August 28, 2025 • 17 mins
Former AL MVP Josh Donaldson recalls a story about teasing Billy Beane over contract extension talks in Oakland. The former Blue Jay praises Toronto fans in October and what that experience was like. He also teases AJ and Kratz about his elite pop times, and breaks down that decision to play third base over catcher. Finally, he talks about playing in Oakland/Sacramento, as well as the difficulties of playing in New York.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
We've got the bringer of brain.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Former MVP three time all start Josh Donaldson is where
it's good. You could carry the combo you were doing
right into this. Uh Aj thinks you should have made
a billion dollars in your career.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
That's exactly that, Josh think you should have made a billion.
I wish you would have made a bill.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
I wish I would have.
Speaker 5 (00:18):
I don't think that I should have, but it'd have
been a lot cooler if we did.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Real you were paid handsomely.
Speaker 5 (00:24):
Yes, Hey, I'm very grateful for microphone just came up.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
It's just your ear piece. You don't need your crowd
to ask you a question. I'll just tell you what
he says.
Speaker 6 (00:33):
I have a really good question for him too. I
have a really good question, Dad, because you're done playing now.
When you were in the locker room in Oakland, because
he did play in Oakland, not Sacramento, when your teammates
told me after you'd have like a you know, a
nice three for four game, two homer game, Billy Bean
would walk through the locker room and you'd go, should
(00:55):
have locked me up before. It's gonna cost you an
extra million?
Speaker 5 (00:58):
Now, I mean that's like a half truth, probably embellished
a little bit. It would probably be more along the
lines of not necessarily after a game. We probably had
that talk once or twice, like because I went up
to Billy a couple of times. Whenever I first h
was kind of breaking into the big leagues. I was like, Hey,
(01:20):
right now, I'll sign a five year deal for five
million dollars. He's like, now, oh, Josh, he goes, I
wouldn't do that to you. I'm like, well, why not,
Like I gotta.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
More than that, Josh.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
And then then it turned into like five years, Hey,
I'll do five for twenty five and now Josh, I
wouldn't do that to you. So then when I actually
started playing really well, when there was some talks happened,
I was like, you just cost yourself some money.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Why wouldn't they want to do that?
Speaker 5 (01:50):
You know? I mean, I think Billy at the end
of the day, he you know, he had his he
had his intentions in his plans. But I don't think
he probably took me as being too serious.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
No, not you.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
You would never say anything that was somebody couldn't take
too serious.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Salvi did a deal like that, you remember, sal like
a really really small one and then eventually they get
more extensions to kind of balance it out.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Yeah, but Longo signed before you even made it the
big Lees.
Speaker 5 (02:13):
Yeah. Yeah, they're doing that these days.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
That's cool. I wish that would have been cool if
they would have done that with me. It was cool. Cool.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Hey, are you following what the Blue Jays are up
too lately? They're trying to bring the mojo back.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:24):
I mean, it looks like they're playing pretty well. I mean,
I've been pretty busy with two kids and playing golf
a lot, so I don't get to watch it that often.
But they're playing really well from what I what I
can see. And uh, you know, obviously I cheer for
those guys in that organization. It meant a lot to me.
So it's all anytime they're doing well is a good
thing in my book.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
What would your advice be for a superstar on the
Blue Jays right now on what to expect for the
postseason environment. They're not that they haven't made the playoffs,
but this is different right now, they're probably gonna win
the division.
Speaker 5 (02:56):
Yeah, And I mean I think, you know, for the
last few years, I think they've kind of had those
expectations to probably try to take that next step and
win a division right and then do some damage in
the postseason, and that kind of hasn't went to fruition.
But this year it looks like things are in their
favor from what I hear, at least in what I
have seen, And I just know how on fire that
(03:18):
city gets for Toronto baseball, and really the entire country
of Canada is just massive Blue Jays fans. And I'm
excited for them and excited for the players because it
makes it very fun to come to the ballpark each
and every day when you have that type of support
from your fan base.
