July 4, 2025 • 41 mins
Ben Maller opens this 4th of July Holiday talking about the MLB Investigation that Guardians starting Pitcher Luis Ortiz is under due to gambling, then transitions into what the Dodgers lineup are going to do with Max Muncy going down due to a bone bruise, & what the Yankees are thinking after moving Jazz Chisolm to 2B + a new edition of the “Who Am I Game?”
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
America, America. Happy fourth of July. Happy Independence Day. If
you're listening in the US, if you're in Canada, just
have a really good day. So it's our one of
the podcast, and it's all about scandal to begin our
number one of this live recorded, live on tape edition
of The Ben Malor Show. So what intrigues you most
(00:22):
about the Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz involved in a gambling
drama arama. We'll talk about that. Also, how do the
La Dodgers navigate things without Max Munsey in the lineup?
He's gonna be out at least six weeks and likely
longer than that with a messed up knee. And the
(00:42):
Yankees have started to make calls to acquire a third
basement after deciding that Jazz Chisholm belongs at second base?
Are you okay with that decision by the free falling
New York Yankees? All that and more on a fire
world edition of our number one. Here it is now,
(01:03):
this is the real mistake by the leg Wel come
in the beginning of another night of the Ben Mahler Show.
We are in the air everywhere as we chisel away
on the fourth of July. Still late on the third
of July out west, as we waste hours of time
(01:27):
coast to coast, border the border and beyond on the
vast and monolithically powerful microphones of fs are amminating live
from the nuggets, the nuggets of information from the Fox
Sports Radio studios, as approved by Tony in the Bay Area.
(01:48):
More on Tony later. This portion of the Ben Maler
Show on Fox made possible in part by our friends
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tire installation, tire rac dot com. The way tire buying
should be. So there was a Hall of Famer long gone,
Ernie Banks, who famously said, let's play too. It's a
beautiful day for baseball, let's play too. And I said,
it's a beautiful night for hot sports takes. So let's
play two. Let's have a This is the second half
of a day night doubleheaded. But I'll lead this hour.
(02:32):
Do not mess around, no small talk on this live show.
Independence Day weekend. But our lead this hour from Cleveland,
just in time for the big holiday weekend here in
the United States. Major League Baseball facing a new scandal.
And there's one thing that I've grown to love over
my years of gas baggerie, and that is a good
(02:55):
scandal you can really bite into. And this is a
this is a pretty good one. It's a pretty good one.
You might say, well, no, if you don't know much
about it, you just see the headline, ask nothing, but
it's something, trust me if you haven't seen it. So
there's a team named after a bridge that used to
be called the Cleveland Indians, but they changed their name
because baseball was losing their mind a few years back.
(03:18):
So they're now named after a bridge. They're called the
Guardians as a Guardian Bridge in Cleveland. And there's a
pitcher named Luis Ortiz. You don't probably don't know who
that is. Louis Ortiz is the subject of a Major
League Baseball gambling investigation and he has been placed on
the naughty List, Yes, the non disciplinary leave, which is
(03:41):
the knotty list, but we want to say it's naughty now.
The investigation, if you were following along here, the investigation
related to in game prop bets on not one, but
two pitches made by Ortiz that for some reason, a
lot of money was bet a lot of activity, and
that raised they red flagged there were unusual amounts of
(04:03):
money wagered on a couple of random pitches. Now, if
you're not a gambler, you can bet on everything, right,
and yeah, exactly, and so this was going to start
in Seattle on June fifteenth, much to the dismay of
Robbie the Mariner fan. And then there was an outing
more recently June twenty seventh, So within the last last
(04:24):
week or so in Saint Louis. Cleveland was in Saint Louis,
so the gambling activity of those pitches was given. The
dreaded red flag was highlighted by a betting integrity firm,
that is, the group that found this, not Major League Baseball.
At outside firm they read flagged this and they contacted
(04:46):
Major League Baseball. Baseball has said that Ortiz is on
paid leave through the end of the All Star break
and players returned to their teams July seventeenth. The games
were zoom the following day on July eighteenth, so he
can go on a nice tropical vacation and possibly never
(05:06):
come back. Now, that can be extended and if you
don't believe me, asked Trevor Bauer. It can be extended
if the investigation remains ongoing. So it's one of those
saying no, we don't find anything. You know, we'll keep
holding this guy back. So let us discuss the question
for the esteem panel, which you are part of. What
(05:26):
intrigues you most about the guardians, Pitcher, Luis orties, gambling
drama exactly. So I've got Flamingo, Craigslist and jigsaw puzzle
and we will combine all of these things together and
we are going to wrap ourselves in the flag, is
what we're going to do, because that's what you got
to do kind of fourth July weekn you wrap yourself
(05:48):
in flight. So a listen, this story has all the ingredients,
all the ingredients of a modern day sports scandal stew
because you've got a no name pitcher, couple of random
sliders and I'm not talking about these kind that you
eat that and these sliders they missed the plate. I
(06:09):
think they were in the next zip code over. They
were at least a zip code away from where they
needed to be. And you've got a betting integrity firm
that is like a basset hound and they're sniffing around.
They're sniffing right, and they're there. They're the bloodhound and
a barbecue. And so we're talking about a pitcher that
(06:30):
you could not pick out of a police lineup. If
I said, hey, can you pick the one that is
the pitcher? And this guy was the only one wearing
a baseball uniform and a glove, you still wouldn't pick
him out of the police lineup. So on both of
the pitches, and of course the Internet finds this stuff
right away, and for our blind listeners, both of the
(06:51):
pitches that were red flagged by Major League Baseball or
the outside firm that went to Major League Baseball. The
pitcher Luis Ortiz opened the inning with a slide that,
to quote the Great Lake Tommy Lesorta, would not have
hit water if it fell out of a bleeping boat.
All right. When a roster spam pitcher suddenly becomes the
darling of the prop bet underworld, there are alarm bells
(07:15):
that start ringing rightw just it sounds like that, and
it stands out when you have a picture that it
much like the guy in the Toronto Raptors that was
suspended from the NBA for gambling and all that. Johntay Porter,
I believe the guys, and I don't even kneo he was,
so nobody knows who Luis Ortiz is, and all of
(07:36):
a sudden people have bet a lot of money on
a pitcher of the third inning. That that that's nothing
that stands out like a flamingo in a flock of pigeons.
Of flamingo in a flock of pigeons. Right now, As
for the non disciplinary paid lead, that is corporate jargon.
Let me use my mallor Rosetta stone to translate. That
(07:58):
is Major League Baseball's way of saying, we don't want
to admit yet that he did it, but we also
don't want him anywhere near a Major League Baseball clubhouse
and certainly not a mound, because we do not want
to deal with the pete rose in disguise when we
find that out. Now, when Major League Baseball got into it,
(08:19):
and I like gambling, I've done a last couple of years,
I've done a TV show about gambling. When Major League
Baseball got into bed with the gambling industry, got a
lot of money, right, did they think that the sheets
were going to stay clean. No, you know this is
not the first, it will not be the last. A
Major League Baseball will continue to be. The word I
(08:41):
will use is be deviled. That's the word I will
use by the gambling gods, and they get the checks
and from the very industry that I just love the
fact that for my entire childhood, baseball treated gambling like
it was a deadly disease. It was a virus. And
now every pitch, every swing. In fact, if the right
(09:07):
fielder of the Atlanta Braves sneezes on a one o'clock
start on a Saturday afternoon, you can bet on it.
If it happens between the third and the sixth inning,
you can bet on that. It's all potential wagers. And
if you can bet on it, you can. I'll guarantee
you know this. You can manipulate it. Right, If you
can bet on it, you can manipulate it. It's not paranoia,
(09:31):
it's math, is what it is. All right. Now, turning
the page on that, we go to Los Angeles, where
the Dodgers completed the sweep of Marquee Marks Chicago White Sox,
Like that was a shocker, Dodgers lost Max Munsey. Now,
I was doing the day portion of the day night doubleheader.
We didn't know how long months he would be out.
We still don't really know the Dodger third basement Max Munsey.
(09:53):
They're saying, now he's out for not one, not two,
not three, not four, not five, How about six weeks?
Six weeks? Max Monthsey's out there calling it a bone bruise,
not a tear, not a tear, not a fracture, not
a fracture, a bruise. A Bruce Now looked watching the replay, which,
for reasons beyond me, was not shown on the local
(10:15):
LA Dodger broadcast. Bat job by them, But it looked
like the Max Monsey knee had been hit by a
pickup truck that was driven by Michael Taylor of the
Chicago White Sox who slid in the third base. It
was a kind of a play that you would see
maybe in like nineteen seventy seven. You don't normally see
(10:37):
it today. And the knee bent like you might imagine
a folding chair after you've had too many hot dogs
and burgers at a Fourth of July barbecue. We'll wait
on you and snap and then down goes the chair.
