June 19, 2024 • 37 mins
Jason and Mike breakdown Teoscar Hernández wild at bat in the 9th inning of Dodgers /Rockies. The guy's debate Willie Mays catch it STILL is the greatest defensive play ever made in sports. And the PGA Tour Policy Board approved a Lifetime Achievement exemption into signature events for Tiger Woods starting in 2025.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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Speaker 2 (00:22):
Please give this you're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Greetings and welcome inside our three of The Jason Smith
Show with my best friend Mike Harmon, live from the
tire rack dot Com Studios, tirec dot com. I'll help
you get there an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free
road hazard protection, and over ten thousand recommended installers tirec
dot com the way tire buying should be. Well, look
(00:50):
just a little more on it because this boy, I'll
tell you this, askar Hernandez check swing Dodger three run
Homer is just an insane story that's just gaining all
kinds of legs right now. Well, just wait till they
get to the podium. Yeah, oh, got to hear Bud Black,
got to hear under five hundred. Well what they are
so well, but that's the thing. It's twenty five win team.
(01:11):
Here was hope. Now it's gone grimace. Uh yeah, you
need yeah, you need like mayor mccheese or something. Man.
Maybe maybe mayor mccheese is in your dugout tonight. That
helped you win. It was we could be heroes for
one day.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Thing.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Cheese does it change in altitude? Mile high? What do
you mean? Is cheese still cheese? No, cheese is still cheese.
It may take you. It made a little bit more
difficult for you to eat the burger because you're higher up.
And hey, as someone who's gone to like the top
of Rocky Mountain National State Park and tried to eat
a sandwich at fifteen thousand feet, it's difficult. Did you
get driven up there, care lifted? You can't just eat
(01:46):
a sandwich you just got Boh, this is I'm tired
eating a sandwich. I gotta get down one like someone
should have recorded that. That would be a race video
of you. Well, that has nothing to do with how
high you are. I gotta get under ten thousand feet
from an No, no, no, we hate Were you generally
winded eating a sandwich? My no, My wife and I
were driving across country when we moved to la in
(02:08):
the mid nineties, and we went spent a couple of
days in Colorado and we drove through Rocky Mountain National
State Park and you drive through and you drive all
the way up and you're fifteen thousand feet up at
the top, and you can stop and have lunch, and
it's a great vista here at the top of the mountain.
And we got out and we walked like, I want
to say, thirty yards to the picnic area. We had
(02:28):
our sandwiches there, and I walked to the to the
picnic car and I go, I'm kind of winded after that,
and I was, okay, And this is one I'm in
my mid twenties and I'm in really good shit, and
I'm in pretty good shape. I look say, and we said, like,
how you a mended your physical fitness? Just that fat
I was in really was because I was. I was
in beer league softball, in beer league hockey shape. That's
what I was in. It wasn't like, you know, training,
(02:48):
I wasn't like Rocky in Drago and I'm hitting the
copy box or you know, you know, pushing people up
in I mean, we can shut you up to get
you ready. But so we get there, I'm like, okay,
boy boy, I'm I'm like, but maybe I'm tired of
being in the car all day. I don't know. And
I'm starting to eat a sandwich and all of a sudden,
I'm chewing. I'm going. After a couple of minutes, I'm like,
oh wow, And and Pam says to me, what's wrong,
(03:10):
and I go, nothing, just I'm really tired, like chewing.
This is an effort. She goes, yeah, me too. And
the guy and the guide who was up there helping
people said yeah, because you're eating at fifteen thousand feet
you've been a fifteen thousand people for I said no.
They go, yeah, get down below ten thousand you'll be okay,
really go yeah, but you're gonna this is what it's
going to be like for you up here. Did the
effort make the sandwich taste better? No, it made it
(03:32):
taste worse because it was too much of an effort
to eat the sandwich. Jason, what if I were to
tell you that guy made that up to make you
guys feel better? No, I think I go to Denver
every year. Yeah okay, yeah, but you would have Dever
problem eating a sandwich. No, but then we went to
the top Denver's like seven thousand feet. We doubled double.
Go to the top of Rocky Mountain National State Park.
Eat a sandwich. You tell me how you're doing. I'll
(03:54):
go to the middle of Empowerment Field. Okay, eat a
sandwich and take a You didn't have to finish. I
knew what you were saying right there. Go to the top.
Go to the top of the fifteenth I think it's
the highest, well one of the top three or four
highest points in all of the United States. Challenge except there.
Go out there and see. Trust me, but I'm gonna
(04:16):
bring a satchel of sandwiches and hand them out and
watch people struggle. Eat it, eat it. Look at this
guy was, well, look how nice he was. He bought
a hundred bucks worth of sandwiches. Why are there all
these cameras set up everywhere? Can't you you chew and
keep eating?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Well, eat it.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
I'll tell you if they did. Chestnut Kobayashi at the
top of that and uh, the winner with four hot
dogs in eight minutes is Joey Chestnut. Congratulations, feeling light
hand congratulations. But look must be the night Trades. The
Rockies were up nine to four over the Dodger and
the ninth inning, all right, Jason Hayward hits a grand
slam and to Askar Hernandez comes up with runners at
(04:52):
first and second and two outs. Check swing that could
have been a strikeout, could have gone either way. The
Rockies lose their minds it. They feel it should have
been a strikeout. Bud Black goes crazy yelling about it.
And we talked about it a few minutes ago. Dude, have
some composure. You still need to make one more pitch,
like don't don't lose it and don't completely give momentum
away to the Dodgers or completely unfree your believer who
(05:16):
is in there now. Just you got to focus. But no,
he decided to lose his mind over a check swing.
Next pitcher Nandez Homer's and the Dodgers they go up
eleven nine, They win at eleven nine. It was an
insane ending. And here's how it sounded now, the two
two sucker, what fifth.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
The hero?
Speaker 1 (05:41):
The Dodgers lead, Dodgers Radio Network on the call, a
Dodgers TV on the on the call. Sorry, and but
here's my take. About this, as I said, yes, it
could have gone either way, and people online now are
just insane complaining about this. But let me just tell you.
Let me tell you what I've said all along. I
(06:02):
don't have a lot of sympathy for the Rockies, because
what can I say is, don't give up a Grand
Slam and a three run homer in the ninth inning.
If you can't protect a five run lead in the
ninth inning in your own ballpark, you do not deserve
to win the game. You can't complain about an umpire's call.
If you give up seven bleep in runs in one inning.
(06:23):
I'm sorry, but I lose all sort of if it
was a one run game, it was a four to
three game in the Dad Dega, okay, I could see
that a little bit. But you had a nine to
four lead. You can protect a five run lead in
the ninth that you gave up seven, give up a
grand Slam. You couldn't close the door after that, couldn't
get out. You got a gift out because Will Smith
called time out and tried to back out and of
(06:44):
the batter's box. The umpire didn't all give him time out,
and it was a fastball down the middle for strike three,
and will Smith was very upset argued about it. That
was a second out of the inning. So you could
say the Rockies were gifted that second out because will
Smith didn't get time out called and he had a
non competitive pitched It was right down the middle for
strike three. So all I can say is, don't give
up seven run really. I mean, it's like if the
(07:06):
circumstances were, hey, it was a one run lead, it was,
I get it. But you were by five and you
gave up to home runs man, including a grand slam.
I'm sorry, I don't have sympathy for you saying, oh
the umpire and the first base umpire cost us the game.
Now in this particular case, you know, we'll go back
to the pitch, and you and I had seen one
angle of it repeatedly. Well, now I get the second angle,
(07:27):
the Roger McDowell's second you know, the second spinner spinner,
and yeah, it looks like he goes through the zone.
But guess what, you didn't get the call. No, it's
a high fastball and it looked and showing it to
you here in case you haven't seen it, right, he comes,
he comes through the zone right, the arms come through
and dragged the back. It doesn't matter. He doesn't bread
(07:48):
in the end, he didn't call it right. It's the
whistle you wait for in basketball, right Luka Doncics laying
on the ground and saying what happened? Why didn't I
get that call? And everybody excoring he aints him. I
will go back and John Paul Morosi last last hour
did get the word ameliorate. He did get a million
well done. We're looking at the clock, though, we were
(08:09):
trying to get it over to friendly. So I didn't
want to, you know, stop there, but give him his
love for that. But in this case, you didn't get
the call. It's still a two to two count. Go
make a pitch, and instead he challenges him and does
one of those I'm really mad things. So I'm gonna
throw the ball as hard as I can. Look. Watch,
there's gonna be contrails. It's gonna be so hard like
(08:29):
the old video games. It's gonna be like when the
puck was shot back on Fox Hockey in the mid nineties.