Speaker 6 (03:36):
All Right, Game one is obviously going to be Joe
Carter that's throwing out the first pitch, then probably Pat Hankin,
but they're asking Josh Donaldson to come out to throw
the first pitch for Game three? Do you do it?
And how electric would that stadium be if you come
out there?
Speaker 5 (03:55):
I haven't I haven't even thought about that. That's a
great question. I mean, I would definitely, first of all,
Bautista be ahead of you.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
No offense. Yeah, I mean I think Bautista be ahead
of Himkratz.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
I don't mean that rudely, but Bautista that he could
just walk out there, he just flipped.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
The bat and then the catcher would have to catch
the bat.
Speaker 5 (04:09):
Yeah, I mean I definitely think is up there for sure.
I mean Bautista, you know, obviously amazing player, great teammate
of mine and have huge years. I wouldn't I wouldn't
step on his toes of saying one way or the other.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
All right, I want to know this.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
You people don't know this about You played third base obviously,
but you were a catcher. Yeah, how different is your
life if you don't get out from behind the plate.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
I definitely wouldn't have had the career that I had
for as long as that I did. And you know,
not having to deal with pitchers all the time, I mean,
I mean nobody wants to do that. I mean it's
like having thirteen plus wives on the staff that you're
just constantly having a deal with emotions all the time.
Uh So, Yeah, the mental stress of that is enough
(04:58):
to probably keep you down, know, or to kind of
keep you humble to say, but you know, for me
to be able to move off to third base, it
was I was always an infielder growing up. I kind
of moved to catcher when I was in college out
of the necessity for our team because we lost two
catchers to the draft, and our coach came back because
I was messing around right before I went to the
(05:18):
summer ball and I was our catchers were throwing like
down to second base. I was like, that's it, Like
I would let me show you how to throw it
down the site, you know, just talking craft. And I
was throwing like one ace down the second base. And
I came back from playing short stop in the Alaska
League and our coaches said, hey, what do you think
about catching?
Speaker 4 (05:35):
And I was like, cratchy. He need me to cratchy.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
He's like the kid on certain websites that are throwing
one sevens out of nowhere. You know, there's no gear
on in front of home plate. They're like, watch me go, Well.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
You can actually check my h you could check my
footage and you could check my statistics. I threw it
like base runner.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
Oh here we go, here we go. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (05:57):
Look, you moved to third base, You got better hair,
you lost weight because you were fat when you first
came into the big leagues, and you got faster, Like
it worked out. You didn't throw one eight You weren't.
You were thrown out minor league dudes that had to
run like stop.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
Actually, Elvis, Elvis Andrews, I threw him out in the
big leagues, and I threw all Ian Kinsler in the
big leagues. Who's counting? I don't know, but I think
you can actually go and check those pop times. They're
pretty low. Go check him out. It would do you
some good to get a little bit of education because
the kid could sling it. Okay, they could sling it.
(06:36):
Wasn't always on target, but I could sling it down
there like.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Crats.
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Speaker 1 (07:36):
Make sure to use our URL so they know that
FT sent you. Get after it.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Hey, it's been a minute, not too long, right since
you called it a career. Yes, when you think about
the career now, best decision you made like one where
you look back to like that was the move? And
is there any decision you made that you regret? It
could be in any front a team you chose to
sign on with, a decision you made in a game, anything.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
Yeah, I mean, I think the best decision that I
probably made, h was whatever I went in twenty eleven.
I was kind of on the front of being like
what they quote unquote in baseball for a player, and
I played the last month of the season out of
(08:23):
necessity at third base because we had three catchers in
the minor leagues and Triple A and Triple A rosters
are normally pretty tight. You don't have that many position players.
I was like, hey, I'll go to third and go
play over there. And I played third for the last month,
played well, and then I thought that I was going
to get taken off the forty man roster just because
I was. It was I was already I've already burned
(08:44):
two what do they call them options? I burned two options.
