UConn Baseball's Jim Penders

On the latest episode of podcast podcast, the Bristle Boyz welcome UConn baseball coach Jim Penders. Penders talks about championships, culture and what’s in Storrs for Hook-C.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
And we're back September 23, 2024.

(00:12):
The Bristle Boys.
Lottie.
Angry J.
The commission will be joining us for a short stint.
Don Father out of town, but as always, studio engineer Kevin Ross.
Today, what if I told you we were going to have a guest?
What if I told you it's the most successful and prominent baseball coach in the northeast

(00:34):
for the past several years and maybe beyond that?
The skipper of Hook See Baseball, University of Connecticut head baseball coach Jim Penders.
What if I told you he was going to join us, Lottie?
Pretty cool.
That's impressive.
Family pedigree is pretty strong there, I would say.
Yeah, and he's got coaching in his bloodlines.

(00:55):
A little bit.
He's done a hell of a job.
He's done a Jim Calhoun-like job up in stores for that baseball program.
Yeah.
And the privilege of meeting his father, some of those old school baseball guys from Connecticut,
they're just so fun to talk to because these buzzwords you hear now, those guys, they pay

(01:19):
no attention to that.
It's the eye test.
It's fooling the other person, which by the way, that's baseball to me.
You don't announce you're throwing a curveball.
You're trying to trick them.
So I kind of like the trickery and the gamesmanship and those old timers.
They got some great stories, not to mention they played when men were men and you could
break up too and all that kind of fun stuff and hit by pitch, all that kind of stuff.

(01:42):
You don't like the new onside kick roll where you got to announce that you're basically
onside kicking it?
We'll never have.
And you've got to wait until the fourth quarter to do it?
We'll never have.
And you've got to be trailing.
We'll never have another surprise onside kick.
Didn't the Saints do it in a Super Bowl?
Saints did it.
Steelers did it against the Cowboys back in the day.
Yeah, Cowboys, though.
Let's go.
Check us out on Twitter.
That's enough.
Okay.

(02:03):
Instagram, Bristol Boys, Angry Jail.
Get after you a little bit.
Capital securities.
Still a strong sponsor.
Vice President Joe Morello.
And he likes to say, sign up for a life.
Well planned.
Sky Geys are brewing.
They're doing it.
They're doing it.
They can't keep them on the shelves.
I've been asking and they can't keep them on the shelves.

(02:26):
Think to the important stuff, Yanks.
Magic number one.
Angry J was all nervous.
We're not good enough or not.
We're wrapping up the division early.
Lottie.
Not good enough.
Do they ever disappoint you?
No.
My other fall team does, but no, not the Yanks.

(02:46):
They've had one of the best records in baseball since the All-Star break.
It just seemed like they played crap for so long.
But this last, what, three weeks with the pitching since the Martians been up, even
though he's not killing the ball, but just add a little juice and spirit to the team.
The boys love him.
Let me ask you guys something.

(03:07):
Is he playing?
Is he playing in the playoffs?
He better be playing left field every day.
You see what they did yesterday?
They took him out in the seventh inning for a defensive replacement.
What?
The manager got an out bat with the bases loaded.
Well the manager's got to be loaded to do that.
You got to leave the Martian in there for nine innings or better.

(03:28):
Jay, your question is warranted because I would not be shocked if he's not in there.
I'm going to tell you right now, they'll play him one game and if Urdugo is going to
play the next, then he's going to get...
Yeah, if he doesn't go two for four in the first game, he won't play.
They're pulling a baby Garcia.
He's going to pitch one inning.
Pretty much, yeah.
Is he going to be heard from again?

(03:49):
Yeah, they got a way of botching that thing up.
Yeah.
Trevino catch one inning in the first series.
Yes.
Why?
I'm not going to agree with it, but you're asking me yes.
Is DJ coming back?
No.
Is he done for the year?
Yes.
I don't think...
Yeah, I think he's done for the year, DJ.

(04:12):
Is he done?
Done?
He might have played his last game with the Yankee.
Two years left.
Decent money too, so it's going to be tough to move him.
When we wrap it up here in the fall and the champagne is flowing, well, Glabor Taurus
have played his last game in pinstrips because he's getting a lot of leverage, a lot of legs

(04:32):
on Instagram and Twitter now would like...
No, not fooling me, man.
Nope.
See you.
Would I bring him back or are you asking over to Yankee, sir?
Both.
I would not bring him back.
They need a guy who could play second baseman better than that.
He's an okay hitter, I guess, for a second baseman, but we need somebody with more athleticism.

(04:57):
They can't turn double plays and he's just not a good defender.
It would be nice to get a lead off hitter.
I mean, nothing against him.
Could they just put him there?
But at some point, it would be nice to have an actual lead off hitter who could run a
little bit still, you know, work to count.
They got a lead off guy.
He's betting six.
I do think...
I do think he'll be a Yankee.

(05:17):
I do.
I give him credit for the last two months.
If they bring him back, it's going to be another Yankee mistake because he's going to get five
at a hundred easy.
That's just what these guys make nowadays.
He's going to be so out of shape in three years if they do that.
Yep.
Like, he can barely, you know, run...

(05:38):
Does he have any steals on a here?
I mean, come on, man.
He might have a couple of...
He's going to be second?
Come on, man.
I mean, he didn't hustle for three and a half years.
Now, all of a sudden, he's hitting the cover off the line.
I'd rather just put Chisholm at second and go get a third baseman in the offseason.
I'm not going to...
I'll agree with Lottie, but I'm not going to kill him about the hustle thing because we
employed Jan Carle of Stanton.
It's been okay for him to jog for a year, so I don't understand everybody getting mad

(06:02):
at guys for not hustling with the Yankees.
The Yankees allow it.
The selective benchings.
Going for Dugo hasn't hustled all year, Stanton can't move.
No, you're right.
How about Grisha when he rounded third that day?
He has four stall invasions.
I bet you two are back in.
Four, or he's four for seven.

(06:23):
He has hit the crap out of the ball, though.
He's in.
He's in.
Two fifty-four, three twenty-eight on base, per size.
Slugging is three seventy-four.
If you check his post-all star, though, I mean, we got to be honest.
He's definitely been better.
But I don't want him back.
They've been down that road.
No one's sad.

(06:43):
It's two fifty-four.
It's like a good average nowadays.
He's probably what, their fourth best hitter?
He might be.
How about that judge guy?
He's pretty good.
I'm hearing a lot about Ohtani.
You got to give him his due.
He gambled, but he gets away with it because he's got a translator and he can pin it on
him.
I saw a picture of him and Pete Diddy on a couch.

(07:05):
Whatever.
I did.
I'm glad I sent it to you guys.
Maybe somebody did some photoshopping when I'm telling you.
There's something off about him because he's the only guy that's size on the whole continent.
I mean, like, how is he that big?
How is he that big?
Is that natural and fast?
I mean, fast I could handle, but how is he that humongous?

(07:26):
Japanese drug.
That's what I'm talking about.
He's an unbelievable player.
He's so good.
I mean, we always talk about Barry.
It's almost hands down.
So like if this guy can do this for, let's say eight, there's some assemblance of this
for eight, ten years in pitch.
If he was in the if he was in the American League this year, putting up these numbers,

(07:48):
who gets MVP?
Judgey.
I'm just saying it'd be it'd be close.
Judgey.
It'd be close.
All right.
Who's going to win it?
Let's go.
The first round opponent going to be don't say Royals.
I don't want to see that happen.
It's going to be the Royals or the Orioles.

(08:10):
Bring the Orioles on.
We've got to beat a good team regardless, but like Lugo scares me.
We can't keep playing the Twins.
We can't keep playing the Twins.
I know.
Twins have completely collapsed.
How about Detroit?
That's a kind of a fun story.
Yeah.
They're in the mix right now.
And the one guy's unhittable.
Is Salvi Perez a Hall of Famer?

(08:31):
No.
Well, by today's standards, is he a Hall of Famer?
Even by today's standards, I think he's a little short.
How?
He just doesn't have the numbers.
Like he's been good the last few years.
Recently, yeah.
Ladi?
I agree.
But he's like an anomaly because he's just gotten so much better as he's ancient.

(08:52):
They got to play in first base now to keep him.
Just to keep his bad on.
Yeah, just to keep his bad on.
I mean, the Yankees couldn't get him out.
He's 34 right now.
He has 273 career homers.
That's more than I thought.
How many hits?
He had 1,915.65.

(09:13):
And his batting average career is 2,67.
Well, he's not good enough.
He gets in months and you've got to get in.
I'll tell you what, what is actually surprising to me.
Not giving it up.
He's got 8,1,2,8 All-Star teams, world champion.
I'm sorry, 9 All-Star teams.

(09:36):
Even though it was a match.
Hasn't been a lot of great catchers.
No.
He's not a great defensive player, but there aren't a lot of great ones.
Who's the catcher for the Orioles?
The young kid?
Adley Rushman.
Is he cold off a little bit?
They all have.
They got no closer.
Yeah, they're struggling pitching-wise.
So who is a great catcher right now, a great two-way guy?

(09:58):
I'd beat Rushman.
He's pretty good.
Who else?
Awesome.
Well, he's pretty good.
You're a guy.
He's actually done a really nice job.
Would you ever let him wear number 15?
No.
It's retired.
Would you let him wear it?
No.
All right, who wins it?
Let's go, fellas.
Take your heart out of it.
Who wins it?

(10:18):
Oh, Phillies.
Studio engineer, let's go.
Who wins this thing?
The whole thing?
Phillies are tough.
They play tough.
They don't take days off.
Guys run hard.
I got no problem with Phillies winning.
I actually like them.
I got a funny feeling San Diego is going to play well for three weeks.

(10:39):
They have played really well the second half of the year.
Dodger's Phillies, NLCS would be epic.
Any of those three teams?
Yeah.
Any two of those three teams?
That's going to be crazy.
Is there any doubt in your mind it's going to be Yankees, Houston, and the ALS?
NLCS again.
Oh my God.
Well, we tried the TV, we tried the radio.

(10:59):
What are we going to do?
Follow it on Gamecast and the ESPNF?
I actually think the Yankees are going through the World Series.
Wow.
I do.
Wow.
Because what did I say at the All-Star break?
They needed a closer.
They fell into one that was already on the current roster that's been lights out.
Knock on wood.
How long?
So what are they playing, Lottie?
I think they're going to play the Phils.

