The Book of Joe: Bring on the September Energy!

Hosts Joe Maddon and Tom Verducci start with the energy of September putting life into the final stretch.  The Yankees have a losing record against winning teams and the upcoming schedule will challenge them.  We move to the Phillies and an amazing comeback victory on Labor Day.  Joe notes the chemistry of their lineup.  Trea Turner's defense has improved and we look at the rest of the season for Philly.  Tom was amused by the story of a search for a Ferrari once owned by Michael Jordan. What is Joe's all-time favorite dream car?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
The Book of Joe podcast is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hey Daron, Welcome back to the Book of Joe podcast.
As we enter the month of September, the sixth month
of the baseball season, I can't believe it's here already,

(00:24):
Joe Badden, but here we are.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
I was thinking about it yesterday. I was driving with
a friend and somebody you know, brought up that was September, right,
and it is September, and it reminded me how quickly
the baseball season goes. When it gets going great, training
is like it's like a trying to start a cranky vehicle,
or it just doesn't want to go. And then all
of a sudden, you get to April and here you go,
and you have days off and it rainy, and you

(00:48):
just really it's hard to gain traction and get into
any kind of a vibe. And then all of a sudden,
here comes June July all Star break. And then after
the All Star break, man, it gets quick. And then
we've talked about it earlier to you and I may have,
and I the thing I used to tell my players
all the time. Tomino had mentioned to the press that
September provides its own energy. So the trick of the

(01:09):
key is to get to September, where they say playing
meaningful games in September, which there's there's a truth to that,
because when you do do that, you're no longer fatigued.
For whatever reason, the dog days of August, appropriately named,
are no longer there, and now September just says, here,
have some energy because you're in it. You deserve this,

(01:29):
and it's just weird how that plays out. And this
was my favorite time here as a manager because of that.
The get Chris Pier. We were talking about how the
weather's changed already, and it's just you come to the
ballpark and it's just a different you know, the sun's
a little bit different shade, it's a little bit more
yellow than bright, and it's.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
Just it was my favorite time of the year always
in baseball.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
Well, speaking of a slow cranking starts, I actually should
formally introduce myself, which I think I skipped this time.
Of course, I'm Tom Verducci and Joe. We can always
talk about what you want to talk about, and I
want to know what's on your mind. But I want
to get to a couple of things. The Philadelphia Phillies
the New York Yankees, and I've got a story about
Michael Jordan I want to share with you. And I

(02:09):
know this is sort of right up your alley, but
let me start with the Yankees, okay, because the Yankees
are starting September here with a losing record against winning teams,
and I don't need to see them play anymore against
the Nationals and the White Sox and the lesser teams
in Major League Baseball. It hit a gazillion home runs,
and finally the schedule is going to give us a

(02:29):
run here, Joe, where they're going to see the Astros,
the Blue Jays, the Tigers, and the Red Sox twelve
straight to warm up for the October festival that's come
in our way. Tell me what you think in the
Yankees here, Joe, because we know that they can beat
the really bad teams, especially when they get into some
four pitching. But how they measure up against the really

(02:50):
good teams, which they have not done well so far
this year. We will have a really good idea of
that the next week and a half.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Well, I think you nailed that. They're just in a
description without actually saying it. The weaker teams, the lesser
pitching staffs because they're primarily built on the home run,
as we.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
Know, and they hit a lot of them.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
And I've got to watch them some nights and it's like,
was it nine recently? In one game they really played
at the level of their pitching competition, I think. And
that's a big reason why they have done better against
less Dan and not so good against those teams that
have better than five hundred just based on normally that's
based on pitching and beyond that.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
Listen, I did not beat.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
A dead horse when they're done, and they're not a
dead horse by any means. But if watched them play fundamentally,
it's not good. I mean, the brand of baseball is
not good. Eno'll talk about the metrics. With their defense,
it's better than you think it's not. I mean, I
see so many lazy mistakes on their defense, not their otfield.
Now their all field plays pretty firm. It's probably primarily
in the Inphil mcmaon has done a really good job.

(03:49):
I've kind of given them some kind of a cornerstone
at third. When Rice plays at first, he says he's in.
I love the guy's back, but he's just a less
Dan average feel their Goldsmith. You know, he's just older,
I mean, and he needs time off and he might
he might feel that September energy. Over All, their pitching
staff just has been what is the kid's name, Schuittler, right.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
I love his art, Splitler.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
You love his arm, He's like a young glass now.
I love the way he throws the baseball. Hel is
going to have to make this comeback. Rodin's good, I mean,
but overall their bullpen, I know they got great names,
but they're too inconsistent. There's nothing, there's nothing consistent about them.
So to just think that they're going to get to
now and all of a sudden, like flip the proverbial switch,
and all of a sudden be better than they had

(04:30):
been against these better teams, I don't see it.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
I don't see it. So I think they'll continue along
the same patterns.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
And Toronto's failing a little bit right now, so that's
going to help them. The Red Sox are not, which
is not going to help them. So I think you're
going to continue to see what we've been seeing. There's
no reason to believe that all of a sudden they're
going to start beating better teams.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
I agree with you on the Yankees, Joe, hundred percent.
And it is pretty simple to me. I'll put it
to you this way. In an average game, Yankees hitters
are going to take sixty nine swings. If two of
those swings produce home runs, the Yankees win seventy percent
of the time. Okay, if the Yankees hit one or
no home runs, their winning percentage is only four to forty.

(05:08):
They're losing team. But upon hitting a second home run,
the Yankees winning percentage is seventy percent. So if you
get sixty nine chances to hit two or more home runs,
what are you going to do? You're going to put
your a swing on everything. And that a swing for
the Yankees. And now we can measure these things metrically.
Is on a more upward path to the baseball. It's measurable.

(05:30):
The Yankees launch angle, their attack angle to the baseball
is greater this year. In fact, they have the greatest
flyball increase rate in Major League Baseball. The top four
teams by the way and hitting fly balls are all
in playoff position. It's the Dodgers, the Yankees, the Cubs,
the Tigers. And that's the way the Yankees play baseball. Yes,
they're going to kick the ball around a little bit.

(05:51):
You know, they're a better base running team lately since
they added Jose Cabaliro. But I you know, they don't
have to play clean baseball as long as they hit
home runs. Now, if they don't hit home runs, as
I mentioned, the losing team, if they don't hit more
than one home run, because they only have one path
to me to win the World Series, and that is
to hit home runs. Milwaukee Brewers, they actually hit the

(06:13):
fewest fly balls in Major League Baseball. They're zigging when
everybody else is zagging. Now they have more ways to
win a ball game. They could beat you with defense,
they could beat you with base running. They can string
hits together. The bullpen's pretty good. Starting pitching's got some
swing and miss and certainly some velocity, so they can
find different paths to a victory. Yankees have one path.
They have to hit home runs. But they do that

(06:34):
so well. Joe and I look at a guy like
Jazz Chisholm to me perfect example of how the Yankees
teach their swing mechanics. Get the ball in the air
to the polls side. He was a ground ball hitter
before he was traded to the Yankees. He's become an
extreme flyball hitter, with a greater attack angle to the
baseball and even his attack direction, which means he's more

(06:56):
pole oriented rather than middle of the field. He was
more of a neutral hitter up and down the line
of Austin Wells, Paul Goldschmidt, Bellinger, Anthony Volpi, Ryan McMahon.
All these hitters have increased the number of fly balls
that they hit. This is the way the New York
Yankees play baseball. I don't know if it can beat
good pitching enough, but that's their path to win. And

(07:20):
we shouldn't really complain too much. But because the Yankees
are not a good team in terms of striking out
or runners in scoring position, all those numbers are down
from last year. But you know, in the newspaper business,
we used to carry around a lot of white out, right,
used to use typewriters and type things out. When you
made a mistake, you used white out. That white out
is a home run ball for the New York Yankees.
That's how they live and maybe they die that way.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
Let me ask you this, do you haven't broken down
like home and away with them too?