What you want to bet I could throw a football
over that mountain. That's kind of what he did. But
it was but look, I could see it where it
could go either way because he didn't break his wrists,
he didn't turn his body. That's part of what you
do as a hitter to try to get those calls right.
(08:50):
So I get if they had called it as a strike. Okay,
I get it, But you could make a pitch. I mean, really,
it's a five runt lead you couldn't protect. Come on, man,
it's a five run lead. You know it's a rock
if if look, if I'm coming here apparently better than
my white sox. If I'm coming back from the grocery
store and I'm holding a bag and I get halfway
(09:14):
in and the bottom of the bag rips and the
stuff falls out. Oh man, they gave me a bad bag.
This is stupid. I can't believe this. Now, stuff is
spilled everywhere. But if I try to bring like four
or five bags in it once and they all rip,
that's my fault because I'm an idiot, right, Why are
you trying to do that there? You shouldn't have carried
all the bag. You should have taken a couple of
different trips. Instead, you tried to bring in four bags
(09:35):
and once and look what happened. Rip, rip, rip, rip,
That's how you work on those triceps. That's what it
was tonight. You didn't just drop one bag of groceries.
You dropped like four pitches and they came back and
got you. Oh that's how it goes. Uh, now that's
a big moment. Well, I can't wait to hear Bud
(09:55):
Black and can't wait here at the Rocky Dude, come on,
this is gonna be outstanding. They're gonna look, they're gonna
sit here and say, Bud Black is gonna go. Hey, man,
Grimace is purple. We're purple. We get that call. Dodgers
are not purple. Why we're in the Grimace era? Man,
you can't take care of people who are purple. What
is that all about? You didn't even know Bud Black
was still managing until tonight. I thought he was actually
(10:17):
pitching tonight. I thought he was actually in the in
the game bringing back. But look, this is Look we'll
have more on that, but this is just an insane story.
They were throwing pop corn at r nandez Oh no,
it's terrible. Yeah, nuts, Although he woren't like a WWE
heel and just put his arms up like let's go.
But We're gonna have more on Willie Mays, remember his
(10:37):
life coming up in about ten minutes. But I think
it's kind of apropos tonight. You know, a couple of things.
The Mets with a big comeback on the night Willie
Mays passes away Willie Mays who finished his career with
the Mets in nineteen seventy two and nineteen seventy three.
But we saw an incredible defensive play made tonight in
Game five of the Stanley Cup Final. Now it's going
back to Edmonton, right Drag him back to Alberta. That's
(10:59):
what the Oilers wanted to do, and they were able
to win the game despite the fact Matthew Kuchuk makes
one of the best individual effort plays you can make defensively.
With the Panthers down a goal in the final minute
and the Oilers eating an empty net or to put
it away, the puck is screaming towards the Panthers net.
It's gonna be an empty net goal, it's gonna be
(11:21):
a two goal advantage for the Oilers, and Kachuk does
this empty nets. So there was that was really good.
The puck ESPN on the call the puck is just
about to cross over the line into the net, and
Kadchuk skates and dives, fully extends his stick out and
(11:45):
bats it away from the end line. I mean, it's
an incredible athletic play. Now, unfortunately for the Panthers, about
five seconds later, the Oilers score in the empty net
because the puck is in their end and his teammates
weren't quite as swift ye to the loose puck play.
Nice play, though, heay go, I actually have a funny
(12:07):
story about a play like that that I made when
I was playing hockey. I'll tell you that in a
few minutes. But anyway, but seeing this play, right, this
is one of those plays that would go down talking
about Willie Mays and the catch that would go down
as one of the greatest plays in NHL history. But
the way that went afterwards was the Oilers still scored.
They won the game. So this great defensive play is
(12:30):
gonna get attention now and attention for the next few
hours the next day or so it was, but it's
going to get lost because the Panthers didn't win the game.
Oh it doesn't matter, right, right, You need to go
on and win. If a great play is going to
be remembered as that great a player. Right, we don't
celebrate Raji Davis like we like we would if the
Indians had won the World Series against the Cubs back
(12:51):
in twenty sixteen. Right, Uh, what this play has turned into?
It's kind of like And the first thing I thought
of was the Indie Shaves played from the two thousand
and six and LS where he saves a three run
homer against the Cardinals by going up over the wall
into the bullpen to save a sure home run. I'm like,
oh my god, we're going to the World Series. Mets
are gonna win this game. And they don't. And they
give up a two run homer to Gadi or Malina
(13:13):
in the ninth and Carlos Beltran strikes out looking with
the bases loaded. The Cardinals go onto the World Series
and that Andy Chavez play, which had the Mets won
that game, had the Mets gotten the World Series, we'd
be saying, boy, is this one of the top three
defensive plays of all time in Major League Baseball? Because
it's that good a play, But instead it gets lost
because the Mets lost the game. This is amazing individual efforts. Oh,
(13:34):
it's fantastic. And this is not talent wise like oh
my goodness, you know Bobby or scoring when he's you know,
horizontal to the ice of some Gretzky play. This is
a great individual effort and he dies to make a
great play, but the impact of it gets lost if
you don't win. Willie Bays and the Giants won that game.
They win the catch, they win the World series. So
we remember that catch is the greatest to play of
(13:55):
all time. Yeah, I would liken it to say, you're
watching in Nature's show and you watch the oh no,
this this animal is about to get roughed upon, right, okay, right,
he's about to be defeated.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Okay, but then he eludes that predator, okay, only to
run into another predator who's lying in Wait, that's exactly
what happened here, great effort. Look at him scrambling, going
up and down mountains, climbing like you getting free. And
there's the moment of pause of like, oh he got away,
will need to get away. There's another guy there and
(14:31):
in this case makes the great save right onto the
stick of McDavid, who Barry said for the empty netter.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
So you're telling me if it's like this, and you
see the gazelle is able to escape the cheetah that
can only run as fast as it can for a
short amount of time before it needs to rest. And
you see the cheeta gathering its breath as the gazelle
is able to trape along out of danger until he
is stomped on by that elephant's foot right or he's
(14:58):
at the edge of the water and a croc wow
comes up and get some whatever the case may be,
needing a drink. It's the last drink this gazelle will
ever take it. Jason, this play would have been epic
two if the panthers were the ones that were leading,
of course, yeah oh yeah, yeah no, But that's it down.
But you don't make a play like that unless you're losing.
That's the whole thing. Imagine if they did. The net
isn't emp, but the net's not empty if you're not.
Now that would be a bold strategy. Guy, Just pull
(15:21):
her off one, Just pull I want the extra attacker now,
I haven't seen this before. Exit. How about a fresca exit?
Swollen down. The Jason Smith Show is my best friend.
Mike Carmon Live from the Tire rech dot Com Studios. Uh.
Coming up next, Yes, we get into the death of
Willie Mays, the greatest ballplayer who ever lived and the
(15:42):
author of the greatest defensive play in sports history. Why
was that play so much better than anything else you've
ever seen? We'll break it down for you. Next right here,
Jason and Mike, This is Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
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 1 (16:04):
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Speaker 1 (16:35):
Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon go at jokey fully fully into the
Grimace era. Now we are fully Now I'm gonna leave
it alone. Now, I'm gonna leave it alone, gonna leave
it alone. It's enough. I can see you. It's enough
to see those in hands. It's enough. Deal bracelets. The
(16:56):
video of him today from what was a two thousand
and seven you judge Drake, don't drink, don't drink? Yeah, yeah, okay, okay,
I think Taylor Swift closes her current concert with Karma.
It's amazing. I'm in the back of the squad car
(17:16):
with you. I just can't okay, all right, all right,
So I had wow, all right, all right, I gave
you one.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
Okay, I mean just all the stuff, man. Yeah, wow,
bad things. That's a party, man. We're sending those commercials. Man,
that's Lawrence Taylor.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Man. Look, we spent a lot of the night tonight.
We're going to continue to talk about it. Look, the
death of Willie mays Uh sending shock waves throughout all
of us. Passing away today at the age of ninety three.
He was just set to make a big appearance in
his hometown at a ballpark that he had played in
most of his life, the oldest ballpark in the country.
(17:54):
Major League Baseball's playing a game there. The Cardinals are
heading there now, I believe, or they go tomorrow. Maybe
I don't know when they actually head out. It's an
incredible life that we are talking about. And it's so
to quote John Paul Morosi, it's it's ominous, it's weird,
it's spooky, it's karmick. It's all of this. That Willie
(18:14):
Mays passes away just a couple of days before they
were going to play a baseball game in his hometown
in a ballpark he played in the Negro Leagues and
before he moved on to the incredible career that he had.