(11:21):
That would be fun.
Wow.
Those tickets will be monstrous.
East Coast.
I think it's going to be Yankees against Houston.
Part what?
Six?
Whatever it is, five?
Zero and five, yes.
My heart can't take that.
Freaking chappy.
All right.

(11:43):
This next segment brought to you by Capital Securities, a life well planned, and Skygaze
are brewing.
We're bringing in the Skipper University of Connecticut, Hooksea Baseball, best program
in the Northeast, longest tenured coaching staff in Division I Baseball, for all we know

(12:06):
in all of college baseball.
We're bringing in, I mean, how do you describe now, not the up and comer, maybe not the Hall
of Famer yet, but he's trending that way.
But the guy we can't let go, the face of Connecticut, been around the program probably
longer than most people in the athletic department.

(12:28):
We're welcoming in head coach, University of Connecticut, Hooksea Baseball, Jim Penders.
Welcome, coach.
Thanks, Bob.
Good to be with you.
Appreciate you having me.
Coach, I think I first heard your name when the Big East Baseball tournament used to be
at Muzzy.
Yeah.

(12:49):
We might have been, you know, the only ten people at J.O.
Christian Field in the wind watching some of your games because we love baseball.
But I want to go back a little bit before that, the privilege of meeting your father.
He and I have some mutual friends.
And was he like the inspiration for you to get into coaching, and what was it like to

(13:13):
play for him and the program, a story to East Catholic run?
Can you just expand a little bit on your dad?
Yeah.
Yeah, well, he's my hero.
And every recruit that I have, here's, you know, about my wife.
And in essence, you know, he is absolutely the reason that I'm a coach.

(13:36):
He inspired me and never forced the game on us.
My brother's an out of the oldest of three.
And he just exposed us to, you know, we were in the dugout with him.
We were around here on the basketball bench when he coached East Catholic basketball
and fell in love with that game as a result.

(13:56):
You know, just got to see, you know, it's, he inspired me.
He's all of our recruits here.
You know, I just want to be like my dad.
That's, in essence, why a coach.
And I think it's important to share the why.
So I kind of gravitated toward it.
My brother, my younger brother, Rob, got right into it out of college.

(14:20):
I had a momentary lapse in sanity and got into politics and worked on Capitol Hill for
two years after I graduated from 94 to 96, worked for U.S.
Senator Washington, and then came to my senses.
And I always use a line from Godfather 3.
That's when I thought I was out of the family business.
You know, they pulled me back in.

(14:43):
I was drawn to it always, but wanted to make sure I could do something else on my own.
And I enjoyed my time at DC, did some good cool stuff.
But that really felt a, really felt the pull back to it.
And he's the richest man I know that he just turned 82 the other day.
And we celebrate all he wanted.
He wanted a steak dinner.
So we took him out for a steak dinner.

(15:04):
He and my mother live in Ellington now, but doing really well.
And it's great because he gets to see me coach now.
He never really got to see me play other than when I was playing for him.
Because he always had a season that was going alongside ours.
And you know, it's great to look up in the stands and see him there.
But yeah, he's the richest man I know.

(15:25):
There's not going to be much in the will because he worked for the Archdiocese of Hartford
for 45 years.
Didn't make a lot of money.
But he's the richest man I know because of that.
I remember waking up in the middle of the night here in the rotary dial phone ringing.
And oftentimes it was, you know, for him, and it was a former player going through a hard
time, maybe a divorce or needed a loan or death in the family or, you know, substance

(15:52):
abuse problem, you name it, they'd call.
But they'd also send, you know, the wedding invitations, the birth announcements.
They'd show up at the wakes and funerals.
And I realized, you know, I need that.
Now, it might be a weakness on my part, but I need those lifelong bonds with players and,
you know, are these young guys keep us young too.
And so I recognize that maybe a little bit later than my younger brother did and took

(16:16):
me a couple of years in DC.
But I'm glad, you know, I followed my heart eventually.
And if I do it half as well as he did it at East Catholic, you know, he stayed in one
place for 44 years as a head coach, 45 years as a teacher and his father, Jim Penders,
I stayed at Stratford High School for four decades as well.

(16:39):
There's been a Jim Penders coaching baseball somewhere, somewhat successfully in Connecticut
consecutively since 1934.
So if I can avoid getting it by a boss or going 20 and 36, you know, maybe we can make
it to 100 years.
I think you're holding up your end of the bargain.
I have to, I got to stop you and tell you the story.

(17:01):
The one time I've been in Wrigley, we were, we took like this baseball tour for my son
and we ended up in Wrigley and I didn't have a seat and my wife and two kids were sitting,
you know, how Wrigley could stand up in the back there and I don't even care.
But somebody walked by and saw my Yukon T-shirt and he had to stop and he started telling

(17:22):
me that he played at Yukon.
And I'm like, really, who was your coach?
And I knew the answer and he told me, I'm like, what do you think of him?
He goes, he's unbelievable.
He goes, all the guys, it's like a big deal.
When they get married, he goes, no matter what.
And that's our time to, you know, let loose with him.
And I'm telling you, that guy, that's a true story and that's, that's pretty cool because
I've seen some of the pictures on Facebook where you and the boys are Instagram or whatever
it would be on.

(17:42):
I don't know.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's good to know.
But that's, you know, I had a great, great role model.
He's not the only one too.
Coach Bailock and I had a great little league coach.
Some great coaches, but my first and, you know, most prominent coach will always be
my father.
Did your father and uncle play together at Yukon?

(18:04):
Tom?
They did.
Yeah.
It really kind of happened stance almost by, yeah, Tom.
So, um, no, it's a long story, but I'll try to make it short.
He was on a recruiting visit to Duquesne, my, my uncle Tom.
There's three years between them.
Um, and he was a, he would have been a freshman when my dad was a senior and back then, uh,

(18:25):
freshman had to play freshman ball.
They couldn't play varsity.
It was a long, in the sixties and, um, and just about every, every sport, I think.
And he was, he was on a recruiting visit to Duquesne, um, in early April, um, of 1963.
My father was playing first game of a double outer at the university of Maryland and he
got beaned.

(18:46):
He got hit below the helmet line.
They didn't have ear flaps down and he got hit in the year.
Every guy up went to first base and then coach Pancera took him out.
Said he didn't look right.
Let's get you to the infirmary at the university of Maryland.
And they checked him out.
They said he sent him back to the second game and he sat on the bench and street closed.
They were going on to Virginia from there.
It was the beginning of the spring trip and, um, he, uh, you know, he sat there, uh, showered

(19:11):
up, got on the bus to go to the next stop.
And his mother happened to be on the trip because she had relatives.
Can you imagine your mother, you know, kind of half boarding the bus and saying, no, we're
going to get a second opinion.
You're not going with the team.
I mean, I would have lost my mind.

(19:33):
Um, but he, the girl he metoma, he would have been dead hours later.
Um, the reason that I bring that up is that he was obviously saved and one of the only
women neurosurgeons in their country saved his life that night, took him about a year
and a half to rehab and all he could say, uh, was what time is it when he woke up?
He had to learn to read all over again, that to speak all over again.

(19:55):
And his mother said, you know, you can't put a metal plate in his head.
You got to leave a hole there because they didn't have plastics down or something.
So they said, well, if we put a metal plate, he can't be in the sun.
And she said, well, he's a ball player and he needs to be in the sun.
And they looked at her like she had three beds, like his kids never going to play baseball.
He'd be lucky if he can talk again.

(20:16):
And he made it back, but he made it back with his mother's insistence that his, his, uh,
little brother Tom would do commit.
He just committed to Duquesne, uh, for basketball and go to the university of Connecticut and
he belly ached and didn't want to go to Yukon.
And, um, but she said, you got to go there and help take care of your brother.

(20:39):
So he begrudgingly, you know, be committed from Duquesne, um, and committed to the university
of Connecticut, which was, I think he would admit was a great move in retrospect and played
both sports at Yukon and they played on the same college world series team in 1965.
My dad was a co-captain and was the only guy to hit over 300, um, just two years after

(21:00):
his, his, uh, traumatic brain injury.
So I don't know how much my uncle helped them, but I'm sure, uh, you know, that's the reason
that they wound up on the same team.
So, um, I never knew the story.
My father would never talk about it, but there was an article on a, on our Den wall when
I was a kid and that was probably 10, 11 years old.
And I finally took the time to read it and learned all about, you know, the whole, the

(21:24):
heart for currents along long piece about the whole, the whole thing.
And it was pretty cool.
A couple of years ago, um, 22, 22, my dad joined and just for the trip to Maryland, we
went on the super regional, took some cool pictures at home plate with him ducking and
like, he was the same home plate, same stadium that he got hit man.

(21:47):
Wow.
And I'll see the good sense here.
We're obviously, you know, but, um, yeah.
So that's how they wound up playing together.
So I've got a long history.
My, you know, Andy Balak was the guy, my coach was the guy who recommended my father, uh,
for the East Catholic phys ed and baseball job there because he was one of the original
faculty, one of the only original faculty members at East Catholic.

(22:10):
He was the football coach there and taught everything from drafting to history to every,
you know, anything and everything from 61 to 65.
I should recommend that my father for the position in 1968.
He was in my parents' wedding.
So I had you come baseball and my blood before I was born.
Well, I was going to ask you the difference or the adjustment, but, um, from playing for
your dad and then coach Balak.

(22:32):
So probably wasn't a big one.
You know what?
They're both great men, um, good people first and foremost.
Um, you know, it wasn't, no, it wasn't a huge adjustment to be honest with you.
I knew, I knew him.
One of the, one of the crazy things that I remind our players of this, I do remember
my first day and, you know, he was almost like an uncle.

(22:54):
So I came some way.
That didn't see him a ton, but he was always so gregarious and so nice to me.
And, you know, cause I was Jimmy's kid and Tommy's nephew.
And then when I got there, you know, the first day he's meeting with all of us and the bleachers
at J.O.
Christian Field and I came up to him kind of like, Hey coach, how are you doing?
Like, you know, and he kind of looked at me with his big eyebrow and frowned and said,

(23:18):
Mr. Penders, you know, and just gave me a real stiff handshake.
And I realized, oh, I'm not his nephew, so to speak, or I'm not his recruit any longer.
Now I'm his player, so, but he's been an unbelievable mentor for me as well.
And still see him, you know, at least once a week, he'll stop by and just to say hello.

(23:40):
And, you know, he's, he's 86 now.
So I'm incredibly blessed to have two, you know, gigantic figure, gigantic mentors in
my life still with us and hope to keep it that way for a long time.
Geez, that's cool.
Do you remember the day you put your, your name in the lineup at Muzzy and you hit the
grand slam?
It was a late afternoon or I think might have been the lights not on yet.

