Best of the Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon

Jason and Mike join the baseball world in mourning the passing of the Legend Willie Mays. They explain why Willie Mays catch it STILL is the greatest defensive play ever made in sports. And Round II Caitlin Clark/Angel Reese was the most watched WNBA game in over 20 years. Plus, a visit from our MLB Insider Jon Paul Morosi.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmon podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two am Eastern
seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the best of the Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Happy Tuesday, The Jason Smith Show with My base friend
Mike Harmon Live from the Tirack dot Com Studios Tirec
dot com I help you get there an unmatched selection, fast,
free shipping, free road hazard protection at over ten thousand
recommended installers. Tirec dot Com is the way tire buying
should be. And watching show, heo Tani Homer to centerfield,

(00:55):
cutting the Rockies lead over the Dodgers to seven to three.
Now after the year, you know, it's it's sort of
it's sort of cosmic. It's sort of crazy thinking about
Otani being the best player in baseball and taking that
mantle from Derek Jeter, who took that mantle before him.
As we talk about the death of one of the

(01:15):
all time greats in any sport, news coming in about
forty five minutes ago that Willie Mays has passed away
at the age of ninety three. Say, hey, kid made
twenty four All Star Teams, twenty four, twenty four All
Star Teams, twenty four twenty four, that's with missing two
years due to war.

Speaker 3 (01:34):
Yeah, well he missed two years due to war and
he started his career in an Eagle leagues. Yes, so
he had just gotten ten hits added to his total. Yeah,
because that was always one of those you know, trivia
things you'd do with your jackass buddies of the all
time leaders and hits and whatever, and you'd have Maze's
stats were always part of it. Home runs and hits
and everything else. He got those extra ten.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
I mean I always wondered, like, with all of that going,
was he really was he?

Speaker 4 (02:00):
Like?

Speaker 3 (02:00):
Was he was that his real idea? Was he really
that old?

Speaker 5 (02:04):
Was he?

Speaker 3 (02:04):
Would?

Speaker 1 (02:04):
We have been stunned to go Yeah, he was actually
eight years older than he was when he was.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
I mean, he had well some kind of career. But
you and I, you and I were joking, right, you
and I were joking a little bit coming in my
earliest memories of Willie Mays, right, the old Home Run
Derby series that they played an old Wrigley Field, not
the Wrigley Field that you know, but the other one, uh,
and guys would sit and have interviews, and it was
really the only time you'd see these guys. Right during

(02:29):
the season, you'd get maybe a Game of the Week
and then obviously for us, you know, you had the
Cubs on WGN and whatever, but you know that was
your exposure not only to current players right this week
in baseball whatever, but the home Run Derby of hey,
let's celebrate this in the past. And then they'd sit
and interview guys and just shoot the breeze while the

(02:50):
other guy was hitting. So like talking my grandpa, my dad.
It was always, you know, Willie May is the best
of all time, right, and they'd cite all these different
things and you know, the five tools and whatever else.
But I was remembered from the nineteen seventy three tops card,
which was oh yeah, where he looked? And I kid
you not compare the last known photos of Willie Mays

(03:10):
as a ninety year old ninety one year old, he
don't look much older than he did in that final
nineteen seventy three Yeah, car, I mean so when we
talked about his Mets tenure, Yeah yeah, I mean, look,
he ends with the Mets.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
Look, and that's gonna come up a lot, obviously, you know,
him ending with the Mets, and how he was at
the end of his career and he stumbled in the
World Series of people treating it like, oh my goodness,
the guy can't but his career. Like you talk about
Willy Mays and growing up, there was never a debate
as to who the greatest baseball player of all time was.
It was always Willy Mays. Like I was always told

(03:45):
Willy Mays, and the answer was always Willy Mays, right,
Like obviously I was too young to see him. The
very end of his career at the Mets was a
little bit before I started. It was a year before,
like I started watching baseball when I was four. But
I missed the seventy three series. I missed Yogi Bera
moving up Tom seaver a day when he shouldn't have
let him save for Condowt. Anyway, come on, you were

(04:05):
a kid, okay, man, But like there was never any
it was no, Willie Mays is the great There's.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
Willy was the greatest of all time. And Mickey Mantle
could have been. But this this, this right, injuries and
obviously uh, destroying his body, all of those things that
had been well chronicled, but Willy Mays was always just
held up as the standard, much like we talked about
last week, you know, with with the passing of Jerry West.
It was always the same thing, like you know, and

(04:33):
and thank my my, my dad, my uncles and everybody
you know for recognizing, you know, greatness and saying, hey,
if you're gonna watch clips of guys, these are the
guys to to go and emulate. And and you know,
it passes the test of time.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
Now before we get into Willie and the catch and
his legacy, Uh, this is just really odd and it's
something to bring up just because it It wowed me
when I saw it, and I had to take a
breath in. There was a minor story yesterday, and I
say minor stories in the grand scheme of headlines. Willie
Mays was supposed to go this week to Rickwood Field

(05:10):
in Birmingham, one of the most famous ballparks in the
history of baseball, the oldest ballpark in the country, most
famous for being home to the Birmingham Black Barons of
the Negro Leagues from in the early nineteen twenties until
nineteen sixty. I think, and there's gonna be a game there,
and Willy was supposed to go. And the Cardinals are
playing the Giants, and Willy was supposed to go. And

(05:31):
he put out a statement yesterday saying I can't make it.
I'm not I don't get around like I used to.
I wish I could make it there because I have
so many great memories because he played at Rickwood Field.
He and Satchel Page played at rickwood Field. All these
ledges played at Rickwood Field. And he put out a
statement that was saying, listen, it's means so much. I
just don't get around much and I can't get there.

(05:52):
But let me read you some of the state the
end of his statement. Here thinking about this, this is
a statement that he put out a day ago about
playing at Rickwood Field. Rickwood became my training ground, my start,
my first job. When things change in forty seven with
Jackie Robinson coming in, well then I started a dream big.
You never forget your first rickwood Field is where I

(06:12):
played my first home game. Rickwood Field is still here.
So am I how about that?

