June 26, 2020 • 41 mins
Baseball looms and so do the sweet sounds of the game. A surprise guest, John Sterling, visits Ben and David to share some of his feelings leading up to a new season. Spending decades behind the mic, John talks about his personal feelings surrounding steroids and the impact it has on the game. Turning 82 in July, Sterling elaborates on his career and when it will end.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
If you thought four hours a day, minutes a week
was enough, I think again. He's the last remnants of
the old republic, a sole fashion of fairness. He treats
crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as the rich
pill poppers in the penthouse. The clearing House of Hot
takes break free for something special. The Fifth Hour with
(00:23):
Ben Maller starts right now that it does a special
furlough edition of the podcast, The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller.
As we are back at it again because four hours
are not enough. In the middle of the night, we
are doing this eight days a week. Well, actually not
(00:44):
this week. It's not eight days a week. More on
that in a different podcast. But this of course a
spin off. As you know, you've downloaded the podcast of
the Ben Mallory Radio Show, and as you also know,
it's only available in the podcast format wherever you get
your podcast, powered by the I Heart Podcast Network, number
(01:05):
one for podcasting and for better or worse yet again,
joined by David Guest, Yes in the house and happy
to report that even Apple iTunes has featured sports podcasts.
The Fifth Hour with Ben Mallor is front and center
amongst the masses too. How nice is that? Yes, I
(01:25):
saw that and I thought, no way, there's no way.
I mean, jeez, there's a billion podcast. But we actually
got some some feature love, which makes it seem like
it's kind of worthwhile. But' coming to do this crap?
So uh that's uh, that was that was pretty cool.
Now this is an interview podcast. This can be what
our interview podcast where we are not really like we're
(01:47):
hanging with friends. We'd like to call it hanging with friends,
not really interview. That's very formal and all that. But
I'll tell you who we're gonna talk to you in
a minute before we do that. Shameless promotion. Shameless promotion. Uh,
if you've not signed up for a cameo, what are
you waiting for? I'm on cameo. You can get a
special personalized video message. Not free, not very much. I'm
cheaper than everyone else. Uh that matters, Uh Fox anyway,
(02:10):
Uh so cameo dot com and then just type my
name in Ben Maller and uh I would love to
do that. I did a couple of last weekend for
Father's Day. Uh did several for for p One's big
fans of the show, which was pretty cool. I also
did my first personalized message guests. Somebody wanted me to
just do my nicknames somebody on camera and I tried
(02:34):
to point out. I was like, you know what, I
can do that for you. I can run down the nicknames,
but we don't have the sound effects. You know, I'm
in my home studio. I don't have access to the
sound effects. But that that was kind of eat and
we've got some really positive reviews. People really seem to
enjoy the cameo things. So check that out and and
just follow follow me on Twitter, Ben Maller on on
that and Instagram, Ben Maller on Fox, and please click
(02:57):
on those videos I link out. Some video was sporadically
from monologues, little clips. You can get to see what
it's like when we're making the hot dogs and get
those views up. Share them with your friends those videos,
tell them to watch. It does help us out as well.
And then Facebook Ben Mallard Show, Ben Mallor Show, and
how can people reach you a Gascon? Same thing on
(03:19):
Twitter at David JA Gascon. I need to crack the
egg with cameo, So cameo at David J Gascon. You
need someone to pop your Chariot Virginize. I will say
I got some inside intel that you also did a
special birthday video on camera on cameo. I cannot talk
about that. The cameo thing is a private thing between
(03:40):
me and the fans, and I can't get any further
than that. So I'm on there as well, and then
on Instagram Att and Dave Gascon. But yeah, I think
I think the biggest reason that we were on front
and center with the podcast on alp iTunes is the responses,
the reviews and the ratings from from you the listeners.
You guys have been active on it, so I appreciate that. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
(04:01):
I mean it seems like the most benign thing, like
who the funk cares about the reviews on a podcast?
But the people that run podcast networks give up. They
really care. It's a big deal. It's not some harmless thing.
And so again, if you haven't done that yet, review
review obviously we prefer positive reviews, five stars, that would
(04:22):
that would certainly help us out. But yeah, it is.
It's really cool. I was like, Wow, that's like it's
like the real podcast, Like people are getting getting promotion.
I think that's more promotion than my radio show has got.
It's more advertising for this podcast, which is a weekend podcast.
Then we've gotten for the radio show. But but let's
(04:43):
not see we're playing Grabaus now, Guests, We've got to
get right into it. So this is a conversation with
I'm so excited to have this guy and I met
him several years ago at Dodger Stadium when the Yankees
were in town. John Sterling the voice of the New
York ke Yankees. How important does that sound? How big
does that sound? John is one of the great characters
(05:05):
in broadcasting. He has tremendous work ethic. He has been
calling games since before I was alive. He started out
in the early seventies calling NBA games for the Washington
Actually was a Baltimore Bulls even before they were in
Washington in the NBA, and he's worked for multiple NBA teams.
He had a stint in Atlanta. He's been a long
(05:27):
time New York broadcaster. He's from New York. But he's
known for his signature home run calls, right, I mean, guys,
that's what he's known for. Guests and all the trades. Yeah,
and a bomb by Rod you know that kind of stuff,
and I'm so excited to talk to him because, first
(05:47):
of all, I love broadcasters. I'm a radio geek and
know the art of baseball play by play is one
of the hardest things. You have so much time to kill.
You're not just calling balls and strikes. You have to
fill the time, and there's an art to it. When
it's done right, I feel like it's great. And John's
a wonderful storyteller. But I remember the old days on Fox.
We had Frank Pollock, the late great Frank Pollock, the
(06:08):
big cod piece may rest in peace, and Frank and
I we had this bit that we worked out together
on the on the weekend show where we would do
the Yankee roll call and whatever the box score was
the Yankee day that get the Yankee game that day.
Frank would go on the archive and pull out all
the different home run calls, Uh, Georgie juiced it or
(06:28):
juiced one or whatever he said, and he go through,
you know, the gambino and those were the players at
the time, and so I we loved it. It was
a good bit. People liked it that they were listening
to you like positive feedback on that. But that was
John Sterling so we're gonna have a conversation with John
obviously will regain as John, we welcome you in here,
(06:48):
and uh, why don't we start with this? How are
you holding up during the pandemic? Well, it certainly is
the craziest year of any of all lives. Um, you know,
you do what you have to do. When I go out,
mask and gloves and I'm hanging in there, I'm hanging
in there. I get to see uh, my kids and
(07:12):
my family, um, every now and then, and now every
day I talk on the phone to friends and I
tell him family, and I tell him one thing. If
we don't get the virus, we've won. So so far,
so good, And now it looks like I'll be going
back to work in a few weeks. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Ben Maller Show weekdays at
(07:33):
two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio app. That's great, and you've
been been around for a while. Is is there anything
that this kind of reminds you of in your life
experience when you were younger or is this totally its
own entity and it's not close to anything anything that
comes to mind that you said, well, this is kind
of like what happened, you know, back in the days,
(07:55):
anything like that. No, Um, I've I've often said that
not only is this the craziest year of our lives,
and I've got a few years on me, but there's
there's no one nothing in second, there's nothing close. Um
to think that you can't go out and call up
your friends and family and say let's have dinner at
(08:16):
such at such place and so um, No, this is
this is the wackiest by far. And I don't think
it's over yet. Um. You know, all these sports are
trying to come back, but you know, the minute they
get a few people who have the virus, um, they're
gonna need a tremendous amount of testing. That's the biggest thing.
(08:39):
Testing And if someone tests and positive, they'll be quarantined
for us as long as it takes. That got read
somewhere where in baseball anyway there. If you test positive,
you quarantine and then you have to test negatively in
two tests before they let you come back. So it's
(09:02):
it's gonna be such a battle and hopefully we can
get through it. Hopefully we we're gonna have the sixty
game season and the playoffs culminating in the World Series,
and I hope be sure to catch live editions on
The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven
pm Pacific. Yeah, well, what is your John, what is
(09:22):
your level of concern? I mean, you're you know, because
you're gonna have to be in the middle of this somewhat.