(24:03):
Do you remember that?
So, God, you got a good memory.
I sucked it probably didn't deserve to be in the lineup.
I was, I think I had 36 at bats on the year, maybe a part time DH sometimes capture.
Johnny Regani completely outplayed me and deserved to be the starter.
I get a couple of bats here in the air pinch hits and I had a couple of good batting practices

(24:26):
in a row and I'm sure whoever was DHing that day against Providence and Seton Hall was a
double-hunter.
I'm thinking the first game we beat, I think we beat Seton Hall and I hit one.
The only place I could hit one, the wind was blowing a right and I got it off the end a
little bit, two strikes and the wind carried it.

(24:48):
It must have gone, I would have had a 320, one down the right field line, shortest part
of the park.
And I just snuck it out near the pole.
And the next one wasn't a grand slam.
I think it was at least the two run, might have been a three run shot and I hit the
hell out of it.
It's one of the best balls I ever hit.
Left center?
Left, yeah.
Left center.
Yeah, it was left center.
The old scoreboard.
Yeah.

(25:09):
I had a lot of tops in with it.
So I didn't know if it would carry over but Don Martone went back on it for Providence,
Notre Dame West Haven guy and ran out of room and Jimmy Cannelly, my roommate, hit one
that day too.
So I remember staying up at the Radisson and Bristol watching.
We had to stay up till 11, whatever it was, 11-26 to see the sports coverage.

(25:33):
It was all us, Jimmy and Jimmy hitting the homers that day as sophomores at U-Cut.
So it was a pretty cool, I'll never forget that.
It was a good moment.
We wound up getting beat by Jimmy Foster in the championship game in Providence on a walkoff.
But it was a hell of a tournament.
We always played well at Muzzy.
Still love going into Muzzy.

(25:55):
I missed that environment.
I'm sure you guys are loving the fact you get the more stadium feel now.
But like an old school creaky seat kind of like place that's got some aura to it.
Unbelievable aura.
I'll never forget walking in there watching the Bristol Red Sox.
It was like my first time that I walked up a runway.

(26:16):
People talk about seeing Yankee Stadium light up.
When you go up to runway holding your dad's hand or something, that was Muzzy for me.
Like it just popped.
It's all brick and get your tickets and smell the popcorn.
And you're walking up that ramp on the third baseline and then boom, it just like explodes
on you.
It's like you're coming out of a tunnel.

(26:39):
But yeah, I miss it a lot.
It's always been a great place to play.
Our Connecticut school, they don't know how spoiled they are to have such great parks.
But Muzzy's right at the top for me.
I mean, it's just a great ambiance.
I was there the night that Mo Vaughn took Nagy Deep and was still going.
We were there too.

(27:00):
We were there.
We saw Valentin on that team, right?
Yeah, this was going up.
Yeah, Valentin, Jeff Riggs, East Catholic guy.
Was Biggs on that team?
Biggs, Jeff Riggs.
Yeah, Martice Robinson was their best player.
He made it to AAA.
He played first base at Edamow.
Mo wasn't as tall as Martice.
Had to be like 6'5", and rail thin, but he hit over 500 that year.

(27:24):
Mo was the DH.
He was 87, I think.
I don't know how to say it.
He was 87 or 88.
I think it was 87.
And it just, it never came down.
Just disappeared over the trees.
It was still going up when it left.
Yeah, then you never saw a high point to it.
All of a sudden, it was just disappeared.
I'll never forget it.
Just kept climbing.

(27:44):
Yeah.
It was like the space shuttle.
It just disappeared.
All right, coach, let's stick on fields for a minute.
Do you miss J.O. Christian at all?
Because now you're in like the Mecca here.
That's, you're blessed to have this new park, but J.O. Christian.
Anybody miss it?
I miss some of the times I had there.

(28:05):
That's for sure.
I miss some of the guys that I played with there.
You know, a lot of the guys I played with, some coach there.
I do not miss the field.
Not one.
I miss myself every day walking into Elliott ballpark.
You know, my assistant coach is Josh Horrigan.
Josh Horrigan, Josh McDonald, joke about me making them pull crabgrass when I first

(28:26):
became the head coach at the end of practice.
We don't have to do that anymore.
We don't have to put a tarp on.
We get to see our beautiful ballpark every day when we walk in there, whether we're half
practice or not.
I get to walk past it on my way to the office and I get to look over it from my window.
You know, it's amazing.
It took a long time.

(28:47):
It took a lot of people that cared an awful lot about UConn baseball.
Chief lead dug in Sheel Elliott who made the lead gift.
I'm talking about hundreds and hundreds of other people that had a hand in that.
We're just so grateful to have it.
It sets us apart.
The crown jewel of Northeast College baseball.
There's not a scout in the Northeast that says anything, but this is their favorite

(29:11):
place to watch a game.
It's just a great place to coach.
It's a great environment to be in.
My biggest fear with it was that we'd lose some of our edge.
I didn't want a kid to, Dan Hurley says it's about NIL, but I say it about our ballpark
too.
I don't want the ballpark to be the only reason we get a guy, but I also don't want

(29:33):
to have the lack of that ballpark be the reason that we don't get a guy.
It's a first world problem to have.
If you're attracting kids initially because of it, that's okay as long as we do our due
diligence and homework to find out that the kid has still got toughness.
He's got an edge to him that you have to have to succeed in the Northeast and compete nationally

(29:59):
in our game.
If you're not a bit of a prick every so often with the way that you compete, you're not
going to survive at UConn and all of our players that have had success have a little bit of
an edge to them.
They don't back down.
Coach Jim Calhoun and Gino had talked about the old field house and how they had to kind

(30:22):
of be creative and bring guys in.
What did you do in the early days with that field?
How did you sell the program to guys who maybe would fall for what the field looks like with
the facilities?
How did you get around that hurdle?
We kind of embraced it and I have an expression, embrace the sock.
Hey, this is what it is, man.
If you're looking for the bells and whistles, we are not a program for you.

(30:43):
We are not about that.
If you're looking for the fancy locker or the... But if you're looking for people that
want to help you get better every single day and are not going to let you cut corners,
are going to be just as demanding of ourselves as we are of you, then maybe we can build
something here.
I don't want you to want to be part of building something that can last.

(31:07):
So that was kind of how... That was the initial sell and sometimes it works, sometimes it
didn't.
But I do think we didn't get many of the wrong kids back then.
It was up front.
It's like, hey, this is what it is, man.
This is... It ain't sexy.

(31:28):
We don't have palm trees.
We've got people who just wake up dying to get here every day to get one percent better.
Coach Calhoun, up until his last year, he would have that initial practice every year
in the gray t-shirts and gray shorts with no name on them, no label, no Nike, no nothing

(31:55):
in the entire gym with the leaky roof because that's where his first practice was.
I think it's healthy to remind the guy as of where those who came before us what they
had to deal with and don't take anything for granted.
We do a cemetery run every year where we go up and find the store's brothers grave and
kind of pay tribute to them and get to look at the unbelievable campus that's developed

(32:22):
since 1881 because of two guys that just wanted to make better farmers that are buried at
the top of that hill.
I think it's important to know where you came from.
If you plug a direction in the ways you got to start with where you're at and where you're
coming from, otherwise you'll never find your destination.

(32:44):
I think it's really important to know where you're coming from.
Coach, you talked a little bit about Coach Calhoun and we can't really understate the
job that he did to put Yukon basketball on the map.
We could say the same thing about you and what you've done with that baseball program.
What were some of your goals coming in when you first started as the coach up there?

(33:04):
Yeah, well, thank you very much.
That's too generous.
We haven't come close to winning an national championship yet.
I had three predecessors and J.O.
Christian Larry Pansier and Andy Balock that have been Omaha with Yukon on their chest.
I haven't done that yet.
I'm not even close to what Coach Calhoun has done or any coaches on campus that have won

(33:28):
national championships, but that is what we aspire to do.
When I first took over, it was, you know, I think I felt like we had to change a little
bit of a culture.
Coach Balock had things in a great place and there's some of a lot of the same things that
he did from a development perspective as a whole person.

(33:49):
I continue to ascribe to and we have a lot of the same things.
There were some things that, you know, I kind of came in and had to separate myself from
what had gone on.
We had been a little bit over 500 for my assistant coach in ten year and I didn't want to be

(34:10):
a little over 500, you know.
I felt like we really had to address accountability to a large extent and I definitely overstepped
early on.
You know, I did some things that I regret today, you know, probably across the line
with regard to discipline and, you know, running stadiums and unnecessarily embarrassing

(34:35):
kids at times when they didn't think they were pulling their weight.
But at the same time, I don't know if I would do it any differently if presented with the
same circumstances and what the goals were initially was just, hey, we're going to break
the school record for Wins.
And we did that, I think, in our second season and then again in the third season.
I don't know how many times we've done it since then, but it's been a handful of times

(34:59):
since then.
You know, and, you know, we held ourselves to that standard.
I remember driving a Toyota Corolla with 230,000 miles on it and my wife at the time was,
you know, we got to get rid of the car.
We got to get rid of that.
So, well, we got to wait until we went 35 games.
We won 34 one year.
I couldn't get a new car, you know.

(35:22):
You know, that's the old Catholic guilt in me or whatever.
You say something, you better stick to it and better follow through.
But I do remember that the Corolla had to last another year.
And I think that's just something that we tried to model.
Like there's no shortcuts here.
You know, it's the tortoise is going to win the race, not the hare.

(35:46):
We're going to do it the right way.
But it's going to take some time.
I remember Coach Costa Coppola was at Maine at the time.
He recruited me at Providence.
His father was a longtime legendary coach at Wesleyan and Costa just retired as the
coach from Navy in their administration down in Annapolis.
But I remember when I got the job, he called to congratulate me and said, it's going to

(36:09):
take you three years, Jimmy.
Like don't rush it.
Three years before it's yours.
And I'm like, no freaking way.
Can I wait three years in my mind?
And yet he was almost exactly on the markers.
April 15th, 2006, we were at West Virginia and it finally felt like it was my program.
And that was three years after, just about three years after, just a couple months short

(36:32):
of three years after when I was hired.
And it did.
It was like, okay, now I know what I've got.
And I can be more of myself.
You know, I had the antenna up almost to a bad extent.
You know, I just looked like I said overstepping, overdoing it at times.