So how do you How did the Dodgers navigate How
did the Dodgers navigate things without Max Mounsey in the lineup.
(11:00):
So the obvious thing is you start out by saying, well, well,
next man up, right, you go, well, next man up.
You know that's the way it's got to work, and
all this stuff, and you do your job, all those
things that we've said for years. But the regular season,
you know the Dodgers, you figure they'll patch it together.
They've got some time here the grueling adventure marathon. But
(11:21):
this is an absolute gut punch, mostly because Max Munsey
no longer sucks. He flipped the switch. He he was
terrible for the first month of the season. Max months
he batted one eighty four with one home run. I
would have released him if I ran the Dodgers. And
then he had this magic moment. He had this magic
epiphany and it's called bifocals. Yes, who knew. So since
(11:47):
months he put on glasses, he has been seeing the
ball like Neo in the matrix. Last fifty games, he
has been as hot as the sidewalks out there in
pomp Springs at batting average, twelve home runs and a
nine to seventy four ops, which the nerds get all
horny about. And so now in the meantime, the Dodgers
(12:08):
in the short term are gonna have Miguel Rojas and
Key k Hernandez, who's only good in the playoffs, trying
to hold down the fort. And so it's it's not
really a platoon's that's like an ad you posted on
Craigslist that really you messed it up. You know, wanted
one hot corner savior, bring your own glove and bring
your own cleats and all that, and there you go.
(12:31):
So Rojas and Hernandez who have the same amount of
pop as a wet sponge, but they will be playing there.
And this is in many ways the Dodgers' annual summer tradition.
If you look at the calendar of the Dodgers in
this era, they spend a lot of money, they get
the biggest names they can get every offseason. That happens
(12:52):
in December and January, and then in the spring in
March and in April it's snap, crackle pop. But then
right around Midsummer, a key position player normally goes down
for the count. So it's not the fourth of July
weekend until another prominent player is on what used to
(13:16):
be called the disabled list for the Dodgers, and then
you have Dave Roberts saying we're optimistic. I think I've
heard Dave Roberts say we're optimistic about injured players more
than i've heard him say I like him in that spot.
So there you go, all right, last word, quickly, panic
in the Bronx. The Bronx is burning. So we're hearing
(13:36):
the Yankees. The Yankees have figured out, they've had a
great epiphany and they've realized they need to start calling
teams to try to make a trade. They do not
have a third basement, because some would argue they don't
have a shortstop either. They have decided that Jazz Chisholm
good name, a lot of rasthma taz, pretty mediocre player,
(14:02):
they decide, though, he belongs at second base. So are
you okay with that? The Dodgers or the Yankees rather
have decided they're gonna move Jazz chism to uh the
second base and then back to second base. He's not
a third baseman, so obviously don't have any skin in
the game. But but sometimes the as as my friend
Uncle Moe, who used to live in Brooklyn but now
(14:23):
lives in Jersey, would tell you the jigsaw puzzle pieces
just don't fit, and you can't force them to. You
can't do it right now. Jazz as a third baseman,
square peg forced into a round hole. It's kind of
like if you go out car shopping and you buy
yourself a ferrari and then you use it as a snowplow.
(14:48):
That's not what it's for. It's a waste of a fara.
Now I'm not saying this is a Ferrari by any means,
but Jazz is much better at second than third. So
this is a it is a correction, it's ad meeting. Hey,
we screwed up, and so now with this decision, they go,
all right, bam, let's kick it up a couple of
(15:10):
notches at the at the trade deadline. So is that
Nolan Aeronado from Saint Louis, Like, who are they gonna get?
It's not exactly rocket science here, it's it's simply baseball.
There's only so many third basemen that are obviously available,
so you just try not to screw it up. So
stay tuned. Developing hot dot dot dot all right. It
(15:33):
is the Ben Mahlor Show. As we are just beginning
the red Eye flight all night long and hopefully smooth
Smooth Sky Skies will have the lame jokes of the
week that'll be coming up in our number three. It'll
be electrifying unless it's not, and you know, it'll be
(15:54):
audio poetry in motion unless that's not exactly how that's
gonna go, but we will have that coming up a
little bit. It will take a lot of calls and
according to the email, which is never a good indicator,
never a good indicator, but a number of you have
said you're you're very excited because we're doing the show live.
It's the our fourth of July show because we're leading
into the fourth of July and most people in the
(16:18):
United States not working on the fourth or life. So
I think we'll have some new people call in, which
is always deciding, always kind of cool. So if you'd
like to be part eight seven seven ninety nine on
Fox that's eight seven seven nine nine six six three
sixty nine. You can be part of the show also
on the X at Ben Mallord that's at Ben Malor
(16:41):
if you would like to be part of the show,
we have battling broadcasters and is it too early for
a pep talk? Battling broadcasters? Is it too early for
a pep talk? We'll get to that and we will
do it next Hey, it's Ben host. The Fifth Hour
with Ben Maller would mean a lot to have you
(17:02):
join us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking, what
in God's name is the Fifth Hour? I'll tell you
it's a spin off of The Ben Mahler Show, cult
hit overnights on FSR. Why should you listen? Picture if
you will, a world where we chat with captains of
industry in media, sports, and more every week, explore some
amazing facts about human nature and more. Listen to The
(17:23):
Fifth Hour with Ben Maller on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast,
or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Bill Miller and you, It is the Ben Maler Show.
We are up all night every night. The Red Eye
flight is just beginning, and you can interact with this
show on the phones at eight seven, seven ninety nine
on Fox the big holiday weekend is underway, and also
on the X machine, whether you're the third shift, if
(18:01):
you're up late pregaming for the Fourth of July holiday,
or just have natural insomnia or the dreaded creeping crud.
As we get older, stuff starts breaking and you stay
up all night. It sucks, I'm told, I can't wait
to get to that point. But you can say hello
(18:21):
at Ben Mahler on X. That's at Ben Mahlor. Can
say hi to Mark hitting the buttons tonight, our buddy Mark.
He's a fan of the same team as the Pope,
his team that got swept there, the white size Mark Ramsey.
I believe I have six four nine five Oh, is
that correct? I believe that's correct, Yes, six, all right?
Mark Ramsey's six four five oh. And the big update
(18:44):
woman and she's she's doing double duty, which makes iHeart
very happy. Breed in these twenty six you can say
hello to her and she will ignore you. And now
back to it, right back to what we go. I
got an email from Danny in New Hampshire who writes
and he says, what the hell happened to that miserable bastard?
Angry Bill haven't heard from him in a while. Yeah,
(19:08):
I don't know what happened, Danny. As much as you
think these guys are all paid actors on the show
and I'm their mother or something like that, I don't know.
Bill was a daily caller to the talk show for
a long time and then all of a sudden he stopped.
And that's fine, I mean, we're not We do the
(19:31):
show whether people call or not. I mean, whether the
same people call or like new people to call. I'm
guessing angry Bill just retired because he guaranteed that Aaron
Rodgers would not go to the Steelers, and that was
such a bad take that he had to just give
it up. He had to just quit calling talk radio.
And that's it. Either that or he had some kind
of medical thing. I don't know, so I don't have
(19:55):
the answer. Milkman Mike in Colorado writes in he says,
a happy birthday to our great nation, and thank you
for keeping us company on as all of us mile
High Milk people are rocking this morning getting our deliveries
done outstanding. What else do we have? Ferg Dog says
thanks for the carnival game tips earlier. Ben, I'll never
(20:17):
let those disgusting carnies make a fool out of me again. Yeah, well,
we did give advice. I did the double dip and
with Fred on the afternoon show that I was doing,
we did go over. Fred was unaware that on the
YouTube there's a bunch of videos with ways to actually
win those Carni games, you know, the State Fair and
(20:38):
they have those giant stuffed animals and it's you know,
cost you like two hundred bucks to keep playing to
win one. There's some hacks that you can do because
all the games are rigged at the carnival because they
don't want you to win, but they want you to win,
but they want you to spend one hundred bucks for
a stuffy that costs about three dollars, So they're all
(20:59):
rigged in all that. Anyway, there's some cheat codes out there. Well,
good luck for a dog in the State Fair season
coming up, A Cowboy Killer writes in. Uh say says,
hey man, it's been a minute. I'm working in the
dreaded day shift now. Oh no, we lost Cowboy Killer
to the day shift. I missed the live show, but
no worries. I double download the podcast every day. Uh,
(21:22):
he says, one suggestion, no more, e Dog. That guy
just rambles incoherently mal or Militia for life, says Cowboy Killer. Well,
good news, E Dog has not called in a while either.