Speaker 2 (07:44):
Regarding their home runs. And you know, is there a
higher percentage at home than there is on a road
for them?

Speaker 1 (07:48):
You have to look that up. I do know that
someone like Jazz Chisholm as Taylor is swimming perfectly and
his road numbers are actually horrible. He's got very big
home road splits.

Speaker 2 (07:59):
Yeah, I just I just watched them, you know, And
I always listen to the announcers. They always defend the
fact at the big the middle of the ballpark defends
the stadium well, and it's more of a neutral hitting
ballpark based on overall numbers because of either ball or
left center or center, it's harder to get it out
of there. Okay, I get that, But for the most
I watched them a lot.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
Man.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
I'll tell you there's not only the poll ball, but
we've talked about it with you before. The OPO fly
ball home run for the right handed hitters. I mean,
if I'm a right handed hitter, and I still have
seen this a lot. Everybody seems to be teaching to
lift the fly ball to the opposite field. Also, I
know I've seen in my mind's eye at least more
home runs to the opposite field on the fly ball,
So listen, they do hit home runs. Grisham has really

(08:41):
adopted a different swing in a swing path, and it's
all he's trying to do is put the.

Speaker 3 (08:45):
Ball in the air.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
And he has Bellinger better. Bellinger's still more complete. He'll
still flip it when he has to take his base hit.
I've even seen Volpi hit the ball to right field out,
of course, as he's stanton judge. All these guys hit
the ball to right field out. So yes, they have
the more home runs. And I don't know how the
overarching statistics break down, but the ballpark does help them,

(09:05):
there's no question. So it's a combination of who they're
playing and where, and then, of course, as we just
talked about earlier, the pitching staff, so they're facing good
pitching staffs. I'm still curious. I don't like the way
they play, but what you're saying is absolutely correct. That
may not, you know, from my esthetically, it might not
be what I'm looking what I'm looking for, I do
much prefer the Brewers method of playing baseball. But then

(09:29):
just put them in a neutral ballpark, a neutral site
where pitching and hitting are more neutral, like even even
Steven and now their claim in the Yankee stadium is,
I don't see it, man, because the ball's in here
to right field, it's a homer.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
This may surprise you. The Yankee slugging percentage at home
and on the road is exactly the same. Okay, so
they actually number one in roads slugging percentage, number five
in home slug percentage. So you know, the way they
play baseball plays. I mean in the month of August
they went sixteen and twelve with fifty nine home runs.
Only one team in baseball history ever hit more home

(10:03):
runs in August. Thirty two teams if fifty home runs
in the month of August. These Yankees, the twenty five
Yankees had the fewest hits to go along with fifty
plus home runs in August. They're gonna leave guys on base.
But again, you know, two or three swings, and Bellinger
has gotten on the plate more. He got his pull
side air back this year, which he hadn't had since

(10:23):
probably twenty nineteen. I think the ballpark had a lot
to do with that. You saw that with Juan Soto
last year getting the ball to the pole side in
the air. More and the Yankees love and you mentioned
this Joe. Right handed hitters especially who let the ball
travel and take fast balls out the other way. Nobody
better than Aaron Judge in that regard. So I do
think the Yankees are dangerous because of the home run ball.

(10:44):
I've been saying all along that you need to hit
home runs in the postseason, you really do. They're just
the rallies just don't come often enough when you narrow
down the rotations and the bullpen usage and you're seeing
high leverage guys all the time. That being said, you
know Game five of the World Series last year, the
Yankees hit three home runs and lost because they kicked
the ball around in the field.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
The the Darryla Monica Oakland Raiders of years gone by,
they're always he was always throwing for the home run,
and the Yankees always trying to hit the home run.
So uh it plays I get the three pointer and basketball.
These days, every sport is just looking for that that
power position to score quickly. Baseball the one swing of

(11:26):
the bat. We've seen the first and second place hitters
in baseball lineups totally different from what we had grown
up with, the on bass guy and the guy that
moves them over for the three, four, five hitters.

Speaker 3 (11:35):
That doesn't occur anymore.

Speaker 2 (11:37):
So a lot of this stuff fashion ang and you know,
I was definitely into it with the old Angels. I
loved hitting Jimmy Edmunds second back in the day when
when that all became more appropriate to do, big guys
in the leadoff spot, to just shock the other team system.
It's all part, it's all part of it. But I
still love, I guess my sensibilities. Still love to see
the game being how I perceived the game to be

(11:59):
played properly and well and so okay, maybe maybe it is.

Speaker 3 (12:02):
Becoming a dinosaur.

Speaker 2 (12:04):
I don't like to root against anybody, and I don't
I just the matter that I'd prefer, just, I guess,
just because to see a team that really plays a
more complete game, be the winning team as opposed to
win that's more heavy sided and just throwing throwing the
bomb all the time down the middle, to blitting the
coffin who was the other wide receiver there was it,
Well the little guy for the raider, branch, Cliff branch,

(12:26):
thank you very much, branch deep sideline and go touchdown.

Speaker 1 (12:31):
Yeah, well put it this way. Last five years, the
Dodgers have led major League Baseball in hitting flyballs. This
is what plays, and I'm with you. I love the
better all around game, and we're getting closer to that game.
I would say, little by little, I think we are
getting there.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
Joe.

Speaker 1 (12:45):
I think that you know the guy who puts the
ball in play. I still think you need a few
of those guys. But just looking at the Yankees here, Joe,
I do think this is being taught and it's certainly
being emphasized. They've gone from sixteenth last year in flyball
percentage to second this year. They went from twenty sixth
and average launch angle last year to fifth in baseball

(13:07):
this year. So it is about I don't know how
you feel about teaching hitting, but you know we can
teach this attack angle here. What did Ted Williams say?
What was the perfect angle?

Speaker 3 (13:17):
Like?

Speaker 1 (13:17):
Ten degrees? Is the something along between five and ten
the average attack angle to a baseball's ten degrees? I
think Yankees got guys like Chisholm and Judge. These guys
are fifteen sixteen percent. I mean, they're well above major
league average. They're trying to hit the bottom third of
the baseball. Watch Judge, by the way, when before he
takes a swing and he's taking his practice swings. Just
look at the angle he's practicing. I mean, he's coming

(13:40):
up well on the ball, and I get it. I mean,
is Aaron Judge He's going to hit fifty sixty home
runs a year? But I think up and down the lineup,
and I know Grisham has talked about this. When you
play with Aaron Judge, with the play with John Carlos Stanton,
who by the way, also has changed his swing career
low percentage of ground ball's career high in fly balls,
then your guy like Grisham, and you're starting to put

(14:00):
your a swing all the time in terms of trying
to get the ball airborne to the poll side.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
If you did any research regarding big market versus media
market or small market teams and regarding fly balls, and
you know the home runs and how they're able to
build their offense. I'm just curious because the teams, like
we're talking about the Yankees, a Dodgers, they could afford
and they get who they want primarily. Were the other
teams maybe not so much because they don't payroll maybe
not so high. They're unable to keep guys or attract

(14:28):
guys to begin with their free agent wise, you know
the better players quite frankly, the money guys, the guys that.

