center in
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where the Guardians are taking on the Blue Jays
this weekend, and as we finish our show this week. Every once in
a while we like to check in with Guardians Senior Vice President Bob d Biassio.
Here it is another edition at the Ballpark with Bobby D. The perfectly
manicured fields, the unmistakable aroma of a ballpark hot dog, and the electricity
celebrating another victory. This is at the Ballpark with Bobby D. The ballpark
is home to many stories, many memorable moments, and colorful personalities. Joining
me now at the ballpark is one of my dear friends, Larry Dobie Junior,
his father breaking the color barrier in the American League July fifth, nineteen
forty seven, when he went to the plate as a pinch hitter in Comiski
Park in Chicago. Larry, it's always awesome to have you back in Cleveland.
It's always good to be back here, Robert, thanks for having me.
Let's talk a little bit about your dad. I know you've done so
many interviews. One of the coolest things that I've heard you say over the
many years that you and I have connected is the fact that your father said
he never got booed in Cleveland, that this city truly embraced him. Yeah,
exactly. He wasn't much for telling the stories Bobby and I would try
to get him to when he wouldn't. And one day we were sitting around
and he made that statement, and I thought he was crazy because I grew
up in New York and New Jersey. They bowed Mickey Mantle and he said,
they never bowed me there. And that meant so much to me,
because that meant to me that he was theirs. He was their guy,
and whether he struck out or got a hit, they were gonna support him.
And he never forgot that. You know. Another story that you shared
was there'd be people come to your home and stars of all pro sports,
and your dad was a fan of all sports, being a four sports star
at Patterson High School in New Jersey, terrific football player, basketball player,
and also a member of the US Navy, which we cannot forget his service
to our country. Tell us and share some of the names that as a
kid, you were walking around the house and all of a sudden, at
the dinner table, there's some pretty special people. Yeah, but you got
to remember, Bobby, they were just my dad's friends. They weren't special
people to me. So he'd say, you know, come home early,
maybe you want to, you know, meet these guys, and it would
be Bill Russell, Sam Jones, Willie Knowles, Willie Mays, don Nukeomb
and you know, I was just like, Okay, nice to meet you,
sir. You know my pleasure. Can I go back and play dad?
And He's like, yeah, sure, of course. In hindsight,
which we all know is twenty twenty, I wish I would have stayed there
and kind of soaked in some of the knowledge that they were, you know,
putting out. But you know, you just when you're a kid,
all you want to do is play when when you get the chance. So
that's what happened. And you and I have chatted about this, and I
don't think we've ever shared this with the public. So to me, it's
a remarkable story that you were both a football and baseball player and you were
trying to identify a college in which you might be able to go and play
both sports. Tell us the story about how you identified the school that you
did, the story behind Paul Harvey, remember Paul Harvey, and the rest
of the story. Well, to me, this is an incredibly interesting rest
of the story. When you sat with your father and decided to tell him
where you were going to go to college. So I got a bunch of
offers and letters and stuff from different schools. And one of the things was
that I definitely knew I wanted to play two sports, being football and baseball,
and some schools automatically were like, well, the money's coming from football,
this is your priority, and so forth and song. And my goal
was to go to the best school that I could go to and if possibly
a warm weather thing. So I went to visit Duke University of North Carolina
in February. It was seventy degrees. I was sold. Then. All
the initial contact came from the football office and coach Mike McGee. And after
we had met and sat down and talked, and you know, he said,
okay, I understand you know, baseball is pretty important to you.
He decided to sort of funnel my interest towards the baseball team because he figured,
I think that he could get two athletes for the price of one,
because if I was on baseball scholarship, then I was going to play football.
He knew that, so that's what he did, which was pretty shrewd
on his part. So it turns out that the recruiting process had gone pretty
far. I hadn't even asked or known who the baseball coach was when it
kind of took the direction towards baseball, I found out the baseball coach was
Enis Slaughter. As people probably know, he was one of the guys who
wasn't happy when Jackie Robinson signed and put his name on a petition that they
weren't going to play, and so forth and so on. And my father
had always told me when I was younger, to treat people the way that
they treat you, not what you hear about them, not what you think.
You know, give him a chance. And he said, even if
I'm not friendly with them and they're friendly with you, that's okay. So
needless to say, this was a chance to put those lessons to, you
know, a true test. Yeah. And the best thing I'll say,
Bobby, is that I think the true measure of a man is not where
he begins the race, it's where he finishes it. And I have to
say that coach Slaughter, you know, finished it on the right side.
He was brought up and born into a segregated society. That was part of
his life, you know. But by the time I got to him,
you know, he was a good guy. I loved playing for him.
You know, I wouldn't have traded the experience for the world. My father,
on the other hand, you know, would always joke with me.
They'd see each other at old timers game and he go, I saw your
coach, you know, and stuff like that. So I think he had
forgiven, but he didn't forget, and they had it, you know,
me in common. So I think they became a little bit more friendly over
the years. So that was part of the situation. I'm glad that I
could have helped them get a little closer. So let's get specific. On
the football field, what position did you play? I played strong safety,
and I could hit and I could run a little bit, so that you
yeah, I did. I did, almost to the point where the coach
said, you don't have to let him catch it to tackle him. You
can block the ball not hit him. But yeah, that's kind of what
I learned. So yeah. And then in baseball, what position did you
play? Were you a center fielder like your dad? I played center field
like him. Yeah, you know, in a right handed hitter, switch
hitter. Yep. I've always found that story to be so remarkable. Again
for those who want to check the history books. Yeah, Ina Slaughter allegedly
was the ringleader of even wanting the boycott baseball for integration at that time.
But you said, you know, a man comes from a certain place and
he has a chance to change, And did you integrate Duke's baseball team?
Believe it or not, Bobby, I found out long after I had graduated
that I was the first black player there. I didn't know that, and
I think ironically I was the second black player in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
But you know what, I was a freshman. Those guys, you know,
it was a lot of upperclassmen. They never made me feel different.
I had no idea. Now we were going to places and play like Valdosta,
Georgia and places like that where it was a little crazy, but you
know, I felt like I was part of the team, and you know,
didn't have to go through the stuff my father did with not eating in
the same restaurant at the hotels. So you know, we were all together,
and you know, I'm thankful for that experience. Well, we're thankful
that you're willing to share that. We're thankful. I'm personally thankful we have
this deep, long relationship that we have. I was one of the few
that are still here, that blessed to know your father and your mother,
Helen, and what wonderful, gracious people they were, and hoping that you
out there all enjoyed today's at the Ballpark story. We look forward to sharing
more at the Ballpark and the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network. And that'll do it
for this week's edition of Guardians Weekly. As always, thanks to Brian Matse
for all of his help putting together our show each week. We will join
you next week when the team is back home taking on these Saint Toronto Blue
Jays at Progressive Field next weekend. Until then, this is Jim Rosenhause reminding
you that you've been listening to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio own
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