You know, growing up, it was look, Willie Mays was
ninety three and when you and I were growing up,
too late for us to really see him live. Like
(18:36):
I don't really have any memories of him with the Mets. Yeah,
I was just born. He retired. I started watching baseball,
and I was really young. But as my dad told me, says,
you were about four or five when you really started
watching baseball. Willie May has played for the Mets in
seventy three, so I missed it by a couple of years.
But growing up there was you know, whenever you have
the conversations about who the greatest baseball player of all time.
Was it was never a question, it was it was, Hey,
(18:58):
the greatest ball player of all time as Willie Mays,
And it was always Willie Mays. Was he better than
Baby Yes, he was better than Babe Ruth. He was
better than Hank Karen. He has he better Han Karen.
He was the best all round player that that yet
you could possibly see baseball. And yeah, because of what
he could do in the field, I mean Ted will
I mean William twelve gold gloves, you know, and and
and was able to steal bas still forty bases a
(19:20):
lot like Willie Mays was the best baseball player talking
about the only thing, the only argument against, you know,
a fully healthy Mickey Manto. But you didn't get a
fully healthy Mickey mental for a lot of reasons. No,
But you know, it's funny because I was thinking about
this today because never seeing Willy Mays play live. We'll
get to his catch coming up in a few minutes,
but never seeing him play live, and just seeing video
(19:43):
of him and replays of him and hearing stories and
reading about him, I would say this and with that
without being able to say, ah, I saw the guy play,
and I can compare. But I would have to think
the way that people saw Willie Mays and were able
to absorb him his career is very similar to Derek Jeter.
(20:05):
The way, just the way that these guys are talked
about the professionals that they were being able to accomplish
what they did, both offensively and defensively, being the best
players at their positions, coming up big in big moments,
having the stats, having the numbers, having the three thousand hits,
and seeing the overall impact of Willie Mays on baseball
centerfielder with the Giants kind of felt like what you
(20:27):
saw was the impact of Derek Jeter shortstop of the
New York Yankees, because Jeter had just as many great
offensive highlights as he had defensive highlights. Right. We still
see the flip play with the Oakland A's all the time.
Him going into the stands in a in a regular
season series against the Red Sox, you know where that
caused no More Garcia party to get traded because he
didn't want to be in the lineup that night, and
(20:48):
they saw what Jeter was doing and they said, we
can't have this guy we got, we gotta trade him out.
That's kind of where I see if you're talking about
the comparison of the careers, what was it like to
see Willie Mays play? I have to think it's kind
of what it was like to see Derek Jeter play. Well.
For me, I'd probably go to Griffy. And then, however
many years you want to do the Mike Trout thing before, Yeah,
(21:09):
but before he started to fall apart if he got
hurt a lot. No, But that's my point though, too
much like but it was not in the early part.
I'm talking like through a decade or so, right, and
then obviously there should have been lawsuits filed against trainers
and stuff based on bad advice and well malpractice, at
least outside looking in during those final years of his career.
(21:30):
White Sox Hall of Famer Ken Griffy Junior of course,
but you know, when you look at him or you
look at what those first years of Mike Trout would
be like, that's like my view of it, because you
had to get guys that were doing everything right. Not
that Jeter didn't, but what was always the knock once
a Rod came to town. It's like, well, the the
better shortstop is actually playing third base now, right, I
(21:53):
mean that was always the discussion that was lingering in
the background for those that you know, had to find
some fault with Jeter because everything seemed too perfoset for
his on and off field life. I mean, it was just,
you know, like a script was written. But yeah, the
point just being we've got a couple of those guys
that are there and they usually flame out. Jeter did not,
(22:14):
whereas Griffy Trout. Injuries got him. Griffy hit thirty and
what you think is the end of his prime. He
couldn't stay on the field. It was a big go
to the Reds. Hey he's gonna be a Red now watch,
but then he got hurt there, he couldn't stay on
the Then every year, whatever happened, however the treatment went
and the rehab went there, it never got right. So
that's when we go back to look at Jeter's run
(22:35):
all the way through, and then you go back to
Willie May's twenty four All Star appearances, twelve Gold Gloves
and all the start All Star Games. I mean, it's
him of twenty four All Star Games for Willie Mays,
not ten, not twelve, to twenty four, twenty four, right,
it's him and Henk Hank Aaron are the two hallmarks
for all of that, which is just again you think
of their careers and where they started and interruptions and
(23:00):
how long they were able to play and play at
a high level. It's truly amazing for Willie Mays to
have this kind of impact, and you see so many
people saying so many wonderful things about him being able
to meet him or his impact on the game. It
always comes down to one play. It always comes down
to the catch. Right. The nineteen fifty four World Series
(23:22):
Willie Mays's only championship. Right, he went MVP a couple
of times. His only title was in nineteen fifty four,
where he made a catch that I'll tell you is
probably the greatest defensive play in sports history when you
factor in the degree of difficulty that he made. You've
seen it a thousand times, and we'll tell you exactly why.
It was just that difficult. When Vic Wurtz decided to
(23:43):
try to test Willie Mays with a fly ball the
deepest part of the Polo grounds, which I think is
nine hundred feet from home plate to the center field wall.
So Willie May has had plenty of time to try
to run down this drive. There's Jack Brickhouse with the
(24:14):
optical illusion call on NBC Sports in the nineteen fifty
four World Series. Later in Chicago. As a guy, I
grew up with, Yeah, you have seen this play and
to understand it on so many levels of why I
say it's the greatest defensive play in sports history. Yes
it is the World Series. It's a big play. There's
(24:36):
so many nuances of it. There's Willie Mays being able
to stop himself and throw back in because a runner
was on base and he wanted to try to get
the double play. A lot of outfielders would would run
another ten feet before they could stop and throw the
ball back in. He takes like two steps and throws
it back into the infield right. He spins and falls down.
You've seen all of that. But from when I was little,
I was always told, this is the hardest play you
(24:58):
can ever have to make. And that's why this is
so difficul because the ball isn't directly over your head.
And why this play and everything else comes in second
is that Willie's running back for the ball, and you
can see he's running back like outfielders run back with
with your your head over your shoulder, and you're going
up to try to make the catch. He realizes at
some point that I'm not gonna get there like this.
(25:21):
I need to turn and sprint because I need to
be going fast. Because when you're running back that way,
you're not running your fast. You're trying to trying to
time where I need to be to catch. Your body's
contorted and everything. Yeah, he decides when you turn, you
lose side of the ball. He loses side of the
ball for at least a full second, I would say,
And then you try to catch a ball where you
lose sight of it for a second, maybe a little
(25:43):
bit longer than that. He turns and goes. And this
is why the play is again, this part of it,
I just can't. I can't let go. If he just
stuck his glove out, like running straight, Okay, the ball's coming,
I'm running straight over my head, I'm sticking my glove
out and it falls in it. Okay, that's a lucky play.
But what does will he do? Will he knows where
the ball is gonna come down? Because as he's running,
(26:05):
what is he doesn't put the glove straight out in
front of him? He puts it out and a little
bit to the left, like, this is where the ball
is going to go. Right, he loses side of the
ball and running saying, this is where I think the
ball is going to be. Not just I stick my
glove out and I close my eyes like Andrew Nebbard
shooting at three again. Come on, hey, hey, hey, all right,
how dare you? Oh that was the cheapest Sorry, I
(26:29):
was just thinking about that today. Uh and and and
he and and his glove is a little bit to
the left and it falls right into his glove And
to make that catch. The degree of difficulty on that
it's like a dive. They go all. The degree of
difficulty on this dive is two point two two point four. Yeah,
got screwed by the Russian. This degree of difficulty is
like a million. And he still makes that catch because
(26:51):
he doesn't even see the ball. But he's able to
make an educated, talented adjustment to where I think the
ball is going to be here, and it's the only
thing I can do now. Obviously is he helped by
the fact that it's such a long way to the fence. Yeah,
But he also has to run to the fence and
make that play again, Paul of Graft. I think it
was a four to fourth to dead center field, and
(27:11):
it's just insane to watch him make that play when
he turns away from the ball and the ball is
going to be here, and the ball just falls right.
I mean, he falls into his glove right perfectly. You know,
it doesn't like it doesn't hit the top of the glove.
It's like, hey, I think it's going to be right here,
and it's right there. To me, that's why I look
at all the other great defensive plays in sports history.
(27:33):
There's nothing as difficult as that. And I get why
people have said to me, hey, this is It took
me till I was maybe fifteen or sixteen to understand it.