Speaker 3 (14:34):
You pay more money for. So I'm just curious.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
Do you have any understanding of does big market baseball
play more fly ball baseball than small market baseball?

Speaker 1 (14:41):
Well, in general, I think you're right. I mentioned the
top four flyball teams the Dodgers, Yankees, Tigers, Cubs. I
would say those are bigger markets, right, And I think
in general, power is going to cost you more money.
Of course, there's no question about it. And a lot
of these markets are limited in what they can spend
in terms of how many guys they can get there
who are potential thirty home run guys. I mean, Yankees

(15:04):
up with five to six seven of those guys, right,
but they can't afford it. So I think you're onto
something there, Joe. I think there is something to that.
The other thing I look at is the Yankees absolutely
destroy fastballs. Now, they don't chase a lot their whole game,
And again this starts with Judge is predicated on getting
pitchers in the zone and hunting fastballs, and when they

(15:24):
get them, they're gonna put their a swing on it.
They don't chase a lot. So if you get behind
the Yankees and have to come in with fastballs, and
I know there's no such thing as a fastball count
these days, but in general, the Yankees destroy fastballs. Trent Grisham,
Ben Rice. They have the same profile, Joe. If I'm
scouting them, I'm not throwing them fastballs. They don't hit spin,
they don't hit off speed. Almost all their power is

(15:46):
on fastballs. But the Yankees are able to leverage counts,
or at least hunt fast balls early to get their
damage done. I think if you're playing the Yankees, you
have to sink the ball and you have to deaden
the ball. You cannot beat them with velocity.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
Well, the fastball first thought has always been there. I
mean even as a young hitting coach, that's everything played
off the fastball, and you want it. Your guys does
use the word hunt. That was my word hunt the
fastball first hunt and hunt areas you know, like if
you like the ball and middle in middle, in up whatever,
in new situations, that's what you hunt. Some guys do
like the ball over the play more out over the plate,

(16:21):
somewhat up to.

Speaker 3 (16:22):
Drive the ball.

Speaker 2 (16:22):
The opposite field, but you hunt your area and you're
always looking fastball first. That's how I predicated all my
teachings is to do that. And then then it comes
down to, like you've talked about the organized strikes and
we just don't chase out.

Speaker 3 (16:35):
Of that zone. And finally, with all of that, it's like, when.

Speaker 2 (16:38):
You see your pitch, whatever that may be, if that's
that fastball you've been hunting, you have to hit it
hard and keep it fair. That's where guys become really good.
Really good hitters don't fell off their pitch. So that
goes way back and got even into batting practice with
guys would hit balls well hard and hit them foul.
I would get upset. I said, no, no, you got to
keep that ball fair. If that's the pitch that you like,

(16:58):
you hit it hard like you did, but it must
be kept fair. That was another part about batting practice.
I was really big on and on and on about that.
But it's always been about fastball first. And then something
that regarding that. We've talked about this in the past,
and I think you brought it to my attention first
several years ago, is that more spin in the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (17:16):
I remember the Cubs struggled.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
We win the World Series, but then I think after
that might even have been before that with the fifteen
but we had guys struggle more when it got to
the end of the year and in the playoffs because
we saw more spin than we had during the regular season.
So I mean, obviously that could be part of all
of this moving forward to again, it's just this cat
and mouse. That's the information game, and then of course
it becomes don down to the execution game, where guys,

(17:40):
even though they have really good plans and thoughts and ideas,
if you have to be able to fulfill them and
be able to throw that pitch where you want to
when you want to, which really should be It is
the definition of a major league pitcher to throw his
fastball for a strike where he wants to and when
he wants to. That should be a major league pitcher.
So yes, this goes back and forth. So I be

(18:01):
once we get to that time of the year, I'll
be curiously watching, and I know you'll be all over
it if there is more spin versus a team like
the Yankees or anybody in general as opposed to the
regular season.

Speaker 1 (18:11):
All right, Joe, I gonna ask you to do something
I know you would never do as a manager, and
that is to look twelve games down the road. Okay,
if you're say you're Aaron Boone and at the end
of this twelve game stretch against the Astros, the Blue Jays,
the Tigers, and the Red Sox, what would you sign
up for? Is six and six enough against that gauntlet?

Speaker 3 (18:32):
No, I have to take it.

Speaker 2 (18:33):
I guess I would have to take it. But I'd
prefer what eight and four? Right, six and six? I'd
prefer something like that. You're looking for somewhere in that
general vicinity you want to win, Okay, First of all,
you want to win series. Yes, the bottom line would
be to come out five hundred. Yes, that would be
the bottom line, but of course you're gonna shoot for
higher than that. For me, it's always about at this
time of the year, I'm talking about one game series.

Speaker 3 (18:54):
Win tonight's game. That's something I always preached back in
the day.

Speaker 2 (18:57):
I read about Rogers Hornsby when he was the manager
of the Cardinals in nineteen twenty five or twenty six,
and his matra every day was to win tonight's game
or win today's game. Not a bad way to think
about it. It really isn't because even if you do
win tonight and then here comes tomorrow, and all of
a sudden, you get all full of yourself, and because
you come to the ballparking you're all like, you know,
you're kind of high about yesterday's win, and then all

(19:18):
of a sudden, you get your butt kicked that night
and then your back to where he had begun the
night before that not knowing a win tonight's game one
game winning streaks. Yes, at the end of the time,
I would bet five hundred. Again, it just like it sounds,
probably not going to move the needle, and they'll probably
be almost in the same spot that they're in, which
is not a bad thing.

Speaker 3 (19:38):
But my goal would be to win each series.

Speaker 2 (19:42):
And if you win each series, you're gonna look at
the end of that and it's gonna taste pretty good.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
Well, you know, Joe, this time of year, some wins
seem bigger than others. And the other day the Philadelphia
Phillies had one of those wins, and we're going to
talk about that right after this on the Book of Joe.

(20:09):
Welcome back to the Book of Joe podcasts. Joe, I'm
not sure if you saw it. The Philadelphia Phillies. They
play Sunday night at home and then they play the
next afternoon in Milwaukee. They got into Milwaukee at one
am for a day game on Labor Day and they
fall behind Ford to nothing.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
And guess what.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
The Philadelphia Phillies won that game. They came back on
the Brewers' bullpen. That showed me a lot. Not that
the Phillies have to prove anything. We know they're, you know,
other than the Dodgers. I think they're the most experienced
team in baseball. We know they're a good team. They're
probably going to win the NL East. I get all that,
but man, that was impressive, Joe. You know what it's like.

