July 8, 2025 • 39 mins
This Inning of Parney Time takes us inside the wild world of Banana Ball with longtime MLB and MiLB veteran Joe Mikulik, who is now the manager of the Texas Tailgaters!
Parney and MP catch up with Joe about his unforgettable (and even viral) ejections, his path into coaching, and the mentors who shaped his baseball journey. Joe shares why managing in the Banana Ball league has been the most fun he's had in baseball -- packed crowds, nonstop entertainment, and giving back to the fans. The crew also dives into the deep friendships and life-changing relationships the game has given them over the years.
Follow Cheats @BBallMixtape on Twitter @blackbaseballmixtape on Instagram and listen to the Black Baseball Mixtape
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, everybody party for the Party Time podcast. Here. The
(00:02):
first you get from this inning of Party Time is
quiched only by Boolight. Bush Light is my favorite beer winter, spring, summer,
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or in party's pubs celebrating a squirrel's victory, nothing tastes
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(00:26):
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(01:09):
like my man Robbie and Performance Food Service. Party Time
loves performance food service. Welcome back, Welcome back, Welcome back
to Party Time. You never know who you're going to
have on Party Time. This is another inning of season two.
Season one, hugely successful. Season two. We keep building up
(01:32):
to great things. And today we're going somewhere where we've
never gone before, and that is into a world of
a legend of minor league baseball managing. And now he's
doing something even more legendary. We have MP on the
mic with us. Yoh, we might have cheats. Cheats is
(01:52):
a game time decision. He's been struggling with. Cheat's been
struggling with a hamstring, right, MP.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
It's not the d L anymore.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
He's on the I. And then we then we have
Joe T. Joe T is here in the house. Hell yeah,
and today we got Joe Micklick. This show is all
about Party Time is all about relationships. And one of
the special things about the relationships we built over the
past thirty six years is we built them. They were real.
They are real. And then you bump into somebody you
(02:20):
haven't seen in I don't know. We'll talk about how
long it's been and it's literally like you saw him yesterday,
and that is what it's like with me and Joe Micklick.
Joe Mecklick managed play, played baseball for a long time,
ut at a lot of levels, managed, coached, and now
he's the head coach of the Texas tellgat Is, we're
(02:41):
going to wait for that. Mick. Welcome to party time, baby,
because you know it's always.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Part of Time's party.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Hey man, I am so jack to be here, thrilled
to be here with the legendary Party. I love you, man,
I've always loved you, evenson, ever since my ejection in
Minnapolis and you brought in a six pack and I go, man.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
That was so good.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
I think I'll do it again the following night. But
it's been it's been so good to run back into you.
And when they said Richmond, I go wait. I think
party has got something to do with the Richmond.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
So here we are.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
We have a lot to do with Richmond and MP.
What what Mick is bringing up is one of the
first times we met. I was the gem of the
Kannapis Intimidators. But we might even been to Pimont Bowl.
Weavels at that time, Mick, they have.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Been Pmont Bowl weavils.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
It could have been Mick was Mick was managing the
Ashville Tourist and uh all y'all party time listeners. You
can go online and just and you can google Joe
Micklick ejections and get the popcorn, cause you're gonna have
about a forty five minute time a lot watching Joe
Micklick ejections. But that's exactly a true story. I would
(03:50):
always give Mick a six pack every time he got
ejected in my ballpark, and I'm probably out about six
or seven cases of here at this point. I know you,
bro before talking. This is just a conversation. It's not
an interview. And the way we'll do this with the
Parney's Pub Club, which is MP today, is you and
I are just going to have a conversation about our friendship,
(04:10):
our relationship. Then I'm going to insert MP will ask
you a couple of questions. They're called one shots. This
this show's sponsored by bush Light Party Times presented by
bush Light because bush Light's not just for breakfast anymore, Mick,
It's for all time, all day. Okay, But let's talk
about your love of baseball first and foremost, how you
(04:33):
got into it your playing career. You were drafted I
think by the Houston Astros, right.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, Parney, I apologize ahead of time,
because when you get asked me a question, I may
go for a while to my tea time. But I've
got a lot of a lot of stories about my
baseball career, and.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
I go back and I tell my team this.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
I go back when I was four years old playing
on our farm with my brothers and my dad, and
our feedsack was our bases barefooted. And that's the love
of the game that you know. In the first time
I was ever at a Major League Baseball game was
in nineteen sixty seven. We went to the Astrodome and
I was hooked ever since at four years old.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
So who was your favorite Astro?
Speaker 4 (05:16):
You know, Dicky than was was a good one, and
I got to know Dicky a little bit, obviously, Nolan
Ryan probably the most famous.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
I got to know Jose Cruz a little bit. And
I always liked the Chop Chop, you know, the little
Highlake it. I mean, there are a lot of I mean,
I went to bed at a at an early age
when they were on the West Coast, listening to the
broadcast on the radio, you know, because we only had
like three channels and we didn't have access to watching
baseball on TV when I was a kid. We would
(05:47):
listen to it on the radio and I would fall
asleep listening to the Astros on the Dwayne Stats.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
I think may have been the guy in Milot Hamilton.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Just listening to their voices and the way they painted
a picture of baseball. It was just something that was was,
you know, in my blood. I think from you know,
from day one. My dad, my dad was a good
baseball player, but I never watched him play. I heard
it from friends and he dropped out of high school
in the eighth grade and his dad didn't let him
(06:15):
play baseball because they had to work a farm or
the farm that my brothers we still have in Texas.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
But uh, And it was like something that was inside me.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
And I think it was through my pops that, you know,
he passed away at seventy two. I'm missing the death.
And he always loved the game. He was one of
my biggest fans besides my mom and uh and I
think I think it's through him that the love of
the game continues.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
You're you're one of the most passionate people I've literally
ever met in my life. Where do you get that
passion from?
Speaker 3 (06:46):
You know, I don't, I don't.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
I grew up in a little bit small town, I mean,
and and I had I competed with my brothers from
Gosh Kneeha.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
We always came up with games.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
I think we had banana ball rap up when we
were six and seven years old, before banana ball was cool.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
We'd make stuff up. Man, we'd make games up.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
On the farm back then, and you know, make first exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
You know.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
We used always to go to my aunt's house, my
aunt Rosie's house, and we play and all the cousins
and relatives would play ball. And I was the youngest
one of I don't know, I think there was like
fifteen of us, and I was the only kid that
could hit the ball over the fence. And the fence
was probably one hundred feet away and I couldn't hit
it over the fence. I was such a small little
runt and they would make fun of me because I
(07:36):
couldn't hit it over the fence.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Little did they know. When I got older, I could
hit it over the fence.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
But that was it, you know, that was a passion,
the family gatherings, the love of the game.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
We had sports. We were a sports family.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
You know, my whole life and the competitive I think
competing against my brothers and.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
My cousins and my friends at an.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
Early age really drove me to where I'm at today.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Did you play in college? I don't remember this. Did
you go to college or draft out of high school?
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Listen, here's the deal I was. You know, I went
to a little small.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
School, Catholic school in Schulenberg, Texas. It's called Bishop Force
High School.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
And I was in a small little school.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
Twenty four kids in my graduating class, believe it or not,
eighty six in the whole school. So you know, you're
the dude in school all sports.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
You had to play every sport. But after high school,
after I graduated, I.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Didn't have anywhere. I didn't have a college to go to.
I didn't have any professional scouts or anything. But I
had a friend of mine, Jimmy Jewell, came. I was
fishing in my tank we call them tanks back in Texas,
and I had about six bass on the line. I
tell this story all the time. He drives up in
his black trans am man. He was cool, dude man.
Back in the eighties. I was eighty two. He drives
(08:49):
up and goes, Hey, what are you gonna do?
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Man?
Speaker 3 (08:50):
I go, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
I don't know what I'm gonna do. I felt like
I could still play, you know. I felt like I
was ten feet tall and bulletproof. So I'm like, dude,
I'm gonna go to blend Cow College is a junior college.
I'm gonna walk on. I'm gonna play football. I'm gonna
play baseball. And that's it. That's what I'm doing. He goes,
He looked me straight in my mind, he said, bullshit, you'll
get your ass killed.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
You're too small to play football, no shot, and I go.
I looked at him. I go. But I was the guy,
you know, I was the dude playing football. So little
did I know.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
He had a tryout for me at San Jacinto Junior
College in Houston, one of the most premier junior colleges
in the state of Texas and in the country. But anyways,
I got a chance at that time to go walk
on at San Jacino and that's what I did.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
For two years.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
I played for the legendary coach Wayne Graham, and I
owe a lot of my pro career to coach Wayne Graham.
If you guys don't know who that is, look him up.
He just passed recently at eighty eight years old, but
he was He took Rice to their first national championship.
