April 17, 2025 • 11 mins
Kansas City Royals broadcaster and former first-round pick in the MLB Draft Rex Hudler joins the show to talk about his journey to the big leagues and give his thoughts on the Tigers in the early season.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're hoping to touch base with rex Hudler. But remember
they played in New York last night, so a late one.
By the time you get de Troy played it was
getaway day for Detroit. That always bothered me in baseball
to a certain extent. If you're playing in the same
time zone, you don't have to play an early game
if a team's leaving. So, for example, the Royals were
(00:24):
playing in New York last night. It's a late night.
Why aren't they playing a day game that's a getaway day? Oh,
because it's in the Eastern time zone. It's long, it's tough,
it's hard, it wears.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Agya.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Rex Hudler knows that as a player and as a broadcaster.
It's been broadcasting in Kansas City for a good thirteen
years now to an outstanding job. But he's been in
broadcasting for a long time. First round, former first round pick,
fourteen years in Major League Baseball, and he joins us
here on X's and Brooks. How are you my friend?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Yeah, great to see you, buddy, and you are right man.
Those early entries in the cities, it could be pretty early.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Now.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Last night was wasn't too bad. I mean, we got
into three. Probably got to better by four. And sorry
I missed you for five minutes this morning.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
No, no, don't worry about it. You're a big hot
yoga guy. Will you get your high yoga in today?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Oh believe it's at eleven o'clock. Class start as we go. Man,
are you kidding?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yes? Actually been? Man? How you been?
Speaker 1 (01:27):
You are the best? I'm doing fine. It's great to
talk to you. You are a first round pick of
the New York Yankees in nineteen seventy eight.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Oh Yankee bus.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah, no, you weren't a yank.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Stop that.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Stop that. You don't play fourteen years at the highest
level and be a bus, So stop that. But I
do want to know I.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Was a Yankee bus.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
But I had a lot of fun chef.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
But it was, uh, you know, it wasn't it was.
It wasn't an easy run for me there because George
would would buy all this players at the top. So
there was you know, nobody ever was promoted from the
minor league. Good years, and you go back to edball.
I spent six years in a ball.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Wow, man, what are those challenges? What are those challenges?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Like?
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I mean, it's not just physical, right, it's got to
be mental too. You've got to be really tough to
get through a time like that. How challenging was that
for you?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Oh man? You know what, especially.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Going home, you know, going up in President California, the
expectations were beings. You know, first of all, picks they
make it, and they make it soon. So I kept
going back the area. I go home, you know, in
the off season, and in fact, people would say, man,
what we thought you'd be there by now, what's going on?
And I just said, hey, look, it's a lot harder
(02:42):
than you think it is.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
It's not that easy.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
You got to put up numbers, you got to be
better than the other guys. But being a number one
pick chef was nice because Steibuter gave you one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars sided Botus and that kept be
in the game. They kept be in the lineup. Man,
they let me, you know, they had a job for
me at least, So I'm thankful for that. But it
wasn't until uh, you know, I wrote, I sat down
(03:07):
and wrote Georgia letter asking him for a promotion.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
In my sixth year.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
I said, hey, hey, dear mister Steinbiner, had I went
to a notre jame. I had already graduated, had been
in the NFL by now. Uh and and so this
is my six year at a ball I'm presently hitting
three hundred, which you consider a promotion, please. And I
took that to the Bay Harbor in he had a
hotel in Tampa, and I took it up to the
(03:33):
fun desk and I said, ma'am, could you when mister
Steinbinner comes to town, could you please give this to him?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
You know, sometime this summer.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
She goes he's here, I'll take it up to.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Him right now.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
So I kind of, I kind of my boody got
a little tight, thinking, man, I was. I was thinking
maybe this summer sometimes he would get the letter. So
I get to the ballpark in Saint Petersburg and there
there in the stands of Steinbrenner and Stump, my manager,
and uh, gosh, I was tight. I was like, you know,
my stomach.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Is ground a little.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I'm going, oh my gosh, the guy, you know, you
pop off to a guy like that, I don't know
what what are you gonna do? So Stump comes out
of the stairs and I saw him. I said, Stumpy,
did George get my letter and he said.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah kid, Uh, you know, and he spit.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
He had a big mouth of tobacco. He spit and said,
yeah kid, he loved it.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And I said great, so I you know.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
The next morning we bust back to Fort Lauderdale. At
six o'clock in the morning, I got a call said
you're going to Triple A.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Wow. I said, great, So I got. I got on that.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Airplane and I said, hud to myself, like I did
a lot of talking to myself, ship, what if you
go up there and you lay an egg, You're in trouble.