(36:53):
And you know, I could kind of let my hair, not my hair down too much.
But I could be more of myself.
I didn't have to portray somebody that I wasn't.
And the kids finally got to know me.
That was one of my favorite teams was 2006.
That's when it really started this way.
Well, I mean, with that came a certain amount of swagger that your team always seems to

(37:17):
carry with them.
I always paid attention, but it was easy to see early on that your guys love to dug
out stuff and the superstitions and the sayings and, you know, enough talking because it's
got to happen, right?
You guys play with an edge.
Like you said, in the Northeast, you kind of have to.

(37:40):
How much does you having the consistent staff play into the, you know, your players acting
like you guys, like you want them to act?
Yeah, it's huge.
We don't do a lot of talking about it.
I mean, we'll break kid stones if he's got too much chrome on too much, you've all she
has a headband, but you better play your ass off.
If you're going to wear that chunk, call it chrome and you better not get out of a hit

(38:04):
by pitch opportunity if you're wearing all this armor on your body.
We'll break stones to a certain extent so they know what's important to us.
But it's more important to just model it.
And you're right.
There are three amazing associate and assistant coaches that have been with us longer than
any other Division one baseball program in the country were fortunate enough to have the

(38:28):
longest 10 year staff and all of college baseball and D1.
That's 309 or 310 programs and been together since 2011 and the summer of 2011.
Coach Padez, he's been with me since the get go in 2000 summer 2003.
He's my second hire and he's crazy enough to stay with me this long.

(38:49):
We played together so we've been together a long time.
Marriage is the shorter than this.
He's great.
But I think you said something really poignant.
It's consistency.
I associate head coach Dave Turge.
He'd spent a lot of time, legendary Turge family down in Grottin.

(39:13):
Three brothers at the play professional baseball, Dave and Managing in the minor leagues before
he worked with me.
And he said, listen, man, you got to be Joe Torrey in the dugout.
Like you should be 72 degrees.
And he goes, you might look comatose sometimes with it 72 and sunny all the time.
The players don't know when something bad happens by looking at their manager.

(39:33):
They don't know when something good happens by looking at their manager.
He's the barometer for that ball club and he's going to do stuff maybe in the clubhouse,
but you're not going to see, but he's going to be a model of consistency on the field.
And I think that's true of everything.
The more consistent we can be, they know what to expect from us.
And we have very different personalities, the four of us, but it works.

(39:59):
And they know that we're all blue collar, we're Connecticut kids.
We value family.
That we've, I mean, the fact that they haven't left everybody's, oh, you must be such a great
boss.
I can know they've got great families and they want to stay close to their families.
So I've got a cheap coat because they're all Connecticut guys.
And they also believe in the university and the people there and the university's been

(40:21):
good to us to help keep those guys and myself around.
But their heart is with Yukon.
You know, they could get to Omaha win a college world series somewhere else a little bit easier,
but it's not going to mean as much to them as it will when we, when we do it at Yukon.
Coach, you've had over 70 players drafted or signed to a professional baseball deals.

(40:43):
You know, obviously our listeners know the, the map barns and the springers and the nick
of meds and, and guys like that.
But these guys are able to fulfill lifelong dreams.
How cool is it for you to get those phone calls and connect with those guys on that
night?
Yeah, it's just awesome.
I mean, Ben Kitsperius just went back up two days ago.

(41:05):
We pitched in the Dodgers game yesterday.
He's our most recent guy, Nick Ahmed just got signed by the Padres for their postseason
run here.
Um, so just it never gets old, you know, it's, it's an, it's an amazing, you know, like
we're in a toy department of life.
I get to work in the toy department of life.
So, um, things are pretty good generally.

(41:26):
But when you get that call that a guy's going to the big leagues or just drafted period,
you know, it's, um, it's the fulfillment of a lifelong dream and to be part of it,
you know, to, to get a call, you know, saying thank you or whatever.
It's just, it's, it's, um, it's, it's awesome.

(41:47):
You know, it's like being at their weddings.
The championships, the only other feeling comparable to the championships is though,
is being at their weddings.
That's, that's a, I mean, to be part of that, um, to be part of that day, you know, and
that's the thing like I said, my father, Ford has been fortunate enough to go to a million
of his players weddings and get the birth announcements and all that stuff.

(42:08):
And, um, you know, it's, it's, it's a thrill of a lifetime for me too.
It's like, I get to be a boy again as well.
I get to, you know, like I still want to play for the Yankees.
I'm 52 years old.
It's not going to happen, but I can still live, I carelessly for these guys, um, and
living out their dreams and to just be a little speck in their backgrounds, you know, to maybe
help them with one little ounce of something that helped get them there.

(42:32):
Um, means the world, you know, and if they want, you know, I love that they want to share
it.
And if, you know, they shoot you guys know, I mean, if you can't share it, it's not worth
that much.
And, um, gives me a big throw when they like, you know, when they share that moment with
the old coach and their weddings, so it's, it's a thrill.
Coach, I got to ask you this being a, an Eastern Connecticut guy a couple of years ago, obviously

(42:55):
they won a division three national title and, uh, yeah, they had a, they got a couple of
year guys that weren't maybe not playing quite as much, but there's more, there's one kid
and you got him again.
You had him last year.
Um, I saw him play maybe five or six games.
I think he made about three outs and it ended to five or six games.
I saw him, Luke Broadhurst.

(43:16):
Um, yeah.
So you, you guys, you guys are talking about the Move on home or not.
I saw them, they played rowing in the division three regionals and he hit a ball that soon
as he hit it, like I jumped up and I'm a, I'm a college basketball coach and I jumped
up and you know, man, he got it.
Like all the rowing fan, like mad, but can you just talk a little bit about him and his

(43:39):
story about eating quite plain much for you.
And then he was, I mean, he just mashed that Eastern and he was one of the best players.
And then you got him again.
You just being an Eastern guy, I got to throw it out there for Luke.
So he's, he's the best.
I love the kid.
He's not a kid.
He's a man.
20, he's going to be 26 on October for God's sake.
So he's, he's a man, but he, uh, it's remarkable that he listened to us when we called him,

(44:09):
um, after he becomes an all American international champion at Easter.
You know, I had to swallow a little bit of my pride because I had told him at the middle
of his sophomore year, at the end of his freshman year, he said, listen, I think you
should go somewhere else.
This isn't going to work out for you here.
Um, you, you got a slow motor.

(44:29):
Your arm, you know, isn't what it was when we recruited you and committed you.
Um, you know, at the Stafford High School, it's just, it's, it's not going to, it's
not going to happen for you here.
And he was stubborn enough to say, no, I'm going to come back in the fall and give it
a shot.
All right, man.
And then we had to have the same conversation again at the end of the first, at the end of

(44:50):
his sophomore fall semester.
And thankfully he didn't use a year of eligibility.
We didn't apply him.
So he still had four years of eligibility and we advised him to go to Easter.
And I didn't think he'd follow our advice.
I would think he'd be pretty ticked off.
I'm sure his dad and mom were not happy.
Um, and yet three years later, you know, it's like, this guy is a person.

(45:11):
Perfect fit for us.
You know, he's figured it out.
He is strong.
He is mature.
He's a leader.
He does not have a, a slow motor.
He's just quiet.
Um, he's a, he's got a great sense of humor.
Uh, he's, he's a perfect fit.
He doesn't take himself too seriously, but he takes his work super seriously.

(45:32):
Um, self made player, you know, I had a ton of success in Little League there, you know,
and in the, in Stafford growing up in Stafford, but he had finally had broken through to have
the success in college and have that confidence to go with it.
And when he, when he picked up the phone, my heart was pounding a little bit.
And you know, at this point I'm in my late 40s.

(45:53):
I'd been around the block, but it was like I was, you know, 25 as an assistant coach
calling, calling a hot recruit for the first time.
Got really nervous and he put me right at ease.
He said, coach, I'd love to come back up and let's give this, let's give this thing
another shot.
You know, he didn't even make me wait.
Didn't make me sweat.
And I think I'd love to be a Husky and I've always wanted to be a Husky.

(46:17):
And you know, if I was on that call as a 23 year old, I would have hung up on me and yet
we had enough maturity and presence of mind and, um, I don't know what it was, just confidence
in himself.
And, um, I got really emotional talking about him, you know, after his first year, he's
just dominant and he said to a reporter after I spoke to the same reporter, I, you know,

(46:41):
I, you gotta ask him how he felt.
I don't, I don't know.
Cause I had a really tense conversation with him and his father and in my office.
And, you know, I, I didn't think I'd see the kid again.
I think I thought he'd be pissed off at me for life.
And he said to the same reporter, he said, not, you know what, in retrospect, coaches
is telling me the truth as he saw it.
And that's how it was.
And I'm like, that's, that's just you getting, you know, you're attracting the right kinds

(47:06):
of people when you have people like Luke Broder's.
Yeah, that's awesome.
That's awesome.
That's something that, you know, and we have, we have managers on our team that we've cut,
you know, that may have been, may have had scholarships at one point or another and they,
they stick around as managers.
I, no, I've been invited to weddings of guys that we've, we've told to go on the portal

(47:31):
and go elsewhere.
That's not me.
That's the culture of the program.
And they, they recognized, we've got a guy that was at the University of Houston and
Brandon O'Donnell, who we advised it to go elsewhere after his sophomore year.
They did.
I went to Houston and he said some success there.

(47:53):
He was at our regional Oklahoma drove however many hours from Houston to be there.
And I want to come to our alumni game on October 12th.
You know, I said something about our culture.
Hook C.
So anyway, coach, you mentioned Stafford High School.
Yeah.
And it's not, it's not just us.
It's coach Bailock, you know, it's coach Bailock.

(48:15):
It's coach Pantsy.
It's the guys who came before us that, you know, we have a lot of guys that'll come back
for that alumni game on the 12th of October that, that didn't play for me either.
You know, I'd play for coach Bailock and they play for coach Pantsy here.
And it's just an honor and a privilege to be a part of that.
Coach, you mentioned class S Stafford High School.
Another thing I want you to just touch upon is your willingness to go into the little

(48:39):
corners of Connecticut and, and, and take a kid from, I know the Berkshire League and
Thomaston has one that played in the NVL that you took on.
It seems like you don't care about any of that business.
If the guy can play and fit in your program, you're going to give him a shot.
Most notably probably Housatonic and Derral Mohawk product, Willie Yon.

