Speaker 1: Phillies woman. Yeah, the Phillies woman at the Marlins game.
Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to arguably the coldest intro in the
Speaker 2: history of this podcast. This is this is this is
Speaker 2: Blackflips and Nerds. This is a British take on baseball.
Speaker 2: My name is John McGee and I am joined by Well,
Speaker 2: Rob's already introduced himself.
Speaker 1: A Phillies woman. I'm fine, I've not stolen any baseball's
Speaker 1: if a child, I'm fine.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we will be talking about Phillies woman. Ben, what
Speaker 2: do you know about Phillies woman? Any thoughts, any any
Speaker 2: any opinions?
Speaker 3: What was Rob's quote? That's good? Ye, similar, similar thoughts.
Speaker 3: I guess no, strong poor women did get vilified, didn't
Speaker 3: you know, strong feelings on her. I think he's probably
Speaker 3: been through the ringer enough without us like like piling
Speaker 3: on a week later. But no, I'm getting a bit
Speaker 3: so crazy.
Speaker 2: From go on.
Speaker 1: I feel I feel like the Coldplay CEO is glad
Speaker 1: that the Phillies Woman has happened. Pressure button has been passed.
Speaker 2: I still love that that guy at Hotspur to try
Speaker 2: and like have a go at Chris Martin and cold
Speaker 2: Play about doing that. That was That was extraordinary and
Speaker 2: you know, good luck to him. We've we've talked on
Speaker 2: this podcast before about my my love of Coldplay, unashamed,
Speaker 2: no such thing as a guilty pleasure. I think they're
Speaker 2: absolutely great. Not my usual not my usual bag, as
Speaker 2: we all know, I'm just a big mung beans guy,
Speaker 2: you know, but there you go. Okay, So hello, welcome
Speaker 2: to bat Flips and Nerds this evening. We're going to
Speaker 2: do a little bit on some baseballing news, but the
Speaker 2: majority of this conversation is I think it's going to
Speaker 2: be a Robinavara special. We are going to select our
Speaker 2: own personal baseball Mount Rushmore. Ben is going to explain
Speaker 2: that concept in a more detail once we come to it.
Speaker 2: We've come up with some good ideas for how we're
Speaker 2: categorizing each other for presidents, which Rob is completely going
Speaker 2: to ignore, so look forward to that. So yeah, hello,
Speaker 2: and welcome Zoe. To start with, I think we're going
Speaker 2: to talk about British baseball. So if this is not
Speaker 2: your bag, sign off now. But it's been a banner
Speaker 2: month for baseball here in the UK. It's been vindication
Speaker 2: for those who have worked incredibly hard over the course
Speaker 2: of the last fifteen twenty years up and down the country,
Speaker 2: putting in lots of hours on Sundays, doing volunteering on
Speaker 2: cold wintry Thursday nights on AstroTurf football pitchers in Lincoln
Speaker 2: and Watford and Grimsby and Hole in East Fife. Because
Speaker 2: this has been a brilliant month for British baseball, you
Speaker 2: guys spoke very briefly about the under twenty threes winning
Speaker 2: the Euros just at the back end of August in
Speaker 2: the last podcast. Unfortunately Russell, who's really our expert on
Speaker 2: that team, dropped off the call and he's not able
Speaker 2: to join us this evening. But that was a really
Speaker 2: great achievement. Huge congratulations to coach John Cramman, who's an
Speaker 2: absolutely awesome dude who has his own outstanding and a
Speaker 2: very original baseball story. A man who took up baseball
Speaker 2: overlooking Finsbury Park where he lived. He has a club foot,
Speaker 2: he's brought himself through that club and now he's an
Speaker 2: international tournament winning baseball coach. Some brilliant players in that team,
Speaker 2: guys who are playing at Duke and at George Mason University,
Speaker 2: like some really really like that. The future is bright,
Speaker 2: not just because they're winners, but because they're part of
Speaker 2: excellent programs, and that's just testament to a lot of
Speaker 2: hard work and a lot of really long hours and
Speaker 2: people like John and Connor Brooks and Drew Spencer and
Speaker 2: Liam Carroll and Christmas set and all of the guys
Speaker 2: involved in that program. So huge congrats and not to
Speaker 2: be one up. A couple of weeks later the Great
Speaker 2: Britain women's team, who we've heard from a couple of
Speaker 2: times so for the course of the last few years,
Speaker 2: they also went and won like the Open Age Women's
Speaker 2: Baseball Championship, which was incredible. You know, this is a
Speaker 2: team that's been brought together two or three years ago
Speaker 2: by Doris Hocketing and they're already European champions. So that
Speaker 2: investment that's come from UK Sport, from Sport England and
Speaker 2: others into making this an elite program finding players who
Speaker 2: are willing to play and commit from different heritages is amazing.
Speaker 2: Not to diminish the success of the gents, but a
Speaker 2: lot of the women's team playing in the British domestic game,
Speaker 2: people like Jess Vernon, the Sisters over in Sheffield, Laura Hira,
Speaker 2: they've all come through open age, they played softball, some
Speaker 2: of them just awesome And both the under twenty threes
Speaker 2: and the women are now going to be representing Great
Speaker 2: Britain in the World Cup, which is awesome. So they're
Speaker 2: going to get to duke it out against the Ussays
Speaker 2: and the Japans and the Venezuelas and the Dominicans. It's
Speaker 2: just awesome better, isn't it Really cool?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like you said, people who've played British baseball in
Speaker 3: the UK will likely have come across some of these
Speaker 3: players just because they, as you said, have been in
Speaker 3: the league for a long time, a lot of them
Speaker 3: and grinding and working really hard on their craft. And
Speaker 3: I know there's come leaps and bounds actually be programming
Speaker 3: in the last few years from you know what was
Speaker 3: a pipe dream initially to a team that is worthy
Speaker 3: enough to be European Champions, which is amazing. And I
Speaker 3: think you know, we talked about the impact that you know,
Speaker 3: GB qualifying WBC had on you know, kids in this
Speaker 3: country seeing what you know, people top level can do
Speaker 3: and what that dream can be of competing and represent
Speaker 3: your country. Well, I think the same holds true for
Speaker 3: the women. It's an area that is super underrepresented in
Speaker 3: this country of women taking part in baseball and being
Speaker 3: baseball fans. And I think this is a massive step
Speaker 3: towards showing that just because you're a young girl or
Speaker 3: a young woman, it doesn't mean that you can't play
Speaker 3: the sport at the highest level. So massive congratulations to them.
Speaker 3: I think it's a huge moment and hopefully they can
Speaker 3: kick on bigger things in future.
Speaker 2: Tea. Yeah, and the celebrations didn't stop there for British
Speaker 2: baseball because those of you who are regular listens to
Speaker 2: this podcast will engage in British baseball in any way.
Speaker 2: Well know that we have a parasocial relationship with one
Speaker 2: baseball player in particular who has being a really important
Speaker 2: part in growing the profile of the sport, like really
Speaker 2: proud of his British heritage, and that's Harry Ford. And
Speaker 2: Harry got his Menu League call up to the Mariners
Speaker 2: to join their squad in September and made his mejuor
Speaker 2: League debut this week, which, again, Ben, that's just incredible, right,
Speaker 2: It's something that we've been waiting for for a while
Speaker 2: and we were absolutely cocker hoop to see.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, we've been Harry Ford fans for a very
Speaker 3: long time, and rightly so. As you said, it's been
Speaker 3: an amazing advocate for baseball in his country, has been
Speaker 3: our best player, I think, indisputably and in several major tournaments.
Speaker 3: I know that, not me personally, but people on this
Speaker 3: podcast have got a really close persh relationship with his dad,
Speaker 3: who by all accounts is an amazing guy. I think
Speaker 3: we all know how exciting the future is for Harry,
Speaker 3: but I think great that he gets a chance to
Speaker 3: get his feet wet at the major league level and
Speaker 3: see how he competes up there, and I think we're
Speaker 3: excited to see what he can do this month and yeah,
Speaker 3: next year, hopefully representing GB, but also just yeah, in
Speaker 3: his major league career.
Speaker 2: I think the only downside, Rob is it means that Harry,
Speaker 2: you know, is going to be otherwise indisposed and won't
Speaker 2: be able to applay for Great Britain in the fourth
Speaker 2: coming European Championships because he was a real cornerstone of
Speaker 2: their run to the final last time rounds. I know
Speaker 2: that Brad Marcelino has played a big role in bringing
Speaker 2: Harry into the GB sat up, so it'll be a
Speaker 2: bittersweet for Brad that in his bowers GB skip, he's
Speaker 2: not going to be able to to lean on his
Speaker 2: main man.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I mean like he he he didn't carry the team.