He wasn't Rice for twenty plus years. But I owe
a lot to Wayne Graham.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Man.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
That's the guy who and Jimmy Jule who found me
at the fishing pond. But Wayne Graham, Yeah, Wayne Graham
got me in the pro ball. So I had a
good friend by the name of Harry Spilman. Harry Spilman's
the guy who got me into coach. And you remember Harry.
So nineteen ninety, we're sitting on the bench and Harry
(10:17):
was finishing up his career. He's like thirty six years old,
bad knees, and he actually gave.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Me at that once. He goes, hey, go pinch hit
for me.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
You know.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
He told Bob Skinner, who my manager, and I went
up to pinch hit and whatever.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
But he told me. He asked me.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
We're on the bench just talking and he goes, what
are you gonna do when you get through playing? You know,
he's old Redneck from Dawson, Georgia. I said, Maam, Harry,
I want to stay in the game. I'm not done
playing yet. So I played another four years and then
I got finally got released, and in ninety five I
called him and he got me.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
A job with the Cleveland Indians. That's how I started
as a hitting coach in campon Ackron.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, we worked together then because I was in Redding
in ninety five and Koubiak was the manager. We were
in the same facility then.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Didn't even know it, So there's a story about reading.
It was my first ejection ever as a coach. Don
Wakamatsu's batting and I'm coaching third Teddy Kubia.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
You know, I just got through playing a year ago.
Now he's got me coaching third man and I'm out
there getting signs and whatever.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
And and uh and I and Waka Mantsu is hitting.
Don walk A Manso had a nice career as a
manager in the big leagues, and uh whatever, he's playing
for us.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
It's towards the end of his career. Czech swing man.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
And I know to this day he didn't he didn't
swing the guy behind the mound, the on fire behind
the mound goes, yes, he did to strike him out.
So I'm just like, I'm I'm living. I'm like, no,
he did it. That's bullshit. Your crew wrong. He didn't swing.
You need to, you know, stay locked in whatever.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
And I'm talking.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
He goes, that's enough, that's enough. He goes, bullshit, that
ain't enough. That his swing. You're gone.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
So now reading Reading Pennsylvania, you gotta walk through the bleachers.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Man.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
They weren't like, hey, how we weren't asking for my autograph.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
You sucked.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
You're a bomb.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
You don't get off the field, you suck. They're they're
giving me a hard time.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
In reading, Bro, But uh, you may have gave me
a six pack then I don't even know.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
I know I got a beer.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
It probably was Honestly, God, this is this is unveiled
here on the first time in the party. It probably
was me because we had that We had that RBI
room in Reading where we would all go drink after
the games writer by the visiting clubhouse. So you and
I might have been in the same room and we
didn't even realize it.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
Might have been in the same room, Bro, because I mean,
I enjoyed reading you know, and I enjoyed the fans.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Did you When did you go to Ashville two thousand?
Speaker 4 (12:41):
The year two thousand was my first year in Asheville,
So that and that's really it was a Piedmont Bowl Evils.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Yeah, first couple of years it was. It was a
Peedemont Bowlings until we brought we brought Dell Dell Ernart
Senior into the ownership group and came to Cannapolis intimidators
and then that clubhouse MP when he got ejected in Cannapolis,
you had to walk all the way to the outfield. Yeah,
all the way to the outfield when.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
You get waka shame Jo T right, Jo T hell.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
No, So let's just talk about that. I know we
joke about your ejection and that's not what you're all about.
Your You're an awesome baseball developer. You've got a bunch
of people to the big leagues, and I want to
ask you about that in a second. But is there
an ejection that you remember particularly? I mean, there's a
bunch online, as I said before, But is there ejection
that you remember particularly that that you're either fond of
(13:30):
or you just remember?
Speaker 4 (13:32):
I don't Yeah, fond of a lot of them, maybe,
but maybe not. I don't know, but you know there's
two I'm gonna tell you too, right off the cuff. Martinsville,
Virginia was my very first ejection as a manager. In
ninety eight, I think it was or ninety seven. I
had six in the rookie ball season, which is a
half season.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
I had six. I was losing my mind. Man, that's good.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
That's ten percent of the games. That's ten percent of
the games.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
But anyways, Solle didn't have a clubhouse. Man, and I
and I go out and I freaking raise hell, and
you know, he obviously blew the call. I was obviously right.
He blows the call. I'm yelling at in, throwing my hat,
kicking shit, and uh here we go, and he goes.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
You're you know, you're gone. I'm like, where am I
gonna go? There's no clubhouse. Where am I gonna go?
He goes, I don't know, you gotta go sit in
the bus well. That's where I went. And my busy
went and got me a six pack of beer. And
I think it was like the fourth inning so and
we got our ass beat.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Probably I don't know, I can't remember, but uh yeah,
I had to go sit in the bus man for
that one. That was a wild one because I'm on
my second one now, the one that I vividly remember
and kind of kind of it was kind of funny.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Uh So we're in Nashville, North Carolina.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
I've been a few in Nashville before the six one
in Lexington was the one that got blown up, went
viral before viral was cool. It went out there, man
and and but but there was one a couple of
years before, and it's still it's brought up today. So
Ashvil between innings, the promo between innings was to bring
(15:07):
out a toilet and they threw plungers in it, and.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
If you win, you get a couple in there, you
get you know.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Tourist dollars or whatever, go spend at the pro shop.
So i get thrown out of.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
A game and I'm looking for something to throw, and
they got there's this.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Toilet down there at the bottom of the down dugout
and and Ashvill, you got to go up the stairs
with it.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
So I grab that sound, bitch, and I get.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Up the stairs, get upstairs and throw it and there's
fluid coming out of it and it's all over it
and everything, But that ain't the funny part about it.
The funny part about it It was thirsty Thursday and
Ashvill's packed on thirsty Thursdays.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
So a buddy of mine and they're not sober.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Bathroom during that and they're not sober.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
Buddy of mine was in the bathroom during this time,
and there was a drunk that came into the bathroom.
He goes, where the hell did he get that damn toilet?
Speaker 3 (16:04):
He actually thought I went to the bathroom to get
the toilet.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
He was looking for it. Well, that's hilarious.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Yeah, he was looking for it. Where in the hell
did he get that toilet? Yeah, that was funny. That
was one of my Yeah, that gets brought out phil
to this day.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Mick, is there a manager? If I say, what's Joe
Mclick's managing style? Where does that come from? Every time
we asked that question on party time, usually the answer
is is a combination. Is there a manager or some
some number of managers that when you put it in
the Joe Micklick melting pot, it becomes Joe Micklick the manager.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Yeah, you know, there's a couple, a guy by the
name of Gary Tuck, was a guy that I had
in eighty six. He took over the ball club at
the halfway point, and he was a very positive, you know.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Tough guy, positive guy.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
You know you couldn't you go oh for ten he
come up or oh for fifteen. He'd come up to
you and go, man, you know, you know you could hit,
You're good, You're a good player. You're a good player.
He's not talking about how to fix me. He's just
talking about how to tell you, you know, just keep
positive reinforcement.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
So I kind of use that tactic.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
A long time, a lot a lot of times. Man, Hey,
you know what, you're a good player. Man, You could hit,
you can play. You know you can pitch. You probably
walked the last five fucking guys, but you know what,
you can pitch. You're pretty good. So but you know,
a guy like that, And obviously going back to Wayne
Graham's days, Wayne Wayne Graham was tough my college days.
But I still come back to him on the fundamentals,
(17:32):
Go back to Wayne Graham at my junior college on
the fundamentals. You know, he's he always said if you
do the little things right, the big things will happen.
And something that I always try to get myself. You know,
there was a guy that wasn't even a baseball player
or coach or anything, but he was a head coach
for the Dallas Cowboys by the name of Tom Landry.
(17:55):
So I'd always remember watching Tom Landry on the sidelines.
And you know, they were always good, they were legendary,
they were Americas team, blah blah blah blah. But when
things were going bad, and this is something I always emulated,
tried to when things are going bad, Tom Landry was
just like this stoic. He never showed emotion either way,
(18:15):
whether it was good or bad. So and there there's
a lot of times where you do get frustrated, your
patient's run run dry, and all of a sudden you're
gonna show emotion.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
But but one thing I learned as a player things.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
Are going bad, who's the first guy they look at
to see the reaction is the manager. They're going to
see what he thinks, you know, and especially the guys
on the bench who relate whatever the manager's saying about
the centerfielder who just lost the ball or whatever missed
the ball, He's going to relate it to the player.
Pictures are on the on the duck on the bench.
You know, the guy's struggling on the mount and the
(18:51):
manager's talking shit about the picture. He's gonna relate it
to that picture eventually without the with the manager confronting
the picture. So I would always try to be quiet
during adversity. Try to be quiet and try to be still, okay,
And and and that's something that I took and ran
with for a long time, long period of time. So
(19:11):
it is a combination of three guys.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Maybe, yeah, that's great and Tom Landry, who's not one
that I would have picked. So that's that's good. You
crossed over into another sport, which is just like party time.
