March 6, 2026 • 31 mins
Ben Maller (produced by Danny G.) has a great Friday for you! Ben is joined by Robby Incmikoski, author and photographer of Sacred Grounds! They talk ballparks, baseball life, and the stories behind his stunning new book. A longtime listener of the Ben Maller Show, Robby brings 16 seasons of Big League experience as a field reporter and host with the Minnesota Twins, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Texas Rangers. He and Ben swap tales from the road—planes, trains, automobiles, and all the weirdness that comes with living inside Major League Baseball’s traveling circus. It’s a deep dive into ballpark culture, behind‑the‑scenes moments, and the places that become sacred to fans and players alike!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Cutbooms.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
If you thought four hours a day, twelve hundred minutes
a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants
of the old Republic, a sol fashion of fairness. He
treats crackheads in the ghetto gutter the same as the
rich pill poppers in the penthouse. Wow to Clearinghouse of
hot takes, break free for something special. The Fifth Hour
(00:23):
with Ben Mahller starts right now.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
In the air Everywhere.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
The Fifth Hour with Me, Ben Mahler and Danny g Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
A Happy Friday to you as.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
We are back in the remote studio after a successful
week on The Overnight Show, and we begin a new
today on this Friday podcast only edition, celebrate National Oreo
Day today. The Oreo Cookie, which first debuted way back
(00:59):
in nineteen twelve by a grocer in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Before that, think about.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
If you lived in nineteen ten or eighteen eighty eight,
no Oreo cookies. But it was a grocer in Hoboken,
New Jersey that gave us the Oreo cookie. And originally
they had a lemon moraine flavor which was not very popular.
Not very popular, so they discounted that or they discontinue
(01:26):
that and it's been around over one hundred years. Over
well over one hundred years. The Oreo cookie. Today is
also a day that you are not participating in. It
is the National Day of Unplugging. We thank you for
not participating in the National Day of Unplugging. It does
(01:47):
mean mean a lot to us. They say that seventy
seven percent of people own a smartphone. It's got to
be more than that. There was a study done somewhat recently.
Seventy seven percent of people own a smartphone and use
it constantly. So never put it down, always have it.
The whole thing cannot unplug, no digital detoks.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I use it a lot. Occasionally I can put the
phone down.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
I am able to put the phone down for a
few minutes. Anyway, enough of that, let's get to the
meat of the matter and a chance to hang out
with a buddy of mine, someone that I've known for many,
many years. His name is Robbie Ink mccowsky. He is
a broadcaster TV guy, has had a long career in television.
(02:35):
Is a listener to the Overnight Show. And if you're
in Minnesota or if you're in Pittsburgh, you know who
this guy is. He's lived the life, and Robbie has
been a broadcaster, spent several years with the Minnesota Twins,
long run with the Pittsburgh Pirates, has done some work
with the Texas Rangers as a TV sideline guy. And Robbie,
(03:01):
I've known him for so long. He wrote a book.
I'm going to get into that at some point here
with Robbie. We're going to talk about that. The book
called Sacred Grounds. It's awesome. I love baseball stadiums, and Robbie,
all his years traveling around the major leagues, he went
and took photos and did a bunch of interviews and
things like that.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
The book's called Sacred Grounds.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
I will tell you about that where you can get
it on Robbie's website robbiec dot com.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
But right now, let's start before we get to the book.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Before we get to the book, Robbie, I've not talked
to you in a long time, and you're one of
those people that came into my life. And I know
you've been around, You've been someone that I've known for
a number of years.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
But I do not remember how we met.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
I assume we met in a press box, probably somewhere
in LA but can you let me know, Robbie, do
you remember when we first met that, Well, that was.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
In person, been at the Dodger Stadium press box for
the first time, and it was one of the finest
moments in my career because you know, like a lot
of your listeners, they're devoted and their maniacs and their psychos,
and I was one of them. Ben, So it just
brought me so much stoy to meet you. And now
(04:19):
I have the honor of putting you in my book,
which is even cooler. And you know, we've stayed friends
through these years, you know, probably about fifteen seventeen years,
somewhere around that area. It's been a lot of fun, man,
and I'm just tightful to be back on again with you.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Well, it's great. And Robbie.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
The thing too, is like when you said you were
a listeners, like, oh yeah, right, you know you're not
a listener. And then but you were like quoting things
from the show, which was really cool because you did
you're a late night guy, right, you say up late,
but when you had that job as a sideline guy
as a reporter in baseball.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
You're up all night, right, You're up late at night,
not all night. But you're up all night doing so they.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Go to bed two three am a lot of nights.
And you know what am I listening to before I
go to sleep? I'm listening to Ben Maller, of course,
not SA And you put me to sleep bend. That
never happened.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Oh of course not.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
I know that would that would never happen. But man,
you have had quite the run. I did not realize this.
I was I was looking some stuff up the other day,
and I've known you for all these years. I didn't
know that you You're a Philadelphia guy, and you did
stuff with the Eagles as a kid, right, you.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Had a you had a little gig as I was.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
A ball boy for the Eagles. Yeah, growing up, when
I was a kid, I used to sneak into the
Eagles practices. So they had a practice field at the
old so remember the old Veterans Stadium where they played,
right in South Philly. So I grew up about roughly
a half a mile three quarters of a mile away
from the Old Veterans Stadium. And my buddy and I
(05:42):
used to collect aluminum cans and then we would bring
them to the Camp Bank. Get a little money, grab
a little snack here and there, And there used to
be a hole in the gate of the practice field
and it was right along Packer Avenue. So those in
South Philly and Philadelphia know exactly what I'm talking about
right now. And I stuck into practice one day and
I saw Reggie White, I saw Randall Cunningham, I saw
(06:04):
Buddy Ryan, the head coach. I saw Clyde Simmons. I
thought it was the coolest thing in the world. And
then they could never get rid of me. And that's
how it all began for me. They hired me as
a ball boy. Then I worked in the training room,
and then I get into entertainment, television, radio, all that.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
And then like you couldn't do that now, Like if
you snuck into practice now, you'd probably be arrested like today,
right I would be.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
I would be in handcuffs if I got past the
shrubbery of the Eagles facility. In twenty twenty six, Ben
So and I used to sneak. I used to I
literally snuck in the practice and hung in the corner
and was yelling at the players. That's how long times
have changed. I was back in nineteen eighty seven, when
there was a strike here for the NFL.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Oh yeah, for sure. When I was a kid, I
didn't as it wasn't a ball boy. But I have
a funny story, kind of funny. So I was a
RAMS fan and the Rams would practice. I grew up
in Orange County. They have training camp in Orange County
and NFL training camp in the nineteen and you were
there in the nineteen eighties. Much different than NFL training
camp in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
It was just.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Mom and pop. There was I got dropped off the
RAM training camp. My mom would drop me off. I
was at UC Irvine, so I'd wander around and there
was like one security guard there and he was sitting
on a folding chair and there was there was a
little there was a little bit of like a rope situation.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
That was it.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
So I would always go over to the offensive lineman
and watch them practice, and no one else cared about
the There were a few.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
People there, but nobody really cared.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
And I remember watching Jackie Slater was the big star
lineman froh yeah, and a couple other guys there and
they would curse and fart, and I was a little kid,
I was like, oh, man, and I actually had Jackie
Slater on the I did radio show or an interview
I think I had on this podcast, and Jackie's.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Like the coolest guy in the world, and he was laughing.
You know, you thought it was funny. What the world?
