LSU Claims College Baseball Throne: Umpire Drama, and MLB Memories

The LSU Tigers have claimed their eighth national championship by sweeping Coastal Carolina in the College World Series. Controversy emerged when two Coastal Carolina coaches were ejected in the first inning of Game 2 for arguing balls and strikes, highlighting issues with umpire overreach in championship games.

• LSU has now won two championships in three years, cementing their dynasty status
• Coastal Carolina earned respect with competitive, fundamental baseball despite the loss
• Ejection of Coastal's head coach and first base coach in first inning sparked controversy
• Too many reviews and official interventions detracted from the championship experience
• MLB update: Yankees won their series against Baltimore with strong pitching
• Cal Raleigh of Seattle Mariners broke Johnny Bench's record with 31 pre-All-Star break homers
• Sammy Sosa returned to Wrigley Field after 20 years, connecting to the 1998 home run chase
• Personal story of nearly catching Mark McGwire's 59th home run of the 1998 season
• The 1998 Yankees won 114 games and the World Series in a historic season
• Baseball's ability to create lasting memories transcends even the steroid era controversies

Let's go baseball.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
How we doing baseball fans.
The LSU Tigers are nationalchampions.
They swept Coastal Carolina andwhat a series.
It was right, really going allthe way back to the regionals,
the super regionals, thenfinally to Omaha with some
really good games.
But tip your caps to LSU.
I mean they've won now twoyears out of three.
They're national champs.

(00:25):
They got eight overall.
There's a lot of talk about SECand the big conference and the
big money.
I mean it is what it is, butCoastal Carolina showed up and
has nothing to be ashamed of.
I mean everybody knows how tosay Chanticleers now, right, nah
, but it's more than that.
They play good fundamentalbaseball.
We're competitive, no, but it'smore than that.

(00:46):
They played good fundamentalbaseball, were competitive and
they had a chance to win it.
They were in it to win it andthey had a lot of people rooting
for them for sure.
So I'm sure that program's justgoing to continue to build.
Obviously, the elephant in theroom is that their coach gets
thrown out of the game in thefirst inning for arguing balls
and strikes Not only their headcoach but also their first base

(01:07):
coach.
So two key coaches get thrownout of the game.
Game two the NationalChampionship Series because an
umpire got his feelings hurt.
I mean, look, we've beenarguing balls and strikes in
baseball as long as there's beenbaseball and as long as
there'll be baseball, we'll bearguing balls and strikes.
I mean, that's's been baseballand as long as there'll be
baseball we'll be arguing ballsand strikes.
I mean that's part of it.

(01:28):
I know that there's a respectlevel and coaches aren't
supposed to do it, but you'retalking about the first inning
in a national championship game.
It was way too quick, man.
You got to self-regulate.
You know what I mean.
You got to go take a walk downthe line.
You got to clean off the plate.
You got to do something to notthrow the head coach of the team

(01:49):
that's playing the team on thefield out of the game.
It's not a good look for umpires.
It's not a good look forcollege baseball.
I enjoyed the games thoroughlybut there was a whole lot of
reviews, all the hit-by-pitchesreviewing, all the obstruction.

(02:10):
I mean just too many umpires.
You know what I mean.
I learned a long time ago whenI was a kid.
It's like an unspoken rule Agood umpire, you don't know.
They're there, they're justseamless.
They're on the field doing whatthey do.
But you're not talking aboutthem at the end of the game.
If you're talking about anumpire, they probably were too
much umpire.
You know what I mean.
So I think they've got to takea look at that.
So anyway, not a good look.

(02:31):
I don't want to overstate it.
I don't think it shouldovershadow the great baseball
that was played.
It's newsworthy, you can't nottalk about it.
But now that college baseball isover, we got to focus on the
big leagues.
The Yankees won the seriesagainst Baltimore this past
weekend.
It wasn't pretty, but they gotthe win.
The pitching looked real good.
The offense is just up and down.
We got to figure out what we'redoing with that.

(02:53):
But I like the way jazz ismaking stuff happen.
And now we're on the road toCincinnati.
And speaking of Cincinnati, howabout Kyle Riley, the catcher of
the Seattle Mariners, breakingJohnny Bench's record for the
most home runs by a catcherbefore the All-Star break?
The previous record, johnnyBench's record, was 28.