You never know what's going to impact people and what's
going to affect people, and everyday matters and every instant matters,
and every inning matters and all that.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
MP.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
You're up as Party's pup club member today. What you
got for Joe Micklick for your first shot of the day?
You get cheats is too.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
I'm gonna take two shots today, Joe. What do you
make of the robot umpires calling balls and strikes?
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (19:45):
There's mixed emotions about it. Uh. I think I think.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
The curists the old school way is let the let
the human being take effect and let him call it
and make sure they get better.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
I think with technology.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
Nowadays, I think they they need to utilize it more,
study more, do more research, do more homework, you know,
especially where they set up on the plate. You know,
I never umpired, but I've watched a lot of baseball
games where they set up, you know, even.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
On the basis.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
I mean, there's a lot of things that you can
do now with video, with technology to get better now,
to be consistent, to be you know where where we
probably need it to be. Maybe the robo umpire might work,
you know, but I'm really not a not a fan
of it actually, because I still think human beings, the human.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Effect is what baseball is all about.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
And I know we have to evolve, and I know
we got to get better in all facets of the game.
But I do believe that that the youngpires can get
better now.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
They got to take time and they got to.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
Get some people in there that that can that will
do do their research, and we'll study and do better.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Because here's the thing. Maybe you're gonna get every call,
every pit you got video. You know.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
The last couple of years when I was in the
Northwest League, we would get the track man and and
the next day they would spit out all the information.
Balls that you missed, ball that you didn't. So I
think you can get better at my calling balls and
strikes to where we don't have to go to the
automated zone. But uh, if we don't get better, I
think that's where we're going to end up. You know,
(21:18):
it's gonna it may even speed up the game too
a little bit if we do get the automated zone,
and that's something they're trying to do is beat the
game up.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
But it's a lot, it's it's a good conversation to have.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
A lot of people want to know about the Texas Taelgetars.
We're going to get to that in a second, but
I want to before we get off the managing train.
Is there a player or two players that you managed
that pop out when I say, hey, Mick, who's who's
your favorite guys to manage? Ever, I know that's a
(21:49):
hard question. That's a hard question.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Okay, No, it is. I mean there's a ton of them.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
They got to the big leagues and there's some that
didn't make it that I love dearly and I still
keep in touch with.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
But there's one guy I would.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
Say right off the uh, right off the top is
Isaiah Connor. Philifa I KF played for me for a
couple of years in Frisco with the Rangers, and he
was a he I think he was drafted a fourth
round maybe, I think, but he was kind of an
underdog type kid. But he was a guy that believed
(22:24):
in himself, worked hard, played the game the.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Right way, and he made it to.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
The big leagues obviously with the Rangers and then he
was with the Yankees.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
I think it was the Pirates now.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
But he's a guy that I really believe that made
the most out of his abilities. I mean, there's a
there's a few other guys too that I could go across,
but uh, you know, and I had some I had
some dudes too, you know, I've had Nolan Arnado, who's
you know, one of the top players.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
I had Trevor Story there for a while.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
And you know, there's some guys that we had coming
up with the Rockies and then the Rangers. We had
some good talent. But uh, I think, uh, I think
he was probably my guy. You know that if I
had to go to one dude in a fox hole.
He'd be the guy before we get off.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Yeah, he also gave me a pair of his shoes,
signed shoes.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
There's always that before we go back to MP mick relationships, relationships, relationships,
and I have to make I had to write a
note because we don't script this show at all. We
just go with the flow. But you and I had
a very dear friend. He's been brought up on Party
Times several times. Ryan McGee was on This was on
(23:32):
Party Time earlier this season from ESPN spent a lot
of time talking about it. H So, tell our viewers
what your relationship was like with Ron McKey.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
Oh, Ron McKee, what a legend in his time, man.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
And still to this.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
One, we both we both might start crying. Yeah, we
both might start crying on this one.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
Yeah, it's a one that's a damn shame.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
He's gone and he doesn't he doesn't see how the
game has evolved a little bit. And I think they're
redoing that ballpark that he built based I mean, he
was a guy that uh, you know, I had really
really good long talks with Ron in Asheville late at night. Man,
we'd sit and try to figure out the game, try
to figure out the league and try to do you know,
(24:13):
just talk baseball and talk life in general, you know.
And he, uh, he was there for me man when
I first started my first full season managing. And to
this day, you know, I still owe a lot to
Ron McKey and a beautiful family, and uh, it was, uh,
it was tough to see see what happened.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
But you know, man, things.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
Happened in this in this game that you know, you
look back and you appreciate when people take care of you.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
You appreciate those people.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
And Ron was one of those guys that you know
in a group, you know, he was always loud, funny
and uh, but then when he was one on one,
it was it was it was good talks. It was
like almost like a father figure in a way. You know,
when I was a young manager just learning and trying
to cut my teeth in professional baseball as a manager,
and he was always there, man. And he was always positive, man.
(24:59):
He never he was never a negative. He never come
in and question, you know, why'd.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
You do this?
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Why did you do that?
Speaker 4 (25:04):
If he did anything, it was a joking way, but
it was always you know, hey, Bud. That's the way
it goes. He always hey Bud, Hey Bud. But yeah,
he was he was special. He was a special man
in in my you know, baseball heart. Yeah, he's a
special man.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
The reason that I gave you a six pack when
you got ejected is one of the things Ron McKee
taught me. Here you go, how about that you like
like like he always would teach me. He would always
teach me, like, make sure you see the umpires every day.
Make sure you see the visiting umpires or the visiting
manager every day because there's going to be situations you
need to build a relationship with those guys. During rain situations.
(25:41):
The visiting manager's got to be your friends sometimes. During
rain situations, the home playing umpire's got to be your
be your friends sometimes. But more so than that, what
you just mentioned, those late night conversations between a manager
and a GM of a minor league team, and they
go on with me. Thank God, to this day, I'm
so grateful that I can still do that here in
Richmond with Dennis pelf. Yeah, manager just had one last
(26:03):
night with him after the game. That those are the
special moments. The people that are listening to this show
never get to experience, and we always like to take
them behind the curtain because it is more it's our life.
You know, we're at the ballpark sixteen, eighteen, twenty hours
a day, and so were you. So we connect. That's
really special. So yeah, and I love Ron McKee and
(26:24):
he made a lot a big difference in my career
and in my life too. MP give him a shot.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
I want to talk with the tailgaters. We had Jesse
on the show and he was fantastic. Obviously, I'm sure
you have spent time with him. Tell me about that
transition and what has been like playing to sold out
crowds going nuts for what you got every night.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
It's the best thing that I've ever done in my career,
I'm telling you right now, and I'm not gonna take
that back. I mean, I enjoyed my forty years of
professional baseball. I've had a lot of good, great relationships
like i'd had with Parney, and I've done a lot
of good things and a lot of things that I'm
not too proud of. But the transition from regular I
(27:06):
guess professional baseball. This is still professional baseball because they're
paying me pretty good.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
They're paying me.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
So, you know, hey, the interview process with the right
people at the right time, I mean just meeting meeting
ty gill Tyler Gillham and Adam varant It's called them Biro.
Those guys were the first guys I engaged with with
Banana Ball.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
The interview process was unreal.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
It was like.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
Something I've never been a part of. They cared about
what I've done in the past. They understood where I
am with my career. They were like, they weren't pushy,
they weren't like, oh no, you need to do this.
They weren't forceful. They were just engaging in a positive, optimistic.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
Way, selling their brands, selling their their.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
You know what they're doing, and they just wanted me
to be a part of it. And I had a
hard decision to make. I had a tough decision to make.
The decision was not easy. I had a job back
with the Rockies, going back to a low a ball
mentoring a young coaching staff and uh.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Something that I kind of wanted, something bigger and better.
Speaker 4 (28:24):
But the with the Texas Tailgaters being you know, hopefully
close to home next year. Uh and and and with
with the growth of what's going on in Banana Ball
and the people obviously now more so than ever, the
people I'm working with is one of the reasons why
I took that step, and uh yeah, that's where I'm here.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
What's what's the differences between going to the to the field,
as we call it, the industry, the yard as a
manager of the Texas Tailgators as opposed to going as
a manager of the Frisco rough Riders or the theist.
Is there a difference or not?
Speaker 4 (29:03):
There is a difference. There's a difference. I mean there's
still responsibility. Obviously, you're in charge of a lot of
a handful of things, and you know you've got to
responsible for every player on that club, so you know,
in those regards and still treat people like, you know,
like human beings and show them that you care about them.
