Speaker 1: You're on the night Side with Dan Ray on w
Speaker 1: b Z, Boston's news radio and welcome back Gary Tank
Speaker 1: Away for Dan ray tonight. Uh, before we get going here, Rob,
Speaker 1: can we play just one of those uk We're gonna
Speaker 1: bring in Dan shanty, so you can we play one
Speaker 1: of those Yuker cuts, the first one for Bob you
Speaker 1: could die today. We're gonna celebrate his life with Dan
Speaker 1: and this is let's play the commercial if we can.
Speaker 2: You know, one of the best things about being an
Speaker 2: X Big leaguer is getting preevies to the game call
Speaker 2: the front office bingo and once.
Speaker 1: These fans recognize me, I probably won't even have to
Speaker 1: pay for my life here from Miller.
Speaker 2: I love them, these fans. No, I'd drink light because
Speaker 2: it's less Philly and it tastes great good see sir
Speaker 2: in a wrong say buddy, come on, No, I must
Speaker 2: be in the front row. Light beer from Miller everything
Speaker 2: you always wanted in a beer and less Let's say, hey, buddy, Hey, this.
Speaker 1: Ta he met the tat tremendous, tremendous Bob Yuker passing
Speaker 1: away at the age of ninety. Dan Shaughnas, who joins
Speaker 1: us from the Boston Globe to talk about you. You know,
Speaker 1: I was just Danny. I was just going through stuff.
Speaker 1: Ar kre Did you know he was on the Tonight
Speaker 1: Show like one hundred times?
Speaker 2: Oh? Sure, Johnny Carson loved him. I mean that was
Speaker 2: kind of a you know, not many guys yet that
Speaker 2: kind of a chair as it were, where he was
Speaker 2: an honored guest and the repeated guests, and you look
Speaker 2: at him and they're they're really funny, and he was
Speaker 2: in there a lot.
Speaker 1: He was hilarious. And then you know, I had to
Speaker 1: look up his numbers. Two hundred batting average, two hundred
Speaker 1: and fourteen home runs, one hundred and forty six hits,
Speaker 1: it's seventy three at bats. And then of course, you know,
Speaker 1: as I said before the break, he was like Tommy,
Speaker 1: there's like two or third generations that didn't know that
Speaker 1: this guy played. Did you how well did you know him?
Speaker 1: And can you just tell us about him? Because I
Speaker 1: was a huge fan of his.
Speaker 2: Yeah, not real. Well, I mean, you guys, you and
Speaker 2: you had a lot in common, of course, being you know,
Speaker 2: card carrying movie movie stars, you know, with all the
Speaker 2: big screen stuff that you both did and are famous for.
Speaker 2: But you know, I was aware of him as a
Speaker 2: as a player in the sixties when I kind of
Speaker 2: knew every player. I knew so much more about baseball
Speaker 2: when I was eight, nine, ten years old than I
Speaker 2: do now in terms of who's where, who's on the teams.
Speaker 2: And wasn't as munch turnover then and one of as
Speaker 2: many teams were players. But he was, yeah, a backup catcher,
Speaker 2: marginal guide, hardened to pronounce, hard, need to spell, all
Speaker 2: that stuff, And he never thought much about him. But
Speaker 2: then after his playing career was over, he emerged as this.
