Speaker 1: It's another festive day at Dodgers Stadium as the Dodgers,
Speaker 1: coming off of victory and their home opener and back
Speaker 1: from Tokyo, still got more celebration today as they will
Speaker 1: receive their championship rings. It will be the second ring
Speaker 1: that our guest Max Munsey will get as a Dodger. Munsey,
Speaker 1: thanks a lot for the time and congratulations, I guess
Speaker 1: on officially being a two time World Series Champion?
Speaker 2: I guess what do you mean?
Speaker 1: I guess, well, does the ring solidify that you are
Speaker 1: officially now a two time champion? Or did that happen
Speaker 1: with the final out in New York?
Speaker 2: And I think that happened with the final out in
Speaker 2: New York. It was The ring is obviously something that's
Speaker 2: special and I can't wait to see it and get
Speaker 2: it and hold it. But yeah, that was that was
Speaker 2: solidified last year, especially when we have to have the
Speaker 2: parade for the you know, really the first time for us.
Speaker 1: Have you seen the ring? Have you got any sneak peek?
Speaker 2: I've seen a couple of pictures, but I haven't seen
Speaker 2: it in person. So you know, pictures can only do
Speaker 2: so much when you see I think in person it's
Speaker 2: gonna be pretty exciting.
Speaker 1: Has Max Munsey ever wore his twenty twenty championship.
Speaker 2: No, it's it's it's sitting at home in a case
Speaker 2: right next to the rep Pid trophy that I got.
Speaker 2: That's where where this one's gonna go. Uh. To me,
Speaker 2: those things aren't for wearing. Those are for you know, cherishing,
Speaker 2: and uh, you know they they mean too much to
Speaker 2: me as a player of all the you know, the
Speaker 2: sweat and the grind and everything that we went through
Speaker 2: to achieve it, that to me, it's something that shouldn't
Speaker 2: be worn.
Speaker 1: If they were a little smaller and maybe a little less, Gottie,
Speaker 1: would you wear it again?
Speaker 2: No, just because of this the symbolism of what the
Speaker 2: ring means to me, it's not something that should be
Speaker 2: taken lightly. And there's a lot of people that have
Speaker 2: played this game for a very long time and they've
Speaker 2: never gotten to get a ring. And you know, for me,
Speaker 2: it just it just means so much that I don't
Speaker 2: want there being any chance of tarnishing it at all,
Speaker 2: and so for me, it's not meant to be worn.
Speaker 1: We've talked about this a few times since you came
Speaker 1: up with the Dodgers in twenty eighteen. Do you have
Speaker 1: the unique perspective of understanding how fragile this career is.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like you have that type of appreciation
Speaker 1: because of where you've been and where you're at now.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, you know, for for a lot of these guys
Speaker 2: that have come up in this organization, they don't know
Speaker 2: anything but winning. And you know, I was somewhere where
Speaker 2: we were borderline the worst team in baseball for a
Speaker 2: couple of years, and uh, it's it's it's not fun,
Speaker 2: it's not Uh it's not easy to go through.
Speaker 1: It's tough.
Speaker 2: You know, what we've created here in terms of the
Speaker 2: culture in the clubhouse is not something that is everywhere.
Speaker 2: You know, it's it's unique to what we've got going on.
Speaker 2: And uh, it's truly special, and it's an honor and
Speaker 2: a blessing to be a part of it. And for me,
Speaker 2: it's it's even bigger honor and blessing to have helped
Speaker 2: created it. And uh, you know, I I just I
Speaker 2: know what else is out there, and I know how
Speaker 2: much I appreciate what's what's here.
Speaker 1: I guess you're very thankful you did not take that
Speaker 1: offer in Korea back in twenty eighteen. Yeah, yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a it.
Speaker 2: Would have been a different story. But yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm I've I will never take for granted the days
Speaker 2: that I've had in this organization, at this stadium.
Speaker 1: Max Munsey is our guest. We are on the verge
Speaker 1: of sharing the rings celebration with you as the Dodgers
Speaker 1: will receive their championship rings and you're actually facing a
Speaker 1: guy that helped you get that ring. And Jack Flaherty,
Speaker 1: how much did he mean to you guys last year?
Speaker 1: He's huge for us.