Because every individual wants to be successful, every individual wants
(29:27):
to you know, make their mark.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
But the one thing I found out with.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
These players is that they are not solely about themselves.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Obviously they do.
Speaker 4 (29:38):
Have a you know, a I'm going to do something
you know, bigger and better for my career, but they're
about others too. They're about the group, the brand that
the family they're about the whole, I should say, you know,
the whole gamut of what banana ball is all about.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
You have to be you got to be all in.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
You got to be to make some sacrifices, to be
there all day long, to learn things on the cuff,
to make adjustments. That's something that I've learned immediately, is
to adjust on the fly. Because it can be scripted,
it can be laid out perfectly and written down, but
it's not. Sometimes it doesn't work that way. And that's
something that I've got to be able to do with
(30:20):
the club. And I got to make sure they're on
the same page and on the you know, we're all
all together in this to make this click. And so
far it's been great. So far, it's worked out well.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Talk about the trick plays. Are you ever in the
dugout or out in the third base box and somebody
makes a trick play for banana ball and you're like,
holy shit, how'd he do that?
Speaker 4 (30:38):
Yes, yes, I have. I've done that a few times.
I'm like, wow, that was pretty cool, you know, And
I still this day don't know how they do the
backflip and I could.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Never do it. The backflip is pretty impressive.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Out feel professionally for how many fourteen years?
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Eleven years?
Speaker 4 (30:55):
And I never even thought about doing a backflip.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
Shit that would have been like when that been something
and somebody pulls that off in the Big League.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Your favorite your favorite banana ball rule.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
Mick fans catching the foul ball, Fans catching a foul ball,
and we set the record in Richmond, Virginia at nine. Richmond,
Virginia has the record at nine foulballs fought.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Hell. Yeah, suck at America.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Suck at America.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
Come and beat Richmond in your stadium. You know, when
I walked in, I go, I don't know if there'll
be some foul Hell. Now that I look at it
and I think about it, it's set up perfect for
fans catching foul balls.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Yeah, absolutely, Uh tell me tell me about uh. And
I'm sure why it'll be able to find a picture
of this your uniform for the Texas Tallgators. I saw it.
I saw it a couple of weeks ago, guys, and
I was like mixed junks hanging out of his uniform.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
You know what I told my wife, Candy, she's watching
this too, and she can't see me because my cameras
all jacked up.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
But no, she uh she uh. The other day, I said,
you know, there was this lady taking a picture of
my bilt, my belt buckle, and that buckle is huge, man.
But I don't know. She stood the camera for a
long time, and I was like, wait a minute, are
you taking a picture of my buckle or what's going
on here?
Speaker 4 (32:20):
But but she she swore that she's taking a picture
of my buckle. So anyways, yeah, Parney, it's every once
in a while it pooches out.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
But you know what it's like, It's it's not meant
to be that way. It's about the chaps.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Joe T. What do you feel about that? Joe T? Hell?
Speaker 4 (32:36):
Yeah, oh, I got another thing about the chaps though.
I got a thing going now to where I am
getting all the kids to sign the to autograph my chaps.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
I know.
Speaker 4 (32:51):
One thing great about Banana Ball is that we do
a They have a foundation that I'm learning about and
I'm growing with it. Uh.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
The Bananas flo foster. It's for foster children.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
And there's four hundred thousand foster kids right now in America,
and I think I think there's like one hundred and
seventeen thousand that are waiting to be adopted. So it's
a pretty cool you know. And they do that in
the fourth inning, I think third inning, fourth inning where
they announce a family. There was this one one lady
(33:24):
announced she was twenty one years old. I think she
brought in already thirty kids into her home, had them fostered,
and had you know, most of them adopted. But you know,
it's not an easy road, man, It's not easy. We've
got a couple of players on the Firefighters that are
that are adopted children and then they turned out to
be excellent human beings, Joe Lottel and McFadden. But it's
(33:46):
just something special and in my heart as I grow
and learn this this new foundation, I said, man, I
got to do something for him. I know we've had
a lot of different guys do a lot for the foundation.
I just got I'm gonna get all my my chap
signed and I'm going to auction those chaps off at
the end of the year for the Bananas Foster.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
That's what I'm gonna I'm gonna do.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
So that's amazing that it goes. Yeah, and that's a
nice segue into into Jesse and and Emily because that
really was born out of their.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
Family, right, Yes, it was. They do have an adopted child.
Special people, special people. I mean, I'm so grateful to
them for them to allow me to be part of
this family. And they're special. I mean, Emily got a
heart of gold.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
And Jay and Jesse too.
Speaker 4 (34:33):
I mean, it's just it's just something that I'm very,
very fortunate right now to be part of.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
I was. I was looking back in some texts when
y'all were in Richmond last week and Jesse and I
were texting back, and I found some texts about the
Savannah Bananas coming to Montgomery.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
And in my head, I thought that was back in
like twenty you know, like right after COVID, but it
was only a couple of years, and it was like
twenty three. I think it was twenty two or twenty three.
And it just struck me that you guys are playing
in front of eighty thousand people now in three years.
So I think that their whole story is one of
(35:12):
believing in yourself, believing in your brand, yes, but the
bottom line is impacting people's lives. And I think that's
that's that's why. And you've always been good at connecting
with fans and connecting with and we joke about the umpires,
but I'm sure you have really good friends who are
umpires everybody because it was our life, right is that.
One of the biggest differences though, is the amount of
(35:33):
time you spend with the fans pre and post game
or no.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
Yeah, the wall is the wall is knocked down between
the players, coaches, staff, cast between us and the fans.
It's it's about impacting lines. There is a baseball game
that goes on, but baseball is not the only thing.
Baseball is just part of it. Impacting the people, the
ability to reach out.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
You know, in Richmond and.
Speaker 4 (35:58):
At your place there, lady came up to me and
she said she had a good friend of hers, Jess.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
I still remember her name.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
She was diagnosed terminally cancer and it's like something that
was really sad, and she asked me to do a video,
and so I just prayed over her and prayed over her.
You know that Jesus would take care of her and
wrap his arms around her and heal her, and so
she could come out to a banana ball game one day,
and I believe it's gonna happen. You know through the
power of Jesus Christ, I think that's gonna happen. And
(36:28):
you know, I said, we love you, we miss you,
we want you here. Next time we come, you'll be here.
And just being optimistic and positive with these people, I
think is what this is all about.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
I mean, and that's what I've learned to know. I'm
growing with this.
Speaker 4 (36:43):
I'm learning to know that banana ball is way more
than just the baseball game. I mean, you know, obviously
next year we're gonna have six teams, we're gonna have
a league. It'll be more maybe more emphasis on winning,
but the bottom line is you can keep all the
fans in the stands till the last pitch, you're doing
something right.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Well I started tearing up that right there, Wyatt and
Joe T and MP what you just heard Joe is
Joe Michlick. And that's been my friend now for longer
than I actually thought, probably thirty years and I thought
it was twenty some. But now we unveiled another another
secret that Joe Micklick and I were in the same
(37:24):
same stadium in nineteen ninety five and I don't even
think I know it, but I was hammered on bush
Light most of the nineties anyway. Yeah, but your statement
about that fan, like I've always said my whole entire
thirty six year career, we're not in the baseball business.
We're not in the entertainment business. We're in the memory
making business. And for you to be able to do
(37:44):
that for jess Uh is is exactly why you are
who you are. Mick. It's exactly why we we love you,
and is exactly why I wanted to share our relationship
with everybody in the Party Time family and Party Time
list ship. And we're going to close it out with
this so uh Parties Pub Club and and Wyatt, Who's
(38:06):
Parties part of party Club Club wiet You're you're part
of the club Wiyet. I had to go out of
town when Mick came to town, but I was not
leaving fucking town until I saw Joe Michlick and we
met for a few quick beers at Post Pub and
then afterwards I was I had to drive to the
seventh inning stretch and Mick, you sent me a text
(38:26):
and meant everything to me. You said, you said, we
picked up right where we left off, and that's what
friendships and relationships in this game and this industry are
all about you pick up right where you leave off
if it's real. And we didn't even talk about mixed
famous NASCAR pool that I was in for many Yeah,
that was That was a great time too, because that
(38:48):
got me great friends. That got me great friends like
Steve Pope and others. Uh. When Mick and I were
together the other day, we texted so many different people
that we knew, and people were so happy that we
were together. So Mick, we're going to wrap it up, Bud,
and we really appreciate you being on Candy. Thank you
for sharing Mick with us for an hour today.
Speaker 4 (39:08):
And hey, guys, I apologize about this technical difficulty crap,
but you know what, I want to do this again.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
It's like, so we can do this right, I'm gonna
get this.
Speaker 4 (39:18):
I'm gonna throw this iPad out the damn window. What
do you think about my iPad?
Speaker 3 (39:22):
Jo t No, I got too much storage on it.