Speaker 2: There had been occasional stories in sport magazine and stuff
Speaker 2: about you know, this comedian guy was on the bench
Speaker 2: for the Cardinals and he kicked around, but all of
Speaker 2: a sudden he started showing up, like I said in films,
Speaker 2: And it had been in Milwaukee, Gary, I mean, he
Speaker 2: was a god. There's a statue of him outside the ballpark,
Speaker 2: and you know, ninety years old. He had many jobs
Speaker 2: with the organization, but all the players loved him, and
Speaker 2: he was a certified legend walking around and he was
Speaker 2: born there and the streets of Milwaukee, so I would
Speaker 2: see him at the Hall of Fame every year, you know,
Speaker 2: the last ten years or so in Cooperstown. He got
Speaker 2: the Broadcast Award. He's in the Hall of Fame as
Speaker 2: a broadcaster, you know, which is the one of the
Speaker 2: funny things. But he references his fourteen homers. One was
Speaker 2: off Colfax, I think one's off necro and one's off
Speaker 2: Fergie Jenkins. Three of his home runs are off Hall
Speaker 2: of famers. So he would always have these punch lines
Speaker 2: like Cofax wasn't going to make the Hall of Fame
Speaker 2: because I gave him a home run to him and
Speaker 2: and all this stuff. But he, yeah, he was all
Speaker 2: about the self deprecation. It worked well. And of course
Speaker 2: the Miller lte stuff kind of that in the in
Speaker 2: the film Roles kind of made him, you know, famous
Speaker 2: to a generation of of sports fans because those commercials
Speaker 2: just aired NonStop.
Speaker 3: The other legendary baseball person, wasn't it marvelous Marv Thornberry.
Speaker 2: I mean he was, yeah, and man Thornberry was famous
Speaker 2: as part of the original you know, we had a
Speaker 2: short stint with the sixty two Mets, you know, worst
Speaker 2: team everage so this year's White Sox. But he wasn't
Speaker 2: a comedian like I mean, Yuka was a jit stand
Speaker 2: up guy. I mean he could he could do stand
Speaker 2: up and as you know, that's a hard thing to do.
Speaker 3: Oh it's brutal.
Speaker 1: But I was just thinking those light Miller like commercials.
Speaker 1: There are two guys that really didn't play much, but
Speaker 1: here they had this new life with commercials. Do you
Speaker 1: know was he any good at play by play or
Speaker 1: did it matter?
Speaker 2: Yes? I mean according to people there, I didn't get
Speaker 2: to hear a lot, but you know it is. I mean,
Speaker 2: if you grew up here, you know, you joke astic
Speaker 2: leon for today's people just retired. And when I was
Speaker 2: a kid, it was Kurt Goudi And we've had a
Speaker 2: lot of good ones here and Ned Martin and all
Speaker 2: these guys. But yes, you was he was. He was
Speaker 2: valued for that. He was a clubhouse guy. He had
Speaker 2: great relationships with the players, the Brewers. You know, they
Speaker 2: went through Rob and yeah, Paul Malader. You know they
Speaker 2: got to the World Series eighty two, never won it.
Speaker 2: He scouted for the team briefly bud Sea League. I
Speaker 2: think Buzzz over ninety years old as well, so this
Speaker 2: probably hit him pretty hard. But in terms of Milwaukee legends,
Speaker 2: this guy would be right up there.
Speaker 1: Hey, Rob, can we play the next thing? I was
Speaker 1: gonna say it from the next segment, but let's play.
Speaker 1: Let's play you from major leagues here if we can.
Speaker 3: Put them on into the wind up. In his first offering,
Speaker 3: Jos the bit outside. He tried the corner and missed.
Speaker 2: All four, all.
Speaker 1: Eight, lo and On has walked the bases loaded on
Speaker 1: twelve straight pitches.
Speaker 3: Boy, how can these guys layoff pitches that close?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: How many times did we say just a bit outside?
Speaker 2: Oh my god, it's such a I mean, everybody's ever
Speaker 2: gotten behind the microphone's got to try it out at
Speaker 2: least once, right, So it's a baseball staple. Now that
Speaker 2: stuff became part of the language. And I'll tell you Gary,
Speaker 2: I didn't know him really well, but he would make
Speaker 2: everyone at the table feel really included that. He was
Speaker 2: a very generous guy. He's a very fit guy. I mean,
Speaker 2: he's stayed in tremendous shape, you know, kind of like
Speaker 2: one of these guys literally into his ninety he was
Speaker 2: still in game day shape. And and you know, made
Speaker 2: the whole business about how bad he was. But as
Speaker 2: as you and I know, being around it, making the
Speaker 2: big leagues is a really hard thing to do. It
Speaker 2: it makes you, you know, one in a million, and
Speaker 2: he was that in that way. And of course with
Speaker 2: his personality, well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you hit two hundred in major leagues, I
Speaker 1: mean in the big leagues, you're obviously you're a hell
Speaker 1: of a player.