(03:14):
Riley already has 31,.
And it's still a couple ofweeks before the break.
The kid's on fire.
And if you don't know who KyleRiley is, you better ask Sammy
Sosa?
Did I say Sammy Sosa?
Yeah, that's right, sammy Sosawas at Wrigley Field and saw
Kyle Riley hit his 30th home runbecause the Mariners were
playing the Cubbies.
Crazy how I connect thesestories.

(03:35):
But anyway, yeah, sammy Sosa'sback at Wrigley Field for the
first time in like 20 years.
You got to love Sammy, right?
He's like here here and here.
How's that go?
Anyway, yeah, sammy Sosa, whata run he had 1998.
Him and Mark McGuire chasingRoger Maris' home run record.
It was good stuff.

(03:58):
I remember watching those games.
I used to record them.
I would record them on all VHStapes.
I'd record all the games to seeif I could catch the history
tapes.
I'd record all the games to seeif I could catch the history.
98 was a great year forbaseball.
The Yankees won the WorldSeries.
They had won like 114 games.
I think that's still a recordthe most wins, the most wins
ever.
You got to double check me.
I need a fact check, I need aneditor, I need a sponsor, I need
a lot of things.
It was a good year and thatchase was a lot of fun and they

(04:21):
had everybody glued to the TV.
One of my favorite baseballstories is being able to see
Mark McGuire hit two of thosehome runs, number 58 and 59 at
Joe Robbie Stadium.
The Cardinals were playing theMarlins.
They were the Florida Marlinsat the time and my nephew, clay,
got the gift of a baseballlifetime.
One of his teachers had fourtickets to the game and wasn't

(04:43):
able to go.
And he told him late in theafternoon.
He's like, hey, if you wantthese tickets, I can't go.
So Clay calls me up and he'slike can we go?
Can we make it?
I'm like, yeah, get the ticketsand get in the car, let's go.
And for three and a half hours,from Key West to Miami, we
talked about what are we goingto do if he hits a home run ball
our way?
Because at this point it wasalready.

(05:05):
Everybody was keeping the homerun balls.
They were trying to sell themto make money.
They were collector's items,you know.
Plus, mcguire wanted them,major League Baseball wanted
them.
You know, for the history,because this is a big, you know
this was a big deal.
So it was a legitimateconversation to have and the
seats were in left field.
So there was a very good chancethat we were going to get a

(05:27):
piece of history.
You know what I mean.
So we had to have a plan right.
So first you got to secure theball.
You got to catch the ball right, because just because the ball
comes to you don't mean youcatch it.
And then you got to secure theball right Because everybody
else wants the ball, so there'sa good chance people are going
to get up on you right.
And then you got to figure outare you going to keep the ball
or are you going to negotiatewith Major League Baseball and

(05:49):
Mark McGuire for the ball?
Well, sure enough, the game'sgoing on and on and, no surprise
, the Monets are getting beat.
Seventh inning comes bayaMcGuire hits one out to the
upper deck left field, but tothe upper deck above us.
Can't believe it.
Well, you think our shot's gonenow?
Right, it's the seventh inning.
What's the chance he's going toget up the bat again?

(06:10):
Well, I'll be damned if hedoesn't get up the bat again and
hits number 59 to our section.
I kid you not.
The ball was coming right to us.
Everybody stands on their feetand the ball's getting bigger
and bigger and bigger as it getsto you.
And we just stood there, frozen, mesmerized.

(06:31):
Could this really be happening?
Hell yeah, it was happening.
Fortunately, the ball landedabout 12 or 15 feet to the left
of us, even though it was in thesame section.
It was just far enough that wereally couldn't make a play on
it.
I'll never forget that game.
I'll never forget the drive upthere talking about it, it's a
long drive from Key West toMiami three and a half, four

(06:52):
hours, depending on how fast youdrive right and how much
traffic you got.
What are we going to do?
And then get in there andseeing him hit number 58 and 59.
And remember, you're talkingabout home runs, number 58 and
59, and the mark was 61 to beatRoger Maris' record right.
So it was heating up.
We were in the throes of it.

(07:12):
It was like the first week ofSeptember that this is happening
, so there wasn't a whole lot ofbaseball left, but it was clear
that it was going to happen,you know, because he was banging
them out just as quick as hewas injecting steroids.
Unfortunately, that was asteroid error, so we had to
pretend like that never happened.
Anyway, it's one of the greatbaseball stories in my life.

(07:37):
It's one of the reasons why Ilove this game so much.
Let's go baseball.