You got to go up there and rake and uh
and I did, and that kind of kicked me in.
And then he created me to the Orioles after seven years,
and UH wrote me a letter and told me why
(05:00):
he traded me, appreciated my hustle on the way I
wore the fence drives and I went on and just
you had to battle two years in Baltimore. That was
the wrong place too.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
No.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
I just kept here there, hung in there and until
finally there was a crack in the door with the
Expos in eighty eight, ten years after I signed with
the Yankees, when years of NY League ballship and then
and then I was really determined. By then, I was
getting married, I was going to have kids, and they
were counting on me to get there. So man, I trained.
(05:33):
You could crack an egg on any part of my body.
I was ready, I was strong. And then I went
to the expos Mary Jennifer and never went back. She
got me ten straight years in the majors.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Wow, that is a phenomenal story, it really is. I mean,
it's all about perseverance. I hope you share that with
a lot of people, because there's the stick to itiveness
that is so difficult in base because of the high expectations.
One of the high expectations on your team is Bobby
(06:06):
Wood Junior. Now, I used to get criticized and awful
lot when I was doing broadcasting for the Tigers because
when we played the Royals. When the Tigers played the Royals,
we would have these conference calls and people say, all right,
we know where Shop's going. And when we talk about
the Royals, he's talking about Bobby with Junior. I said, look,
the dude's an absolute stud. First of all, I love
the kid. I mean I remember going to an Eastern
mass at Kaufman stadium and I'm sitting right next to
(06:28):
Bobby Wood Junior and just the way he carries himself,
just love it. But I just love him as a player.
What do you and you've seen so many great players,
not just as a player yourself, but as a broadcaster.
What is it about his game you respect the most?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Wow?
Speaker 3 (06:46):
I love how his mom and dad raised him, no
question about that. Yeah, I mean his talent is as
through the roof. But when you're when you put everyone
before yourself and you and you just you know you
you have all your guys pulled on the same end.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Of the rope.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Yeah, Dalvado Perez is the catcher. I mean he's he's
the captain now of this team, but it will be
much longer till Junior is. And he's a kind of guy.
He and Judge Major League Baseball should be should be
doing cartwheels knowing that they have these two guys at
the top of their chain along with Ough Tawny to
(07:27):
market their game. So these two, the Judge and with Junior,
are identical as far as the way they were brought up.
Who with respect, you know? With this old man was
a ten year fifteen year pitcher played against him. He
was known as a he was very respected as a
tough guy, a strong starting pitcher. And then you know,
(07:50):
Junior was raised with three sisters and they were all
older than him, so you know how that goes ship.
They they probably kept him in line, I would imagine.
And sure enough, getting to know Bobby Wood Senior and
Laurie his wife, and Jennifer, my wife, are friends because
of the era we were in and they have so
much in common, they became friends, and so getting to
(08:13):
know their parents, that's been the best thing, There's no
doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yeah, that's really cool. Rex Hudler of the Kansas City
Royals television broadcast team joining us here on Exces and Bros.
Just for a couple more minutes. It's way too early, right,
I mean, it's we're not We're way too early in
a season to worry about who's who's wrong and who's right,
and who's who needs fixing and who's so much better
than they were a year ago. But from an outsider standpoint,
(08:39):
when you look at the Tigers, what do you see?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (08:43):
I see I see Keith that are long and sharp.