Why it was so hard. Oh, it's over your head,
put your hands up. Look, look, try to look up. No,
it's look away from it and then catch it without
seeing the ball. Oh, now I get it. So it
took me a little while to understand that. And look
the fact that this is a play from nineteen fifty
(27:54):
four and it's still viewed as the greatest play in
sports and nothing has been able to surpass it. With
all the amazing plays we've seen it in the least
sixty or seventy five years. What does that tell you
about how great this play was. Yeah, I mean look
at him coming up on an anniversary, right, seventy years
just insane. I read an article from Yaho I was
telling you about it before. It was pretty funny because,
(28:15):
you know, being asked about it in this twenty fourteen interview,
he just said, quote, it wasn't no lucky catch and
then started talking about you know how key it was. Right,
it's Game one of the World Series. But you set
the tone we were talking about it, you know, melting
down after a pitch or a big play. We've seen
it in how many series, in championship rounds or playoff
(28:36):
rounds through the years, where suddenly you get you get
into the emotions and feels and it takes a turn.
But yeah, he talked about it. If I didn't get that,
you got three runs some kind of way. He's on
third the other two score, so yeah, it's key to
the whole World Series. And then he patted himself on
the back figuratively spigging. But he keeps going and you know,
(28:58):
asked about it, you know, biggest stay whatever he goes, well,
I used to usually catch fly balls like that all
the time. But now you're talking about a World Series.
You're talking about something that doesn't happen all the time.
So even if you make a catch like that, by
the way, which I did in the regular season, but
to catch it like that with the world looking at you,
it's remarkable. And then asked about ranking, is it his
(29:18):
greatest catch? Like, nah, I didn't do that because that
you guys would have nothing to write about paraphrasing, of course. Wow.
I never did worry about things like that. He was
a pre cog for the beginning of sports talk radio.
The only other play that maybe stacks up and comes close, okay,
is David Tyree's catch. Uh yeah, across sports sure, yeah, yeah,
(29:42):
but he saw the ball. He saw the ball all
the way, but in this case, his helmet see it. Yeah,
Well if he if his eyes look if it if
his eyes were closed and he caught it like Nembar's
eyes were closed when he shot that three again, allegedly,
if that, then I would say, okay, that's right off.
His eyes have to be closed, because well, I mean
a couple of things couldn't see thee did we ever
(30:04):
confirm that he didn't have eyes in the back of
his said, okay, there is that sure second. I mean really,
it comes back and I'm moving no pop culture reference
and stone unturned. I go back to a Great Gumby
episode where they're playing miniature golf and Prickle the dinosaur
makes a hell of a hell of a move and
(30:24):
gets a hole in one right, pinballing all over the place,
and they're all looking at him incredulously, and he just goes,
just skill, man, just skill. That's kind of what Willie
Mays is telling you here, man, I did this stuff.
This is just not a bigger stage that maybe there's
one more highlight that that might top it. Okay, you
have it shot clock down at eight? How do I
(30:47):
not know? And double teeth shot clock at court. The
Mart's gotta put it up. Stupuck Hare's three quarters time
out next, and then he blacked out, and Halliburton was
walking around like he he just watched somebody get healed
at a revival. Oh my goodness, I can't believe what
(31:09):
I just saw. The Jason Smith Show is my best friend,
Mike Carbon Yes, more on the Grimace era, but coming
up next? Wow, do we have a story about Tiger
Woods that, on one hand makes a lot of sense.
On the other hand, Mike pissoff a lot of people.
It's next right here, Jason and Mike Fox.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Yeah, Buddy, Yeah, with Grimace in the Grimace Era. We're
going to the world series The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Carmon live from the Tirech dot Com Studios. We
strive to not bring racism every night on the show.
We strive now. I mean, it's one of the core
tenants to what we do here. It's not a lot,
not a lot TI. We grab everybody and bring everybody in.
(31:59):
This story that came out very not very long ago tonight,
probably about an hour or so ago, and it was
put out in a memo by the PGA Tour. The
PGA Tour has created this sounds like an onion headline,
but it's not. The PGA Tour really wants Tiger Woods
to play in as many PGA Tour events as possible
(32:21):
because it's he's still the guy that stirs a drink
and people want to see he's only played what three
rounds of competitive golf all year? He plays them, he
plays the Majors, and like one other event a year,
Like it's been that kind of season. That's where he's
at right now, at forty eight years old, and physically
he can't do it anymore. The PGA Tour has created
a special sponsor exemption for Tiger Woods and tiger Woods alone,
(32:46):
not for people like Tiger Woods. They created this sponsor
exemption for tiger Woods alone based on his quote exceptional
lifetime achievement. So now he can compete in eight signature
events which feature limited fields, increase prize money, FedEx Cup Points,
The Genesis, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Wells Fargo Championship, the Memorial,
(33:08):
the Travelers Championship. Tiger Woods is going to get an
exemption to compete in all these wide because he's been
so great over the course of his career. Now, maybe,
just maybe the reason this it was decided tonight is
thanks to this quote from Tiger Woods after the US Open.
Speaker 6 (33:26):
I've only got one more term at this season, so
I'm not gonna I don't think even if I win
the Brace Shop, but I don't think i'd be in
the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
So just one more event and then.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
I come back.
Speaker 6 (33:40):
And whenever I come back, as far as my last
Open championship or US Open championship, I don't know what
that is.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
It may or may not be. Okay, wait a minute,
do you hear Tiger Let's get lifetime, lifetime, get him
a light. I have to cup play. Look, the only
because Tiger, you don't know what the weekend holds. Obviously
he needs to be able to play. But the only
reason the first two days get any sort of TV
ratings just because you know Tiger Woods is gonna be
(34:09):
playing in them. Right, It's the only reason Tiger Woods
is playing Friday, Thursday and Friday. People are gonna pay attention. Right,
The first two days of a tournament always belonged to
Tiger Woods when he's playing what a Tiger, doesn't matter,
who's in first place, doesn't matter, who's leading, doesn't matter
how many puts Rory McElroy makes or doesn't make. The
first two days are always Tiger because you know he's competing.
And here he's saying, I'm only playing one more event
this year. It's like, wait a minute, it's June it's
(34:30):
June get Tiger into more. So they come up with this,
let's just slap this together to pet Tiger Woods out there.
But honestly, it's a great idea. I know that some
golfers are gonna be upset. Oh, they're just creating this
for a guy he can't win anymore. Everybody should be
still kissing his ass because of all the modernists that
he's brought for them over the course of the past
twenty five years. So I know some people are gonna
(34:51):
be pissed, but really this is just okay. You're letting
a guy in that has done more for you than
you will ever know as a professional golfer. Nobody goes back.
And you know, we haven't invoked the name of Caitlin
Clark at all, but it's the same idea of like
there's money showing up, we're gonna get Clark extra four
free throws at the beginning of each half because of
the attention she's brought to the WNBA. I don't know,
(35:12):
there's some suggestion that maybe you start getting some of
those quarterback rules in terms of physicality or whatever. We're
gonna just absurd. We're gonna spot the fever ten points
at every game, so we start every game ten nothing
but just the idea that you have money flowing in
that hadn't no matter how many stars you had before.
And for players on the PGA tour, go back to
(35:34):
when Tiger came in, he was not the most popular
guy on tour. I don't know if folks remember that.
It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows until the money started flowing.
And even then, you know, there's always still traditions and
histories that are sometimes ugly kind of like what we're
you know, looking at with with a lot of things
(35:56):
societally as we go, but with this, you know right now.
Billboard just ranked their top Abba songs of all time.
I'm gonna do this before I go see Abba Voyage
in London. But Money, Money, Money was number ten. Yeah, no,
I can see that being number ten. I gotta go
through their list money and maybe refine it a little
bit rich Man's But they ranked the tenth Waterloo number one.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
No.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
I did dan Waters their best song well, but they
went with you're obsessed with water.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Song?
Speaker 1 (36:29):
It is, Hey, I feel like I win when I lose.
That's why Waterloo is the best. Yeah, you just want
to keep singing, uh, taking care of business, do the
working overtime part. But we just did that one. Take
a car of business. Now, Look, the waterloo is actually
number nine coming just ahead. Well that's why I need
to make my own rank and stuff. But it's the
(36:49):
same idea. Money's flowing in. Money continues to flow in
with Tiger Woods involvement, even if he goes out there,
takes one hit, waves his little hat around and leaves.
This is this is something that again it sounds like
we're just getting away to put Ti Woods out there,
but it's good for this weekend. Come on, man, come on.
(37:16):
Terry what's his name was dead in the movie. They
didn't bring him around the entire time and after two
rounds generally the participation. That scene with Jonathan Silverman with
his dad pretending he was his butler one of the
funniest scene. Fantastic Monroe, lay out my blue suit, William,
how about I lay you out? You let your butler
talk to you that way? Coming up next, we got
(37:39):
big stuff out of the world of basketball, a story
that everybody seems to be on one side of, but
instead we're gonna show you the other side. That's next.