I was like, look, I need to go show some
NL teams that I have some versatility. So I went
and played in the Dominican Republic and played third base
the entire time in for Esquhito and first day of
Major league camp, you know, unfortunately for Scott Sizemore, but
(09:05):
he blew out his knee and I was able to
kind of take that, you know, get an opportunity to
go over to third base. So that was probably the
best decision that I made, and the worst decision. I mean,
I'd probably be here all day. I mean yeah, I
mean I probably one of my worst of like where
I felt terrible moments. I remember we were actually in Toronto,
(09:28):
was with the A's and Darren Oliver had he was pitching.
I think he's like when he pitched like twenty years yeah,
and it was kind of like at the end for him,
and he took me a little cutter in and I
missed it. It was a hot day in the dome,
and you know how he used the glue sticks and
I went to slay my bat down and it flew
out towards the picture and I almost hit him. And
(09:50):
I felt terrible about that nice guy, I know, and
that's what everybody had told I felt even worse about it.
So I mean, hopefully if you're watching this, I'm sorry.
Still to this day.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
You mentioned the a you brought up to as day's
are no longer in Oakland. You played in Sacramento, Yes,
but they were Triple A and now they're still Triple A.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
But they're just the Giants, right, What was what?
Speaker 3 (10:13):
What do you feel about Oakland leaving Oakland and then
also playing in Sacramento where everyone said, oh, it's gonna
be so hot, they're gonna die on the field and
they're playing all night games and now they're like, oh,
it's been cool, so now we need to move to
day games more. What are your thoughts on the Oakland
Sacramento situation.
Speaker 5 (10:29):
I mean Oakland, I mean it was obviously that was
my roots coming up in the big League, so I
knew how passionate that fan base was about their team
and still probably are to this day. But you know,
at the end of the day, I mean, there is
it's a huge market and this thing is killing it. Yeah,
and so it is.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
It is.
Speaker 5 (10:51):
Kind of you feel like you're missing out on a
team who's just Oakland has so much history in the
game of baseball. But at the same time, sense like
the game's a business, right, so they're trying to make
better decisions for the organization. I don't necessarily agree with them,
but that's just kind of what it comes down to.
(11:11):
And in Sacramento when I was there, you know, they've
I've watched a few games there, they've made some big upgrades.
We had no batter's eye when I was there in Sacramento,
so guys that were throwing left handed to eighty four
miles an hour blowing it past you. So I was
kind of interested. Then I saw the batters. Oh cool,
when here comes you finally put a batter's eye, and
now guys are just hitting bombs everywhere. So when I
(11:34):
played there was very fair to slightly unfair. Now it
seems like it's a good hitters.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
Place, Yeah, for sure, for sure. And then.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
You played for the Twins, they went through the selling everybody,
you played for the Braves, You played for all these
different teams, which stop was your favorite? So I mean
you can't say Toronto, I'm taking Toronto.
Speaker 5 (11:53):
Yeah, Toronto would would be it. But I mean I
had a great time in Atlanta.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
People forgot who played for Cleveland.
Speaker 5 (11:58):
Cleveland was but I was there for a month and
they had already kind of wrapped up the division by
that time, and they were kind of easing me back
into it because I'd missed one hundred games for a
calf injury that year, and so I mean Cleveland was fun.
I mean I didn't kind of go into Cleveland feeling
like I was like a had a part for that
(12:19):
team winning. So it's kind of like, hey, I'm here
for the postseason and then we got Blitz three and
oh and it's like, well that didn't work out.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
That's great.
Speaker 5 (12:28):
So I would say probably Atlanta would probably be probably
the And I got to I grew up watching the Braves,
you know, being from the South and watching them play
pretty much every day. So I mean that was a
big of joy for me to be able to put
that uniform on everything.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
Same for me, I grew up a Braves fan.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
And now you had a famous incident one time about
sticky stuff and you hit a home run and yelled
at a picture about sticky stuff. Now they've been sticky stuff.
Do you think you'd be a better hitter now without
sticky stuff?