I know there's some reports that the broadcasters at first
are going to travel with the Why don't we start
with it? Is that true? Or have you gotten the
message with it from the Yankees? Are you gonna be
on the road, Are you gonna be doing the games
in a different location. No, as far as I know,
(09:44):
no broadcasters in any sport are going to travel, or
they try to reduce it as few people as possible
at the ballpark. So we'll do the home games from
Yankee Stadium, which is open and much better for you
than being in a closed studio. And we still have
to work out whether we'll do the away games from
(10:06):
the stadium off a monitor, which I hope, or if
we'll go to the s studios in um in Stanford, Connecticut.
But then you'd be inside and there's a much greater
chance to catch it if you're inside. So that that
has to be worked out, and we have we have
about a month to work it out. So we're gonna
try be sure to catch live editions of The Ben
(10:28):
Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven p m Pacific.
So so, Johnneth, let's say like the season starts in
late July, and then in like sometime in late August,
baseball the powers that be said, okay, we're gonna let
the broadcasters travel. Would you have apprehension about that or
would you be okay with it? Now? I'm a person
(10:50):
doesn't have a lot of apprehension when I go out
in old mask and gloves. And if I don't think
we have to worry about that, I don't think they're
going to do that. And I think there is going
to be the oddest season. And by the way, I
have no idea how they're gonna play football. And um,
I can only tell you one thing I told us
(11:11):
to a buddy the other day. Are they going to
tell the offensive lineman not to breathe on the defensive lineman?
I mean, these be a moss trying to you know,
destroy each other, you know, six six How can they
How can they do all that without breathing on each other?
So and and in basketball too. I mean, you know
(11:34):
you've heard this when you played, I played all my life.
I heard it plenty. Get up at them, get in
his shirt. So I don't know how they're gonna do that,
but um, I guess they can do it. If they're testing.
That's a lot of testing. But if they're testing a
few times a week works, and someone comes down with
(11:59):
the virus so that they larrantine, I guess that's the
way to do it. Fox Sports Radio has the best
sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the
I Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live. Yeah,
And the other thing to John about this is we've
seen in college where there's been a bunch of college
football players that have tested positive. They didn't test positively
(12:21):
at practice. It was out, you know, going to clubs
in the bars and things like that. So which is
you know, you know, you've been around the baseball game
and professional sports, you guys, and the players go on
the road. They like to go out and enjoy whatever
city they're in. So, and is this going to continue
where guy's gonna have to stay in their hotels. Are
they gonna be willing to do that? John, You've been
around a lot of athletes over these you think they
(12:42):
can do it. I really don't know. In fact, I
is funny to bring it up. I read UM something
about basketball that they're going to all go to Orlando
and they're not going to be able to leave the
hotel and they're gonna find hotels that have dining rooms
and they and they want them to eat in their rooms. Hey,
(13:05):
it's very tough if you're a player, broadcaster, writer, or
whoever to go to a place and stay in a
hotel and stay there for a couple of months. So, UM,
I guess that's it with a guy. And I have
not read what the procedure is on baseball, UM, but
I gather it'll be about the same. Um. I guess
(13:28):
they could go out. UM. You know there are there
are a lot of worries, and you guys know that
you hear it and read it and you're on the
air every day. How about the fact that the virus
UH did not attack UM a lot of the states Florida, Arizona,
(13:50):
Texas and now it's hitting them with a force. And
everyone tells me, I'm sure you've heard the same thing
that once the weather gets cold, that the virus is
going to come back. So I think you guys know
already what we need. We need a vaccine, We need
medicine or a vaccine, and so we can look get
(14:14):
on them with our lives. And I don't know what's
gonna happen. We've never been through this before, but there
are a lot of health regulations to be enforced if
this thing is gonna work. I think the biggest thing
that was testing. If you test and you find someone
(14:35):
who has the virus, they get quarantine. John, I guess
the one thought behind all this, And you mentioned the
testing with Major League Baseball. I guess it is a
twofold question. But when you see them playing overseas in
Korea and nothing's being done between the league and the
MLB PA, do you feel like Major League Baseball they've
(14:55):
lost any kind of momentum being the only game in
town with obviously NASCAR are taking the stage, golf taking
the stage, and the UFC man, do you feel like
Major League Baseball missed the boat on an opportunity to
capture more fans in a in a shorter period of Telly.
I think it certainly it was a black mark on
baseball that the owners and the players couldn't come together.
(15:16):
In fact, the thing that I thought would be great
for baseball if they had gone to the new rules,
which they haven't, UM, would have been to have sixteen
teams in the playoffs and in each league you would
have had quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals, the championship series, then
(15:38):
the two winners go to the World Series. I thought
it would have been that baseball would have occupied center
stage for that month of October. They're still going to
have the playoffs. Then. I'm not one of those, though,
who jump on this and say, Wow, people are not
gonna come back. They're throw with baseball. They're throw are
the owners, They're throw are the players. Um, Baseball is
(16:01):
fabulous and it's been a fabulous game for over a
hundred years, and it's not gonna stop. The Major League
Baseball has so many young players who have such brilliant
futures and that's going to continue. People are always going
to play it and people are to come out to
watch it. So that that doesn't work me, I'm sorry
(16:25):
though that they couldn't um forget their own problems are
the problems in this country. We've we've had a hundred
and twenty thousand people die from this virus, and we
have whatever the number is, thirty forty million out of work.
I wish they had thought of that, but you know,
it's a business, and businessmen want to make the best
business decisions possible. I guess well, speaking of the business, John,
(16:48):
I guess the one thing that I have in mind
is that even though it's a truncated schedule as opposed
to a hundred and sixty two, we get sixty games.
Um with the way that the season is going to
be a line now, sixty games in seventy days is
the is the best case scenario Dodgers Yankees in the
World Series? Or do you feel like no matter who's
(17:08):
in the Fall Classic, that's still a win if they
can get back on the field and play at least
the sixty games and get the postseason in um in
long agoray uh. I am the definition of Oscar Hammerstein's
cock eyde optimist. I mean I see the good side
of almost everything, almost and the sixty game season is
(17:29):
going to make the game very important from the start
of the finish. Um. You know, Washington in their first
sixty games they won the championship. They had a terrible record,
they were well under five hundred, and if that would
happen again, they wouldn't make the playoffs. Um. I received
(17:51):
a very big honor last winner from the Baseball Writers Association.
So I was on the dais and also on the
dais was Uh, it was Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers
who was getting the in National League's MVP Award, and
(18:12):
that we kidded on the dais about, Hey, you know
it would be great Yankees, said, Dodgers in the World Series.
And he said, great, I'll sign up for that. So, um,
you don't know. First of all, I don't know how
anyone could predict a sixty game season, which has never
been played before. You know, that's been always the beauty
of baseball, day by day, grind through the months and
(18:35):
changing your lineup and changing players. And with the Yankees,
you know, players going on the on the d L
and uh, that's all gone. You better start playing your
best right away, and then the playoffs are going to
be great because their playoffs and people love them. And
you know, one year the Yankees about no, I don't know,
(18:56):
three or four years ago, the years old blend in.
I'm sorry, I wish I could pick it out for you.