Speaker 3 (06:18):
Like that was whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
I was like, no, no, what he didn't wow, because
it sounds like what even though he was ninety three,
whatever it was was very sudden, just when you're ninety three,
I can't fly across country like this and get here
and get you know, you don't get around as much.
I mean, you're talking about a guy that was born
in nineteen thirty, you know, So he said that happens
that way. I mean, you're saying listen. But he se

(06:43):
this seemed like a statement that he put out that
you know, you read the statement. It seemed like it
was something that he said wasn't written for him, didn't
have this professional AI part of it. He talks about. Hey,
I knew about it as a kid. It was always there.
I grew up with Rickwood around the corner. It was
within reach. I didn't dream about the impossible. Well, so
this statement seemed like it's really it's from Willie saying this.
So even though ninety three, it seems like this was

(07:05):
incredibly sudden. But I just I can't get over reading
that last line. Rick Woodfield is still here, Saul, am,
I how about that? And he puts out the statement
and a day later he passes away, and they're going
to play a game there this week, and it's just
it's really, I really, I just can't stop thinking about
that part of it and reading that statement over and
over again.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
Yeah, it's just uncanny, and you know, one of those
cosmic things, and you know, we ponder the things far
larger than ourselves. You have a tribute game going on
tonight as well, and as they announced it, the crowd
everybody got to a standing ovation that lasted several minutes

(07:48):
when it's all saiden. The video of that is starting
to make the rounds in socials as we speak. But yeah,
that kind of statement, right, passage of time, legacy, legend,
and you know, we we think about it whatever a
new season begins, right because baseball has always been so
great about history, and this decision to have a game

(08:10):
at Rickwood this week, I mean, our own Rob Parker
very excited about this and covering it and what it
means to the game to you know, trying to continue
to explore the history like they did with merging of
the stats and however you feel about that it's done.
But what it does is it shines the light on

(08:31):
the players from that era and that we can say,
you know, Willie Mays is such that a part of
all of that and all of that continuum. And to
have that statement come out yesterday because you showed me
that yesterday of like, hey, you know, this is this
week and whatever, and it was just kind of like
it's pretty damn cool. Yeah, right, Like, because I'm in
the process of going through all my cards member of

(08:53):
Billia whatever, I've had the had the opportunity a couple
of times years ago to meet him at Hall of
Fame things, whatever encounters, but always appreciative of you know,
folks still lining up fifty years after he'd retired, you know,
to come and to come and get an autograph, you
know that kind of thing. Boy, You know, just thinking
of all of the time passages and what he meant

(09:18):
to this game and the outpouring of emotion across baseball.
You know, you lose one of these these legends that
that bridged all these generations.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
You know, you want a great that you want to
know a great story, But what kind of baller Willie
Mays was two thousand and seven. They had the All
Star Game in San Francisco, those first time they had
been there in a long time.

Speaker 3 (09:39):
And I was there because I.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
Was working for ESPN Radio and they sent me to
the All Star Game because I think, honestly, because it
was the cheapest flight they could send people from Bristol,
but they sent my show. They sent me to go
and I did shows with Steve Klein, a former Giants
in the afternoon. So we're at the bait We were
doing shows from the Baseball Experience and Cal Ripkin is
doing some sort of of event in front of us,

(10:01):
and there's a whole bunch of stuff, a lot of
cool stuff, right, So I do I fill into in
the afternoons from there.

Speaker 3 (10:06):
So I go to the game.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
And before the game, uh, you know, there's a lot
of pageantry and things happening, and I'm in the lower
deck and Willie Mays comes out and he comes out
to for and I forget what they did. I forget
what he what they did for him, what they honored
him with. But this is what I remember. This kind
of baller Willie Mays was is that he was in
a car and they drove him around the dirt that

(10:29):
that that butts up against the the dugouts and around
the fence, right, So he's coming down there, he's coming.
He's in he's in a convertible obviously, and they and
he's having these throwing balls out to the two people
in the stands and as all these kids are there
and they got you know, and they're with gloves and everything. Well,
they get to a point and I'm going, Okay, this
maybe wasn't well thought out because they get to a

(10:51):
point where you get to the netting and and I'm going,
oh man, the netting.

Speaker 3 (10:55):
But what's he gonna He's got all these balls.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
Left, and the dude is and and this is Willie
Mays and what a dude. And I didn't really think
about this until after I saw it, and I watch
the replay because I'm watching it going, oh my god,
he's throwing the ball into the net like he's just
throwing the ball into the netting. What's he doing? Like
these balls are the netting? And then I went and
watched replay. He's trying to throw the ball over the
next seventy seven yeah, and he's like he's like scooching

(11:17):
down in the back of the car and he's trying
in his seat and he's trying to flip it up
and throw the balls over the netting to get to
the kids because it's all kids there with the ball
and he's trying. I'm going, oh my god, I'm seventy seven,
I'm still gonna throw throw the ball over the netting
into the stands. And that was just an incredible moment
where it turns out looks like, oh, you see it

(11:39):
on Fay's value, go, oh, what's he doing? Man, Come on, Willie,
will you throwing the ball over the net No, he's he's.

Speaker 3 (11:44):
Trying to throw it.

Speaker 1 (11:45):
You can see it, and there's gyps of it online
where you see him and he's trying.

Speaker 3 (11:49):
To flip it, trying to figure out his law nentangle,
Where can I throw entangle? Before l entangle became a thing, really,
I thought it was going to take a really unexpected twist,
and he kind of uh got himself out of the
car and started climbing the net like he was Spider Man.
Is really where I thought you were going to take that?

Speaker 1 (12:07):
And all of a sudden, no, no, no, no, he
was trying to throw the ball out going oh man.
Then of course then they had somebody walking behind that
was getting the.

Speaker 3 (12:15):
Balls and then was throwing it.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
So I think they were marked with something like special
All Star balls, no I'm throwing out or something like that,
commemorative things, you know, to authenticate and whatever. Hey, there's
when I'm like, oh my god, you get to see
Willie Mays, right, because because I always think back of
the moment, you know, Ted Williams the All Star Game,
and what that moment was like when he came out
in the outer back and everybody, Yeah, and they brought
him and everybody went out to the field to see him,

(12:38):
right because they knew it was tough.

Speaker 3 (12:40):
Him and yeah, get him out to the mound. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
So so they all got to see him, Like what
a great And I see WILLI and I'm like, okay,
because this is the guy, Like this is my whole life.
This is the guy that I've been told and obviously
again too young to see him play, but the legend
and the video and what you've seen and what you've
heard about him is just he's There's not many guys
that you can say are larger than life, especially nowadays

(13:04):
when it's so easy when when you can interact with
your favorite players and you see them so much, you know,
but certain especially of the past. But Willie was one
of those guys of the larger than life guys. He
was incredibly larger than life.