But anyways, thank you guys for having me man. I
love you party and Wyatt, I love you too. Man.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
I don't even know you.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
I'll give you a hug if i'd be close to you.
But thank you for thank you for having me on Man.
Hey, everybody party for the Party Time podcast. Here. The
(00:02):
first you get from this inning of Party Time is
quiched only by Boolight. Bush Light is my favorite beer winter, spring, summer,
or fall. Whether I'm sitting out on the dock at
the beach house in Sandwidge Beach, on the couch watching ball,
or in party's pubs celebrating a squirrel's victory, nothing tastes
better than an ice cold Boolight. So go visit your
(00:26):
local convenience or grocery store and grab yourself some bush Light.
You won't regret it. Boohhh, the official beverage of Parny's
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(01:09):
like my man Robbie and Performance Food Service. Party Time
loves performance food service. Welcome back, Welcome back, Welcome back
to Party Time. You never know who you're going to
have on Party Time. This is another inning of season two.
Season one, hugely successful. Season two. We keep building up
(01:32):
to great things. And today we're going somewhere where we've
never gone before, and that is into a world of
a legend of minor league baseball managing. And now he's
doing something even more legendary. We have MP on the
mic with us. Yoh, we might have cheats. Cheats is
(01:52):
a game time decision. He's been struggling with. Cheat's been
struggling with a hamstring, right, MP.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
It's not the d L anymore.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
He's on the I. And then we then we have
Joe T. Joe T is here in the house. Hell yeah,
and today we got Joe Micklick. This show is all
about Party Time is all about relationships. And one of
the special things about the relationships we built over the
past thirty six years is we built them. They were real.
They are real. And then you bump into somebody you
(02:20):
haven't seen in I don't know. We'll talk about how
long it's been and it's literally like you saw him yesterday,
and that is what it's like with me and Joe Micklick.
Joe Mecklick managed play, played baseball for a long time,
ut at a lot of levels, managed, coached, and now
he's the head coach of the Texas tellgat Is, we're
(02:41):
going to wait for that. Mick. Welcome to party time, baby,
because you know it's always.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Part of Time's party.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Hey man, I am so jack to be here, thrilled
to be here with the legendary Party. I love you, man,
I've always loved you, evenson, ever since my ejection in
Minnapolis and you brought in a six pack and I go, man.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
That was so good.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
I think I'll do it again the following night. But
it's been it's been so good to run back into you.
And when they said Richmond, I go wait. I think
party has got something to do with the Richmond.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
So here we are.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
We have a lot to do with Richmond and MP.
What what Mick is bringing up is one of the
first times we met. I was the gem of the
Kannapis Intimidators. But we might even been to Pimont Bowl.
Weavels at that time, Mick, they have.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Been Pmont Bowl weavils.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
It could have been Mick was Mick was managing the
Ashville Tourist and uh all y'all party time listeners. You
can go online and just and you can google Joe
Micklick ejections and get the popcorn, cause you're gonna have
about a forty five minute time a lot watching Joe
Micklick ejections. But that's exactly a true story. I would
(03:50):
always give Mick a six pack every time he got
ejected in my ballpark, and I'm probably out about six
or seven cases of here at this point. I know you,
bro before talking. This is just a conversation. It's not
an interview. And the way we'll do this with the
Parney's Pub Club, which is MP today, is you and
I are just going to have a conversation about our friendship,
(04:10):
our relationship. Then I'm going to insert MP will ask
you a couple of questions. They're called one shots. This
this show's sponsored by bush Light Party Times presented by
bush Light because bush Light's not just for breakfast anymore, Mick,
It's for all time, all day. Okay, But let's talk
about your love of baseball first and foremost, how you
(04:33):
got into it your playing career. You were drafted I
think by the Houston Astros, right.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, Parney, I apologize ahead of time,
because when you get asked me a question, I may
go for a while to my tea time. But I've
got a lot of a lot of stories about my
baseball career, and.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
I go back and I tell my team this.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
I go back when I was four years old playing
on our farm with my brothers and my dad, and
our feedsack was our bases barefooted. And that's the love
of the game that you know. In the first time
I was ever at a Major League Baseball game was
in nineteen sixty seven. We went to the Astrodome and
I was hooked ever since at four years old.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
So who was your favorite Astro?
Speaker 4 (05:16):
You know, Dicky than was was a good one, and
I got to know Dicky a little bit, obviously, Nolan
Ryan probably the most famous.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
I got to know Jose Cruz a little bit. And
I always liked the Chop Chop, you know, the little
Highlake it. I mean, there are a lot of I mean,
I went to bed at a at an early age
when they were on the West Coast, listening to the
broadcast on the radio, you know, because we only had
like three channels and we didn't have access to watching
baseball on TV when I was a kid. We would
(05:47):
listen to it on the radio and I would fall
asleep listening to the Astros on the Dwayne Stats.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
I think may have been the guy in Milot Hamilton.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Just listening to their voices and the way they painted
a picture of baseball. It was just something that was was,
you know, in my blood. I think from you know,
from day one. My dad, my dad was a good
baseball player, but I never watched him play. I heard
it from friends and he dropped out of high school
in the eighth grade and his dad didn't let him
(06:15):
play baseball because they had to work a farm or
the farm that my brothers we still have in Texas.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
But uh, And it was like something that was inside me.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
And I think it was through my pops that, you know,
he passed away at seventy two. I'm missing the death.
And he always loved the game. He was one of
my biggest fans besides my mom and uh and I
think I think it's through him that the love of
the game continues.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
You're you're one of the most passionate people I've literally
ever met in my life. Where do you get that
passion from?
Speaker 3 (06:46):
You know, I don't, I don't.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
I grew up in a little bit small town, I mean,
and and I had I competed with my brothers from
Gosh Kneeha.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
We always came up with games.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
I think we had banana ball rap up when we
were six and seven years old, before banana ball was cool.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
We'd make stuff up. Man, we'd make games up.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
On the farm back then, and you know, make first exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
You know.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
We used always to go to my aunt's house, my
aunt Rosie's house, and we play and all the cousins
and relatives would play ball. And I was the youngest
one of I don't know, I think there was like
fifteen of us, and I was the only kid that
could hit the ball over the fence. And the fence
was probably one hundred feet away and I couldn't hit
it over the fence. I was such a small little
runt and they would make fun of me because I
(07:36):
couldn't hit it over the fence.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Little did they know. When I got older, I could
hit it over the fence.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
But that was it, you know, that was a passion,
the family gatherings, the love of the game.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
We had sports. We were a sports family.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
You know, my whole life and the competitive I think
competing against my brothers and.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
My cousins and my friends at an.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
Early age really drove me to where I'm at today.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Did you play in college? I don't remember this. Did
you go to college or draft out of high school?
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Listen, here's the deal I was. You know, I went
to a little small.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
School, Catholic school in Schulenberg, Texas. It's called Bishop Force
High School.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
And I was in a small little school.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
Twenty four kids in my graduating class, believe it or not,
eighty six in the whole school. So you know, you're
the dude in school all sports.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
You had to play every sport. But after high school,
after I graduated, I.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Didn't have anywhere. I didn't have a college to go to.
I didn't have any professional scouts or anything. But I
had a friend of mine, Jimmy Jewell, came. I was
fishing in my tank we call them tanks back in Texas,
and I had about six bass on the line. I
tell this story all the time. He drives up in
his black trans am man. He was cool, dude man.
Back in the eighties. I was eighty two. He drives
(08:49):
up and goes, Hey, what are you gonna do?
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Man?
Speaker 3 (08:50):
I go, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
I don't know what I'm gonna do. I felt like
I could still play, you know. I felt like I
was ten feet tall and bulletproof. So I'm like, dude,
I'm gonna go to blend Cow College is a junior college.
I'm gonna walk on. I'm gonna play football. I'm gonna
play baseball. And that's it. That's what I'm doing. He goes,
He looked me straight in my mind, he said, bullshit, you'll
get your ass killed.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
You're too small to play football, no shot, and I go.
I looked at him. I go. But I was the guy,
you know, I was the dude playing football. So little
did I know.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
He had a tryout for me at San Jacinto Junior
College in Houston, one of the most premier junior colleges
in the state of Texas and in the country. But anyways,
I got a chance at that time to go walk
on at San Jacino and that's what I did.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
For two years.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
I played for the legendary coach Wayne Graham, and I
owe a lot of my pro career to coach Wayne Graham.
If you guys don't know who that is, look him up.
He just passed recently at eighty eight years old, but
he was He took Rice to their first national championship.
He wasn't Rice for twenty plus years. But I owe
a lot to Wayne Graham.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Man.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
That's the guy who and Jimmy Jule who found me
at the fishing pond. But Wayne Graham, Yeah, Wayne Graham
got me in the pro ball. So I had a
good friend by the name of Harry Spilman. Harry Spilman's
the guy who got me into coach. And you remember Harry.