But anyway, they didn't make the playoffs. And and the
Yankees have made the playoffs I think two times in
the last twenty five years, which is exceptional in this
day and age where you don't keep the same team,
not close. Um. Anyway, I went home after the last
(19:21):
game and I watched all the playoffs and I was
just amazed in in every stadium it was filled, and
in every stadium that people are rooting from the first
bitch on and I thought, boyd is baseball looked great. So,
you know, I think we'll see that. Even though it's
(19:42):
a sixty game season, you know, someone's going to get
through the playoffs. And you know, obviously I hope it's
the Yankees, but but we'll find out. But I don't
I think baseball will become completely reinvigorated if they're able
to play the sixty games and if they're able to
have the playoffs. Well, and John, just the piggyback off
something you said. I know you're aware of this, but
(20:03):
I think it needs to be highlighted the people, and
I I'm upset with the owners and the players, but
I'm gonna watch. Obviously work in sports radio, and so
I I things to talking about. But there were stories
going back a hundred years ago of columnists writing stories
about how baseball was dying. And it's like every every
year somebody, you know, several people make this claim. I
(20:26):
guess it just won't die, John, because people, the writers
have been trying to kill it, some of them for
a hundred years, literally a hundred years. It's crazy. Well,
of course, nowadays they have nothing else to write, so
they have to write features. And I read the same
things you have, and I don't worry about it at all. Baseball,
you know. They they also said that when free agency
came in, that would be the ruination of baseball, only
(20:49):
the big teams would win, YadA, YadA, YadA. Well they
were a hundred percent wrong. It can't be more than
they were a hundred percent wrong. Since then, base ball
has um become an eleven billion dollar business. And uh
so baseball is actually, um, you know, bigger than ever.
(21:14):
And uh you can't stop the fans, the fans who
are the game. I love it. And then I gotta
listen to those writers. I mean, the writers are writing
for themselves. They have to write something. You might as
well write a very strong anti baseball column. But it
doesn't happen. And I was there in where we went
(21:37):
through the same thing. Um, I think baseball if they
ever would give it a chance, if they hope the
players in and management come to an agreement for a
long contract and then simply build the game. And the
game has all these fabulous ballparks, all these different ballparks.
(21:58):
Everyone is um different unto themselves, and um, it's been
a great rebirth I think in in baseball. So you know,
I'm really not worried about the everlasting effect. You know,
we have to get rid of the virus, and that's
that's really the job we have to do, get rid
of the virus and and get on with our lives. John,
(22:21):
speaking of that, I mean, you've done a lot and
seen a lot. But growing up, was was baseball your
first love or was it another sport? Um? No, I
have a great ability. Um, what I like, I absolutely love.
What I don't like, I totally ignore. It's like I
(22:42):
put up a wall and it's I guess an emotional
psychological wall, and what I don't like goes on that
other side of the wall. And so when I was
a kid, um, I love basketball, baseball, football, and hockey.
And now that I've put a little years on, I
love baseball, basketball, football, hockey, so um. And I love
(23:06):
the you know, the the what they call now the
the Great American Songbook, which is to me is just
good music. But you know, Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sarah Brown, YadA, YadA.
So the things I like I absolutely adore, and I
adore baseball and the other sports was four that I mentioned.
And I played tennis all my life too. I played
(23:29):
basketball all my life. And so what I like I
like so um. I won't you know how people say,
well throw with baseball. Never not me. I could watch
a game every day and I do. I actually have
for the past thirty eight years. Yeah, John, you've had
(23:51):
you had that iron man streak of calling Yankee games
over five thousand consecutive games that you had, which is well,
actually actually they were all wrong on that, but I
didn't correct him. I didn't get anything out of it,
and I never thought of it as a streak. I
never thought going to the ballpark, and I'm gonna add
another game to the streak. I honestly never thought about it.
(24:12):
But actually the streak began in the beginning of November
when I did my first Atlanta Hawks basketball game, and
from then on in November, I never missed a game
until last summer and I was really sick coming back
from London, and I after a couple of games at
(24:36):
City Field, I took four days off and then added
the four days of the All Star breaks at eight
days off. I got well and made every game from
from that point on. But yeah, I made every game.
And in um Atlanta, there were five years when I
(24:57):
was doing the Hawks and Braves where I was doing
about two in twenty games a year. So I never
missed one, and I never missed one with the Yankees.
I took a couple of days off in my first
year to put my sister to rest, and so I
don't recall. I don't think of that as missing games.
I mean, yeah, well, and anyway, I did make a point.
(25:22):
Until last All Start break in July, I hadn't missed
a game in thirty eight years. You mentioned you mentioned
called the Braves games, and as I remember they were
not particularly good many of those years in Atlanta when
you were calling the Braves back then before they had
that run in the nineties, So what is what's the
big difference? Obviously the Yankees every year they have good teams,
(25:43):
and they make the playoffs most years, and you've got
a bunch of World Series rights. Like as a broadcaster,
what's the difference calling a game when you got like
the Braves of the eighties that were pretty miserable and
compared to some of these Yankee teams, how what's the difference? Like, well,
one thing, when I got to the Yankees they were terrible,
(26:04):
and one they were awful, And then they hired book
Show Walter as manager and Gene michael is general manager,
and they started building their team. And then in ninety
nine four that quickly from nine they had a six
(26:25):
game lead when that stupid strike was called or whatever
it was called labor problem and which did nothing for
the game at all, did nothing for the owners, et cetera.
And since then the Yankees have been just terrific. Ninety
five they made the playoffs and and then Joe Torrey
came aboard and and they had that great run in Atlanta.
(26:50):
Tory was the manager and they won an eighty two.
They won the West in eighty two, and in eight
three they had five six game leader where the Dodgers
and then Horner and Chamblis, the two power guys on
the corners, got hurt and they lost the pet at
eight three by one game. And then Joe Um had
(27:13):
a team that went five hundred and eighty four. May
got fired and then they really went bad until Bobby
Cox brought him back in the early nineties. I was
gone by then, but the difference Um now give a
great line from Lindsay Nelson when he was doing the
Mets at the beginning and they're losing a hundred games
(27:33):
a year. Someone said him, how do you do the game?
And Lindsey Nelson said, I never forgot it. He said,
you make the game that day important. So that's what
you try to do. Obviously, it's much easier to do
a winning team. Every broadcasting wants to do a winning
team because you sound better. You're giving the fans good
(27:55):
news instead of instead of bad news. So Um, you
know when you're When you have a good team and
your independent race, the games take on even more importance
and I guess that's the difference. But in baseball now
you have a lot of games, and if you're a
lousy in Um in June and you know you're out
(28:16):
of the Pennant race, you've got a lot of games left.
So you know, I try That's what I do. I
followed the Lindsay Nelson advice, and I try to make
the game that day important, John, since we've had some
downtown with no games being played, like Ben and I
talked a couple of weeks ago about one of the
features with McGuire and so so the summer of when
(28:40):
when you reflect on on that year, what McGuire did,
what's Socia did with Griffy and the hunt for a
little while, what are your thoughts on it? You know? I,
if I had a vote, which I don't, for the
Hall of Fame, I would vote for Clemens and and
(29:00):
obviously Bonds and and Sisa and all the Rafael Palmero,
all the people who were and I guess properly accused
of taking steroids. I think that was just part of
the game. They've had other problems in baseball, and they'll
have problems in the future too, So I don't look
(29:21):
down as much not the people who took steroids. A
lot of people were doing it to stay in the
major leagues. The money is so much different than the
minor leagues, and the the living is so much different,
And you know, I just kind of accepted it as
as part of the game. Uh. You could point out
Alex Rodriguez too, who was a friend of mine. I'm
(29:42):
not going to give up on him as a friend
because he took steroids at some point. So, um, I
I kind of look askance at the home run records
set for that reason, but you know, that was part
of the game, and they still had to do it
and other people. You know what I do think I
think that there were more people taking the juice than
(30:05):
we even knew of. I think an awful lot of
guys did it, and and um John just to follow up,
and I mean, there's there are guys in the Hall
of Fame that are suspected of doing steroids. So it's like,
my I was of the mindset, you shouldn't let any
of these guys in. But then they started letting sporadic
(30:25):
players who had accusations against them, like Plug Rodriguez and
Mike Piazza and Jeff Bagwell, guys like that. So so
now you're like you're excluding certain people but not other people.