Speaker 3: But he made so.
Speaker 1: I mean, he was awesome at being the lovable loser,
Speaker 1: you know if you will.
Speaker 3: But yeah, when I saw that today, I was like, you,
Speaker 3: geat he was. He was. Definitely he was one of
Speaker 3: the great ones.
Speaker 2: I mean in the light the Middle of Light campaign
Speaker 2: included a lot of star you know, I read outback
Speaker 2: as part of that, as you say, Tommy Heinsen, and
Speaker 2: and really that was sort of the beginning of the
Speaker 2: jocks getting into that sort of thing. And you see
Speaker 2: a lot of it now. I mean, Lebron's doing them
Speaker 2: there and and they're they're on all the time. Of course,
Speaker 2: now they were usually betting commercials, and I suppose there
Speaker 2: was no stigma about doing a beer commercial back in
Speaker 2: those days, and a lot of them did it it,
Speaker 2: being in with George Steinbrenner, Billy Martin, all those guys.
Speaker 2: So a lot of big figures from the sixties and seventies.
Speaker 1: Well, my favorite Miller like well, I always loved the
Speaker 1: ones with Tommy was in there. But when uh, who
Speaker 1: threw Billy Marttin out of the bar? Was that Luciano
Speaker 1: You're out of the bar?
Speaker 2: Or was that probably? Yeah he was, he was one
Speaker 2: of the cast members of that group.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're out of the bar.
Speaker 1: But I remember when the Madden running through the leftield
Speaker 1: wall was also a great one.
Speaker 2: Well, Bubba Smith tearing off the can at the top
Speaker 2: of the can, the easy opening Canva, the first the
Speaker 2: first days of the flip top cans and Bubba just
Speaker 2: ripped off the whole top of the can.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm sure that was one take. I know Tommy.
Speaker 1: Tommy loved those residuals back in the good old days. Dan,
Speaker 1: can you hang out and just talk some sports with me?
Speaker 1: Coming up next, all right, Daran Shanna guessing the Boston Globe.
Speaker 1: We remember Bob Buker. Gotta talk to him about Brabel.
Speaker 1: We all know Rabel. I'm anxious to get Dan's thoughts
Speaker 1: on this coming up next on WBZ. Now back to
Speaker 1: Dan Ray live from the Window World night Side Studios.
Speaker 3: I'm WBZ News Radio. You know history always repeats itself.
Speaker 1: Dan Shaughnessy here the Boston Globe, and I because of this,
Speaker 1: because Dan and I have been around so long, I
Speaker 1: often think of Shaughnessy and Dan. He's a perfect example
Speaker 1: when I thought of you. The other day, Mike Rabel
Speaker 1: comes to the podium. We all know Mike's gonna be
Speaker 1: the new coach down Aaron Foxborough.
Speaker 2: And he.
Speaker 1: Calls out Roachie, Hey, Roachie right, and it's a big
Speaker 1: love fest. And he goes to Kurran and he goes
Speaker 1: to the other that's Sports Hub and everything's great. And
Speaker 1: I remember when you wrote an article about Bob Kraft
Speaker 1: buying the Patriots and how it was a good thing
Speaker 1: and you warned him, you say, Robert, it's.
Speaker 3: Not always going to be like this.
Speaker 1: And I just I when Vrabel it was this big homecoming,
Speaker 1: this big love in and I wanted to call Mike
Speaker 1: I don't have his number and say, you know, enjoy
Speaker 1: it now, but when you start zero and four, it's
Speaker 1: gonna change. Or if you are owned for you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. It's it's it's I get nervous.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you have a good memory, Gary, that was the
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety three or four whatever, and the Governor Weld
Speaker 2: was at the press conference and it was down and
Speaker 2: it was you know, the team was basically being saved.