So nineteen ninety, we're sitting on the bench and Harry
(10:17):
was finishing up his career. He's like thirty six years old,
bad knees, and he actually gave.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Me at that once. He goes, hey, go pinch hit
for me.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
You know.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
He told Bob Skinner, who my manager, and I went
up to pinch hit and whatever.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
But he told me. He asked me.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
We're on the bench just talking and he goes, what
are you gonna do when you get through playing? You know,
he's old Redneck from Dawson, Georgia. I said, Maam, Harry,
I want to stay in the game. I'm not done
playing yet. So I played another four years and then
I got finally got released, and in ninety five I
called him and he got me.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
A job with the Cleveland Indians. That's how I started
as a hitting coach in campon Ackron.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, we worked together then because I was in Redding
in ninety five and Koubiak was the manager. We were
in the same facility then.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Didn't even know it, So there's a story about reading.
It was my first ejection ever as a coach. Don
Wakamatsu's batting and I'm coaching third Teddy Kubia.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
You know, I just got through playing a year ago.
Now he's got me coaching third man and I'm out
there getting signs and whatever.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
And and uh and I and Waka Mantsu is hitting.
Don walk A Manso had a nice career as a
manager in the big leagues, and uh whatever, he's playing
for us.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
It's towards the end of his career. Czech swing man.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
And I know to this day he didn't he didn't
swing the guy behind the mound, the on fire behind
the mound goes, yes, he did to strike him out.
So I'm just like, I'm I'm living. I'm like, no,
he did it. That's bullshit. Your crew wrong. He didn't swing.
You need to, you know, stay locked in whatever.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
And I'm talking.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
He goes, that's enough, that's enough. He goes, bullshit, that
ain't enough. That his swing. You're gone.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
So now reading Reading Pennsylvania, you gotta walk through the bleachers.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Man.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
They weren't like, hey, how we weren't asking for my autograph.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
You sucked.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
You're a bomb.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
You don't get off the field, you suck. They're they're
giving me a hard time.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
In reading, Bro, But uh, you may have gave me
a six pack then I don't even know.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
I know I got a beer.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
It probably was Honestly, God, this is this is unveiled
here on the first time in the party. It probably
was me because we had that We had that RBI
room in Reading where we would all go drink after
the games writer by the visiting clubhouse. So you and
I might have been in the same room and we
didn't even realize it.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
Might have been in the same room, Bro, because I mean,
I enjoyed reading you know, and I enjoyed the fans.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Did you When did you go to Ashville two thousand?
Speaker 4 (12:41):
The year two thousand was my first year in Asheville,
So that and that's really it was a Piedmont Bowl Evils.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Yeah, first couple of years it was. It was a
Peedemont Bowlings until we brought we brought Dell Dell Ernart
Senior into the ownership group and came to Cannapolis intimidators
and then that clubhouse MP when he got ejected in Cannapolis,
you had to walk all the way to the outfield. Yeah,
all the way to the outfield when.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
You get waka shame Jo T right, Jo T hell.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
No, So let's just talk about that. I know we
joke about your ejection and that's not what you're all about.
Your You're an awesome baseball developer. You've got a bunch
of people to the big leagues, and I want to
ask you about that in a second. But is there
an ejection that you remember particularly? I mean, there's a
bunch online, as I said before, But is there ejection
that you remember particularly that that you're either fond of
(13:30):
or you just remember?
Speaker 4 (13:32):
I don't Yeah, fond of a lot of them, maybe,
but maybe not. I don't know, but you know there's
two I'm gonna tell you too, right off the cuff. Martinsville,
Virginia was my very first ejection as a manager. In
ninety eight, I think it was or ninety seven. I
had six in the rookie ball season, which is a
half season.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
I had six. I was losing my mind. Man, that's good.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
That's ten percent of the games. That's ten percent of
the games.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
But anyways, Solle didn't have a clubhouse. Man, and I
and I go out and I freaking raise hell, and
you know, he obviously blew the call. I was obviously right.
He blows the call. I'm yelling at in, throwing my hat,
kicking shit, and uh here we go, and he goes.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
You're you know, you're gone. I'm like, where am I
gonna go? There's no clubhouse. Where am I gonna go?
He goes, I don't know, you gotta go sit in
the bus well. That's where I went. And my busy
went and got me a six pack of beer. And
I think it was like the fourth inning so and
we got our ass beat.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Probably I don't know, I can't remember, but uh yeah,
I had to go sit in the bus man for
that one. That was a wild one because I'm on
my second one now, the one that I vividly remember
and kind of kind of it was kind of funny.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Uh So we're in Nashville, North Carolina.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
I've been a few in Nashville before the six one
in Lexington was the one that got blown up, went
viral before viral was cool. It went out there, man
and and but but there was one a couple of
years before, and it's still it's brought up today. So
Ashvil between innings, the promo between innings was to bring
(15:07):
out a toilet and they threw plungers in it, and.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
If you win, you get a couple in there, you
get you know.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Tourist dollars or whatever, go spend at the pro shop.
So i get thrown out of.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
A game and I'm looking for something to throw, and
they got there's this.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Toilet down there at the bottom of the down dugout
and and Ashvill, you got to go up the stairs
with it.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
So I grab that sound, bitch, and I get.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Up the stairs, get upstairs and throw it and there's
fluid coming out of it and it's all over it
and everything, But that ain't the funny part about it.
The funny part about it It was thirsty Thursday and
Ashvill's packed on thirsty Thursdays.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
So a buddy of mine and they're not sober.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Bathroom during that and they're not sober.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
Buddy of mine was in the bathroom during this time,
and there was a drunk that came into the bathroom.
He goes, where the hell did he get that damn toilet?
Speaker 3 (16:04):
He actually thought I went to the bathroom to get
the toilet.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
He was looking for it. Well, that's hilarious.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Yeah, he was looking for it. Where in the hell
did he get that toilet? Yeah, that was funny. That
was one of my Yeah, that gets brought out phil
to this day.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Mick, is there a manager? If I say, what's Joe
Mclick's managing style? Where does that come from? Every time
we asked that question on party time, usually the answer
is is a combination. Is there a manager or some
some number of managers that when you put it in
the Joe Micklick melting pot, it becomes Joe Micklick the manager.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Yeah, you know, there's a couple, a guy by the
name of Gary Tuck, was a guy that I had
in eighty six. He took over the ball club at
the halfway point, and he was a very positive, you know.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Tough guy, positive guy.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
You know you couldn't you go oh for ten he
come up or oh for fifteen. He'd come up to
you and go, man, you know, you know you could hit,
You're good, You're a good player. You're a good player.
He's not talking about how to fix me. He's just
talking about how to tell you, you know, just keep
positive reinforcement.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
So I kind of use that tactic.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
A long time, a lot a lot of times. Man, Hey,
you know what, you're a good player. Man, You could hit,
you can play. You know you can pitch. You probably
walked the last five fucking guys, but you know what,
you can pitch. You're pretty good. So but you know,
a guy like that, And obviously going back to Wayne
Graham's days, Wayne Wayne Graham was tough my college days.
But I still come back to him on the fundamentals,
(17:32):
Go back to Wayne Graham at my junior college on
the fundamentals. You know, he's he always said if you
do the little things right, the big things will happen.
And something that I always try to get myself. You know,
there was a guy that wasn't even a baseball player
or coach or anything, but he was a head coach
for the Dallas Cowboys by the name of Tom Landry.
(17:55):
So I'd always remember watching Tom Landry on the sidelines.
And you know, they were always good, they were legendary,
they were Americas team, blah blah blah blah. But when
things were going bad, and this is something I always emulated,
tried to when things are going bad, Tom Landry was
just like this stoic. He never showed emotion either way,
(18:15):
whether it was good or bad. So and there there's
a lot of times where you do get frustrated, your
patient's run run dry, and all of a sudden you're
gonna show emotion.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
But but one thing I learned as a player things.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
Are going bad, who's the first guy they look at
to see the reaction is the manager. They're going to
see what he thinks, you know, and especially the guys
on the bench who relate whatever the manager's saying about
the centerfielder who just lost the ball or whatever missed
the ball, He's going to relate it to the player.
Pictures are on the on the duck on the bench.
You know, the guy's struggling on the mount and the
(18:51):
manager's talking shit about the picture. He's gonna relate it
to that picture eventually without the with the manager confronting
the picture. So I would always try to be quiet
during adversity. Try to be quiet and try to be still, okay,
And and and that's something that I took and ran
with for a long time, long period of time. So
(19:11):
it is a combination of three guys.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Maybe, yeah, that's great and Tom Landry, who's not one
that I would have picked. So that's that's good. You
crossed over into another sport, which is just like party time.