Speaker 3 (13:18):
For five years. If if there was even a rumor
that he was showing up at a game, the walk
up gate was ridiculous and people were eagle eyed hoping
to find some glimpse of a car holding up man
that might have him. It was. It was that kind
of presence uh in the Bay Area, UH, and the
celebration of him therein likewise of Cooperstown. When I lived

(13:40):
out in upstate New York, right, we'd get out there
for Induction week and everybody would be out there, you know,
with their card tables and signing autographs, or they'd have
a big show whatever. But it was always when they
got ready to do the parade. If he was in town,
it all stopped when when he turned, Like everybody, it's like,
all right, will he's there. That's it. We're not selling

(14:00):
any I don't have any rookies, I do. I do
have a third year that I posted up on. He
wouldn't be working. If he had a Willie May's Rookie. No,
I probably would wouldn't if it was high and up grade. No,
no he would. Oh god, it's worth high grades, worth
a couple of hundred grand at this point. Yeah, we
tire on that. No, he just wouldn't be working. He
would just haven't would look at it every day. No,
I'd probably just be flipping cards all the time. But no,

(14:24):
I did post a picture. I do have a PSA
four of his fifty four tops that's been in my
collection for a long long time, as well as my
All Century book commemorating commemorating that that whole thing. My
brother went and got it at a signing. He did,
He and Hank Aaron did three of them. Uh, and
Willie had problems with his eyes, so it was like
no flash photography, very big rule. So guys going through

(14:47):
the line, my brother gets the books on, next guy
does the flash photography. Aaron says, we're done. Sorry, we
warrened you. We're out. So I have a nice book
that was originally signed by Aaron and Mays that I
added like another forty pignatures too.

Speaker 1 (15:01):
But a little bit of history there. Exit how about
a Fresca exit swollen dome. Throughout tonight, we'll continue to
remember the life of Willie Mays. In fact, coming up next, Yes,
the Willie Mays catch is the greatest defensive play made
in any sport of all time. And we'll tell you
exactly why.

Speaker 3 (15:18):
You think.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
You've seen it a million times, and we'll tell you
exactly why this play is still looked at as the greatest.
And it happened in nineteen bleep in fifty four, and
it's still the greatest.

Speaker 3 (15:29):
That's next right here, Jason and Mike. This is Fox
Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 3 (15:43):
Hey it's me Rob Parker.

Speaker 6 (15:46):
Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for
twenty two minutes of pipe in hot baseball talk, featuring
the biggest names of newsmakers in the sport. Whether you
believe in analytics or the I Test, We've all the
bases covered. New episodes drop every Thursday, So do yourself
a favor and listen to Inside the Partner with Rob

(16:08):
Parker on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.

Speaker 1 (16:13):
The power of Grimace knows no bounds. The Mets were
trailing this game six ' to two. Francisco Alvarez, who
I can make a pretty good case as being the
real NLMVP.

Speaker 3 (16:25):
We lay seventeen and one in his last eighteen games.
When he plays, hey, look how good they are?

Speaker 1 (16:31):
He doubles to the gap in left center that ties
the game with the Rangers six apiece. Now the power
of the Grimace era telling you the power grimas.

Speaker 3 (16:40):
Eras Tour, you know, to parallel that of Miss Swift
that's now running around Europe and in other news. Edmonton
looks like, hey, we're gonna keep this series live, Florida going,
We're three in the third period. Close. Look maybe the
hate on Jack Nicholas died down. Yeah yeah they had. Boy,

(17:03):
they got blitzed out of the gate. What did uh?
What was Edmonton's line? Drag him back to Alberta And
so that was that was the line?

Speaker 5 (17:10):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (17:11):
So Edmonton leads Florida four to three. Stanley Cup could
be awarded tonight. It might not be, but it doesn't
matter because we're in the Grimace Era. We're in the
Grimace era. Willie May has got to see the Grimace era.
He did, he saw the grim Now we're gonna get
to his catch in a second. But you know, I
because I forgot about this story. You want a great
uh Willie May's story. Uh about this is when my

(17:31):
dad first moved to Los Angeles, Okay.

Speaker 3 (17:33):
And it was like in twenty ten, I want to say.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
And one of the first things that that that was
going on was, uh, it was a night with Sandy Kofax,
Like Sandy Kofax was gonna.

Speaker 3 (17:45):
He did that speak ye remember when interview.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
In La Live And I'm going, this is a real
force him and is a real thing, Like this is
a real thing.

Speaker 3 (17:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:54):
And but the night that was Kofax, this night, I'm like,
I want to take my dad to see it. So
I take my dad to see it, and uh we
go down there and it's we're in the audience and
Sandy Colfax is that are like, oh my god. It's
like I'm just like seeing a yetti.

Speaker 3 (18:07):
Yeah, he's the right whale. Yeah right, I mean like
they was saying with Willy Mays up in San Francisco,
it's the same thing. It's Sandy's here like spring training,
rumors of when he's going to show up or whatever
else crazy.

Speaker 1 (18:20):
So he comes out and sits down, and the interviewer
was TJ. Simers, who just passed away, uh not too
long ago, a big writer and personality here in Los Angeles.
And the first thing they did was introduce Sandy Colfax,
and every gives him a standing ovation and he says, now, now, Sandy,
I want to say, when did how many times did
you try to hit Willy Mays?

Speaker 3 (18:40):
How many times? You really?

Speaker 1 (18:41):
I mean you really looked like sometimes you try like
he's And I'm like, wow, what a way to open right.

Speaker 3 (18:47):
This is jas kind of question you could have said.

Speaker 1 (18:49):
You could have said anything right, You could have said anything.
But it says, you know because I remember some game.
There are some big famous game, some famous playoff type game.
You tried to hit Willye and and you know this.
And Kofax already is just grinning. So I'm like, Okay,
he knew the right question to get him going, not
just you know Sandy, your career, you try to hit Willie.

Speaker 3 (19:08):
Right, And so.

Speaker 1 (19:10):
The first thing Sandy called, he shakes his head, he
goes you couldn't hit Willie. Nobody could hit Willy. That
was one of the whole things that Willy May's always had.
You couldn't throw inside on him. You couldn't intimidate because
you couldn't hit him. You tried, He goes, I tried.
You couldn't hit Willie. You just couldn't hit him. You
couldn't hit him. And he's talking and not loud enough
to disrupt everything, but loud enough to be heard in

(19:33):
the roads around me. My dad just goes, that's right,
Like Dad, Oh my god, what Dad, we're at?

Speaker 3 (19:40):
Is right? Not in the living room, Dad, Dad, You're
not in a living room, You're not We're here. He
just goes, that's right.

Speaker 1 (19:45):
And then for the next minute he talked about what
a great player Willie Mays was, but just how such
it was, such a thing where you know, you think about,
you know, throwing at a guy when he's hitting you,
or you want to back him off the plate, or
some kind of look at the strategy. He said, you
couldn't hit him, You couldn't hit Willy. He would always
get out of the way, and you were just wasting
a pitch. You were like throwing a pitch it was
just going to be a ball.