Speaker 5 (12:58):
I don't know. These guys are, they're pretty electric.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
I mean from some of.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
You know, I'm not like sitting here, I'm definitely not
the guy that sitting here like, oh man, hitting is
way easier now and before when I was playing. I'm like, no,
these guys are. It's electric. I mean I saw a guy,
just a clip of a guy who's pitching the fifth
inning for the Reds relievers two with like a ninety
hour slider. It's like the game's changed, guys. And I'm
(13:25):
sure if he went in that ten over there with
some of the older players, they say, oh man, they
can't hit today. Well, there's a reason why these guys
aren't hitting three hundred anymore is because the stuff that
is being thrown in there is exploding, and uh, you
don't really have. You have even less of a margin
today than what you did even.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Ten years ago.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
I remember when I was still playing, and I'm looking
at clips five years previous, and I'm like, I can't
even watch those videos anymore because the stuff's not the same.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
True.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I got one for you on the Yankees. So this
has been an up and down year for them. We
talk about them a lot on this show. Specifically related
to Iron Boone, I would say our show supports him
more than most do.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
What was your.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Experience like there, do you feel like it's incredibly different
to play in that environment versus anywhere else that that
you played right?
Speaker 5 (14:14):
Because yeah, I mean New York is extremely difficult to
play in, especially you know, especially for myself, Like I
didn't really play that well. So whenever you don't play
well in New York, you know, you know that you're
not playing well. You know, Yeah, they let you know it,
and you know it's it's playing for the Yankees. I'll
(14:34):
just say this, Every team hates the Yankees that you
play against, right, and so versus other teams, like when
else with the Blue Jays, like we'd go into town
and it wasn't like people hated I mean, well, we
were really good. People probably didn't like this because we
came in and played really well against them and they
were ready for us to leave. But the Yankees, they
(14:56):
just have such a history in the game of bay. Well,
they have the most fans in baseball. I mean, everybody
wants to talk about the Yankees, and rightfully so. I
mean they've They've have great players there and like the
history of itself, a big part of why baseball is
what it is today.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
All right, let's go. Let's let's go golf.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
First of all, do you win the best outfit or
the worst out because your matching match it's.
Speaker 5 (15:21):
All opinion, right, I mean I went for it.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
You did go for it.
Speaker 5 (15:24):
I went for it.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
I think it's work is working, thank you.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
So well, then there you go that I maybe maybe
it landed and my wife helped me pick it out,
so I can't take that's right, So you know, I
can't take full credit for but I wore it today,
and you know I didn't play I played okay today,
but I at least felt like I looked somewhat decently.
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
All right, By the way, your home course here, you
should win. You have home course advantage. Yes, the Clipper
beat Clipper beat you.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
A games going on, there's a game inside. John Smolt's commissioner,
and we've spoken him on this show multiple time. He
set not only am I trying to win the pro
but he goes, I'm trying to beat Josh Donnerson here first.
Speaker 5 (16:06):
Yeah he lost here today.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
You smashed him today.
Speaker 5 (16:08):
Yeah, I mean he had twenty nine points. I had
thirty four today. I'm not like I'm counting or anything,
but uh, you know, it's all fun.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Though.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
The biggest thing in probably eight could attest to this
as well. When you're out of the game, what you
missed the most is being in the clubhouse and the
banter with the boys and you know, you know, telling
stories and you know, just kind of being in the
boys club with all the guys. And then now this
a great event. Now you get to kind of intermingle
(16:39):
all the sports together, and you know, you get to
hear stories from their perspective, they get to hear our
kind of perspective on the stories. So it makes it
very entertainment. My head was literally hurting this morning because
I was we had a little meeting last night. Mccannon
had me laughing so hard my head was still. I
woke up this morning with I had a.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Headache, still a laughter headache.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
Oh my.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
I mean, he just cracks me up. Favorite teammates of
all time.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
He's amazing, all right, he's got a clubhouse vibe to
this whole event and experience.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Cool, awesome, Well, great to have you on.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Good luck both in the tournament and against multi personally, Like,
what what is it so you beat him in day one?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Are you doing total points against him?