Speaker 2: A local guy was buying a team, and there had
Speaker 2: been the threat of James Orthwine moved him to Saint
Speaker 2: Louis and all this stuff, so you know, we were delighted.
Speaker 2: And Kraft had been perceived as kind of a tire
Speaker 2: kicker and you know, checking anything that came up for sale.
Speaker 2: He had owned the Boston tennis team, the Lobsters and
Speaker 2: the kind of you know, old Carnival Barker stuff from
Speaker 2: the seventies. So when he emerged as a buyer of
Speaker 2: the Patriots, it was like, okay, this guy is not
Speaker 2: going to go anywhere, and this is great. So I
Speaker 2: wrote a you know, just whenever one of the locals like,
Speaker 2: same way we would have supported Joe O'donnald he bought
Speaker 2: the Red Sox or this kind of thing, It's like, hey,
Speaker 2: this guy knows what the spawn boats are and all
Speaker 2: this stuff. It was just one of those you know,
Speaker 2: easy columns and the local guy buying the team, and
Speaker 2: I remember he framed it. He called me the next day.
Speaker 2: Oh was he just was so happy with this, and
Speaker 2: I did. I said, Bob, you know, try and remember
Speaker 2: this day because there's going to be a kind of
Speaker 2: a point in time when you might not be that
Speaker 2: happy with my my opinion, I said, I wrote that
Speaker 2: because I think it's true, and that's my that's my
Speaker 2: take today. I'm glad you like it, but there will
Speaker 2: be a time and I won't be that great And
Speaker 2: of course not great with us now, but I'm not
Speaker 2: a fan of the owners in general in town. So
Speaker 2: that's kind of the way that eventually works. But you know,
Speaker 2: he's he's been a good owner. But you have good memory.
Speaker 2: That great, it's thirty years ago and that did happen.
Speaker 3: Oh, I love that story.
Speaker 1: I love because it's so true and I remember it
Speaker 1: because I had friends of mine family friends have bought
Speaker 1: the Celtics and this was I don't want to say
Speaker 1: names with This is when Wick and you know a
Speaker 1: lot of owners got involved and they you know, and
Speaker 1: I told that person, I said, you know, you might
Speaker 1: want to you might want to unpublish your number. And
Speaker 1: it's great that you guys are all getting the love now,
Speaker 1: but it's going to change, you know, And it did.
Speaker 1: It's just I mean, that's the way it is now.
Speaker 1: The thing is man course, but the thing with Verbel
Speaker 1: is well, well, first of all, I have to say,
Speaker 1: as being a civilian, I'm just I don't get pissed
Speaker 1: off at sports, and I never I mean I did
Speaker 1: a little bit, but not as much as some other guys.
Speaker 1: But you know, I loved Geri Mayo. I think he's
Speaker 1: a great guy. I wish you had worked out better,
Speaker 1: and that's just the way I feel. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: slam him, I thought, you know, I'm just not. And
Speaker 1: then with Rabel, I liked Rabel a lot too, But Danny,
Speaker 1: he's got no players and it's going to be a while.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that woll feel good in the last few days
Speaker 2: is a nice thing, but it doesn't really carry over
Speaker 2: when the games start. I think that, you know, I
Speaker 2: think better coaching can get you a little bit in
Speaker 2: that sport, but you know, really it's procuring players and
Speaker 2: the draft and free agents and trades or whatever you
Speaker 2: want we can do. So they've got to beef up
Speaker 2: the roster. But I think in that area he'll be
Speaker 2: stronger too. And I think part of the areas is,
Speaker 2: you know, hopefully we're going to see the capable coach
Speaker 2: can control the franchise and the roster, and that worked
Speaker 2: with Parcels. It worked with Belichier for long long time.
Speaker 2: Bill wasn't doing great with the draft and procumbing the
Speaker 2: players at the end, and the craft seemed to get
Speaker 2: I thought, more involved toward the end, and the drafting
Speaker 2: got more sketchy and and willingness to pony up and
Speaker 2: reach the cap and all that stuff. So I just
Speaker 2: hope that, you know, the Brabel, I would assume made
Speaker 2: a condition of coming here that he has control of
Speaker 2: the team and they're turning it back to a football guy,
Speaker 2: which is what they do instead of you know, Jonathan
Speaker 2: Kraft or Robin Glazer or whoever's been making Elliot Wolf.