Just seems wrong to me the way that this has
been handled by the baseball writers. What do you think
about that? I I agree. I mean if they did
it on the field, other guys were on the field
(30:46):
and they weren't able to do it. And so a
guy was that good, I mean Roger Clemens one, and
he didn't do it all because the steroids. So I'm
with you. I will tell you one story though, tell
you how naive I am. Um. I got to be
friendly with the Charlie Naggy, the right hander of the Indians,
(31:11):
and uh, it was now a pitching coat somewhere. And
I used to walk in in Cleveland. Instead of walking
all the way around long walk to the clubhouses, I
would walk through left field. Uh. They opened up an
area and then they close it right underneath what it
would be the pennant porch down the left field one anyway,
(31:33):
And so I'm I'm walking down and Charlie is out
there shagging, and he say, come on, did j Alice talk?
Come on? So we went over to the side, sat
on you know, the the front level of the boxes
and were just schmoozing, as they say, and Naggie told
me something. He said, you know, Naggie was tall, but
(31:54):
he's very slim. And he said, look at me, you know,
and he said, I'm pitching. Um. These guys are coming
up and they had the biggest, strongest looking guys. It
scares the depth out of you. And now I realized
what he was talking about. That he was saying, these
guys come up who all of a sudden that had
very inflated bills, and he was giving that that happened before,
(32:19):
before it became public. And I look back and think, boy,
was I naive. I thought he was just talking about
having to face all these big, strong guys. But now
I realized what he was saying. John, you uh, you
turn a happy two in July four July? Correct? Right? Um?
(32:39):
With what you've done professionally, is there anything else that
you want to accomplish or you want to do given
the fact that you have so many chapters to this
belong book. Well, my I obviously do not believe in retirement.
And you know there are people my heroes like um,
(33:02):
like mel Brooks and Tony Bennett and Carl Reiner who
are in their nineties and are still working and will
not retire. But actually, my next thing I have to do.
I have to get my three youngest kids through college.
They're entering their sophomore year this coming year. My eldest graduated,
(33:22):
and so I've got to get these kids through college.
That's the first step, and then we'll we'll look at
what's gonna go on. But I don't feel my age,
and when you use that numbers, it sure is scary.
But I I feel the same way that I felt
the past thirty years or so. And as long as
I have held and as long as I have my pipes,
I'm gonna keep on working. So with that being said,
(33:46):
I'm curious, can you can you hint for me and Ben?
Can you hint any kind of any kind of quarantine
home run call that you have in the can for
John Carlos Stanton or anybody else in the Yankees lineup
for the Stuff something season. Well, I don't have anything
in the can. Well, I just do him live. But
(34:07):
it's a good story, and maybe a good story to
end this this interview on Well, I I did burn,
baby burn, and all of a sudden it became a thing,
and you know, a bomb from a Rod Robbi kind,
don't you know, and all that nonsense, and it's become
(34:27):
a big thing. And now I have to do it
for every player on the Yankees, and it's a home run,
which is very tough. So when the Yankees got Stanton
during the winter um, I called up Burlitz and I
asked for the Italian teacher at Burlitz and I am
(34:47):
a gal came on, the lovely, wonderful gal, and I
said to her, I explained to her what I did
with the nonsense that I did, and I said, I'm
looking for something in Italian, Uh, for Gencarlo. And I said, now,
if you want to think, I don't know if you're
old enough for this. Gal's name was Linda more Lowe,
(35:10):
and I said, I don't know if you're old enough.
But years ago Ronzoni came up with a very quick
um logo and uh, that's kind of what I'm looking for.
And I I said, they said Ronzoni sono boni in
in the words Ronzoni is so good. And so in
a couple of days she came back and she gave
(35:32):
me one and I used that usually for Gencarlo. So
when he hits a home run, it is high, it
is far, it is gone Giencrlo no ci proto farlow,
which means Gian Carlo, you can't be stopped. And and
(35:54):
uh a writer, a friend of mine, Pete Caldera, writes
for the Bergen Record and sings a good singer, and
he knows I love the same music as he does.
And he gave me one for non de mendic car
um non do medic car that ball short travel far
(36:15):
Gean Carlo anyway, So that's what I do for John Carlo.
And and is it nonsense? Yeah, but I mean it
sounds good and people love it, and I'm very fortunate
that they do. It's entertaining. Now when did that? Did
you do that in Atlanta? Or is this a Yankee thing?
Did this start with the Yankees? Well, in Atlanta, I
did a whole bunch on Dominique. I mean that was
(36:38):
my We became really good friends, and he loved the
stuff I did. Don Manique is mono fique. And so
I've kind of done it over the years, but only
every now and then. And then it's become, as I say,
a thing, a cottage industry with the Yankees, and you
know it's a it's a different thing. Uh. And you
(36:59):
know you can say to me, John, some people don't
like it. What are you gonna do? Some people don't
like everything. Yeah, well that's absolutely true. And I gotta
I can't not talk to you and asked. When I
was growing up, one of the reasons I fell in
love with baseball was this Weekend Baseball with Mel Allen.
I read that you worked with Mels. That true back
in your career. Yes. Yeah, I was at w m
(37:19):
c A in New York doing three hour talk show
every night, and the Yankees were on the station, and
I was also doing that's where I did the Nets
and Islanders basketball and hockey as a very busy little boy.
And uh. And during the fall, I was doing Morgan
State football out of Baltimore, So I mean I was
really working. But anyway, and the Yankees all of a
(37:40):
sudden started making the playoffs seventy seventy seven, seventy eight,
and uh and um, this is all now. You guys
know this because you're on the air. Being on the
air is not important. Selling the spots is important. As
you know, the first thing you have to do is
(38:01):
sell the soap, and so they sold long pre and
post game shows and they hired Mel to go on
with me, and he was a lovely gentleman and we
got to be very good friends, and we had we
had a really good time. And after one of the
World Series victories, we did a show and George Sheinbrenner's office,
(38:26):
and we've kept bringing in all these big guests, including Cavalry,
Graham and um. And for years later, even when I
got the Yankee job and Mel would see me, said
we we got to get a tape of that. We
had all these starts on. We never did get the tape,
but anyway, UM, yes, I did work with Mel and
it was a big thrill, awesome. Don't forget. Don't forget that.
(38:49):
I grew up listening to Mel Allen. He was one
of my heroes. Not my only one, but he was
one of them. Yeah, he was one of my heroes.
So I love this weekend baseball every week it was
must watch television before cable and internet and all that stuff.
So I loved it too. I love seeing all the
ballparks and uh, and I love Mel. I'm not I'll
(39:09):
give you a cute Mel Allan story that you love.
I don't know. It was seventy seven seventy eight Yankees
and Dodgers, that's for sure. And I had a buddy
who you listen to regularly over the years, Dick Stockton,
and we would meet at a restaurant very late called
(39:30):
Christo's and it was right off like mom and between
Lex and Third, great old steakhouse gone now of course,
and you could have dinner there in the early hours
of the morning. It was great. So after one of
the World Series games, I met Stockton at Christo's. Well,
(39:52):
the Dodgers came in, you know, three or four of
them were their rives, and one of them was Don
Sutton for Cleo Alabama. And that was the first time
I met him, and then we really became friends. Uh
as he got into broadcasting after his career. Anyway, Don
Sutton came over to the table and he said, you know, Mel,
(40:17):
you know I'm a big fan of yours. You know,
I'm an Alabama boy, and and would you come over
to the table and say hello. They all want to
beat you. And uh, mel Allen had come in. Layton
was sitting with us, and Mel Allen went over and
was very gracious, and they all loved it. You know,
an Alabama boy coming over to speak to an Alabama boy.
(40:38):
So I thought that was a great story. That was
off the record, you know, no one was there, didn't
make the newspapers, and I thought it was very nice. Well,
that's great to hear. John will let you go. We've
kept you for a long time here. I appreciate it. Continued,
good health, good luck with the Yankees this year, and
we'll talk to you down in the line. Thank you.
