January 10, 2025 • 23 mins
In part two of the infamous Casino Story, Doug sits down with teammate and former MLB player Brent Abernathy to relive the unforgettable night. Brent shares his perspective on the chaos, along with the aftermath of the altercation that helped ignite Team USA’s incredible run to Olympic gold.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome back to the Dugout Podcast. Previous episodes, we discussed
the Casino fight, and my guest this week is a
man who was there. He was our second baseman, broke
USA Olympic hits and doubles record from the two thousand Olympics.
Also came home with a big chunk of change, which
(00:25):
we will get into. Played three to five. How many
How long did you play in the big leagues? About
five years, four.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Years, about three years. I got about three years in
the big leagues.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Now, he's a huge financial guy who's smarter than all
of us, so he picked the right path without further ado.
Brent aka Trent Abernathy, as Tommy Lasorda would mispronounced names
the entire time, Brent be turned into Trent, and I
think Brent played better as Trent. He led like I said,
(00:56):
he led the Olympics and hits doubles. I think that
record still stands if I'm not mistaken. But was basically
our fireplug, got us going lead off hitter, had a snarl.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Love the way he played. Brett. Thanks for coming with
us this this week.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
You got it man, It's always good to catch up
with you. I've been watching what you do with the podcast,
love it anytime, catching up with one of my favorite
teammates of all time. I am glad to do it,
my man.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
I appreciate that we had a hell of a time
out there, and what we will.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Do is I've already given my perspective up to this,
so moving forward, we would love to hear your perspective
from let's just say, when you walked up and saw
what the hell was going on into the casino fight,
when Tommy's there running his mouth. Bless his heart rest
in peace, Skip, but it was pretty entertaining, and we
(01:48):
want to hear it from the man who got it
the worst, which was I think we all. I think
I told the story where you got bit by one
of the guys, and we're gonna I want to turn
it over to you and and let you that you
how you're side of the story.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, man, it was. It was a crazy night. And
and and I know you've mentioned, uh, leading up to
this that uh, it's on the backside of us getting
the speech from all the all the brass at USA Baseball,
our managers, you know, Tommy, everybody basically saying hey, you know,
you have to represent the country. The right way. You're
(02:23):
not gonna get into any trouble. We're not gonna have
any issues with you know, hotel rooms and and and
fights and and and We're just gonna do things the
right way and represent the country the way it should
be represented. And and we all were completely on board
with that. I mean, it is special. Obviously, we're in
USA across your chest, and we wanted to do it
(02:44):
the right way. Well, uh, that night in the Gold Coast,
we were just trying to kill some time, you know,
I mean we had a lot of time on our hands.
We were doing exhibition stuff, just trying to get used
to the time zone, the change and everything. And so
we would do that during the day and then at
night we had nothing else to do. And I don't
know what they expected us to do. They put us
(03:06):
up in this you know, beautiful casino resort, hotel and
and and and also Doug, I think it's important to
know too that, like, we were all trying to get
to know each other, right, because we came from different
walks of life within professional baseball. Some of us were young,
up and coming prospects. Some people were you know, a
(03:27):
little bit older guys that were kind of at the
tail end of their career. We really didn't know each other.
We were thrown together and basically it basically said, hey,
within a couple of weeks, you guys are supposed to
go win the gold medal, even though you don't know
each other and never played with each other. And and
so we used that time over in the Gold Coast
to kind of bond and you know, kind of get
(03:47):
to know each other and and and so it was
it was a great time for us to just be
sitting down there playing some cards, hanging out, you know,
you know, talking a little smack, getting to know each
other's backgrounds, whatever. And I feel like that's what we
intended to do that night. And then as you said,
you know, Tommy came in this guy's betting behind pat Uh,
(04:11):
this Vietnamese guy, and and and we all thought it
was really weird and we didn't really like it. It
was uncomfortable. I know, Pat didn't like it at all.
But we weren't gonna do anything about it, you know,
we were just again just trying to stay out of
trouble until Tommy came in three sheets to the wind
and standing behind the guys. Yeah, I mean it just
(04:38):
starts talking, you know, kind of just stirring the pot man,
and we're all just sitting there, like, man, let it go.
Can somebody get this guy up to his room, you know?