As you listen to the musical stylings of Abba,
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Foxsports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every night on the
iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Please give this you're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Greetings and welcome inside our three of The Jason Smith
Show with my best friend Mike Harmon, live from the
tire rack dot Com Studios, tirec dot com. I'll help
you get there an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free
road hazard protection, and over ten thousand recommended installers tirec
dot com the way tire buying should be. Well, look
(00:50):
just a little more on it because this boy, I'll
tell you this, askar Hernandez check swing Dodger three run
Homer is just an insane story that's just gaining all
kinds of legs right now. Well, just wait till they
get to the podium. Yeah, oh, got to hear Bud Black,
got to hear under five hundred. Well what they are
so well, but that's the thing. It's twenty five win team.
(01:11):
Here was hope. Now it's gone grimace. Uh yeah, you
need yeah, you need like mayor mccheese or something. Man.
Maybe maybe mayor mccheese is in your dugout tonight. That
helped you win. It was we could be heroes for
one day.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Thing.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Cheese does it change in altitude? Mile high? What do
you mean? Is cheese still cheese? No, cheese is still cheese.
It may take you. It made a little bit more
difficult for you to eat the burger because you're higher up.
And hey, as someone who's gone to like the top
of Rocky Mountain National State Park and tried to eat
a sandwich at fifteen thousand feet, it's difficult. Did you
get driven up there, care lifted? You can't just eat
(01:46):
a sandwich you just got Boh, this is I'm tired
eating a sandwich. I gotta get down one like someone
should have recorded that. That would be a race video
of you. Well, that has nothing to do with how
high you are. I gotta get under ten thousand feet
from an No, no, no, we hate Were you generally
winded eating a sandwich? My no, My wife and I
were driving across country when we moved to la in
(02:08):
the mid nineties, and we went spent a couple of
days in Colorado and we drove through Rocky Mountain National
State Park and you drive through and you drive all
the way up and you're fifteen thousand feet up at
the top, and you can stop and have lunch, and
it's a great vista here at the top of the mountain.
And we got out and we walked like, I want
to say, thirty yards to the picnic area. We had
(02:28):
our sandwiches there, and I walked to the to the
picnic car and I go, I'm kind of winded after that,
and I was, okay, And this is one I'm in
my mid twenties and I'm in really good shit, and
I'm in pretty good shape. I look say, and we said, like,
how you a mended your physical fitness? Just that fat
I was in really was because I was. I was
in beer league softball, in beer league hockey shape. That's
what I was in. It wasn't like, you know, training,
(02:48):
I wasn't like Rocky in Drago and I'm hitting the
copy box or you know, you know, pushing people up
in I mean, we can shut you up to get
you ready. But so we get there, I'm like, okay,
boy boy, I'm I'm like, but maybe I'm tired of
being in the car all day. I don't know. And
I'm starting to eat a sandwich and all of a sudden,
I'm chewing. I'm going. After a couple of minutes, I'm like,
oh wow, And and Pam says to me, what's wrong,
(03:10):
and I go, nothing, just I'm really tired, like chewing.
This is an effort. She goes, yeah, me too. And
the guy and the guide who was up there helping
people said yeah, because you're eating at fifteen thousand feet
you've been a fifteen thousand people for I said no.
They go, yeah, get down below ten thousand you'll be okay,
really go yeah, but you're gonna this is what it's
going to be like for you up here. Did the
effort make the sandwich taste better? No, it made it
(03:32):
taste worse because it was too much of an effort
to eat the sandwich. Jason, what if I were to
tell you that guy made that up to make you
guys feel better? No, I think I go to Denver
every year. Yeah okay, yeah, but you would have Dever
problem eating a sandwich. No, but then we went to
the top Denver's like seven thousand feet. We doubled double.
Go to the top of Rocky Mountain National State Park.
Eat a sandwich. You tell me how you're doing. I'll
(03:54):
go to the middle of Empowerment Field. Okay, eat a
sandwich and take a You didn't have to finish. I
knew what you were saying right there. Go to the top.
Go to the top of the fifteenth I think it's
the highest, well one of the top three or four
highest points in all of the United States. Challenge except there.
Go out there and see. Trust me, but I'm gonna
(04:16):
bring a satchel of sandwiches and hand them out and
watch people struggle. Eat it, eat it. Look at this
guy was, well, look how nice he was. He bought
a hundred bucks worth of sandwiches. Why are there all
these cameras set up everywhere? Can't you you chew and
keep eating?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Well, eat it.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
I'll tell you if they did. Chestnut Kobayashi at the
top of that and uh, the winner with four hot
dogs in eight minutes is Joey Chestnut. Congratulations, feeling light
hand congratulations. But look must be the night Trades. The
Rockies were up nine to four over the Dodger and
the ninth inning, all right, Jason Hayward hits a grand
slam and to Askar Hernandez comes up with runners at
(04:52):
first and second and two outs. Check swing that could
have been a strikeout, could have gone either way. The
Rockies lose their minds it. They feel it should have
been a strikeout. Bud Black goes crazy yelling about it.
And we talked about it a few minutes ago. Dude, have
some composure. You still need to make one more pitch,
like don't don't lose it and don't completely give momentum
away to the Dodgers or completely unfree your believer who
(05:16):
is in there now. Just you got to focus. But no,
he decided to lose his mind over a check swing.
Next pitcher Nandez Homer's and the Dodgers they go up
eleven nine, They win at eleven nine. It was an
insane ending. And here's how it sounded now, the two
two sucker, what fifth.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
The hero?
Speaker 1 (05:41):
The Dodgers lead, Dodgers Radio Network on the call, a
Dodgers TV on the on the call. Sorry, and but
here's my take. About this, as I said, yes, it
could have gone either way, and people online now are
just insane complaining about this. But let me just tell you.
Let me tell you what I've said all along. I
(06:02):
don't have a lot of sympathy for the Rockies, because
what can I say is, don't give up a Grand
Slam and a three run homer in the ninth inning.
If you can't protect a five run lead in the
ninth inning in your own ballpark, you do not deserve
to win the game. You can't complain about an umpire's call.
If you give up seven bleep in runs in one inning.
(06:23):
I'm sorry, but I lose all sort of if it
was a one run game, it was a four to
three game in the Dad Dega, okay, I could see
that a little bit. But you had a nine to
four lead. You can protect a five run lead in
the ninth that you gave up seven, give up a
grand Slam. You couldn't close the door after that, couldn't
get out. You got a gift out because Will Smith
called time out and tried to back out and of
(06:44):
the batter's box. The umpire didn't all give him time out,
and it was a fastball down the middle for strike three,
and will Smith was very upset argued about it. That
was a second out of the inning. So you could
say the Rockies were gifted that second out because will
Smith didn't get time out called and he had a
non competitive pitched It was right down the middle for
strike three. So all I can say is, don't give
up seven run really. I mean, it's like if the
(07:06):
circumstances were, hey, it was a one run lead, it was,
I get it. But you were by five and you
gave up to home runs man, including a grand slam.
I'm sorry, I don't have sympathy for you saying, oh
the umpire and the first base umpire cost us the game.
Now in this particular case, you know, we'll go back
to the pitch, and you and I had seen one
angle of it repeatedly. Well, now I get the second angle,
(07:27):
the Roger McDowell's second you know, the second spinner spinner,
and yeah, it looks like he goes through the zone.
But guess what, you didn't get the call. No, it's
a high fastball and it looked and showing it to
you here in case you haven't seen it, right, he comes,
he comes through the zone right, the arms come through
and dragged the back. It doesn't matter. He doesn't bread
(07:48):
in the end, he didn't call it right. It's the
whistle you wait for in basketball, right Luka Doncics laying
on the ground and saying what happened? Why didn't I
get that call? And everybody excoring he aints him. I
will go back and John Paul Morosi last last hour
did get the word ameliorate. He did get a million
well done. We're looking at the clock, though, we were
(08:09):
trying to get it over to friendly. So I didn't
want to, you know, stop there, but give him his
love for that. But in this case, you didn't get
the call. It's still a two to two count. Go
make a pitch, and instead he challenges him and does
one of those I'm really mad things. So I'm gonna
throw the ball as hard as I can. Look. Watch,
there's gonna be contrails. It's gonna be so hard like
(08:29):
the old video games. It's gonna be like when the
puck was shot back on Fox Hockey in the mid nineties.
What you want to bet I could throw a football
over that mountain. That's kind of what he did. But
it was but look, I could see it where it
could go either way because he didn't break his wrists,
he didn't turn his body. That's part of what you
do as a hitter to try to get those calls right.
