Speaker 1: You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
Speaker 1: KFI A six forty.
Speaker 2: Let's go beyond the box score with Jackie Ray, and
Speaker 2: let's talk about how President Donald Trump, going over to
Speaker 2: last week, has inserted himself into the world of sports
Speaker 2: once again.
Speaker 3: He has said publicly quote.
Speaker 2: Over the next few weeks, I will be signing a
Speaker 2: complete pardon of Pete Rose, who shouldn't have been gambling
Speaker 2: on baseball, but only bet on his team winning. He
Speaker 2: never betted against himself or the other team. He had
Speaker 2: the most hits by far in baseball history and won
Speaker 2: more games than anyone in sports history.
Speaker 3: Close quote. First, good evening, Jackie Ray.
Speaker 2: Second, I worked in sports media for a few years
Speaker 2: while this was happening, when Pete Rose specifically was banned
Speaker 2: from baseball. Before we go forward, I have to say,
Speaker 2: once again we are ahead of the curve talking about
Speaker 2: the President inserting himself into sports. We can't then turn
Speaker 2: around and say, hey, athletes, don't say anything political.
Speaker 3: What say you?
Speaker 4: Well, first of all, I want to say to young
Speaker 4: people who are in school, this is what happens when
Speaker 4: you don't do the reading. You get everything completely wrong.
Speaker 4: Because if you were confused. If you're like Moe and
Speaker 4: you knew about this when it was happening, this statement
Speaker 4: was very confusing at first because you probably had to
Speaker 4: google and say, was he convicted? Did he go to
Speaker 4: prison for gambling? He did not go to prison for gambling.
Speaker 4: He went to prison for tax evasion. And it was
Speaker 4: only a few months at that, but it was well
Speaker 4: after his career. So when you're pardoning Pete Rose, you're
Speaker 4: not partying him for gambling. You're giving him a pardon
Speaker 4: for tax evasion. It's not the same thing. So there's
Speaker 4: a disconnect there for me.
Speaker 2: First of all, obviously President Trump is angling for Pete
Speaker 2: Rose to be included in the Hall of Fame. Let
Speaker 2: me bring everyone up to speed on some of the facts.
Speaker 2: Major League Baseball and the National Baseball Hall of Fame
Speaker 2: and Museum are separate entities. The latter is is operated
Speaker 2: by a private foundation. As far as Major League Baseball goes,
Speaker 2: Rule twenty one is what determined Pete Rose's fate, and
Speaker 2: it reads as follows. Quote any player, umpire, or club,
Speaker 2: or league official or employee who shall bet any sum
Speaker 2: whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the
Speaker 2: better has no duty to perform, shall be declared ineligible
Speaker 2: for one year.
Speaker 3: Part two.
Speaker 2: Any player, umpire, club, or league official employee who shall
Speaker 2: bet any sum whatsoever on any baseball game and connection
Speaker 2: with which the better has a duty to perform, like
Speaker 2: Pete Rose was a manager, shall be declared permanently ineligible.
Speaker 2: Permanently is not for life. Permanently is to the end
Speaker 2: of time. Now the National Baseball Hall of Fame in
Speaker 2: Museum has this latitude. If Major League Baseball removed Rose
Speaker 2: from the permanently ineligible list, it in no way binds
Speaker 2: the Hall of Fame to also admit him. Let me
Speaker 2: recap very quickly, and I'll bring you back in, Jackie Ray.
Speaker 2: If you bet at all, it does not matter if
Speaker 2: you bet on your team, you bet on someone else's team.
Speaker 2: If you bet your team to win your team to lose,
Speaker 2: you are permanently ineligible. Let me also break it down.
Speaker 2: Just because you bet on your team to win does
Speaker 2: not mean that you're not.
Speaker 3: Doing a game of disservice.
Speaker 2: For example, let's say, if I bet a sum of
Speaker 2: money on this game tonight, and I'm the manager, I
Speaker 2: may use a picture that I didn't plan to use,
Speaker 2: and I may use him tonight, that means he's not
Speaker 2: to be used tomorrow because of any max I am
Speaker 2: impacting the game in a way which has to do
Speaker 2: with betting, not the good of the team, using a
Speaker 2: pinchhate or something. So there's no distinction made as to
Speaker 2: whether you are betting on your team or against your team.
Speaker 3: It is illegal, and it's illegal for good reason.
Speaker 4: Because now, if you were to pardon this, if this
Speaker 4: is the goal to pardon this situation, there sets a precedent.
Speaker 4: And we've been talking about this for a long time.
Speaker 4: This rabbit hole goes very deep as far as gambling.
