Speaker 1: Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network.
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Speaker 2: Hi everyone, welcome to Guardians Weekly Humors in house along
Speaker 2: with you as we continue with our hot stove shows,
Speaker 2: hopefully warming you up a bit during what has been
Speaker 2: I can't some more typical Northeast Ohio winter after a
Speaker 2: couple of mild ones the last few years. But man,
Speaker 2: we're getting winner now and that always makes the start
Speaker 2: of spring training and baseball season right around the corner
Speaker 2: that much more something to look forward to for sure.
Speaker 2: Good show lined up for you today. In just a
Speaker 2: little bit, we will hear from Senior Vice President Bob D.
Speaker 2: Biassio with a look back of the life and times
Speaker 2: of the great Rocky Colavito, who passed away this past December,
Speaker 2: arguably one of the most popular Cleveland Indians ever in
Speaker 2: franchise history. And Bobby D. Will have some great memories
Speaker 2: and a look back at the life and times of
Speaker 2: the rock and certainly gone but not forgotten and never
Speaker 2: will be in Cleveland baseball history. With the weather being
Speaker 2: what it is, we've decided to air an interview that
Speaker 2: we did a little while back, and we'll air for
Speaker 2: the first time today. Austin Hedges, who re signed with
Speaker 2: the Guardians to be part of their catching corps for
Speaker 2: the coming season, will join us. There's no one better
Speaker 2: when the weather stinks and you're looking forward to baseball
Speaker 2: than talking to Austin Hedges, and we'll have that interview
Speaker 2: in just a little bit. First couple of news and notes,
Speaker 2: though some good things happening on the report date front.
Speaker 2: We have the official dates now for when things will
Speaker 2: begin out in goodyear at spring training. February the eleventh
Speaker 2: is when pitchers and catchers officially report. The full squad
Speaker 2: reports on February sixteenth, with their first full squad workout
Speaker 2: on February the eighteenth, and later that week, Saturday the
Speaker 2: twenty second, the Cactus League opener between the Guardians and
Speaker 2: the Cincinnati reds Now being led by Terry Francona. That'll
Speaker 2: be a three zero five first pitch, and of course
Speaker 2: you can hear that game right here the Cleveland Clinic
Speaker 2: Guardians Radio Network. So a lot to look forward to
Speaker 2: coming up, and a lot to look forward to after
Speaker 2: the break, as will be joined by Austin Hedges, who
Speaker 2: re signed with Cleveland this past fall after a solid season.
Speaker 2: Again and no coincidence, the two seasons that Hedges has
Speaker 2: played for the Guardians twenty twenty two and twenty twenty
Speaker 2: four very young ball clubs, but he has been one
Speaker 2: of those veterans that has provided some leadership and guidance,
Speaker 2: and both of those clubs made the postseason. So he
Speaker 2: is back in the fold this year, and when we
Speaker 2: come back, we'll talk to him about it. That's next.
Speaker 2: The Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio.
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Speaker 4: The One Ozer swung on, hit high, hit deep to left.
Speaker 4: HiT's got a chance.
Speaker 2: Gone to the porch.
Speaker 4: Austin Hedges gets his first home run. Polante's ready. Here
Speaker 4: it comes and he bunts it.
Speaker 1: Safety squeeze and a beauty that'll score Straw Goldsmith the
Speaker 1: first basement thirty feet from the plate. Fielded it threw
Speaker 1: back to first to the second basement, covering boy. Hedges
Speaker 1: has done that three times this year. The bitch and
Speaker 1: he sends its guy high foul ground behind the plate
Speaker 1: near the Twins dugout.
Speaker 2: Austin Hedges caught it, fill into the dugout and hung
Speaker 2: on our goal.
Speaker 4: Looks like he wants to go there.
Speaker 1: He goes, pitches high, throw it a second perfect tag big.
Speaker 4: Buye him in house. Oh what a throw by Austin Hetches.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Guardians Weekly and we are joined by
Speaker 2: Guardians catcher Austin Hedges back in the fold for twenty
Speaker 2: twenty five. Signed a contract in the off season and
Speaker 2: Austin were talking earlier about you coming back and returning
Speaker 2: to the ball club, and I'm sure you're at a
Speaker 2: stage in your career where you're looking for the right fit,
Speaker 2: and it just seems like Cleveland, is that fit for you?