(20:49):
Sometimes it's easy just to give in to the moment,
the travel, the deficit, you're playing a good team, you know,
to see the Phillies respond like that, and again, they
don't have to prove anything. But I found that to
be really impressive.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
Yeah, they're buch of tough guys. I I do appreciate
them when I watch them. They got the correct veterans.
They play the game hard and well and properly. They
are never out of it. And on that particular day
you're talking about, Brendan marsh Ruthy came up big for them,
and I was really happy for him.

Speaker 3 (21:17):
But that's that's who they are. I mean, I think
you know, that's.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
That's the love affair between that particular group and the
city right now, because they identify with one another so well.

Speaker 3 (21:26):
They do represent.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
Philadelphian in Philadelphia's within them, So it's it's not shocking,
it's not surprising. I watched their games and their the
pregame show where sometimes but Ricky Botallico might get a
little bit edgy with them, and I can't remember the
host's name. But then there's a lot going on there
every day, man, between pregame shows, radio shows, and then
you got your online stuff and whatever. It's just it

(21:50):
just keeps piling on. And these guys are really thick skinned,
and that's what I really.

Speaker 3 (21:55):
Like about it. And so are their alumni.

Speaker 2 (21:57):
So Philadelphia is Philadelphia, man, and it's not for the
for the faint of heart, regardless of what you do.
So not shocking, not surprising. My biggest question is who
schedules that kind of a situation where the night game
in a day game the next day it's very difficult
when you have to go on.

Speaker 3 (22:16):
The road to do that.

Speaker 1 (22:16):
Yeah, hey, listen, this is not a second guess here.
My first call the trade deadline. I thought one of
the most under the radar moves good moves, was Harrison
Bader picked up by the Philadelphia Phillies. You know, they
needed a right handed stick in the outfield, they needed
to improve their outfield defense. And man, as he done
that even better than advertised. Twenty six games with the Phillies,
He's hitting three thirteen, three eighty five on base percentage,

(22:39):
slug is almost at five hundred. This guy's playing such
good baseball, Joe, that Rob Thompson is essentially turning him
into an everyday player. I mean there's times now where
the Phillies outfield is Bader, Kepler, and marsh and that
means that Castillanos is sometimes, you know, once every four
or five games, is not in the starting lineup. And
I'm sure it's not an easy decision when you've got

(23:01):
a veteran like Castianos, but Rob Thompson's got to make
that call. And I think the Phillies are much better
defensively and even offensively the way that beater is going.
I'm not sure if you had a situation like that, Joe,
But this time of year, you understand it's urgency and
it's about hot hands.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
Exactly, and you can't cater to anybody right now.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
They're earlier in the year. You're going to give certain
people more of an opportunity. It's the same thing in
the minor leagues. I mean, even when I'm in the
minor leagues. It got to August, which was the last month,
and August I told all the managers, you play to
win right now. Up to that point, you do all
your decisions are based on development, and then after you
get to August, make all your decisions based on winning.

Speaker 3 (23:39):
Because I really.

Speaker 2 (23:40):
Thought that winning was a part of development. I'll argue
that with anybody. You just keep using the word the
d word development constantly. These guys don't really know how
to win, and I want I want players that know
how to win, and when they show up on a
nightly basis, they believe they are going to win. Bater
equals attitude. So I'm in Saint Louis. He's one of
those guys. I think sometimes from a distance you may
not like so much. But if he's with you.

Speaker 3 (24:01):
You like him a lot, and you know he's got
he has.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
A tendency to get like like smoking hot, and then
he can go. He could disappear for a bit, but
I think as adrenaline is really right and high right now,
and it's all go, go, go. So he's the right
guy to put out there. He does play good defense,
but there's an attitude about him. There's a lot of
energy about him. I don't know him at all, but
these are my observations from a distance. Now, Nicky, if

(24:25):
you have two lefties out there, and listen, Nicky's gonna chase.

Speaker 3 (24:28):
And if you can put.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
Marsh and Kepler out there, and you know, if the
matchups are right, there's no reason to run away from that.
And that's that's just a conversation with nick That's all
it is. Listen, in the past, it might not have
looked this way, but right now we have this. I
don't want he's the word glut, but we're we're blessed
to have all these really good outfielders.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
And we have a ying and yangling on right now,
left and right.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
So it's appropriate, it's the right thing to do, and
it's a conversation and everybody always talks about winning and
team and all this other kind of stuff, and then
you have an opportunity to put your your money where
your mouth is, or your attitude where your mouth is,
and you have to accept this because it is better
for the group.

Speaker 1 (25:05):
I want to ask you about Trade Turner. He's playing
some great baseball. He leads to the National League and hits,
he's running again. But the biggest thing to me Joe
is the way he's playing defense. There was a period
there last year where I thought, you know, maybe they
have to start thinking about where his future is. Maybe
it's in the outfield. A good enough athlete. We've actually
seen him out there before, but I thought his defense

(25:28):
at shortstop really was getting to the point where he's
concerning where his future would be. And you watch him
play this year, and I'm not seeing that. I'm seeing
a guy who's improved defensively. The metrics show that, although
I always caution people, you can't really put a lot
of faith in metrics. I mean, one metric you look
at Bobby Whitt Junior as the second best shortstop in
the major leagues, and another metric he's below average. So

(25:51):
depending on your metric, of choice. You can find whatever
you want, but just to the eye tests and some
of the defensive metrics, he is very much improved now.
He did spend a lot of time in spring training
with Bobby Dickerson, their infield and director, to really concentrate
on improving on defense. His range is certainly better. I'd
never thought he was a great hands guy at shortstop.

(26:13):
Obviously a great athlete, but he's playing the heck out
of that position. And I'm wondering, Joe, if this is
something that you've come across a lot in the game
where someone can make you know, not just an incremental improvement,
but major strides defensively, especially at such a key position
on the defensive spectrum.

Speaker 2 (26:32):
Well, my first question would be, was he injured at all?
That he was, he's just hiding anything within the last
year or so that you're aware of.

Speaker 3 (26:38):
Anybody's a work.

Speaker 1 (26:39):
Yeah, I'm not sure about that. He may have had
to be banged up a little bit along the way,
but I'm not sure if anything major.

Speaker 2 (26:47):
That's It almost sounds like to me something was bothering
him that's not bothering him anymore.

Speaker 3 (26:51):
That'd be the first place that.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
Would look because if he's always he's been freed up
if you're seeing movement better laterally. The other thing would
be throwing accuracy. I watched him play a lot. I've
seen him play really good. I've seen great ranged both ways,
especially to his left.

Speaker 3 (27:05):
He really can go up the middle and the arm.

Speaker 2 (27:07):
The arm has been strong and accurate from what I've
seen more recently.

Speaker 3 (27:10):
So that's the first place I.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
Would look is that if somebody like him, you know,
established kind of a guy, look like he was on
the decline and all of a sudden it's not.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
Sometimes they do withhold.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
They do withhold what's going on with them, and then
all of a sudden it might be revealed down the road,
well he was actually nursing this and never really nobody
ever really talked about it. But it's unusual, like as
a guy gets older to say that he's actually going
to get better at certain things like that. It probably
doesn't occur. That's just not the way it works outside
of injury. And that's what I always ask about, because
when the guy's getting older.

Speaker 3 (27:41):
Okay, that things should decline.