(49:01):
You hear it.
Freshman All-American, Cape Cod League All-Star.
Is that right?
Yeah.
Baltimore.
Can you just, and, and to follow that up, the D2 and D3 guys you've pulled in, like
another Hoosie kid, Spur, right?
So just talk about your willingness to, to, to not get caught up with.
Can I just interject for a second?
I want to, a month ago I went to the tri-state championship series at municipal state in

(49:23):
Waterbury and I brought my son, we're watching the championship game.
This kid is at third base, is diving all over the place, making bare-handed plays, sliding
into third, maybe 15 feet away from the bag in the air.
My son says, who the hell is that kid?
That was Willie Yon.
To watch that kid play is like, every kid is like, who is that?
You know, what is, who is this kid?

(49:43):
Like Long Hair Flowing.
Peter Pan.
Yeah.
It was amazing though.
He never has to grow up.
He's Peter Pan.
He is the epitome of a ball player from an unbelievable family.
His parents are some of the most wonderful people I've ever met.
And you know, he and his sisters are just fantastic.

(50:03):
He's just a gem.
You know, I could coach a hundred years and never have another Willie.
He's one of a kind, loves, loves, loves the game.
You can see it in the way that he plays.
You know, he just, he has a birthday in mid to late November.
And to give you an idea about how much he loves the game, he throws a party for himself

(50:27):
where he calls his high school buddies and middle school buddies and grammar school buddies.
And they play, he rents a field in Sharon, Connecticut, his hometown.
And they bring in portable lights, he splurges for portable lights and they play whether
it's, and oftentimes it's snowing because it's the Northwest corner.
It's up high in the hills and they play a night game with a machine.

(50:50):
He has an ATEC pitching machine and they just play a pickup game until all hours of the
night.
And that's Willie's idea of the best possible birthday.
He's been doing it for years.
And this is even when he was playing Pro Ball, which he probably could have gotten in trouble
for it.
Yeah, that's, thank God we attract people like Willie on.

(51:10):
Yeah.
And Sper helped you a lot this year.
Co helped you a lot this year.
Those are small, small town guys.
Yeah, it doesn't matter where they come from.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, I think Co comes from Morris.
Yeah.
I mean, I never even heard of Morris before we recruited him.
But where the hell is Morris?
He, it doesn't matter where they're from.

(51:32):
I mean, if they have, you know, we look at, for pitchers, we're looking at guys who have
been aces, who have been number ones on their staffs for more than a couple years.
If they've been counted on as number one pitchers anywhere in Connecticut, for that matter, they're
probably, you know, pretty darn good.

(51:52):
And then it's up to us to use the metrics and figure out, okay, you know, what's the
velocity, what's the spin rate, what's all the inverted break, but really what's most
important to me still, what's your one loss record?
And if he can't answer that in the first phone call, we're probably not interested.
If he's telling me about spin rate, Velo, inverted break, his last bullpen session,

(52:16):
I'm probably, that's probably not our type of guy.
If he knows what his one loss record was and what his record is in championship games,
then I'm really excited, you know, that I'm really excited.
A lot of these guys that are getting recruited nationally are guys that haven't pitched with
a scoreboard on in months and months and months.
If the scoreboard's not on, it doesn't count.

(52:38):
If you get an umpire behind the mound and not geared up behind the plate, it doesn't
count.
If there's no standings for the games that you're playing, this doesn't really count.
So we're really interested in guys being in pressure situations.
We try to simulate that in fall baseball, the first day of practice.
We have a scout day and we have all 30 organizations there.

(52:59):
And if you can't throw them from the scouts the first day or you can't perform them from
the scouts the first day, you save us a lot of time.
And we understand that, hey, maybe this guy should get in the portal.
And I'm talking about after the first day of practice.
That's just, that's the reality.
So you save me a lot of time and effort because I can't put you in there against St. John's

(53:21):
or Vanderbilt or Missouri, we all open with it on our first weekend this year, SEC team.
I can't trust you then.
If you can't throw in front of these scouts, you can't perform in front of these scouts.
You probably can't perform period.
Well, case in point, the posties I think.
I don't care where they're from.
We were here from North Stonington.

(53:41):
We had Troy Stafansky from North Stonington.
I think it's the smallest high school, smallest public high school in the state.
And he was a great hitter for us.
You know, and everybody was like, oh my God, Troy Stafansky is from North Stonington.
He can't be good enough to play at UConn.
He was great.
He was a great hitter for us and a great competitor and had that chip on his shoulder.
And if I'm not wrong, did you not use a kid from Endicott and probably the biggest game

(54:04):
of the season this year through an absolute gem?
Is that an Endicott kid?
Division three?
Yeah, Gabe.
Gabe Vannem.
That was an unbelievable pitch he performed in Scotch.
He was amazing.
Yeah, he was amazing.
He's got some of the throw change up, which we hadn't really used all that much all year.
And we thought this might be the time to break it out.
He got a lot of good defense behind him, but he absolutely pitched his butt off.

(54:29):
And he's going to be our ace this year.
It looks like he's asked to an unbelievable.
He's a Cape Cod League All-Star for Chatham.
Confidence is at an all-time high.
And, you know, just a great story.
Yeah, it's, you know, whether they're from D3 or from Thomaston or North Stonington or
Morris, Connecticut, it really doesn't matter if they know how to compete.

(54:52):
And, you know, they have to have certain metrics.
But, you know, until they can measure the size of the guy's heart and what's between
his legs efficiently, I don't, you know, I would put those things ahead of inverted
break, whatever the hell that is, horizontal movement.
You know, spin rate any time, any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

(55:14):
Joe Bo.
Coach, in 2022, when you guys beat number two, Stanford in the super regional, first
time ever, you guys won a super regional game, if I'm correct in that.
Tell me a little bit about that locker room and what that was like, or did you guys know
you had other games to play?
Yeah, it was kind of subdued, to be honest.
They came back on us and we, I think, grew up like 12 to three or something.

(55:37):
Mike closed the gap and made the tying round or winning run at the plate when it all ended
and had a fearsome offense for sure that year.
But we felt confident.
I felt confident heading into the press conference that night.
But I'll tell you, you know, Dave Esker, veteran coach, Ben Cal Berkley, took them
to the College World Series in Stanford.

(56:00):
Now he's known as, he's one of the guys that the coaches coach, guys who coaches really
look up to and I'm no exception.
He's walking into the press conference with me and he took me, I'll tell you, you know,
I learned something every day and he's been around the block a little bit longer than
I have and there's getting to be fewer and fewer of those guys now that I get older.

(56:21):
But he kind of walked in the press conference, Lucy Goosey and said, boy, Jimmy, that was
a hell of a game, wasn't it?
Boy, wasn't that awesome?
And I'm like, this guy's down, oh, one at Stanford.
And he completely spun it on me.
Like masterful psychology.
You know, it's like that old clip of Pete Rose on the mound during the pitching change

(56:46):
in the World Series where Munson gets like his seventh hit in a row or whatever it is
and Sparky comes out to make a change.
And I think it was 76 in the world.
I had to be 76 and it's on all these MLB films now, but they're mic'd up.
Sparky's mic'd up and Pete goes to Sparky goes, man, that guy can hit, huh?

(57:06):
Boy, he can hit.
You know, they're not, they're not scared about losing the game.
They're just like, I can, he can appreciate it.
You know, he can, and when you can kind of break down the game, that way and have security
enough to do that.
It's very disarming, very, and somewhat intimidating in the moment too.
That's hilarious.
And that unruffled, you know, in a big spot like that.

(57:32):
So, but yeah, it was a subdued locker room because he still had to win another game when
we were in for a tussle the next day, even though we had our ace going and he didn't
have his best stuff, but, you know, still proud of the way that we competed out at Sunken
Diamond and, you know, then to get back to our super regional two years later.
I think we learned from that experience.
We had some guys on the roster still, still got on the roster from that Stanford series.

(57:56):
And hopefully that'll help us get to the next stop this year, this year coming up.
Well, this year coming up, we're hoping that's the year for Hook See, right?
We're going to get it done this year.
Like to talk about that for a moment, but we're going to let you go in a minute because
I know you got other stuff, but like 2010, is that the one like I'm friends with a lot

(58:17):
of coaches at the high school level.
Like, is that the one that like, you know, when you're driving and you know, I was a
radio on you can't get it out of your head or once a while, you can't get to sleep.
Is that the one 2010 South Carolina takes you home?
So in 2010, we lost in Norwich and my first regional is that coach that was our most talented.

(58:40):
Oh, that wasn't it then.
Okay.
That was 2010 in Norwich and that was our most talented team.
I mean, we had a guy, Pierre LaPage and we'll get Scotty Goldberger again.
Yeah.
I'm just, it's some great, I mean, those four future major leakers, bunch of guys who got
to AAA, Kevin Vance, L.J.

(59:01):
Mozzilli, I mean, littered all across the field for, were great players.
Was it five major?
Actually, I think five is old.
It was in that game at third base, Pierre LaPage at second, Nick Ahmed at short, Springer and
center, Matt Barnes on the mound, Scotty Oberg, you know, that's five big leakers, I think.
I don't know, six.

(59:22):
John Indrioli was in the outfield.
So I mean, that was the most talented team that I've ever had.
I just wasn't ready to manage it and I regret, you know, not having the experience that I
needed to stay loose in the moment.
I think I certainly, looking back, probably had tension that was probably transferred
to the players.
We made a couple bad mistakes on the field late in the game through some talented players

(59:47):
against Oregon that set us back and we were able to bounce back and get central.
Had a big, big winning against them the next morning, but then we got Oregon again and
going up against George Horton, Paul Afame coach.
I just wasn't ready, you know, and I regret that.
Just don't know how I would have sped up the learning curve, but wasn't ready to kind

(01:00:09):
of skip for those guys, you know, the right way.
I learned from it the next year and unfortunately we ran into South Carolina with 10 draft
picks.
You know, we had 10 draft picks in that draft off that team, but South Carolina was coming
off a national championship and wound up winning another national championship in 2011.
I think if we were at any other super regional that year, we'd come out with a W, but they

(01:00:32):
were just so used to being there.
You want to skip, you want to skip rungs on the ladder, you know, to Omaha into national
championship, but of all the coaches that I've talked to that have won them, they all, I'll
say the same thing.
It's like you just can't skip a rung.
It's very difficult, you know, to go over.
You got to get there first to know how to get to the next step.

(01:00:55):
And even if you have a different set of players, it's in your, you know, Tony Vitale probably
had, he might say you had a better team last year, the year before, but he needed to go
through, had to go through to get it done this year.
So yeah, I think it's, it's difficult to skip rungs on the ladder always unless you're
an incredible, incredible coach and incredible, you know, you get a lot of luck too.