Speaker 5 (17:18):
You have like a three individual every day?
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Got it?
Speaker 5 (17:22):
Okay, you five today?
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Boom, there you go.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Well JD.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Good to see him. I appreciate, good to see Thank you.
We've got the bringer of brain.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Former MVP three time all start Josh Donaldson is where
it's good. You could carry the combo you were doing
right into this. Uh Aj thinks you should have made
a billion dollars in your career.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
That's exactly that, Josh think you should have made a billion.
I wish you would have made a bill.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
I wish I would have.
Speaker 5 (00:18):
I don't think that I should have, but it'd have
been a lot cooler if we did.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Real you were paid handsomely.
Speaker 5 (00:24):
Yes, Hey, I'm very grateful for microphone just came up.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
It's just your ear piece. You don't need your crowd
to ask you a question. I'll just tell you what
he says.
Speaker 6 (00:33):
I have a really good question for him too. I
have a really good question, Dad, because you're done playing now.
When you were in the locker room in Oakland, because
he did play in Oakland, not Sacramento, when your teammates
told me after you'd have like a you know, a
nice three for four game, two homer game, Billy Bean
would walk through the locker room and you'd go, should
(00:55):
have locked me up before. It's gonna cost you an
extra million?
Speaker 5 (00:58):
Now, I mean that's like a half truth, probably embellished
a little bit. It would probably be more along the
lines of not necessarily after a game. We probably had
that talk once or twice, like because I went up
to Billy a couple of times. Whenever I first h
was kind of breaking into the big leagues. I was like, Hey,
(01:20):
right now, I'll sign a five year deal for five
million dollars. He's like, now, oh, Josh, he goes, I
wouldn't do that to you. I'm like, well, why not,
Like I gotta.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
More than that, Josh.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
And then then it turned into like five years, Hey,
I'll do five for twenty five and now Josh, I
wouldn't do that to you. So then when I actually
started playing really well, when there was some talks happened,
I was like, you just cost yourself some money.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Why wouldn't they want to do that?
Speaker 5 (01:50):
You know? I mean, I think Billy at the end
of the day, he you know, he had his he
had his intentions in his plans. But I don't think
he probably took me as being too serious.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
No, not you.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
You would never say anything that was somebody couldn't take
too serious.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Salvi did a deal like that, you remember, sal like
a really really small one and then eventually they get
more extensions to kind of balance it out.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Yeah, but Longo signed before you even made it the
big Lees.
Speaker 5 (02:13):
Yeah. Yeah, they're doing that these days.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
That's cool. I wish that would have been cool if
they would have done that with me. It was cool. Cool.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Hey, are you following what the Blue Jays are up
too lately? They're trying to bring the mojo back.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:24):
I mean, it looks like they're playing pretty well. I mean,
I've been pretty busy with two kids and playing golf
a lot, so I don't get to watch it that often.
But they're playing really well from what I what I
can see. And uh, you know, obviously I cheer for
those guys in that organization. It meant a lot to me.
So it's all anytime they're doing well is a good
thing in my book.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
What would your advice be for a superstar on the
Blue Jays right now on what to expect for the
postseason environment. They're not that they haven't made the playoffs,
but this is different right now, they're probably gonna win
the division.
Speaker 5 (02:56):
Yeah, And I mean I think, you know, for the
last few years, I think they've kind of had those
expectations to probably try to take that next step and
win a division right and then do some damage in
the postseason, and that kind of hasn't went to fruition.
But this year it looks like things are in their
favor from what I hear, at least in what I
have seen, And I just know how on fire that
(03:18):
city gets for Toronto baseball, and really the entire country
of Canada is just massive Blue Jays fans. And I'm
excited for them and excited for the players because it
makes it very fun to come to the ballpark each
and every day when you have that type of support
from your fan base.
Speaker 6 (03:36):
All Right, Game one is obviously going to be Joe
Carter that's throwing out the first pitch, then probably Pat Hankin,
but they're asking Josh Donaldson to come out to throw
the first pitch for Game three? Do you do it?