That's the old Jackie Slater line.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
And so last year, so you go from ball boy
and I'm sure you met a lot of cool people
with the Eagles, right doing stuff around there. That must
have been an amazing You mentioned some of the names there,
but just people that went on to have great runs
in the NFL, you know, in the front office and
things like that, right, you must have been around a
lot everybody there in Philadelphia.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
Oh, it was great. Reggie White would give me fifty
dollars for every A I got in my report card,
and that fifty dollars was game changing money. Now I
didn't didn't cost him a locks. I didn't get a
lot of a's, but but the ones I got, I
made sure I showed him that's great. So it was
great those teams that Reggie White was obviously the best
(08:36):
player on the defense. But then you know you had
Andre Waters, Seth Joyner, they had Anthony Tony Keith Byer's
with the running backs. I mean, there were some pretty
good teams that they had back in the day. And
Buddy his defense, you know, he was known for his
defensive coaching. And they had some big time players in
those days. And I still stay in touch with a
(08:57):
decent amount of those guys. So yeah, man, it was
a lot of fun and it was a great time
in my life. I was a kid. It's how I
learned work ethic and you know, and that's what it
was like being in locker rooms. You know, I was
at a locker rooms, you know, hanging out in locker
rooms at an extremely young age.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Yeah, there is a there's a way you have to
act right. People don't understand like there's like there's a
code of the locker room. Like you have to kind
of understand the code of the locker room. If you
don't understand it, you're gonna get crushed. It's not pretty
if you don't understand it. It's its own unique world
in there.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Yeah, it's just like you have to be like, you know,
like people, you know, fans out there. I don't know,
I don't even realize if they have friends that work
for teams or people that work in locker rooms, you know,
whether it's a clubhouse assistant, an equipment manager, a trainer.
I mean, you've got to be slightly whacked in the head,
you know, which is why I love your show, because
a lot of your listeners, a lot of your callers,
(09:49):
are just slightly whacked in the head and they have fun.
So those are the people. I spent my years growing
up with those kind of people, and that's why I
loved your show.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
The Wackadoodle, the Wackadole crowd, I love the I could
do it all right, but.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
I mean in the good way. I mean in a
complimentary way.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Yeah, I mean exactly exactly. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, So how
did you end up?
Speaker 3 (10:08):
I met you, you were already doing TV, Yes, you
were the Pirates at the time. So how did you
end up like in that world from bald Boy with
the Eagles and then you know, down the line, you're
doing television.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Yeah, it's pretty crazy. Well, first of all, it's great mentors.
Kurt Menefee, who hosts the Fox NFL Sunday pregame show,
Brian Baldinger Baldi, you know, famous for Baldy's breakdowns. Those
are the two guys that got my career going, and
those two have been very close friends for man since
since the nineties, over thirty years, those two have been extremely,
(10:45):
extremely close friends, and they both kind of took me
under their wing because when I was in that locker room,
Ben Baldy played for the Eagles. He was an offensive lineman.
I don't know if you know people realized Baldy spent
twelve years in the NFL as an offensive lineman and
after free agent coming out of Duke, played for Steve Spurrier,
and he got into broadcasting and just took me under
(11:07):
his wing. And that's kind of how I made that transition.
Kurt Menafee was his broadcast partner doing games for the
NFL and Fox, and obviously kurtis since transition to become,
you know, the face of the franchise on the studio show.
But Baldy was doing games and I tagged along with
him and my first job, Ben, How about this first
job I ever had in television was with Fox Sports.
(11:29):
I was a spotter for Pat Summer all the last
year that he did games in the NFL. So if
you remember, they called Tom Brady's first Super Bowl that
was the last Super Bowl Madden summer All did together.
Remember when they upset the Saint Louis Rams, the greatest
show on turf, the Adam Vina Terry Field goal to
walk it off.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, that was.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Pat summer Awl and John Madden's last Super Bowl together.
So Baldy and Pat Summer All were broadcast partners the
next year, in two thousand and two. That season, and
that's kind of how it all started. And that's where
the bug bit me. So I just kind of tagged
along and had some great mentors. Crazy story how a
lot of people realized Baldy and Pat Summer All were
broadcast partners.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yeah, I remember, because Matt did Madden? Did he leave
or they broke I know they broke him up obviously,
but did he leave Fox?
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Is that? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Madden? Madden stopped doing television. Yeah, and some are all
he had done a couple more games, but I think
it was more like guest appearances he did. I think
he did some Sunday Night football on ESPN, might have
covered a few games from Mike Patrick back in the day,
but primarily that's who it was.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
The legend two of Pat Summer All it's awesome. You
got to be right next to him and watch him work.
But I remember it'd be like Emmett Smith with the Cowboys,
be hand off to Emmett and then touchdown Cowboy, and
we like ninety yard touchdown running. It was like four
words from Pat summer All.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
It was as we always said, it less is more,
and that's what it was with with with Pat summer
All where he would say Montana Rice touchdown and like
that's it. It's crazy, isn't it crazy?
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Yeah, So now you get a word salad. A lot
of times you get like a word sub. So you're
doing the silent stuff. You worked for the Twins for
a while, right, you were beloved in Minnesota years.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
I don't know about beloved.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Come on, you know it's time. Let me tell you. Robbie.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
I was in Vegas a couple months back and the
morning show, the Power Trip Morning Show from Kfan was there.
They were doing a remote at I got done with
my show at three in the morning, and then they
invited me to come over Data Place at New York, New.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
York, this restaurant over there.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
So I show up thinking there's gonna be about three
or four people there. This was after the Vikings played
the Chargers in LA but they were in Vegas.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
I walk in.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
There were like three hundred people at four in the
morning at this restaurant, all Minnesota people. It's different you
live there, Bobby, It's a different animal. They're in Minnesota. Man,
These people love they loved it. They were there going crazy,
eating food, drinking at four in the morning, talking about
the Vikings and whatever else was going on at that time.
Was next level. And so you lived that life in Minnesota.
(14:09):
But the Twins were not very good, Robbie, right, they
were not particular.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
They were good my first two years when I was
there twosand and nine, twenty ten, and then twenty eleven,
things kind of went against them. So, yeah, they won
the Al Central. They had to remember the crazy game
in the metro Dome. It was a walk off single
by Alexi Cassia against the Detroit Tigers. It was one
of the absolute craziest playoff games ever played. It was
(14:32):
a game one. I shouldn't say playoff. It was a
game one sixty three is what it was. Yeah, and
that was the last year the Metrodome. The Twins won
the division that year under Ron Garden higher and then
they won it again in twenty ten, their first year
in target field. Then the struggles began in twenty eleven.
So they were good for two and then they struggled
for two after that.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Yeah, and then obviously your time in Pittsburgh the Pirates,
it was a tough run. It's not it's been well,
how was it for you, Robbie, When you're doing the
sideline stuff and you're doing the interviews and the team is.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Be honest, you they're out of the race by the All.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Star break if you're well, here's the thing. So the
first three years the Pirates, they were really good, twenty thirteen,
fourteen and fifteen, Right.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Really, I don't even remember that they were. They had
good teams, really, I don't remember.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Oh yeah, they won ninety eight games in twenty fifteen.