I see I see young young players that are hungry
I see a manager that's ripe for a championship. I
see the organization that worked hard to get the kids
to the big league, and now that they're here, they
complement them with a with.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
A player or two.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
That's that's the sign of a team that's going somewhere.
And I'm excited for the Tiger fans to be able
to see a team like this hitching like this. Now
we have Reagan's you guys have school well, we have
two left handers that are identical and that that goes
a long way when you have Asians like that. And
the one thing that's saving us right now, Chef, is that,
(09:29):
you know, we're a couple of bats shy, and there's
no doubt about that. But are starting starting five or
just like last year, top shelf, We have a good
back into the bullpen. Those are the things that are
keeping us hopeful until somebody can step up and start
hitting the ball. You know, the Tigers, gosh, it's their
league right now in April.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
How do you handicap the division in general?
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Well, you know, watching these guys, this is my fourteenth
season here, ship and it's been a lot of fun.
The central I did eleven years with the Angels out
there on the West coast, on the west and it's
just really really great, especially living in the middle of
the country. How close all the road trips are. New
York was an hour and a half flight. I mean,
you know, it's so easy when we came here last night,
(10:18):
but it's so easy to travel is easy. The league
is very competitive. Minnesota is not the same team this year.
For whatever reason, they're not the same we've been around.
Cleveland's always tough. I don't know why they don't seem
like they have, you know, the personnel that they've had
in the path. They traded their second baseman, but they're
(10:40):
still good. They've they've been tough on us. They took
two out of three to start this road trip, and
then we got swept by the Yankees, So you know
what kind of limping in here to the motor City,
no tunel what we'll see. But because baseball, you can't
predict sheep.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
It's just too hard.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Yeah, I know, there's too many things that can happen.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Hut.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
It's great to visit with you. Thanks, my friend. I
know it was in early morning. Have a great son
of workout and a great hot yoga, workout, and keep
up the great work with Ryan Lafever tell him I
said hello, and enjoy your time here in de Trade
as always.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Buddy ship.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
I'm glad that you're on the radio here the people
get to hear you anyway, how much fun. And then
next time, next time, shep, let's talk about Kirk.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Gibson showing me around Michigan State.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
I would love to do that because that's one of
the best stories of all time.
We're hoping to touch base with rex Hudler. But remember
they played in New York last night, so a late one.
By the time you get de Troy played it was
getaway day for Detroit. That always bothered me in baseball
to a certain extent. If you're playing in the same
time zone, you don't have to play an early game
if a team's leaving. So, for example, the Royals were
(00:24):
playing in New York last night. It's a late night.
Why aren't they playing a day game that's a getaway day? Oh,
because it's in the Eastern time zone. It's long, it's tough,
it's hard, it wears.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Agya.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Rex Hudler knows that as a player and as a broadcaster.
It's been broadcasting in Kansas City for a good thirteen
years now to an outstanding job. But he's been in
broadcasting for a long time. First round, former first round pick,
fourteen years in Major League Baseball, and he joins us
here on X's and Brooks. How are you my friend?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Yeah, great to see you, buddy, and you are right man.
Those early entries in the cities, it could be pretty early.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Now.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Last night was wasn't too bad. I mean, we got
into three. Probably got to better by four. And sorry
I missed you for five minutes this morning.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
No, no, don't worry about it. You're a big hot
yoga guy. Will you get your high yoga in today?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Oh believe it's at eleven o'clock. Class start as we go. Man,
are you kidding?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yes? Actually been? Man? How you been?
Speaker 1 (01:27):
You are the best? I'm doing fine. It's great to
talk to you. You are a first round pick of
the New York Yankees in nineteen seventy eight.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Oh Yankee bus.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah, no, you weren't a yank.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Stop that.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Stop that. You don't play fourteen years at the highest
level and be a bus, So stop that. But I
do want to know I.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Was a Yankee bus.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
But I had a lot of fun chef.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
But it was, uh, you know, it wasn't it was.
It wasn't an easy run for me there because George
would would buy all this players at the top. So
there was you know, nobody ever was promoted from the
minor league. Good years, and you go back to edball.