From Long Island. I've noticed, like some of these guys,
I think it depends what time of the month it is.
I don't mean it like that, but they call in
(21:42):
at certain points in the month, and then that that does.
It's Steven Manhattan. There's another guy, Steven Manhattan. He'll call
up for ten days and then vanish for like the
next thirty, Eileen writes in from Parts Unknown. She says,
no one cared that show hailed was gambling with his
best friend. But now, oh no, there's gambling in baseball.
(22:06):
Cover your eyes, Eileen says, with an emoji. Well, yeah,
they're not gonna have Otani go down for gambling. He's
too big, too important for the sport. It's you know,
like it's like certain people get to a level and
that's it. I mean, in a hypothetical world, like a
guy like Lebron James Lebron. Maybe not so much now,
(22:30):
but in his prime, Lebron could have pretty much done anything,
violated any of the rules of the NBA, and they
wouldn't have punished it like Theo Tani thing. And I
gonna punish Otani. He's the biggest money maker. He makes
more money for baseball than Aaron Judge or anyone else
for that matter. It's not even close with the money
(22:51):
coming in from Japan. Uh. Not only for the Dodgers,
but it trickles down to everyone else in Major League Baseball.
So they're not gonna do anything about that. Now. A
random pitcher on the Cleveland Guardians who you had to
look up on Baseball Reference to find out who Louis
Orties is, Now that's a different animal. That's fair game.
You got to follow the rules. You're not a big deal.
(23:14):
You got to follow the rules. Come on now, Benito,
the long suffering cowboy fan says, shout out to Louis
Ortiz for making me money on draft gangs. Very funny.
Eugene in Chicago says, while Malard working on the fourth
of July, even I took a vacation this week. There
you go, all right, Well, good for you. Job by Eugene,
(23:34):
who I almost met last time I was in Chicago.
I actually reached out to Eugene, said Eugene, why don't
we'll go have a beer or something like that, and
he was he works like two jobs, so he couldn't
couldn't leave the gag. A chip in the Ques says
A plus on the top of the hour of Mallond monologue,
who is really surprised that another dude with the last
name Ortiz is not following the rules. I think that's
(23:55):
a shot at David Ortiz, I believe, kind of obvious.
Shane in des Moines writes In says, I hope the
Leprechaun is out, not one, not two, not three, not four,
not five, how about six weeks from the show with laryngitis. Yeah,
so I'm guessing we won't hear from the Leprechaun for
a while. He was very kind when he came in here,
much to the dismay of some people in management that
(24:18):
were concerned that he should not be allowed in. But
he was fine. And I'm guessing because he's on the
West Coast and he's on vacation, I'm guessing he will
not be be checking in Terry and England. Who did
He's doing the day night doubleheader and he has reported
for duty. So we'd like to alert all the affiliates
down the line, Terry in England, who was very upset
(24:39):
that we did not unload on the daytime show on
the Enemy of Combatant. Enemy Combatant of the show, David
vass very upset by that. And one of the guys
that loves to unload on Vassie on this show, and
I am told it has gotten back to enemy of
the Mallard militia right now, David, And that's Tony in
(25:01):
the Bay Area, who is relentless. He is a absolute
pit bull Tony in the Bay Area when it comes
to his attacking. And let's go to him right now.
He's in the lead off chair, Tony in the Bay Area.
What's going on, Tony?
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Welcome, hey man, Thanks for the compliment. But I want
to tip my hat. My bears had to furd dog
because the other day he brought up a good point
that if you type in David Bassay going down to
kitty slide on a Blanky then bounces off the wall
like a bag of crap and rolls around like a
little girl. So I forgot the blinkie and the kiddy slide.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
My bad. All right, thank you, hang up on yourself there.
He goes another classic Tony call, short and sweet, leave
him wanting more, leave them wanting more. Very important, very important.
So our friend, long suffering, I say, long suffering Yankee fan,
(26:03):
that would be supermarket Steve, he says. Moving Jazz Chisholm
from third base to second base is Boone? Aaron Boone's
fix for the Yankees. Losing seven out of nine series
since the Dodgers series and getting swept in three of them.
Maybe my team isn't really that good. Well, it was
(26:24):
the June gloom and now it's spilled over into July
as the first time ever the Toronto Blue Jays all
caughtaa the Blue Jays spank the once proud Yankees in
their own ballpark there in Toronto, a domination situation as
(26:47):
the Blue Jays in first place by themselves after sweeping
the New York Yankees in four games, an absolute poop
fest of Yankee baseball over the week. So bad is
it for the Yankees? Well we are on July fourth,
and the manager of the Yankees, Aaron Boone, has given
(27:08):
the Yankees a pep talk, a win one for the
Gipper's speech. Now the Yankees are heading into a big
weekend matchup with the New York Metropolitans that will be
over in Queens and Flushing, right near LaGuardia Airport. Beautiful
LaGuardia Airport, one of the worst airports I've ever been to,
And so Aaron Boone will be, uh, we'll be leading
(27:31):
the Yankees in there on a quick turnaround. And according
to Jazz Chisholm, who's getting a lot of airtime here
this hour on Fox Sports Radio, he said that Aaron
Boone in his pep talk to the Yankees reminded them
that they are quote the best team in the league
and he wants them to be quote unfhased by their
(27:55):
recent problems. Okay, well, a couple of things. As I
was taught about ratings and radio, past accomplishments, and much
like Wall Street any kind of investments, past results do
not guarantee future outcomes. And while you can have a
(28:16):
Bobblehead night and you can have promotions based on what
you have done, the fact that the Yankees won the
American League pennant last year has no bearing on this
season obviously. And if I'm not mistaken, the Toronto Blue
Jays sucked last season. They were an embarrassment. And right now,
midway through the baseball season, Toronto's in first place. So
(28:39):
should the Blue Jays think, wow, we're not this good
one of the worst teams in the American League. We
should be phased by the fact we're playing over our skis.
We're playing too well. Now. One of the other funny
storylines the battling broadcasters. So Michael Kay, who's doing double duty.
You talk about a tough job. So Michael Kay is
a Yankee broadcaster, which is an easy job because when
(29:01):
you're a Yankee broadcaster, you just wear knee pads and
you give shoulder massages to the Yankee players. You're a
suck up. That's what team broadcasters are. That's what you're
supposed to do. But when your talk show hosts, you
have to be critical. It's a different skill set. When
you're a talk show host, you have to be someone
that critiques performance. So apparently Michael Ka the other day
on his he does a talk show in New York
(29:22):
sports talk show, obviously, and he said that he was
praising the Yankees, and even though the Yankees have had
a tough stretch, but he took some shots at the
Toronto Blue Jays unloaded on Toronto. They were making their
run there. He said that the first place Blue Jays
are not a first place team. Oh, body blow, body blow,
(29:47):
body blow. Quote? Is blue Jays not a first place team?
I'm sorry, Kay said? He went on and quote continues
for Michael Kay says, if you look at the run differential,
the Yankees run differential as plus one five. The Blue
Jays this is the other day, were at plus four.
So he said that should be a five hundred team. Yeah, okay, Unfortunately,
(30:12):
and I might be wrong in this. I don't know.
I mean, I just do the Overnight show. I don't
think the team that wins the World Series wins it
based on run differential. I know that a lot of
hard ow baseball people worship run differential, and that's that's
an old school stat actually goes back much further than
the modern day spin rate and my favorite exit velocity
exit v low. Yeah, how much do you think baseball spends?
(30:35):
I watch I'll watch all these games I was watching.
I sally watched them with the Blue Jay Yankee game.
I was flipping around watching them a little bit of
the Mets game with the Brewers. Great, any of that game.
We love a call the Mets Brewers game by ending
on a replay call that should have been inconclusive and
the game, you know, the runner stays at second. It
was a stolen base that was they went to replay,
(30:56):
was called safe on the field and it should have
stayed safe. Of course baseball said, oh, the runners out,
which was ridiculous. But in all these games, anytime someone's
home run within five seconds, they've got the exit velo
up there, so baseball's paying for that. Anyway, Michael Kay
ranted about that. So one of the Blue Jay broadcasters,
(31:17):
somebody named Jamie Campbell, I don't know who that is,
but he works on the Blue j TV broadcast. And
then he had a broom and was very excited and
took a little shot at Michael Kay enjoying the moment.