Speaker 1: That's that's unfair to the rest of the team.
Speaker 2: He was n rob but.
Speaker 1: He was the pinnacle there. He was the you know,
Speaker 1: he was the guy will look to. He's the guy
Speaker 1: that that became the talisman and and you know, he
Speaker 1: was really really exciting and and it's it's really he
Speaker 1: really sort of caught the attention and we all watched
Speaker 1: and we all we all praise, we all jumped up
Speaker 1: and down about Harry Ford. So yeah, absolutely, it's it's
Speaker 1: sad that he's he's maybe maybe not going to be
Speaker 1: involved as much as he once was. But look, the
Speaker 1: guy is moving on. He's moving up, and what he's
Speaker 1: going to start doing playing in the majors is only
Speaker 1: going to develop the way he's going to be able
Speaker 1: to play for GB in the in the World Baseball Classics.
Speaker 1: So look, it's positive, it's great. We want this guy
Speaker 1: to do well. He is. He is excelling. We knew
Speaker 1: he was going to excel. We could see that, and
Speaker 1: it's going to happen, so we're all for it. It's great,
Speaker 1: it's good. Good's good news at the end of the day.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it absolutely is. Congratulations to Harry, Congratulations to his
Speaker 2: dad Alan, and to everyone in the Mariners system who's
Speaker 2: helped develop him into an outstanding baseball player and an
Speaker 2: extraordinary young man. As we said, the European Baseball Championships
Speaker 2: are upon us. They're start in just over a week
Speaker 2: in Holland, and we are going to have our on
Speaker 2: the ground correspondent, mister Gavin Tramps himself. He's going to
Speaker 2: be out there covering it for backflips and nerds, and
Speaker 2: I know he's going to have an opportunity to speak
Speaker 2: to Brad ahead of the tournament, and hopefully he's going
Speaker 2: to get an opportunity to check in with some of
Speaker 2: the players as well. Of course, they're their trusty mascot,
Speaker 2: mister Andy Brown, the painter. He's going to absolutely hate
Speaker 2: trusty mascot. Look, he got he got a winner's medal
Speaker 2: at the women's tournament, which is amazing.
Speaker 1: We can get a felt Andy Brown to like jump
Speaker 1: around with maybe a crown on in the uniform and
Speaker 1: it could be the actual mascot I want to see
Speaker 1: a felt version.
Speaker 2: You want to see a felt version of I do?
Speaker 1: I want to see fairies thing. It's not that, No,
Speaker 1: I want to see like headed felt version.
Speaker 3: Painting fanatic.
Speaker 1: Let's do absolute.
Speaker 2: And Ben, yeah, I can't. I can't top that. So yeah,
Speaker 2: congratulations to GB women, Congratulations to g B under twenty
Speaker 2: threes and to the talisman himself, Harry Ford. And this
Speaker 2: is Ben.
Speaker 3: You've got one quick thing if you're going to segue
Speaker 3: away from British baseballis but on that subject, this weekend.
Speaker 2: Is the BND. Is that what it was?
Speaker 3: We can come on to my story because I've got
Speaker 3: a very good one about Richmond's own endeavors in the playoffs.
Speaker 3: But the British base in Federation playoff are upon us
Speaker 3: this weekend is NBL finals and quite excitingly, they're going
Speaker 3: to be broadcast live on YouTube as they were last year,
Speaker 3: but live on Talksports YouTube channel, which I think is
Speaker 3: quite a big upgrade from where they were last year.
Speaker 3: This is the same group Journey Sports and of course
Speaker 3: it will have our very own Russell Lisum on comms.
Speaker 3: So yeah, that's this weekend Farnham Park. I think coverage starts.
Speaker 3: Let me get my facts right here. Saturday is the
Speaker 3: qualifier at eleven thirty am, and then Game one of
Speaker 3: the final at three pm, and then Sunday same time
Speaker 3: seven thirty three pm for games two and if required three.
Speaker 3: So yeah, if you are at Loosen this weekend, do
Speaker 3: tune in and watch Russell Beyond commentary has mentioned I
Speaker 3: was hoping to join him, but unfortunately I'm at a
Speaker 3: wedding lane. But yeah, good stuff from those guys to
Speaker 3: bring that broadcast back, and also great stuff to be
Speaker 3: doing it, you know, in collaboration with talkSPORT, which thinks really.
Speaker 2: Cool, that's awesome. I didn't know about the talkSPORT angle
Speaker 2: of it. I did know that was coming up, and
Speaker 2: I also didn't know that Russell was going to be
Speaker 2: on comms, but I assumed as much.
Speaker 1: The more abuse you can tweet at him during it,
Speaker 1: the better, we will wholeheartedly support any abuse you sent
Speaker 1: to Russell.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Britain's own answer to Mike Petrillo for those
Speaker 2: who views tuned tuned into the statcast very much yet
Speaker 2: that that's the vibe you're going to be getting a
Speaker 2: great well, that's they go, that's British Baseball Corner Round Up.
Speaker 2: We were going to talk a little bit about what's
Speaker 2: going on in baseball right now, Rob, you wanted to
Speaker 2: talk about ESPN taking over MLB TV. So what I
Speaker 2: did is, what's what's going on there for people who
Speaker 2: have had their head under a rock or are ben.
Speaker 1: So uh the A lot of the TV deals are
Speaker 1: up at the end of in the next year, and
Speaker 1: MLB is dutifully renegotiating. We all know that the regional
Speaker 1: sport networks, they're sort of that that that kind of
Speaker 1: cable t cable TV bubblers kind of burst and there's
Speaker 1: a lot of renegotiations going on. Rob Manfred had initially
Speaker 1: passed them aside as not paying enough attention to baseball.
Speaker 1: Now it seems they are potentially going to buy the
Speaker 1: whole shebang for the broadcast of baseball. Well, that's all fine,
Speaker 1: that's all happening in America, that's all happening to Major
Speaker 1: League Baseball. There's money changing hands. I don't care about
Speaker 1: who gets paid what. That's not really what I'm interested in.
Speaker 1: I just want to see nice baseball. However, seeing the
Speaker 1: nice baseball is where the questions are going to come. Now,
Speaker 1: MLBtv by being bought by ESPN is potentially a concern
Speaker 1: as ESPN are they're buying up an awful lot of sports,
Speaker 1: particularly NFL stuff, to put on their app, which you
Speaker 1: can access sports via the ESPN app. They want to
Speaker 1: be the place you go for live sports, and I
Speaker 1: get that decent business move. However, there are some suggestions
Speaker 1: at this point, and nobody knows exactly what's happening because
Speaker 1: the deals haven't been finalized. There are some suggestions that
Speaker 1: you may need to pay for the ESPN app in
Speaker 1: order to get to the MMB app. Now again, we
Speaker 1: don't know this, This is nothing confirmed. However, I've done
Speaker 1: a little bit of research myself. I've had a look
Speaker 1: at the ESPN app and I've found that everything on
Speaker 1: the espp and app is currently blacked out in the UK.
Speaker 1: So something's going to have to happen. We are not
Speaker 1: going to be left with no baseball. That is absolutely impossible.
Speaker 1: MLB have made huge inroads in the last few years
Speaker 1: into to broadening the sport, bringing it to Europe, so
Speaker 1: something is coming for us, It's absolutely true. But something
Speaker 1: is going to have to change and make a bit
Speaker 1: of a difference because right now, as it looks we
Speaker 1: wouldn't have the access now. As I said, that isn't
Speaker 1: going to happen, but our access is potentially going to
Speaker 1: change the way we get to watch the sport. So
Speaker 1: it's very much to watch this space. It's all contractual stuff.
Speaker 1: Nothing has been decided whatsoever, but it's potentially going to
Speaker 1: change over the next couple of years. And I think
Speaker 1: we can all agree that when it comes to streaming services,
Speaker 1: an awful lot of us we're watching MLBtv and loving
Speaker 1: the service before we sort of got a lot of
Speaker 1: streaming services into our homes, like this is a really
Speaker 1: good product that we have really re enjoyed. So just
Speaker 1: not concern. Concern is too strong because there will be
Speaker 1: a solution, however, just keeping an eye on what is
Speaker 1: going on there, because the way we consume our baseball
Speaker 1: is potentially gonna change. Maybe easier, I don't know, but
Speaker 1: it's not going to be unlikely going to be exactly
Speaker 1: what we've got right now with m LBTV, which as
Speaker 1: I said, is a fantastic product which I get an
Speaker 1: awful out of for the cost of one and paying.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the best value deal going MLB TV, So yeah,
Speaker 2: watch this space on that. Let's hope that we're not
Speaker 2: left in the same sort of situation as fans of
Speaker 2: college football, Darius and college basketball have been in the UK,
Speaker 2: because it's been almost impossible to watch both of those
Speaker 2: things so over the last couple of years because ESPN
Speaker 2: has all the rights to them, and they did have
Speaker 2: they have no syndication in the UK, So I hope
Speaker 2: that that. I'm sure it will be being worked through.