The problem was is Saint Louis Cardinals won one hundred,
So that was the problem there. And then they ran
into some buzzsaws pitching in the NLDS. In twenty thirteen,
it was at a Wayne Wright in Game five, and
then in twenty fourteen, Medicine Bumgartner Matt Bum had that
crazy run began at the Wildcard game at P and
C Park, and then twenty fifteen wild Card game again
(15:43):
they ran into Jake Arieta. So we're in in the
two consecutive buzz saws in the playoffs and that's what
ended their run, and then they started to struggle in
twenty sixteen. But you raised an interesting point, Ben, and
people have asked that question. When you're a field reporter
for TV like I was, when a team is bad,
that is when you have to be at your best
(16:05):
because when a team is good, the baseball carries itself.
When the team is bad, that's when you have to
keep viewers and have fun. So you had to dig
a little bit harder when you're covering a team that's
not winning a lot of games in baseball, because it's
every day and there's such a loyal fan base and
people are watching day in and day out, so you
got to put on three hours of entertainment every night. Brother,
(16:25):
So you end up meeting a lot of people having
a lot of fun. And that's how was end up
able to write my book because I created all those relationships.
So I guess, in a backhanded way, I have to
thank the Pirates a little bit for losing so many
games because I got to meet so many people, because
I did so many cool stories on them.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, for sure, for sure.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
And we'll get to that bay, Like, what is that
what makes a good silent reporter? To see you were
able to find some really goofy things in your time.
I mean I saw some of the stuff. Obviously I
don't live in Pittsburgh or Minnesota, but I saw some
of the clips on the internet and stuff. So you
were able to track down a lot of kids stories,
right right, People love kids.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
All the time, all the time. It's just, you know,
it's entertainment, man, and you get that, Ben. You know
base there's so much that goes on around the game
of baseball. So our job, you know, look, you asked
me what makes a great TV reporter? Just my personal opinion,
only people that humanize these guys. We know what they
can do is baseball players, but dig deep a little bit,
make me root for them, People root for who they like.
(17:21):
So my job was to make people like them, you know.
So that involved humanize them, talking to their parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles,
high school coaches, youth league coaches, brothers and sisters, everybody.
It was a combination of everything. So you know, we
just humanize these people, you know, and hopefully people realize that,
you know, yeah, they're great baseball players, but they're also
(17:42):
regular human beings like the rest of us. For sure,
that was a job, that was a job.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Who's your of all the players you dealt with, Robbie,
who was like the coolest guy to deal with? Who
is the guy that you really as a TV guy
that you connected with when you were doing that stuff.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
So to stand out, one is currently playing, one is
doing television. Actually three standout and two that aren't playing
anymore are in media. Number one probably the current players.
Joe Musgrove with the San Diego Padres pitcher through the folks,
no hitter in the history of the Padres.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
He just a real cool guy, a real introspective guy,
gets along with everyone, treats everyone with respect, comes from
a great family, wonderful parents, Mark and Diane, sisters, Tara, Marisa,
brother Aaron. I mean, just you know, just a really
down to earth guy who happened to be great at
throwing a baseball. So we were able to, you know,
fortunately develop a really good relationship. And then you know,
(18:38):
another guy that was really good to deal with is
Cole Tucker. He was a first round pick, played for
a couple of teams, and now he's doing some shows
on radio, doing some podcasting and stuff, and he's just
a wonderful, wonderful guy to deal with. And then Stephen
Brall played a couple of years for the Pirates and
then went to the Cups first season, and now he's
(18:59):
doing television here in Pittsburgh as well. So we had
some cool guys throughout the years. Man and baseball has
a lot of good human beings and it ben you
don't run into a ton of guys who are like
bad guys. Some people don't really enjoy doing media, but
that's okay. It's part of the business. But you just
meet so many different people. And some are funny, funny characters,
(19:21):
and some are pretty straight and narrow, and some prefer
to stick to themselves. So you meet all kinds of people.
But those three stand out as well. Well.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
You, Robbie, is because your personality, Like I when I
was in locker rooms all the time, I did have
dust ups. There were dust up situations that took place,
and but I think you are so likable that hard
to be upset with you, Robbie, because you're just a
great guy.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
People love you. You look at me, I'm a schlub, right,
I'm draggled.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
I mean, I and my one of my funniest you know,
I had a few guys that got really upset with
me back when I was a radio reporter, before I
got into.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Why would anybody dislike you? You don't do controversy?
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Oh not at all, no, no, But the funniest was
I got yelled at you. Remember Todd Hunley who played
with the Mets and the.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
Coach I remember Todd Hunley.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Yeah, he came to the Dodgers and he had had
an operation with the Mets and they screwed up his arm.
He couldn't throw anymore, and they put they tried to
put him the outfield, didn't work.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
The Dodgers got him.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
But this was a weird time for the Dodgers because
they had Mike Piazza, who was beloved. They got rid
of Piazza and then they had Charles jon But anyway,
they brought Todd Hunley in and he wasn't that good
at that point. He had a few home runs, but
he yeah, really bad defensive player. So I had made
some comments. I just started doing a talk show. I
was doing a midday show in LA and I'd made
(20:44):
some comments that you know, he was not good, he
was and he wasn't Onley was not playing very well
for the Dodger.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
So I made some comments.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
And I was in the locker room a couple days
later and Todd came up to me and he starts
reading me the riot Act, right, you know, it's kind
of getting in my face.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
And I was like, oh boy.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
But then the funniest thing, Robbie is he said, I
do not listen to your show, but my family does.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
I was like, okay.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
I'm like, okay, fair enough, fair enough, but but enough
about that. Let's get to the good stuff.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Oh that's great. I love those stories though. By the way,
I can't tell you how many players over the years
have pulled me aside and go who is that guy?
And they and they would say, I thought that was him.
I can't stand that guy.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure, for sure.
So you contacted me a while back.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
You said, hey, I'm working on this thing and I
want to chat with you.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
I said, okay, sure, whatever, fine, So we chatted for
a little bit about some of my experiences at Dodger Stadium.
And then somewhat recently you contacted me. He said, Hey,
the project is done. And that project I thought, well,
this is probably some rinky dink thing, this is nothing,
but no, it's uh, it's a book called Sacred Grounds,
(22:02):
and this is your baby here, and if you're a
baseball person, it's just amazing.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
You did a great job. You nailed it. And it's
all about all.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
The different ballparks and all your experiences, some of the stories. Right,
You've got a bunch of You've interviewed a bunch of
people that you know and met over your time with
the Pirates and the Twins, and so explain I'm not
doing a great job. Explain Sacred Grounds, Robbie, what this
project's all about.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
So, Ben and I appreciate you having me on and
give me a chance to talk about this, because the
reception so far that we've received for Sacred Grounds really
has just blown me away, and I'm so thankful for it. So,
as I've described to you before, I spent sixteen years
as a TV reporter and host in Major League Baseball.
(22:50):
So I spent four years with the twins eleven with
the Pirates, and in twenty twenty four, I took a
backup role with the Texas Rangers on their TV broadcast
before they switch networks to the Ranger Sports Network. And
you spend all this time getting to know the players,
the coaches, the trainers. But as you know, Ben, how
(23:12):
many characters are there around the game of baseball that
nobody knows about? Right? Like for sure, you know, there's
just so many of them. And I never thought in
my life I would be writing a book on ballparks
with photos from all thirty ballparks and then interviewing the
press dining server in Cincinnati, Ohio. And that's one of
(23:34):
the stories in my book. So I tried to shed
a light on the stories that happen in baseball that
people really don't know a lot about. They don't really
know that they exist. So we tried to get the
story behind the story a lot of times. So I'll
give you an example. Everybody obviously remembers when Cal Ripken
(23:55):
broke the Major League Baseball record for consecutive games played, Right,
everybody remembers that, Sure, I interviewed the guy that played
third base next to him that night and I just
wanted to know what that was like that night, what
was your day like? What's it like being remembered as
the guy that played next to Cal Ripken at third base.