That's friendly baseball broadcaster banter, is what that is? Friendly
baseball broadcaster banter. Let's go back to the phone, so
(31:40):
say hello to listener Mason in Huntington Beach. Hello, listener, Mason, welcome.
Speaker 4 (31:47):
Hey man, long time, no speed.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Yeah, oh this is the great. This is not Mason
and Huntington Beach. This is Mason in the Bay Area.
Welcome back, Welcome back, Mason, and it's good to talk
to you, my man.
Speaker 4 (32:02):
Well, same same for me to you.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Man.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
I mean I emailed recently. I know this is an
off air conversation, as you like to say, but no,
I emailed you a little bit ago and you didn't
get back to me, so I didn't know what was
going on. But I heard you meant to my name.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
I don't know. Listen, I guess Coop, who's hardly here,
has an issue with you, and uh, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (32:26):
No, I get it.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
I get yeah, I don't know what happened, So I
don't know. They don't talk to you, doesn't talk to me,
So I have no idea what's going on with that? Yeah,
but anyway, yes, you're here now, so what's going on?
Speaker 4 (32:37):
I mean, it's just a holiday weekend and I just
wanted to say hello to you because I mean, you've
been on my mind as may have I been on yours.
I just want to, you know, reach out.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Well that sounded all that sounded awkward me see sound
that sounded like we're in a relationship. But no, I
mean I appreciate you're a you're a senior member the
Mala militia. You've been a long time support of the show,
going back many years. You've told some great stories on
the show. Used to work at Tesla, you lost your job.
You became a bus driver. Am I correct on that?
I think I'm right on that. Are you still a
bus driver? Attackurate? So you're still a bus driver. We've
(33:11):
lost a lot of good guys to bus driving. Roberto
became a bus driver here.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
But it's like, weird circumstances happened, and sometimes you bring
it upon yourself. And uh, sometimes things get caught up
in the you know, the mindriff, and it just you know,
things happen. But I mean, I'm still here and I'm
still thriving, and I see you too, and it's.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
All love all right, all right, well listen Mason. We yes,
it's welcome to Love Line. No listen, Mason, thank you? Uh,
and I guess you can call in whenever Coop's not here,
but thank you, and uh, I don't know what to
tell you. All right, I'll check. I got a lot,
all right, I'm doing like seven hours of radio. You
(33:54):
want me to check my keep up with my email?
Come on, I don't check. It's usually bad stuff in
the email to avoid that. But thank you Mason, the
great listener, Mason from the Bay Area who told some
amazing stories years ago about getting arrested. He's been to
a couple of the meet and greets that we've done
over the years, so hopefully we'll see Mason again. I
(34:16):
start getting back into the meet and greets. I know
we're in July now. I'm still waiting on some news
and once I get clarity on that, I'll be able
to set my schedule and hopefully have some other Mallard
meet greets coming up. Hopefully the plane is as soon
as the end of the month, but I'm still waiting,
so hopefully in next week or so. I thought i'd
hear something this week, but nothing. Nothing has come down
(34:37):
the pike. Nothing yet. Time now for the who am I?
Speaker 4 (34:39):
Game?
Speaker 1 (34:40):
And this is where we pretend to be somebody else
and we'll get back to these calls. But here's the
who am I? Game? So. Ronald O'Connell Jr. Made his
season debut for the Atlanta Braves in the fiftieth game
of the season for the Braves. He is now slated
to start the All Star Game for the National League
I am the only other player, the only one in
(35:04):
Major League Baseball history to start the All Star Game,
despite not making my season debut until my team's fiftieth
game or later. Again, Ronald Lacuna Junior the Braves made
his season debut game fifty. He is now slated to
start the All Star Game, the only other player. I'm
(35:25):
the only other player in baseball history to start the
All Star Game despite not making the season debut until
the team's fiftieth game or later. Who am I? That
is the question. The answer. We'll get to it. We
will do it next.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Bill Miller and you. It is the Ben Maler Show
up all night, every single night. And you can watch
Fox Sports Radio. It's radio. You can't watch radio. We'll
be sure to check out Fox Sports Radio's YouTube channel.
That's real, I'm making that up. I know it amazing
game changing. Just search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube you'll
see a whole bunch of video highlights from the gas bags,
(36:07):
blowhards and know it alls that talking to microphones. You
can watch Global exclusive Mallard monologues that nobody else has
be sure to subscribe and so you never ever miss
out on the very best Mallard monologues and Fox Sports
Radio videos on the YouTube. And now back to it all, right,
back to it we go, and we'll pay off the
(36:29):
who am I? Game? And this is where we pretend
to be somebody else, as we call it the who
Ami Game. We'll go to baseball where Ronald Acuna Junior
of Atlanta made his season debut in the Braves fiftieth game,
and it was announced earlier this week he is slated
to start the All Star Game. I am the only
other player in baseball history to start the All Star
(36:52):
Game despite not making my season debut until my team's
fiftieth game or later. Who am I? That is the question?
What is the answer? And let's see who do we
have here? Malaprop Guy's going with Mason the Millennial as
his answer. Who else do we have? Page Down Chappelle
(37:16):
Roan from Bobby and Florida, Chicken Jockey from Cowboy Killer Fire,
Marshall Bill tossed out by Alf the Alien, olpiner Veda
Pinson from Ike and Roseville, Minnesota, Jim Palmer from Aileen
who's a big fan of Palmer and his endorsements back
(37:36):
in the day when he was playing for the Oriols.
Hubbub Mister Freeze from Scrooge in the Bay Area, mister
nice guy. One of my all time favorite Dodgers. One
of the good guys I ever came across with the Dodgers,
Darren Dryford. I love that guy. I was doing Dodger talk.
Dryford was with the team. Good dude, good guy. Didn't
make it. You know, I didn't make it. Made a
(37:57):
lot of money for the time, but good dude. Donkey
Sausage going with Popeye as his answer. Shane in Des
Moines says Lakers star Lonzo Ball is the answer. G
Man says a melancholy Michael Mattson saw that sad sad
news Private Potato from Big Greg in Iowa. Anthony and
(38:19):
Anaheim going with the iconic Dominican Mike, who still listens
to the podcast, but he is a dreaded daytime employee
now unfortunately, who spends part of the year in Florida,
part of the year in Arizona. Rqie Cianfranco. That's a
good name from Sean in the Valley of the Sun.
(38:40):
Who else do we have? Super Marcus Steve says, you
are my favorite Dodger of all time? Yasiel Puige very
exciting for about a year, about a year, really exciting.
Who else we have? Bum Phillips guest by just for now,
Just for now? Who else? Page down? Boog Powell from
(39:01):
Mark in Queen's answering, not that that's not the riddle
of the day, that's the who am I? Game? Bat job?
But you Rich is going with Mike Sharperson, iconic Dodger
from back in the day. Mike the Leprechaun is up listening,
and he says Big Poppy is the answer. Jeff Bagwell
from Chipping the Cues. Who else do we have? Page down?
(39:23):
I can't read that? All right, Brie, We'll go to Brie. Brie,
do you have an answer to the who am I? Game?
Ronald Acuna Jr. Made a season debut in the Braves'
fiftieth game. He's going to start the All Star Game.
I'm the only other player in baseball history to start
the All Star Game despite not making the season debut
(39:44):
until the team's fiftieth game or later. Tim Salmon Tim
Salmon there's that's the woman right now, Tim Salmon, and
let's hear that is incorrect now the correct answer. A
man whose name. When I hear his name, I want
to sing a song. I want to break out in
the song when I hear this person's name. And in
(40:05):
his era, he dated one of the most famous starlets
of all time. Do you know who it is? Joe
didn't Joe Demaggio, Oh you said Dagon No? No, Oh
my god, no, Joe DiMaggio. And uh, he's got the record,
(40:28):
one of the all time great records, the most consecutive
games with a hit. Marilyn Monroe. He dated her right, yeah, famously.
I think he was married to her briefly. I think, yeah,
look at that Mark new right away, one of the man.
She didn't live that long, but she enjoyed herself, and
so did he. When I was a kid, I went
(40:48):
to an autograph show. I used to like chase around,
get autographs, try to sell him, make money. And I
saw Joe DiMaggio at a hotel in San Diego, and
he snuck through the kitchen. So I saw like the
back of the Maggio's heads, and he was an old man,
you know. I was a kid, and he was an
old man at that time. He snuck through the kitchen
at this expensive hotel in San Diego. He was in town.
(41:08):
We found out what hotel he was staying at. He
was there for an autograph show. I was so upset.