And and again, I love Tommy to death, rest in
peace all that.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I don't think we had we would have managed to
do what we did without him, But that night we
he started everything. Let's let's let's be real clear. He
started everything, right, and and so you know, Pat had
had enough. Tommy started it. The guy started talking trash
to Pat. Pat stands up and Doug, I tell this
(05:18):
story all the time, man. The the only I remember
vividly two things about that that that incident. One is
I remember tables and chips and chairs just getting tossed
and thrown everywhere, right and and and of course you're,
you know, your head's on a swivel when a fight
(05:38):
breaks out like that, and you're trying to figure out,
how can I help, Who can I back up? You know,
who can I take care of whatever? I want to
make sure. I want to make sure I don't get
cole cock from the side, right, So you're on a swivel,
and I just remember chips flying everywhere. This this this
dude getting thrown down the way like a rag doll
(05:58):
like you've described, know, Pat throwing this guy. And then
the second image I have is me turning to my right,
and I'm seeing this woman just whipping you over the
head with her purse. Right, yeah, you're you're you're in
it with with this woman. And and I get another guy.
(06:23):
They're they're kind of on top of you. And so
I run over there and grab and the and the
guy's about four foot two, you know, I mean, And
and so I go over there and grab him around
the neck just to get him off of you, right
and and and I'm literally just holding him to make
sure he's not doing causing any more trouble for my boys,
(06:46):
you know. And that son of a bitch turns as
I'm holding him like this, he turns and and bites
me in in my left nipple through my shirt, you know.
And I didn't think anything of it at the time,
you know, But I mean, it was nothing for me
(07:06):
to hold on to him and keep him away from
you guys and stuff. But I didn't think anything of
it at the time. And then, you know, as as
you've mentioned, things kind of got settled down, and once
I do remember seeing the guys, you know, the Vietnamese
guys walking out of the casino kind of kind of
(07:27):
come doing this number, like they're gonna come back with guns,
you know. And and then after that, man, I just
remember thinking to myself, and I know you and I
we've talked about it. We thought we were going home,
you know, I mean, you're gonna stand up for your boys.
You know, you're not gonna let anybody, you know, take
(07:48):
advantage or or you know, put your boys in a
bad spot. And so if I had it to do
over again, I think we would all do the exact
same thing we did. But we were like after after
the incident, we were like, man, we just lost our
opportunity to play for an Olympic gold medal and represent
the country. And I remember being told I had to
(08:11):
go to the hospital. So I wasn't part of the aftermath, right,
I never to this day, I have not seen the
video that I know you have seen. But because I
had to go to the hospital, I had to get
shots for tetanus, I had to get checked for rabies,
like all this stuff. Because his bite actually broke through
the skin under my shirt, you know, and I didn't
(08:35):
know what it.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Got bit by Yen from Otions eleven.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Basically, yeah, I didn't know what I was going to
be coming back to from the hospital that night. I
didn't know if our bags were going to be packed.
I really didn't know what was going to transpire from
that point.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
So, and to this day, I still wonder why they
chose me instead of Pat.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Right.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Pat was thirty eight years old, right, two time World
Series champ, MVP of the World Series. And they knock
on our door because I was Pat was my room,
and I don't know if Pat was still throwing that
guy down the casino floor or if like it's like,
hey man, you got.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
To come up here, and I'm like, oh shit, this
is this is how it ends. Huh.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Sweet Yeah, whatever you did in that room with Bob
Watson and Tommy and the staff to to to make
sure we were allowed to stay, uh, I will be
forever indebted to it.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
I have been in some really like awkward situations like
that over the course of my life and career at
every level, whether it's high school, college.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Pro, and that one I'll never forget.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Like like he was like Don Corleone in the back
room like Bob was like it was across like Don
Corleone made it with Darth Vader, and there's Bob Watson,
like there was no smoke, but it felt like it
in my face. Like he's in the back like he does.
Don't know if he's gonna give me the gladiator thumbs
up or like, are you gonna cut my head off?
(10:05):
And if you give this picture Tommy in the back corner
sitting in the chair on the other side. It was dark,
and he's just the love these guys. I'm like, look,
I look at my like you're not helping us. Man,
shut the fuck up, like literally shut up, like you're
not helping the situation. He's like, I love these guys.
They fight for each other there in my fox hold
him like, Bro, Bob doesn't want to hear any of this,
(10:26):
you know, like Sandy's in there, Bob's in there. I'm like, look,
we had no other choice, you know, somehow we skated through.