I spent six years in a ball.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Wow, man, what are those challenges? What are those challenges?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Like?
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I mean, it's not just physical, right, it's got to
be mental too. You've got to be really tough to
get through a time like that. How challenging was that
for you?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Oh man? You know what, especially.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Going home, you know, going up in President California, the
expectations were beings. You know, first of all, picks they
make it, and they make it soon. So I kept
going back the area. I go home, you know, in
the off season, and in fact, people would say, man,
what we thought you'd be there by now, what's going on?
And I just said, hey, look, it's a lot harder
(02:42):
than you think it is.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
It's not that easy.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
You got to put up numbers, you got to be
better than the other guys. But being a number one
pick chef was nice because Steibuter gave you one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars sided Botus and that kept be
in the game. They kept be in the lineup. Man,
they let me, you know, they had a job for
me at least, So I'm thankful for that. But it
wasn't until uh, you know, I wrote, I sat down
(03:07):
and wrote Georgia letter asking him for a promotion.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
In my sixth year.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
I said, hey, hey, dear mister Steinbiner, had I went
to a notre jame. I had already graduated, had been
in the NFL by now. Uh and and so this
is my six year at a ball I'm presently hitting
three hundred, which you consider a promotion, please. And I
took that to the Bay Harbor in he had a
hotel in Tampa, and I took it up to the
(03:33):
fun desk and I said, ma'am, could you when mister
Steinbinner comes to town, could you please give this to him?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
You know, sometime this summer.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
She goes he's here, I'll take it up to.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Him right now.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
So I kind of, I kind of my boody got
a little tight, thinking, man, I was. I was thinking
maybe this summer sometimes he would get the letter. So
I get to the ballpark in Saint Petersburg and there
there in the stands of Steinbrenner and Stump, my manager,
and uh, gosh, I was tight. I was like, you know,
my stomach.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Is ground a little.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I'm going, oh my gosh, the guy, you know, you
pop off to a guy like that, I don't know
what what are you gonna do? So Stump comes out
of the stairs and I saw him. I said, Stumpy,
did George get my letter and he said.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah kid, Uh, you know, and he spit.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
He had a big mouth of tobacco. He spit and said,
yeah kid, he loved it.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And I said great, so I you know.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
The next morning we bust back to Fort Lauderdale. At
six o'clock in the morning, I got a call said
you're going to Triple A.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Wow. I said, great, So I got. I got on that.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Airplane and I said, hud to myself, like I did
a lot of talking to myself, ship, what if you
go up there and you lay an egg, You're in trouble.
You got to go up there and rake and uh
and I did, and that kind of kicked me in.
And then he created me to the Orioles after seven years,
and UH wrote me a letter and told me why
(05:00):
he traded me, appreciated my hustle on the way I
wore the fence drives and I went on and just
you had to battle two years in Baltimore. That was
the wrong place too.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
No.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
I just kept here there, hung in there and until
finally there was a crack in the door with the
Expos in eighty eight, ten years after I signed with
the Yankees, when years of NY League ballship and then
and then I was really determined. By then, I was
getting married, I was going to have kids, and they
were counting on me to get there. So man, I trained.
(05:33):
You could crack an egg on any part of my body.
I was ready, I was strong. And then I went
to the expos Mary Jennifer and never went back. She
got me ten straight years in the majors.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Wow, that is a phenomenal story, it really is. I mean,
it's all about perseverance. I hope you share that with
a lot of people, because there's the stick to itiveness
that is so difficult in base because of the high expectations.
One of the high expectations on your team is Bobby
(06:06):
Wood Junior. Now, I used to get criticized and awful
lot when I was doing broadcasting for the Tigers because
when we played the Royals. When the Tigers played the Royals,
we would have these conference calls and people say, all right,
we know where Shop's going. And when we talk about
the Royals, he's talking about Bobby with Junior. I said, look,
the dude's an absolute stud. First of all, I love
the kid. I mean I remember going to an Eastern
mass at Kaufman stadium and I'm sitting right next to
(06:28):
Bobby Wood Junior and just the way he carries himself,
just love it. But I just love him as a player.