(08:50):
So I get if they had called it as a strike. Okay,
I get it, But you could make a pitch. I mean, really,
it's a five runt lead you couldn't protect. Come on, man,
it's a five run lead. You know it's a rock
if if look, if I'm coming here apparently better than
my white sox. If I'm coming back from the grocery
store and I'm holding a bag and I get halfway
(09:14):
in and the bottom of the bag rips and the
stuff falls out. Oh man, they gave me a bad bag.
This is stupid. I can't believe this. Now, stuff is
spilled everywhere. But if I try to bring like four
or five bags in it once and they all rip,
that's my fault because I'm an idiot, right, Why are
you trying to do that there? You shouldn't have carried
all the bag. You should have taken a couple of
different trips. Instead, you tried to bring in four bags
(09:35):
and once and look what happened. Rip, rip, rip, rip,
That's how you work on those triceps. That's what it
was tonight. You didn't just drop one bag of groceries.
You dropped like four pitches and they came back and
got you. Oh that's how it goes. Uh, now that's
a big moment. Well, I can't wait to hear Bud
(09:55):
Black and can't wait here at the Rocky Dude, come on,
this is gonna be outstanding. They're gonna look, they're gonna
sit here and say, Bud Black is gonna go. Hey, man,
Grimace is purple. We're purple. We get that call. Dodgers
are not purple. Why we're in the Grimace era? Man,
you can't take care of people who are purple. What
is that all about? You didn't even know Bud Black
was still managing until tonight. I thought he was actually
(10:17):
pitching tonight. I thought he was actually in the in
the game bringing back. But look, this is Look we'll
have more on that, but this is just an insane story.
They were throwing pop corn at r nandez Oh no,
it's terrible. Yeah, nuts, Although he woren't like a WWE
heel and just put his arms up like let's go.
But We're gonna have more on Willie Mays, remember his
(10:37):
life coming up in about ten minutes. But I think
it's kind of apropos tonight. You know, a couple of things.
The Mets with a big comeback on the night Willie
Mays passes away Willie Mays who finished his career with
the Mets in nineteen seventy two and nineteen seventy three.
But we saw an incredible defensive play made tonight in
Game five of the Stanley Cup Final. Now it's going
back to Edmonton, right Drag him back to Alberta. That's
(10:59):
what the Oilers wanted to do, and they were able
to win the game despite the fact Matthew Kuchuk makes
one of the best individual effort plays you can make defensively.
With the Panthers down a goal in the final minute
and the Oilers eating an empty net or to put
it away, the puck is screaming towards the Panthers net.
It's gonna be an empty net goal, it's gonna be
(11:21):
a two goal advantage for the Oilers, and Kachuk does
this empty nets. So there was that was really good.
The puck ESPN on the call the puck is just
about to cross over the line into the net, and
Kadchuk skates and dives, fully extends his stick out and
(11:45):
bats it away from the end line. I mean, it's
an incredible athletic play. Now, unfortunately for the Panthers, about
five seconds later, the Oilers score in the empty net
because the puck is in their end and his teammates
weren't quite as swift ye to the loose puck play.
Nice play, though, heay go, I actually have a funny
(12:07):
story about a play like that that I made when
I was playing hockey. I'll tell you that in a
few minutes. But anyway, but seeing this play, right, this
is one of those plays that would go down talking
about Willie Mays and the catch that would go down
as one of the greatest plays in NHL history. But
the way that went afterwards was the Oilers still scored.
They won the game. So this great defensive play is
(12:30):
gonna get attention now and attention for the next few
hours the next day or so it was, but it's
going to get lost because the Panthers didn't win the game.
Oh it doesn't matter, right, right, You need to go
on and win. If a great play is going to
be remembered as that great a player. Right, we don't
celebrate Raji Davis like we like we would if the
Indians had won the World Series against the Cubs back
(12:51):
in twenty sixteen. Right, Uh, what this play has turned into?
It's kind of like And the first thing I thought
of was the Indie Shaves played from the two thousand
and six and LS where he saves a three run
homer against the Cardinals by going up over the wall
into the bullpen to save a sure home run. I'm like,
oh my god, we're going to the World Series. Mets
are gonna win this game. And they don't. And they
give up a two run homer to Gadi or Malina
(13:13):
in the ninth and Carlos Beltran strikes out looking with
the bases loaded. The Cardinals go onto the World Series
and that Andy Chavez play, which had the Mets won
that game, had the Mets gotten the World Series, we'd
be saying, boy, is this one of the top three
defensive plays of all time in Major League Baseball? Because
it's that good a play, But instead it gets lost
because the Mets lost the game. This is amazing individual efforts. Oh,
(13:34):
it's fantastic. And this is not talent wise like oh
my goodness, you know Bobby or scoring when he's you know,
horizontal to the ice of some Gretzky play. This is
a great individual effort and he dies to make a
great play, but the impact of it gets lost if
you don't win. Willie Bays and the Giants won that game.
They win the catch, they win the World series. So
we remember that catch is the greatest to play of
(13:55):
all time. Yeah, I would liken it to say, you're
watching in Nature's show and you watch the oh no,
this this animal is about to get roughed upon, right, okay, right,
he's about to be defeated.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Okay, but then he eludes that predator, okay, only to
run into another predator who's lying in Wait, that's exactly
what happened here, great effort. Look at him scrambling, going
up and down mountains, climbing like you getting free. And
there's the moment of pause of like, oh he got away,
will need to get away. There's another guy there and
(14:31):
in this case makes the great save right onto the
stick of McDavid, who Barry said for the empty netter.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
So you're telling me if it's like this, and you
see the gazelle is able to escape the cheetah that
can only run as fast as it can for a
short amount of time before it needs to rest. And
you see the cheeta gathering its breath as the gazelle
is able to trape along out of danger until he
is stomped on by that elephant's foot right or he's
(14:58):
at the edge of the water and a croc wow
comes up and get some whatever the case may be,
needing a drink. It's the last drink this gazelle will
ever take it. Jason, this play would have been epic
two if the panthers were the ones that were leading,
of course, yeah oh yeah, yeah no, But that's it down.
But you don't make a play like that unless you're losing.
That's the whole thing. Imagine if they did. The net
isn't emp, but the net's not empty if you're not.
Now that would be a bold strategy. Guy, Just pull
(15:21):
her off one, Just pull I want the extra attacker now,
I haven't seen this before. Exit. How about a fresca exit?
Swollen down. The Jason Smith Show is my best friend.
Mike Carmon Live from the Tire rech dot Com Studios. Uh.
Coming up next, Yes, we get into the death of
Willie Mays, the greatest ballplayer who ever lived and the
(15:42):
author of the greatest defensive play in sports history. Why
was that play so much better than anything else you've
ever seen? We'll break it down for you. Next right here,
Jason and Mike, This is Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
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 1 (16:04):
Hey, it's me Rob Parker.
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Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for
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Speaker 1 (16:35):
Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon go at jokey fully fully into the
Grimace era. Now we are fully Now I'm gonna leave
it alone. Now, I'm gonna leave it alone, gonna leave
it alone. It's enough. I can see you. It's enough
to see those in hands. It's enough. Deal bracelets. The
(16:56):
video of him today from what was a two thousand
and seven you judge Drake, don't drink, don't drink? Yeah, yeah, okay, okay,
I think Taylor Swift closes her current concert with Karma.
It's amazing. I'm in the back of the squad car
(17:16):
with you. I just can't okay, all right, all right,
So I had wow, all right, all right, I gave
you one.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
Okay, I mean just all the stuff, man. Yeah, wow,
bad things. That's a party, man. We're sending those commercials. Man,
that's Lawrence Taylor.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Man. Look, we spent a lot of the night tonight.
We're going to continue to talk about it. Look, the
death of Willie mays Uh sending shock waves throughout all
of us. Passing away today at the age of ninety three.
He was just set to make a big appearance in
his hometown at a ballpark that he had played in
most of his life, the oldest ballpark in the country.
(17:54):
Major League Baseball's playing a game there. The Cardinals are
heading there now, I believe, or they go tomorrow. Maybe
I don't know when they actually head out. It's an
incredible life that we are talking about. And it's so
to quote John Paul Morosi, it's it's ominous, it's weird,
it's spooky, it's karmick. It's all of this. That Willie
(18:14):
Mays passes away just a couple of days before they
were going to play a baseball game in his hometown
in a ballpark he played in the Negro Leagues and
before he moved on to the incredible career that he had.
You know, growing up, it was look, Willie Mays was
ninety three and when you and I were growing up,
too late for us to really see him live. Like
(18:36):
I don't really have any memories of him with the Mets. Yeah,
I was just born. He retired. I started watching baseball,
and I was really young. But as my dad told me, says,
you were about four or five when you really started
watching baseball. Willie May has played for the Mets in
seventy three, so I missed it by a couple of years.