The problem is not a lot of people remember it.
Jeff Houston is his name, and he's a wonderful guy,
(24:18):
and he starts telling me some of these stories and
he sent me a couple of photos. We end up
getting a great story for the book. You know, you
remember in August seventh, two thousand and seven, Barry Bond
sets Major League Baseball's home run record. Well, my broadcast
partner with the Texas Rangers was Mike Basseck, the guy
that gave up the home run, and he's very open
about it and he owns that part of history. So
(24:39):
why not dig into that side of the story. We've
heard from Barry a ton, we've heard from Cal Ripken
a ton about breaking the streak record, but what about
the people on the other side of that. So we
looked into that a little bit and just tried to
talk about the game day experience at each place and
give people a tour of all thirty ballparks from their
own couch.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Yeah, I know, it's great. And of course I love
it because I'm in the book, Robbie. I made the
book Who the Dodger Stadium section there you're going to
the behind the scenes on Chavezervin some of the stories
there from Dodger Stadium, but it's every every ballpark and
this is this and you have I love that you
have a checklist in the back there too, Robbie. So
if like you're traveling, a lot of people love to
(25:19):
go to I haven't even been every ballpark. You've been
there because you did the TV stuff. I've been most
of them, but i haven't been to every ballpark, and
I'd like to get to every ballpark before I'm done
here and check it out. And you have, you know,
obviously stories, you get things to look at when you
go to the ballparks, and in the back you have
the little checklists so you can check out the dates
and write down the dates and all that. And you
(25:42):
brought up a great point though about the people behind
the scenes. I know, for my years at Dodger Stadium,
when I was there every night, the most important people
are often like the for the players, it's the clubhouse
attendants and the people like that.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
But for the media.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
It's the person that cooks the food, it's the the
press box attended, Like those are the people that really
that moved the needle. And you were always running I
remember always you were run around taking photos. You were
you were multitasking while you're doing the TV stuff all
those years, right, I mean this was something yeah, you
were Were you planning this like or did this just
kind of pop up?
Speaker 2 (26:17):
It was.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
It's kind of crazy because it was a little bit
of everything.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
It was.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
I didn't really plan it. I had taken a bunch
of pictures. I started at Fenway Park in twenty seventeen
when the Pirates had opening day there, so I thought
that would be kind of cool, so I bought a
digital camera. But I've always been fascinated with ballparks because
you know how they they connect. You know, baseball stadiums
connect a city with its baseball team. You know, when
(26:42):
you look at you look at football, it's one hundred
yard field and the end zones ten yards, and then
you look at a hockey it's two hundred and by
eighty five. You look at basketball, same dimensions, but baseball
is so unique in that way, and you look at
the character and charisma of each ballpark. It ties a
city to its team. And I've always been fascinated with
(27:04):
baseball stadiums for one reason or another, and I've loved them.
So I made sure I took pictures at all thirty
ballparks when I traveled. So from twenty seventeen to twenty
twenty four, I did that and thought I was just
going to do a little you know, you know, a
little Shutterfly album for my friends to check out when
they came over. And then I met my author, Kyle
Feger and his team at a sender book services and
(27:25):
they said, oh, this is going to be pretty good.
And we worked our tails off and called one hundred
and probably one hundred and thirty one hundred and forty people.
We end up getting one hundred and twenty into the book.
So we just we put the work in. We worked,
you know, extremely hard. We're extremely proud of the product
that we produced, and I don't know, man like it
(27:46):
just it kind of all came together a little bit.
You know, people love retelling stories and they loved talking
about with the ballpark experiences, so that's kind of how
all this came together. And it's been a lot of
fun doing it.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
It's a great point because we were kids.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
We're about the same age, and we had there was
that era, you know where if you watched a Philadelphia
Phillies game or a Cincinnati Reds game or a Cardinals game,
you didn't even know what ballpark.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
They all looked the same.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
They were all cookie cutter back in those days.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
And you look at and you know, you spent a
lot of time in Pittsburgh PNC Park, and I've never
seen a game there, Rubbie. I went to Pittsburgh years
ago and the Pirates were out of town or whatever,
and so I was walking around.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
I looked at the view and it's just it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
The apps, the bridges and the skyline in the background.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
It's like a painting. It's like a Bob Ross painting,
if you were amazing.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
The view from PNC Park in Pittsburgh is just next level, Like.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
It's the most beautiful ballpark in America. It's gorgeous. Yeah,
there's another way to really say it. The way it's situated,
looking at downtown Pittsburgh, right along the banks of the
Alleghany River, not far from the Point State Park. It's
just beautiful. The Clemeny Bridge is right there beyond center field.
Roberto Clemenny's statue. You see it as soon as you
(29:08):
come down into the north shore. As soon as you
step off the bridge, the first thing you see to
your left is the big statue of Roberto Clemente. You
keep walking, you see Willie Stargel's statue, and if you
make your way down the river walk, you go down
the steps and along the river walk, there's a bunch
of giant numbers, giant baseballs, and then you see the
Bill Mezerowski statue. It's just an amazing, amazing place. And
(29:31):
any baseball fan that has not had a chance to
see PNC Park, you absolutely have to put this on
your ballpark tour and it has to be at the
top of the list.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
I completely agree. And Pittsburgh underrated city too. By the way,
I thought i'd heard some terrible things back in the
day about Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
When I visited, I think it is really cool.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
It's a lot now now all that stuff has gone. Man,
Pittsburgh's a beautiful city. It's a great city, full hard workers,
great sports town. Ben they love their sports in Pittsburgh.
The it the insers, the insers, the insurers. There are
so many insurers, and I love them all their beauties,
man stealer flags outside their house. They complain about the
(30:10):
Pirates when they struggle. It's it's it's incredible. I love it.
I love this town. I love living here. I love
it as a city, and I love it as a
baseball city even more.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Yeah, I gotta get the Pirates good again, though, got
to get the Pirates.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
They're gonna be good this year. Ben, They're going to
make the playoffs in my opinion, Brother, I hope.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
So all right, how can people now, Robbie, where do
you want people to buy the book?
Speaker 1 (30:29):
It's called Sacred Grounds. It's do you want them to
go to your website?
Speaker 4 (30:34):
Is it? Yep? My website, that's it's the only place
it's available right now. We're working on changing that. Uh
my name first three lovers of my last name, Robbie
R O B B Y I n C. So Robbie,
it is R O B B Y I NC dot
com and uh we'll get the book out to you,
you know, depending on the time of day. If the
post office is open, it's going up that day, If not,
(30:54):
it's going out first thing the next morning.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
All right, Yeah to you.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
It's really cool. It's you know, it's a hearty book,
and it's great because you can you know, you know,
you can sit down and whether you want to sit
down and look at the whole thing or maybe you know,
you got a few minutes. I do a lot of
my reading, Robbie on the throne. I'm going to admit it,
I do. And you know, I might take that and there,
read it, check it out a little bit, and then
I'll look at the Marlins Ballpark because I don't know
(31:18):
I want to go see that stadium, but I'll check
it out because you've got stories on that and everything.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
So I guess.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
Stories on all thirty brother, all thirty ballparks. You get
to see them all, all.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
Right, So check it out again, Robbie, as he said,
R O B. B Y I NC dot com. It's
called correct Sacred Grounds.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Thank you so much, Robbie the man appreciated.