Speaker 2: We were going to move on to the Mount rush all,
Speaker 2: but I just wanted to just popped into my head
Speaker 2: there that I thought to mention, have either of you
Speaker 2: guys seen this absolutely insane in her oldest Chapman story.
Speaker 1: Of insane story A little bit more.
Speaker 2: That immediately sprung to mind, the very recent one, right, Okay,
Speaker 2: so I'll explain a little bit to you, but this
Speaker 2: literally I couldn't believe what I was hearing and reading
Speaker 2: about this. So our oldest Chapman has been one of
Speaker 2: the best pictures in baseball this year. Regardless of what
Speaker 2: you think of him, he has been absolutely extraordinarily good.
Speaker 2: And that's after three or four years of being the
Speaker 2: story marginal right. He was a very very good picture
Speaker 2: for a long time, and then he was okay, Buddy
Speaker 2: threw the ball very hard, and he is now better
Speaker 2: than he has ever been. And literally he was reading
Speaker 2: a start earlier on today he is. He now has
Speaker 2: the record Tide record for the most batter's faced without
Speaker 2: a hit being recorded against him, which is fifty. If
Speaker 2: he gets one more, that's the MLB record. So, Rob,
Speaker 2: you've obviously heard the story.
Speaker 1: It's about locating.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was going to say, have you any idea, Ben,
Speaker 2: what what the what the secret rest secret in this
Speaker 2: recipe is? So he explained this apparently to Buster Olney
Speaker 2: quite recently. What's what's been the difference? And it was
Speaker 2: in spring training this year using PitchCom for the first time,
Speaker 2: Connor Wong put pitch the ball here and he was like,
Speaker 2: all right, I'll give it a go. I found out
Speaker 2: that he could do that, and because he's never done
Speaker 2: it before, he's literally just stood there for an it hard.
Speaker 2: Turns out he can throw the ball hard where he
Speaker 2: wants it, and that's made him quite a lot better.
Speaker 3: Aiming.
Speaker 2: How did you get to thirty five and like one
Speaker 2: of the best pictures and just never have aimed? And
Speaker 2: then but then also just be able to do it.
Speaker 1: I like, I like the idea that sometimes it's spring training.
Speaker 1: You like, there's he's looking in, he's got the pitch
Speaker 1: com and he goes.
Speaker 2: Up, Uh hey this is good man, do you I
Speaker 2: mattere how.
Speaker 1: Could he good? He could have been throwing one hundred
Speaker 1: and five miles an hour five years ago if he'd
Speaker 1: known he could throw up or downright either. You know,
Speaker 1: he's got all those options the world. His world has
Speaker 1: just expanded. He's got a whole third and fourth, second
Speaker 1: and third dimension.
Speaker 2: It's absolutely inside genuinely one of my favorite baseball stories
Speaker 2: in it can't.
Speaker 1: Be real, though, can it be?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: Honestly really like that. No one has ever said, well,
Speaker 1: I don't know what how would you shorten a roaldis?
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: We've got off We've got off topic there, Rob.
Speaker 1: Sorry, sorry, yes, absolutely, but he can't be true got.
Speaker 2: Onto the main bit and Rob's absolutely collapsed in on himself.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: Is that? What is that what you thought? What you're
Speaker 2: going to hear?
Speaker 3: That is not what I thought I was going to hear. No. Yeah,
Speaker 3: of all the things for a major league picture to
Speaker 3: finally figure out aiming where to pitch. It was not
Speaker 3: what I thought you were going to tell me. But
Speaker 3: that is amazing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you were like, oh, he's found a new pitch
Speaker 2: or no, he's changed his mechanic on the other side
Speaker 2: of the rubber, he's been tipping. No, fundamentally, he's a
Speaker 2: bit like you, Ben. You know, when you found out
Speaker 2: about where to throw the ball and you just went there,
Speaker 2: which obviously what happened.
Speaker 3: It might be what's.
Speaker 2: Holding you back.
Speaker 1: You don't have to go of a home run every time.
Speaker 2: My favorite bit, my favorite I mean obviously within the
Speaker 2: margin of errow when you throw there's quite a big
Speaker 2: margin for when you throw one hundred and five miles
Speaker 2: an hour, because it's quite hard to hit that. But
Speaker 2: the idea that you could literally just throw the ball
Speaker 2: basically where he wanted it, just that is the bit
Speaker 2: that killed me. It wasn't the I didn't notice do this.
Speaker 2: It was just like, oh, yeah, I just do that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, sure, you're right.
Speaker 2: Fair enough anyway, from the ridiculous to the ridiculous, Ben,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna I'm gonna hand this over to you to
Speaker 2: explain what we're going to do now.
Speaker 3: My best sort of brainstorming on Yeah, some ideas of
Speaker 3: things we could do on the pod beyond just you know,
Speaker 3: chat rubbish about baseball and things we've seen on the news,
Speaker 3: And so we thought coming up with some kind of
Speaker 3: idea of something Mount Rushmore related in terms of like
Speaker 3: a top four or talking about you know, something that
Speaker 3: would be we would carve into granite because we think
Speaker 3: so much about it. So I guess what we initially
Speaker 3: thought was, we look at four of the players who
Speaker 3: were foundational to our baseball fandom. But we have done
Speaker 3: something similar to that in the past, so we've tried
Speaker 3: to mix it up a little bit. It was Rob's
Speaker 3: idea actually to maybe try and relate them more to
Speaker 3: the faces that are carved into the stone or Mount Rushmore,
Speaker 3: which I'll admit I top of my head would not
Speaker 3: have been able to tell you who the four are,
Speaker 3: but for those who are unaware, it is Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, Lincoln.
Speaker 3: I think that's the right order. So we thought we
Speaker 3: can relate.
Speaker 1: We thought something to each of.
Speaker 3: Them in that guy so well, I come up with
Speaker 3: my suggestions, which admitted you, I didn't come up to
Speaker 3: until about three hours before we started recording. So I
Speaker 3: think Rob had a different direction with his plan slightly
Speaker 3: was that we try and categorize and say that your
Speaker 3: George Washington player will be your first favorite player. He
Speaker 3: is the founding father, so this is the sort of
Speaker 3: foundational piece to your baseball fandom. Then you're Jefferson, who
Speaker 3: was the He was the author of the Declaration of Independence,
Speaker 3: I believe. So I thought we could go for our
Speaker 3: sort of least likely or weirdest favorite player, show off
Speaker 3: our own independent thinking. That was my theory on that one.
Speaker 3: Skipping to Lincoln. He's kind of considered, I don't know,
Speaker 3: the the greatest president of all time, I guess. So
Speaker 3: I thought we could have our I'm goat or best player,
Speaker 3: favorite player, however you want to define that. Telly Roosevelt
Speaker 3: didn't have a clue what to do with him. My
Speaker 3: suggestion was, do we do player we love to hate?
Speaker 3: Because I feel like, not that people hate Teddy Roosevelt,
Speaker 3: but he's probably the most forgettable face on Mount Rushmore.
Speaker 3: But then you suggested, John, maybe we take a bit
Speaker 3: more literally and actually just say the player who people
Speaker 3: forget was really good as our Roosevelt instead. So I'm
Speaker 3: happy to go either way with that one. But I
Speaker 3: think we're going to try and go around each of
Speaker 3: us and put a name up for each category, or
Speaker 3: Rob's going to tell us his own made up categories
Speaker 3: that he's gone with, and then I guess we will
Speaker 3: encourage listeners to send in their own submissions. I don't
Speaker 3: know how this is going to go.
Speaker 2: But are you going to make of them? You're going
Speaker 2: to make AI slap of them?
Speaker 3: So great, we are going to make AI slop at that, definitely,
Speaker 3: I don't know. Yeah, how do you want to start?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: Well? I mean I feel like we should leave Rob
Speaker 2: to last on all of these.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, no, I'm I'm in lying on some of.
Speaker 2: Them because who knows, right? So, Ben, I think you
Speaker 2: know this was this is your idea. It's a great idea.
Speaker 2: So why don't you you do the honors and let's
Speaker 2: start with your your Washington, your your your foundational favorite player.
Speaker 3: Sounds good? Yeah, I'll use this as a chance to
Speaker 3: plug the website to just keep GUB happy because they
Speaker 3: do have that running series of is it just my
Speaker 3: favorite player something like that that has been going on
Speaker 3: for a while.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: I'm going to get murdered by Brett forgetting what it's.