Speaker 2 (27:43):
And if then my next question is is he well
or is he coming off of something?

Speaker 3 (27:48):
And if he is, just be patient with it. But
if he's.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
Well and he's getting older normally, it's like you're not
gonna you don't expect things to actually get better.

Speaker 3 (27:56):
So that'd be my biggest thing. I'm biggest thing with him.
But I'm a fan. I've always been a fan of
this guy.

Speaker 2 (27:59):
I love the way he's like, you know, Paul Malotar,
the version that Gene Mok used to describe Paul. He said,
Paul Molataur Molotaar looked like a run as he walked
up to home plate. I mean, I think when you know,
when Trey Turner's going well, he looks like a run.
He looks like a point every time he walks up there.
He's got His speed is so easy. It's easy speed.
He glides and of course his signature slide in the

(28:21):
home plate. I just like him as a baseball player.
I think he does everything well. He's got some pop.
You got to just winny kind of a way about him,
and I'll pay more attention. But I would bet that
there might have been something bothering him that's no longer
bothering him.

Speaker 1 (28:33):
And another one of your favorites, I know, mister Kyle Schwarber,
with a four home run game, Joan, I'm watching that game,
and I see that he's getting a fifth at bat,
the rare opportunity to try for a fifth home run. Obviously,
no one's hit five in a game. There's been few
opportunities where you get that fifth at bat to even
have a shot at it. And then I see it
vidalbo Duhan. The infielder is on the mound and Joe.

(28:56):
I hate to say it, but I was rooting against him.
I did not want to see a fifth home run
with that sort of invisible asteris attached to it by
hitting it off an infielder. I was glad that he
popped up. It's no offense to Kylle Schwarberg, but it's
just not the same to hit a fifth home run
off an infielder as opposed to an actual major league pitcher.

Speaker 3 (29:16):
I've seen it. I've seen it. I've seen KB.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
I think KBA might have hit four home runs. I'm
not sure I think he did. And the last kid,
that's Chris Bryan against a picture. When all that happens
and the celebration still continue, but it's like, come on,
there's something tainted about it.

Speaker 3 (29:30):
I don't disagree with that. It's not going to be
logged that way.

Speaker 2 (29:33):
And like you said, down the road, if he had
hit his fifth, it would have been his fifth and
you know, ten years from now or five years, it
would just be about Shrob hit five home runs in
a game, and nobody's even going to talk about the
fact to the last one was hit against the position player.

Speaker 3 (29:45):
It's part of the game. The way it works. I've
done it.

Speaker 2 (29:48):
You get to the point where you have to save
your pitchers for the next day. It's just the way
the thing works. And then and then you get blenty
of some of your better guys sitting against guys like that.
I don't blame Sharp's were going for it. I mean
it's something to put on his resume. Doesn't count, of
course it does his account. No, it doesn't.

Speaker 1 (30:04):
That's a good way to put it. Yes, it would
go in the record right, but again I think it
would be diminished historically. I don't think people would accept
it fully accept it that way. But you mentioned Joe,
it is a part of this game. We see it
more and more having position players on the mound. We
see it now even with teams up by more than
eight runs, just to save pitching. I don't like it,
but I will say, Joe, I don't think there's an alternative.

(30:27):
You can't have a mercy rule. You know, some of
the people are in the ballpark going to their only
game that year. They're having a good time. You can't
tell these people to go home game over right. I
just don't think there's a workaround to it. It's just
I think it's an uglier side of the game that
we just have to live with.

Speaker 3 (30:43):
Agreed. I mean we hate it. I mean I hate it.

Speaker 2 (30:46):
As a manager, I hate putting out good pitching in
a horrible situation like that. It's offensive to my sensibilities.
It's almost like, also, like this came up the other night.
Somebody was pitching and they're getting their butt kicked early on,
and all of a sudden the game became lopsided. And
the part I hated about that that then you're asking
your players to play a legitimate major league game when

(31:07):
they're down so heavily, and the mental component of that's very,
very taxing. In today's world, there's only a couple bench
guys normally, and so you really can't get guys off
of their feet, which is always a big thing, and
so it's one of the things I used to like
about the September call ups more than anything was the
fact that because we were in it often that in
a bad game, or even in a good game, I

(31:28):
could get some guys off of their feet. But I
would really be aware of that as a manager. I'm
talking a regular season game. It starts going bad early.
When do you pull the trigger and get that guy
out of there? You're trying to save your bullpen, but
at some and that's probably.

Speaker 3 (31:41):
The more important component to it.

Speaker 2 (31:43):
But then again, you got your guys out there just
frying on a hot day, and the game's really hard
to get into, and they're just going to get out
there and just become fatigued without any real shot at
coming back. That would bother me, and that would think
about it. I hate it to waste good pitching in
a bad game.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
Hated it.

Speaker 1 (31:59):
Tell me where you're at on the Philadelphia Phillies, Joe,
they have four more games remaining with the New York Mets. Uh,
those are in Philadelphia. We know how much trouble Philly
has winning at City Field, But I'm assuming you like
them to hang on to win the division. They're also
in a race to make sure they get the right seed.
You know you want that buy in the first round,

(32:20):
right They're in a battle with the Cubs and the
Dodgers there. They were separated just by one game those
three teams, so that would matter, and I'm sure I
think Rob Thompson would manage that way. John, I'm assuming
you would as well to try to get that number
two seed.

Speaker 2 (32:34):
Of course, and I think it's gonna be different when
they get to Philadelphia. I watched the game a lot
of the games in New York. The kid was at McLean.

Speaker 1 (32:40):
What's the what's the kids down with Nolan McLean?

Speaker 3 (32:42):
Dude, Listen, that was the year A fan with pretty special.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
What I was saying, I was seeing like Kyle Hendricks
with ten more miles an hour on everything, the front
hip comebacker to the lefties, the breaking ball that really
was spun at a high level and for both sides.
Righty's and lefties both had a hard time with it. Now,
what I had heard was that he actually pitching better
now than he had in Triple A, which kind of

(33:07):
like concerning us a little bit. But the guy's a
great athlete quarterback in college all this kind of stuff,
and he carries himself extremely well. He's the guy there
because they're pitching staff. When they has come back, I
think it is really having a hard time, you know.
There Peterson, he was the one go to guy. So
they're starting pitching has really been in flux, and that's

(33:27):
that would be very concerning. So they got off a
little bit in New York. They caught Philly at the
right time there. I think it's going to turn out
differently when they get to Philadelphia. So overarching, overall, I
do like the Phillies better than the Mets now and
in the future.

Speaker 3 (33:41):
So I still think the Phillies are going to hang
on and do it.

Speaker 2 (33:43):
But that kid, that was very interesting to me. The
front hip comebacker. Okay, Bartolo Cologne. He had like a
Bartolo Cologne front hip against the lefties. That's spectacular. I
don't know if that always looks like that, but he
won me over with that one outing.