Speaker 3 (20:04):
Couldn't hit Willie two thousand and nine hundred and ninety
two career regular season games, ten thousand, eight hundred and
eighty one official at bats, fourteen hundred walks, two hundred
intentional walks. He was hit by forty four pit his career.

Speaker 1 (20:24):
In ten thousand bats, he got hit by a pitch
forty four times.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yeah, nearly what twelve thousand, twelve thousand, and five hundred
plate appearances he got hit forty four Holy Mookie batts
and Aaron Judge knew how to do that. Yeah, it's true.

Speaker 1 (20:40):
Man, I'll never forget that, and I'll never forget my
dad going that's right, that was right.

Speaker 3 (20:45):
And the thing is.

Speaker 1 (20:45):
Because my dad's tall, Like you know, I'm five nine,
but he's like six to two. I get my mom's
height unfortunately. But like so like everybody knew he said it, like,
and everybody's kind of they're all reverential. Listen to Sandy Kofax. Wow,
he's telling this great story. You couldn't hit Willy.

Speaker 3 (20:58):
Maga because he's never there, Like yeah, Sandy, Yeah, that's
like I can't believe he's still on this.

Speaker 1 (21:03):
I'm still getting over the fact he's still on the stage, right,
because Kofax appeared with Joe Tory, and Joe Tory apparently
asked Sandy Kofax to do this and Sandy said yes,
and and I remember Tory said, I didn't know what
was going to happen.

Speaker 3 (21:15):
I asked I, and then he said he'll be here,
so okay, Like then he showed up. So it was
called an evening at Home or safe at Home or something.
They did a few of these.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yeah, and because my dad and I'm looking around them
embarrassed because now you know, my dad is so much
taller than just about everybody in the audience, and he's
sitting there with his Yankee hat on, and I'm like,
come on, Dad, yes that's right.

Speaker 3 (21:36):
But Max, Katie and Kate Fear I'm just laughing, smoking
cigar the chair in front of him.

Speaker 1 (21:45):
Mad but look obviously, yes, a lot tonight on the
passing of Willie Mays uh maybe the greatest ball player
of all time if you got to see him.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
I was always told he was the greatest player, that
never never changed. Yeah he finished with the met and
it did. He was fifty, right, and nah, he was.
He's a thing where we were just talking about, right,
who knows, nah he was in he was.

Speaker 1 (22:06):
In his he was forty two, forty three when the
Mets got him, they went to the World Series. Uh
and and that was how he ended his career.

Speaker 3 (22:13):
But think about the longevity there, right, as we celebrate
guys in the modern era, when we talk about Brady
TV twelve and all the money spent in on different
remedies to keep the body going. Lebron James famously, you know,
in his training, plus his food whatever else. He's going
to be forty years old and spends a million dollars

(22:34):
plus a year, all of these kind of things. Looking
at your guy, Aaron Rodgers, whatever we get from him,
he gets to his fortieth birthday that we celebrate that
go back, Williams was forty plus, right, Well we look
at him, and you look at Nolan Ryan, like their
medical marvels compared to what like many of their counterparts did.
Like when you look at longevity, there were very few

(22:56):
guys that made it, made it through unscathed with that
kind of tenure in Major League Baseball or any other
sport for that matter.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
Now, when it comes to Willie Mays, you are seeing
one thing, and you will be seeing one thing for
the next twenty four hours. And it's probably a play
you've seen a thousand times, and I'm being generous to
say at least a thousand times.

Speaker 3 (23:15):
And that is his catch off.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
Of Vic Wurtz in the nineteen fifty four World Series
the Giants and the Indians. And you've seen the catch
with Willie Mays dead set sprint to center field with
his back turned, and he turns up the glove and
he makes the catch, and he knows there's a runner
on base tagging up, so he turns and throws the
ball back in and spins and falls down and again.
Growing up, I was always told this is the greatest

(23:37):
catch of all time. And you know, when you're a
kid and you hear about, hey, this is a great catch,
you're thinking of someone running and diving and sliding or
jumping over the wall. Either think and you see this
catch and you go, oh, well, he was running and
he caught it, and he turned he threw it back. Okay,
but you also notice cat's greatest catch right well, but
you also look at it and say, how big is

(23:58):
this damn ballpark?

Speaker 3 (23:59):
Yeah, well, obviously camera angle is much different than what
we have now, But it seemed like he was playing
in a cavern. I think center field was for forty
at the Polo Grounds. I think it was four forty,
which is what it was also in Tiger Stadium for
a long time. I think about four forty to center field,
like you would fly, but it's not going out. It's
like two forty at the Yankee Standard. Yeah, especially down

(24:19):
down the line. Yeah, you're at like three or seven
or whatever it is. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
But before we get into and just understanding when I
learned just how this was the most difficult catch to
be made and why it's probably the most incredible defensive
play in the history of sports. Here's what it sounded
like when it happened again in nineteen fifty four.

Speaker 5 (24:39):
There's a lot what Mets Radio Network on the.

Speaker 1 (24:59):
Introduction the catch in the World Series, when you talk
about not building a case for being the greatest catch,
but it is in the World Series that the Giants
went on to win.

Speaker 3 (25:09):
It was.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
It was an unbelievable play when it was made. But
when you watch the play and you think about, I
don't want to say the luck, but the educated talent
that it took for him to make that play because
he's running, the ball is hit directly over his head, right,
and you hear that all the the ball directly. Yes,
everybody says it's because you've seen the Willie Mays play. Yes,

(25:31):
it's hardest catch up. But when you get towards the
end and he's running back, and he's running back and
he knows that I can't I can't continue to drift
back and run with my body tilted to the to
the play. I have to turn and sprint and and
so it turns and sprints the last fifteen yards. And
when you turn sprint you can't see the ball. So

(25:52):
what he had to do was see where the ball
was coming and sprint and without looking back to club
where he thinks.

Speaker 3 (26:01):
The ball is gonna go.