And how electric would that stadium be if you come
out there?
Speaker 5 (03:55):
I haven't I haven't even thought about that. That's a
great question. I mean, I would definitely, first of all,
Bautista be ahead of you.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
No offense. Yeah, I mean I think Bautista be ahead
of Himkratz.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
I don't mean that rudely, but Bautista that he could
just walk out there, he just flipped.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
The bat and then the catcher would have to catch
the bat.
Speaker 5 (04:09):
Yeah, I mean I definitely think is up there for sure.
I mean Bautista, you know, obviously amazing player, great teammate
of mine and have huge years. I wouldn't I wouldn't
step on his toes of saying one way or the other.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
All right, I want to know this.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
You people don't know this about You played third base obviously,
but you were a catcher. Yeah, how different is your
life if you don't get out from behind the plate.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
I definitely wouldn't have had the career that I had
for as long as that I did. And you know,
not having to deal with pitchers all the time, I mean,
I mean nobody wants to do that. I mean it's
like having thirteen plus wives on the staff that you're
just constantly having a deal with emotions all the time.
Uh So, Yeah, the mental stress of that is enough
(04:58):
to probably keep you down, know, or to kind of
keep you humble to say, but you know, for me
to be able to move off to third base, it
was I was always an infielder growing up. I kind
of moved to catcher when I was in college out
of the necessity for our team because we lost two
catchers to the draft, and our coach came back because
I was messing around right before I went to the
(05:18):
summer ball and I was our catchers were throwing like
down to second base. I was like, that's it, Like
I would let me show you how to throw it
down the site, you know, just talking craft. And I
was throwing like one ace down the second base. And
I came back from playing short stop in the Alaska
League and our coaches said, hey, what do you think
about catching?
Speaker 4 (05:35):
And I was like, cratchy. He need me to cratchy.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
He's like the kid on certain websites that are throwing
one sevens out of nowhere. You know, there's no gear
on in front of home plate. They're like, watch me go, Well.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
You can actually check my h you could check my
footage and you could check my statistics. I threw it
like base runner.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
Oh here we go, here we go. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (05:57):
Look, you moved to third base, You got better hair,
you lost weight because you were fat when you first
came into the big leagues, and you got faster, Like
it worked out. You didn't throw one eight You weren't.
You were thrown out minor league dudes that had to
run like stop.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
Actually, Elvis, Elvis Andrews, I threw him out in the
big leagues, and I threw all Ian Kinsler in the
big leagues. Who's counting? I don't know, but I think
you can actually go and check those pop times. They're
pretty low. Go check him out. It would do you
some good to get a little bit of education because
the kid could sling it. Okay, they could sling it.
(06:36):
Wasn't always on target, but I could sling it down
there like.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Crats.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
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Speaker 1 (07:36):
Make sure to use our URL so they know that
FT sent you. Get after it.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Hey, it's been a minute, not too long, right since
you called it a career. Yes, when you think about
the career now, best decision you made like one where
you look back to like that was the move? And
is there any decision you made that you regret? It
could be in any front a team you chose to
sign on with, a decision you made in a game, anything.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
Yeah, I mean, I think the best decision that I
probably made, h was whatever I went in twenty eleven.
I was kind of on the front of being like
what they quote unquote in baseball for a player, and
I played the last month of the season out of
(08:23):
necessity at third base because we had three catchers in
the minor leagues and Triple A and Triple A rosters
are normally pretty tight. You don't have that many position players.
I was like, hey, I'll go to third and go
play over there. And I played third for the last month,
played well, and then I thought that I was going
to get taken off the forty man roster just because
I was. It was I was already I've already burned
(08:44):
two what do they call them options? I burned two options.
I was like, look, I need to go show some
NL teams that I have some versatility. So I went
and played in the Dominican Republic and played third base
the entire time in for Esquhito and first day of
Major league camp, you know, unfortunately for Scott Sizemore, but
(09:05):
he blew out his knee and I was able to
kind of take that, you know, get an opportunity to
go over to third base. So that was probably the
best decision that I made, and the worst decision. I mean,
I'd probably be here all day. I mean yeah, I
mean I probably one of my worst of like where
I felt terrible moments. I remember we were actually in Toronto,
(09:28):
was with the A's and Darren Oliver had he was pitching.