Speaker 2: And how important is being in a place where you
Speaker 2: can do what you do so well, especially at this
Speaker 2: stage of your career.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So, I mean, obviously you want to as a
Speaker 5: as a young player, you want to work as hard
Speaker 5: as you can to try and get a free agency
Speaker 5: and that's where you know you can you can make
Speaker 5: the most money, and you can you know, have teams
Speaker 5: fight over you a little bit, and you know, and
Speaker 5: you actually get a little bit of leverage. For the
Speaker 5: first six years of your career, you you really don't
Speaker 5: have much leverage to to do anything because you're just
Speaker 5: you know, you're on whatever team you're on. So for
Speaker 5: me in the in going into twenty three first year
Speaker 5: free agent, you know, it was an exciting time and
Speaker 5: you know, there was obviously there was talks with Cleveland
Speaker 5: of signing back, but then we both decided to.
Speaker 6: Go a different way.
Speaker 5: And I think pretty early on in the twenty three season,
Speaker 5: I think both of us realized we'd probably made a bad.
Speaker 6: Decision and.
Speaker 5: So and then in re signing this past year and
Speaker 5: obviously the success that we had it made it it
Speaker 5: made I think on both ends between our front office
Speaker 5: and and myself made it just obvious that like, all right,
Speaker 5: we're not gonna make the same mistake twice, and we
Speaker 5: got to make.
Speaker 6: Sure we run this thing back.
Speaker 2: What is it about Cleveland that that works for you?
Speaker 2: First the team wise and then maybe city wise.
Speaker 5: Well, it starts with the personnel. Just the people in
Speaker 5: our organization. They well, first of all, they believe in me,
Speaker 5: and that goes a long way. You go to a
Speaker 5: lot of places and you might just be player a
Speaker 5: player B who happens to play catcher, and you're gonna
Speaker 5: go do this, this and this, and that's kind of
Speaker 5: how we treat you. Where in Cleveland they appreciate the
Speaker 5: little things that I do, and I take a lot
Speaker 5: of pride in those little things, and and I think
Speaker 5: they go a really long way.
Speaker 6: And they they seem to have noticed that.
Speaker 5: And you know, we talked about like, you know, maybe
Speaker 5: at a different point in my career it could be
Speaker 5: a little bit different. But for me, you know, a
Speaker 5: thirty two year old catcher, you know, been been around
Speaker 5: and seeing some things. So now I just want I
Speaker 5: want a place where I can do the things that
Speaker 5: I you know, that I'm good at and am allowed
Speaker 5: to and where I don't have to necessarily start over
Speaker 5: where if I go to another organization, you know, maybe
Speaker 5: there maybe there's a culture problem, or maybe there needs
Speaker 5: some things.
Speaker 6: That need to be fixed. That doesn't happen overnight.
Speaker 5: You know, that takes serious work in spring training and
Speaker 5: then throughout the season where you know, I feel like
Speaker 5: the process really started for us in Cleveland in twenty
Speaker 5: two where where things started really moving in the right direction.
Speaker 5: And so it made it, you know, a lot simpler
Speaker 5: going to this past year because it was basically that
Speaker 5: whole team back from twenty two and had a and
Speaker 5: that whole group it had a twenty three season that
Speaker 5: they weren't real proud of. So it was like, okay,
Speaker 5: like we know what works, we know it doesn't work.
Speaker 5: Now let's just obsess over even getting better and building
Speaker 5: on the things that did work in twenty two. And
Speaker 5: then obviously we went out and had an amazing season,
Speaker 5: so and we showed ourselves how close we are to
Speaker 5: actually winning the whole thing.
Speaker 6: So going into this next season, I'm just so.
Speaker 5: Excited that we just get to build off of what
Speaker 5: we've already done and it's not like we have to
Speaker 5: like go back to the drawing board and you know,
Speaker 5: try and come up with new ideas. I feel like
Speaker 5: all the boys have seen the road map and they
Speaker 5: know exactly how to get there, and now it's just
Speaker 5: about doing it again.