Speaker 1 (26:02):
I mean like that's I mean, you're not saying I
can't sit, you can't see the ball. And I see it,
and I go, I think this is where the ball
is gonna be. Because you watch that and he's not
looking at the ball. He didn't see it come over
his head. He lost sight of it at some point,
and to be able to still go and and and
you see it's not just a lucky catch because he

(26:22):
would have had his he would have said, Okay, it's
going I'm gonna put my glove straight in front of me, right,
that would have you say, okay, that's just a lucky catch.
Where he's running and he put his gloves right out,
but you see he puts it out a little bit
to the left, like that's where I know the ball
is gonna land. And it lands right in the center
of his glove, like to say, to know that, Okay,
I'm gonna put my glove And that's how you know
what kind of catch it is, because if you're saying, Okay,

(26:43):
I'm gonna blindly stick my glove out and hope the
ball hits it, but this was I think the ball
is gonna be here because it's a little bit to
the left, and and the ball hits right in the
center of it, and you're like, oh my god. And
it took me a while, obviously to become a more
sophisticated baseball fan to understand that player. I know that
I really understood that until I was like seventeen or eighteen.
I remember when I first saw the play, like my

(27:04):
friends and I got and try to try to recreate it.
I was gonna throw it. You try to run and
put your glove up a catch, and you can't. It's like,
I got I can't catch O.

Speaker 3 (27:11):
Can't you know what? He's good? You would.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
I would try to run with my head like all
the way back so I could see it coming over
my head.

Speaker 2 (27:18):
And my gut.

Speaker 3 (27:19):
You try to try it over one shoulder or the other.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, and then you realize you're not running anymore, and
the ball is like you put your glove out now,
and now it's like twenty feet away now, and it
goes down the street and it's in the gutter, and
I gotta go get it.

Speaker 3 (27:30):
I mean that that.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
It took me a long time to understand just just
that part of that play that he doesn't he loses
side of the ball and still he knows where it's
going to land.

Speaker 3 (27:40):
That's a meat gall execution. Twelve gold gloves to go
along with those twenty four All Star appearances in prepping
as we were, you know, waiting for our turn to
come on air and doing some you know, cursory, you know,
looking around. Found an article on Yahoo that has some
great quotes from a twenty fourteen interview that he did first.
If he starts off by saying, quote, it wasn't no

(28:02):
lucky catch, talks about you know the key a. If
that gets down, it's at least two runs. He's on
third base, and then we got to score three. Whatever.
But this is great. But to him, it was just
another play that happened to come on the biggest stage. Quote.
I usually catch fly balls like that all the time.
But now you're talking about a world series. You're talking

(28:23):
about something that doesn't happen all the time. And even
you make a catch like that, which I did in
the regular season, but to catch it and away where
the world's looking at you, it's remarkable, I think. And
then they ask, you know, where was it on his
list of catches? Quote, I never ran catches. It's important
to try to catch everything out there. This is my theory.

(28:44):
I don't know how other people think. I feel. If
I started ranking him, you guys would have nothing to
write about. So I never did worry about things like that.

Speaker 1 (28:52):
I mean, just think about how this is a play
that happened in nineteen fifty four and it's still viewed
as the greatest catch, greatest of tensive play in baseball history.
And probably the greatest defensive play in any sport because
the degree of difficulty on it, and it's never been surpassed.

Speaker 3 (29:09):
But in the in the modern era, what what gets
shown the most the Jeter flip thing yeah, or ball
bouncing off Jose con Seco's head.

Speaker 5 (29:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (29:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:21):
Now the degree of because the degrees.

Speaker 1 (29:25):
But the Geter play was great for many reasons because
it was such a heads up play and it was
it was a great athletic play froim to get there
and make it. But the degree of difficulty of running,
grabbing it, turning and flipping, which is what a middland
field does all the time, compared to Okay, you don't
see the ball anymore with your back to the make
the catch.

Speaker 3 (29:42):
I mean, how do you do that and then spin
and get the ball back in? Yeah? Because I would
have cut.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
I got it, I got it, Yeah, I got Oh crap,
he's taking.

Speaker 3 (29:51):
Into the crowd like you're Maximus.

Speaker 1 (29:54):
And and and just how fast he gets that ball
back is because if you if you catch like that,
how many guys need another ten feet to stop and
turn and throw. And he just does it one body
control turn and quickly just chucks it and gets it
back in because he knows, hey, I got this guy's
tagging up and I'm gonna make that play. The only
other one that may come close is when Jim Edmonds

(30:16):
did the same exact thing and what was it like?

Speaker 3 (30:18):
Ninety seven was a great catch to Yes, that was
a great catch. Although nobody liked to dive for balls
more than Jim Edmonds, he did, and he'll to show you, Hey,
look look I got there.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
Yeah, short, short in his career by about ten years,
but he had a lot.

Speaker 3 (30:33):
Of style points for the dive place like you know,
he probably could have gotten there, but.

Speaker 1 (30:39):
Exit out bout of Fresca, exit swallendop. Never been a
better defensive play in sports than Willie Mays is catching
fifty four. Watch it and you you'll see new things
in it and you'll be amazed all over again. The
Jason Smith Show with Mike Carmon Live from the Tirec
dot Com Studio's phone number eight seven seven ninety nine
on Fox. Coming up next. There's been one big story

(31:01):
the last couple of days, and everybody seems to be
on one side of I'll tell you the other side
of it.

Speaker 2 (31:06):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific, Fox.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best friend
Mike Harmon the Grimace Era. The Mets have taken a
seven six lead in the ninth inning. We just saw
the giant entry. Oh ed Grimace, Jason era, just fast
forward the season and give you guys the world series.

(31:35):
Say this ever in my lifetime, but Grimace, you may
never lose again.

Speaker 3 (31:38):
No, no, I mean unless, well unless gives it up.
How about a great thing though your lifetime and devotion
to I just had to wait for Grimace. I just
had to wait. You never had it so good. I
had to wait for Grimace. But you had to wait
for Grimace. And now it gives you an excuse to
keep that streak alive. You have to be some become superstitious.
Not just stitious, you gotta be super perstitious and go

(32:01):
every day to get some sort of McDonald's eit of this.

Speaker 1 (32:05):
If you weren't already, someone tell me when you're five
years old and you love McDonald's and the Mets equally. Yes,
just wait until twenty twenty four and then it will
all come together.

Speaker 3 (32:14):
All going to come together. Just made another forty five years.
You're good, don't worry about It'll be fun, truly amazing.

Speaker 1 (32:20):
As the ninth inning does not begin well for the Mets,
as a bloop single that Mark Fiano's can't track.

Speaker 3 (32:27):
Down puts the lead off runner on Oh boy, Mets you.

Speaker 1 (32:32):
The last few days has been filled with controversy about
the WNBA, Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, the flagrant foul, and
it just continues to roll. But this is something different
from it, right, this is something different to understand that
when we talk about this stuff, the w has now
become part of the fabric of what we do every day.

(32:55):
That's why this is Oh I can't believe you. Yeah,
people are crazy because we're talking about the WNBA for
the first time as part of an everyday occurrence in sports.