Speaker 1: Called excellent research. Ben.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so make sure you submit your article.
Speaker 2: Look the YouTube comments. A guy called Brett is just.
Speaker 3: Very upset with me. Make your favorite player to the website.
Speaker 3: I already did that and I wrote my article was
Speaker 3: a couple of years ago, now about right, the Colorado Rockies.
Speaker 3: Who's going to be my personal Washington? Yeah? I don't
Speaker 3: know what it was about him or Yes. Became a
Speaker 3: Rockies fan when I first started following baseball, which was
Speaker 3: enormous mistake. But we're here now, and at that time
Speaker 3: they were quite an exciting team. Try to little Whisky
Speaker 3: Carlos Gonzalez, Ibardo, Jim Andez. They were, you know, maybe
Speaker 3: not good, but certainly feisty. Some of those players are
Speaker 3: about all of those players are better than everywhere on
Speaker 3: the current team. But yeah, Carlos Gonzalez crowd my attention.
Speaker 3: Cargo as he was known, very stylish, left handed hitter.
Speaker 3: He was a king of not necessarily the bat flip,
Speaker 3: but the bat drop, which arguably even cooler than the
Speaker 3: bat flip. He had a walk off home runs Rockies
Speaker 3: answer rop have you heard of it? He had a
Speaker 3: walk off home run to complete the cycle, which was
Speaker 3: alredly awesome. So yeah, he captured my attention very early.
Speaker 3: Just thought that guy's call Baseball's call. I like him
Speaker 3: a lot. He obviously then declined considerably and was a
Speaker 3: shell of himself for the last three years in a
Speaker 3: Rocky uniform. Just a running theme with that team. But
Speaker 3: he will always, I think, have my heart as my
Speaker 3: first favorite player. So yeah, Colors Gonzalez of the Rockies,
Speaker 3: that's a good one.
Speaker 1: He was know whey he finished. No, he was a
Speaker 1: Mariner and he played on as long as twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: Goodness, gracious, I'd never have thought that. I'd have thought
Speaker 2: he definitely finished in Mexico. I kind of like that.
Speaker 2: He just went out at the top.
Speaker 1: Though Marin hasn't done.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's disappeared.
Speaker 1: Oh wait, no, sorry, sorry, they released him before the
Speaker 1: season began. My apologies.
Speaker 2: I was going to say about how how many washed
Speaker 2: up players as as Jerry Depoto signed to try and
Speaker 2: get a tune out of Donovan Solano looking at you, pal,
Speaker 2: I like that one. Sorry, Sorry for the drive by
Speaker 2: and Donovan Solano, that's not really what we're here for.
Speaker 2: I really like Cargo. It was a great player. A
Speaker 2: lot of swag. I like the batdrops. I don't know
Speaker 2: what I mean, but we all like a bat flip.
Speaker 2: But Rob, I think with Ben, I like the swaggy
Speaker 2: backdrops of Cargo. They were Look.
Speaker 1: A backdrop in Colorado is a tiny fraction of a
Speaker 1: second longer than a backdrop anywhere else in the majors.
Speaker 2: That's true. I was going to say, it's almost a
Speaker 2: bat flip.
Speaker 1: Hang on, wait, no, is it? I don't know. Inner
Speaker 1: air but less gravity? I actually don't know.
Speaker 2: It definitely would have more amplitude, you know, because there's
Speaker 2: less friction.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, but if you're just dropping, is that
Speaker 1: is that friction on the air versus the less gravity
Speaker 1: because you're higher up? Hashtag physics?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know. I mean, where's Russell when you
Speaker 2: need him? It's not something I say often, but this
Speaker 2: this is the occasion for it. Anyone should we do
Speaker 2: phone a friend? I'm not doing that. Imagine phoner friend,
Speaker 2: phone Russell? Why have you used the lifeline on this?
Speaker 2: You absolutely clown. You don't deserve sixty four pounds. It's off.
Speaker 1: Only Dodgy's reference for everyone who was younger.
Speaker 2: Still on the tally, Mate Clarkson Jesus, you go. You
Speaker 2: don't watch you don't watch ITV in your house, mate, Yeah,
Speaker 2: we don't, we don't.
Speaker 1: I don't even have the app downloaded. I'm not interested
Speaker 1: in the violin and it's many many anyway movies you watch.
Speaker 2: You watch mister Bates versus the Post Office and then
Speaker 2: deleted it. That might have happened at my house anyway, Rob.
Speaker 1: It was your BBC man, George Washington.
Speaker 2: Three more weeks, mate, Yeah, George Washington.
Speaker 1: George Washington, the founder. Absolutely, And you know what, I've
Speaker 1: stayed on topic, on topic, and.
Speaker 2: I thought you might sing this song mate from Hamilton,
Speaker 2: thought that would be your part.
Speaker 1: There was a lot of Hamilton I was going through. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but no, no, I've stayed away from from George from
Speaker 1: Hamilton on this because there is a baseball link there
Speaker 1: isn't there because of old one Old Miranda's Miranda's cousin
Speaker 1: is playing for the Twins. Yeah he is there.
Speaker 2: We go.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely wonderful, moving swiftly on again.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: Sammy Sosa. Sammy Sosa was my intro to baseball when
Speaker 1: I was but a wee whipper snapper. I got taken
Speaker 1: on holidays to the United States to broaden my cultural views.
Speaker 1: And there were little gaps, little gaps in the day
Speaker 1: between visiting the Pencil Museum and the Grand Canyon, and
Speaker 1: during the little gaps, I put the television on, and
Speaker 1: during daytime television was predominantly the Chicago Cubs, and it
Speaker 1: was just something to stare at. And I wasn't into
Speaker 1: it at the time. It was just something to stare
Speaker 1: at whilst I was there. And this was roughly nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety three nineteen ninety four ish when Sammy Sosa was
Speaker 1: absolutely just smashing, smashing home runs left, right and center,
Speaker 1: and I swear I turned that TV on three four
Speaker 1: five times over a couple of his and it was
Speaker 1: always Sammy Sosa hitting a home run. I couldn't tell
Speaker 1: you anything else about those Cubs teams other than the
Speaker 1: fact that I know that they still had the curse
Speaker 1: and they've not won. I couldn't tell you anything else
Speaker 1: but Sammy Sosa. Every time he came up to bat,
Speaker 1: I heard the name said on the TV, and even
Speaker 1: if I was looking at something else, I would I
Speaker 1: would buy eyes straight back to it and that that
Speaker 1: was the man, that was the guy, mister Sammy Sosa.
Speaker 1: I was like, I've got to watch the sport. I
Speaker 1: gotta see more of this because something I got myself
Speaker 1: a little glove, and I got myself a baseball and
Speaker 1: I stood there. I would catch it because I had
Speaker 1: no one to throw it too, because no one else
Speaker 1: is interested. But I would catch it, I would say,
Speaker 1: with Sammy Sosa catching the bill. And this has got
Speaker 1: really really sad and pathetic. I have Sammy Sosa, so
Speaker 1: I could have easily been a Cubs fan. This is
Speaker 1: pre pre raised even existing. So Sammy Sosa was my guy,
Speaker 1: and he was heaved my way into the sport. I
Speaker 1: thought a little bit about, you know, going Cardinals in
Speaker 1: I thought a little bit about going Cardinals in two
Speaker 1: thousand and three because you know, they were on Channel
Speaker 1: five constantly, but I couldn't find the exact player I
Speaker 1: remember seeing, so, you know, and because I was mostly
Speaker 1: doing university evening things which perhaps interfit memory less about
Speaker 1: the Epstein Sorry next what sorry? Okay, yeah, this has
Speaker 1: taking a turn. Nod, Yeah, we're all going to prison.
Speaker 2: You are man.
Speaker 1: Anyway, if it wasn't Sammy So I didn't have a
Speaker 1: quick thing about you know, everyone, James Lonely. That was
Speaker 1: the first time I went to a baseball game. But no,
Speaker 1: it was Sammy Sosa got me into the sport. And
Speaker 1: and despite how weird his wedding photos were many years later.
Speaker 1: If you don't know what I'm talking about, google it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Sammy Sosa remains my entry, my founder choice.