Speaker 4 (31:40):
Thank you you are the best, Ben. Thank you brother,
and I am honored to have you in my book.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Got a murder. I gotta go
Cutbooms.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
If you thought four hours a day, twelve hundred minutes
a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants
of the old Republic, a sol fashion of fairness. He
treats crackheads in the ghetto gutter the same as the
rich pill poppers in the penthouse. Wow to Clearinghouse of
hot takes, break free for something special. The Fifth Hour
(00:23):
with Ben Mahller starts right now.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
In the air Everywhere.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
The Fifth Hour with Me, Ben Mahler and Danny g Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
A Happy Friday to you as.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
We are back in the remote studio after a successful
week on The Overnight Show, and we begin a new
today on this Friday podcast only edition, celebrate National Oreo
Day today. The Oreo Cookie, which first debuted way back
(00:59):
in nineteen twelve by a grocer in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Before that, think about.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
If you lived in nineteen ten or eighteen eighty eight,
no Oreo cookies. But it was a grocer in Hoboken,
New Jersey that gave us the Oreo cookie. And originally
they had a lemon moraine flavor which was not very popular.
Not very popular, so they discounted that or they discontinue
(01:26):
that and it's been around over one hundred years. Over
well over one hundred years. The Oreo cookie. Today is
also a day that you are not participating in. It
is the National Day of Unplugging. We thank you for
not participating in the National Day of Unplugging. It does
(01:47):
mean mean a lot to us. They say that seventy
seven percent of people own a smartphone. It's got to
be more than that. There was a study done somewhat recently.
Seventy seven percent of people own a smartphone and use
it constantly. So never put it down, always have it.
The whole thing cannot unplug, no digital detoks.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I use it a lot. Occasionally I can put the
phone down.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
I am able to put the phone down for a
few minutes. Anyway, enough of that, let's get to the
meat of the matter and a chance to hang out
with a buddy of mine, someone that I've known for many,
many years. His name is Robbie Ink mccowsky. He is
a broadcaster TV guy, has had a long career in television.
(02:35):
Is a listener to the Overnight Show. And if you're
in Minnesota or if you're in Pittsburgh, you know who
this guy is. He's lived the life, and Robbie has
been a broadcaster, spent several years with the Minnesota Twins,
long run with the Pittsburgh Pirates, has done some work
with the Texas Rangers as a TV sideline guy. And Robbie,
(03:01):
I've known him for so long. He wrote a book.
I'm going to get into that at some point here
with Robbie. We're going to talk about that. The book
called Sacred Grounds. It's awesome. I love baseball stadiums, and Robbie,
all his years traveling around the major leagues, he went
and took photos and did a bunch of interviews and
things like that.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
The book's called Sacred Grounds.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
I will tell you about that where you can get
it on Robbie's website robbiec dot com.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
But right now, let's start before we get to the book.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Before we get to the book, Robbie, I've not talked
to you in a long time, and you're one of
those people that came into my life. And I know
you've been around, You've been someone that I've known for
a number of years.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
But I do not remember how we met.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
I assume we met in a press box, probably somewhere
in LA but can you let me know, Robbie, do
you remember when we first met that, Well, that was.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
In person, been at the Dodger Stadium press box for
the first time, and it was one of the finest
moments in my career because you know, like a lot
of your listeners, they're devoted and their maniacs and their psychos,
and I was one of them. Ben, So it just
brought me so much stoy to meet you. And now
(04:19):
I have the honor of putting you in my book,
which is even cooler. And you know, we've stayed friends
through these years, you know, probably about fifteen seventeen years,
somewhere around that area. It's been a lot of fun, man,
and I'm just tightful to be back on again with you.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Well, it's great. And Robbie.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
The thing too, is like when you said you were
a listeners, like, oh yeah, right, you know you're not
a listener. And then but you were like quoting things
from the show, which was really cool because you did
you're a late night guy, right, you say up late,
but when you had that job as a sideline guy
as a reporter in baseball.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
You're up all night, right, You're up late at night,
not all night. But you're up all night doing so they.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Go to bed two three am a lot of nights.
And you know what am I listening to before I
go to sleep? I'm listening to Ben Maller, of course,
not SA And you put me to sleep bend. That
never happened.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Oh of course not.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
I know that would that would never happen. But man,
you have had quite the run. I did not realize this.
I was I was looking some stuff up the other day,
and I've known you for all these years. I didn't
know that you You're a Philadelphia guy, and you did
stuff with the Eagles as a kid, right, you.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Had a you had a little gig as I was.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
A ball boy for the Eagles. Yeah, growing up, when
I was a kid, I used to sneak into the
Eagles practices. So they had a practice field at the
old so remember the old Veterans Stadium where they played,
right in South Philly. So I grew up about roughly
a half a mile three quarters of a mile away
from the Old Veterans Stadium. And my buddy and I
(05:42):
used to collect aluminum cans and then we would bring
them to the Camp Bank. Get a little money, grab
a little snack here and there, And there used to
be a hole in the gate of the practice field
and it was right along Packer Avenue. So those in
South Philly and Philadelphia know exactly what I'm talking about
right now. And I stuck into practice one day and
I saw Reggie White, I saw Randall Cunningham, I saw
(06:04):
Buddy Ryan, the head coach. I saw Clyde Simmons. I
thought it was the coolest thing in the world. And
then they could never get rid of me. And that's
how it all began for me. They hired me as
a ball boy. Then I worked in the training room,
and then I get into entertainment, television, radio, all that.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
And then like you couldn't do that now, Like if
you snuck into practice now, you'd probably be arrested like today,
right I would be.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
I would be in handcuffs if I got past the
shrubbery of the Eagles facility. In twenty twenty six, Ben
So and I used to sneak. I used to I
literally snuck in the practice and hung in the corner
and was yelling at the players. That's how long times
have changed. I was back in nineteen eighty seven, when
there was a strike here for the NFL.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Oh yeah, for sure. When I was a kid, I
didn't as it wasn't a ball boy. But I have
a funny story, kind of funny. So I was a
RAMS fan and the Rams would practice. I grew up
in Orange County. They have training camp in Orange County
and NFL training camp in the nineteen and you were
there in the nineteen eighties. Much different than NFL training
camp in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
It was just.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Mom and pop. There was I got dropped off the
RAM training camp. My mom would drop me off. I
was at UC Irvine, so I'd wander around and there
was like one security guard there and he was sitting
on a folding chair and there was there was a
little there was a little bit of like a rope situation.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
That was it.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
So I would always go over to the offensive lineman
and watch them practice, and no one else cared about
the There were a few.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
People there, but nobody really cared.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
And I remember watching Jackie Slater was the big star
lineman froh yeah, and a couple other guys there and
they would curse and fart, and I was a little kid,
I was like, oh, man, and I actually had Jackie
Slater on the I did radio show or an interview
I think I had on this podcast, and Jackie's.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Like the coolest guy in the world, and he was laughing.
You know, you thought it was funny. What the world?