You never know what's going to impact people and what's
going to affect people, and everyday matters and every instant matters,
and every inning matters and all that.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
MP.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
You're up as Party's pup club member today. What you
got for Joe Micklick for your first shot of the day?
You get cheats is too.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
I'm gonna take two shots today, Joe. What do you
make of the robot umpires calling balls and strikes?
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (19:45):
There's mixed emotions about it. Uh. I think I think.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
The curists the old school way is let the let
the human being take effect and let him call it
and make sure they get better.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
I think with technology.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
Nowadays, I think they they need to utilize it more,
study more, do more research, do more homework, you know,
especially where they set up on the plate. You know,
I never umpired, but I've watched a lot of baseball
games where they set up, you know, even.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
On the basis.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
I mean, there's a lot of things that you can
do now with video, with technology to get better now,
to be consistent, to be you know where where we
probably need it to be. Maybe the robo umpire might work,
you know, but I'm really not a not a fan
of it actually, because I still think human beings, the human.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Effect is what baseball is all about.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
And I know we have to evolve, and I know
we got to get better in all facets of the game.
But I do believe that that the youngpires can get
better now.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
They got to take time and they got to.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
Get some people in there that that can that will
do do their research, and we'll study and do better.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Because here's the thing. Maybe you're gonna get every call,
every pit you got video. You know.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
The last couple of years when I was in the
Northwest League, we would get the track man and and
the next day they would spit out all the information.
Balls that you missed, ball that you didn't. So I
think you can get better at my calling balls and
strikes to where we don't have to go to the
automated zone. But uh, if we don't get better, I
think that's where we're going to end up. You know,
(21:18):
it's gonna it may even speed up the game too
a little bit if we do get the automated zone,
and that's something they're trying to do is beat the
game up.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
But it's a lot, it's it's a good conversation to have.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
A lot of people want to know about the Texas Taelgetars.
We're going to get to that in a second, but
I want to before we get off the managing train.
Is there a player or two players that you managed
that pop out when I say, hey, Mick, who's who's
your favorite guys to manage? Ever, I know that's a
(21:49):
hard question. That's a hard question.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Okay, No, it is. I mean there's a ton of them.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
They got to the big leagues and there's some that
didn't make it that I love dearly and I still
keep in touch with.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
But there's one guy I would.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
Say right off the uh, right off the top is
Isaiah Connor. Philifa I KF played for me for a
couple of years in Frisco with the Rangers, and he
was a he I think he was drafted a fourth
round maybe, I think, but he was kind of an
underdog type kid. But he was a guy that believed
(22:24):
in himself, worked hard, played the game the.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Right way, and he made it to.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
The big leagues obviously with the Rangers and then he
was with the Yankees.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
I think it was the Pirates now.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
But he's a guy that I really believe that made
the most out of his abilities. I mean, there's a
there's a few other guys too that I could go across,
but uh, you know, and I had some I had
some dudes too, you know, I've had Nolan Arnado, who's
you know, one of the top players.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
I had Trevor Story there for a while.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
And you know, there's some guys that we had coming
up with the Rockies and then the Rangers. We had
some good talent. But uh, I think, uh, I think
he was probably my guy. You know that if I
had to go to one dude in a fox hole.
He'd be the guy before we get off.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Yeah, he also gave me a pair of his shoes,
signed shoes.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
There's always that before we go back to MP mick relationships, relationships, relationships,
and I have to make I had to write a
note because we don't script this show at all. We
just go with the flow. But you and I had
a very dear friend. He's been brought up on Party
Times several times. Ryan McGee was on This was on
(23:32):
Party Time earlier this season from ESPN spent a lot
of time talking about it. H So, tell our viewers
what your relationship was like with Ron McKey.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
Oh, Ron McKee, what a legend in his time, man.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
And still to this.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
One, we both we both might start crying. Yeah, we
both might start crying on this one.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
Yeah, it's a one that's a damn shame.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
He's gone and he doesn't he doesn't see how the
game has evolved a little bit. And I think they're
redoing that ballpark that he built based I mean, he
was a guy that uh, you know, I had really
really good long talks with Ron in Asheville late at night. Man,
we'd sit and try to figure out the game, try
to figure out the league and try to do you know,
(24:13):
just talk baseball and talk life in general, you know.
And he, uh, he was there for me man when
I first started my first full season managing. And to
this day, you know, I still owe a lot to
Ron McKey and a beautiful family, and uh, it was, uh,
it was tough to see see what happened.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
But you know, man, things.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
Happened in this in this game that you know, you
look back and you appreciate when people take care of you.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
You appreciate those people.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
And Ron was one of those guys that you know
in a group, you know, he was always loud, funny
and uh, but then when he was one on one,
it was it was it was good talks. It was
like almost like a father figure in a way. You know,
when I was a young manager just learning and trying
to cut my teeth in professional baseball as a manager,
and he was always there, man. And he was always positive, man.
(24:59):
He never he was never a negative. He never come
in and question, you know, why'd.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
You do this?
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Why did you do that?
Speaker 4 (25:04):
If he did anything, it was a joking way, but
it was always you know, hey, Bud. That's the way
it goes. He always hey Bud, Hey Bud. But yeah,
he was he was special. He was a special man
in in my you know, baseball heart. Yeah, he's a
special man.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
The reason that I gave you a six pack when
you got ejected is one of the things Ron McKee
taught me. Here you go, how about that you like
like like he always would teach me. He would always
teach me, like, make sure you see the umpires every day.
Make sure you see the visiting umpires or the visiting
manager every day because there's going to be situations you
need to build a relationship with those guys. During rain situations.
(25:41):
The visiting manager's got to be your friends sometimes. During
rain situations, the home playing umpire's got to be your
be your friends sometimes. But more so than that, what
you just mentioned, those late night conversations between a manager
and a GM of a minor league team, and they
go on with me. Thank God, to this day, I'm
so grateful that I can still do that here in
Richmond with Dennis pelf. Yeah, manager just had one last
(26:03):
night with him after the game. That those are the
special moments. The people that are listening to this show
never get to experience, and we always like to take
them behind the curtain because it is more it's our life.
You know, we're at the ballpark sixteen, eighteen, twenty hours
a day, and so were you. So we connect. That's
really special. So yeah, and I love Ron McKee and
(26:24):
he made a lot a big difference in my career
and in my life too. MP give him a shot.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
I want to talk with the tailgaters. We had Jesse
on the show and he was fantastic. Obviously, I'm sure
you have spent time with him. Tell me about that
transition and what has been like playing to sold out
crowds going nuts for what you got every night.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
It's the best thing that I've ever done in my career,
I'm telling you right now, and I'm not gonna take
that back. I mean, I enjoyed my forty years of
professional baseball. I've had a lot of good, great relationships
like i'd had with Parney, and I've done a lot
of good things and a lot of things that I'm
not too proud of. But the transition from regular I
(27:06):
guess professional baseball. This is still professional baseball because they're
paying me pretty good.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
They're paying me.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
So, you know, hey, the interview process with the right
people at the right time, I mean just meeting meeting
ty gill Tyler Gillham and Adam varant It's called them Biro.
Those guys were the first guys I engaged with with
Banana Ball.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
The interview process was unreal.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
It was like.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
Something I've never been a part of. They cared about
what I've done in the past. They understood where I
am with my career. They were like, they weren't pushy,
they weren't like, oh no, you need to do this.
They weren't forceful. They were just engaging in a positive, optimistic.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
Way, selling their brands, selling their their.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
You know what they're doing, and they just wanted me
to be a part of it. And I had a
hard decision to make. I had a tough decision to make.
The decision was not easy. I had a job back
with the Rockies, going back to a low a ball
mentoring a young coaching staff and uh.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Something that I kind of wanted, something bigger and better.
Speaker 4 (28:24):
But the with the Texas Tailgaters being you know, hopefully
close to home next year. Uh and and and with
with the growth of what's going on in Banana Ball
and the people obviously now more so than ever, the
people I'm working with is one of the reasons why
I took that step, and uh yeah, that's where I'm here.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
What's what's the differences between going to the to the field,
as we call it, the industry, the yard as a
manager of the Texas Tailgators as opposed to going as
a manager of the Frisco rough Riders or the theist.
Is there a difference or not?
Speaker 4 (29:03):
There is a difference. There's a difference. I mean there's
still responsibility. Obviously, you're in charge of a lot of
a handful of things, and you know you've got to
responsible for every player on that club, so you know,
in those regards and still treat people like, you know,
like human beings and show them that you care about them.
Because every individual wants to be successful, every individual wants
(29:27):
to you know, make their mark.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
But the one thing I found out with.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
These players is that they are not solely about themselves.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Obviously they do.