Speaker 2: You mentioned twenty two and you mentioned last season. Very
Speaker 2: similar seasons and that just solid seasons from start to finish,
Speaker 2: and then this year a little bit further run in
Speaker 2: the playoffs under different managers who seem so different in
Speaker 2: terms of experience. They are Terry Francona in twenty two
Speaker 2: and then Steven Voda rookie manager this year. But it
Speaker 2: seemed like you really enjoyed playing for both and the
Speaker 2: team responded to both. What were some of the common
Speaker 2: themes between the two and maybe some differences that helped
Speaker 2: this year for this up.
Speaker 5: Well, they're both amazing leaders of men, and that is
Speaker 5: in what I've noticed in my career.
Speaker 6: A true leader of men is what the real role
Speaker 6: of the manager is.
Speaker 5: And that's not just for players. That's that's for coaches,
Speaker 5: in front office and staff members. You got to be
Speaker 5: you have to make everybody feel like they are important
Speaker 5: to helping us win. Today in both Tito and Voter
Speaker 5: do an amazing job at that if you stop by
Speaker 5: Voter's office or when Tito is there too, Like those
Speaker 5: guys are going to make you feel like you are
Speaker 5: so valuable and are.
Speaker 6: Just there to help. And it's just it's it's it's
Speaker 6: probably the most important thing for a manager to have,
Speaker 6: and you know, obviously it was. Yeah, it doesn't come
Speaker 6: as a surprise that Terry Francono.
Speaker 5: Is that way with all of his history of success,
Speaker 5: But for Steven Vote to be a first year managers
Speaker 5: to already be that poised able to respond difficult situations
Speaker 5: and to be able to lead an entire clubhouse.
Speaker 6: Especially a young clubhouse that we had, it's just.
Speaker 5: It's really incredible, and it's so cool for me too,
Speaker 5: because I just I learned so much from both of them,
Speaker 5: and uh, probably a really special thing for me this
Speaker 5: past year was I vocalized to Voter that like I
Speaker 5: wanted to learn about like some of the things that
Speaker 5: that he was doing if I could ever possibly possibly
Speaker 5: take on a role like that in my career someday.
Speaker 5: And and this guy just passed on so much wisdom
Speaker 5: to me, uh really on a daily basis, And I
Speaker 5: feel like I learned so much, remember on just how
Speaker 5: to respond to tough situations, how to communicate with you know,
Speaker 5: one hundred plus people on a daily basis, and uh,
Speaker 5: you know, obviously he deserves to be the manager of
Speaker 5: the year.
Speaker 6: As he is.
Speaker 2: Austin Hedges joining US Guardians catcher. Uh, awesome off season
Speaker 2: for you. We talk so much and maybe it's not
Speaker 2: fair and the impact you make on a team in
Speaker 2: the clubhouse, but I know we talked about this in
Speaker 2: spring training. You still want to get it done on
Speaker 2: the field. That's important and obviously a big key to
Speaker 2: coming back. What do you work on this offseason at
Speaker 2: this stage of your career to try and be the
Speaker 2: best you can be on the playing field.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I each off season tends to be a little
Speaker 5: bit different as you get a little bit older. It's
Speaker 5: just it's a little bit more about maintenance and really
Speaker 5: just staying healthy. But for me right now, I'm trying
Speaker 5: to I'm trying to come up with as many you know,
Speaker 5: you know, interesting ways to to enlighten the group, to
Speaker 5: to push even farther this this next season. Obviously, want
Speaker 5: to want to always get better at catching and then.
Speaker 6: And then it's always it's just really always about hitting
Speaker 6: for me. So Uh, you know, it hasn't.
Speaker 5: It hasn't gone as well as out of hope for
Speaker 5: my you know, year after year, but every years the
Speaker 5: new year, and despite my you know, lack of success
Speaker 5: on the offensive side, you just never know when when
Speaker 5: when that one year is gonna happen. And you know,
Speaker 5: as a thirty two year old, there's no reason that
Speaker 5: my thirty two year old season can't be my best
Speaker 5: offensive season. I feel like I have a good idea
Speaker 5: of what to do. I'm gonna be healthy, I'm going
Speaker 5: to hit every day and and work as hard as
Speaker 5: I can, and you know, I feel like it's it's
Speaker 5: it's so great for me to be in Cleveland because
Speaker 5: they know the value that I have if I don't hit,
Speaker 5: But if I do hit, then we got some we
Speaker 5: got some fun things.