That's the old Jackie Slater line.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
And so last year, so you go from ball boy
and I'm sure you met a lot of cool people
with the Eagles, right doing stuff around there. That must
have been an amazing You mentioned some of the names there,
but just people that went on to have great runs
in the NFL, you know, in the front office and
things like that, right, you must have been around a
lot everybody there in Philadelphia.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
Oh, it was great. Reggie White would give me fifty
dollars for every A I got in my report card,
and that fifty dollars was game changing money. Now I
didn't didn't cost him a locks. I didn't get a
lot of a's, but but the ones I got, I
made sure I showed him that's great. So it was
great those teams that Reggie White was obviously the best
(08:36):
player on the defense. But then you know you had
Andre Waters, Seth Joyner, they had Anthony Tony Keith Byer's
with the running backs. I mean, there were some pretty
good teams that they had back in the day. And
Buddy his defense, you know, he was known for his
defensive coaching. And they had some big time players in
those days. And I still stay in touch with a
(08:57):
decent amount of those guys. So yeah, man, it was
a lot of fun and it was a great time
in my life. I was a kid. It's how I
learned work ethic and you know, and that's what it
was like being in locker rooms. You know, I was
at a locker rooms, you know, hanging out in locker
rooms at an extremely young age.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Yeah, there is a there's a way you have to
act right. People don't understand like there's like there's a
code of the locker room. Like you have to kind
of understand the code of the locker room. If you
don't understand it, you're gonna get crushed. It's not pretty
if you don't understand it. It's its own unique world
in there.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Yeah, it's just like you have to be like, you know,
like people, you know, fans out there. I don't know,
I don't even realize if they have friends that work
for teams or people that work in locker rooms, you know,
whether it's a clubhouse assistant, an equipment manager, a trainer.
I mean, you've got to be slightly whacked in the head,
you know, which is why I love your show, because
a lot of your listeners, a lot of your callers,
(09:49):
are just slightly whacked in the head and they have fun.
So those are the people. I spent my years growing
up with those kind of people, and that's why I
loved your show.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
The Wackadoodle, the Wackadole crowd, I love the I could
do it all right, but.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
I mean in the good way. I mean in a
complimentary way.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Yeah, I mean exactly exactly. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, So how
did you end up?
Speaker 3 (10:08):
I met you, you were already doing TV, Yes, you
were the Pirates at the time. So how did you
end up like in that world from bald Boy with
the Eagles and then you know, down the line, you're
doing television.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Yeah, it's pretty crazy. Well, first of all, it's great mentors.
Kurt Menefee, who hosts the Fox NFL Sunday pregame show,
Brian Baldinger Baldi, you know, famous for Baldy's breakdowns. Those
are the two guys that got my career going, and
those two have been very close friends for man since
since the nineties, over thirty years, those two have been extremely,
(10:45):
extremely close friends, and they both kind of took me
under their wing because when I was in that locker room,
Ben Baldy played for the Eagles. He was an offensive lineman.
I don't know if you know people realized Baldy spent
twelve years in the NFL as an offensive lineman and
after free agent coming out of Duke, played for Steve Spurrier,
and he got into broadcasting and just took me under
(11:07):
his wing. And that's kind of how I made that transition.
Kurt Menafee was his broadcast partner doing games for the
NFL and Fox, and obviously kurtis since transition to become,
you know, the face of the franchise on the studio show.
But Baldy was doing games and I tagged along with
him and my first job, Ben, How about this first
job I ever had in television was with Fox Sports.
(11:29):
I was a spotter for Pat Summer all the last
year that he did games in the NFL. So if
you remember, they called Tom Brady's first Super Bowl that
was the last Super Bowl Madden summer All did together.
Remember when they upset the Saint Louis Rams, the greatest
show on turf, the Adam Vina Terry Field goal to
walk it off.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, that was.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Pat summer Awl and John Madden's last Super Bowl together.
So Baldy and Pat Summer All were broadcast partners the
next year, in two thousand and two. That season, and
that's kind of how it all started. And that's where
the bug bit me. So I just kind of tagged
along and had some great mentors. Crazy story how a
lot of people realized Baldy and Pat Summer All were
broadcast partners.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yeah, I remember, because Matt did Madden? Did he leave
or they broke I know they broke him up obviously,
but did he leave Fox?
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Is that? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Madden? Madden stopped doing television. Yeah, and some are all
he had done a couple more games, but I think
it was more like guest appearances he did. I think
he did some Sunday Night football on ESPN, might have
covered a few games from Mike Patrick back in the day,
but primarily that's who it was.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
The legend two of Pat Summer All it's awesome. You
got to be right next to him and watch him work.
But I remember it'd be like Emmett Smith with the Cowboys,
be hand off to Emmett and then touchdown Cowboy, and
we like ninety yard touchdown running. It was like four
words from Pat summer All.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
It was as we always said, it less is more,
and that's what it was with with with Pat summer
All where he would say Montana Rice touchdown and like
that's it. It's crazy, isn't it crazy?
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Yeah, So now you get a word salad. A lot
of times you get like a word sub. So you're
doing the silent stuff. You worked for the Twins for
a while, right, you were beloved in Minnesota years.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
I don't know about beloved.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Come on, you know it's time. Let me tell you. Robbie.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
I was in Vegas a couple months back and the
morning show, the Power Trip Morning Show from Kfan was there.
They were doing a remote at I got done with
my show at three in the morning, and then they
invited me to come over Data Place at New York, New.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
York, this restaurant over there.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
So I show up thinking there's gonna be about three
or four people there. This was after the Vikings played
the Chargers in LA but they were in Vegas.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
I walk in.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
There were like three hundred people at four in the
morning at this restaurant, all Minnesota people. It's different you
live there, Bobby, It's a different animal. They're in Minnesota. Man,
These people love they loved it. They were there going crazy,
eating food, drinking at four in the morning, talking about
the Vikings and whatever else was going on at that time.
Was next level. And so you lived that life in Minnesota.
(14:09):
But the Twins were not very good, Robbie, right, they
were not particular.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
They were good my first two years when I was
there twosand and nine, twenty ten, and then twenty eleven,
things kind of went against them. So, yeah, they won
the Al Central. They had to remember the crazy game
in the metro Dome. It was a walk off single
by Alexi Cassia against the Detroit Tigers. It was one
of the absolute craziest playoff games ever played. It was
(14:32):
a game one. I shouldn't say playoff. It was a
game one sixty three is what it was. Yeah, and
that was the last year the Metrodome. The Twins won
the division that year under Ron Garden higher and then
they won it again in twenty ten, their first year
in target field. Then the struggles began in twenty eleven.
So they were good for two and then they struggled
for two after that.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Yeah, and then obviously your time in Pittsburgh the Pirates,
it was a tough run. It's not it's been well,
how was it for you, Robbie, When you're doing the
sideline stuff and you're doing the interviews and the team is.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Be honest, you they're out of the race by the All.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Star break if you're well, here's the thing. So the
first three years the Pirates, they were really good, twenty thirteen,
fourteen and fifteen, Right.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Really, I don't even remember that they were. They had
good teams, really, I don't remember.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Oh yeah, they won ninety eight games in twenty fifteen.
The problem was is Saint Louis Cardinals won one hundred,
So that was the problem there. And then they ran
into some buzzsaws pitching in the NLDS. In twenty thirteen,
it was at a Wayne Wright in Game five, and
then in twenty fourteen, Medicine Bumgartner Matt Bum had that
crazy run began at the Wildcard game at P and
C Park, and then twenty fifteen wild Card game again
(15:43):
they ran into Jake Arieta. So we're in in the
two consecutive buzz saws in the playoffs and that's what
ended their run, and then they started to struggle in
twenty sixteen. But you raised an interesting point, Ben, and
people have asked that question. When you're a field reporter
for TV like I was, when a team is bad,
that is when you have to be at your best
(16:05):
because when a team is good, the baseball carries itself.