Speaker 3 (33:06):
It's a thing, right, that's why we talk about it. Oh,
this flagrant foul happens there. Yeah, but you know what
if it happens in the NBA, when Draymond Green does it,
we talk about it.

Speaker 5 (33:14):
Right.

Speaker 1 (33:14):
When big plays happen in sports, we talk about them.
So don't be suddenly, Oh, I can't believe we're talking
about this. I can't believe we're doing this. I can't
believe we're doing this. No, no, we're doing this because
it's part of the conversation. Now you're in, You're in
part of the conversation.

Speaker 3 (33:28):
And for all of.

Speaker 1 (33:29):
The controversy about this, realized this is this is part
of how it goes now.

Speaker 3 (33:33):
Yeah, you're in. The Caitlin Clark Angel.

Speaker 1 (33:36):
Reese game on Saturday is the highest rated WNBA game
in twenty three years.

Speaker 3 (33:43):
Yeah, Sunday morning one, twenty three years, the highest rated
game people watch. Incredible for a noon start, Yes, yes, time,
Like literally I got off there to watch the end
of that. Yeah, I got off the air with Ryan
Hollins and they were finishing warm ups. We'd already seen
all the videos and the arrivals and the outfits and
everything else like they've done with both the w and

(34:05):
with the NBA, and they were getting ready for tip
off as I rolled out.

Speaker 1 (34:09):
I mean, it was it's a they're doing great things
every single week, and understand this because this is the
this is the biggest thing and this is the best part.

Speaker 3 (34:19):
Dur do the red No, no, no, it's not. If
you don't let it.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
No watch, it's that no matter what happens with the W,
because now I like using it.

Speaker 3 (34:27):
Now I feel cool, you feel like you're in the club.

Speaker 1 (34:29):
Now, the W has what every sport wants, and that
is players that people care about. Everything else you can
figure out. You can figure out how you want to
adjudicate files and what you think about Caitlin Clark and
is it a race war that's being pushed by other people.
You can figure all that out. But the fact is

(34:50):
now that there are many people in the WNBA that
we care about. Caitlin Clark is at the top because
she's the star. Sorry if you don't think you're at
the top, or if you're below her, But this is
how how it goes. When you come in as the
all time leading scorer in college basketball history, Yeah, you
come in with that kind of catch. Hey, but people
care about her. They care about Angel Reiche, They care
about Cameron Break whopefully is okay after getting injured tonight.

(35:11):
They care about Asia Wilson, they care about Sabrina Ionescue,
they care about Brianna Stewart. Care about these players. They've
become part of the fabric of conversation. And when you
have players that people care about, that's all you need.
Everything else will Everything else will come, and you have
to go through some rockiness, you have to go through
some tough times, but everything else will come. As long

(35:31):
as you have players that people care about, you're winning.
And that's why the W is winning in a large way,
because all of a sudden they have players people care about.

Speaker 3 (35:40):
Oh time, place, down, distance. We talk about it all
the time. Right, if folks want to get mad about it,
because well you see the radies go, well, what's the
big deal? As you said, it's record ratings for twenty
three years. You see the growth, you see the expansion talk,
you see the revenue and the TV rights, and even
if they're gonna lose fifty million, they year, the trajectory

(36:02):
and the projections say that you're probably gonna be in
the black here in a couple of years, all things
being equal. You have to figure out the private planes
and everything and what that's gonna cost. But when you
look at it, the television revenue flows in, and again
when you try to compare it to the NBA or

(36:23):
whatever else, is what always happens. Right, The fool hardy
it's like you do with the individual players. Well, you
know Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes, like nobody's those damn guys. Okay,
compare them to someone else, you know, slightly above average,
and then we can have fair conversations. Likewise here when
folks get mad and get off my lung. It' say. Literally,

(36:43):
it's a thing right now, It'll continue to grow, and again,
you could do it out if you don't like it.

Speaker 1 (36:49):
There's plenty of other sports that are on the radar.
Exit out by the Fresco Exit swelling down. The Jason
Smith Show with my best friend Mike Carmon coming up next,
more from the grimaceera as Mike and I I'll tell
you who's making the NBA Finals next year, Fox Cleveland
for Sure, Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with
my best friend Mike Harmon Live from the ti Raq

(37:12):
dot Com Studios where, boy, it is some night in
Major League Baseball right now. The Dodgers were trailing nine
to four going to the top of the ninth inning.
After a Hayward grand slam. The Dodgers now have first
and second two out. It is nine to eight and
the Rockies are incensed over a check swing call by

(37:34):
Tiascar Hernandez. That was called a ball that Look was
it close?

Speaker 3 (37:39):
Yeah? It was close?

Speaker 1 (37:40):
But still, holy crap, man, this was a really big deal.
And does Hernandez make them pay in a way. So
let me tell you Taskar Hernandez on a one and
two count checks his swing and the Rockies dugout is insane.
They are in sane over not getting the strike three call. Okay,

(38:03):
still two strikes, still two outs first and second. The
next pitch, Hernandez launches into the stands and as soon
as the ball lands, the outfielders are screaming at the
first base umpire who did not call Hernandez for going
around And look, I'll tell you seeing it, it was close.
It's one of those. It's one of those where if

(38:24):
they called it a strike, okay, I see it, but
they didn't call it a strike.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
I see it. It was right at the line, and
Hernandez makes him pay. Wow.

Speaker 1 (38:32):
This is now a seven run ninth inning for the Dodgers.
They are still batting. This is what to expect from
the Grimace era in Major League Baseball. Joining us now
on the hotline to break it all down. As we
talked to Grimacea. Remember the legend that was Willie Mays
Fox Sports One Insider extraordinaire. Follow him on Twitter at

(38:52):
John Morosi. It is MLB Network star John Paul Morosi,
John Paul, what's happening? Welcome to the grimacera, my friend?

Speaker 3 (38:59):
How do you feel?

Speaker 4 (39:00):
Well? Good evening? My friends? How I feel?

Speaker 5 (39:03):
Is this?

Speaker 4 (39:04):
Seven minutes ago there was a tweet from the McDonald's
account which which had a photo of a ball signed
by Grimace and it said I had a ball today. Lol.
So Grimace, if you look at it right now, Jason
Grimace is now the avatar on the McDonald's X account.

(39:25):
So that, and he's wearing a Mets hat. He's wearing
a Mets hat about the time, at this moment, at
this moment in time, Grimace, Grimace wearing a Mets hat
is the new avatar for McDonald's white a day.