Speaker 6: To work with.
Speaker 2: And on that defensive side, obviously, what you bring to
Speaker 2: the table is second to none. Coaching staff wise, it
Speaker 2: seems like all it is is catchers and how is that?
Speaker 4: How did that go? This season?
Speaker 2: Having so much experienced catching help on a daily basis,
Speaker 2: whether it's Sandy Alamark, Craig Albernez, Steven vote, how helpful
Speaker 2: was that? Not only for you, but but to help
Speaker 2: pass along some good things to bow Naylor as well.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean obviously they helped both so much and
Speaker 5: they helped me a ton too. Where catchers just see
Speaker 5: the game different catchers are, it's it's it's wired in
Speaker 5: you to watch everything and to pay attention to everything.
Speaker 5: You know, when you're playing the position, you're the only
Speaker 5: guy looking at everybody else in the field. Everybody else
Speaker 5: is looking at you for the most part, looking at
Speaker 5: the pitcher, looking at the catcher. So just the perspective
Speaker 5: that you have from playing, you even just without even
Speaker 5: really like consciously thinking about it, you subconsciously notice so
Speaker 5: many things and then and so it seems like all
Speaker 5: the coaches that our ex catchers just see.
Speaker 6: The game in that way. One of the.
Speaker 5: Biggest things is, uh is just the lessons that they
Speaker 5: can teach, the things that they notice on a daily
Speaker 5: basis and just remind you that you just you never
Speaker 5: have this game figured out everything. You're always learning and
Speaker 5: that's just such a cool thing that.
Speaker 6: You get to always keep learning.
Speaker 5: That doesn't ma matter if you've played a thousand games
Speaker 5: in your career, like you're.
Speaker 6: Gonna something new, is gonna happen.
Speaker 5: Something's gonna get brought up, You're gonna see something, and
Speaker 5: it's just gonna open your mind up to so many
Speaker 5: new possibilities for you know, how to win a ball
Speaker 5: game today. And all the guys in our clubhouse, you know,
Speaker 5: especially you know Voter and Albi and Sandy like they
Speaker 5: just they just want to win. And when when your
Speaker 5: culture is about caring about people and learning and winning,
Speaker 5: it just seems that good things happen.
Speaker 2: Austin Hedges joining us and he's back in the fold
Speaker 2: for twenty twenty five. Austin will close with us. The
Speaker 2: team so close to getting where they wanted to be
Speaker 2: this past season. U the prior season with Texas, you
Speaker 2: saw what a team can do to reach the World
Speaker 2: Series and then win the World Series. How fine a
Speaker 2: line is it? And what do you see in this
Speaker 2: team that that can maybe push them over that line
Speaker 2: to make that last step?
Speaker 5: You know, one of really the biggest difference was it
Speaker 5: was that that Texas team was such a veteran team
Speaker 5: with so many guys that had played so many big
Speaker 5: games before, and we just happened to have a group
Speaker 5: that that hadn't quite played that many big games you know,
Speaker 5: obviously in twenty two we had gone to the ALDS
Speaker 5: and then now now we got to the CS.
Speaker 6: And each time you you get to.
Speaker 5: A new you know, level, a new where you it's
Speaker 5: the wild card than the DS whatever. You kind of
Speaker 5: just that that roadmap for how to get to the
Speaker 5: World Series and win the World Series becomes clearer.
Speaker 6: And the stage that it's a big stage.
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, the two times that we've lost
Speaker 5: in the playoffs, you know, two out of the last
Speaker 5: three years been to the New York Yankees. That is
Speaker 5: a big Stage's let's just be honest, there's probably not a.
Speaker 6: Bigger more hostile environment in all of sports.
Speaker 5: You're playing at Yankee Stadium in the playoffs, that is
Speaker 5: that's the stage and really all of sports. And now
Speaker 5: we've been there and a lot of guys have been
Speaker 5: there twice now and so it's so clear that just
Speaker 5: the little things that we could have done better, but
Speaker 5: more importantly, we've noticed you know.
Speaker 6: That we can hang and that we can win.