But growing up there was you know, whenever you have
the conversations about who the greatest baseball player of all time.
Was it was never a question, it was it was, Hey,
(18:58):
the greatest ball player of all time as Willie Mays,
And it was always Willie Mays. Was he better than
Baby Yes, he was better than Babe Ruth. He was
better than Hank Karen. He has he better Han Karen.
He was the best all round player that that yet
you could possibly see baseball. And yeah, because of what
he could do in the field, I mean Ted will
I mean William twelve gold gloves, you know, and and
and was able to steal bas still forty bases a
(19:20):
lot like Willie Mays was the best baseball player talking
about the only thing, the only argument against, you know,
a fully healthy Mickey Manto. But you didn't get a
fully healthy Mickey mental for a lot of reasons. No,
But you know, it's funny because I was thinking about
this today because never seeing Willy Mays play live. We'll
get to his catch coming up in a few minutes,
but never seeing him play live, and just seeing video
(19:43):
of him and replays of him and hearing stories and
reading about him, I would say this and with that
without being able to say, ah, I saw the guy play,
and I can compare. But I would have to think
the way that people saw Willie Mays and were able
to absorb him his career is very similar to Derek Jeter.
(20:05):
The way, just the way that these guys are talked
about the professionals that they were being able to accomplish
what they did, both offensively and defensively, being the best
players at their positions, coming up big in big moments,
having the stats, having the numbers, having the three thousand hits,
and seeing the overall impact of Willie Mays on baseball
centerfielder with the Giants kind of felt like what you
(20:27):
saw was the impact of Derek Jeter shortstop of the
New York Yankees, because Jeter had just as many great
offensive highlights as he had defensive highlights. Right. We still
see the flip play with the Oakland A's all the time.
Him going into the stands in a in a regular
season series against the Red Sox, you know where that
caused no More Garcia party to get traded because he
didn't want to be in the lineup that night, and
(20:48):
they saw what Jeter was doing and they said, we
can't have this guy we got, we gotta trade him out.
That's kind of where I see if you're talking about
the comparison of the careers, what was it like to
see Willie Mays play? I have to think it's kind
of what it was like to see Derek Jeter play. Well.
For me, I'd probably go to Griffy. And then, however
many years you want to do the Mike Trout thing before, Yeah,
(21:09):
but before he started to fall apart if he got
hurt a lot. No, But that's my point though, too
much like but it was not in the early part.
I'm talking like through a decade or so, right, and
then obviously there should have been lawsuits filed against trainers
and stuff based on bad advice and well malpractice, at
least outside looking in during those final years of his career.
(21:30):
White Sox Hall of Famer Ken Griffy Junior of course,
but you know, when you look at him or you
look at what those first years of Mike Trout would
be like, that's like my view of it, because you
had to get guys that were doing everything right. Not
that Jeter didn't, but what was always the knock once
a Rod came to town. It's like, well, the the
better shortstop is actually playing third base now, right, I
(21:53):
mean that was always the discussion that was lingering in
the background for those that you know, had to find
some fault with Jeter because everything seemed too perfoset for
his on and off field life. I mean, it was just,
you know, like a script was written. But yeah, the
point just being we've got a couple of those guys
that are there and they usually flame out. Jeter did not,
(22:14):
whereas Griffy Trout. Injuries got him. Griffy hit thirty and
what you think is the end of his prime. He
couldn't stay on the field. It was a big go
to the Reds. Hey he's gonna be a Red now watch,
but then he got hurt there, he couldn't stay on
the Then every year, whatever happened, however the treatment went
and the rehab went there, it never got right. So
that's when we go back to look at Jeter's run
(22:35):
all the way through, and then you go back to
Willie May's twenty four All Star appearances, twelve Gold Gloves
and all the start All Star Games. I mean, it's
him of twenty four All Star Games for Willie Mays,
not ten, not twelve, to twenty four, twenty four, right,
it's him and Henk Hank Aaron are the two hallmarks
for all of that, which is just again you think
of their careers and where they started and interruptions and
(23:00):
how long they were able to play and play at
a high level. It's truly amazing for Willie Mays to
have this kind of impact, and you see so many
people saying so many wonderful things about him being able
to meet him or his impact on the game. It
always comes down to one play. It always comes down
to the catch. Right. The nineteen fifty four World Series
(23:22):
Willie Mays's only championship. Right, he went MVP a couple
of times. His only title was in nineteen fifty four,
where he made a catch that I'll tell you is
probably the greatest defensive play in sports history when you
factor in the degree of difficulty that he made. You've
seen it a thousand times, and we'll tell you exactly why.
It was just that difficult. When Vic Wurtz decided to
(23:43):
try to test Willie Mays with a fly ball the
deepest part of the Polo grounds, which I think is
nine hundred feet from home plate to the center field wall.
So Willie May has had plenty of time to try
to run down this drive. There's Jack Brickhouse with the
(24:14):
optical illusion call on NBC Sports in the nineteen fifty
four World Series. Later in Chicago. As a guy, I
grew up with, Yeah, you have seen this play and
to understand it on so many levels of why I
say it's the greatest defensive play in sports history. Yes
it is the World Series. It's a big play. There's
(24:36):
so many nuances of it. There's Willie Mays being able
to stop himself and throw back in because a runner
was on base and he wanted to try to get
the double play. A lot of outfielders would would run
another ten feet before they could stop and throw the
ball back in. He takes like two steps and throws
it back into the infield right. He spins and falls down.
You've seen all of that. But from when I was little,
I was always told, this is the hardest play you
(24:58):
can ever have to make. And that's why this is
so difficul because the ball isn't directly over your head.
And why this play and everything else comes in second
is that Willie's running back for the ball, and you
can see he's running back like outfielders run back with
with your your head over your shoulder, and you're going
up to try to make the catch. He realizes at
some point that I'm not gonna get there like this.
(25:21):
I need to turn and sprint because I need to
be going fast. Because when you're running back that way,
you're not running your fast. You're trying to trying to
time where I need to be to catch. Your body's
contorted and everything. Yeah, he decides when you turn, you
lose side of the ball. He loses side of the
ball for at least a full second, I would say,
And then you try to catch a ball where you
lose sight of it for a second, maybe a little
(25:43):
bit longer than that. He turns and goes. And this
is why the play is again, this part of it,
I just can't. I can't let go. If he just
stuck his glove out, like running straight, Okay, the ball's coming,
I'm running straight over my head, I'm sticking my glove
out and it falls in it. Okay, that's a lucky play.
But what does will he do? Will he knows where
the ball is gonna come down? Because as he's running,
(26:05):
what is he doesn't put the glove straight out in
front of him? He puts it out and a little
bit to the left, like, this is where the ball
is going to go. Right, he loses side of the
ball and running saying, this is where I think the
ball is going to be. Not just I stick my
glove out and I close my eyes like Andrew Nebbard
shooting at three again. Come on, hey, hey, hey, all right,
how dare you? Oh that was the cheapest Sorry, I
(26:29):
was just thinking about that today. Uh and and and
he and and his glove is a little bit to
the left and it falls right into his glove And
to make that catch. The degree of difficulty on that
it's like a dive. They go all. The degree of
difficulty on this dive is two point two two point four. Yeah,
got screwed by the Russian. This degree of difficulty is
like a million. And he still makes that catch because
(26:51):
he doesn't even see the ball. But he's able to
make an educated, talented adjustment to where I think the
ball is going to be here, and it's the only
thing I can do now. Obviously is he helped by
the fact that it's such a long way to the fence. Yeah,
But he also has to run to the fence and
make that play again, Paul of Graft. I think it
was a four to fourth to dead center field, and
(27:11):
it's just insane to watch him make that play when
he turns away from the ball and the ball is
going to be here, and the ball just falls right.
I mean, he falls into his glove right perfectly. You know,
it doesn't like it doesn't hit the top of the glove.
It's like, hey, I think it's going to be right here,
and it's right there. To me, that's why I look
at all the other great defensive plays in sports history.
(27:33):
There's nothing as difficult as that. And I get why
people have said to me, hey, this is It took
me till I was maybe fifteen or sixteen to understand it.