Speaker 3 (39:43):
Oh who knew? Hey?

Speaker 1 (39:45):
And John Paul, let me tell you, I now you
got to talk to Sterns because I know you give
them messages from me all the time.

Speaker 3 (39:50):
Tell David Sterns.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
The only thing I want to say is, boy, you
could have had Grimace aro out the first pitch. You know,
a month ago, you know, and things are going bad
and may.

Speaker 4 (39:58):
Go a good call. We'll have to get him on
the schedule for next year on opening day. Who knows
now what we know? I guess what I'll say is
this in in baseball last year, the National League champion
Arizona and Diamondbacks won eighty four games in the regular season,

(40:20):
two games over five hundred, and the Mets, as disastrous
as they played at multiple stages of the first half,
they're now just two games under. They're in third place
in the NL East, and as I would say on
the eighteenth of June, all things are now possible.

Speaker 3 (40:38):
How about that madness and shoes. I don't even know
that they have an official deal with them bets anymore
so putting you know, the Mets had on him and whatever,
someone's got to get a contracts out of here.

Speaker 4 (40:51):
Well it's going to If there is no deal yet,
someone someone is drawing up the papers as we speak.

Speaker 5 (40:58):
To do that.

Speaker 4 (40:59):
I one of those things where I would expect the
legal department of both the Mets and McDonald's are working overtime.

Speaker 3 (41:06):
Yeah, because once upon a time they had a deal.
Now it's time to re up. Given this level of success,
all right, JP, big news today. Obviously, baseball mourns a legend,
Willie Mays, that bridge across generations. Jason and I talked
about it earlier. The guy always put up as the
benchmark by which all others are judged in baseball. You're

(41:28):
now doing a Hall of Fame podcast. I'm sure the
name Willy Mays comes up in every one of those conversations.

Speaker 4 (41:34):
Oh, without a doubt, and he is. I thought it
was very poignant. Tonight on MLB Network, Ken Griffey Jr.
Referred to Willie Mays as the godfather of all center fielders,
and Harold Reynolds said that he felt as though it
was that Willie was a father figure to all of

(41:54):
the players, especially the African American players, because he could
speak to the experience of beginning his career in the
knee grow leagues and then of course going on to
a legendary career that is really without compare. I go
back to something that Ernie Harwell, the celebrated late broadcaster
principally of the Tigers, said. He said Willie Mays was
the best all round player he ever saw. And Ernie

(42:16):
Harwell met Babe Ruth he covered Jackie Robinson. Ernie Harwell
lived an entire life in baseball, and I've always said,
if it was good enough for Ernie to say that
William Mayds is the grantler ever saw, I'm going to
just co sign that and say it's for Ernie Harwell said,
I'm taking it as gospel, and it was a really

(42:37):
remarkable moment, really in a couple different places. Tonight in
Birmingham rick Woodfield, They're going to honor Willie Mays. It's
always been the plan for the game on Thursday Cardinals Giants,
and the hope was at one point that Willie might
be able to attend that game in person. Of course,
news just came out yesterday that he would not be

(42:57):
able to attend for health reasons, and of course the
news emerges today that he's passed away. So it is
it's it's poignant, it's gut wrenching. As jor As Canary
Junior said today on Emily Network that it feels like
his heart's on the floor right now, just how heartbroken
he is that baseball is going to Willie Mays's hometown

(43:19):
and he passes away effectively forty eight hours before the game. Begins.
It really is one of those cosmic moments in life
where you do feel as though somehow this is all
connected and heartbreaking and beautiful and poignant all at the
same time. Dave Fleming, a dear friend of mine, Giants broadcaster.

(43:43):
If you're able to the audio of when he announced
on thet KNBR broadcast tonight of the Giants game in
Chicago that Willy had passed away, Dave is to me,
his versatility, his grace of the microphone is unsurpassed, and
you could hear in his voice, his voice quivering, trying

(44:05):
to get the word out and the news out that
Willie had passed away, and it just it took him
a couple of tries to be able to say the words.
And I think that just speaks to someone who is
truly larger than life, almost invincible in so many ways,
that were that we are we are We anybody who
loves baseball are struggling to probably find the words to

(44:28):
express how we feel. And I think back in terms
of recent years in which just covering the game and
celebrating legends who have passed away. I felt this way
when Henry Aaron died. I felt this way when Vince
Scully died and to feel this way tonight, it's just
there are certain people whose impact on the game is
so outsize that it's almost difficult for us to find

(44:50):
the words in the English language to express our feelings.
And I think that's certainly how I feel tonight tonight.
And how many people around the game field right.

Speaker 1 (44:57):
Now, and they'll be Network insider John Palmerrose see our
guest to Jason Smith Show with Mike Carmen Love from
the tirec dot Com studios. All right, John Paul, we
talked about this. I'm gonna give you a statement, agree
or disagree, you're.

Speaker 4 (45:09):
Ready, I am, indeed all right.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
Willie Mays's catch nineteen fifty four World Series, Vic Wordz
greatest defensive play in sports history, not just baseball, in
sports history.

Speaker 4 (45:23):
I was certainly because of the stage where it happened,
how it happened, who made the catch, when it happened
in the game. I agree with that. There's never going
to be and we can certainly you go through and
athletically speaking, you know there may be great plays that
are made and saves off the goal line. And Christine
Lilly in the World Cup Final in nineteen ninety nine,

(45:46):
saving a would have been a game winning goal for
China with her forehead. There are moments like that, but
I think in the folklore of American sport, I don't
think we're ever going to see a play like that.
And and certainly defensively, it's known as simply the catch,
and we had the catch in the NFL, of course,
but that was an offensive catch as a defensive catch,

(46:08):
and I think that it's a very very special bit
of history. And I think too, one of the one
of the reasons why I think Willie Mays is such
a transcendent figure is because of how many different places
in the country he is special. But that that catch,
of course happens in New York City, uh, for the

(46:29):
New York Giants, and then the rivalry and Willie they
all migrate to to San Francisco. And so there's something
I was asked about rivalries and why these franchises matter
so much. You still have we still have grandparents who
are who are around who talk about being a Giant
fan in New York growing up, or a Brooklyn Dodger fan,

(46:51):
and and then our country is just so big that
this rivalry picks up and moves to the West Coast,
and Willie Mays was a central figure in all of that.
And so I think that what you have is you've
got his roots in Alabama, his roots as a player
in the negro leagues, what he had to do, to
what he had to fight against, the racism, the discrimination

(47:12):
to have an opportunity to earn, the opportunity to pursue
his dream. And so you have this backdrop of the
ways in which Willie Mays's story touches so many parts
of America, New York City, West Coast, the Deep South.
It's just it's a it's a special part of American
history in the in the twentieth century and now into

(47:33):
the twenty first. And I just think that we as
the people were so big as a country, were so
big that I think that in some ways it's hard
to find figures and people who are truly unifying and
special to us all, and William Mays as that person.
And I think that the way in which you're seeing

(47:54):
people of so many different backgrounds, in different ages and
stories tonight coming together to sell rate a true American icon,
I think just speaks to how powerful Willie Mays is,
how powerful the game can be, and how much pride
I think all of us take in him being an
American like he has one of the most quintessentially powerful

(48:17):
American stories that we're ever going to tell. And to
be able to say that we walked the Earth at
the same time that he did is a pretty profound statement.