Speaker 5: And when you when you truly believe that and feel
Speaker 5: that in experience it, then it just becomes so clear
Speaker 5: of how to do it. So tr Us going into
Speaker 5: this year, we know exactly what to do, and a
Speaker 5: lot of what that is is to do nothing different
Speaker 5: just to now we have the experience and we get
Speaker 5: to use that experience, and we also have some heartbreaking
Speaker 5: failures in those playoffs that we also get to use.
Speaker 5: And in my experience, it seems like failure teaches you a.
Speaker 6: Hell of a lot more than success.
Speaker 5: And this group just wasn't satisfied with making it to
Speaker 5: you know, the final four. Our our goal all year
Speaker 5: was to win the World Series, not just get there.
Speaker 5: And I feel like everybody knows how to get there
Speaker 5: this next year and then ultimately go win the whole thing.
Speaker 2: Well, it's great to have you back and a part
Speaker 2: of that effort to try and get it done in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five. Austin Hedges, congratulations on the new contract
Speaker 2: and thanks a lot for com bye.
Speaker 6: Appreciate it all right, Thank you, Robie.
Speaker 2: It's Guardians Catcher. Austin Hedges, stay tuned a lot more
Speaker 2: of Guardians weekly after this.
Speaker 6: Are you ready enough?
Speaker 7: Get up and count it down and sometimes and sometime
Speaker 7: we should make it down to us his family and
Speaker 7: so tund to be from the east to the west sunset, we.
Speaker 4: Are we are.
Speaker 7: In the sunset.
Speaker 1: Found on a beautiful summer night off the shores of
Speaker 1: Lake You these are the kind of nights you long
Speaker 1: for in the middle of a blizzard in mid January
Speaker 1: singing songs.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Guardians Weekly, Jim Rosenhouse along with you
Speaker 2: as we continue our hot Stove shows on what has
Speaker 2: been a very cold week. A little break here this
Speaker 2: weekend if you're in northeast Ohio, but man, it looks
Speaker 2: bad next week in terms of low temperatures and hard
Speaker 2: wind chills. But hopefully a little baseball talk on the
Speaker 2: radio gets you going. And we are welcoming in now.
Speaker 2: Bob di Biassio, Senior Vice President, to talk about the
Speaker 2: life and times of Rocky Colavito, who passed away at
Speaker 2: the age of ninety one this past December. What a
Speaker 2: career in the major leagues for colorbdo. Yes, he did
Speaker 2: spend some time with the Tigers. Controversial, of course, but
Speaker 2: one of the most beloved Cleveland Indians of his time,
Speaker 2: A player who was at the time one of only
Speaker 2: eight to hit four home runs in a game a
Speaker 2: win at Baltimore back in June of nineteen fifty nine.
Speaker 2: He had a whole season where he did not commit
Speaker 2: an error in the outfield. He exceeded twenty home runs
Speaker 2: in a season eleven consecutive years, topping the forty home
Speaker 2: run mark three times. One of the great players of
Speaker 2: his era. He was in the big leagues from nineteen
Speaker 2: fifty five to nineteen sixty eight. And we had a
Speaker 2: chance to catch up with Bob D. Biassio, who I
Speaker 2: think can speak for so many fans who enjoyed the
Speaker 2: career of Rocky Colavito. He was a big part of
Speaker 2: that too, and hopefully this interview with Bobby D can
Speaker 2: take you back to some good times and some great
Speaker 2: memories of one of the greats in franchise history.