I think he's like when he pitched like twenty years yeah,
and it was kind of like at the end for him,
and he took me a little cutter in and I
missed it. It was a hot day in the dome,
and you know how he used the glue sticks and
I went to slay my bat down and it flew
out towards the picture and I almost hit him. And
(09:50):
I felt terrible about that nice guy, I know, and
that's what everybody had told I felt even worse about it.
So I mean, hopefully if you're watching this, I'm sorry.
Still to this day.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
You mentioned the a you brought up to as day's
are no longer in Oakland. You played in Sacramento, Yes,
but they were Triple A and now they're still Triple A.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
But they're just the Giants, right, What was what?
Speaker 3 (10:13):
What do you feel about Oakland leaving Oakland and then
also playing in Sacramento where everyone said, oh, it's gonna
be so hot, they're gonna die on the field and
they're playing all night games and now they're like, oh,
it's been cool, so now we need to move to
day games more. What are your thoughts on the Oakland
Sacramento situation.
Speaker 5 (10:29):
I mean Oakland, I mean it was obviously that was
my roots coming up in the big League, so I
knew how passionate that fan base was about their team
and still probably are to this day. But you know,
at the end of the day, I mean, there is
it's a huge market and this thing is killing it. Yeah,
and so it is.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
It is.
Speaker 5 (10:51):
Kind of you feel like you're missing out on a
team who's just Oakland has so much history in the
game of baseball. But at the same time, sense like
the game's a business, right, so they're trying to make
better decisions for the organization. I don't necessarily agree with them,
but that's just kind of what it comes down to.
(11:11):
And in Sacramento when I was there, you know, they've
I've watched a few games there, they've made some big upgrades.
We had no batter's eye when I was there in Sacramento,
so guys that were throwing left handed to eighty four
miles an hour blowing it past you. So I was
kind of interested. Then I saw the batters. Oh cool,
when here comes you finally put a batter's eye, and
now guys are just hitting bombs everywhere. So when I
(11:34):
played there was very fair to slightly unfair. Now it
seems like it's a good hitters.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
Place, Yeah, for sure, for sure. And then.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
You played for the Twins, they went through the selling everybody,
you played for the Braves, You played for all these
different teams, which stop was your favorite? So I mean
you can't say Toronto, I'm taking Toronto.
Speaker 5 (11:53):
Yeah, Toronto would would be it. But I mean I
had a great time in Atlanta.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
People forgot who played for Cleveland.
Speaker 5 (11:58):
Cleveland was but I was there for a month and
they had already kind of wrapped up the division by
that time, and they were kind of easing me back
into it because I'd missed one hundred games for a
calf injury that year, and so I mean Cleveland was fun.
I mean I didn't kind of go into Cleveland feeling
like I was like a had a part for that
(12:19):
team winning. So it's kind of like, hey, I'm here
for the postseason and then we got Blitz three and
oh and it's like, well that didn't work out.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
That's great.
Speaker 5 (12:28):
So I would say probably Atlanta would probably be probably
the And I got to I grew up watching the Braves,
you know, being from the South and watching them play
pretty much every day. So I mean that was a
big of joy for me to be able to put
that uniform on everything.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
Same for me, I grew up a Braves fan.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
And now you had a famous incident one time about
sticky stuff and you hit a home run and yelled
at a picture about sticky stuff. Now they've been sticky stuff.
Do you think you'd be a better hitter now without
sticky stuff?