We dodged ring drops, right because the casino people came
to us and said, look, these guys got a rap
sheet like ten pages.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Long or like great, well now, and I knew we were.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Okay when Bob when the casino guy was up there
and Bob and the guy said, look, we can't have
these guys on the casino anymore floor. And Bob was like,
wait a minute, like I don't want to punish the
whole group because of a bunch three idiots. And that's
when they arranged for us to go to the high
Rollers room and then from there. I know, I think
(11:06):
I've said a little bit of it, but it was
like a windy carpeted staircase and had like hardwood floors
in the middle and like five tables on either side
of one big one. When you walked in, and it
was the stuffiest, like low key, like you're sitting there
with a bunch of Japanese billionaires. It just wasn't the
(11:28):
same feel. But I'm like, all right, this is what
we got. This is what we got, and then from there,
I'll let you take it from there. This is the
next night.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
That was the next night, right. They set that room
up so we could still have some fun, play some cards,
but we could be safe and protected in case the
guys came back and we were not allowed on the
regular casino floor. Well, so we were like okay, cool,
we'll do it. And like you, as you described, I
(11:56):
remember the staircase too. We're walking down there and it's
just to it's a stuffy feel. It's not the you
don't have the the environment that you have on a
regular casino floor. And and and not to mention the
fact we're all just getting our ass kicked and losing
money left and right. I mean, I mean, we're all
just getting smoked down there. And you know, and in
(12:21):
the night before, let's back up the night before, we
were winning, Okay, when we were up there, right and
and you know, baseball players in particular were superstitious as hell,
and and so we're getting killed down in this room,
and a bunch of us just looked at each other.
Finally we had enough and we weren't having any fun
to boot, and we're like, screw this. You know, we
(12:44):
ain't afraid of nobody. You know, Let's let's go up
where we're not supposed to be and until they make
us lead. Basically was our approach, you know. And And
and it's funny looking back, like that's kind of how
the team was right in the Olympics and everything we were.
We were kind of that bunch that was like, we
don't give a crap who you are, what you say
(13:06):
to us. We're gonna freaking figure out a way to win.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
And so we get this done.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
We're gonna get it done right. And and so we
went a bunch of us went back up to the
regular casino where we're not supposed to be and.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Right, which is like the fifteenth or sixteenth thing we've
did that we were told specifically not to do, but
go ahead exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
And so we're up there at the worst odds game
in the casino, Caribbean Stud. There's a bunch of us
around the Caribbean Stud poker table and I'm standing off
the back and Ben Sheets is sitting in the one
hole playing and he's not having he's not having too
much luck, and so he gets up and leaves. Well,
(13:50):
I take Ben's seat, and three hands later get dealt
ace or ten through ace of spades a royal flush, right,
And I had all of ten dollars up betting on
that hand, And that was the jackpie. You get delta
a royal flush in that game, it's the jackpot. Well,
(14:12):
the jackpie at that point in time was one hundred
and twenty six thousand dollars right that I won on
this hand after sitting down three hands before. And so
at that point in time, the entire casino shuts down,
like literally they have to stop everything and go watch
videotapes and make sure you know I didn't do anything
(14:35):
funny with the cards and all this stuff. Well as this,
I remember it Doug being taking probably close to thirty minutes, okay,
and for them to actually and they have to pay
you in chips, right, They want to bring the chips out,
so you turn around and give the chips back to them, right. So,
(14:57):
so it was literally felt like about thirty minutes for
them to bring the chips out, and by that point
in time, there was probably fifteen or twenty of our
guys standing around the table. I mean, everything had stopped.
The whole casino was looking at us. And then here
comes like eight armed guards walking out with two trays
(15:19):
full trayfols of one thousand dollars orange chips. And I'll
never forget the pit boss looking at me and saying, okay,
here's your payout. Do you need assistance? Do you need
a convoy to go over to the cashier with all
these chips? Right? And I looked around at all of
(15:40):
you guys, and I'm like, no, I think I'm good.
I got my convoy, I got my guys. You know,
they'll walk over there with me. And so we all
walked over the casino to the cashier. Some of you
boys were trying to get me to put ten thousand
on red or you know whatever. And I just made
a bee line to the cash year and got a
(16:02):
check for that amount and went to my hotel room
and stopped shaking a little bit. And I remember calling
my parents because it was the middle of the night,
I think back home, I don't know, I can't remember
the time change. I called my parents and I'm like,
I just got this check for one hundred and twenty
six grand. What should I do? Just put it in
(16:23):
my backpack, you know? And you know, yeah, hey, And
you know, Doug. The craziest thing too about that is
I was actually out in Vegas last week on a
little family vacation and I was talking to a dealer
out there about that story. And over in Australia, you
(16:46):
were not allowed to tip the dealers, right. I don't
know if you remember that or not, but I just
got paid one hundred and twenty six thousand dollars, and
I could not give anything to this dealer for dealing
me this royal flush. And so the only thing we
were able to do for them was was get them
tickets the next night to our exhibition game and give
(17:07):
them a sign ball basically by the team. And so
it was a wild couple of days. Man uh, and
the Olympics hadn't even started yet.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Well see I wasn't there because I actually did what
I was supposed to do. I figured, I've already got
to the principal's office twice, like I'm staying, but I'll.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Keep taking it from the people downstairs.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
And I was not that type of guy. Man. I
was like, man, I go, I.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Got I'm one for the I'm one for exhibition games.