Speaker 8: Well, happy New Year to you and yours, Rosie. You
Speaker 8: know my heart still aches at the passing of Rocky,
Speaker 8: a generational hero, childhood hero. My two older brothers, Danny
Speaker 8: and Tony, their childhood hero. One thing I can remember,
Speaker 8: I was only five when he was traded prior to
Speaker 8: the nineteen sixty season. But my older brother Danny six
Speaker 8: years older, Tony three years older, and my mom crying
Speaker 8: their eyes out, and I'm asking them what's wrong, and
Speaker 8: that Rocky was traded to the Detroit Tigers. So there's
Speaker 8: so many of us in our town that were connected
Speaker 8: to this generational hero and felt such a love affair
Speaker 8: with Rocky because he returned the adoration our fans gave
Speaker 8: him like no other player that I've dealt with. When
Speaker 8: you hear the stories and you hear Rocky talk. When
Speaker 8: we dedicated the statue down in Little Italy's Tony Brush
Speaker 8: Park on his eighty eighth birthday in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 8: that was August tenth, the outpouring of love for him
Speaker 8: was just remarkable And one of the reasons why I
Speaker 8: believe Rosie is a story that he would share that
Speaker 8: after a ballgame at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, if it wasn't
Speaker 8: the last game of a homestand and they were headed
Speaker 8: on a bus to get to the airport or wherever,
Speaker 8: Rocky would tell Carmen, his wife, give me two hours,
Speaker 8: and he would spend an hour talking to the media,
Speaker 8: dealing with the trainers, taking a shower, getting dressed. He
Speaker 8: was notoriously a slow guy after ballgames. His son would
Speaker 8: tell me that all the time, but that he would
Speaker 8: always take one hour and sign every autograph every person
Speaker 8: who waited around for him after a game, he signed autographs,
Speaker 8: he did sports bank, What's youth, sports bank, what's around town?
Speaker 9: With regularity.
Speaker 8: Again, the adoration that our fans showed Rocky, he reciprocated.
Speaker 8: And that's why he said, I'm thankful God chose me
Speaker 8: to play in Cleveland, and he truly meant it.
Speaker 2: And he played for some others, but he came back
Speaker 2: to Cleveland later on in his career. Who knows how
Speaker 2: it would have been had he not, But the fact
Speaker 2: that he was able to come back and the team
Speaker 2: was able to bring him back at least for some
Speaker 2: stretches later on in his career. What did that mean?
Speaker 2: The fans here.
Speaker 8: Gave Paul I think truly understood it. The franchise in
Speaker 8: the mid sixties floundering, just wasn't the club that it
Speaker 8: was in the late fifties. Looking for a power hitter
Speaker 8: and looking for a fan favorite, was able to reacquire Rocky,
Speaker 8: and although he only spent two and a half more
Speaker 8: seasons with the franchise before being traded to the White
Speaker 8: Sox in July of nineteen sixty seven, he did ignite
Speaker 8: a spark back into the franchise.
Speaker 9: He was that.
Speaker 8: Charismatic, such a dominant figure in the sports scene in Cleveland,
Speaker 8: and I think it was one of the smarter moves
Speaker 8: gave Paul ever made.
Speaker 2: When you look back at you mentioned traded prior to
Speaker 2: nineteen sixty. He's coming off a year in fifty nine
Speaker 2: forty two home runs, one hundred and eleven driven in
Speaker 2: MVP type numbers. He finished fourth in the voting, behind
Speaker 2: three members of the White Sox, so obviously had a
Speaker 2: big year in that fifty nine season. Nellie Fox wins
Speaker 2: the award, not even close to comparable numbers, But maybe
Speaker 2: it tells you the award has changed over the years
Speaker 2: in terms of what it means, and maybe it really
Speaker 2: did come down to the team that won that had
Speaker 2: to have the MVP back then.
Speaker 8: You know that's true, don't rightly know? Anytime you got
Speaker 8: into those kind of baseball conversations with Rocky, and I
Speaker 8: was so fortunate. You know, how often does a childhood
Speaker 8: idol become a dear friend, And I was so blessed
Speaker 8: that that truly happened in my life. And so you'd
Speaker 8: sit and you'd talk baseball with him, and he only
Speaker 8: had nothing but phenomenal things to say about Nellie Fox,
Speaker 8: he never got into the position. Well, I did this,
Speaker 8: and you know I should have been rewarded with that
Speaker 8: kind of award. That's not the kind of human being
Speaker 8: that Rocky was. Always had wonderful things to say about
Speaker 8: everybody who was a teammate and an opposing player, except
Speaker 8: for Frank Trader Lane, the GM who traded.
Speaker 9: Him to the Detroit Tigers.
Speaker 8: He had a real disdain for Frank Lane, that's for sure.
Speaker 2: Bobby Biassio joining s Guardians, Senior vice president of public Relations.
Speaker 2: Do I have that right, Bobby D?
Speaker 1: What is it?
Speaker 9: Yeah?
Speaker 8: Absolutely, whatever public Affairs, give me.
Speaker 9: Whatever title you need.
