Speaker 1: Well, it's officially Matt Camp Day today, but it was
Speaker 1: Matt Camp Day every time twenty seven was in the
Speaker 1: starting lineup. And Matt Camp is back home here at
Speaker 1: Dodgers Stadium being celebrated. Man, Matt, great to have you
Speaker 1: back and so happy the Dodgers are recognizing a great career.
Speaker 2: I'm happy to be back, man. It's a special moment
Speaker 2: for me and my family. And to be able to
Speaker 2: come back where it all started. This is really exciting
Speaker 2: and I can't, you know, wait to get out there
Speaker 2: and see everybody.
Speaker 1: What was your reaction when you found out the Dodgers
Speaker 1: wanted to have a Matt Camp Day.
Speaker 2: I mean I was. I was surprised. You know, Lon
Speaker 2: had been coming to me with it for a little
Speaker 2: while and I was like, go ahead and and scheduling.
Speaker 2: I kind of had put my I guess I guess
Speaker 2: you could say my retirement hole for a while. But
Speaker 2: I officially did it, and Lone was like, now it's
Speaker 2: time to do this. So to be able to to
Speaker 2: come back and see all this and see all these
Speaker 2: familiar faces, it's exciting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so many people giving Mac. I'm a lot of
Speaker 1: love here. I mean, it's not just former teammates. It's
Speaker 1: not just workers here, it's media that Matt camp is
Speaker 1: loving to see. I guess that's one thing that players
Speaker 1: always talk about. You miss the people.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, from the janitors to the to the elevator people.
Speaker 2: You know, they're all part of the team. They're all
Speaker 2: part of the family. And when you come back, you
Speaker 2: see familiar faces. It's always good to see everybody. Everybody
Speaker 2: loves working here, working at Dodger Stadium and seeing and
Speaker 2: being around all the players. And you know, most of
Speaker 2: the people that work here, they've worked here for a
Speaker 2: long long time. So yeah, they're they're consistent, and uh,
Speaker 2: they're part of this winning process that goes on here
Speaker 2: in LA.
Speaker 1: When you were playing, I always remembered how much Don
Speaker 1: Newcombe meant to you. You would always go over there
Speaker 1: and talk to him during batting practice. Now that you're
Speaker 1: a retired Dodger and having Matt Kemp Day, do you
Speaker 1: feel the need to pay it forward?
Speaker 2: Oh? Absolutely, you know today, you know, I was sitting
Speaker 2: next to Steve at a Yager during luncheon. I was like,
Speaker 2: is this what it feels like to officially be old?
Speaker 2: And he was like, yeah, this is how it is.
Speaker 2: Don't get no better than this, And I was like,
Speaker 2: you know, I'm one of those guys now, so I
Speaker 2: definitely needed wanting to pay it forward and just offering
Speaker 2: whatever help I can.
Speaker 1: Your partner in crime, Andre Ethier was here this weekend.
Speaker 1: What was it like seeing him again? It's always good
Speaker 1: seeing him. You know, that's my guy. We came up together,
Speaker 1: and to be able to.
Speaker 2: See it's just a lot of good guys, a lot
Speaker 2: of good Jerry Turner, my guy.
Speaker 1: He looks the same.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, it looks just as beautiful as ever. No, it's
Speaker 2: just just this is this is home. So to just
Speaker 2: come back here, it's been a while to come back
Speaker 2: and see everybody that's still here, it's amazing.
Speaker 1: I know everybody talks about Matt Keemp's twenty eleven, but
Speaker 1: I remember when you first broke in, and I remember
Speaker 1: how special two thousand and eight was for all you guys,
Speaker 1: especially when Manny Ramirez came here to take you under
Speaker 1: your wing, under his wing. What was those two seas
Speaker 1: like eight and No.
Speaker 2: Nine four you It's definitely special. You know, it paved
Speaker 2: away for me to become a better hitter. He's man,
Speaker 2: he's one of the top right hand hitters of all times.
Speaker 2: And uh, what better to learn from than a guy
Speaker 2: like him. Learned a lot from him and even to
Speaker 2: this day, you know, with you know, family, friends and
Speaker 2: people that I know in baseball. A lot of the
Speaker 2: things he teaches me, I kind of pay it forward
Speaker 2: to some of these younger guys. And it's crazy, you know,
Speaker 2: the younger guy. A lot of younger guys don't even
Speaker 2: know who many Ramirez is, but then they go google
Speaker 2: him and they're like, oh, this dude was bad dude.
Speaker 2: So it's just surprised. It's shocking to to to to see, uh,
Speaker 2: you know, guys not know who he is, but you know,
Speaker 2: I kind of remind him of how good he was,
Speaker 2: and uh, it's just cool to give him that little.
Speaker 1: Nugget of information. What's it like coming back here because
Speaker 1: a lot of the current Dodgers were your teammates as well.
Speaker 1: Some of them are you know, ten year service time now,
Speaker 1: like Miguel Rojas and Kei y Hernandez.
Speaker 2: Man, it's crazy, man. That means I'm I'm officially old.
Speaker 2: That means I'm old.
Speaker 1: I think you could take right field tonight, Yeah, and pull.
Speaker 2: A hammy No, it's just good to see those guys flourish.
Speaker 2: And uh, when I was here, you know, they were
Speaker 2: still not necessarily starting out, but they were still in
Speaker 2: the middle kind of beginning middle of their career. And
Speaker 2: now they're vets on the team. So it's cool to
Speaker 2: they're still, you know, in the big leagues. That means
Speaker 2: that says a lot. And uh, they're playing really well.
Speaker 1: Do you keep tabs on the Dodgers from Texas or Oklahoma?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely, I got I got the alert on my
Speaker 2: you know, MLB network thing on my phone, the app,
Speaker 2: so I always know what's going on. You get to
Speaker 2: set your your uh, you know, I got pretty much
Speaker 2: all the guys that I'm close to as alerts when
Speaker 2: they do something good. So I'm always seeing all the
Speaker 2: good and the bad and and everything. It's baseball.
Speaker 1: He still he still got the ear for the right music.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I always have that. I just music's different now,
Speaker 2: so I kind of like stick to the older the
Speaker 2: older music.
Speaker 1: I guess that's what your car generation.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I guess our generation. I'm not that old,
Speaker 2: but I'm old.
Speaker 1: No you're not. You still got a great smile, and
Speaker 1: it's great that Dodgers have brought you back to have
Speaker 1: Matt Kemp Day and certainly just enjoy it because you
Speaker 1: earned it.
Speaker 2: I'll try, man, I'll try my best. I'll try not
Speaker 2: to cry.
Speaker 1: I got money on one tier at least.
Speaker 2: That's why I got. You got glasses For that, you
Speaker 2: got glasses. So I'm good.
Speaker 1: Hey, miss you, and it's great having you back here.
Speaker 2: I miss you too, man. Your style is getting a
Speaker 2: lot better. Man, I'm proud of you.
Speaker 1: Hey, you finally cracked through all the advice. You made
Speaker 1: me smell good when you played, and now I'm trying
Speaker 1: to look good.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm talking about, baby,