They've already talked to me. I said, in my ass home,
I'm like, my ass this seat and I'm not moving
because I got the story wrong because I thought it
was I thought it was I thought.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Burrows was sitting in the one hole and.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
He got up, so it was sheets.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Well she's sheets did okay for himself?
Speaker 3 (17:50):
He yeah, he was a walking lottery ticket. Let's not okay.
Understand that he's gonna be all right. He made his money.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
But I remember, like when when word got passed down
to us, like they kicked the door in, Like I
remember those how big those doors were to the high
rollers room.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Like they're like they that time.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
They seem like they're eighty feet tall, like seven feet thick. Right,
I just remember sitting down there playing blackjack next to
some probably some Japanese chillionaire who's drinking sake and has
geiche girls around him, and all of a sudden, the
door kick. I mean, these doors get kicked in. I'm like,
oh shit, here they come. They're gonna they come the
machine gun guys, right, And it was like all of
(18:31):
us just i mean running as fast as they could
down the spiral staircase like Brett just want a shit
ton of money. I'm like, why are we up there?
Like here, I am like dork, Doug, like why we're
not supposed to be up there?
Speaker 2 (18:43):
But what do you do? Like he did what?
Speaker 3 (18:46):
And I'm like, I'll talk to him on a wall
on the field again. I am not moving from this.
And that's I'll never forget this.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Because Pat looked at me and goes like, you know,
this is starting to become one hell of a story.
And I'm like and we ain't even started yet, and
it was just like, you know, like thankfully we had
people who in charge that understood the game, understood what
we were up against. We had Tommy who stuff like
(19:13):
this goes way beyond any speech he ever gave us.
To keep backing us to be to do what they
wanted to do, they had to think when they put
us in the casino, like when they put all this
team together, thinking, man, this is either going to be
really good or really bad, Like this is not a
Usually don't send baseball players to casinos.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Usually it turns into a shit show. And pretty much
it did.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
But I think looking back, there wasn't a place we
could have ever been that would have helped us, you know,
get together and bond faster than that, you know, so
tie that into moving forward. I remember you then you
have like an exchange problem. They couldn't just take the
money because it was Australian and it was this is
(19:55):
this what led you into your future?
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Like business? This transaction?
Speaker 2 (20:02):
No man, it's uh, it's yeah. They they couldn't exchange
it over there, And I was told that I would
be better off just just waiting when when I when
I came back home, Uh, I just brought the check
back home and exchanged the currency here, uh and turned around.
I needed a vehicle at that point in time, So
I turned around and bought myself a nice Mercedes with
(20:23):
with cash, and uh, you know, moved on. But it
was man that that that was that was a special
time and a special group of guys. And as you said,
you know, we nobody really knew each other, and nobody
really knew what to expect. But but I think we
all did understand that we each were picked and chosen
(20:47):
for a specific reason, right and and and if you
look at that team, you know, uh, there's a few
of us like myself and you and and I know, uh,
you know, Mike Ne we kind of had that we
were kind of that intensity, that that that grit that
uh that we're gonna talk junk to you no matter
(21:08):
who you are, We're gonna you know, the the spark plugs,
the fire starters, whatever you want to call. And then
you have some guys that that were more your quiet
guys and and hey, I'm just going to show up
and do my job. And and you know, I think
back I mean Adam Everett for instance, playing shortstop. It's
it's like, I don't even know if he got a
(21:29):
hit while we were over there, but it didn't matter, right, Like,
we wouldn't have won the gold medal if he wasn't
a damn vacuum cleaner at shortstop. And and we all
had our roles, and we knew that we just had
to we had to. We had to, uh, we had
to get to know each other so we could implement
those roles within the team aspect. And and not quite
(21:50):
frankly for lack of a better term, not take shit
from anybody, because that's the reason why the US had
not won gold medals previously, is is because I think
there was a fear factor there of the unknown of
how Japan and Korea played baseball, and in the fear
factor of the Cuban dynasty, right and and we just
(22:15):
we a lot of us we just didn't care. We
just we we had confidence in ourselves and and trust
in each other, which as we go back to the
casino night, right that kind of started that night, is
that trust in that bond that no matter what you're doing,
how you're feeling, how you're playing, that night. You got
guys behind you that got your back and and it
(22:38):
turned into an unbelievable story and an unbelievable team.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
First and foremost, I want to thank Brett for coming on.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
His insight was always one of the best teammates I
ever had. On a short notice. He was as good
as it gets, Little grinder, little Gamer. We're friends to
the end, So thank you Brett for coming on.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
We loved it.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
That's gonna wrap it up for this episode, and check
us out anywhere you want to, Apple, Spotify, wherever you
find your favorite podcasts.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Until next time, this is Doug with a Dugout Podcast.