Speaker 2: That's a really that's a that's a really really good one. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So I I think I've talked about this before when
Speaker 2: we've done a sort of a different type of spin
Speaker 2: on a not dissimilar conversation, and so mine and I
Speaker 2: know I've kind of split between two names, Like there's
Speaker 2: a really obvious one for me, which is which is
Speaker 2: David Ortiz right? Because he is he is incredible And
Speaker 2: I started watching the Red Sox two thousand and three,
Speaker 2: two thousand and four, it's when he joined. But the
Speaker 2: answer that I've gone with because that's a boring and
Speaker 2: dull answer and one that everyone would expect from me,
Speaker 2: and because it's true, is Andrew Jones just a player
Speaker 2: I absolutely adored, same era as Rob watching those late
Speaker 2: night Channel five shows with Josh Chetwynd and another bloke. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they Andrew Jones used to player that really stuck out
Speaker 2: to me like, incredibly great hitter in a really outstanding
Speaker 2: Atlanta Braves team with Chipper and Greg Maddox and John Smaltz,
Speaker 2: Tom Glavin and others. But and then I was just
Speaker 2: an outrageous fielder. You know, I'm I've talked about a
Speaker 2: lot on this podcast. I'm a huge cricket fan. And
Speaker 2: seeing a guy he was that smooth, like so fielding
Speaker 2: is just something that I get, right, Seeing a guy
Speaker 2: is that smooth in the outfield, able to read where
Speaker 2: the ball is going, like this is the thing that
Speaker 2: like a lot of people who watch baseball like it.
Speaker 2: It was really easy. Look, they've got a big glove on, right,
Speaker 2: It's easier than catching it. Again, it is easier than
Speaker 2: catching a cricket ball. But if you've ever played in
Speaker 2: the outfielding cricket, reading where a ball is going to be,
Speaker 2: it's really really hard. So I had a real appreciation
Speaker 2: for how good he was. And he was like a
Speaker 2: generational talent, right if you see guys like Pete Crow
Speaker 2: Armstrong and Saddan Rafaela nowadays or Jackie Brandley Jr. A
Speaker 2: few years ago, like he was that good. But he
Speaker 2: was away a better hitter, probably even than PCI. He's
Speaker 2: absolutely outstanding and for years and years and years and
Speaker 2: also again a bit like Cargo, he had that like
Speaker 2: really cool, like swaggy X factor about him. So yeah,
Speaker 2: he's a guy who I loved when I was in
Speaker 2: my sort of baseball watching infancy. So Andrew Jones is
Speaker 2: my it's my foundation foundational pick, and he should be
Speaker 2: in the Hall of Fame in fact, isn't It's just
Speaker 2: ludicrous cooler, right should we? I don't know whether. I
Speaker 2: don't know if you should do like a snape draft?
Speaker 2: Shall I just go with should I do the Jefferson
Speaker 2: one as well? And then I'll come back in the
Speaker 2: other direction?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 2: So I did go with the Hamilton thing for this,
Speaker 2: right ah? Yeah, right, yeah yeah? And Hamilton in the
Speaker 2: in the original version, in the version that's on Disney,
Speaker 2: played by David Diggs. He is in a really brilliant
Speaker 2: band called Clipping, who are amazing, and he's very very cool,
Speaker 2: and the coolest player I could think of was David Ortiz.
Speaker 2: So no, I'm not I'm doing a bit. I'm doing
Speaker 2: a bit. I'm not going to pick David Orties for
Speaker 2: all them. I probably am, though. No, the actual answer
Speaker 2: I've just gone absolutely route one on this player. You
Speaker 2: would not expect me to love Aaron Judge, I think
Speaker 2: is absolutely amazing. Again, I'm over and over and over again.
Speaker 2: I've talked about Aaron Judge on this podcast basted on coolness. No, no,
Speaker 2: but like this is in the spirit of independence. Who
Speaker 2: would you not expect me to like?
Speaker 1: Okay, right, okay, right?
Speaker 2: Because he's a Yankee, because he's the captain of the Yankees,
Speaker 2: he's the best player in the Yankees. He is just
Speaker 2: so good. He is so good, and he's so humble,
Speaker 2: and he's so likable, and I hate the fact that
Speaker 2: he plays for the team that I do not like.
Speaker 2: He's just brilliant and he is a great ambassador for
Speaker 2: the sport. He's a brilliant player. He's ludicrously huge, he
Speaker 2: looks exact actly like what athletes are supposed to look like.
Speaker 2: He's got really cute dogs. I just like everything about
Speaker 2: the guy, and I hate myself for it. So yeah,
Speaker 2: my my sort of spirit of independence by Thomas Jefferson Pick.
Speaker 2: When I'm not doing a Davvy digs bit, listen to
Speaker 2: clipping right band is is Aaron Judge? Rob back in
Speaker 2: your direction.
Speaker 1: I'd just say, Aaron Judge is I think anyone who
Speaker 1: is watching baseball via MLB TV at the moment is
Speaker 1: we maybe love Aaron Judge, but Aaron Judge's dog I
Speaker 1: have had enough of. I do not care what Aaron
Speaker 1: Judge's dog thinks about Aaron Judge because I have heard
Speaker 1: it every yet break for no innings, every single game,
Speaker 1: and if it's not him, it's show here, TARNI and
Speaker 1: I've had enoughing of his dogs. I'm I'm but I
Speaker 1: didn't see that dog anymore. I don't care about It's
Speaker 1: enough about of dogs. You have used them.
Speaker 2: Rob, We've had this time before with the rally birds.
Speaker 1: Oh it's.
Speaker 2: Perennial mistakes, my god.
Speaker 1: Honestly, like we we as as foreigners to this sport,
Speaker 1: have to suffer the repeated adverts again and again. I'm
Speaker 1: still haunted hinted by by Mike trum poem from twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: I do not want to hear it like it's just
Speaker 1: just just mix it up, like give me the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty stuff again. Just I don't want to hear anything
Speaker 1: more about and Judge's dog. But he's great hitting diggers,
Speaker 1: so yes, I agree, with your pick. Well done.
Speaker 2: Sorry I like his dog, but sorry, just kind of
Speaker 2: I don't think there's the dog.
Speaker 1: I just don't hear from him anymore, right, Thomas Jefferson,
Speaker 1: Thomas Jefferson. Right, So I went in a slightly different
Speaker 1: different angle with Thomas Jefferson because I've been thinking about
Speaker 1: it a bit longer, and I looked at what Thomas
Speaker 1: Jefferson did. Thomas Jefferson was a and this is tenuous,
Speaker 1: a prolific inventors. Tenuous that he was also a prolific
Speaker 1: inventor because did you know Thomas Jefferson invented not over
Speaker 1: only the modeling plow, but he also invented the swivel chair,
Speaker 1: which was instrumental, instrumental in the writing of the Decoration
Speaker 1: of Independence. Absolutely, hey, look there you go. John is
Speaker 1: on a Jefferson right now. Jefferson's absolutely he And this
Speaker 1: is where it gets tenuous. He invented the swivel chair,
Speaker 1: which would be synonymous with laziness. So yeah, be with
Speaker 1: h So laziness would again be it could be, you know,
Speaker 1: linked with people who are maybe a little bit larger.
Speaker 1: As a slightly larger moment in myself, I know that
Speaker 1: laziness is a factor. So I wanted to talk a
Speaker 1: bit about guys who have body these that do not
Speaker 1: look like they belong in pro pro sports. And I
Speaker 1: went straight to source with the absolute pinnacle of the
Speaker 1: of this category.
Speaker 2: So that is it for Christ's.
Speaker 1: Hole. Will you bigger? So the big one who's taking
Speaker 1: up the majority of my mount reshmore is one Jumbo Diaz.
Speaker 1: Diaz was a well he must have four zero point
Speaker 1: two war over his four year career with Cincinnati and
Speaker 1: the Rays. He went one hundred and sixty kilos, which
Speaker 1: British is twenty five stone. Uh, and he could really
Speaker 1: really hard. And you know what, you do not see
Speaker 1: Jumbo Diaz is in cricket. You do not see Jumbo
Speaker 1: Diaz as in football. You certainly don't see Jumbo Diaz
Speaker 1: is in in sprinting, you know. So yeah, my, my,
Speaker 1: my guy on the mountain is a big slab of
Speaker 1: Jumbo Diaz, you know. And you know what, when he
Speaker 1: was playing like he got he was a big guy.
Speaker 1: He was different, Like it was exciting to see someone
Speaker 1: who looked like Jumbo Diaz strolling onto the field and
Speaker 1: being a professional athlete. So yeah, you know what, and
Speaker 1: That's one of the brilliant things about baseball. Like you
Speaker 1: don't have to be a spelt you know, ripped Jancardo
Speaker 1: Stanton looking kind of guy to play the sport. You
Speaker 1: could be a Jumbo Diaz or a Jubber Chamberlain or
Speaker 1: you know, and Taylors, you know, play the game. Williams
Speaker 1: asked to do absolutely there we go. So I'm I'm
Speaker 1: big up on on. I said, Jose Milino out of
Speaker 1: my list as well, but Jumbo Diaz is who I'm
Speaker 1: putting on my mountain.