(01:01:18):
That makes you a real good coach.
I didn't have the experience in 2010.
Yeah.
2010, I didn't have the experience in 2011.
I think we just ran into a buzz saw and the wrong opponent, but I'll take luck any day
to week.
You guys have something to break.
Yep.
Yeah.
Coach, coach, when South Carolina won that the next year, South Carolina won it in 20,

(01:01:42):
they won it in 2010 and 2011.
So 11, I'm watching it on my living room, stayed up and they asked, you know, coach
on the field, you know, his initial thoughts and the very first thing he says, we were
just happy to get by Connecticut.
Do you remember that?
I don't remember that.
Ray, Ray is really, you know, he's a, he's a gentleman.

(01:02:04):
He's the athletic director at South Carolina and he's been a mentor of mine too.
Since that day, I mean, since that series, he's been involved in my life and my career
and been very helpful to me.
So he's first class.
There aren't many guys like, you know, Ray Tanner, like Paul Menere, another guy that
he wound up hiring, you know, from LSU, got him out of retirement, Gary Gilmore.

(01:02:30):
I've had some great guys kind of taking interest in my career, Dave Eskier already mentioned,
you know, and you don't get there by yourself.
You know, you need that guidance and you need to learn from guys that have been to the Promised
Land and know how to get there.

(01:02:51):
That's for sure.
Coach, one last question on the program.
What can we look forward to in 2024-25?
And also I was hoping you could talk about the Bristol kid, Frank Sparito, and also
Ryan Daniels.
I know he's hurt last year, but he's a Meridan kid.
Just what can we see this year?
Yeah.
Yeah, both those Bristol kids, you know, Meridan slash Bristol kids, you know, Ryan played

(01:03:13):
at St. Paul's, he's a proud St. Paul graduate.
And Frankie, you know, they both need horseshoes because they got bad luck last year with these
injuries.
I think we think, you know, Frankie's going to take a little bit more time.
Had Tommy John.
We're going to know what he's got in the preseason.
But from what we saw last year before he was hurt, I really liked his mound presence.

(01:03:36):
I like his stuff.
I think he's got a slow heartbeat.
I don't think things are going to speed up on him.
I like the way that he competes.
Doesn't seem to get flustered.
So I'm excited to see him with a new elbow, certainly.
And I think we're going to know what we've got, you know, probably not until late January
on him, maybe even February before we know.

(01:03:59):
And Daniels had surgery.
Yeah.
Daniels had surgery on his hip.
They weren't able to do exactly what they wanted to do because he had a more significant
his hip was, it was a long story short.
He's going to be fine.
But you know, it was, it was, and it was a successful surgery, but he's still is, he's

(01:04:21):
got a little bit of discomfort at times.
So we're trying to take the easy as he builds back to full strength.
But that kid talked about confidence.
He's got a swagger and a confidence to him that's very, I don't think you can teach.
I've got a great mind for the game.

(01:04:42):
Super aggressive always wants the green light.
Love coaching him.
Great sense of humor too.
Doesn't miss anything on the bench.
His ears always.
I can feel his ear bending toward me.
If I got a wise comment, he's not going to miss it.
He's one of those kids that just has a very intuitive, very much in tune with his teammates,

(01:05:05):
sizes people up very quickly.
Great feel.
I think that's what I would describe Ryan.
And so that all those things add up and then you put it in a body with above average speed,
above average power, above average hit ability, above average feeling ability.
And you got to help fire.
So we're just hoping that he can be healthy.
He helped us win some big games early in the season before he just found it completely

(01:05:28):
impossible to go out there anymore.
Such pain.
But was it critical, especially a big home run against UC Irvine, which is each one at
the time.
It's probably the best team on the West Coast all season.
And we were able to beat them because Ryan helped us with a few others.
Great competitor, hope to see him back out there.

(01:05:51):
But I think we're going to be exciting.
I think we're going to be a fun team to watch.
We do have a lot of good team speed.
Still have to work out the pitching rotation, but I'm optimistic with Gabe and I'm in back
with Ian Cookback, who's the reigning Big East pitcher of the year.
He's had his ups and downs with us, but certainly is capable of shutting down anybody in the
country.
A Brady Afton, we expect it to be drafted in sign, but he's back as our closer.

(01:06:17):
We last named for a closer Brady Afton because there's nobody asked him.
You know, when he goes out there, there's nobody after him.
So he's back.
We've got some really good young arms and some nice transfers to add to that mix.
And that's one of the good things about the portal is when you're doing well, the portal

(01:06:37):
is good to you.
When you're not doing well, the portal can destroy your team.
Fortunately, we've had enough success where we're attracting good players and it's absolutely
essential as is raising money for an avail.
Is having what the basketball team has done made it?
Is it a blessing and a curse?
I mean, obviously, you know, it's got to be good for recruiting, but at the same time,

(01:06:59):
you're like, man, we got to get there.
You know, we got to get, how's that affected what you guys do?
Yeah, it's not at all a curse.
It's only a blessing.
I mean, what they've been able to do, what Dan's taken to, you know, just another level
with his intensity and so unique, his ability to motivate and inspire and teach and his

(01:07:21):
kids love him, you know, because they know he loves them.
Yeah.
He's been, I've learned a lot from him.
I learned a lot from Coach Oriama.
It's, no, it's an absolute blessing.
You know, when you can have them be on the front porch, hey, they set the bar so high,
you know, for excellence.

(01:07:42):
And we're not winning championships at UConn.
You know, you're getting fired.
And I'd rather work in a place like that that demands excellence than just let you get by,
you know, I mean, if we flip side of that is if we screw up, you know, it's going to
be on the front page of the Britain Herald along with Arthur Current, what is the Bristol
Press, the, you know, New Haven register.

(01:08:02):
London Day, the Mayor and the Record Journal, the Waterbury and Publicate America and then
the Greenwich time that Connecticut Post, the Journal Inquirer, so there's a lot of lights
on it.
Yeah.
But I'd rather work at a place like that than a place where nobody cares.
You know, people care about UConn.
There's 169 towns in Connecticut.

(01:08:23):
And the only thing that those towns can agree on is that UConn is pretty darn cool.
That's a great point.
Heck yeah.
So I think we were blessed to have UConn and you're not, if you didn't go to UConn or your
neighbor's kid didn't go to UConn, your other relatives that went to UConn, if you pay taxes
in Connecticut, you should care about UConn being excellent.
Absolutely.
It's going to help us all.

(01:08:44):
And you guys have been excellent.
Heck yeah.
Hooksy.
Coach, humorous, we're done here, but we're going to humorous.
We always do this little segment where we just ask some sort of like one word answer
time kind of quiz.
You do a mic.
Coach Harlow.
Yeah, exactly.
Hello.
Go.
Hi coach.
We're hoping you're a Yankee fan, right?
We talked about being.
Yeah.

(01:09:05):
All right.
So we're going to do some old school guys.
Who would you, it's called who would you rather and we'll just say who would you rather
coach or who would you rather pick for your team.
So we'll start it off with some old school guys.
Willie Randolph or Steve Sacks?
Randolph.
Hi, little boy.
Hi.
I got to go to, I actually got to meet him at L.J.
Mazzilli's wedding or not L.J. Mazzilli, he hasn't even married yet.

(01:09:29):
Lacey Mazzilli, LJ's twin married Michael last November.
And Lee and Willie were at the wedding.
We got a picture with them.
Pretty cool.
I wonder you're going to all those weddings.
All right.
We'll go with a couple old Yankee catchers that might not have been so great.
Matt Noakes or Butch Weinerger.
I'm a sermon guy.

(01:09:52):
I like Noakes hitting them into the upper deck and right.
Yeah.
I couldn't watch him hit a ground ball to second base throwing Jagd the first.
All right.
So we'll go a couple of second basins for you.
Robinson Cannell or Alfonso Soriano.
Man, that's a tough one.
Yeah, it is.

(01:10:14):
Man, neither one of them played as hard as I would have liked him to play.
Correct.
I'll take Cannell.
Yeah, he could hit.
He could hit.
All right.
Here's one for you.
I hope you get this one right.
Mark Desheris or Don Manningley.

(01:10:35):
Manningley.
Not a boy.
Donnie Bogeyman.
You're right in my book, coach.
It's a meet-and-match year too, he was down at Baltimore with the Blue Jays.
We went down.
Ryan Fuller is the hitting coach for Baltimore.
Left us tickets.
My son and I went down and we got him before the Tennessee George.
Pete Walker is the pitching coach for the Blue Jays.

(01:10:56):
And he introduced me to Don Manningley, which is a thrill.
Yeah.
I got to meet him once when my buddy cuts.
That's a feeler 50th home run.
He's still in great shape.
Yeah.
He's got to help us get him on the show.
All right.
We'll go Jason Giambi or Tino Martinez.
Tino.
Yeah.

(01:11:17):
All right.
Yeah, just the gamer.
Yeah, I just, I love the way that he competed.
Tino.
All right.
How about...
I like Giambi too, but I don't know.
I'll agree with your answer there.
How about this one?
So you got to get Aaron Judge or Juan Soto.
All right, Judge.

(01:11:38):
Easy for you.
All right.
Just because, no.
No, I think Soto might have him in a few years, but for what he's done as a Yankee,
I got to judge his leg height.
All right.
All right.
So this one should be easy then too.
I could do it without the teal chrome, but...
Brett Gardner or Jacoby Ellsbury.

(01:11:59):
Oh, Gardner.
Yeah.
All day.
After hearing you talk...
I guess he's pissed off about not getting the last year or whatever, but I loved his
fiery and loved the way that he competed.
I take him back.
Yeah.
All right.
Here's one for you.
Mike Stanton.
Remember old Mike Stanton, the lefty reliever?

(01:12:20):
Or Clay Holmes.
I thought you were saying John Carlin.
No.
Mike or yeah, Mike Stanton.
Stanton over Holmes.
Yeah.
All right.
Sucks.
There's a couple of blasts from the past.
Kevin Moss or Greg Bird.
Woof.
Same length careers.
Yeah.
You know what?

(01:12:41):
I was a kid when Moss came up.
He was like a matinee idol.
Everybody was in love with him.
He was good for the entire, right?
Cal Poly, I believe.
All right.
That's a little bit better then.
I'm going to go with Moss.
All right.
I'm going to make it a Stanton.
Is Ian Carlos Stanton or Danny Tartable?