Welcome back to the Dugout Podcast. Previous episodes, we discussed
the Casino fight, and my guest this week is a
man who was there. He was our second baseman, broke
USA Olympic hits and doubles record from the two thousand Olympics.
Also came home with a big chunk of change, which
(00:25):
we will get into. Played three to five. How many
How long did you play in the big leagues? About
five years, four.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Years, about three years. I got about three years in
the big leagues.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Now, he's a huge financial guy who's smarter than all
of us, so he picked the right path without further ado.
Brent aka Trent Abernathy, as Tommy Lasorda would mispronounced names
the entire time, Brent be turned into Trent, and I
think Brent played better as Trent. He led like I said,
(00:56):
he led the Olympics and hits doubles. I think that
record still stands if I'm not mistaken. But was basically
our fireplug, got us going lead off hitter, had a snarl.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Love the way he played. Brett. Thanks for coming with
us this this week.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
You got it man, It's always good to catch up
with you. I've been watching what you do with the podcast,
love it anytime, catching up with one of my favorite
teammates of all time. I am glad to do it,
my man.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
I appreciate that we had a hell of a time
out there, and what we will.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Do is I've already given my perspective up to this,
so moving forward, we would love to hear your perspective
from let's just say, when you walked up and saw
what the hell was going on into the casino fight,
when Tommy's there running his mouth. Bless his heart rest
in peace, Skip, but it was pretty entertaining, and we
(01:48):
want to hear it from the man who got it
the worst, which was I think we all. I think
I told the story where you got bit by one
of the guys, and we're gonna I want to turn
it over to you and and let you that you
how you're side of the story.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, man, it was. It was a crazy night. And
and and I know you've mentioned, uh, leading up to
this that uh, it's on the backside of us getting
the speech from all the all the brass at USA Baseball,
our managers, you know, Tommy, everybody basically saying hey, you know,
you have to represent the country. The right way. You're
(02:23):
not gonna get into any trouble. We're not gonna have
any issues with you know, hotel rooms and and and
fights and and and We're just gonna do things the
right way and represent the country the way it should
be represented. And and we all were completely on board
with that. I mean, it is special. Obviously, we're in
USA across your chest, and we wanted to do it
(02:44):
the right way. Well, uh, that night in the Gold Coast,
we were just trying to kill some time, you know,
I mean we had a lot of time on our hands.
We were doing exhibition stuff, just trying to get used
to the time zone, the change and everything. And so
we would do that during the day and then at
night we had nothing else to do. And I don't
know what they expected us to do. They put us
(03:06):
up in this you know, beautiful casino resort, hotel and
and and and also Doug, I think it's important to
know too that, like, we were all trying to get
to know each other, right, because we came from different
walks of life within professional baseball. Some of us were young,
up and coming prospects. Some people were you know, a
(03:27):
little bit older guys that were kind of at the
tail end of their career. We really didn't know each other.
We were thrown together and basically it basically said, hey,
within a couple of weeks, you guys are supposed to
go win the gold medal, even though you don't know
each other and never played with each other. And and
so we used that time over in the Gold Coast
to kind of bond and you know, kind of get
(03:47):
to know each other and and and so it was
it was a great time for us to just be
sitting down there playing some cards, hanging out, you know,
you know, talking a little smack, getting to know each
other's backgrounds, whatever. And I feel like that's what we
intended to do that night. And then as you said,
you know, Tommy came in this guy's betting behind pat Uh,
(04:11):
this Vietnamese guy, and and and we all thought it
was really weird and we didn't really like it. It
was uncomfortable. I know, Pat didn't like it at all.
But we weren't gonna do anything about it, you know,
we were just again just trying to stay out of
trouble until Tommy came in three sheets to the wind
and standing behind the guys. Yeah, I mean it just
(04:38):
starts talking, you know, kind of just stirring the pot man,
and we're all just sitting there, like, man, let it go.
Can somebody get this guy up to his room, you know?
And and again, I love Tommy to death, rest in
peace all that.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I don't think we had we would have managed to
do what we did without him, But that night we
he started everything. Let's let's let's be real clear. He
started everything, right, and and so you know, Pat had
had enough. Tommy started it. The guy started talking trash
to Pat. Pat stands up and Doug, I tell this
(05:18):
story all the time, man. The the only I remember
vividly two things about that that that incident. One is
I remember tables and chips and chairs just getting tossed
and thrown everywhere, right and and and of course you're,
you know, your head's on a swivel when a fight
(05:38):
breaks out like that, and you're trying to figure out,
how can I help, Who can I back up? You know,
who can I take care of whatever? I want to
make sure. I want to make sure I don't get
cole cock from the side, right, So you're on a swivel,
and I just remember chips flying everywhere. This this this
dude getting thrown down the way like a rag doll
(05:58):
like you've described, know, Pat throwing this guy. And then
the second image I have is me turning to my right,
and I'm seeing this woman just whipping you over the
head with her purse. Right, yeah, you're you're you're in
it with with this woman. And and I get another guy.