Speaker 2: It seems like a nice guy, but we don't have
Speaker 2: a lot of body of evidence that he's the answer either.
Speaker 2: But I think having the single voice, I think it
Speaker 2: worked well with Parcels and Belichick, and I think it
Speaker 2: can work well again if they let this guy do
Speaker 2: it well.
Speaker 3: I hope they do. And I'm sure they made assurances.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it was in writing, which I
Speaker 1: would feel a little bit better because I do. Look,
Speaker 1: there's the one thing I will say about about the
Speaker 1: Craft's family is they won. And I understand there's there's
Speaker 1: a lot of different opinions. You know, I have different
Speaker 1: opinions about the Celtics ownership. You know, they've won. It
Speaker 1: seems they had the best attention to win. They just
Speaker 1: got to let the guy do the job. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: let him do the job. And you know, I hope
Speaker 1: that happens.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that that's generally been the best, the best answer
Speaker 2: here when you have the right guy. And Mao not
Speaker 2: his fault. He wasn't the right guy and then he
Speaker 2: just he didn't have a great roster, but but he
Speaker 2: was not prepared to be a head coach in the NFL,
Speaker 2: and that's not his fault. So Rabel is Rabel's done
Speaker 2: it for six years and and Uh is older and
Speaker 2: established in the league. He was coach of the Year
Speaker 2: once he got to the AC championship, and he knows
Speaker 2: what he's doing. He's a little bit of a wise
Speaker 2: ass and all that stuff that we like. So hopefully
Speaker 2: this will be a good run.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the key is I mean, if he'll
Speaker 1: I talked to Burt Breyer earlier, and this is the
Speaker 1: way Bert thinks it's going to go down is that
Speaker 1: whoever he has, whoever's in the front office, whether it's
Speaker 1: Elliot or somebody else, he's got to get. You know,
Speaker 1: they're doing the legwork, they're doing the board, they're doing
Speaker 1: the scouting, you know, and he'll coach.
Speaker 3: And he can approve certain things.
Speaker 1: But like Bert said to me, and I didn't know this,
Speaker 1: he goes Bill would be like in a in a
Speaker 1: meeting on a Friday at nine about you know, who's
Speaker 1: coming up in the next draft, you know. And Bert
Speaker 1: seem to think that Rabel won't do that, he'll that'll
Speaker 1: turn to other people.
Speaker 3: Who have to bring the information to him. So hopefully
Speaker 3: that's the case.
Speaker 1: I do want to I do want to point out
Speaker 1: the Celtics and how do you feel about that ownership situation.
Speaker 2: Well, it's strange. I think the globe's going to be
Speaker 2: Silverman's got something that there's identified for for principles to
Speaker 2: make bids. Padle Huku group, you know, is one, and
Speaker 2: beyond that we don't know. It's I expect sometime during
Speaker 2: the month, and I don't know how this works when
Speaker 2: you have four bidders and what's what's disclosed and they
Speaker 2: got to choose one. But it's it's it's finally moving along.
Speaker 2: Because it's been so quiet on that front for so long.
Speaker 2: I'm beginning to wonder perhaps it was just tep of interest,
Speaker 2: or the market stopping for this or whatnot. I'm not
Speaker 2: a business guy. I really don't know, but patle Uka
Speaker 2: express the interest out of the gate. He's been close
Speaker 2: to a long time, and I think for fans that's
Speaker 2: that's a desirable outcome because it's a it represents a
Speaker 2: continuation of how they've been doing business and the same
Speaker 2: guy who's been part of this for twenty three years.
Speaker 2: So I'd be for that. But you don't know the
Speaker 2: boogeyman that I'm out there. We don't have Jeff Bezos
Speaker 2: or or who might be involved with the other bids.