Speaker 4: And if you set a precedent that says to people, oh, yeah,
Speaker 4: this is just going to be bad for me now,
Speaker 4: but it's not going to damage my legacy, because that's
Speaker 4: one of the reasons that should to prevent players from
Speaker 4: wanting to gamble, because it's going to damage your legacy.
Speaker 3: But if it's just a slap.
Speaker 4: On the wrist, and then later you can get a
Speaker 4: president to say, oh, you know, gambling is not that
Speaker 4: bad as long as your ga I'm always gonna bet
Speaker 4: on myself in life, you know. So that's kind of
Speaker 4: a ridiculous statement to me. And he's setting a precedent
Speaker 4: that I don't think anybody should pay attention to because
Speaker 4: what do we talk about all the time the integrity
Speaker 4: of the sport. And if you want sports to have integrity,
Speaker 4: if you want the fans that watch the game to
Speaker 4: think that there is a level of integrity in the game,
Speaker 4: then you have to uphold these things, even if the
Speaker 4: President of the United States does not.
Speaker 2: There's a distinction there, And I want to highlight the
Speaker 2: integrity of the game, which is different from integrity of
Speaker 2: the person. Oftentimes I hear this argument, well, Ty Cobb
Speaker 2: was a racist, so this person was an a hole,
Speaker 2: and this person had sex out side of marriage. It's
Speaker 2: not the integrity the person. You're talking about the integrity
Speaker 2: of the game, the sport itself, and betting anyone who
Speaker 2: plays baseball, professional baseball knows, rule to one it is
Speaker 2: sacro saint. It is inarguable. There are no mitigating circumstances.
Speaker 2: That's why shoeless Joe Jackson is not in the Hall
Speaker 2: of Fame, and he still ain't in. When they say
Speaker 2: permanently ineligible, they mean permanently ineligible. Now, I don't know
Speaker 2: how much of a baseball fan President Trump is I
Speaker 2: get the sense that he doesn't know much about baseball,
Speaker 2: just being honest, because no one is disputing whether Pete
Speaker 2: Rose has the player resume to be in the Hall
Speaker 2: of Fame. It's the all time hits leader and manager
Speaker 2: Charlie Hustle. I know his history, chapter and verse, but
Speaker 2: rule twenty one until it changes, and I read that
Speaker 2: a baseball commissioner is considering reviewing it until something happens.
Speaker 2: He should not ever sniff the Hall of Fame because
Speaker 2: the rules are presently as they.
Speaker 4: Are, and I think the commissioner should not consider this.
Speaker 4: And the reason why I say that is because when
Speaker 4: we're talking about fans again, we have these rumors circling
Speaker 4: every single season about every single sport that something is rigged.
Speaker 4: And the only way that you can give the illusion
Speaker 4: that that is not true is if you prevent gambling
Speaker 4: by the players who play the game. And so again,
Speaker 4: you don't want to set that precedence. And to your point,
Speaker 4: I don't think President Trump knows anything about many sports
Speaker 4: because of the way that he talks about it, not
Speaker 4: that he has to. You're the president of the United States.
Speaker 4: You're supposed to be supposed to be good at that.
Speaker 4: You're not supposed to be good at knowing what's going
Speaker 4: on in sports. But if you want the fans to
Speaker 4: have faith, even the President of the United States saying
Speaker 4: this should be reconsidered, should have no precedents and how
Speaker 4: you move as a league. So I really hope that
Speaker 4: this is something that they just completely throw out the window.
Speaker 2: And there are a lot of folks who are Johnny
Speaker 2: cum Lately's who really don't even know the history of this.
Speaker 2: If they want to relitigate it. Pete Rose agreed with
Speaker 2: Major League Baseball on a permanent ban in nineteen eighty nine.
Speaker 2: He said, yes, okay, I'll sign here, and he also
Speaker 2: admitted to betting on baseball and betting on his own
Speaker 2: team in his memoir he did by himself.
Speaker 4: And a man that does this, let's be clear, a
Speaker 4: man that is going to bet on the sport that
Speaker 4: he plays suddenly telling you, yeah, but I only bet
Speaker 4: on myself. If you take that verbatim, then that's a
Speaker 4: you problem. You can't trust anything at that point. This man,
Speaker 4: his integrity has been questioned and he has admitted to that.
Speaker 3: So you can't.
Speaker 4: Even though the president is saying he only bet on himself.
Speaker 4: You're just taking his word for it, and there's no
Speaker 4: proof of that. So this band has to stay indefinitely,
Speaker 4: in my opinion, for.
Speaker 3: The sake of the sport itself.