Speaker 2: Right, I mean, I mean, I'm I don't really know
Speaker 2: where we go from there because I'm just sort of
Speaker 2: regretting the whole endeavor.
Speaker 1: I had dream about this, but I'll tell you that later.
Speaker 2: If you had given me not even a million guesses,
Speaker 2: like if you're on, if you've given me five million guesses,
Speaker 2: let's just discard the russianale, which, let's be honest, is
Speaker 2: absolutely mental.
Speaker 1: I just said, just name.
Speaker 2: Baseball players until you get it. I think I'd probably
Speaker 2: and the alternative is that you end up killing yourself
Speaker 2: before you get it. I'd be dead, mate.
Speaker 1: But who didn't you know we all look to Jumbo
Speaker 1: look at the guy. That's cool.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, there we go.
Speaker 3: It is just a great nickname.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's it's it's great.
Speaker 1: I imagine it was his given name.
Speaker 2: Ron Seal, isn't it. That's exactly this guy is great,
Speaker 2: absolutely obese Jose Rafael.
Speaker 1: There we go, He's not He's a jumbo, So she's
Speaker 1: a jumbo. Absolutely yeah, save me.
Speaker 3: Strangely, my yeah, my flowchart for Jefferson didn't find the
Speaker 3: same path as Rob's. When I came to rationale, I
Speaker 3: do everyone just stuck. I stuck with, you know, someone
Speaker 3: who I thought was that, you know, particularly odd independent
Speaker 3: favorite player of mine, and the name that I landed on,
Speaker 3: this is a real throwback, was Lucas Duda. Back in
Speaker 3: the day I cat myself a real you know, savant
Speaker 3: of the sport when I was writing more frequently about
Speaker 3: baseball and playing fantasy and thinking I was really smart.
Speaker 3: And I remember I don't know, watching a spring training
Speaker 3: game and it must have been like twenty eleven or
Speaker 3: something and seeing Lucas Duda hit this effortless opposite field
Speaker 3: home run off Stephen Strasburg, and I was like, this
Speaker 3: is the guy, Like, I know baseball, I've seen this
Speaker 3: guy swing, Lucas Duda is going to be elite. He
Speaker 3: had a little bit of the jump of DZ to
Speaker 3: him as well. Actually large large.
Speaker 1: Man, big lad big ladas.
Speaker 3: So for some reason in my head, I was like,
Speaker 3: Lucas Uda is the guy. So I just from that
Speaker 3: point on, I was fixated on this man's career. I
Speaker 3: honestly couldn't tell you how many career wore he put up.
Speaker 3: I should looked that up. It would be you know,
Speaker 3: additive to the fact that he's on my list. But
Speaker 3: I don't think he's ever particularly good. You might have
Speaker 3: had like a twenty thirty home run season for the
Speaker 3: Mets at one point, and I think Mets fans probably
Speaker 3: remember him fondly, but he, yeah, certainly was never an
Speaker 3: elite players. Have a look his best. Yeah, he put
Speaker 3: up three point two wins in twenty fifteen, Devin war
Speaker 3: seven more total six point six on fangrafts, so you know,
Speaker 3: probably not making it to the Hall of Fame. But
Speaker 3: I was just, yeh, fixated with with Lucas Duda. I
Speaker 3: thought this guy is amazing, And it turned out he
Speaker 3: couldn't field, couldn't particularly hit, and was crashed out of
Speaker 3: the League by the age of about thirty one thirty two.
Speaker 3: So shout out Lucasduda.
Speaker 2: Funny story, because I've never heard you say that before
Speaker 2: about Lucas Duda. So I've never told you this either.
Speaker 2: Lucas Duda is probably the only baseball player that my
Speaker 2: brother knows. Oh well, he's been too. Precisely one baseball
Speaker 2: game in his life. Lucas went through the Mets when
Speaker 2: he went to New York and Lucas Duda hit home run.
Speaker 2: And now that he never listens to this. Hello, Tony,
Speaker 2: if you're listening, you're not. I love baseball. How's the
Speaker 2: baseball going? How's Lucas Duda doing? The conversation? That's his
Speaker 2: piss take out of me? Yeah, he no longer players
Speaker 2: and you know that well, I hope. Yeah. You guys
Speaker 2: love a great time. Led you a twenty five second conversation.
Speaker 2: There you go, Ben, I think you you retain conch
Speaker 2: go with it where you want. Whether you want to
Speaker 2: go Lincoln or whether you want to go Jefferson, not Jefferson,
Speaker 2: Roosevelt is up to you.
Speaker 3: I'll take Lincoln. So yeah, I kept this to like link.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't I feel like in.
Speaker 3: My baseball viewing lifetime, has been the best player I've
Speaker 3: had a pleasure of seeing, and yeah, as mentioned earlier,
Speaker 3: probably started following the sport twenty tennish, so only really
Speaker 3: for the last fifteen issues, and hands down in that period,
Speaker 3: it's Mike trout for me. From when he first arrived
Speaker 3: to the sport as a prodigious prospect at the age
Speaker 3: of nineteen through to now, really he's been the one
Speaker 3: of the best players in the sport when healthy, which
Speaker 3: sadly has not been so frequent in recent years. But
Speaker 3: it's just been amazing to watch him play. And I
Speaker 3: think a little bit to what you were saying about
Speaker 3: Aaron Judge, whereas like his talent is just so undeniable,
Speaker 3: and again you couldn't really hate my trout right plays
Speaker 3: for the Angels. He loves planes and weather and the Eagles.
Speaker 3: Weather very vanilla man for someone who is such a
Speaker 3: superstar talent, but like when he's on the field, he
Speaker 3: is electric, And especially those first five years where he
Speaker 3: was an elite defensive center fielder, hip power, hit, the
Speaker 3: contact style bases, I just did everything, Yeah, box off
Speaker 3: his viewing really getting to watch him play, and I
Speaker 3: still feel very fortunate that we get to watch him now,
Speaker 3: all those powers of diminish. But yeah, for me, you know,
Speaker 3: since I first started following baseball, his name's probably been
Speaker 3: mentioned as one to watch, and all the way through
Speaker 3: to now it's been it's been amazing to see him play.
Speaker 3: So yeah, for for me personally, my Mount lush More
Speaker 3: greatest player I've got to see play, it would be
Speaker 3: my trail.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that is you know, it's it's a
Speaker 2: straightforward answer because it's a good answer and it's a
Speaker 2: correct answer.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, Yeah, I fault it.
Speaker 2: Okay, cool, I'm gonna I'm gonna hand over to you
Speaker 2: last on this one, Rob, So I'll just I'll just
Speaker 2: jump in and my answer is David Arties. Now, I'm
Speaker 2: not I'm not it's not actually I'm not doing I'm
Speaker 2: not doing I'm doing a bit. I Yeah, I mean
Speaker 2: it could have been. And obviously, you know, probably my
Speaker 2: two favorite players are we've discussed Dad Knows You on
Speaker 2: this on this podcast are Cog you are and Jackie Bradley.
Speaker 2: But it would be churlish of me to suggest that
Speaker 2: they merited posterity on my Mount Rushmore. But I've not
Speaker 2: strayed too far away because I am, you know, a
Speaker 2: heart absolute red Sox Homer, notwithstanding that little period where
Speaker 2: I had a bit of a sulk about the whole
Speaker 2: endeavor for a year or so. So I'm actually going
Speaker 2: to go with I think the player I've taken most
Speaker 2: joy from watching for the longest period of time is
Speaker 2: probably Dustin pa droit Right, he just is rob pulled
Speaker 2: of face.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the ray's fun.
Speaker 2: And he thought I was gonna say Mackey bet Ton
Speaker 2: Pa Droya. I mean, you'd like to look Padoyas, but
Speaker 2: they're from like twenty seventeen through just sort of just
Speaker 2: about tendentiously hanging on by twenty eighteen, he just you know, iconoclastic, right,
Speaker 2: he's tiny, He had you know, this really weird sigy
Speaker 2: of this silly little silly face. Like, let's be honest,
Speaker 2: he's not. He's an ugly man, like the build of
Speaker 2: like someone's dad, you know, baldy hair, just an absolute
Speaker 2: dog like just just incredible, Like, how how did that
Speaker 2: guy hit home runs like that? How did he chase
Speaker 2: down balls like that? He just looked in no way
Speaker 2: looked like an athlete and then like just incredibly charismatic.
Speaker 2: Everyone hated him, like just attest to that. Yeah, I know,
Speaker 2: like and of course you hated him if he wasn't
Speaker 2: on your team. He was an absolute pain in the ass,
Speaker 2: like that proper leg like you know, like getting a
Speaker 2: like getting a thorn, your flipping in your foot, like horrible,
Speaker 2: horrible little man like you know, really needly little shit.