Speaker 1 (33:59):
Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. The fact you
mentioned quarterback and I watched Bubba chan I'm not sure
if you've seen him pitch yet for the Pirates, but wow,
I mean, he had a scholarship offer to go to
Clemson to be a quarterback. He would be a two
sports star there. But the Pirates were able to sign him.
It's a great story because they you know, they took
Henry Davis with the first pick, and you know, they

(34:20):
save some money in the bonus pool and they use
a lot of that. He signed Bubba Chandler out of
high school for three million dollars and watching this kid pitch,
my goodness, that is a special fastball, really good athlete.
Love his armstroke, and it's kind of like Paul Skians.
Paul Skans was a catcher. Know, he's a two way player.
He didn't become really a full time pitcher until he

(34:42):
went to LSU, so he's only been doing that for
what four or five years, And the same with Bubba Chandler.
I love these starting pitchers, especially who are really good athletes,
played other sports, maybe played other positions rather than in
today's world, since you're ten years old, you're a pitcher
only and that's all that you do. I'm telling you
that the Pirates, they're just a couple of bats away.
And I realized I was saying that you're talking about

(35:03):
thirty home running h or middle of the order bats,
not just complimentary bats, but their pitching staff. If you
watch Braxton Ashcraft pitch, I mean he is spectacular. They've
got the makings of almost reminds me of the twenty
fourteen to fifteen New York Mets with the young pitching
arms that they have. They just need to find more offense.
But Bubba Chandler to me is I think, to me,

(35:24):
he's the top pitching prospect in all of baseball when
they watch him throw and his mechanics, to me, I
would have him number one.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
I've not seen him it, I'll definitely make a point
to watch him. Wasn't it just a kid by name
of Jones there also that throws really well.

Speaker 1 (35:36):
Yeah, Jared Jones. He's been out the whole year. A
little bit concerned about him, Joe, because he's like five
foot ten, you know, one hundred and eighty pounds throwing
one hundred miles an hour. Just from a starting pitching perspective,
I think it's hard to keep up and withstand the
torque and the amount of pressure it puts on an
arm if you don't have the body to withstand it

(35:56):
when you're throwing one hundred. But yeah, that's a special
arm as well.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
Yeah, they've done a nice job with all of that stuff,
and like you're talking talking about there, they're missing the
power and know they're considered small market, I guess in Pittsburgh.
I just I've always loved the franchise. I love the city.
I was a quasi pirate fan kid growing up. I
was big on Clementi and all the guys. I love
their uniforms, so I've always you're always looking for them
to turn it around and get things going in the

(36:21):
right direction. Not a better place to start than some
really legitimate arms right there. So again I don't know
they're overarching philosophy, what they're trying to get done, and
what they're doing in the minor leagues, et cetera. But
that's the kind of stuff you don't want to waste.
You get pitching like that, you don't want to waste
those kind of arms and just be mediocre man, because
they're there. Of course, I believe what you're saying. I
can't wait to watch this kid and then schemes of course,

(36:43):
and they have others too, so we'll see how it
plays out. But I'm excited to watch this guy. They
need to get whatever it is that you know they
exit philosophically. I don't know what it is, but it's
got to turn because they have a lot of potentialities
going on there and I love to see it work well.

Speaker 3 (36:58):
Joe.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
Early on I mentioned Michael Jordan's story we need to
get to It does not involve the way socks or baseball,
but it involves another one of you or favorite topics.
We'll dive into that right after this on the Book
of Joe. Welcome back to the Book of Joe. Joe.

(37:25):
I know you like cars. Has there ever been like
a dream car for you that you still don't have
that you'd love to have?

Speaker 3 (37:33):
Yes, so there is as a matter of fact.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
In nineteen fifty eighth im polla convertible or bill Air convertible,
fifty eight, the fifty.

Speaker 3 (37:41):
Eighth shau, Yeah, that'd be awesome.

Speaker 2 (37:43):
The fifty eight, you know, that was between like those
fifty five, fifty six, fifty seven with the fins, and
then fifty nine. It came back to the big fins
because I have a fifty nine, Oh Camino. They were
just different. The Camino fins were kind of like they
spread out, almost looked like eyeballs. If you look at
it from the back like a bees eese or something.
And then the fifty seven, of course had the fins
sticking straight up. At the fifty I've always thought was

(38:05):
one of the prettiest cars I've ever seen. And they
also had the exposed Spirit tire in the back that
was part of it also kind of rides behind the trunk.
That's been the one car that I mentally pursued. I
haven't done it yet, but a fifty eight Chevy and
Pala Slash bell.

Speaker 3 (38:20):
Air convertible blue be fine.

Speaker 2 (38:22):
I would prefer having an ls Enginet of some kind,
not the old whatever that they possessed at that time,
the two eighties whatever, that would be it.

Speaker 3 (38:30):
It's the best.

Speaker 1 (38:31):
There's a place in Miami that can help you. It's
a place called Curated Vintage Supercars, and they actually will
try to find these vintage or you know, really rare
especially sports cars. And this is a story from them
in their hunt to try to find this Ferrari Testerosa

(38:51):
that Michael Jordan bought in February nineteen ninety two. Now
this is the height of the bulls in Jordan's dominance.
Right February of ninety two, he buys this Ferrari TR
five twelve tr in your old neck the woods up
in Lake Forest. Right, there's an iconic picture, I think
it was an SI picture of Jordan showing up for
a playoff game against the Knicks and he's getting out

(39:12):
of his black Ferrari and there's like five or six
security guards around him outside the United Center. It's like
the height of Michael's kingdom, right, I mean, he looks
every bit the crown prince of basketball. Superstar. Well, they
wanted to find this car and they were tracing what
happened to the car Now was Michael didn't travel discreetly.

(39:35):
He had a license plate that said m Air j
driving around in a black Ferrari. So he got he
had noticed, right, and why not, You're Michael Jordan. So
in October of nineteen ninety five they found out he
sells the car to a guy named Chris Gardner. Now,
I don't know if that name sounds familiarated Chris Gardner,

(39:55):
but if you remember the movie The Pursuit of Happiness
with Will Smith that was based on the life of
a guy named Chris Gardner who went from being homeless
to being a millionaire, stockbroker, and his inspiration happened to
be One day he met a guy driving a Ferrari
and he asked the guy, man, how did you get that?
How did you earn that? He says, I'm a stockbroker,

(40:16):
and Chris Gardner says, well, don't you have to go
to college to be He's like, no, you don't have
to go to college. You just have to be good
with numbers and good with people. Long story is short,
Chris Gardner becomes a millionaire being a stockbroker, and he
buys himself a Ferrari, not just any Ferrari, but Michael
Jordan's Ferrari. Now Chris Gardner also gets a vanity license
plate and his license plate says, not.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
Mj that's outstanding.

Speaker 1 (40:42):
Well, flash forward, they find out in twenty ten the
car is sold at auction and it's sold to a
guy in Los Angeles. And you know, he's not a
Hollywood star, he's not NBA player. This guy buys the
car at auction out in LA and nine months after
the guy buys the car, he's diagnosed with bone cancer,
and so he puts the car away and actually, if

(41:04):
things turn out fine, he beats cancer. But had the
car basically locked up in his garage for fifteen years,
doesn't drive it at all. Well long behold the wildfires
hit in California last January. The whole neighborhood is scorched
except this guy's home and his garage. The car is untouched.

(41:27):
So they finally tracked the car down. They find it.
The guy's are now probably in his eighties or nineties.
Who owns the car, and it's like, listen, it's a
young man's car. I really can't drive it anymore. I
will sell it to you. So this place in Miami
buys the car from this guy. They promise him that
once they have it restored and fixed up rate running condition,
they're going to let him drive the car just once.