Speaker 2: Now, if you want to get into the politics of
Speaker 2: it all and the optics of it all, yes, Rose
Speaker 2: is a celebrated American figure, and there are those who
Speaker 2: want to disregard his personal shortcomings which I haven't even
Speaker 2: gotten into, as well as his gambling shortcomings. And if
Speaker 2: you're a fan of the sport of baseball and you're
Speaker 2: knowledgeable about the rules, pass go do not advance to
Speaker 2: boardwalk when it comes to rule twenty one until that
Speaker 2: rule changes, heat Rose is permanently ineligible, which is not
Speaker 2: the same as for life. It means forever, forever, ever, forever, ever,
Speaker 2: forever ever. And once again, here we are. We're back
Speaker 2: with sports, gambling and also politics. It just seems like
Speaker 2: they lay this stuff out here for.
Speaker 4: Us because politics affect people, and who plays sports.
Speaker 3: Say that again, Say that again.
Speaker 4: Affect people, and people play sports.
Speaker 2: That's why eventually they're gonna start listening to us, Jackie Ray,
Speaker 2: They're going to start listening to us.
Speaker 3: And when we come back let's stay right here with baseball.
Speaker 2: Did you know that baseball is right now testing technology
Speaker 2: that could render umpires obsolete. They are testing automated ball
Speaker 2: strike systems to be used at least right now in
Speaker 2: the minor leagues, and it might be in the major league.
Speaker 2: So talk about that. Will we come back. It's Later
Speaker 2: with Mo Kelly. I'm joined by Jackie Ray as we
Speaker 2: go beyond the box Score. We are live everywhere the
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Later with Mo Kelly on demand from
Speaker 1: KFI A six forty.
Speaker 2: It's Later with Mo Kelly, and we're still going beyond
Speaker 2: the box Score with Jackie Ray and still live everywhere
Speaker 2: on the iHeartRadio app. Well, you can't say that robot
Speaker 2: umpires are here in major league baseball as we continue
Speaker 2: to talk about baseball, but a version of an automated
Speaker 2: strike zone is being tested right now during spring training,
Speaker 2: and the ABS Challenge System as it's called, is being implemented.
Speaker 2: The system will be in place at thirteen stadiums and
Speaker 2: in more than sixty percent of spring training games across
Speaker 2: Arizona and Florida. Let's get to the real issue here.
Speaker 2: Baseball has been very slow to change, and part of
Speaker 2: that slowness is due to the fact that baseball likes
Speaker 2: to pride itself on tradition and history from its stats,
Speaker 2: and now the game is played where it's pretty much
Speaker 2: the same today as it was seventy eighty years ago.
Speaker 2: But with the advent of technic aology, they've been really
Speaker 2: really slow. Basketball was quicker to adopt replay. You had
Speaker 2: tennis and soccer and hockey adopting more complicated, more sophisticated technology.
Speaker 2: As far as determination of line violations and goals, Baseball
Speaker 2: has always hung on to the idea of there's acceptable
Speaker 2: human error. I've never agreed with that. I would rather
Speaker 2: have the call correct. Where do you come out on this.
Speaker 4: I'm somewhere in the middle. I understand this that the
Speaker 4: instant replay has been a huge deal.
Speaker 3: Obviously, you need that.
Speaker 4: We've seen several calls, no matter if you're a football
Speaker 4: fan or a basketball fan, we've seen you had to
Speaker 4: reverse calls. It was I think it was Joel somebody
Speaker 4: just got to ejected from a basketball game and they
Speaker 4: had to go look at the replay, like, nope, just
Speaker 4: bring it Joel and b Yeah, bring them back. So
Speaker 4: these kinds of things really help the integrity of the
Speaker 4: sport and then lets you get it right. On the
Speaker 4: flip side. My coach used to always tell me, if
Speaker 4: it comes down to the call of a ref, you
Speaker 4: already lost that game anyway. So it really doesn't make
Speaker 4: that much of an impact. But we've seen this, especially
Speaker 4: in the NFL. Yes, it does because if that game
Speaker 4: is closed, it can come down to it. So I
Speaker 4: understand both sides of it. I think that this is
Speaker 4: great that the baseball is trying to take a leap because,
Speaker 4: like you said, they've been really big on tradition, but
Speaker 4: traditionally we like to make our lives easier and we
Speaker 4: like to respect the integrity of the sport and know
Speaker 4: that it's right.
Speaker 3: I do believe that's a little.
Speaker 4: Bit of human error is fine, but coming down to
Speaker 4: affecting a lot of plays when their answer is right
Speaker 4: there is completely unnecessary.
Speaker 3: So I think this is a good move. Let's talk
Speaker 3: about specifics.
Speaker 2: During spring training, teams will get two challenges per game
Speaker 2: and will only lose a challenge if it is unsuccessful.
Speaker 2: Only a batter, pitcher, or catcher can challenge a call,
Speaker 2: not the manager, which they will indicate by tapping their head.