How could you, How could Demaggio go through a hotel kitchen.
America, America. Happy fourth of July. Happy Independence Day. If
you're listening in the US, if you're in Canada, just
have a really good day. So it's our one of
the podcast, and it's all about scandal to begin our
number one of this live recorded, live on tape edition
of The Ben Malor Show. So what intrigues you most
(00:22):
about the Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz involved in a gambling
drama arama. We'll talk about that. Also, how do the
La Dodgers navigate things without Max Munsey in the lineup?
He's gonna be out at least six weeks and likely
longer than that with a messed up knee. And the
(00:42):
Yankees have started to make calls to acquire a third
basement after deciding that Jazz Chisholm belongs at second base?
Are you okay with that decision by the free falling
New York Yankees? All that and more on a fire
world edition of our number one. Here it is now,
(01:03):
this is the real mistake by the leg Wel come
in the beginning of another night of the Ben Mahler Show.
We are in the air everywhere as we chisel away
on the fourth of July. Still late on the third
of July out west, as we waste hours of time
(01:27):
coast to coast, border the border and beyond on the
vast and monolithically powerful microphones of fs are amminating live
from the nuggets, the nuggets of information from the Fox
Sports Radio studios, as approved by Tony in the Bay Area.
(01:48):
More on Tony later. This portion of the Ben Maler
Show on Fox made possible in part by our friends
at tire Iraq. For over forty years, ty i Raq
has been helping customers by the right tires, how, what
and where they drive, ship fast and free back by
free road hazard protection with convenient installation options like mobile
(02:09):
tire installation, tire rac dot com. The way tire buying
should be. So there was a Hall of Famer long gone,
Ernie Banks, who famously said, let's play too. It's a
beautiful day for baseball, let's play too. And I said,
it's a beautiful night for hot sports takes. So let's
play two. Let's have a This is the second half
of a day night doubleheaded. But I'll lead this hour.
(02:32):
Do not mess around, no small talk on this live show.
Independence Day weekend. But our lead this hour from Cleveland,
just in time for the big holiday weekend here in
the United States. Major League Baseball facing a new scandal.
And there's one thing that I've grown to love over
my years of gas baggerie, and that is a good
(02:55):
scandal you can really bite into. And this is a
this is a pretty good one. It's a pretty good one.
You might say, well, no, if you don't know much
about it, you just see the headline, ask nothing, but
it's something, trust me if you haven't seen it. So
there's a team named after a bridge that used to
be called the Cleveland Indians, but they changed their name
because baseball was losing their mind a few years back.
(03:18):
So they're now named after a bridge. They're called the
Guardians as a Guardian Bridge in Cleveland. And there's a
pitcher named Luis Ortiz. You don't probably don't know who
that is. Louis Ortiz is the subject of a Major
League Baseball gambling investigation and he has been placed on
the naughty List, Yes, the non disciplinary leave, which is
(03:41):
the knotty list, but we want to say it's naughty now.
The investigation, if you were following along here, the investigation
related to in game prop bets on not one, but
two pitches made by Ortiz that for some reason, a
lot of money was bet a lot of activity, and
that raised they red flagged there were unusual amounts of
(04:03):
money wagered on a couple of random pitches. Now, if
you're not a gambler, you can bet on everything, right,
and yeah, exactly, and so this was going to start
in Seattle on June fifteenth, much to the dismay of
Robbie the Mariner fan. And then there was an outing
more recently June twenty seventh, So within the last last
(04:24):
week or so in Saint Louis. Cleveland was in Saint Louis,
so the gambling activity of those pitches was given. The
dreaded red flag was highlighted by a betting integrity firm,
that is, the group that found this, not Major League Baseball.
At outside firm they read flagged this and they contacted
(04:46):
Major League Baseball. Baseball has said that Ortiz is on
paid leave through the end of the All Star break
and players returned to their teams July seventeenth. The games
were zoom the following day on July eighteenth, so he
can go on a nice tropical vacation and possibly never
(05:06):
come back. Now, that can be extended and if you
don't believe me, asked Trevor Bauer. It can be extended
if the investigation remains ongoing. So it's one of those
saying no, we don't find anything. You know, we'll keep
holding this guy back. So let us discuss the question
for the esteem panel, which you are part of. What
(05:26):
intrigues you most about the guardians, Pitcher, Luis orties, gambling
drama exactly. So I've got Flamingo, Craigslist and jigsaw puzzle
and we will combine all of these things together and
we are going to wrap ourselves in the flag, is
what we're going to do, because that's what you got
to do kind of fourth July weekn you wrap yourself
(05:48):
in flight. So a listen, this story has all the ingredients,
all the ingredients of a modern day sports scandal stew
because you've got a no name pitcher, couple of random
sliders and I'm not talking about these kind that you
eat that and these sliders they missed the plate. I
(06:09):
think they were in the next zip code over. They
were at least a zip code away from where they
needed to be. And you've got a betting integrity firm
that is like a basset hound and they're sniffing around.
They're sniffing right, and they're there. They're the bloodhound and
a barbecue. And so we're talking about a pitcher that
(06:30):
you could not pick out of a police lineup. If
I said, hey, can you pick the one that is
the pitcher? And this guy was the only one wearing
a baseball uniform and a glove, you still wouldn't pick
him out of the police lineup. So on both of
the pitches, and of course the Internet finds this stuff
right away, and for our blind listeners, both of the
(06:51):
pitches that were red flagged by Major League Baseball or
the outside firm that went to Major League Baseball. The
pitcher Luis Ortiz opened the inning with a slide that,
to quote the Great Lake Tommy Lesorta, would not have
hit water if it fell out of a bleeping boat.
All right. When a roster spam pitcher suddenly becomes the
darling of the prop bet underworld, there are alarm bells
(07:15):
that start ringing rightw just it sounds like that, and
it stands out when you have a picture that it
much like the guy in the Toronto Raptors that was
suspended from the NBA for gambling and all that. Johntay Porter,
I believe the guys, and I don't even kneo he was,
so nobody knows who Luis Ortiz is, and all of
(07:36):
a sudden people have bet a lot of money on
a pitcher of the third inning. That that that's nothing
that stands out like a flamingo in a flock of pigeons.
Of flamingo in a flock of pigeons. Right now, As
for the non disciplinary paid lead, that is corporate jargon.
Let me use my mallor Rosetta stone to translate. That
(07:58):
is Major League Baseball's way of saying, we don't want
to admit yet that he did it, but we also
don't want him anywhere near a Major League Baseball clubhouse
and certainly not a mound, because we do not want
to deal with the pete rose in disguise when we
find that out. Now, when Major League Baseball got into it,
(08:19):
and I like gambling, I've done a last couple of years,
I've done a TV show about gambling. When Major League
Baseball got into bed with the gambling industry, got a
lot of money, right, did they think that the sheets
were going to stay clean. No, you know this is
not the first, it will not be the last. A
Major League Baseball will continue to be. The word I
(08:41):
will use is be deviled. That's the word I will
use by the gambling gods, and they get the checks
and from the very industry that I just love the
fact that for my entire childhood, baseball treated gambling like
it was a deadly disease. It was a virus. And
now every pitch, every swing. In fact, if the right
(09:07):
fielder of the Atlanta Braves sneezes on a one o'clock
start on a Saturday afternoon, you can bet on it.
If it happens between the third and the sixth inning,
you can bet on that. It's all potential wagers. And
if you can bet on it, you can. I'll guarantee
you know this. You can manipulate it. Right, If you
can bet on it, you can manipulate it. It's not paranoia,
(09:31):
it's math, is what it is. All right. Now, turning
the page on that, we go to Los Angeles, where
the Dodgers completed the sweep of Marquee Marks Chicago White Sox,
Like that was a shocker, Dodgers lost Max Munsey. Now,
I was doing the day portion of the day night doubleheader.
We didn't know how long months he would be out.
We still don't really know the Dodger third basement Max Munsey.
(09:53):
They're saying, now he's out for not one, not two,
not three, not four, not five, How about six weeks?
Six weeks? Max Monthsey's out there calling it a bone bruise,
not a tear, not a tear, not a fracture, not
a fracture, a bruise. A Bruce Now looked watching the replay, which,
for reasons beyond me, was not shown on the local
(10:15):
LA Dodger broadcast. Bat job by them, But it looked
like the Max Monsey knee had been hit by a
pickup truck that was driven by Michael Taylor of the
Chicago White Sox who slid in the third base. It
was a kind of a play that you would see
maybe in like nineteen seventy seven. You don't normally see
(10:37):
it today. And the knee bent like you might imagine
a folding chair after you've had too many hot dogs
and burgers at a Fourth of July barbecue. We'll wait
on you and snap and then down goes the chair.