Speaker 2: Rosie Hey, we're talking life in times of Rocky Colavito
Speaker 2: born and raised in the Bronx and his tryout comes
Speaker 2: at Yankee Stadium and Cleveland signs him. Did you guys
Speaker 2: ever talk about that how that came about?
Speaker 8: Yes, obviously, he was a New York fan. He was
Speaker 8: a young man that wanted to be a baseball player,
Speaker 8: and he would put his father's combat boots on and
Speaker 8: the park down the street in which he played. He
Speaker 8: and his brothers would go to the ballpark and playing
Speaker 8: every day in the summer. But he would get into
Speaker 8: those combat boots and he'd run around the field with
Speaker 8: the ankle weights, as he called him, but they were
Speaker 8: combat boots, and he'd rigs risk weights back in the
Speaker 8: day to have build up his arm strength. And obviously
Speaker 8: not only was he a prolific home run hitter when
Speaker 8: he retired, Rosie I think the top four guys in
Speaker 8: front of him were all in the Hall of Fame
Speaker 8: and he didn't get there. So there's, like Kenny Lofton,
Speaker 8: in my opinion, the discussion of whether or not those
Speaker 8: two players should be in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 9: I don't know.
Speaker 8: My sentiment to both players emotionally thinks they're Hall of famers.
Speaker 8: The discussion should have lasted longer for both players, and
Speaker 8: Rocky would just work his tail off to become a
Speaker 8: prolific player. He had a phenomenal arm. There was a
Speaker 8: year where he did not commit an air in right field.
Speaker 8: His fielding percentage as a right field there was one thousand.
Speaker 8: Think about that, an er and throw, or you die
Speaker 8: for a ball and miss it and it's an air.
Speaker 8: Just a remarkably talented, powerful player with charisma, and again
Speaker 8: he says he's thankful God chose him to play in Cleveland. Well,
Speaker 8: Cleveland was thankful to God for having Rocky be a
Speaker 8: member of this organization.
Speaker 2: And a member of the franchise Hall of Fame win
Speaker 2: in back in two thousand and six. What do you
Speaker 2: remember about that day or weekend if maybe, if it's
Speaker 2: more appropriate, Yeah, well, it.
Speaker 8: Was surreal in one sense that here we have a
Speaker 8: ton of all Hall of famers on the field, and
Speaker 8: you know the way Rocky just cried his eyes out
Speaker 8: coming off the field when we also celebrated his eightieth
Speaker 8: birthday at the ballpark and Tito was around, and to
Speaker 8: see those two hug.
Speaker 9: And being Tito's office talking.
Speaker 8: Was one of the most remarkable things that I experienced.
Speaker 8: The love affair between those two gentlemen, you know, Rocky
Speaker 8: and Tito's father, Tito Senor was they were incredible friends,
Speaker 8: and Rocky was so proud of Tito Junior in his
Speaker 8: role in our franchise and the consistent, sustained winning culture
Speaker 8: that Tito helped create here during his eleven year tenure.
Speaker 8: There was nobody more proud of Tito.
Speaker 2: Than Rocky, And obviously that's a big part of his
Speaker 2: post playing career and willingness to stay around the ball
Speaker 2: club and not necessarily be involved, but at least follow it,
Speaker 2: and even to the end still followed the team as
Speaker 2: close as he could.
Speaker 8: Yeah, we talked probably once a month, if not a
Speaker 8: teeny bit more tiny bit more during the season than
Speaker 8: in the off season. Probably once a month in the offseason,
Speaker 8: just touch base and say hello. But during the season
Speaker 8: he knew all about out our ball club. He followed
Speaker 8: it religiously, either listening to you and Hammy, and congratulations
Speaker 8: to Hammy of course and his induction into the Hall
Speaker 8: of Fame. But he'd listen in any game that he
Speaker 8: could get on television, he'd watch and still a huge,
Speaker 8: huge fan of his baseball team.
Speaker 2: Well, great stuff, bobbyd is always your perspective, and I
Speaker 2: can't imagine how difficult it was to hear the news
Speaker 2: based on I mean, at your childhood guy. I mean
Speaker 2: we all had him and time March is on. But man,
Speaker 2: that's still a tough one.