Speaker 2: But we're gonna find out pretty soon, I expect.
Speaker 3: Do you think it's had an impact on the team's performance.
Speaker 2: No, these guys are oblivious to that. And you know
Speaker 2: this is I don't get all loud enough about regular
Speaker 2: season NBA, and I guess I did a little bit
Speaker 2: when I covered the team thirty years ago, but you
Speaker 2: know they want a championship. They have the best roster.
Speaker 2: They're mailing in a little bit now a little too often.
Speaker 2: They're probably not going to be the top seed now
Speaker 2: because they've got twice as many losses as Cleveland Oak City,
Speaker 2: So you could lose that in the potential playoff rounds
Speaker 2: with those teams. But I'm still hoping for Celtics NIXT
Speaker 2: somewhere in the playoffs, which I think would be a
Speaker 2: good a good battle and like to see them be
Speaker 2: competitive again. It's hard to win these things every year,
Speaker 2: even if you have the best team, so they need
Speaker 2: to watch it. But I don't get too toying up.
Speaker 2: I mean ridiculous games this week, you know, losing to
Speaker 2: Toronto and having a close game with the Pelicans. That's
Speaker 2: just crazy.
Speaker 1: I just think it's hard to turn it back on
Speaker 1: once you you know.
Speaker 3: That's again I always have to preface this.
Speaker 1: I don't want to go old bastard, but you know,
Speaker 1: the Larry Birds and the Bob Gibson's and the Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan's and the Magic Johnston's they never let it slip,
Speaker 1: you know, they never took their foot off the gas.
Speaker 1: And yeah, and they were you know, these are all
Speaker 1: the teams do and once you do, it's hard to
Speaker 1: get it back.
Speaker 2: Different league now, the knight's off and the back to
Speaker 2: back and the low advantage and stuff and all this
Speaker 2: stuff where they're consciously resting guys, which is really consumer
Speaker 2: rip off for people that pay an enormous amount of
Speaker 2: tickets and maybe this is the only game they're going too,
Speaker 2: and Tatum's taking a night off or whatever they're they're
Speaker 2: planned nights off and they do it, and then there's
Speaker 2: sometimes they're playing and they're still taking the night off.
Speaker 2: But that's been going on for a while. I understand it.
Speaker 2: And you look at the wind totals, I mean the
Speaker 2: Celtic City reference. They still they still lost, you know,
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five games a year, so those were coming
Speaker 2: from somewhere.
Speaker 3: Yep, Danny, it's great to talk to you.
Speaker 1: Thanks for coming on and talking about you and I
Speaker 1: we always love seeing your stuff in the globe. You
Speaker 1: are you are the last man standing. You are holding
Speaker 1: everybody accountable.
Speaker 2: I appreciate that. Gary, it's always great talking to you.
Speaker 1: All Right, we'll see it it, it'll be good. That's Shaughnessy.
Speaker 1: He is the last man standing. I mean, I have
Speaker 1: my buddies over on Sports Talk Radio two. I mean,
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong there, those guys crack me up.
Speaker 1: But when it comes to the the nights of the
Speaker 1: keyboard and with a lot of facts, I mean sports Look,
Speaker 1: I worked at sports radio for years. It's opinion, it's conjectures,
Speaker 1: you know, but there's nothing like it. It's nothing like
Speaker 1: a Blazing Shaughnessy article. Those things are just legendary.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: Speaking of legends, my man Sam Metler, he is my
Speaker 1: political friend from the West Coast. He is the most
Speaker 1: conservative person, the most conservative liberal in Los Angeles. And
Speaker 1: he's also dealing with the fires, so he'll update on
Speaker 1: what's happening. He's been misplaced from his home. Don't I
Speaker 1: think his home's okay? I'm not sure. But we'll talk
Speaker 1: to Sam. We'll talk to him about Trump. We'll talk
Speaker 1: to him about all of the nominations this week, and
Speaker 1: that's coming up right here on WBC in the final
Speaker 1: hour of the Dan Ratio.