So how do you How did the Dodgers navigate How
did the Dodgers navigate things without Max Mounsey in the lineup.
(11:00):
So the obvious thing is you start out by saying, well, well,
next man up, right, you go, well, next man up.
You know that's the way it's got to work, and
all this stuff, and you do your job, all those
things that we've said for years. But the regular season,
you know the Dodgers, you figure they'll patch it together.
They've got some time here the grueling adventure marathon. But
(11:21):
this is an absolute gut punch, mostly because Max Munsey
no longer sucks. He flipped the switch. He he was
terrible for the first month of the season. Max months
he batted one eighty four with one home run. I
would have released him if I ran the Dodgers. And
then he had this magic moment. He had this magic
epiphany and it's called bifocals. Yes, who knew. So since
(11:47):
months he put on glasses, he has been seeing the
ball like Neo in the matrix. Last fifty games, he
has been as hot as the sidewalks out there in
pomp Springs at batting average, twelve home runs and a
nine to seventy four ops, which the nerds get all
horny about. And so now in the meantime, the Dodgers
(12:08):
in the short term are gonna have Miguel Rojas and
Key k Hernandez, who's only good in the playoffs, trying
to hold down the fort. And so it's it's not
really a platoon's that's like an ad you posted on
Craigslist that really you messed it up. You know, wanted
one hot corner savior, bring your own glove and bring
your own cleats and all that, and there you go.
(12:31):
So Rojas and Hernandez who have the same amount of
pop as a wet sponge, but they will be playing there.
And this is in many ways the Dodgers' annual summer tradition.
If you look at the calendar of the Dodgers in
this era, they spend a lot of money, they get
the biggest names they can get every offseason. That happens
(12:52):
in December and January, and then in the spring in
March and in April it's snap, crackle pop. But then
right around Midsummer, a key position player normally goes down
for the count. So it's not the fourth of July
weekend until another prominent player is on what used to
(13:16):
be called the disabled list for the Dodgers, and then
you have Dave Roberts saying we're optimistic. I think I've
heard Dave Roberts say we're optimistic about injured players more
than i've heard him say I like him in that spot.
So there you go, all right, last word, quickly, panic
in the Bronx. The Bronx is burning. So we're hearing
(13:36):
the Yankees. The Yankees have figured out, they've had a
great epiphany and they've realized they need to start calling
teams to try to make a trade. They do not
have a third basement, because some would argue they don't
have a shortstop either. They have decided that Jazz Chisholm
good name, a lot of rasthma taz, pretty mediocre player,
(14:02):
they decide, though, he belongs at second base. So are
you okay with that? The Dodgers or the Yankees rather
have decided they're gonna move Jazz chism to uh the
second base and then back to second base. He's not
a third baseman, so obviously don't have any skin in
the game. But but sometimes the as as my friend
Uncle Moe, who used to live in Brooklyn but now
(14:23):
lives in Jersey, would tell you the jigsaw puzzle pieces
just don't fit, and you can't force them to. You
can't do it right now. Jazz as a third baseman,
square peg forced into a round hole. It's kind of
like if you go out car shopping and you buy
yourself a ferrari and then you use it as a snowplow.
(14:48):
That's not what it's for. It's a waste of a fara.
Now I'm not saying this is a Ferrari by any means,
but Jazz is much better at second than third. So
this is a it is a correction, it's ad meeting. Hey,
we screwed up, and so now with this decision, they go,
all right, bam, let's kick it up a couple of
(15:10):
notches at the at the trade deadline. So is that
Nolan Aeronado from Saint Louis, Like, who are they gonna get?
It's not exactly rocket science here, it's it's simply baseball.
There's only so many third basemen that are obviously available,
so you just try not to screw it up. So
stay tuned. Developing hot dot dot dot all right. It
(15:33):
is the Ben Mahlor Show. As we are just beginning
the red Eye flight all night long and hopefully smooth
Smooth Sky Skies will have the lame jokes of the
week that'll be coming up in our number three. It'll
be electrifying unless it's not, and you know, it'll be
(15:54):
audio poetry in motion unless that's not exactly how that's
gonna go, but we will have that coming up a
little bit. It will take a lot of calls and
according to the email, which is never a good indicator,
never a good indicator, but a number of you have
said you're you're very excited because we're doing the show live.
It's the our fourth of July show because we're leading
into the fourth of July and most people in the
(16:18):
United States not working on the fourth or life. So
I think we'll have some new people call in, which
is always deciding, always kind of cool. So if you'd
like to be part eight seven seven ninety nine on
Fox that's eight seven seven nine nine six six three
sixty nine. You can be part of the show also
on the X at Ben Mallord that's at Ben Malor
(16:41):
if you would like to be part of the show,
we have battling broadcasters and is it too early for
a pep talk? Battling broadcasters? Is it too early for
a pep talk? We'll get to that and we will
do it next Hey, it's Ben host. The Fifth Hour
with Ben Maller would mean a lot to have you
(17:02):
join us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking, what
in God's name is the Fifth Hour? I'll tell you
it's a spin off of The Ben Mahler Show, cult
hit overnights on FSR. Why should you listen? Picture if
you will, a world where we chat with captains of
industry in media, sports, and more every week, explore some
amazing facts about human nature and more. Listen to The
(17:23):
Fifth Hour with Ben Maller on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast,
or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Bill Miller and you, It is the Ben Maler Show.
We are up all night every night. The Red Eye
flight is just beginning, and you can interact with this
show on the phones at eight seven, seven ninety nine
on Fox the big holiday weekend is underway, and also
on the X machine, whether you're the third shift, if
(18:01):
you're up late pregaming for the Fourth of July holiday,
or just have natural insomnia or the dreaded creeping crud.
As we get older, stuff starts breaking and you stay
up all night. It sucks, I'm told, I can't wait
to get to that point. But you can say hello
(18:21):
at Ben Mahler on X. That's at Ben Mahlor. Can
say hi to Mark hitting the buttons tonight, our buddy Mark.
He's a fan of the same team as the Pope,
his team that got swept there, the white size Mark Ramsey.
I believe I have six four nine five Oh, is
that correct? I believe that's correct, Yes, six, all right?
Mark Ramsey's six four five oh. And the big update
(18:44):
woman and she's she's doing double duty, which makes iHeart
very happy. Breed in these twenty six you can say
hello to her and she will ignore you. And now
back to it, right back to what we go. I
got an email from Danny in New Hampshire who writes
and he says, what the hell happened to that miserable bastard?
Angry Bill haven't heard from him in a while. Yeah,
(19:08):
I don't know what happened, Danny. As much as you
think these guys are all paid actors on the show
and I'm their mother or something like that, I don't know.
Bill was a daily caller to the talk show for
a long time and then all of a sudden he stopped.
And that's fine, I mean, we're not We do the
(19:31):
show whether people call or not. I mean, whether the
same people call or like new people to call. I'm
guessing angry Bill just retired because he guaranteed that Aaron
Rodgers would not go to the Steelers, and that was
such a bad take that he had to just give
it up. He had to just quit calling talk radio.
And that's it. Either that or he had some kind
of medical thing. I don't know, so I don't have
(19:55):
the answer. Milkman Mike in Colorado writes in he says,
a happy birthday to our great nation, and thank you
for keeping us company on as all of us mile
High Milk people are rocking this morning getting our deliveries
done outstanding. What else do we have? Ferg Dog says
thanks for the carnival game tips earlier. Ben, I'll never
(20:17):
let those disgusting carnies make a fool out of me again. Yeah, well,
we did give advice. I did the double dip and
with Fred on the afternoon show that I was doing,
we did go over. Fred was unaware that on the
YouTube there's a bunch of videos with ways to actually
win those Carni games, you know, the State Fair and
(20:38):
they have those giant stuffed animals and it's you know,
cost you like two hundred bucks to keep playing to
win one. There's some hacks that you can do because
all the games are rigged at the carnival because they
don't want you to win, but they want you to win,
but they want you to spend one hundred bucks for
a stuffy that costs about three dollars, So they're all
(20:59):
rigged in all that. Anyway, there's some cheat codes out there. Well,
good luck for a dog in the State Fair season
coming up, A Cowboy Killer writes in. Uh say says,
hey man, it's been a minute. I'm working in the
dreaded day shift now. Oh no, we lost Cowboy Killer
to the day shift. I missed the live show, but
no worries. I double download the podcast every day. Uh,
(21:22):
he says, one suggestion, no more, e Dog. That guy
just rambles incoherently mal or Militia for life, says Cowboy Killer. Well,
good news, E Dog has not called in a while either.