(01:13:02):
Tartable.
I like it.
I like it too.
Stanton's a fraud.
He came up as a second baseman.
You don't have to, Coach, you don't have to say it, but Stanton's a fraud.
Like he doesn't.
He's a slow-tooth softball player.
Don't, he's editorializing.
All right.
So we help.
It gets a ball so hard.
It gets a ball so hard it's just not often enough.
Coach, I'm going to throw you one.
I am.
Coach, I'm going to throw you one.

(01:13:22):
Shohei Atani or Reggie Crawford.
What happened to him?
Right now, I guess I got to stay shohei right now after the game here that I played.
Reggie's on his way.
He's got a shoulder procedure coming up.
Hopefully this coming year will be his year.
What a stud though, huh?

(01:13:43):
Great kid too.
I mean, really, really good human being and stays in touch.
I'm real proud of him.
He's come a long way.
His brightest days are still out of him.
All right, Coach, one last one.
It's not a Yankee one, but I ask, this is for our younger listeners and since they're
both guys are absolutely terrific players.

(01:14:06):
Gunnar Henderson or Bobby Whit Jr.?
Oh, man.
Yeah.
I haven't seen enough of Whit Jr., to be honest with you.
I can't answer that one, but I love the way Henderson goes about his business.
Yeah, I haven't seen Whit enough.
I can't answer that one.
All right.
Best baseball player in your lifetime that you saw on TV or in person?

(01:14:31):
Oh, geez.
We usually have it down between Barry and Griffey Jr., but...
Best overall baseball player.
Yeah, how can you...
I mean...
Yeah, that's a fun one.

(01:14:52):
I could go a million different ways, oh shoot.
I mean, how about Nolan Ryan?
I don't know, maybe I'm partial to pitchers.
Yeah.
Just freaking dominant, but not enough...
He didn't strike out enough guys.
Yeah, I mean, just a man's man, like just...
I...

(01:15:12):
Man.
I think he threw a first pitch the other night, 82, by the way.
Did you see that?
Yeah.
No way.
Yeah.
I'll go with Bonds.
All right.
Last question.
No, I got one more.
Go ahead.
2004, Yukon, Men's Basketball or this year's team?

(01:15:33):
This year's team.
It could have been an NBA team.
I swear to God, I'd never seen anything like it.
I'd never seen anything like that.
It was automatic, and I know they never felt like that, which is what's so awesome about
it.
I'm on edge and just competing at such a high level.
It was just absolute dominance.

(01:15:54):
Coach, if we could supplant Aaron Blu and get you in a dugout for the next, hopefully,
month, who are you starting in left, Ferdugo or DeMarshan?
No comment.
Smart answer.
All right, coach, thanks for everything.
That's DeMarshan.

(01:16:15):
Hopefully we didn't keep you too long.
That was fun for us.
We had a good time.
Go Huskies, go Yanks.
Thank you so much.
Go C. Coach, thank you so much.
Thank you, fellas.
Appreciate it.
Have a good night.
Good night, coach.
Wow, that was awesome.
Thanks, coach.
You know, basketball gets all this love on both sides.
Hockey's up and coming, but our baseball program, it's tough.

(01:16:40):
Best way to describe it, it's tough for every year after year.
I love seeing that compete against these big, you know, southern teams, seeing the essentials
in the Yukon's playing, the Northeast teams playing in the...
That is awesome.
I could have done one out those Florida State players, Maltenov, though, you know, I mean,
hitting missiles in Maltenov, they were annoying as hell.

(01:17:03):
He put his money where his mouth is, though.
Remember, he said, we don't want to be known as a regional team?
We're a national team, and he's done it.
He could also jump ship like many people would do for the cash and said, yeah, go down south.
Yeah, go to the big school.
You gotta think he might become AD at some point, like pretty much the face of Yukon.

(01:17:24):
It's not a bad call.
All right, let's talk about the gridiron.
I mean, the boys are setting this up perfect.
We're gonna fly under the radar, and then, you know, we're playing an extra game now,
nowadays.
We're gonna step on it late.
The division sucks.
We're in last place right now, but I think the boys are in a good spot.

(01:17:47):
We got Zeke back.
Dowdle's waiting in the wings.
We got one of the best wideouts in the game.
Just gotta win 10 games in that division.
10 gets you.
I mean, nine, right?
Nine and eight.
10 gets you.
Nine and eight.
All right.
No, they're terrible.
Then I started to believe in the Saints, and then I thought we were gonna have a track

(01:18:10):
meet yesterday.
I mean, was it 14 and 12 or something like that?
15, 12.
Jesus.
I mean, I thought both teams would put up points.
The Eagles moved the ball up in the field.
They just, your coach won't let them score points.
You gotta go for it for everything.
Like, fourth down, we go for everything.

(01:18:30):
Fourth and sixth.
Let's go for it.
NFL is boring right now.
There's no big scoring teams.
Half the teams need a quarterback.
All the offensive numbers are way down.
Nobody plays in the preseason, so they won't get on track until like week six.
Like, the first month is awful.
Why do they even have a preseason so Rudy can make the team?
Yeah, that's basically what it is.

(01:18:51):
I think they're gonna go away with it at some point and probably add another game.
Which is stupid.
That's what they want.
These guys are dying now, too.
Yeah.
I mean, they gotta give some guys a shot to try.
I mean, the Giants, the guy, I heard him know his name as a Giants fan.
They got the defensive tackle who ran down, saw the preseason, he like ran 50 yards, made
a play, hustle play.

(01:19:13):
He's playing now and he made a couple sacks yesterday or something.
So Rudy.
Yeah, he's a Rudy.
Yeah, it's a small defensive lineman.
Ruediker.
There you go.
Right.
So gotta give some of these guys shots.
They're cheering for Rudy.
They do, but they gotta play.
The main guy's gotta play a couple games at least.
Yeah.
A couple drives.

(01:19:33):
They're gonna be the Eagles and the Chiefs.
I mean, oh, no, the Eagles, the Eagles aren't good enough.
They're, the conference sucks.
Yeah, but their coach is a problem.
They got really talented offensive players.
Detroit or San Fran if they ever get healthy.
Yeah, San Fran's gotta be their favorite.
They got a lot of, a lot of health issues.
Like you said, though, 17 games.

(01:19:55):
It's week three, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, Giants went 0-2 in one of the Super Bowl one year or so.
How about the Chiefs?
They're gonna be the Bills challenge them.
I'm actually surprised how good the Bills are.
I thought they'd take it, maybe a step back with losing digs and stuff there.
I mean, they're wiping Jacksonville out already.
They're gonna be three and all.
This guy's dynamic.
I'm rooting for the Bills.

(01:20:18):
They've been there.
They've been close.
I like to see them breakthrough.
Aren't you rooting for the Browns?
No, I'm already done.
You're a Browns fan.
No.
Believeland.
They got the highest payroll in the NFL.
They got one of the highest paid players in the NFL behind center.
He's awful.
They can't protect him.
He's got no weapons besides Cooper with the Joku out.

(01:20:41):
And you're not gonna see Chubb anytime soon.
Teams a disaster.
No.
There's any news on Chubb?
Well, he's definitely out for the first four.
I would be shocked if he's back before week eight.
They stink.
They're boring.
I was telling, I was saying to you, man, how bad is DeSean Watson?

(01:21:02):
He's back.
Oh, wow.
I thought at some point he'd get it back.
I mean, he's so good with Houston.
He was so good.
He's terrible.
He found a thousand bottles of baby oil.
Flacco played six games last year and five of those games he threw for over 300 yards.
DeSean Watson hasn't sniffed 300 yards in his Browns career.
Year three.
Yeah, he's, wow.
You see, like I watch every play.

(01:21:25):
He can't throw the ball.
Yeah.
He can't throw the ball.
It's just out of bounds.
Your boy, his best throw of the game was the first play he threw.
Yeah, it was a nice pass.
I don't think it's what was that.
They had 220 total yards.
I mean, it's not an NFL product there.
He hit a guy on the numbers late on the March.
He did.
He did.
But that's like that was that guy.

(01:21:46):
It was a Travis Benjamin lookalike.
Yeah.
Sedra Tillman.
He's like their fifth wide up.
They have five wide outs.
They had two.
Where's the Joker?
He got hurt.
Game one like he always does.
Bake.
He goes back to Bake.
He never plays a full season.
He's dynamic when he's out there, but he doesn't play enough.

(01:22:06):
Did Bake get that ball rolling?
He did that medicine ball against the Jets.
How about the three?
The Joker was never the same.
How about the three surprise three and O teams, the Steelers, the Vikings, and...
What is the other one?
KC's, Nenus.
Yeah, Seahawks.
Those are all surprises.
Yeah.
Seahawks haven't beaten anybody though.
They have significance.

(01:22:27):
Steelers are...
They're weird.
And coach opted for the young guy, which I love.
I hope he doesn't go back.
He's a great coach.
But you know what?
Was he roasting Russell Wilson or just trying to make peace by that game ball thing?
That was weird.
I don't know.
What are you alluding to there?
They beat the Seahawks, right?
Was it?

(01:22:47):
No, it wasn't the Seahawks.
No, the Broncos, who we played for last, right?
Is that who was?
They beat the Chargers last week.
They beat the Broncos.
Broncos won yesterday.
Week two?
Steelers?
Last week too.
Steelers did beat the Broncos.
I don't remember what week though.
Yeah.
So he gave a game ball to Russell to muscle and he didn't even play.
You think the Bears...

(01:23:08):
I know, it's only three games.
You think the Bears are kicking themselves?
They could have had Justin Fields and Marvin Harrison Jr.
No.
They could have drafted a stud wideout.
No.
No, I mean, I'm not a huge Caleb Bulletin fan, but the Fields can't really throw it
that well.
He's playing well enough because they don't give up any points or anything.

(01:23:28):
Yeah, there's a pun.
But Jay, if you're a Bears team, and I'm thinking about the good Bears teams, aren't
they going to end up being a run type of team anyway because of the wind and all that kind
of stuff leading the year and playoff time?
I don't know, there's not too many organizations that do that anymore.

(01:23:51):
I think Lottie's point was that maybe it wasn't, but if you get Swift and these other
guys going and then you got to run them back, who could do the same, you run them around
until he gets his...
They gave up a lot though for this game.
Yeah, you don't get number one to hand off.
Who, Fieldsy?
Not Fieldsy, but Caleb Williams.

(01:24:14):
I think we're saying get one of those two wideouts.
They mortgage their whole future for Caleb.
I mean, the neighbors on the wire.
They have no first round picks coming up.
Neighbors is really good.
He might be better in Harrison.
He's a player.
LSU's got to do a better job with receivers.
Bikes the question, why don't they win a little more?