(06:23):
They're they're kind of on top of you. And so
I run over there and grab and the and the
guy's about four foot two, you know, I mean, And
and so I go over there and grab him around
the neck just to get him off of you, right
and and and I'm literally just holding him to make
sure he's not doing causing any more trouble for my boys,
(06:46):
you know. And that son of a bitch turns as
I'm holding him like this, he turns and and bites
me in in my left nipple through my shirt, you know.
And I didn't think anything of it at the time,
you know, But I mean, it was nothing for me
(07:06):
to hold on to him and keep him away from
you guys and stuff. But I didn't think anything of
it at the time. And then, you know, as as
you've mentioned, things kind of got settled down, and once
I do remember seeing the guys, you know, the Vietnamese
guys walking out of the casino kind of kind of
(07:27):
come doing this number, like they're gonna come back with guns,
you know. And and then after that, man, I just
remember thinking to myself, and I know you and I
we've talked about it. We thought we were going home,
you know, I mean, you're gonna stand up for your boys.
You know, you're not gonna let anybody, you know, take
(07:48):
advantage or or you know, put your boys in a
bad spot. And so if I had it to do
over again, I think we would all do the exact
same thing we did. But we were like after after
the incident, we were like, man, we just lost our
opportunity to play for an Olympic gold medal and represent
the country. And I remember being told I had to
(08:11):
go to the hospital. So I wasn't part of the aftermath, right,
I never to this day, I have not seen the
video that I know you have seen. But because I
had to go to the hospital, I had to get
shots for tetanus, I had to get checked for rabies,
like all this stuff. Because his bite actually broke through
the skin under my shirt, you know, and I didn't
(08:35):
know what it.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Got bit by Yen from Otions eleven.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Basically, yeah, I didn't know what I was going to
be coming back to from the hospital that night. I
didn't know if our bags were going to be packed.
I really didn't know what was going to transpire from
that point.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
So, and to this day, I still wonder why they
chose me instead of Pat.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Right.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Pat was thirty eight years old, right, two time World
Series champ, MVP of the World Series. And they knock
on our door because I was Pat was my room,
and I don't know if Pat was still throwing that
guy down the casino floor or if like it's like,
hey man, you got.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
To come up here, and I'm like, oh shit, this
is this is how it ends. Huh.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Sweet Yeah, whatever you did in that room with Bob
Watson and Tommy and the staff to to to make
sure we were allowed to stay, uh, I will be
forever indebted to it.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
I have been in some really like awkward situations like
that over the course of my life and career at
every level, whether it's high school, college.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Pro, and that one I'll never forget.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Like like he was like Don Corleone in the back
room like Bob was like it was across like Don
Corleone made it with Darth Vader, and there's Bob Watson,
like there was no smoke, but it felt like it
in my face. Like he's in the back like he does.
Don't know if he's gonna give me the gladiator thumbs
up or like, are you gonna cut my head off?
(10:05):
And if you give this picture Tommy in the back corner
sitting in the chair on the other side. It was dark,
and he's just the love these guys. I'm like, look,
I look at my like you're not helping us. Man,
shut the fuck up, like literally shut up, like you're
not helping the situation. He's like, I love these guys.
They fight for each other there in my fox hold
him like, Bro, Bob doesn't want to hear any of this,
(10:26):
you know, like Sandy's in there, Bob's in there. I'm like, look,
we had no other choice, you know, somehow we skated through.
We dodged ring drops, right because the casino people came
to us and said, look, these guys got a rap
sheet like ten pages.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Long or like great, well now, and I knew we were.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Okay when Bob when the casino guy was up there
and Bob and the guy said, look, we can't have
these guys on the casino anymore floor. And Bob was like,
wait a minute, like I don't want to punish the
whole group because of a bunch three idiots. And that's
when they arranged for us to go to the high
Rollers room and then from there. I know, I think
(11:06):
I've said a little bit of it, but it was
like a windy carpeted staircase and had like hardwood floors
in the middle and like five tables on either side
of one big one. When you walked in, and it
was the stuffiest, like low key, like you're sitting there
with a bunch of Japanese billionaires. It just wasn't the
(11:28):
same feel. But I'm like, all right, this is what
we got. This is what we got, and then from there,
I'll let you take it from there. This is the
next night.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
That was the next night, right. They set that room
up so we could still have some fun, play some cards,
but we could be safe and protected in case the
guys came back and we were not allowed on the
regular casino floor. Well, so we were like okay, cool,
we'll do it. And like you, as you described, I
(11:56):
remember the staircase too. We're walking down there and it's
just to it's a stuffy feel. It's not the you
don't have the the environment that you have on a
regular casino floor. And and and not to mention the
fact we're all just getting our ass kicked and losing
money left and right. I mean, I mean, we're all
just getting smoked down there. And you know, and in
(12:21):
the night before, let's back up the night before, we
were winning, Okay, when we were up there, right and
and you know, baseball players in particular were superstitious as hell,
and and so we're getting killed down in this room,
and a bunch of us just looked at each other.