From Long Island. I've noticed, like some of these guys,
I think it depends what time of the month it is.
I don't mean it like that, but they call in
(21:42):
at certain points in the month, and then that that does.
It's Steven Manhattan. There's another guy, Steven Manhattan. He'll call
up for ten days and then vanish for like the
next thirty, Eileen writes in from Parts Unknown. She says,
no one cared that show hailed was gambling with his
best friend. But now, oh no, there's gambling in baseball.
(22:06):
Cover your eyes, Eileen says, with an emoji. Well, yeah,
they're not gonna have Otani go down for gambling. He's
too big, too important for the sport. It's you know,
like it's like certain people get to a level and
that's it. I mean, in a hypothetical world, like a
guy like Lebron James Lebron. Maybe not so much now,
(22:30):
but in his prime, Lebron could have pretty much done anything,
violated any of the rules of the NBA, and they
wouldn't have punished it like Theo Tani thing. And I
gonna punish Otani. He's the biggest money maker. He makes
more money for baseball than Aaron Judge or anyone else
for that matter. It's not even close with the money
(22:51):
coming in from Japan. Uh. Not only for the Dodgers,
but it trickles down to everyone else in Major League Baseball.
So they're not gonna do anything about that. Now. A
random pitcher on the Cleveland Guardians who you had to
look up on Baseball Reference to find out who Louis
Orties is, Now that's a different animal. That's fair game.
You got to follow the rules. You're not a big deal.
(23:14):
You got to follow the rules. Come on now, Benito,
the long suffering cowboy fan says, shout out to Louis
Ortiz for making me money on draft gangs. Very funny.
Eugene in Chicago says, while Malard working on the fourth
of July, even I took a vacation this week. There
you go, all right, Well, good for you. Job by Eugene,
(23:34):
who I almost met last time I was in Chicago.
I actually reached out to Eugene, said Eugene, why don't
we'll go have a beer or something like that, and
he was he works like two jobs, so he couldn't
couldn't leave the gag. A chip in the Ques says
A plus on the top of the hour of Mallond monologue,
who is really surprised that another dude with the last
name Ortiz is not following the rules. I think that's
(23:55):
a shot at David Ortiz, I believe, kind of obvious.
Shane in des Moines writes In says, I hope the
Leprechaun is out, not one, not two, not three, not four,
not five, how about six weeks from the show with laryngitis. Yeah,
so I'm guessing we won't hear from the Leprechaun for
a while. He was very kind when he came in here,
much to the dismay of some people in management that
(24:18):
were concerned that he should not be allowed in. But
he was fine. And I'm guessing because he's on the
West Coast and he's on vacation, I'm guessing he will
not be be checking in Terry and England. Who did
He's doing the day night doubleheader and he has reported
for duty. So we'd like to alert all the affiliates
down the line, Terry in England, who was very upset
(24:39):
that we did not unload on the daytime show on
the Enemy of Combatant. Enemy Combatant of the show, David
vass very upset by that. And one of the guys
that loves to unload on Vassie on this show, and
I am told it has gotten back to enemy of
the Mallard militia right now, David, And that's Tony in
(25:01):
the Bay Area, who is relentless. He is a absolute
pit bull Tony in the Bay Area when it comes
to his attacking. And let's go to him right now.
He's in the lead off chair, Tony in the Bay Area.
What's going on, Tony?
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Welcome, hey man, Thanks for the compliment. But I want
to tip my hat. My bears had to furd dog
because the other day he brought up a good point
that if you type in David Bassay going down to
kitty slide on a Blanky then bounces off the wall
like a bag of crap and rolls around like a
little girl. So I forgot the blinkie and the kiddy slide.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
My bad. All right, thank you, hang up on yourself there.
He goes another classic Tony call, short and sweet, leave
him wanting more, leave them wanting more. Very important, very important.
So our friend, long suffering, I say, long suffering Yankee fan,
(26:03):
that would be supermarket Steve, he says. Moving Jazz Chisholm
from third base to second base is Boone? Aaron Boone's
fix for the Yankees. Losing seven out of nine series
since the Dodgers series and getting swept in three of them.
Maybe my team isn't really that good. Well, it was
(26:24):
the June gloom and now it's spilled over into July
as the first time ever the Toronto Blue Jays all
caughtaa the Blue Jays spank the once proud Yankees in
their own ballpark there in Toronto, a domination situation as
(26:47):
the Blue Jays in first place by themselves after sweeping
the New York Yankees in four games, an absolute poop
fest of Yankee baseball over the week. So bad is
it for the Yankees? Well we are on July fourth,
and the manager of the Yankees, Aaron Boone, has given
(27:08):
the Yankees a pep talk, a win one for the
Gipper's speech. Now the Yankees are heading into a big
weekend matchup with the New York Metropolitans that will be
over in Queens and Flushing, right near LaGuardia Airport. Beautiful
LaGuardia Airport, one of the worst airports I've ever been to,
And so Aaron Boone will be, uh, we'll be leading
(27:31):
the Yankees in there on a quick turnaround. And according
to Jazz Chisholm, who's getting a lot of airtime here
this hour on Fox Sports Radio, he said that Aaron
Boone in his pep talk to the Yankees reminded them
that they are quote the best team in the league
and he wants them to be quote unfhased by their
(27:55):
recent problems. Okay, well, a couple of things. As I
was taught about ratings and radio, past accomplishments, and much
like Wall Street any kind of investments, past results do
not guarantee future outcomes. And while you can have a
(28:16):
Bobblehead night and you can have promotions based on what
you have done, the fact that the Yankees won the
American League pennant last year has no bearing on this
season obviously. And if I'm not mistaken, the Toronto Blue
Jays sucked last season. They were an embarrassment. And right now,
midway through the baseball season, Toronto's in first place. So
(28:39):
should the Blue Jays think, wow, we're not this good
one of the worst teams in the American League. We
should be phased by the fact we're playing over our skis.
We're playing too well. Now. One of the other funny
storylines the battling broadcasters. So Michael Kay, who's doing double duty.
You talk about a tough job. So Michael Kay is
a Yankee broadcaster, which is an easy job because when
(29:01):
you're a Yankee broadcaster, you just wear knee pads and
you give shoulder massages to the Yankee players. You're a
suck up. That's what team broadcasters are. That's what you're
supposed to do. But when your talk show hosts, you
have to be critical. It's a different skill set. When
you're a talk show host, you have to be someone
that critiques performance. So apparently Michael Ka the other day
on his he does a talk show in New York
(29:22):
sports talk show, obviously, and he said that he was
praising the Yankees, and even though the Yankees have had
a tough stretch, but he took some shots at the
Toronto Blue Jays unloaded on Toronto. They were making their
run there. He said that the first place Blue Jays
are not a first place team. Oh, body blow, body blow,
(29:47):
body blow. Quote? Is blue Jays not a first place team?
I'm sorry, Kay said? He went on and quote continues
for Michael Kay says, if you look at the run differential,
the Yankees run differential as plus one five. The Blue
Jays this is the other day, were at plus four.
So he said that should be a five hundred team. Yeah, okay, Unfortunately,
(30:12):
and I might be wrong in this. I don't know.
I mean, I just do the Overnight show. I don't
think the team that wins the World Series wins it
based on run differential. I know that a lot of
hard ow baseball people worship run differential, and that's that's
an old school stat actually goes back much further than
the modern day spin rate and my favorite exit velocity
exit v low. Yeah, how much do you think baseball spends?
(30:35):
I watch I'll watch all these games I was watching.
I sally watched them with the Blue Jay Yankee game.
I was flipping around watching them a little bit of
the Mets game with the Brewers. Great, any of that game.
We love a call the Mets Brewers game by ending
on a replay call that should have been inconclusive and
the game, you know, the runner stays at second. It
was a stolen base that was they went to replay,
(30:56):
was called safe on the field and it should have
stayed safe. Of course baseball said, oh, the runners out,
which was ridiculous. But in all these games, anytime someone's
home run within five seconds, they've got the exit velo
up there, so baseball's paying for that. Anyway, Michael Kay
ranted about that. So one of the Blue Jay broadcasters,
(31:17):
somebody named Jamie Campbell, I don't know who that is,
but he works on the Blue j TV broadcast. And
then he had a broom and was very excited and
took a little shot at Michael Kay enjoying the moment.