(41:49):
That's all he wants to do, drive it around the block.
And Joe, the kicker to the story, is to restore
the car. These guys in Miami are sending the car
to Italy to have the artisans at Ferrari work on it,
because they consider it like a work of art. They're
just not going to give it to any pep boys
shop and have people work on it. They're sending it

(42:09):
over to Italy. They're going to put a quarter of
a million dollars of work into the car. It's probably
four times the value of the car itself. So Michael
Jordan's Ferrari is going to be restored. I don't know
what they do with it after that, but it sounds
to me like they should, I don't know, put it
on display or maybe sell it to somebody who wants
to keep the legacy going. But I love the providence

(42:29):
of things like this. I'm a big fan of history, Joe.
I think there's stories behind everything that we touch and
every place we go to. And when I hear stories
like this, I think it's so cool that they're honoring
the legacy. And it's just a car. I get it.
You say, just the car, But Joe, I know you
appreciate the stories and the meeting behind what a car is.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
Use the word art as you were describing the whole thing,
and that's we've talked about that. We talked about that
in the book. Also regarding the art form of the
cars of yesteryear. I have several fifty six fel Air,
the fifty nine Camino, seventy two Chevelle convertible, and even
my seventy six Dodge Van Tradesman two hundred, which I absolutely.

Speaker 3 (43:10):
Love on a door.

Speaker 2 (43:11):
One of the best vehicles I've ever had was in
nineteen ninety or fifty four SS Chevy pickup. Limited number
of those made, but that things drives so well. It's
just a different feel, and of course the four to
fifty four engine makes it fun. But everyone is I
could be standing I don't know what one hundred yards away.

Speaker 3 (43:27):
If I could actually see that far, I could tell
you which one it is.

Speaker 2 (43:30):
We put like six or seven cars today's cars out
in a discernible distance and make them all the same color.
You can't tell them apart because they're all They're going
to be white, gray, or black. And from a distance
it's really hard to tell the lines. But I'm telling
you from the fifty nine with the fins in the back,
the even the fifty six spell there. You have to
know the difference between the fifty five and the fifty six,

(43:51):
and I would just have them facing me from the
front side of the grill. Much easier to determine the
difference with those two. And of course the fifty seven
completely different, but you knew what it was.

Speaker 3 (44:00):
And that's when.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
Multiple colors were two tone was popular, where today cars
just get dipped once and they throw them out there
and they put an interior interior in them, whereas I'm
sure they cost prohibitive in a sense to get the
two tone made. Maybe that's part of why they don't
do them anymore, apart because maybe people don't.

Speaker 3 (44:17):
Want them, but that was part of the artwork. The chrome.
I love chrome.

Speaker 2 (44:21):
I don't like chrome on my shortstop, but I love
it on my fifty six bell Air. You know, it's
just the way they did things, man. And the interior
is the fifty nine el Camino has this like pattern
checkered pattern red interior with like the you know, the
fake vinyl pleather leather trimming around the interior, which is
just really groovy red kind of stuff, with the red

(44:43):
solid red, same color red dash which is metal. Of course,
if you hit your head on that, it's gonna hurt that.
They just don't do it. And of course i'm describing
a non safe kind of a situation compared to what
we have today. Of Course, you love drubbing driving today's vehicles.
But as it comes to art, as it pertains to art,
as it pertains to universality, that never gets it is

(45:04):
always attractive.

Speaker 3 (45:06):
That's what these cars had and have, so them doing this.

Speaker 2 (45:09):
Listen, I'm in on that, and I think it's fabulous.
I'd love to see a picture of that. And after
at the end of all this, is it gonna if
they're gonna sell, is it gonna get even more money?
Based on the fact that it's been rehabed like that,
and the fact that Jordan had it and all this,
and also this other gentleman that became the stockbroker. I mean,
there's a there's a great history behind that. I've bet
somebody's gonna go a million on that at some point.

Speaker 1 (45:31):
Absolutely. I mean, when there's meeting, when there's story is
behind something, there's added value, there's no question. And to
your point, Joe, looking at this year the top twenty
five the highest selling cars in the US, nineteen of
the top twenty five are sport utility vehicles or pickups. Sure,
I mean, and if you can tell a sportage from
a cross track to a forester, you knock yourself out.

(45:54):
I mean, look in a parking lot these days, folks
and look at these. I guess they call them a crossover,
sport utility whatever. You want to call them. There is
a that has gone rampant. Now I'm not sure where
this took off, but everybody wants one. I don't understand that.
You know, these sport utilities have become that popular.

Speaker 2 (46:14):
I just recently purchased the Ford Expedition, and I was
debating among that the Ford Expedition, the cheap Wagon here,
Grand Wagoneer, and the Chevy Tahoe Slash Suburban, And so
I drove them all and I settled on the Fort
For one of the best things about it, I loved
it was a V six with an echo boost engine.
There's a twin turbo, and this thing really goes and

(46:35):
as it really firms I mean a night when I
say firms smooth, hugging the road kind of a ride,
I thought. And plus it was the Platinum version, so
the interior is really comfortable. It's a twenty twenty two
that I purchased. I don't want to pay for all
that that money. I'm gonna lose the moment it's front
run out of the showroom floor. All the depreciation, I'm
not into that. So I like a couple of year
old vehicle. I thought I got a good deal. But

(46:55):
I drove all the different vehicles and I was looking
at like the interior basically comfort what I thought of him.

Speaker 3 (47:00):
You know what it looked like.

Speaker 2 (47:01):
It look more stable, secure, and the fact that it's
gonna wear well or is it gonna be something I
just I thought it was a little bit sincere looking
lack of a better word. And then beyond that, like
even what's become really important now, it seems is the
GPS systems, the screens. And then when I got is
a portrait in this thing, and I really I like
that also having done the landscape for years. But I

(47:22):
went through all these history on its and it really
came down to I took it out of the highway,
and damn, I just love the way this thing took off.
The expedition, the twin turbos. I mean, it really does
have some pop. Again, you could you could this could
be the show. And I have a Chevy guy, and
I went away from Chevy, and I probably would buy
a Chevy normally.

Speaker 3 (47:38):
I've had.

Speaker 2 (47:38):
I have a Taha at twenty twelve Taha out front,
and that's going to be a local car.

Speaker 3 (47:42):
But I kept an open.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
Mind and I settled on the expedition based on field
and I did my research and different YouTube's got some
great videos regarding evaluation. But then again you have to
consider who's doing the evaluation. Is this guy or a
woman getting paid by Ford or cheap or whomever. So anyhow,
I know you're talking about I got it for my
trip to Florida and back. I needed to extra room

(48:05):
and the comfort, and I'm here to tell you I
do dig it. But like you're suggesting and saying, from
a distance, you parked them down the street, It's very
difficult to tell that from a tahoe. The wagoner's got
a little bit more of a distinct look. I think
about it.

Speaker 3 (48:17):
But overall, we're just dealing with the same this and
everything that we do.

Speaker 1 (48:21):
So while you're on the lookout for your dream car,
if you ever come across an old rambler, and I
can't I don't know the exact year, but my mom's
green Rambler was probably around fifty nine, sixty sixty one
somewhere around there. Okay, it might be hard to find
one of those that's still actually running.