Speaker 3 (48:26):
John Morosi our guest Jason Smith Show with Mike Carbon
here Fox Sports Radio. Follow him on Twitter at John Morosi,
Lead Out the H's j O N. Mr Osi, Hi, Mom,
and you hear his podcast he's now doing for with
in conjunction with the Hall of Fame. So much going
on in JP's world. Follow it all there in the

(48:47):
world of X and his coverage of Major League Baseball. JP.
We're watching the Dodgers, trying to put the finishing touches
on this game tonight, but the specter of injury. As
much as Jason wants to go grit, miss, error and
whatever else for the Dodgers, they've had just the injury
bug creeping around. Yamamoto goes down, Mookie Bets is out

(49:11):
at least two months, and if you did the scroll,
it's like the end of a cable movie with another
one starting how do they weather the storm. How quickly
can they get some of these other bodies back and
maybe fortify the roster.

Speaker 4 (49:25):
Well, the trade deadline's coming up, and so they may
be able to address some of those issues as you
get closer there. I do think just to pull back
for a moment, the comeback that you're describing, and however
contentious it may be, in the moment, just there are
moments in a season where when injuries are happening and

(49:46):
you feel the character of your team being tested. This
is one of those nights, and look at what they're doing.
It's a special group, just as they are right now.
I think that getting an infielder is going to be
important for them. And part of the reason why is
it's not just Mookie. It's been Max Monthly has been
out as well, and so there are a couple teams,

(50:09):
certainly that Toronto comes to mind. We'll see what happens.
Bobachett right now is on the eye all. He's not
really playing that well in terms of his numbers this season.
I think that's something to keep in mind. But there
will be ball clubs that are comfortable moving on from
some players, and you look around, I don't think Nikon

(50:29):
d is going to go over to over to the
Dodgers from from the Giants. That has given given that rivalry,
there's not that many teams that are that are necessarily
full on cell mode now that will give you a
player who's a meaningful upgrade over what they've got right
now in Miguel ROAs. So I do think as we
get closer to the deadline, there may be some teams

(50:50):
that are in that conversation and will be comfortable doing that.
But I think for now what we're seeing is the
team that's probably gonna have to stay internal until we
get a little bit closer to the to the All
Star break. We're called they just got Cavin Bigio in
that trade with the Blue Jays, so they already brought
in somebody to help them ameliorated in the situation of
having Muncy on the IL. So they have a lot

(51:13):
of resources. They've got a lot of talent already in place.
I would say this though, as I conclude my thoughts
on the Dodgers, I would actually be more aggressive if
I was the Dodgers and looking at pitching than I
would at position players. I think they will find a
way with their position players, and Mookie's going to get
back certainly well. In advance of the playoffs, I would

(51:34):
address more of the pitching side, because then you're not
really sure what Yamamoto can do in the second half
when he's trying to adjust the major league schedule for
the first time. So I would still focus on pitching,
and there should be plenty of pitching available, including the
Rays as a potential seller in that regard to John Paul.

Speaker 1 (51:52):
Lastly, we talk a lot about the Dodgers and they
finish off this huge win over the Rockies, and the
Rockies are hopping that over it. We talk a lot
about their big lead in the NL West. But to
bring things full circle to the Grimace era, with the
Mets win tonight over the Rangers, the largest lead in
Major League Baseball belongs to the Seattle Mariners.

Speaker 3 (52:12):
It's it's a down year.

Speaker 1 (52:14):
Everybody is down and Juli Rodriguez isn't even hitting yet.

Speaker 3 (52:17):
Like we talk a.

Speaker 1 (52:18):
Lot about the Yankees and the Dodgers and the Phillies,
but boy, this.

Speaker 3 (52:21):
Might be the year for Seattle.

Speaker 4 (52:24):
They're a bad away from being really, really formidable when
it comes to the postseason. I mean that They're a
team that I said this last week and some people
were maybe not agreeing with me, But watch this team
play that if that they are the team that no
one is going to want to deal with in October.

(52:44):
I'm not saying they're going to win the World Series,
but when when you line up this pitching up against
you and you've got to deal with Gilbert and Kirby
and Castillo and and deal with it with them in
a short series, no one is going to be eager
to run to the batrack and that be their assignment.
And we know this about Jerry Depoto. He'll make some moves.
He loves to make the moves anyway. And so I

(53:06):
think with some of these teams, again I mentioned the
Rays is maybe one of the more emerging sellers. There's
a lot to look at there with some potential potential
players that could be moved. But I love the Mariners
team that I think is going to be really good
down the stretch. And you point out Julio Rodriguez. If

(53:26):
he gets going on top of guys like Cal Rowley
and others, they're going to be a really tough team
to deal with as you get towards the second half
of the season.

Speaker 1 (53:35):
He's on Twitter at John Morosi, that is, at John Morosi.
Our first visit with John Paul during the Grimace era.
John Paul, thank you very much, my friend. Please wear
purple tomorrow and we'll talk to you next week.

Speaker 4 (53:47):
Sounds great. Let me tell you something. Friday night, we
got Game six of the Stanley Cup Final. The orders
are the chance to win it, win at home, to
prolong the series and bring it back for game seven.
So I cannot wait to see what happens on Friday night.

Speaker 1 (54:01):
All right, maybe you get an interview with the oilers
fan with that with a woman who's gone viral.

Speaker 4 (54:06):
I've heard, I've heard hailed of her legend. I have
not become acquainted with her, but I am familiar with
with her general story.

Speaker 1 (54:16):
Next in other words, look for John Paul's interview with
Grimace coming up.

Speaker 5 (54:22):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (54:22):
John Paul appreciated buddy.

Speaker 4 (54:24):
All the best, my friends, Thank you.

Speaker 3 (54:25):
JP boy backed away from that, sure he did in
other words like hey, my fundy is my wife? Listen?
Where's my supersuit