When the team is bad, that's when you have to
keep viewers and have fun. So you had to dig
a little bit harder when you're covering a team that's
not winning a lot of games in baseball, because it's
every day and there's such a loyal fan base and
people are watching day in and day out, so you
got to put on three hours of entertainment every night. Brother,
(16:25):
So you end up meeting a lot of people having
a lot of fun. And that's how was end up
able to write my book because I created all those relationships.
So I guess, in a backhanded way, I have to
thank the Pirates a little bit for losing so many
games because I got to meet so many people, because
I did so many cool stories on them.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, for sure, for sure.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
And we'll get to that bay, Like, what is that
what makes a good silent reporter? To see you were
able to find some really goofy things in your time.
I mean I saw some of the stuff. Obviously I
don't live in Pittsburgh or Minnesota, but I saw some
of the clips on the internet and stuff. So you
were able to track down a lot of kids stories,
right right, People love kids.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
All the time, all the time. It's just, you know,
it's entertainment, man, and you get that, Ben. You know
base there's so much that goes on around the game
of baseball. So our job, you know, look, you asked
me what makes a great TV reporter? Just my personal opinion,
only people that humanize these guys. We know what they
can do is baseball players, but dig deep a little bit,
make me root for them, People root for who they like.
(17:21):
So my job was to make people like them, you know.
So that involved humanize them, talking to their parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles,
high school coaches, youth league coaches, brothers and sisters, everybody.
It was a combination of everything. So you know, we
just humanize these people, you know, and hopefully people realize that,
you know, yeah, they're great baseball players, but they're also
(17:42):
regular human beings like the rest of us. For sure,
that was a job, that was a job.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Who's your of all the players you dealt with, Robbie,
who was like the coolest guy to deal with? Who
is the guy that you really as a TV guy
that you connected with when you were doing that stuff.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
So to stand out, one is currently playing, one is
doing television. Actually three standout and two that aren't playing
anymore are in media. Number one probably the current players.
Joe Musgrove with the San Diego Padres pitcher through the folks,
no hitter in the history of the Padres.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
He just a real cool guy, a real introspective guy,
gets along with everyone, treats everyone with respect, comes from
a great family, wonderful parents, Mark and Diane, sisters, Tara, Marisa,
brother Aaron. I mean, just you know, just a really
down to earth guy who happened to be great at
throwing a baseball. So we were able to, you know,
fortunately develop a really good relationship. And then you know,
(18:38):
another guy that was really good to deal with is
Cole Tucker. He was a first round pick, played for
a couple of teams, and now he's doing some shows
on radio, doing some podcasting and stuff, and he's just
a wonderful, wonderful guy to deal with. And then Stephen
Brall played a couple of years for the Pirates and
then went to the Cups first season, and now he's
(18:59):
doing television here in Pittsburgh as well. So we had
some cool guys throughout the years. Man and baseball has
a lot of good human beings and it ben you
don't run into a ton of guys who are like
bad guys. Some people don't really enjoy doing media, but
that's okay. It's part of the business. But you just
meet so many different people. And some are funny, funny characters,
(19:21):
and some are pretty straight and narrow, and some prefer
to stick to themselves. So you meet all kinds of people.
But those three stand out as well. Well.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
You, Robbie, is because your personality, Like I when I
was in locker rooms all the time, I did have
dust ups. There were dust up situations that took place,
and but I think you are so likable that hard
to be upset with you, Robbie, because you're just a
great guy.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
People love you. You look at me, I'm a schlub, right,
I'm draggled.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
I mean, I and my one of my funniest you know,
I had a few guys that got really upset with
me back when I was a radio reporter, before I
got into.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Why would anybody dislike you? You don't do controversy?
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Oh not at all, no, no, But the funniest was
I got yelled at you. Remember Todd Hunley who played
with the Mets and the.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
Coach I remember Todd Hunley.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Yeah, he came to the Dodgers and he had had
an operation with the Mets and they screwed up his arm.
He couldn't throw anymore, and they put they tried to
put him the outfield, didn't work.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
The Dodgers got him.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
But this was a weird time for the Dodgers because
they had Mike Piazza, who was beloved. They got rid
of Piazza and then they had Charles jon But anyway,
they brought Todd Hunley in and he wasn't that good
at that point. He had a few home runs, but
he yeah, really bad defensive player. So I had made
some comments. I just started doing a talk show. I
was doing a midday show in LA and I'd made
(20:44):
some comments that you know, he was not good, he
was and he wasn't Onley was not playing very well
for the Dodger.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
So I made some comments.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
And I was in the locker room a couple days
later and Todd came up to me and he starts
reading me the riot Act, right, you know, it's kind
of getting in my face.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
And I was like, oh boy.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
But then the funniest thing, Robbie is he said, I
do not listen to your show, but my family does.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
I was like, okay.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
I'm like, okay, fair enough, fair enough, but but enough
about that. Let's get to the good stuff.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Oh that's great. I love those stories though. By the way,
I can't tell you how many players over the years
have pulled me aside and go who is that guy?
And they and they would say, I thought that was him.
I can't stand that guy.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure, for sure.
So you contacted me a while back.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
You said, hey, I'm working on this thing and I
want to chat with you.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
I said, okay, sure, whatever, fine, So we chatted for
a little bit about some of my experiences at Dodger Stadium.
And then somewhat recently you contacted me. He said, Hey,
the project is done. And that project I thought, well,
this is probably some rinky dink thing, this is nothing,
but no, it's uh, it's a book called Sacred Grounds,
(22:02):
and this is your baby here, and if you're a
baseball person, it's just amazing.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
You did a great job. You nailed it. And it's
all about all.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
The different ballparks and all your experiences, some of the stories. Right,
You've got a bunch of You've interviewed a bunch of
people that you know and met over your time with
the Pirates and the Twins, and so explain I'm not
doing a great job. Explain Sacred Grounds, Robbie, what this
project's all about.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
So, Ben and I appreciate you having me on and
give me a chance to talk about this, because the
reception so far that we've received for Sacred Grounds really
has just blown me away, and I'm so thankful for it. So,
as I've described to you before, I spent sixteen years
as a TV reporter and host in Major League Baseball.
(22:50):
So I spent four years with the twins eleven with
the Pirates, and in twenty twenty four, I took a
backup role with the Texas Rangers on their TV broadcast
before they switch networks to the Ranger Sports Network. And
you spend all this time getting to know the players,
the coaches, the trainers. But as you know, Ben, how
(23:12):
many characters are there around the game of baseball that
nobody knows about? Right? Like for sure, you know, there's
just so many of them. And I never thought in
my life I would be writing a book on ballparks
with photos from all thirty ballparks and then interviewing the
press dining server in Cincinnati, Ohio. And that's one of
(23:34):
the stories in my book. So I tried to shed
a light on the stories that happen in baseball that
people really don't know a lot about. They don't really
know that they exist. So we tried to get the
story behind the story a lot of times. So I'll
give you an example. Everybody obviously remembers when Cal Ripken
(23:55):
broke the Major League Baseball record for consecutive games played, Right,
everybody remembers that, Sure, I interviewed the guy that played
third base next to him that night and I just
wanted to know what that was like that night, what
was your day like? What's it like being remembered as
the guy that played next to Cal Ripken at third base.
The problem is not a lot of people remember it.