Speaker 2 (48:37):
I'll keep my eyes open, brother, I'm gonna I'm gonna
start looking. I'm gonna start looking at what I did
I bought. When I bought that four fifty four SS pickup,
I was in spring training with the Rays. I'm in
Port Charlotte, and I wanted a truck because I didn't
have a truck anymore, and the utility of a truck
is great. So I was driving a Highway forty one
from the Almond Brothers down in that neck of the woods,
and there was like some kind of a used actually

(48:59):
a used car a lot that really was dealing in
quote unquote classic car. And I drive in and I
didn't have any particular I just looking for a truck,
nothing in particular, and I drive around the back of Boom,
there it is. It's sitting in the back kind of
and it's sitting up real proud. And I just got
online and I started researching it, and he never made
and it's like the first cup of its kind that

(49:20):
really led to other pickups being built along the same
model of this four fifty four SS nineteen ninety Chevy pickups.
So I bought it for like I think it was
ten thousand bucks. The original sticker was in the glove
box for eighteen thousand, and I've already been offered like
forty fifty thousand for this thing. I've had it redone
great paint job out west. Joey's relatives, my cousin, my son,

(49:43):
Joey's relatives did it out there. Fabulous job inside and out,
and it runs like a bear.

Speaker 3 (49:48):
So, I mean, you know that's the thing, man. I found.
My point is I found it.

Speaker 2 (49:52):
So next time I'm just driving around, I'm gonna look
for that old rambler for you.

Speaker 3 (49:56):
We're gonna find it. We'll have it. We'll find that
sucker somehow.

Speaker 1 (49:59):
And if it's not running, we'll make it runs. You
know people who can make it.

Speaker 3 (50:03):
We people.

Speaker 1 (50:06):
Well, we've reached that time, Joe where you bring us
home to end this episode of the Book of Joe.
What do you have for us today?

Speaker 3 (50:12):
Well, it's the late Nobel laureate. His name was Herb Simon.

Speaker 2 (50:15):
I didn't really I don't know the man, but I
was reading this yesterday and I thought it was pretty interesting.
We talked about information a lot early on, and you know,
how do we use all this information? There's so much
of it out there, and you know, you were wonderful
about supplying all the different things you already talked about
earlier about ball in the air Yankees these the angles
of their swings and other balls in the air. But

(50:36):
just to call it down, and he said, a wealth
of information creates a poverty of attention, and I had
to read more. Key challenges for leaders in today's information
ecosystem included not only collecting enough information, but also deciding
where to direct their limited focus. Souse, That's the thing,
like limited focus is like the keywords for me there,
because analytically, I mean everybody, you want to provide all

(50:57):
this information and I mean a lot of it.

Speaker 3 (50:59):
There's reams of it.

Speaker 2 (51:00):
It's like they're going to get to the playoffs right now,
close to the playoffs, and then the playoff, and every
organization is going to create these little novellas about each
team that they're going to play, even though they've played
them all year long, and even though you've seen them firsthand,
and even though you know what you want to do
against them, they're still going to do it. So with
all this information at your disposal, we have limited focus.

Speaker 3 (51:21):
I mean, you know, titting the.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
Golf ball today, I mean trying to bet better with
my driver and I can only hold one thought. I
mean I did but I'll try to hold two or three,
and then if I tried to hold two or three,
obviously it never works out well. So in regards to
all this glood of information that we're getting, and it's wonderful,
but understand that we only have a limited focus. We
can only hold on to so much, so you have
to be able to the really better ones. I think,

(51:44):
take this large pool of intel and they're able to
call it down to the point where they hand out nuggets.
I give you a nugget, Tommy, I give Vincent nugget.
I give everybody I'm working with her a nugget. But
you might be able to handle two nuggets. I don't know,
but it's nuggets. It's not this vat And I think
that's the trick in all of this is to realize
that all this stuff is good, but what is really

(52:07):
pertinent to us winning right now? What do we have
to focus on among all this stuff that we've mined,
you know, from this this this deep, deep mind of information,
what really matters, what's going to help us get over
the top and get to the promised land. That's the
focus we need to be able to understand, and that's
where we have to apply it.

Speaker 1 (52:24):
I love that thought, Joe, because the amount of information
out there, it's much much more than what it was,
certainly twenty years ago, even ten years ago. Right absolutely,
But our capacity to you know, kind of distill usable
information has not grown. It is not going to grow.
Our bandwidth is only so wide. So to me, those
people I call them distillers, you can call them translators

(52:46):
who can give you actionable intelligence, are even more valuable.
And you just brought me back while you were saying that, Joe,
to a classic story. And I know a lot of
people have heard this before. The nineteen eighty eight World Series.
Before the series begins, the Dodgers are going over the
Oakland pictures and it's Mel Didier. This the old scout
who is running the meeting, and the Dodgers are sitting
there on the floor in the clubhouse, backs on against

(53:07):
the wall, listening to Melon Didier go through each Oakland
picture and he gets to Dennis Secresy and at one
point he says, Padna, I'm sure I'm standing here. He
gets you three and two, He's gonna try to go
back door slider, and of course Game one's Kirk Gibson
coming off the bench to pinch hit. The count gets
the three and two. All of a sudden, Kirk Gibson

(53:29):
has Doug Harvey, the umpire for time, steps out of
the box and he literally hears the voice of melt
Didty eight in his head. Pardner, Sure, I'm standing here.
He's gonna throw you a back door three two slider,
and Kirk Gibson sits on three two slider, gets it
and hits it out of the park. The rest is history.
But that to me is the classic case Joe of
just one nugget that changed the course of history. And

(53:52):
that it's just amazing to me that Kirk Gibson, in
his mind, in that moment heat of the moment, was
able to remember that and use it.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
I st to the example i'd give my players, my
hitters I was hitting coach for many years, is I
would tell them I would sit in my room after
a long day at the ballpark as a roving hitting
instructor field coordinator, and I start writing my notes, and
I said, I'd be watching TV, and then I would
also want to check my audits report to see how
it was going with the different teams on that particular night.

(54:23):
And I said, I challenge any of you to sit down,
watch TV and pick up a telephone and at that
point listen to your messages and see if you could
actually listen to your messages and watch TV simultaneously.

Speaker 3 (54:36):
And of course you can't. And so my point was,
you have to pick one.

Speaker 2 (54:40):
You just have to focus on one thing at a
time in order to become a better hitter. One thought.
You can't go up there with multiple thoughts. And that
really jumped out of me because I've always I was
sitting I think it was in Lake Elsinore when I
was doing that, sitting on the phone, checking out my reports,
and I'm trying to do both, and I said, damn,
I can't.

Speaker 3 (54:56):
Of course I can't. Nobody can't.

Speaker 2 (54:58):
You can't listen to a report and watch and understand
what's being said on the television. So that was one
of my ways back in the day to try to
get my point across to my hitters.

Speaker 3 (55:06):
Just pick out one. You can't go up there with
multiple thoughts. I love it.

Speaker 1 (55:10):
Great thoughts as usual. Joe, say you by next time.
By the Book of Joe.

Speaker 3 (55:13):
Thank you, brother, you be well man, Thank you.

Speaker 1 (55:22):
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