Finally we had enough and we weren't having any fun
to boot, and we're like, screw this. You know, we
(12:44):
ain't afraid of nobody. You know, Let's let's go up
where we're not supposed to be and until they make
us lead. Basically was our approach, you know. And And
and it's funny looking back, like that's kind of how
the team was right in the Olympics and everything we were.
We were kind of that bunch that was like, we
don't give a crap who you are, what you say
(13:06):
to us. We're gonna freaking figure out a way to win.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
And so we get this done.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
We're gonna get it done right. And and so we
went a bunch of us went back up to the
regular casino where we're not supposed to be and.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Right, which is like the fifteenth or sixteenth thing we've
did that we were told specifically not to do, but
go ahead exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
And so we're up there at the worst odds game
in the casino, Caribbean Stud. There's a bunch of us
around the Caribbean Stud poker table and I'm standing off
the back and Ben Sheets is sitting in the one
hole playing and he's not having he's not having too
much luck, and so he gets up and leaves. Well,
(13:50):
I take Ben's seat, and three hands later get dealt
ace or ten through ace of spades a royal flush, right,
And I had all of ten dollars up betting on
that hand, And that was the jackpie. You get delta
a royal flush in that game, it's the jackpot. Well,
(14:12):
the jackpie at that point in time was one hundred
and twenty six thousand dollars right that I won on
this hand after sitting down three hands before. And so
at that point in time, the entire casino shuts down,
like literally they have to stop everything and go watch
videotapes and make sure you know I didn't do anything
(14:35):
funny with the cards and all this stuff. Well as this,
I remember it Doug being taking probably close to thirty minutes, okay,
and for them to actually and they have to pay
you in chips, right, They want to bring the chips out,
so you turn around and give the chips back to them, right. So,
(14:57):
so it was literally felt like about thirty minutes for
them to bring the chips out, and by that point
in time, there was probably fifteen or twenty of our
guys standing around the table. I mean, everything had stopped.
The whole casino was looking at us. And then here
comes like eight armed guards walking out with two trays
(15:19):
full trayfols of one thousand dollars orange chips. And I'll
never forget the pit boss looking at me and saying, okay,
here's your payout. Do you need assistance? Do you need
a convoy to go over to the cashier with all
these chips? Right? And I looked around at all of
(15:40):
you guys, and I'm like, no, I think I'm good.
I got my convoy, I got my guys. You know,
they'll walk over there with me. And so we all
walked over the casino to the cashier. Some of you
boys were trying to get me to put ten thousand
on red or you know whatever. And I just made
a bee line to the cash year and got a
(16:02):
check for that amount and went to my hotel room
and stopped shaking a little bit. And I remember calling
my parents because it was the middle of the night,
I think back home, I don't know, I can't remember
the time change. I called my parents and I'm like,
I just got this check for one hundred and twenty
six grand. What should I do? Just put it in
(16:23):
my backpack, you know? And you know, yeah, hey, And
you know, Doug. The craziest thing too about that is
I was actually out in Vegas last week on a
little family vacation and I was talking to a dealer
out there about that story. And over in Australia, you
(16:46):
were not allowed to tip the dealers, right. I don't
know if you remember that or not, but I just
got paid one hundred and twenty six thousand dollars, and
I could not give anything to this dealer for dealing
me this royal flush. And so the only thing we
were able to do for them was was get them
tickets the next night to our exhibition game and give
(17:07):
them a sign ball basically by the team. And so
it was a wild couple of days. Man uh, and
the Olympics hadn't even started yet.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Well see I wasn't there because I actually did what
I was supposed to do. I figured, I've already got
to the principal's office twice, like I'm staying, but I'll.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Keep taking it from the people downstairs.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
And I was not that type of guy. Man. I
was like, man, I go, I.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Got I'm one for the I'm one for exhibition games.