Speaker 2: You know, it's hard to it's hard to put in
Speaker 2: the words how much he meant. You know, he we
Speaker 2: got him at the trade deadline. He immediately started throwing
Speaker 2: some very big important innings for us, and uh, you know,
Speaker 2: talking about a guy that pitched Game one for us,
Speaker 2: and that that's that's what we thought of him, that
Speaker 2: we wanted to run him out their Game one. And
Speaker 2: you know, at that time, just with all the stuff
Speaker 2: that we had gone through, we didn't have too many
Speaker 2: guys we could rely upon, and he was one of
Speaker 2: the few guys we could And I think that's that
Speaker 2: says a lot to him that we were able to
Speaker 2: rely upon him and we definitely wouldn't have been there
Speaker 2: without him, and so it's it's, uh, it's cool that
Speaker 2: he's pitching on that night, but uh, you know, you
Speaker 2: also kind of wish he could be getting the ring
Speaker 2: with the rest of us. But I know we're doing
Speaker 2: something for him on the next day, so he's he's
Speaker 2: still going to have an opportunity to have his moment
Speaker 2: and uh, you know, Dodger fans definitely make it extremely
Speaker 2: special for him.
Speaker 1: How much will you be thinking about the guys that
Speaker 1: either retired or went on to other teams, And I'm thinking,
Speaker 1: in particular, Kevin Kiermeyer, Brent Honeywell, Daniel Hudson, and of
Speaker 1: course Walker Buehler.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd be thinking about him a lot. It's a
Speaker 2: you know, you almost wish that they could be here
Speaker 2: for the ceremony, especially the guys that are retired. You know,
Speaker 2: they probably don't want to be anywhere near baseball field,
Speaker 2: that's why they retired. But yeah, I think it'd be
Speaker 2: cool if they could be here. And you know, I
Speaker 2: know we'll see Walker at some point this year and
Speaker 2: he'll get his ring, and you know, it's it's again,
Speaker 2: those are all guys that were huge parts of us
Speaker 2: winning the World Series, and we don't win it without
Speaker 2: any single one of them. You know, if we're missing
Speaker 2: any of those guys, we don't win. And it's that's
Speaker 2: what makes winning a championship truly special. It's it's genuinely
Speaker 2: for us. It felt like sixty guys last year. We
Speaker 2: don't win without any one of those guys. And at
Speaker 2: any point in the season, someone can play a huge
Speaker 2: role that helps us get there. And that's something that
Speaker 2: we've always tried to emphasize to the younger guys, especially
Speaker 2: spring training. It's it's we're gonna roll. We're gonna have
Speaker 2: a revolving door of roster players and people are gonna
Speaker 2: get hurt, people are gonna, you know, move out, and
Speaker 2: it's a it's when it's your turn to come in,
Speaker 2: you can do something special and at the end of
Speaker 2: the at the end of the year, every single guy
Speaker 2: will have contributed to what we do here.
Speaker 1: Hey, unsung hero Max Munsey, the Dodgers don't win without you.
Speaker 1: You've been such a big part of this organization since
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, and you just keep getting better over there
Speaker 1: at the Hot Corner month see I love watching you
Speaker 1: play defense. It has a lot of work.
Speaker 2: That I still have. I still have so much to
Speaker 2: learn at third base, and you know, it's still a
Speaker 2: relatively new position to me. I know, I've been playing
Speaker 2: it for a couple of years, but it's not something
Speaker 2: that I played a ton of. And uh, you know,
Speaker 2: so there's for me, it's still just learning a whole
Speaker 2: bunch of how how to prepare and how to approach
Speaker 2: ground balls over there. And you know, the more I'm
Speaker 2: understanding it, the better I'm getting. And uh, and you know,
Speaker 2: to me, that's the biggest thing is just understanding. You know,
Speaker 2: a couple of years ago, I had a lot of
Speaker 2: issues because I was putting myself in bad spots to
Speaker 2: field ground balls, just you know, understanding how ground balls
Speaker 2: are hit at third base.
Speaker 1: And so for me, each.
Speaker 2: Year learning and learning where I need to put my
Speaker 2: my feet and my body in better positions to get
Speaker 2: good hops on those ground balls, it's been huge for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's working, Monsie. I'm not just blowing you know what.
Speaker 1: Over here in the corner locker. Max Mounsey has definitely
Speaker 1: improved at third base and sure handed, and obviously a
Speaker 1: big part of the lineup and what it does. Thanks
Speaker 1: a lot for the time, and man can't wait to
Speaker 1: hold your ring Monsey after the game.
Speaker 2: You ain't touching mind, don't worry about that. You can
Speaker 2: hold someone else, but you ain't touching mine.
Speaker 1: Well, all right, there we go, Max Monsey. Gonna be
Speaker 1: a hogging that ring in the Monthly Household for a
Speaker 1: while and we'll send it back to you in the studio.