What do you and you've seen so many great players,
not just as a player yourself, but as a broadcaster.
What is it about his game you respect the most?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Wow?
Speaker 3 (06:46):
I love how his mom and dad raised him, no
question about that. Yeah, I mean his talent is as
through the roof. But when you're when you put everyone
before yourself and you and you just you know you
you have all your guys pulled on the same end.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Of the rope.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Yeah, Dalvado Perez is the catcher. I mean he's he's
the captain now of this team, but it will be
much longer till Junior is. And he's a kind of guy.
He and Judge Major League Baseball should be should be
doing cartwheels knowing that they have these two guys at
the top of their chain along with Ough Tawny to
(07:27):
market their game. So these two, the Judge and with Junior,
are identical as far as the way they were brought up.
Who with respect, you know? With this old man was
a ten year fifteen year pitcher played against him. He
was known as a he was very respected as a
tough guy, a strong starting pitcher. And then you know,
(07:50):
Junior was raised with three sisters and they were all
older than him, so you know how that goes ship.
They they probably kept him in line, I would imagine.
And sure enough, getting to know Bobby Wood Senior and
Laurie his wife, and Jennifer, my wife, are friends because
of the era we were in and they have so
much in common, they became friends, and so getting to
(08:13):
know their parents, that's been the best thing, There's no
doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yeah, that's really cool. Rex Hudler of the Kansas City
Royals television broadcast team joining us here on Exces and Bros.
Just for a couple more minutes. It's way too early, right,
I mean, it's we're not We're way too early in
a season to worry about who's who's wrong and who's right,
and who's who needs fixing and who's so much better
than they were a year ago. But from an outsider standpoint,
(08:39):
when you look at the Tigers, what do you see?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (08:43):
I see I see Keith that are long and sharp.
I see I see young young players that are hungry
I see a manager that's ripe for a championship. I
see the organization that worked hard to get the kids
to the big league, and now that they're here, they
complement them with a with.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
A player or two.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
That's that's the sign of a team that's going somewhere.
And I'm excited for the Tiger fans to be able
to see a team like this hitching like this. Now
we have Reagan's you guys have school well, we have
two left handers that are identical and that that goes
a long way when you have Asians like that. And
the one thing that's saving us right now, Chef, is that,
(09:29):
you know, we're a couple of bats shy, and there's
no doubt about that. But are starting starting five or
just like last year, top shelf, We have a good
back into the bullpen. Those are the things that are
keeping us hopeful until somebody can step up and start
hitting the ball. You know, the Tigers, gosh, it's their
league right now in April.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
How do you handicap the division in general?
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Well, you know, watching these guys, this is my fourteenth
season here, ship and it's been a lot of fun.
The central I did eleven years with the Angels out
there on the West coast, on the west and it's
just really really great, especially living in the middle of
the country. How close all the road trips are. New
York was an hour and a half flight. I mean,
you know, it's so easy when we came here last night,
(10:18):
but it's so easy to travel is easy. The league
is very competitive. Minnesota is not the same team this year.
For whatever reason, they're not the same we've been around.
Cleveland's always tough. I don't know why they don't seem
like they have, you know, the personnel that they've had
in the path. They traded their second baseman, but they're
(10:40):
still good. They've they've been tough on us. They took
two out of three to start this road trip, and
then we got swept by the Yankees, So you know
what kind of limping in here to the motor City,
no tunel what we'll see. But because baseball, you can't
predict sheep.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
It's just too hard.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Yeah, I know, there's too many things that can happen.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Hut.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
It's great to visit with you. Thanks, my friend. I
know it was in early morning. Have a great son
of workout and a great hot yoga, workout, and keep
up the great work with Ryan Lafever tell him I
said hello, and enjoy your time here in de Trade
as always.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Buddy ship.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
I'm glad that you're on the radio here the people
get to hear you anyway, how much fun. And then
next time, next time, shep, let's talk about Kirk.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Gibson showing me around Michigan State.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
I would love to do that because that's one of
the best stories of all time.
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!