Speaker 2: They have to do so immediately after the pitch, without
Speaker 2: assistance from the manager or players in the dugout. It's
Speaker 2: called hawkeye tracking technology. It will be then used to
Speaker 2: display on the video board showing whether the pitch was
Speaker 2: a strike or not. On average, the challenge at the
Speaker 2: Triple A level, which is one level below Major League level,
Speaker 2: has taken seventeen seconds to complete. But this is almost
Speaker 2: counterintuitive because they tried to speed up the game right
Speaker 2: with the pitch clock. I understand why they're testing, but
Speaker 2: it's just gonna show up umps. Why don't we just
Speaker 2: get to the end. This is where all this is headed.
Speaker 2: Why don't you just bring in the technology. Professional hockey,
Speaker 2: the officials don't determine it. It's done electronically. Same with
Speaker 2: soccer as well. Professional soccer, and we know the lines
Speaker 2: in tennis, Yeah, they have a judge up, but it's
Speaker 2: technology that gets to determine it. I don't know why
Speaker 2: it's taking so long. Let's hurry up. You're only talking
Speaker 2: about let's say, I don't know, one hundred umpires. Just
Speaker 2: bringing the technology and move on.
Speaker 4: I agree with that, just speed up the process. I
Speaker 4: get the wondering if it's going to slow down the game,
Speaker 4: but let's speed this up, because that's what we've seen
Speaker 4: work across other leagues. We've talked about it, and then
Speaker 4: we've tried it. We haven't talked about it and then
Speaker 4: tested it out in the G League or what we've
Speaker 4: talked about it, and then we've done it. And then
Speaker 4: when you do it, because here's in my opinion, there's
Speaker 4: a level of well, we're just trying it out. So
Speaker 4: the urgency to get this right and get it to
Speaker 4: perform at a high level quickly just isn't there. So no,
Speaker 4: just get it done. Let's just move it right into
Speaker 4: the majors right now. Let's just get it done. That's
Speaker 4: one thing I do like about the NFL. It's much
Speaker 4: more nimble of a professional league.
Speaker 2: In other words, we're going to change the kickoff rule,
Speaker 2: we're going to change overtime rule. They make it happen
Speaker 2: and keep moving and then they'll take it as they go.
Speaker 3: Baseball not so much part of it. I do understand.
Speaker 2: They're probably gradually bringing along their fandom to understand it
Speaker 2: and receive it. In the ways that they've disallowed the
Speaker 2: shift in the outfield, in the way that they've made.
Speaker 2: Change as far as how many pitching changes you can
Speaker 2: make in a given any how they change extra innings,
Speaker 2: starting a runner on second base.
Speaker 3: Baseball has done better.
Speaker 2: But this is the biggest change, which I think would
Speaker 2: be great for everyone.
Speaker 3: Just get the right call.
Speaker 2: I don't need someone behind the plate using their human
Speaker 2: judgment to do it. Just get the right call off
Speaker 2: as the striker or not. I can go into all
Speaker 2: the zone percentages and how be determined. That's neither here
Speaker 2: nor there. Just make it happy. We have the technology right.
Speaker 4: And you know, I appreciate respecting and honoring the fan
Speaker 4: base and moving things slowly, but I can tell you
Speaker 4: right now the fan base is used to things moving quickly.
Speaker 4: Nobody in that fan base probably has the very first
Speaker 4: iPhone because technology just moves that fast. So we are
Speaker 4: in a society now where we're trained to move with
Speaker 4: the times. So all you have to do is move
Speaker 4: with the times and say, hey, we're moving into the.
Speaker 3: Twenty first century. That's all you have to say.
Speaker 4: People are going to go with it because they're trained
Speaker 4: to it, and if they're not, trust me, they will
Speaker 4: come around. Because at some point a robot is going
Speaker 4: to deliver food to them, and they're going to think
Speaker 4: the robot is cute. They're not going to say to themselves,
Speaker 4: I wish a human had brought mind. They're not going
Speaker 4: to say that. No, that's not the time that we
Speaker 4: live in. Capitalize that everybody is kind of technologically sound
Speaker 4: and we're moving forward, and how can we make our
Speaker 4: lives easier. That's how we're all mentally that we all
Speaker 4: have that in common. We all understand that life is
Speaker 4: going to get very interesting with the advent of AI
Speaker 4: and things like that.
Speaker 3: We all understand that.
Speaker 4: So don't think that people are going to be slow
Speaker 4: to understand what's happening in their day to day lives anyway,
Speaker 4: that's not going to happen.
Speaker 3: Jack Rays, good to see you. We'll talk soon, Talk
Speaker 3: too soon.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
Speaker 1: KFI AM six forty