That's friendly baseball broadcaster banter, is what that is? Friendly
baseball broadcaster banter. Let's go back to the phone, so
(31:40):
say hello to listener Mason in Huntington Beach. Hello, listener, Mason, welcome.
Speaker 4 (31:47):
Hey man, long time, no speed.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Yeah, oh this is the great. This is not Mason
and Huntington Beach. This is Mason in the Bay Area.
Welcome back, Welcome back, Mason, and it's good to talk
to you, my man.
Speaker 4 (32:02):
Well, same same for me to you.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Man.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
I mean I emailed recently. I know this is an
off air conversation, as you like to say, but no,
I emailed you a little bit ago and you didn't
get back to me, so I didn't know what was
going on. But I heard you meant to my name.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
I don't know. Listen, I guess Coop, who's hardly here,
has an issue with you, and uh, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (32:26):
No, I get it.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
I get yeah, I don't know what happened, So I
don't know. They don't talk to you, doesn't talk to me,
So I have no idea what's going on with that? Yeah,
but anyway, yes, you're here now, so what's going on?
Speaker 4 (32:37):
I mean, it's just a holiday weekend and I just
wanted to say hello to you because I mean, you've
been on my mind as may have I been on yours.
I just want to, you know, reach out.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Well that sounded all that sounded awkward me see sound
that sounded like we're in a relationship. But no, I
mean I appreciate you're a you're a senior member the
Mala militia. You've been a long time support of the show,
going back many years. You've told some great stories on
the show. Used to work at Tesla, you lost your job.
You became a bus driver. Am I correct on that?
I think I'm right on that. Are you still a
bus driver? Attackurate? So you're still a bus driver. We've
(33:11):
lost a lot of good guys to bus driving. Roberto
became a bus driver here.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
But it's like, weird circumstances happened, and sometimes you bring
it upon yourself. And uh, sometimes things get caught up
in the you know, the mindriff, and it just you know,
things happen. But I mean, I'm still here and I'm
still thriving, and I see you too, and it's.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
All love all right, all right, well listen Mason. We yes,
it's welcome to Love Line. No listen, Mason, thank you? Uh,
and I guess you can call in whenever Coop's not here,
but thank you, and uh, I don't know what to
tell you. All right, I'll check. I got a lot,
all right, I'm doing like seven hours of radio. You
(33:54):
want me to check my keep up with my email?
Come on, I don't check. It's usually bad stuff in
the email to avoid that. But thank you Mason, the
great listener, Mason from the Bay Area who told some
amazing stories years ago about getting arrested. He's been to
a couple of the meet and greets that we've done
over the years, so hopefully we'll see Mason again. I
(34:16):
start getting back into the meet and greets. I know
we're in July now. I'm still waiting on some news
and once I get clarity on that, I'll be able
to set my schedule and hopefully have some other Mallard
meet greets coming up. Hopefully the plane is as soon
as the end of the month, but I'm still waiting,
so hopefully in next week or so. I thought i'd
hear something this week, but nothing. Nothing has come down
(34:37):
the pike. Nothing yet. Time now for the who am I?
Speaker 4 (34:39):
Game?
Speaker 1 (34:40):
And this is where we pretend to be somebody else
and we'll get back to these calls. But here's the
who am I? Game? So. Ronald O'Connell Jr. Made his
season debut for the Atlanta Braves in the fiftieth game
of the season for the Braves. He is now slated
to start the All Star Game for the National League
I am the only other player, the only one in
(35:04):
Major League Baseball history to start the All Star Game,
despite not making my season debut until my team's fiftieth
game or later. Again, Ronald Lacuna Junior the Braves made
his season debut game fifty. He is now slated to
start the All Star Game, the only other player. I'm
(35:25):
the only other player in baseball history to start the
All Star Game despite not making the season debut until
the team's fiftieth game or later. Who am I? That
is the question. The answer. We'll get to it. We
will do it next.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Bill Miller and you. It is the Ben Maler Show
up all night, every single night. And you can watch
Fox Sports Radio. It's radio. You can't watch radio. We'll
be sure to check out Fox Sports Radio's YouTube channel.
That's real, I'm making that up. I know it amazing
game changing. Just search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube you'll
see a whole bunch of video highlights from the gas bags,
(36:07):
blowhards and know it alls that talking to microphones. You
can watch Global exclusive Mallard monologues that nobody else has
be sure to subscribe and so you never ever miss
out on the very best Mallard monologues and Fox Sports
Radio videos on the YouTube. And now back to it all, right,
back to it we go, and we'll pay off the
(36:29):
who am I? Game? And this is where we pretend
to be somebody else, as we call it the who
Ami Game. We'll go to baseball where Ronald Acuna Junior
of Atlanta made his season debut in the Braves fiftieth game,
and it was announced earlier this week he is slated
to start the All Star Game. I am the only
other player in baseball history to start the All Star
(36:52):
Game despite not making my season debut until my team's
fiftieth game or later. Who am I? That is the question?
What is the answer? And let's see who do we
have here? Malaprop Guy's going with Mason the Millennial as
his answer. Who else do we have? Page Down Chappelle
(37:16):
Roan from Bobby and Florida, Chicken Jockey from Cowboy Killer Fire,
Marshall Bill tossed out by Alf the Alien, olpiner Veda
Pinson from Ike and Roseville, Minnesota, Jim Palmer from Aileen
who's a big fan of Palmer and his endorsements back
(37:36):
in the day when he was playing for the Oriols.
Hubbub Mister Freeze from Scrooge in the Bay Area, mister
nice guy. One of my all time favorite Dodgers. One
of the good guys I ever came across with the Dodgers,
Darren Dryford. I love that guy. I was doing Dodger talk.
Dryford was with the team. Good dude, good guy. Didn't
make it. You know, I didn't make it. Made a
(37:57):
lot of money for the time, but good dude. Donkey
Sausage going with Popeye as his answer. Shane in Des
Moines says Lakers star Lonzo Ball is the answer. G
Man says a melancholy Michael Mattson saw that sad sad
news Private Potato from Big Greg in Iowa. Anthony and
(38:19):
Anaheim going with the iconic Dominican Mike, who still listens
to the podcast, but he is a dreaded daytime employee
now unfortunately, who spends part of the year in Florida,
part of the year in Arizona. Rqie Cianfranco. That's a
good name from Sean in the Valley of the Sun.
(38:40):
Who else do we have? Super Marcus Steve says, you
are my favorite Dodger of all time? Yasiel Puige very
exciting for about a year, about a year, really exciting.
Who else we have? Bum Phillips guest by just for now,
Just for now? Who else? Page down? Boog Powell from
(39:01):
Mark in Queen's answering, not that that's not the riddle
of the day, that's the who am I? Game? Bat job?
But you Rich is going with Mike Sharperson, iconic Dodger
from back in the day. Mike the Leprechaun is up listening,
and he says Big Poppy is the answer. Jeff Bagwell
from Chipping the Cues. Who else do we have? Page down?
(39:23):
I can't read that? All right, Brie, We'll go to Brie. Brie,
do you have an answer to the who am I? Game?
Ronald Acuna Jr. Made a season debut in the Braves'
fiftieth game. He's going to start the All Star Game.
I'm the only other player in baseball history to start
the All Star Game despite not making the season debut
(39:44):
until the team's fiftieth game or later. Tim Salmon Tim
Salmon there's that's the woman right now, Tim Salmon, and
let's hear that is incorrect now the correct answer. A
man whose name. When I hear his name, I want
to sing a song. I want to break out in
the song when I hear this person's name. And in
(40:05):
his era, he dated one of the most famous starlets
of all time. Do you know who it is? Joe
didn't Joe Demaggio, Oh you said Dagon No? No, Oh
my god, no, Joe DiMaggio. And uh, he's got the record,
(40:28):
one of the all time great records, the most consecutive
games with a hit. Marilyn Monroe. He dated her right, yeah, famously.
I think he was married to her briefly. I think, yeah,
look at that Mark new right away, one of the man.
She didn't live that long, but she enjoyed herself, and
so did he. When I was a kid, I went
(40:48):
to an autograph show. I used to like chase around,
get autographs, try to sell him, make money. And I
saw Joe DiMaggio at a hotel in San Diego, and
he snuck through the kitchen. So I saw like the
back of the Maggio's heads, and he was an old man,
you know. I was a kid, and he was an
old man at that time. He snuck through the kitchen
at this expensive hotel in San Diego. He was in town.
(41:08):
We found out what hotel he was staying at. He
was there for an autograph show. I was so upset.
How could you, How could Demaggio go through a hotel kitchen.
Host
Ben Maller
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