Speaker 2: I love it. I loved him and I still love him.
Speaker 2: Just absolutely brilliant, like and so much joy from watching him,
Speaker 2: that stupid wind up swing, everything about him. If he
Speaker 2: was on any other tea other than my team, I
Speaker 2: would have found him so annoying. But he was on
Speaker 2: my team, and I therefore just loved absolutely every single
Speaker 2: thing about him. So yeah, just in Portroya, it's my
Speaker 2: it's my, it's my goat. Not quite in the same
Speaker 2: level of talent or pantheon as Mike Trout. I will,
Speaker 2: I will, I will give you that, but I've taken
Speaker 2: slightly different interpretation.
Speaker 3: I assume he's not from Boston, but I feel like
Speaker 3: Patroya is a very good what's the word character relation
Speaker 3: of Boston. Is such a Boston guy, isn't he like that?
Speaker 1: For me?
Speaker 3: I think Red Sox, you think Patroya.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you think that when he speaks, he's going to
Speaker 2: have that like mass whole accent in exactly the same
Speaker 2: way that whenever you hear Jonathan Pappleboron have like an
Speaker 2: Arkansas or accent, you're like you are.
Speaker 1: It's from Woodland, California.
Speaker 2: He's from California and Arizona, and you group in Arizona. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so yeah, Rob, who's your who's your goat or whatever
Speaker 2: the hell you're gonna say.
Speaker 1: That's not what I did, because I'd already done this beforehand.
Speaker 1: So but first of all, Dustin peddrauya absolutely horrible little bugger.
Speaker 1: You're absolutely right, like like couldn't stand him, like really
Speaker 1: really couldn't stand him. And it wasn't because he was
Speaker 1: so amazing. It was it was the face. It was
Speaker 1: the wind up, as he said, it was everything about him.
Speaker 1: Like that's it. For those of you watching on YouTube,
Speaker 1: John's just done the perfect Pa Drayer face. It's it's wonderful.
Speaker 1: I did write down eventually a couple of guys.
Speaker 2: Either way, if you want to irritate Dustin Pa Draya,
Speaker 2: just tag at Padroya's face. And but I hate you.
Speaker 1: I second that at Pa Draya's face is the one
Speaker 1: you want to get at. Yeah. Absolutely. I did write
Speaker 1: down a few few GotY options, you know, and it
Speaker 1: is just a long list of raised players that ends
Speaker 1: in Evan Longoria. But that's not, unfortunately, where where I went.
Speaker 1: As I said, I I kind of I kind of
Speaker 1: looked at this before we sort of talked about it,
Speaker 1: and so I thought, Abraham Lincoln, what what is he?
Speaker 1: What is he known? Four? And I thought, like, pick
Speaker 1: slavery up, put that right back down. I'm not I'm
Speaker 1: not touching that.
Speaker 2: So I thought, you know, living with another man in
Speaker 2: rural Illinois for a long time.
Speaker 1: Okay, not going that one either. No, I went with
Speaker 1: he liked the theater.
Speaker 2: He was.
Speaker 1: He was a keen theater goer. Maybe not always best
Speaker 1: for your health, but he was a keen theater goer.
Speaker 1: So I came a little bit left field with with
Speaker 1: what that led me to. And the third person I
Speaker 1: want to put on my my Mount Rushmore is actually
Speaker 1: actor Michael Keaton. And it's okay, yeah, I've gone, I've
Speaker 1: gone some odd directions here. So like the reason for
Speaker 1: Michael Keaton is mostly that my save baseball player for
Speaker 1: for reasons I can't really explain is is that Peter
Speaker 1: Borges looks a lot like Michael Keaton to my mind.
Speaker 1: So so I've always liked you know, Peter outfielder, Peter
Speaker 1: borgs uh and and Michael Keaton element there. But of
Speaker 1: course also play was in the movie The Founder where
Speaker 1: he played Ray Kroc, who was the owner of the
Speaker 1: San Diego Padre, so there was the baseball link there.
Speaker 1: So yeah, Mike Michael Keaton is going up next to
Speaker 1: some Diaz and and Sammy Sosa on my baseball And
Speaker 1: I also considered Kevin Costa, Dennis Quaid, and Adrian Beltray.
Speaker 1: Those are my other options for this this category, but
Speaker 1: I ended up with Michael Keaton.
Speaker 2: Can you plays unpack why a those who are on
Speaker 2: the shortlist and b why they were discarded for the tape?
Speaker 1: Okay, so like like Costner was in was in like
Speaker 1: the reason Costa made it to the short list was
Speaker 1: obviously in baseball movies or be them crap baseball movies.
Speaker 1: And I'm sorry, as a raised fan I should like
Speaker 1: bull I don't. And when we come to Field of Dreams,
Speaker 1: it's the the worst most mortgage piece of crap ever
Speaker 1: put in cinema quite frankly, and I know, I know
Speaker 1: John is generally with me on the all baseball movies
Speaker 1: are crap terrible. Yeah, So like part from from the
Speaker 1: reason he made it to the short list was completely
Speaker 1: non baseball related. Was despite what everyone else said, I
Speaker 1: actually quite like water World. I thought that was quite
Speaker 1: a good movie. So I'm like Kevin Costa and he
Speaker 1: went and went on there. Dennis Quayne, of course, was
Speaker 1: was also in a couple of baseball movies, so he
Speaker 1: made made the list. And then I spent some brief
Speaker 1: time thinking about like actual baseball players who are quite seat.
Speaker 1: I thought Adrian Beltray was a lot of fun, you
Speaker 1: know with the head tapping stuff and you know, the
Speaker 1: dancing links class you know, like that's a classics. You
Speaker 1: know when he when he's yeah, he's not yeah, is
Speaker 1: he gonna go? No, he isn't going to go. He
Speaker 1: was always running away from and yes, so like like
Speaker 1: Beltray bet for me the shortest because of that. But
Speaker 1: you know what, I just couldn't move away from Michael
Speaker 1: Keaton because I really like him as an actor and
Speaker 1: his baseball links aretual.
Speaker 2: So I did know this, but I just googled it
Speaker 2: just to be sure, to sure myself. Michael Keaton is
Speaker 2: a huge Pirates fan. He is a huge fan, particularly
Speaker 2: of Mark Burley, that's his favorite player. Two things about
Speaker 2: Michael Keaton, One old, one new. Just look these up
Speaker 2: like they were sort of dangling in my mind, so
Speaker 2: it's double checking myself. One when he was Batman, he
Speaker 2: negotiated in his contract that filming would be paused in
Speaker 2: the event that the Pirates made the World Series. They
Speaker 2: did not say that clause was not not not needed timber,
Speaker 2: Tim Burton nose ball. And Two he in October of
Speaker 2: last year publicly called on a podcast for Bob Nutting
Speaker 2: to sell the team. So baseball char Andy looks like
Speaker 2: Peter Borges, which I have looked that up and he does.
Speaker 2: I forgotten about it is I'd forgotten about, like can
Speaker 2: you just because I can't remember and obviously it's a
Speaker 2: long time since. Why why are you obsessed with Peter Borges.
Speaker 1: Because he looks like That's pretty simple.
Speaker 2: It isn't even five of your team, and that is
Speaker 2: literally it.
Speaker 3: He did.
Speaker 1: He did play for the Raids very briefly, but no,
Speaker 1: it's because because he looked like look like Batman. That
Speaker 1: was Yeah, that's why I.
Speaker 2: Like God right, Yeah, okay, fair enough.
Speaker 1: Oh look it's a better pick than Jumbo Diaz. I like.
Speaker 2: I like both of them. I like both of them.
Speaker 2: I really regret the fact that I've got to do this.
Speaker 2: But it's you again.
Speaker 1: Oh no, No, just wanted took Seriously, it's fine. The
Speaker 1: way I got there wasn't. But I mean, so Theodore Roosevelt,
Speaker 1: he was. He was difficult to look up as to
Speaker 1: what made him Why did he put his face in
Speaker 1: the mountain because realistically not all that special. Reading up
Speaker 1: about him a bit said he he was influential and
Speaker 1: what he called big stick to play, which is actually
Speaker 1: really really negative thing because essentially it means he was
Speaker 1: threatening the world to do what he wants. But big
Speaker 1: stick sounds like a baseball bat. So I was thinking, like,
Speaker 1: who's a really good hitter who I liked? And I
Speaker 1: came down to a rabbit pooh holes, you know, like
Speaker 1: big slip guy like and you know what a career
Speaker 1: eleven time in Star three time MVP, Like, hey, what's
Speaker 1: a bigger stick than that? And let's face it, it was
Speaker 1: his stick that got it for him because realistically, not
Speaker 1: the best field to come the end of his career,
Speaker 1: although he did actually end up with two go gloves,
Speaker 1: which most people probably wouldn't be on the grab from
Speaker 1: the memories of Abbot pooh holes. So yeah, like jolly
Speaker 1: good dude. So it comes to diplomacy like Johnny good
Speaker 1: it like he I did some research. He passed his
Speaker 1: American Citizen Exam with one hundred percent success rate, so
Speaker 1: well done on that. He does a lot of charitable
Speaker 1: work with his Foundation for People with Down Syndrome, as
Speaker 1: his daughter has Down syndrome and he works through that.