They've already talked to me. I said, in my ass home,
I'm like, my ass this seat and I'm not moving
because I got the story wrong because I thought it
was I thought it was I thought.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Burrows was sitting in the one hole and.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
He got up, so it was sheets.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Well she's sheets did okay for himself?
Speaker 3 (17:50):
He yeah, he was a walking lottery ticket. Let's not okay.
Understand that he's gonna be all right. He made his money.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
But I remember, like when when word got passed down
to us, like they kicked the door in, Like I
remember those how big those doors were to the high
rollers room.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Like they're like they that time.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
They seem like they're eighty feet tall, like seven feet thick. Right,
I just remember sitting down there playing blackjack next to
some probably some Japanese chillionaire who's drinking sake and has
geiche girls around him, and all of a sudden, the
door kick. I mean, these doors get kicked in. I'm like,
oh shit, here they come. They're gonna they come the
machine gun guys, right, And it was like all of
(18:31):
us just i mean running as fast as they could
down the spiral staircase like Brett just want a shit
ton of money. I'm like, why are we up there?
Like here, I am like dork, Doug, like why we're
not supposed to be up there?
Speaker 2 (18:43):
But what do you do? Like he did what?
Speaker 3 (18:46):
And I'm like, I'll talk to him on a wall
on the field again. I am not moving from this.
And that's I'll never forget this.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Because Pat looked at me and goes like, you know,
this is starting to become one hell of a story.
And I'm like and we ain't even started yet, and
it was just like, you know, like thankfully we had
people who in charge that understood the game, understood what
we were up against. We had Tommy who stuff like
(19:13):
this goes way beyond any speech he ever gave us.
To keep backing us to be to do what they
wanted to do, they had to think when they put
us in the casino, like when they put all this
team together, thinking, man, this is either going to be
really good or really bad, Like this is not a
Usually don't send baseball players to casinos.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Usually it turns into a shit show. And pretty much
it did.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
But I think looking back, there wasn't a place we
could have ever been that would have helped us, you know,
get together and bond faster than that, you know, so
tie that into moving forward. I remember you then you
have like an exchange problem. They couldn't just take the
money because it was Australian and it was this is
(19:55):
this what led you into your future?
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Like business? This transaction?
Speaker 2 (20:02):
No man, it's uh, it's yeah. They they couldn't exchange
it over there, And I was told that I would
be better off just just waiting when when I when
I came back home, Uh, I just brought the check
back home and exchanged the currency here, uh and turned around.
I needed a vehicle at that point in time, So
I turned around and bought myself a nice Mercedes with
(20:23):
with cash, and uh, you know, moved on. But it
was man that that that was that was a special
time and a special group of guys. And as you said,
you know, we nobody really knew each other, and nobody
really knew what to expect. But but I think we
all did understand that we each were picked and chosen
(20:47):
for a specific reason, right and and and if you
look at that team, you know, uh, there's a few
of us like myself and you and and I know, uh,
you know, Mike Ne we kind of had that we
were kind of that intensity, that that that grit that
uh that we're gonna talk junk to you no matter
(21:08):
who you are, We're gonna you know, the the spark plugs,
the fire starters, whatever you want to call. And then
you have some guys that that were more your quiet
guys and and hey, I'm just going to show up
and do my job. And and you know, I think
back I mean Adam Everett for instance, playing shortstop. It's
it's like, I don't even know if he got a
(21:29):
hit while we were over there, but it didn't matter, right, Like,
we wouldn't have won the gold medal if he wasn't
a damn vacuum cleaner at shortstop. And and we all
had our roles, and we knew that we just had
to we had to. We had to, uh, we had
to get to know each other so we could implement
those roles within the team aspect. And and not quite
(21:50):
frankly for lack of a better term, not take shit
from anybody, because that's the reason why the US had
not won gold medals previously, is is because I think
there was a fear factor there of the unknown of
how Japan and Korea played baseball, and in the fear
factor of the Cuban dynasty, right and and we just
(22:15):
we a lot of us we just didn't care. We
just we we had confidence in ourselves and and trust
in each other, which as we go back to the
casino night, right that kind of started that night, is
that trust in that bond that no matter what you're doing,
how you're feeling, how you're playing, that night. You got
guys behind you that got your back and and it
(22:38):
turned into an unbelievable story and an unbelievable team.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
First and foremost, I want to thank Brett for coming on.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
His insight was always one of the best teammates I
ever had. On a short notice. He was as good
as it gets, Little grinder, little Gamer. We're friends to
the end, So thank you Brett for coming on.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
We loved it.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
That's gonna wrap it up for this episode, and check
us out anywhere you want to, Apple, Spotify, wherever you
find your favorite podcasts.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Until next time, this is Doug with a Dugout Podcast.
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