Speaker 4 (29:38):
Have a you know, a I'm going to do something
you know, bigger and better for my career, but they're
about others too. They're about the group, the brand that
the family they're about the whole, I should say, you know,
the whole gamut of what banana ball is all about.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
You have to be you got to be all in.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
You got to be to make some sacrifices, to be
there all day long, to learn things on the cuff,
to make adjustments. That's something that I've learned immediately, is
to adjust on the fly. Because it can be scripted,
it can be laid out perfectly and written down, but
it's not. Sometimes it doesn't work that way. And that's
something that I've got to be able to do with
(30:20):
the club. And I got to make sure they're on
the same page and on the you know, we're all
all together in this to make this click. And so
far it's been great. So far, it's worked out well.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Talk about the trick plays. Are you ever in the
dugout or out in the third base box and somebody
makes a trick play for banana ball and you're like,
holy shit, how'd he do that?
Speaker 4 (30:38):
Yes, yes, I have. I've done that a few times.
I'm like, wow, that was pretty cool, you know, And
I still this day don't know how they do the
backflip and I could.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Never do it. The backflip is pretty impressive.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Out feel professionally for how many fourteen years?
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Eleven years?
Speaker 4 (30:55):
And I never even thought about doing a backflip.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
Shit that would have been like when that been something
and somebody pulls that off in the Big League.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Your favorite your favorite banana ball rule.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
Mick fans catching the foul ball, Fans catching a foul ball,
and we set the record in Richmond, Virginia at nine. Richmond,
Virginia has the record at nine foulballs fought.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Hell. Yeah, suck at America.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Suck at America.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
Come and beat Richmond in your stadium. You know, when
I walked in, I go, I don't know if there'll
be some foul Hell. Now that I look at it
and I think about it, it's set up perfect for
fans catching foul balls.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Yeah, absolutely, Uh tell me tell me about uh. And
I'm sure why it'll be able to find a picture
of this your uniform for the Texas Tallgators. I saw it.
I saw it a couple of weeks ago, guys, and
I was like mixed junks hanging out of his uniform.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
You know what I told my wife, Candy, she's watching
this too, and she can't see me because my cameras
all jacked up.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
But no, she uh she uh. The other day, I said,
you know, there was this lady taking a picture of
my bilt, my belt buckle, and that buckle is huge, man.
But I don't know. She stood the camera for a
long time, and I was like, wait a minute, are
you taking a picture of my buckle or what's going
on here?
Speaker 4 (32:20):
But but she she swore that she's taking a picture
of my buckle. So anyways, yeah, Parney, it's every once
in a while it pooches out.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
But you know what it's like, It's it's not meant
to be that way. It's about the chaps.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Joe T. What do you feel about that? Joe T? Hell?
Speaker 4 (32:36):
Yeah, oh, I got another thing about the chaps though.
I got a thing going now to where I am
getting all the kids to sign the to autograph my chaps.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
I know.
Speaker 4 (32:51):
One thing great about Banana Ball is that we do
a They have a foundation that I'm learning about and
I'm growing with it. Uh.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
The Bananas flo foster. It's for foster children.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
And there's four hundred thousand foster kids right now in America,
and I think I think there's like one hundred and
seventeen thousand that are waiting to be adopted. So it's
a pretty cool you know. And they do that in
the fourth inning, I think third inning, fourth inning where
they announce a family. There was this one one lady
(33:24):
announced she was twenty one years old. I think she
brought in already thirty kids into her home, had them fostered,
and had you know, most of them adopted. But you know,
it's not an easy road, man, It's not easy. We've
got a couple of players on the Firefighters that are
that are adopted children and then they turned out to
be excellent human beings, Joe Lottel and McFadden. But it's
(33:46):
just something special and in my heart as I grow
and learn this this new foundation, I said, man, I
got to do something for him. I know we've had
a lot of different guys do a lot for the foundation.
I just got I'm gonna get all my my chap
signed and I'm going to auction those chaps off at
the end of the year for the Bananas Foster.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
That's what I'm gonna I'm gonna do.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
So that's amazing that it goes. Yeah, and that's a
nice segue into into Jesse and and Emily because that
really was born out of their.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
Family, right, Yes, it was. They do have an adopted child.
Special people, special people. I mean, I'm so grateful to
them for them to allow me to be part of
this family. And they're special. I mean, Emily got a
heart of gold.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
And Jay and Jesse too.
Speaker 4 (34:33):
I mean, it's just it's just something that I'm very,
very fortunate right now to be part of.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
I was. I was looking back in some texts when
y'all were in Richmond last week and Jesse and I
were texting back, and I found some texts about the
Savannah Bananas coming to Montgomery.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
And in my head, I thought that was back in
like twenty you know, like right after COVID, but it
was only a couple of years, and it was like
twenty three. I think it was twenty two or twenty three.
And it just struck me that you guys are playing
in front of eighty thousand people now in three years.
So I think that their whole story is one of
(35:12):
believing in yourself, believing in your brand, yes, but the
bottom line is impacting people's lives. And I think that's
that's that's why. And you've always been good at connecting
with fans and connecting with and we joke about the umpires,
but I'm sure you have really good friends who are
umpires everybody because it was our life, right is that.
One of the biggest differences though, is the amount of
(35:33):
time you spend with the fans pre and post game
or no.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
Yeah, the wall is the wall is knocked down between
the players, coaches, staff, cast between us and the fans.
It's it's about impacting lines. There is a baseball game
that goes on, but baseball is not the only thing.
Baseball is just part of it. Impacting the people, the
ability to reach out.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
You know, in Richmond and.
Speaker 4 (35:58):
At your place there, lady came up to me and
she said she had a good friend of hers, Jess.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
I still remember her name.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
She was diagnosed terminally cancer and it's like something that
was really sad, and she asked me to do a video,
and so I just prayed over her and prayed over her.
You know that Jesus would take care of her and
wrap his arms around her and heal her, and so
she could come out to a banana ball game one day,
and I believe it's gonna happen. You know through the
power of Jesus Christ, I think that's gonna happen. And
(36:28):
you know, I said, we love you, we miss you,
we want you here. Next time we come, you'll be here.
And just being optimistic and positive with these people, I
think is what this is all about.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
I mean, and that's what I've learned to know. I'm
growing with this.
Speaker 4 (36:43):
I'm learning to know that banana ball is way more
than just the baseball game. I mean, you know, obviously
next year we're gonna have six teams, we're gonna have
a league. It'll be more maybe more emphasis on winning,
but the bottom line is you can keep all the
fans in the stands till the last pitch, you're doing
something right.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Well I started tearing up that right there, Wyatt and
Joe T and MP what you just heard Joe is
Joe Michlick. And that's been my friend now for longer
than I actually thought, probably thirty years and I thought
it was twenty some. But now we unveiled another another
secret that Joe Micklick and I were in the same
(37:24):
same stadium in nineteen ninety five and I don't even
think I know it, but I was hammered on bush
Light most of the nineties anyway. Yeah, but your statement
about that fan, like I've always said my whole entire
thirty six year career, we're not in the baseball business.
We're not in the entertainment business. We're in the memory
making business. And for you to be able to do
(37:44):
that for jess Uh is is exactly why you are
who you are. Mick. It's exactly why we we love you,
and is exactly why I wanted to share our relationship
with everybody in the Party Time family and Party Time
list ship. And we're going to close it out with
this so uh Parties Pub Club and and Wyatt, Who's
(38:06):
Parties part of party Club Club wiet You're you're part
of the club Wiyet. I had to go out of
town when Mick came to town, but I was not
leaving fucking town until I saw Joe Michlick and we
met for a few quick beers at Post Pub and
then afterwards I was I had to drive to the
seventh inning stretch and Mick, you sent me a text
(38:26):
and meant everything to me. You said, you said, we
picked up right where we left off, and that's what
friendships and relationships in this game and this industry are
all about you pick up right where you leave off
if it's real. And we didn't even talk about mixed
famous NASCAR pool that I was in for many Yeah,
that was That was a great time too, because that
(38:48):
got me great friends. That got me great friends like
Steve Pope and others. Uh. When Mick and I were
together the other day, we texted so many different people
that we knew, and people were so happy that we
were together. So Mick, we're going to wrap it up, Bud,
and we really appreciate you being on Candy. Thank you
for sharing Mick with us for an hour today.
Speaker 4 (39:08):
And hey, guys, I apologize about this technical difficulty crap,
but you know what, I want to do this again.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
It's like, so we can do this right, I'm gonna
get this.
Speaker 4 (39:18):
I'm gonna throw this iPad out the damn window. What
do you think about my iPad?
Speaker 3 (39:22):
Jo t No, I got too much storage on it.
But anyways, thank you guys for having me man. I
love you party and Wyatt, I love you too. Man.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
I don't even know you.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
I'll give you a hug if i'd be close to you.
But thank you for thank you for having me on Man.
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