Speaker 1: So it's taken a very serious turn all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: and I do mean it, like genuinely seems like an
Speaker 1: actual good dude as well as being amazingly good at
Speaker 1: his baseball. So yeah, like about pooholes, like you can't
Speaker 1: you can't fault me picking al but who pooh holes
Speaker 1: for being a good baseball player with a big stick.
Speaker 2: So absolutely not. I also love the trend and Michael
Speaker 2: Keaton doesn't really fit this, but you just you pit
Speaker 2: three three fat lads love it. Michael Keaton is on
Speaker 2: there because the rest of them are going to take
Speaker 2: quite a lot of real estate.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he is a slimp slender man. Yeah, I considered this.
Speaker 1: I considered showhang from being like diplomats like, let you know,
Speaker 1: baseball around the world Harry Foyd considered, and I considered
Speaker 1: eighteen seventy nine's Dave Brain as well.
Speaker 3: He was.
Speaker 1: He was a Welsh baseball player who led the league
Speaker 1: in home runs in nineteen oh seven. So Dave Brain.
Speaker 1: Everyone learned something. There you go, Dave Brain.
Speaker 2: Pooholes, Dave Brain. My god, Please Ben, when you do
Speaker 2: the AI slot version, just put Dave Brain and instead
Speaker 2: what see what mid journey turns up for that? Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm going to give you the privilege of closing it out, Ben,
Speaker 2: So I'll I'll take take this, And I think I've
Speaker 2: got one for both interpretations. The player I love to
Speaker 2: hate you would think would be a Yankee, but it's not.
Speaker 2: It's Adam Alina.
Speaker 1: No, no more.
Speaker 2: Discussion, just piss off for much the same reasons that
Speaker 2: I love Justin Bedroya just really good and really bloody, annoying,
Speaker 2: just mugging off. Just just go away. But I chose
Speaker 2: a happier view of this, and I will to talk
Speaker 2: a little bit about player that people forget was really
Speaker 2: really good, to the point where I think he got
Speaker 2: one Hall of Fame vote despite accumulating I think it's
Speaker 2: twenty eight more War than Harold Baines. And that's Kenny Lofton,
Speaker 2: who is sort of in the same conversation for me
Speaker 2: as Andrew Jones. Very similar, like very different player, but
Speaker 2: sort of a player of a similar era who ticks
Speaker 2: similar boxes in that he was a really great outfielder,
Speaker 2: professional hitter on that brilliant Cleveland team with Albert Bell
Speaker 2: and others that was on the Telly a lot in
Speaker 2: the UK around that time, played for a very long
Speaker 2: time and was good almost until the very end of
Speaker 2: his career, and by all accounts again just just a
Speaker 2: good dude. He's like a player like he's sort of
Speaker 2: like one of those players who you think is a
Speaker 2: remember some guys guy and then you look, you're like,
Speaker 2: hang on, he got nearly seventy War. He's not just
Speaker 2: like a bloke who played. He was absolutely incredible, six
Speaker 2: time Walls and six consecutive seasons. I'm probably good and
Speaker 2: should have been an All Star again in the last
Speaker 2: stage of his career. So yeah, Kenny Lofton was mine.
Speaker 2: But screw Raddy Yaddy Molina Man.
Speaker 1: That guy sucks at Sandy Leon's beard as a guy
Speaker 1: I hate, like, we know you're gray, stop dying it stupid,
Speaker 1: but yeah, sorry, carry.
Speaker 2: On, hmm okay, Ben.
Speaker 3: Tough to close this out. I obviously did consider Dave
Speaker 3: Brain myself for this, but I went in a different direction.
Speaker 3: Of course you did, yeah, it ordered Yeah, I went
Speaker 3: to the stores of Manchester.
Speaker 1: He's from, he was from? Where was he from? Hare food?
Speaker 2: I just up answer I actually well, I actually went
Speaker 2: with it was Keith Lampard.
Speaker 3: I stuck to the player we love to hate, so
Speaker 3: I guess definition for Roosevelt. So there are a few
Speaker 3: guys that I considered. I think there are a lot
Speaker 3: of second base. I think second basis position is one
Speaker 3: that just has place of people love to hate. Patroya
Speaker 3: is a great example. I had runyard o'door god. It
Speaker 3: was good seeing him get chinned by Batista. Sorry wrong
Speaker 3: way around is a great shout. But I didn't like
Speaker 3: him ol t the more from like just begrudgingly. He's
Speaker 3: been so good for so long and it's really annoying.
Speaker 3: But the player I landed on in the end was
Speaker 3: John Lackey. Don't even really know why I disliked him
Speaker 3: so much, but I disliked him so much his stupid face.
Speaker 3: When he was on the mound, he moaned about everything,
Speaker 3: every single call that went against him. He didn't like
Speaker 3: umpires were wrong, his teammates were bad. There was just
Speaker 3: something about his attitude that I hated. And I'll give
Speaker 3: him credit because I looked him u past like he
Speaker 3: wasn't even that good. Was he actually a very good picture?
Speaker 3: He put up forty three wins above a pacing across
Speaker 3: his career, which is very impressive. He was a proper
Speaker 3: workhorse for the Angels, for the Red Sox, even for
Speaker 3: the Cubs at the end of his career. So I'll
Speaker 3: give him that a good picture. But my god, there's
Speaker 3: something about him that, like watching him on the mound
Speaker 3: just made my blood boil. So yeah, John Lackey, Yeah.
Speaker 1: Rob, you haven't say that.
Speaker 2: You haven't talked about Freddy Galvis. Also, your camera's gone off.
Speaker 1: My camera has gone off. Yes, I have a list
Speaker 1: which does include first and foremost Freddy Galvis, Brian Anderson,
Speaker 1: and I think I'm going to have Boba Schet the
Speaker 1: list because there's something about his face I like ye, noe, Nope,
Speaker 1: I'm glad he cut his hair. But that's as far
Speaker 1: as it goes.
Speaker 2: I've forgotten about Brian Anderson.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, just such a bitch.
Speaker 2: Nothing the NP of MLB.
Speaker 1: I mean, you click on him, he says the same
Speaker 1: thing over and over. First right.
Speaker 2: Suck g I d P.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 3: Even if you google Brian Anderson, he's not the first
Speaker 3: person that comes up related to baseball, because there's the
Speaker 3: broadcaster for the Brewers, also called Brian Anderson, who comes
Speaker 3: up before him.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, yeah, And then there's another broadcaster for
Speaker 1: the race called Brian. Is that so good? There is.
Speaker 3: The third most famous baseball Brian of the last decade.
Speaker 2: And the other two didn't even play.
Speaker 1: The raised one did.
Speaker 2: But yes, okay, sorry, my bad. I know nothing about
Speaker 2: the Rise except the place suck.
Speaker 1: Anyway, moving on, Okay, that's been it.
Speaker 2: I honestly can't remember who's on on these vaguely remember
Speaker 2: who's on mine. It's David Ottis, David RTIs, David Dots
Speaker 2: and David Dortis, Mike trot on it Rob, I mean,
Speaker 2: God knows, fat fat lads and Michael Keane I.
Speaker 3: Think trying to get the slop of Rob's mount Rushmore made.
Speaker 3: It's not going to be able to do it.
Speaker 2: Rob's are so crazy that his camera just broke, just
Speaker 2: just refused. And Ben, Ben, you look like you're in
Speaker 2: a hostage video. My camera is out of charge. Maybe
Speaker 2: luckily my laptop has one. That's all right. See this
Speaker 2: has been the worst visual. And actually I'm looking at
Speaker 2: myself on the screen. I genuinely have bags under my
Speaker 2: eyes that you could go to Tesco's. This has been
Speaker 2: a baseball podcast, Ben. Apparently you've you've contributed to it.
Speaker 2: I have vaguely steered it in some sort of direction.
Speaker 2: And that's about all we've got time for and we'll
Speaker 2: we'll see you again soon. Toodle Pirah