Speaker 5 (12:58):
I don't know. These guys are, they're pretty electric.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
I mean from some of.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
You know, I'm not like sitting here, I'm definitely not
the guy that sitting here like, oh man, hitting is
way easier now and before when I was playing. I'm like, no,
these guys are. It's electric. I mean I saw a guy,
just a clip of a guy who's pitching the fifth
inning for the Reds relievers two with like a ninety
hour slider. It's like the game's changed, guys. And I'm
(13:25):
sure if he went in that ten over there with
some of the older players, they say, oh man, they
can't hit today. Well, there's a reason why these guys
aren't hitting three hundred anymore is because the stuff that
is being thrown in there is exploding, and uh, you
don't really have. You have even less of a margin
today than what you did even.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Ten years ago.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
I remember when I was still playing, and I'm looking
at clips five years previous, and I'm like, I can't
even watch those videos anymore because the stuff's not the same.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
True.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I got one for you on the Yankees. So this
has been an up and down year for them. We
talk about them a lot on this show. Specifically related
to Iron Boone, I would say our show supports him
more than most do.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
What was your.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Experience like there, do you feel like it's incredibly different
to play in that environment versus anywhere else that that
you played right?
Speaker 5 (14:14):
Because yeah, I mean New York is extremely difficult to
play in, especially you know, especially for myself, Like I
didn't really play that well. So whenever you don't play
well in New York, you know, you know that you're
not playing well. You know, Yeah, they let you know it,
and you know it's it's playing for the Yankees. I'll
(14:34):
just say this, Every team hates the Yankees that you
play against, right, and so versus other teams, like when
else with the Blue Jays, like we'd go into town
and it wasn't like people hated I mean, well, we
were really good. People probably didn't like this because we
came in and played really well against them and they
were ready for us to leave. But the Yankees, they
(14:56):
just have such a history in the game of bay. Well,
they have the most fans in baseball. I mean, everybody
wants to talk about the Yankees, and rightfully so. I
mean they've They've have great players there and like the
history of itself, a big part of why baseball is
what it is today.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
All right, let's go. Let's let's go golf.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
First of all, do you win the best outfit or
the worst out because your matching match it's.
Speaker 5 (15:21):
All opinion, right, I mean I went for it.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
You did go for it.
Speaker 5 (15:24):
I went for it.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
I think it's work is working, thank you.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
So well, then there you go that I maybe maybe
it landed and my wife helped me pick it out,
so I can't take that's right, So you know, I
can't take full credit for but I wore it today,
and you know I didn't play I played okay today,
but I at least felt like I looked somewhat decently.
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
All right, By the way, your home course here, you
should win. You have home course advantage. Yes, the Clipper
beat Clipper beat you.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
A games going on, there's a game inside. John Smolt's commissioner,
and we've spoken him on this show multiple time. He
set not only am I trying to win the pro
but he goes, I'm trying to beat Josh Donnerson here first.
Speaker 5 (16:06):
Yeah he lost here today.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
You smashed him today.
Speaker 5 (16:08):
Yeah, I mean he had twenty nine points. I had
thirty four today. I'm not like I'm counting or anything,
but uh, you know, it's all fun.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Though.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
The biggest thing in probably eight could attest to this
as well. When you're out of the game, what you
missed the most is being in the clubhouse and the
banter with the boys and you know, you know, telling
stories and you know, just kind of being in the
boys club with all the guys. And then now this
a great event. Now you get to kind of intermingle
(16:39):
all the sports together, and you know, you get to
hear stories from their perspective, they get to hear our
kind of perspective on the stories. So it makes it
very entertainment. My head was literally hurting this morning because
I was we had a little meeting last night. Mccannon
had me laughing so hard my head was still. I
woke up this morning with I had a.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Headache, still a laughter headache.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
Oh my.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
I mean, he just cracks me up. Favorite teammates of
all time.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
He's amazing, all right, he's got a clubhouse vibe to
this whole event and experience.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Cool, awesome, Well, great to have you on.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Good luck both in the tournament and against multi personally, Like,
what what is it so you beat him in day one?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Are you doing total points against him?
Speaker 5 (17:18):
You have like a three individual every day?
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Got it?
Speaker 5 (17:22):
Okay, you five today?
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Boom, there you go.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Well JD.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Good to see him. I appreciate, good to see Thank you.
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