I hope you do talk down the lot. I'd love it.
(41:00):
Thank you very much, appreciate it.
If you thought four hours a day, minutes a week
was enough, I think again. He's the last remnants of
the old republic, a sole fashion of fairness. He treats
crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as the rich
pill poppers in the penthouse. The clearing House of Hot
takes break free for something special. The Fifth Hour with
(00:23):
Ben Maller starts right now that it does a special
furlough edition of the podcast, The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller.
As we are back at it again because four hours
are not enough. In the middle of the night, we
are doing this eight days a week. Well, actually not
(00:44):
this week. It's not eight days a week. More on
that in a different podcast. But this of course a
spin off. As you know, you've downloaded the podcast of
the Ben Mallory Radio Show, and as you also know,
it's only available in the podcast format wherever you get
your podcast, powered by the I Heart Podcast Network, number
(01:05):
one for podcasting and for better or worse yet again,
joined by David Guest, Yes in the house and happy
to report that even Apple iTunes has featured sports podcasts.
The Fifth Hour with Ben Mallor is front and center
amongst the masses too. How nice is that? Yes, I
(01:25):
saw that and I thought, no way, there's no way.
I mean, jeez, there's a billion podcast. But we actually
got some some feature love, which makes it seem like
it's kind of worthwhile. But' coming to do this crap?
So uh that's uh, that was that was pretty cool.
Now this is an interview podcast. This can be what
our interview podcast where we are not really like we're
(01:47):
hanging with friends. We'd like to call it hanging with friends,
not really interview. That's very formal and all that. But
I'll tell you who we're gonna talk to you in
a minute before we do that. Shameless promotion. Shameless promotion. Uh,
if you've not signed up for a cameo, what are
you waiting for? I'm on cameo. You can get a
special personalized video message. Not free, not very much. I'm
cheaper than everyone else. Uh that matters, Uh Fox anyway,
(02:10):
Uh so cameo dot com and then just type my
name in Ben Maller and uh I would love to
do that. I did a couple of last weekend for
Father's Day. Uh did several for for p One's big
fans of the show, which was pretty cool. I also
did my first personalized message guests. Somebody wanted me to
just do my nicknames somebody on camera and I tried
(02:34):
to point out. I was like, you know what, I
can do that for you. I can run down the nicknames,
but we don't have the sound effects. You know, I'm
in my home studio. I don't have access to the
sound effects. But that that was kind of eat and
we've got some really positive reviews. People really seem to
enjoy the cameo things. So check that out and and
just follow follow me on Twitter, Ben Maller on on
that and Instagram, Ben Maller on Fox, and please click
(02:57):
on those videos I link out. Some video was sporadically
from monologues, little clips. You can get to see what
it's like when we're making the hot dogs and get
those views up. Share them with your friends those videos,
tell them to watch. It does help us out as well.
And then Facebook Ben Mallard Show, Ben Mallor Show, and
how can people reach you a Gascon? Same thing on
(03:19):
Twitter at David JA Gascon. I need to crack the
egg with cameo, So cameo at David J Gascon. You
need someone to pop your Chariot Virginize. I will say
I got some inside intel that you also did a
special birthday video on camera on cameo. I cannot talk
about that. The cameo thing is a private thing between
(03:40):
me and the fans, and I can't get any further
than that. So I'm on there as well, and then
on Instagram Att and Dave Gascon. But yeah, I think
I think the biggest reason that we were on front
and center with the podcast on alp iTunes is the responses,
the reviews and the ratings from from you the listeners.
You guys have been active on it, so I appreciate that. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
(04:01):
I mean it seems like the most benign thing, like
who the funk cares about the reviews on a podcast?
But the people that run podcast networks give up. They
really care. It's a big deal. It's not some harmless thing.
And so again, if you haven't done that yet, review
review obviously we prefer positive reviews, five stars, that would
(04:22):
that would certainly help us out. But yeah, it is.
It's really cool. I was like, Wow, that's like it's
like the real podcast, Like people are getting getting promotion.
I think that's more promotion than my radio show has got.
It's more advertising for this podcast, which is a weekend podcast.
Then we've gotten for the radio show. But but let's
(04:43):
not see we're playing Grabaus now, Guests, We've got to
get right into it. So this is a conversation with
I'm so excited to have this guy and I met
him several years ago at Dodger Stadium when the Yankees
were in town. John Sterling the voice of the New
York ke Yankees. How important does that sound? How big
does that sound? John is one of the great characters
(05:05):
in broadcasting. He has tremendous work ethic. He has been
calling games since before I was alive. He started out
in the early seventies calling NBA games for the Washington
Actually was a Baltimore Bulls even before they were in
Washington in the NBA, and he's worked for multiple NBA teams.
He had a stint in Atlanta. He's been a long
(05:27):
time New York broadcaster. He's from New York. But he's
known for his signature home run calls, right, I mean, guys,
that's what he's known for. Guests and all the trades. Yeah,
and a bomb by Rod you know that kind of stuff,
and I'm so excited to talk to him because, first
(05:47):
of all, I love broadcasters. I'm a radio geek and
know the art of baseball play by play is one
of the hardest things. You have so much time to kill.
You're not just calling balls and strikes. You have to
fill the time, and there's an art to it. When
it's done right, I feel like it's great. And John's
a wonderful storyteller. But I remember the old days on Fox.
We had Frank Pollock, the late great Frank Pollock, the
(06:08):
big cod piece may rest in peace, and Frank and
I we had this bit that we worked out together
on the on the weekend show where we would do
the Yankee roll call and whatever the box score was
the Yankee day that get the Yankee game that day.
Frank would go on the archive and pull out all
the different home run calls, Uh, Georgie juiced it or
(06:28):
juiced one or whatever he said, and he go through,
you know, the gambino and those were the players at
the time, and so I we loved it. It was
a good bit. People liked it that they were listening
to you like positive feedback on that. But that was
John Sterling so we're gonna have a conversation with John
obviously will regain as John, we welcome you in here,
(06:48):
and uh, why don't we start with this? How are
you holding up during the pandemic? Well, it certainly is
the craziest year of any of all lives. Um, you know,
you do what you have to do. When I go out,
mask and gloves and I'm hanging in there, I'm hanging
in there. I get to see uh, my kids and
(07:12):
my family, um, every now and then, and now every
day I talk on the phone to friends and I
tell him family, and I tell him one thing. If
we don't get the virus, we've won. So so far,
so good, And now it looks like I'll be going
back to work in a few weeks. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Ben Maller Show weekdays at
(07:33):
two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio app. That's great, and you've
been been around for a while. Is is there anything
that this kind of reminds you of in your life
experience when you were younger or is this totally its
own entity and it's not close to anything anything that
comes to mind that you said, well, this is kind
of like what happened, you know, back in the days,
(07:55):
anything like that. No, Um, I've I've often said that
not only is this the craziest year of our lives,
and I've got a few years on me, but there's
there's no one nothing in second, there's nothing close. Um
to think that you can't go out and call up
your friends and family and say let's have dinner at
(08:16):
such at such place and so um, No, this is
this is the wackiest by far. And I don't think
it's over yet. Um. You know, all these sports are
trying to come back, but you know, the minute they
get a few people who have the virus, um, they're
gonna need a tremendous amount of testing. That's the biggest thing.
(08:39):
Testing And if someone tests and positive, they'll be quarantined
for us as long as it takes. That got read
somewhere where in baseball anyway there. If you test positive,
you quarantine and then you have to test negatively in
two tests before they let you come back. So it's
(09:02):
it's gonna be such a battle and hopefully we can
get through it. Hopefully we we're gonna have the sixty
game season and the playoffs culminating in the World Series,
and I hope be sure to catch live editions on
The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven
pm Pacific. Yeah, well, what is your John, what is
(09:22):
your level of concern? I mean, you're you know, because
you're gonna have to be in the middle of this somewhat.