Jeff Houston is his name, and he's a wonderful guy,
(24:18):
and he starts telling me some of these stories and
he sent me a couple of photos. We end up
getting a great story for the book. You know, you
remember in August seventh, two thousand and seven, Barry Bond
sets Major League Baseball's home run record. Well, my broadcast
partner with the Texas Rangers was Mike Basseck, the guy
that gave up the home run, and he's very open
about it and he owns that part of history. So
(24:39):
why not dig into that side of the story. We've
heard from Barry a ton, we've heard from Cal Ripken
a ton about breaking the streak record, but what about
the people on the other side of that. So we
looked into that a little bit and just tried to
talk about the game day experience at each place and
give people a tour of all thirty ballparks from their
own couch.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Yeah, I know, it's great. And of course I love
it because I'm in the book, Robbie. I made the
book Who the Dodger Stadium section there you're going to
the behind the scenes on Chavezervin some of the stories
there from Dodger Stadium, but it's every every ballpark and
this is this and you have I love that you
have a checklist in the back there too, Robbie. So
if like you're traveling, a lot of people love to
(25:19):
go to I haven't even been every ballpark. You've been
there because you did the TV stuff. I've been most
of them, but i haven't been to every ballpark, and
I'd like to get to every ballpark before I'm done
here and check it out. And you have, you know,
obviously stories, you get things to look at when you
go to the ballparks, and in the back you have
the little checklists so you can check out the dates
and write down the dates and all that. And you
(25:42):
brought up a great point though about the people behind
the scenes. I know, for my years at Dodger Stadium,
when I was there every night, the most important people
are often like the for the players, it's the clubhouse
attendants and the people like that.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
But for the media.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
It's the person that cooks the food, it's the the
press box attended, Like those are the people that really
that moved the needle. And you were always running I
remember always you were run around taking photos. You were
you were multitasking while you're doing the TV stuff all
those years, right, I mean this was something yeah, you
were Were you planning this like or did this just
kind of pop up?
Speaker 2 (26:17):
It was.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
It's kind of crazy because it was a little bit
of everything.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
It was.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
I didn't really plan it. I had taken a bunch
of pictures. I started at Fenway Park in twenty seventeen
when the Pirates had opening day there, so I thought
that would be kind of cool, so I bought a
digital camera. But I've always been fascinated with ballparks because
you know how they they connect. You know, baseball stadiums
connect a city with its baseball team. You know, when
(26:42):
you look at you look at football, it's one hundred
yard field and the end zones ten yards, and then
you look at a hockey it's two hundred and by
eighty five. You look at basketball, same dimensions, but baseball
is so unique in that way, and you look at
the character and charisma of each ballpark. It ties a
city to its team. And I've always been fascinated with
(27:04):
baseball stadiums for one reason or another, and I've loved them.
So I made sure I took pictures at all thirty
ballparks when I traveled. So from twenty seventeen to twenty
twenty four, I did that and thought I was just
going to do a little you know, you know, a
little Shutterfly album for my friends to check out when
they came over. And then I met my author, Kyle
Feger and his team at a sender book services and
(27:25):
they said, oh, this is going to be pretty good.
And we worked our tails off and called one hundred
and probably one hundred and thirty one hundred and forty people.
We end up getting one hundred and twenty into the book.
So we just we put the work in. We worked,
you know, extremely hard. We're extremely proud of the product
that we produced, and I don't know, man like it
(27:46):
just it kind of all came together a little bit.
You know, people love retelling stories and they loved talking
about with the ballpark experiences, so that's kind of how
all this came together. And it's been a lot of
fun doing it.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
It's a great point because we were kids.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
We're about the same age, and we had there was
that era, you know where if you watched a Philadelphia
Phillies game or a Cincinnati Reds game or a Cardinals game,
you didn't even know what ballpark.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
They all looked the same.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
They were all cookie cutter back in those days.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
And you look at and you know, you spent a
lot of time in Pittsburgh PNC Park, and I've never
seen a game there, Rubbie. I went to Pittsburgh years
ago and the Pirates were out of town or whatever,
and so I was walking around.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
I looked at the view and it's just it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
The apps, the bridges and the skyline in the background.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
It's like a painting. It's like a Bob Ross painting,
if you were amazing.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
The view from PNC Park in Pittsburgh is just next level, Like.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
It's the most beautiful ballpark in America. It's gorgeous. Yeah,
there's another way to really say it. The way it's situated,
looking at downtown Pittsburgh, right along the banks of the
Alleghany River, not far from the Point State Park. It's
just beautiful. The Clemeny Bridge is right there beyond center field.
Roberto Clemenny's statue. You see it as soon as you
(29:08):
come down into the north shore. As soon as you
step off the bridge, the first thing you see to
your left is the big statue of Roberto Clemente. You
keep walking, you see Willie Stargel's statue, and if you
make your way down the river walk, you go down
the steps and along the river walk, there's a bunch
of giant numbers, giant baseballs, and then you see the
Bill Mezerowski statue. It's just an amazing, amazing place. And
(29:31):
any baseball fan that has not had a chance to
see PNC Park, you absolutely have to put this on
your ballpark tour and it has to be at the
top of the list.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
I completely agree. And Pittsburgh underrated city too. By the way,
I thought i'd heard some terrible things back in the
day about Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
When I visited, I think it is really cool.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
It's a lot now now all that stuff has gone. Man,
Pittsburgh's a beautiful city. It's a great city, full hard workers,
great sports town. Ben they love their sports in Pittsburgh.
The it the insers, the insers, the insurers. There are
so many insurers, and I love them all their beauties,
man stealer flags outside their house. They complain about the
(30:10):
Pirates when they struggle. It's it's it's incredible. I love it.
I love this town. I love living here. I love
it as a city, and I love it as a
baseball city even more.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Yeah, I gotta get the Pirates good again, though, got
to get the Pirates.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
They're gonna be good this year. Ben, They're going to
make the playoffs in my opinion, Brother, I hope.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
So all right, how can people now, Robbie, where do
you want people to buy the book?
Speaker 1 (30:29):
It's called Sacred Grounds. It's do you want them to
go to your website?
Speaker 4 (30:34):
Is it? Yep? My website, that's it's the only place
it's available right now. We're working on changing that. Uh
my name first three lovers of my last name, Robbie
R O B B Y I n C. So Robbie,
it is R O B B Y I NC dot
com and uh we'll get the book out to you,
you know, depending on the time of day. If the
post office is open, it's going up that day, If not,
(30:54):
it's going out first thing the next morning.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
All right, Yeah to you.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
It's really cool. It's you know, it's a hearty book,
and it's great because you can you know, you know,
you can sit down and whether you want to sit
down and look at the whole thing or maybe you know,
you got a few minutes. I do a lot of
my reading, Robbie on the throne. I'm going to admit it,
I do. And you know, I might take that and there,
read it, check it out a little bit, and then
I'll look at the Marlins Ballpark because I don't know
(31:18):
I want to go see that stadium, but I'll check
it out because you've got stories on that and everything.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
So I guess.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
Stories on all thirty brother, all thirty ballparks. You get
to see them all, all.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
Right, So check it out again, Robbie, as he said,
R O B. B Y I NC dot com. It's
called correct Sacred Grounds.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Thank you so much, Robbie the man appreciated.
Speaker 4 (31:40):
Thank you you are the best, Ben. Thank you brother,
and I am honored to have you in my book.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Got a murder. I gotta go
Host
Ben Maller
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