(01:24:37):
Kelly.
Defense.
Right, Kelly.
Right, Kelly's never won anything.
He's...
Thanks.
Justin Jeffers is pretty good, and Jabar Chase.
They needed Joe Burlard.
He's got Bob Diakko on the staff there.
Is that true with the red pants?
Yeah.
What is his capacity?
He's a defensive...
Ball boy?

(01:24:57):
Is he like...
For like...
I don't know, they were yelling at each other if they lost week one.
He was going at Diakko.
Wow, that's a name I haven't heard in a long time.
I kind of don't want to hear it.
The guy just keeps popping up though.
I don't understand how the guy could do poorly and keep...
You kind of still paying him?
Oh, that's good question.

(01:25:18):
Anyway, we got a long...
It's a long season now with that extra game.
Good news is we get to watch it all those weeks.
Hopefully we run into some good games.
We're going to wrap it up tonight with a little segment.
We did Hoot Your Rather with Coach Penders.
We left off...
We did some players that wore jersey numbers in the 20s.

(01:25:43):
I think we went through them all.
I want to go through the first half of the 30s because there's some unbelievable players.
Anybody...
This thing is all over Twitter and Instagram.
Who comes to mind when you see this number?
So, number 30.
Any of the major sports, you can even include the stupid ones like soccer and hockey and

(01:26:04):
all that.
But you see number 30.
Who are you thinking of?
Oh, there's a few guys for me.
Go ahead.
Willie Randolph, because I was a kid.
I loved Willie.
I did.
Steph Curry right now.
Can shoot it.
I hate to...
Bernard King was the guy, right?
That was my guy, him.
Sorry.
And Lembias was going to wear 30 for the Celics.

(01:26:27):
No kidding.
34 in college, he was going to go 30.
Who was someone 34 for the Cs back then?
Kevin Gamble was around.
I think he was a little after that.
I don't know who he was supporting the time.
He peers for it after, but that was...
Then get after.

(01:26:48):
There's another Curry that wore number 30.
Yep.
Tell.
Right?
The old man.
Yeah.
Must be where I wears it, right?
The old man.
How about...
Steph wore it too.
Yeah.
How about Griffey's...
Oh, for the Reds.
For the Reds, yep.
Yep, he wore 30.
How about...
Nolan Ryan.
How about Touchdown Tyrell Davis?

(01:27:09):
Yep.
TV.
Who I drafted at the year after he went bananas and I think he broke his body in half in week
four.
I think I had to test the birdie ground in week one.
I did the Jamal Anderson.
I traded up on our fantasy draft to get Jamal Anderson to year after he scored 70 touchdowns.
He made it second week towards ACL.

(01:27:32):
The Cowboys on a Monday night.
Is he the dirty bird guy?
Yeah.
Oh, I have one I love, Brian Mitchell.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
I love the Medeagles.
He played, I think he ended up being the emergency quarterback.
Yep.
Body back game.
Yep.
He actually played a couple of passes.
He did.
Body back.

(01:27:52):
There was a lot of time left when he had to come in.
He was in a third quarter.
Nah, I think it was third quarter.
All right, guys.
Weird, weird number, but certainly there's enough guys we would know that wore it 31.
I got one right away.
I loved them when I was in middle school and I actually wore it on our JV High School basketball
team.
Pearl Washington.
You know, you know I loved the Pearl.

(01:28:16):
First what I thought of was Winfield.
I don't know, I'm just like right into my head.
Did Reigns wear 31 with the Yanks and the Expos?
I'm not sure about the Expos, but definitely in the pinch strikes.
I know he was 30 for the White Sacks.
He was 30.
I thought he was 30 for the X-Rolls, but I'm not positive.
Now you got me thinking.
And Calvin Chiraldi's not good enough to make the list, right?

(01:28:39):
I love that guy.
Oh, me too.
One of the best nights of my life.
And the other 31s?
Oh, man.
All right, we're going to do it.
Well, I didn't like them, but Maddox was 31.
Yeah.
Didn't like them, but I mean.
I didn't.
Clay Thompson.
He's 31?
No, he's 11.

(01:28:59):
He wore it with the Mavericks.
Oh, he's going to have it this year.
Greg Maddox is a good one.
Nice call.
Maddox, yeah.
Clay Thompson is going to be number three.
I think he's going to get the ball.
Oh, yeah.
Stand in the corner.
They're going to sign the honors next year, and that's going to be the team for the next
three or four years.

(01:29:20):
It ain't one and crap.
Are you kidding me?
No, Don Cic doesn't play defense.
I'm not going to have it.
I'm with you.
I'm with you.
Not happening until he gets there.
I'm with him.
He's about playing defense.
All right, number 32 is Kevin McHale.
There's a layup for me.
Jim Brown.
It's a layup.
Franco.
Jim Brown.
Who else?

(01:29:41):
Magic.
Oh, Jay Simpson.
Magic.
Not a Jim Brown.
You know what came to my mind 32 was Dr. J32 in the ABA.
Yes, he was with the Virginia Squires.
And for UMass.
And with the Nets, I think, too.
Yep.
How about UMass?
Yep.

(01:30:01):
Jim Brown.
Jim Brown.
Who else?
We got Jim Brown.
Come on.
Studio.
I wasn't listening.
Now comes Donovan Klingon.
That is.
Take it.
Dr. J32.
There's only one number 33.
How about Magic Johnson?

(01:30:22):
He wasn't bad, too, right?
He said it.
And you said it.
Not bad.
He was right on off names quickly.
What do you mean there's only one 33?
LB.
That's not even close.
I don't think so.
Remember a guy by the name of Touchdown Tony?
Or Seth?
Yeah, I said there's only one.

(01:30:43):
Yeah, he's.
Jabbar?
There's a legend.
There's a legend.
How about Shaq, the captain?
You can't pip it in easy.
Cream.
What are you talking about the captain?
This guy looking.
That's his nickname.
Oh.
Because you said Shaq, because I don't think Shaq was 33.
He was.
He's 32 at Orlando, 34 at the Lakers.

(01:31:07):
LSU.
Boom.
Yeah.
33.
Touchdown Tony.
Next.
No, there's more 33s.
I mean, that's a great sports number.
Sorry, I don't know.
What the yank?
Tony to Seth.
How about Ken Griffey, senior?
Was he 33?
Frank Robinson, 33?
Eddie Murray, 33?
Eddie Murray was.
Yeah.

(01:31:28):
Jason Veritech.
He was?
He had a C on his jersey.
He's going to go out to the mountain and talk to somebody?
Yeah.
Stand up and teach all the kids how to stand up to catch an O2 high fastball now?
Freakin' loser.
Hey, Rod, knock this block off.
All right, another unbelievable number for sports in every sport.

(01:31:54):
34.
All players.
The truth.
Jack, you mentioned Jack.
Jim Braxton was OG Simpsons, fullback.
He was 34.
Earl Campbell.
Walter Payton.
Yeah.
Hakeem Alajewan.
That's the last one, yeah.
The Astros version of Nolan Ryan.

(01:32:16):
Bryce Harper with the East.
What are they called down there in Washington?
The National.
That's.
34 is an absolute baller number.
You got to earn that one.
Barkley.
Who else?
Come on, Lottie.
I like your sweetness one, yep.
The Greek freak.
Oh, yeah.

(01:32:37):
Yannis, the next Maverick.
The Browns ever had a number 34?
35.
I was just thinking, was it Kevin Mack?
Kevin.
It was Kevin Mack.
Kevin Gamble.
Is he the one that burped it up or no?
Who was it?
Was it Bun?
He said it was Christ.
This guy, bringing up bad memories.
Was it Biner or Mack?
I don't know.

(01:32:58):
You know who did it.
Anyway, 35.
It was a bad handoff by Bernie.
I got to go Wilbur Montgomery for 31.
I'm totally thinking.
I'll tell you, 35, the first one that came to my mind was Regulus.
How about Mike Messina?
All a famer.
How about Lee Guderman?
Not a hall of fame.
Get out of here right now.
Lee Guderman.
Get out of here right now.
He was 35 with the Inks, right?

(01:33:20):
Yeah.
Lee Guderman.
Come on, man.
Point hours are bad times.
They were some really bad times.
How about 35's?
Calvin Hill was Calvin Hill 35?
Was it in the...
Wayne Thomas 35?
Calvin Hill was 33.
Dwayne Thomas, that is his name.
You were 35?

(01:33:43):
No way.
What size?
Eight.
What?
Best players to wear 35?
Did he chemoize you when you were 35 with the Progers?
Oh, he did.
You don't remember...
They used to wear 35 for away games and 34 for home games.
Is that what it was?
I didn't realize that.
I just remember 35 against NC State.
I got a feeling, right?

(01:34:05):
KD.
Yep.
Then he got cool and he went to single digits.
He got too cool.
What happened to him?
When he went to Golden State, I think he just said, F everybody.
He was sort of complaining.
I thought it was kind of a weakness, but he did it kind of because LeBron did it.
He was like, well, if LeBron is doing it, why can't I...

(01:34:27):
What was Cornbread Maxwell's number?
31.
31, yeah.
How about Rambus?
Was he 31 also?
I think he was.
It was a nice play by Mikhail.
I can't believe they called.
That was a nice call.
Common foul.
Should have made...
Should have had no home.
There was a bunch in this area.
Verlander, what was he, 34?
35.

(01:34:48):
35, Thomas.
There's the big hurt.
Oh, how about Bo Jackson?
We missed Bo Jackson.
Ricky.
Ricky was 24, though, with the...
He was 35.
Wow.
He was 35 when he opened the gate.
He was 35 as Rick.
Yeah.
What was he for us?
24.
On the bench.
Oh, knock it off.
Milk and a hamstring.

(01:35:09):
Jay went out there on the day after day.
Everybody, thanks for joining us on September 23rd, 2024.
Studio engineer Kevin Ross will have this thing out by September 24, 2024.
Jim Penders.
Hook C.
We're getting some momentum with Hook C.
Donovan Klingon.
Rashmell Jones.
Tom Moore.
Tom Moore.

(01:35:30):
Jim Penders.
Not to mention a member of the Horde on our own staff, the Commiss.
Thanks for stopping by, everybody.
Go, Cowboys.
It is almost time for the bunting to come out and Pyramid or Drive.
And that means nothing other than Yankee Playout Day is going to have a disappointment.
We'll see you next time.