I know there's some reports that the broadcasters at first
are going to travel with the Why don't we start
with it? Is that true? Or have you gotten the
message with it from the Yankees? Are you gonna be
on the road, Are you gonna be doing the games
in a different location. No, as far as I know,
(09:44):
no broadcasters in any sport are going to travel, or
they try to reduce it as few people as possible
at the ballpark. So we'll do the home games from
Yankee Stadium, which is open and much better for you
than being in a closed studio. And we still have
to work out whether we'll do the away games from
(10:06):
the stadium off a monitor, which I hope, or if
we'll go to the s studios in um in Stanford, Connecticut.
But then you'd be inside and there's a much greater
chance to catch it if you're inside. So that that
has to be worked out, and we have we have
about a month to work it out. So we're gonna
try be sure to catch live editions of The Ben
(10:28):
Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven p m Pacific.
So so, Johnneth, let's say like the season starts in
late July, and then in like sometime in late August,
baseball the powers that be said, okay, we're gonna let
the broadcasters travel. Would you have apprehension about that or
would you be okay with it? Now? I'm a person
(10:50):
doesn't have a lot of apprehension when I go out
in old mask and gloves. And if I don't think
we have to worry about that, I don't think they're
going to do that. And I think there is going
to be the oddest season. And by the way, I
have no idea how they're gonna play football. And um,
I can only tell you one thing I told us
(11:11):
to a buddy the other day. Are they going to
tell the offensive lineman not to breathe on the defensive lineman?
I mean, these be a moss trying to you know,
destroy each other, you know, six six How can they
How can they do all that without breathing on each other?
So and and in basketball too. I mean, you know
(11:34):
you've heard this when you played, I played all my life.
I heard it plenty. Get up at them, get in
his shirt. So I don't know how they're gonna do that,
but um, I guess they can do it. If they're testing.
That's a lot of testing. But if they're testing a
few times a week works, and someone comes down with
(11:59):
the virus so that they larrantine, I guess that's the
way to do it. Fox Sports Radio has the best
sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the
I Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live. Yeah,
And the other thing to John about this is we've
seen in college where there's been a bunch of college
football players that have tested positive. They didn't test positively
(12:21):
at practice. It was out, you know, going to clubs
in the bars and things like that. So which is
you know, you know, you've been around the baseball game
and professional sports, you guys, and the players go on
the road. They like to go out and enjoy whatever
city they're in. So, and is this going to continue
where guy's gonna have to stay in their hotels. Are
they gonna be willing to do that? John, You've been
around a lot of athletes over these you think they
(12:42):
can do it. I really don't know. In fact, I
is funny to bring it up. I read UM something
about basketball that they're going to all go to Orlando
and they're not going to be able to leave the
hotel and they're gonna find hotels that have dining rooms
and they and they want them to eat in their rooms. Hey,
(13:05):
it's very tough if you're a player, broadcaster, writer, or
whoever to go to a place and stay in a
hotel and stay there for a couple of months. So, UM,
I guess that's it with a guy. And I have
not read what the procedure is on baseball, UM, but
I gather it'll be about the same. Um. I guess
(13:28):
they could go out. UM. You know there are there
are a lot of worries, and you guys know that
you hear it and read it and you're on the
air every day. How about the fact that the virus
UH did not attack UM a lot of the states Florida, Arizona,
(13:50):
Texas and now it's hitting them with a force. And
everyone tells me, I'm sure you've heard the same thing
that once the weather gets cold, that the virus is
going to come back. So I think you guys know
already what we need. We need a vaccine, We need
medicine or a vaccine, and so we can look get
(14:14):
on them with our lives. And I don't know what's
gonna happen. We've never been through this before, but there
are a lot of health regulations to be enforced if
this thing is gonna work. I think the biggest thing
that was testing. If you test and you find someone
(14:35):
who has the virus, they get quarantine. John, I guess
the one thought behind all this, And you mentioned the
testing with Major League Baseball. I guess it is a
twofold question. But when you see them playing overseas in
Korea and nothing's being done between the league and the
MLB PA, do you feel like Major League Baseball they've
(14:55):
lost any kind of momentum being the only game in
town with obviously NASCAR are taking the stage, golf taking
the stage, and the UFC man, do you feel like
Major League Baseball missed the boat on an opportunity to
capture more fans in a in a shorter period of Telly.
I think it certainly it was a black mark on
baseball that the owners and the players couldn't come together.
(15:16):
In fact, the thing that I thought would be great
for baseball if they had gone to the new rules,
which they haven't, UM, would have been to have sixteen
teams in the playoffs and in each league you would
have had quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals, the championship series, then
(15:38):
the two winners go to the World Series. I thought
it would have been that baseball would have occupied center
stage for that month of October. They're still going to
have the playoffs. Then. I'm not one of those, though,
who jump on this and say, Wow, people are not
gonna come back. They're throw with baseball. They're throw are
the owners, They're throw are the players. Um, Baseball is
(16:01):
fabulous and it's been a fabulous game for over a
hundred years, and it's not gonna stop. The Major League
Baseball has so many young players who have such brilliant
futures and that's going to continue. People are always going
to play it and people are to come out to
watch it. So that that doesn't work me, I'm sorry
(16:25):
though that they couldn't um forget their own problems are
the problems in this country. We've we've had a hundred
and twenty thousand people die from this virus, and we
have whatever the number is, thirty forty million out of work.
I wish they had thought of that, but you know,
it's a business, and businessmen want to make the best
business decisions possible. I guess well, speaking of the business, John,
(16:48):
I guess the one thing that I have in mind
is that even though it's a truncated schedule as opposed
to a hundred and sixty two, we get sixty games.
Um with the way that the season is going to
be a line now, sixty games in seventy days is
the is the best case scenario Dodgers Yankees in the
World Series? Or do you feel like no matter who's
(17:08):
in the Fall Classic, that's still a win if they
can get back on the field and play at least
the sixty games and get the postseason in um in
long agoray uh. I am the definition of Oscar Hammerstein's
cock eyde optimist. I mean I see the good side
of almost everything, almost and the sixty game season is
(17:29):
going to make the game very important from the start
of the finish. Um. You know, Washington in their first
sixty games they won the championship. They had a terrible record,
they were well under five hundred, and if that would
happen again, they wouldn't make the playoffs. Um. I received
(17:51):
a very big honor last winner from the Baseball Writers Association.
So I was on the dais and also on the
dais was Uh, it was Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers
who was getting the in National League's MVP Award, and
(18:12):
that we kidded on the dais about, Hey, you know
it would be great Yankees, said, Dodgers in the World Series.
And he said, great, I'll sign up for that. So, um,
you don't know. First of all, I don't know how
anyone could predict a sixty game season, which has never
been played before. You know, that's been always the beauty
of baseball, day by day, grind through the months and
(18:35):
changing your lineup and changing players. And with the Yankees,
you know, players going on the on the d L
and uh, that's all gone. You better start playing your
best right away, and then the playoffs are going to
be great because their playoffs and people love them. And
you know, one year the Yankees about no, I don't know,
(18:56):
three or four years ago, the years old blend in.
I'm sorry, I wish I could pick it out for you.