Speaker 8: No, You're right, Rosie, it is. And as I said,
Speaker 8: I'm very blessed. But how often does somebody have a
Speaker 8: childhood hero become a dear, dear friend. And whenever I
Speaker 8: think a Rocky I'm not going to think about his passing.
Speaker 9: I'm going to think about all the joy he gave all.
Speaker 8: The baseball fans in the city of Cleveland as a generational.
Speaker 2: And while we have you, and we're joined by Guardian
Speaker 2: Senior Vice President Bopti Piacio.
Speaker 4: You alluded to it.
Speaker 2: Tom Hamilton will be going into the Baseball Hall of
Speaker 2: Fame next summer, the Ford Frick Award winner. You were
Speaker 2: here in the early days and oh yeah, can you
Speaker 2: think back to that time what allowed the job to
Speaker 2: open up? And then early impressions of someone that I
Speaker 2: don't think too many people knew much about.
Speaker 9: You know, It's funny.
Speaker 8: I always joke with people that when we got Hammy's
Speaker 8: resume where he talked about doing the four H Club
Speaker 8: on the farm in the farm area of Wisconsin and
Speaker 8: he would do play by play, you know, milk cowing.
Speaker 8: I don't even know if I have the phrase right,
Speaker 8: but at the State Fair doing all the play by
Speaker 8: play of people milking cows and doing all those sorts
Speaker 8: of things. We were like, he's got the unique set
Speaker 8: of skills to come and work for us in the
Speaker 8: in the eighties, in the late eighties, early nineties, and
Speaker 8: the way he just warmed to our town, how our
Speaker 8: fans warmed to his style, how he was able with
Speaker 8: Herbie to become an instant, wonderful duo. It's a foregone conclusion,
Speaker 8: right Rosie, in all of our minds that he was
Speaker 8: going to be the Ford Sea Frick Award winner at
Speaker 8: some point. I'm just glad it came now for him
Speaker 8: to enjoy and he'll be able to go do his
Speaker 8: thing coming up here in the spring with you and
Speaker 8: be able to shake hands with a lot of your colleagues.
Speaker 8: I know he's text with them and called. He had
Speaker 8: a lot of wonderful phone calls. But to you be
Speaker 8: able to connect face to face with all of those
Speaker 8: as you guys travel throughout the baseball season, I think
Speaker 8: is going to be a real treat for him. But
Speaker 8: we couldn't be more proud, more happy for he and
Speaker 8: Wendy and the family. Nobody more deserving than Hammy with
Speaker 8: the Ford Cea Frick Award.
Speaker 2: And you said you talked to him in the morning
Speaker 2: before the announcement and he was very confident that it
Speaker 2: would go his way.
Speaker 6: Right.
Speaker 9: No, of course not, you.
Speaker 8: Know, Handy, you know, he's like ah, Dwayne Kuiper Gary Collin.
Speaker 8: You know, you know, as he said in his interviews,
Speaker 8: you know, I'm lasht on that list.
Speaker 9: I'm not getting it. I was like, yeah, you are.
Speaker 9: I'm feeling confident that you're You're in.
Speaker 8: And then we talked at length, I don't know about
Speaker 8: ten ten thirty that night, after he had answered like
Speaker 8: five hundred text whatever, he was sifting through and all
Speaker 8: the phone calls and having a few libations with you
Speaker 8: and Curtis at his house, you know, and having a blast.
Speaker 8: Couldn't be more proud, couldn't be more happy. And we're
Speaker 8: going to have a party in Cooperstown in July.
Speaker 2: Amen to that. Bobby D thanks a lot for coming by.
Speaker 2: Always great to talk to you. Happy New Year and
Speaker 2: we'll catch up with you, I'm sure real soon.
Speaker 8: Happy New Year to you, Rosie, to you and yours.
Speaker 8: Thank you, buddy.
Speaker 2: That's Guardian Senior Vice President Bobby Biassio. Stay tuned Guardian's
Speaker 2: weekly continues After this time.
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Speaker 2: Welcome back to Guardian's Weekly. Jim Rosenhouse back with you
Speaker 2: for our final segment on this week's show. Great to
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Speaker 2: until next week. For my good buddy Brian Matze who
Speaker 2: always does a great job putting together our show each week.
Speaker 2: This is Jim Rosenhouse reminding you that you've been listening
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Speaker 6: Yeah.