Why it was so hard. Oh, it's over your head,
put your hands up. Look, look, try to look up. No,
it's look away from it and then catch it without
seeing the ball. Oh, now I get it. So it
took me a little while to understand that. And look
the fact that this is a play from nineteen fifty
(27:54):
four and it's still viewed as the greatest play in
sports and nothing has been able to surpass it. With
all the amazing plays we've seen it in the least
sixty or seventy five years. What does that tell you
about how great this play was. Yeah, I mean look
at him coming up on an anniversary, right, seventy years
just insane. I read an article from Yaho I was
telling you about it before. It was pretty funny because,
(28:15):
you know, being asked about it in this twenty fourteen interview,
he just said, quote, it wasn't no lucky catch and
then started talking about you know how key it was. Right,
it's Game one of the World Series. But you set
the tone we were talking about it, you know, melting
down after a pitch or a big play. We've seen
it in how many series, in championship rounds or playoff
(28:36):
rounds through the years, where suddenly you get you get
into the emotions and feels and it takes a turn.
But yeah, he talked about it. If I didn't get that,
you got three runs some kind of way. He's on
third the other two score, so yeah, it's key to
the whole World Series. And then he patted himself on
the back figuratively spigging. But he keeps going and you know,
(28:58):
asked about it, you know, biggest stay whatever he goes, well,
I used to usually catch fly balls like that all
the time. But now you're talking about a World Series.
You're talking about something that doesn't happen all the time.
So even if you make a catch like that, by
the way, which I did in the regular season, but
to catch it like that with the world looking at you,
it's remarkable. And then asked about ranking, is it his
(29:18):
greatest catch? Like, nah, I didn't do that because that
you guys would have nothing to write about paraphrasing, of course. Wow.
I never did worry about things like that. He was
a pre cog for the beginning of sports talk radio.
The only other play that maybe stacks up and comes close, okay,
is David Tyree's catch. Uh yeah, across sports sure, yeah, yeah,
(29:42):
but he saw the ball. He saw the ball all
the way, but in this case, his helmet see it. Yeah,
Well if he if his eyes look if it if
his eyes were closed and he caught it like Nembar's
eyes were closed when he shot that three again, allegedly,
if that, then I would say, okay, that's right off.
His eyes have to be closed, because well, I mean
a couple of things couldn't see thee did we ever
(30:04):
confirm that he didn't have eyes in the back of
his said, okay, there is that sure second. I mean really,
it comes back and I'm moving no pop culture reference
and stone unturned. I go back to a Great Gumby
episode where they're playing miniature golf and Prickle the dinosaur
makes a hell of a hell of a move and
(30:24):
gets a hole in one right, pinballing all over the place,
and they're all looking at him incredulously, and he just goes,
just skill, man, just skill. That's kind of what Willie
Mays is telling you here, man, I did this stuff.
This is just not a bigger stage that maybe there's
one more highlight that that might top it. Okay, you
have it shot clock down at eight? How do I
(30:47):
not know? And double teeth shot clock at court. The
Mart's gotta put it up. Stupuck Hare's three quarters time
out next, and then he blacked out, and Halliburton was
walking around like he he just watched somebody get healed
at a revival. Oh my goodness, I can't believe what
(31:09):
I just saw. The Jason Smith Show is my best friend,
Mike Carbon Yes, more on the Grimace era, but coming
up next? Wow, do we have a story about Tiger
Woods that, on one hand makes a lot of sense.
On the other hand, Mike pissoff a lot of people.
It's next right here, Jason and Mike Fox.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Yeah, Buddy, Yeah, with Grimace in the Grimace Era. We're
going to the world series The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Carmon live from the Tirech dot Com Studios. We
strive to not bring racism every night on the show.
We strive now. I mean, it's one of the core
tenants to what we do here. It's not a lot,
not a lot TI. We grab everybody and bring everybody in.
(31:59):
This story that came out very not very long ago tonight,
probably about an hour or so ago, and it was
put out in a memo by the PGA Tour. The
PGA Tour has created this sounds like an onion headline,
but it's not. The PGA Tour really wants Tiger Woods
to play in as many PGA Tour events as possible
(32:21):
because it's he's still the guy that stirs a drink
and people want to see he's only played what three
rounds of competitive golf all year? He plays them, he
plays the Majors, and like one other event a year,
Like it's been that kind of season. That's where he's
at right now, at forty eight years old, and physically
he can't do it anymore. The PGA Tour has created
a special sponsor exemption for Tiger Woods and tiger Woods alone,
(32:46):
not for people like Tiger Woods. They created this sponsor
exemption for tiger Woods alone based on his quote exceptional
lifetime achievement. So now he can compete in eight signature
events which feature limited fields, increase prize money, FedEx Cup Points,
The Genesis, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Wells Fargo Championship, the Memorial,
(33:08):
the Travelers Championship. Tiger Woods is going to get an
exemption to compete in all these wide because he's been
so great over the course of his career. Now, maybe,
just maybe the reason this it was decided tonight is
thanks to this quote from Tiger Woods after the US Open.
Speaker 6 (33:26):
I've only got one more term at this season, so
I'm not gonna I don't think even if I win
the Brace Shop, but I don't think i'd be in
the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
So just one more event and then.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
I come back.
Speaker 6 (33:40):
And whenever I come back, as far as my last
Open championship or US Open championship, I don't know what
that is.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
It may or may not be. Okay, wait a minute,
do you hear Tiger Let's get lifetime, lifetime, get him
a light. I have to cup play. Look, the only
because Tiger, you don't know what the weekend holds. Obviously
he needs to be able to play. But the only
reason the first two days get any sort of TV
ratings just because you know Tiger Woods is gonna be
(34:09):
playing in them. Right, It's the only reason Tiger Woods
is playing Friday, Thursday and Friday. People are gonna pay attention. Right,
The first two days of a tournament always belonged to
Tiger Woods when he's playing what a Tiger, doesn't matter,
who's in first place, doesn't matter, who's leading, doesn't matter
how many puts Rory McElroy makes or doesn't make. The
first two days are always Tiger because you know he's competing.
And here he's saying, I'm only playing one more event
this year. It's like, wait a minute, it's June it's
(34:30):
June get Tiger into more. So they come up with this,
let's just slap this together to pet Tiger Woods out there.
But honestly, it's a great idea. I know that some
golfers are gonna be upset. Oh, they're just creating this
for a guy he can't win anymore. Everybody should be
still kissing his ass because of all the modernists that
he's brought for them over the course of the past
twenty five years. So I know some people are gonna
(34:51):
be pissed, but really this is just okay. You're letting
a guy in that has done more for you than
you will ever know as a professional golfer. Nobody goes back.
And you know, we haven't invoked the name of Caitlin
Clark at all, but it's the same idea of like
there's money showing up, we're gonna get Clark extra four
free throws at the beginning of each half because of
the attention she's brought to the WNBA. I don't know,
(35:12):
there's some suggestion that maybe you start getting some of
those quarterback rules in terms of physicality or whatever. We're
gonna just absurd. We're gonna spot the fever ten points
at every game, so we start every game ten nothing
but just the idea that you have money flowing in
that hadn't no matter how many stars you had before.
And for players on the PGA tour, go back to
(35:34):
when Tiger came in, he was not the most popular
guy on tour. I don't know if folks remember that.
It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows until the money started flowing.
And even then, you know, there's always still traditions and
histories that are sometimes ugly kind of like what we're
you know, looking at with with a lot of things
(35:56):
societally as we go, but with this, you know right now.
Billboard just ranked their top Abba songs of all time.
I'm gonna do this before I go see Abba Voyage
in London. But Money, Money, Money was number ten. Yeah, no,
I can see that being number ten. I gotta go
through their list money and maybe refine it a little
bit rich Man's But they ranked the tenth Waterloo number one.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
No.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
I did dan Waters their best song well, but they
went with you're obsessed with water.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Song?
Speaker 1 (36:29):
It is, Hey, I feel like I win when I lose.
That's why Waterloo is the best. Yeah, you just want
to keep singing, uh, taking care of business, do the
working overtime part. But we just did that one. Take
a car of business. Now, Look, the waterloo is actually
number nine coming just ahead. Well that's why I need
to make my own rank and stuff. But it's the
(36:49):
same idea. Money's flowing in. Money continues to flow in
with Tiger Woods involvement, even if he goes out there,
takes one hit, waves his little hat around and leaves.
This is this is something that again it sounds like
we're just getting away to put Ti Woods out there,
but it's good for this weekend. Come on, man, come on.
(37:16):
Terry what's his name was dead in the movie. They
didn't bring him around the entire time and after two
rounds generally the participation. That scene with Jonathan Silverman with
his dad pretending he was his butler one of the
funniest scene. Fantastic Monroe, lay out my blue suit, William,
how about I lay you out? You let your butler
talk to you that way? Coming up next, we got
(37:39):
big stuff out of the world of basketball, a story
that everybody seems to be on one side of, but
instead we're gonna show you the other side. That's next.
As you listen to the musical stylings of Abba,
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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