But anyway, they didn't make the playoffs. And and the
Yankees have made the playoffs I think two times in
the last twenty five years, which is exceptional in this
day and age where you don't keep the same team,
not close. Um. Anyway, I went home after the last
(19:21):
game and I watched all the playoffs and I was
just amazed in in every stadium it was filled, and
in every stadium that people are rooting from the first
bitch on and I thought, boyd is baseball looked great. So,
you know, I think we'll see that. Even though it's
(19:42):
a sixty game season, you know, someone's going to get
through the playoffs. And you know, obviously I hope it's
the Yankees, but but we'll find out. But I don't
I think baseball will become completely reinvigorated if they're able
to play the sixty games and if they're able to
have the playoffs. Well, and John, just the piggyback off
something you said. I know you're aware of this, but
(20:03):
I think it needs to be highlighted the people, and
I I'm upset with the owners and the players, but
I'm gonna watch. Obviously work in sports radio, and so
I I things to talking about. But there were stories
going back a hundred years ago of columnists writing stories
about how baseball was dying. And it's like every every
year somebody, you know, several people make this claim. I
(20:26):
guess it just won't die, John, because people, the writers
have been trying to kill it, some of them for
a hundred years, literally a hundred years. It's crazy. Well,
of course, nowadays they have nothing else to write, so
they have to write features. And I read the same
things you have, and I don't worry about it at all. Baseball,
you know. They they also said that when free agency
came in, that would be the ruination of baseball, only
(20:49):
the big teams would win, YadA, YadA, YadA. Well they
were a hundred percent wrong. It can't be more than
they were a hundred percent wrong. Since then, base ball
has um become an eleven billion dollar business. And uh
so baseball is actually, um, you know, bigger than ever.
(21:14):
And uh you can't stop the fans, the fans who
are the game. I love it. And then I gotta
listen to those writers. I mean, the writers are writing
for themselves. They have to write something. You might as
well write a very strong anti baseball column. But it
doesn't happen. And I was there in where we went
(21:37):
through the same thing. Um, I think baseball if they
ever would give it a chance, if they hope the
players in and management come to an agreement for a
long contract and then simply build the game. And the
game has all these fabulous ballparks, all these different ballparks.
(21:58):
Everyone is um different unto themselves, and um, it's been
a great rebirth I think in in baseball. So you know,
I'm really not worried about the everlasting effect. You know,
we have to get rid of the virus, and that's
that's really the job we have to do, get rid
of the virus and and get on with our lives. John,
(22:21):
speaking of that, I mean, you've done a lot and
seen a lot. But growing up, was was baseball your
first love or was it another sport? Um? No, I
have a great ability. Um, what I like, I absolutely love.
What I don't like, I totally ignore. It's like I
(22:42):
put up a wall and it's I guess an emotional
psychological wall, and what I don't like goes on that
other side of the wall. And so when I was
a kid, um, I love basketball, baseball, football, and hockey.
And now that I've put a little years on, I
love baseball, basketball, football, hockey, so um. And I love
(23:06):
the you know, the the what they call now the
the Great American Songbook, which is to me is just
good music. But you know, Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sarah Brown, YadA, YadA.
So the things I like I absolutely adore, and I
adore baseball and the other sports was four that I mentioned.
And I played tennis all my life too. I played
(23:29):
basketball all my life. And so what I like I
like so um. I won't you know how people say,
well throw with baseball. Never not me. I could watch
a game every day and I do. I actually have
for the past thirty eight years. Yeah, John, you've had
(23:51):
you had that iron man streak of calling Yankee games
over five thousand consecutive games that you had, which is well,
actually actually they were all wrong on that, but I
didn't correct him. I didn't get anything out of it,
and I never thought of it as a streak. I
never thought going to the ballpark, and I'm gonna add
another game to the streak. I honestly never thought about it.
(24:12):
But actually the streak began in the beginning of November
when I did my first Atlanta Hawks basketball game, and
from then on in November, I never missed a game
until last summer and I was really sick coming back
from London, and I after a couple of games at
(24:36):
City Field, I took four days off and then added
the four days of the All Star breaks at eight
days off. I got well and made every game from
from that point on. But yeah, I made every game.
And in um Atlanta, there were five years when I
(24:57):
was doing the Hawks and Braves where I was doing
about two in twenty games a year. So I never
missed one, and I never missed one with the Yankees.
I took a couple of days off in my first
year to put my sister to rest, and so I
don't recall. I don't think of that as missing games.
I mean, yeah, well, and anyway, I did make a point.
(25:22):
Until last All Start break in July, I hadn't missed
a game in thirty eight years. You mentioned you mentioned
called the Braves games, and as I remember they were
not particularly good many of those years in Atlanta when
you were calling the Braves back then before they had
that run in the nineties, So what is what's the
big difference? Obviously the Yankees every year they have good teams,
(25:43):
and they make the playoffs most years, and you've got
a bunch of World Series rights. Like as a broadcaster,
what's the difference calling a game when you got like
the Braves of the eighties that were pretty miserable and
compared to some of these Yankee teams, how what's the difference? Like, well,
one thing, when I got to the Yankees they were terrible,
(26:04):
and one they were awful, And then they hired book
Show Walter as manager and Gene michael is general manager,
and they started building their team. And then in ninety
nine four that quickly from nine they had a six
(26:25):
game lead when that stupid strike was called or whatever
it was called labor problem and which did nothing for
the game at all, did nothing for the owners, et cetera.
And since then the Yankees have been just terrific. Ninety
five they made the playoffs and and then Joe Torrey
came aboard and and they had that great run in Atlanta.
(26:50):
Tory was the manager and they won an eighty two.
They won the West in eighty two, and in eight
three they had five six game leader where the Dodgers
and then Horner and Chamblis, the two power guys on
the corners, got hurt and they lost the pet at
eight three by one game. And then Joe Um had
(27:13):
a team that went five hundred and eighty four. May
got fired and then they really went bad until Bobby
Cox brought him back in the early nineties. I was
gone by then, but the difference Um now give a
great line from Lindsay Nelson when he was doing the
Mets at the beginning and they're losing a hundred games
(27:33):
a year. Someone said him, how do you do the game?
And Lindsey Nelson said, I never forgot it. He said,
you make the game that day important. So that's what
you try to do. Obviously, it's much easier to do
a winning team. Every broadcasting wants to do a winning
team because you sound better. You're giving the fans good
(27:55):
news instead of instead of bad news. So Um, you
know when you're When you have a good team and
your independent race, the games take on even more importance
and I guess that's the difference. But in baseball now
you have a lot of games, and if you're a
lousy in Um in June and you know you're out
(28:16):
of the Pennant race, you've got a lot of games left.
So you know, I try That's what I do. I
followed the Lindsay Nelson advice, and I try to make
the game that day important, John, since we've had some
downtown with no games being played, like Ben and I
talked a couple of weeks ago about one of the
features with McGuire and so so the summer of when
(28:40):
when you reflect on on that year, what McGuire did,
what's Socia did with Griffy and the hunt for a
little while, what are your thoughts on it? You know? I,
if I had a vote, which I don't, for the
Hall of Fame, I would vote for Clemens and and
(29:00):
obviously Bonds and and Sisa and all the Rafael Palmero,
all the people who were and I guess properly accused
of taking steroids. I think that was just part of
the game. They've had other problems in baseball, and they'll
have problems in the future too, So I don't look
(29:21):
down as much not the people who took steroids. A
lot of people were doing it to stay in the
major leagues. The money is so much different than the
minor leagues, and the the living is so much different,
And you know, I just kind of accepted it as
as part of the game. Uh. You could point out
Alex Rodriguez too, who was a friend of mine. I'm
(29:42):
not going to give up on him as a friend
because he took steroids at some point. So, um, I
I kind of look askance at the home run records
set for that reason, but you know, that was part
of the game, and they still had to do it
and other people. You know what I do think I
think that there were more people taking the juice than
(30:05):
we even knew of. I think an awful lot of
guys did it, and and um John just to follow up,
and I mean, there's there are guys in the Hall
of Fame that are suspected of doing steroids. So it's like,
my I was of the mindset, you shouldn't let any
of these guys in. But then they started letting sporadic
(30:25):
players who had accusations against them, like Plug Rodriguez and
Mike Piazza and Jeff Bagwell, guys like that. So so
now you're like you're excluding certain people but not other people.
Just seems wrong to me the way that this has
been handled by the baseball writers. What do you think
about that? I I agree. I mean if they did
it on the field, other guys were on the field
(30:46):
and they weren't able to do it. And so a
guy was that good, I mean Roger Clemens one, and
he didn't do it all because the steroids. So I'm
with you. I will tell you one story though, tell
you how naive I am. Um. I got to be
friendly with the Charlie Naggy, the right hander of the Indians,
(31:11):
and uh, it was now a pitching coat somewhere. And
I used to walk in in Cleveland. Instead of walking
all the way around long walk to the clubhouses, I
would walk through left field. Uh. They opened up an
area and then they close it right underneath what it
would be the pennant porch down the left field one anyway,
(31:33):
And so I'm I'm walking down and Charlie is out
there shagging, and he say, come on, did j Alice talk?
Come on? So we went over to the side, sat
on you know, the the front level of the boxes
and were just schmoozing, as they say, and Naggie told
me something. He said, you know, Naggie was tall, but
(31:54):
he's very slim. And he said, look at me, you know,
and he said, I'm pitching. Um. These guys are coming
up and they had the biggest, strongest looking guys. It
scares the depth out of you. And now I realized
what he was talking about. That he was saying, these
guys come up who all of a sudden that had
very inflated bills, and he was giving that that happened before,
(32:19):
before it became public. And I look back and think, boy,
was I naive. I thought he was just talking about
having to face all these big, strong guys. But now
I realized what he was saying. John, you uh, you
turn a happy two in July four July? Correct? Right? Um?
(32:39):
With what you've done professionally, is there anything else that
you want to accomplish or you want to do given
the fact that you have so many chapters to this
belong book. Well, my I obviously do not believe in retirement.
And you know there are people my heroes like um,
(33:02):
like mel Brooks and Tony Bennett and Carl Reiner who
are in their nineties and are still working and will
not retire. But actually, my next thing I have to do.
I have to get my three youngest kids through college.
They're entering their sophomore year this coming year. My eldest graduated,
(33:22):
and so I've got to get these kids through college.
That's the first step, and then we'll we'll look at
what's gonna go on. But I don't feel my age,
and when you use that numbers, it sure is scary.
But I I feel the same way that I felt
the past thirty years or so. And as long as
I have held and as long as I have my pipes,
I'm gonna keep on working. So with that being said,
(33:46):
I'm curious, can you can you hint for me and Ben?
Can you hint any kind of any kind of quarantine
home run call that you have in the can for
John Carlos Stanton or anybody else in the Yankees lineup
for the Stuff something season. Well, I don't have anything
in the can. Well, I just do him live. But
(34:07):
it's a good story, and maybe a good story to
end this this interview on Well, I I did burn,
baby burn, and all of a sudden it became a thing,
and you know, a bomb from a Rod Robbi kind,
don't you know, and all that nonsense, and it's become
(34:27):
a big thing. And now I have to do it
for every player on the Yankees, and it's a home run,
which is very tough. So when the Yankees got Stanton
during the winter um, I called up Burlitz and I
asked for the Italian teacher at Burlitz and I am
(34:47):
a gal came on, the lovely, wonderful gal, and I
said to her, I explained to her what I did
with the nonsense that I did, and I said, I'm
looking for something in Italian, Uh, for Gencarlo. And I said, now,
if you want to think, I don't know if you're
old enough for this. Gal's name was Linda more Lowe,
(35:10):
and I said, I don't know if you're old enough.
But years ago Ronzoni came up with a very quick
um logo and uh, that's kind of what I'm looking for.
And I I said, they said Ronzoni sono boni in
in the words Ronzoni is so good. And so in
a couple of days she came back and she gave
(35:32):
me one and I used that usually for Gencarlo. So
when he hits a home run, it is high, it
is far, it is gone Giencrlo no ci proto farlow,
which means Gian Carlo, you can't be stopped. And and
(35:54):
uh a writer, a friend of mine, Pete Caldera, writes
for the Bergen Record and sings a good singer, and
he knows I love the same music as he does.
And he gave me one for non de mendic car
um non do medic car that ball short travel far
(36:15):
Gean Carlo anyway, So that's what I do for John Carlo.
And and is it nonsense? Yeah, but I mean it
sounds good and people love it, and I'm very fortunate
that they do. It's entertaining. Now when did that? Did
you do that in Atlanta? Or is this a Yankee thing?
Did this start with the Yankees? Well, in Atlanta, I
did a whole bunch on Dominique. I mean that was
(36:38):
my We became really good friends, and he loved the
stuff I did. Don Manique is mono fique. And so
I've kind of done it over the years, but only
every now and then. And then it's become, as I say,
a thing, a cottage industry with the Yankees, and you
know it's a it's a different thing. Uh. And you
(36:59):
know you can say to me, John, some people don't
like it. What are you gonna do? Some people don't
like everything. Yeah, well that's absolutely true. And I gotta
I can't not talk to you and asked. When I
was growing up, one of the reasons I fell in
love with baseball was this Weekend Baseball with Mel Allen.
I read that you worked with Mels. That true back
in your career. Yes. Yeah, I was at w m
(37:19):
c A in New York doing three hour talk show
every night, and the Yankees were on the station, and
I was also doing that's where I did the Nets
and Islanders basketball and hockey as a very busy little boy.
And uh. And during the fall, I was doing Morgan
State football out of Baltimore, So I mean I was
really working. But anyway, and the Yankees all of a
(37:40):
sudden started making the playoffs seventy seventy seven, seventy eight,
and uh and um, this is all now. You guys
know this because you're on the air. Being on the
air is not important. Selling the spots is important. As
you know, the first thing you have to do is
(38:01):
sell the soap, and so they sold long pre and
post game shows and they hired Mel to go on
with me, and he was a lovely gentleman and we
got to be very good friends, and we had we
had a really good time. And after one of the
World Series victories, we did a show and George Sheinbrenner's office,
(38:26):
and we've kept bringing in all these big guests, including Cavalry,
Graham and um. And for years later, even when I
got the Yankee job and Mel would see me, said
we we got to get a tape of that. We
had all these starts on. We never did get the tape,
but anyway, UM, yes, I did work with Mel and
it was a big thrill, awesome. Don't forget. Don't forget that.
(38:49):
I grew up listening to Mel Allen. He was one
of my heroes. Not my only one, but he was
one of them. Yeah, he was one of my heroes.
So I love this weekend baseball every week it was
must watch television before cable and internet and all that stuff.
So I loved it too. I love seeing all the
ballparks and uh, and I love Mel. I'm not I'll
(39:09):
give you a cute Mel Allan story that you love.
I don't know. It was seventy seven seventy eight Yankees
and Dodgers, that's for sure. And I had a buddy
who you listen to regularly over the years, Dick Stockton,
and we would meet at a restaurant very late called
(39:30):
Christo's and it was right off like mom and between
Lex and Third, great old steakhouse gone now of course,
and you could have dinner there in the early hours
of the morning. It was great. So after one of
the World Series games, I met Stockton at Christo's. Well,
(39:52):
the Dodgers came in, you know, three or four of
them were their rives, and one of them was Don
Sutton for Cleo Alabama. And that was the first time
I met him, and then we really became friends. Uh
as he got into broadcasting after his career. Anyway, Don
Sutton came over to the table and he said, you know, Mel,
(40:17):
you know I'm a big fan of yours. You know,
I'm an Alabama boy, and and would you come over
to the table and say hello. They all want to
beat you. And uh, mel Allen had come in. Layton
was sitting with us, and Mel Allen went over and
was very gracious, and they all loved it. You know,
an Alabama boy coming over to speak to an Alabama boy.
(40:38):
So I thought that was a great story. That was
off the record, you know, no one was there, didn't
make the newspapers, and I thought it was very nice. Well,
that's great to hear. John will let you go. We've
kept you for a long time here. I appreciate it. Continued,
good health, good luck with the Yankees this year, and
we'll talk to you down in the line. Thank you.
I hope you do talk down the lot. I'd love it.
(41:00):
Thank you very much, appreciate it.
Host
Ben Maller
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