David Volk Reflects on Baseball's Impact Beyond the Game

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What if baseball could bridge generations, foster lifelong friendships, and offer solace during the most challenging times? Join us on "Hold My Cutter" as we sit down with David Volk, a passionate Pittsburgh Pirates fan living in San Francisco, to explore this very question. David invites us into his world, filled with cherished memories of attending Pirates games with his father and the sentimental memorabilia that keeps those memories alive. With stories that cover everything from family history to unexpected personal connections forged over America's favorite pastime, you'll learn how baseball has shaped and enriched David's life in ways beyond the game itself.

As we navigate through heartfelt moments, we uncover the profound impact of baseball as a bond that unites families and communities. Discover how David's act of gifting season tickets became a means of honoring his father's love for the game during trying times, and how philanthropy extended a supportive hand to families in need. From the electric atmosphere of unforgettable games to the joy of connecting with baseball legends, this episode captures the essence of community and the sentimental power of shared experiences that transcend generations.

The conversation takes a poignant turn as we reflect on the lessons learned through caregiving and the unyielding human spirit. With moving stories of love, loss, and resilience, we honor the legacy of individuals like Deb, whose journey with ALS inspired a community to rally together. Through David's lens, we see how baseball not only creates treasured memories but also serves as a beacon of hope and strength through life's adversities. Tune in for an exploration of how baseball's magic extends far beyond the field, touching lives and leaving an indelible mark on the heart.

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!!!!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
okay, welcome to another episode of hold my
cutter.
We're here at burn by rockypatel, just down the road from
pnc park, where our guest hasdecided that we would smoke the
white label.
I don't know why it's calledthe fort, but for whatever
reason michael mckenry hasnicknamed.
He's got a nickname for allthese sticks, all these cigars

(00:24):
that we smoke.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
You know, brownie, they say guys with big trucks
are overcompensating.
He comes in with a little cigar.
I'm just saying he's notovercompensating.
You're just saying, just sayingyou can make that what it is.
It's a confident man, a veryconfident man.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Some of our guests on Hold my Cutter receive gift
cards to David Allen Clothing.
Go to davidallenclothingcom.
Check out all that he has tooffer and some of the best
clothing in western Pennsylvania, right on Washington Road, in
Pittsburgh and Mount Lebanon.
David Allen Clothing.
Thank you to David Allen andthank you to our guests.
Speaking of David David Volkfrom San Francisco.

(00:58):
Normally our guests don't bringus gifts, but now we're
encouraging any guests and allthe way from San Francisco is
the Bordenavi's French bread.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
You know what I just said Baked yesterday, it's a big
piece of loaf, yes, it is, andyou'll be munching on that,
david Volk, from in, from SanFrancisco, just to be on the
show.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Now, david, you heard about Hold my Cutter and in
fact you were watching it oneday and you decided to give us a
call and see if you could be aguest.
You jumped on a flight just tobe here and you brought the
French bread, it all kind ofcame together.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
I was honored to be asked, so thank you for having
me here today.
I'm just glad to be with youguys.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Thanks for the loaf.
You can leave standing orders.
I'm back and forth.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
be with you guys.
Thanks for the loaf Two loaves.
You can leave standing orders.
I'm back and forth a lot so Ican probably bring one big
suitcase for whoever needs one.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Well, during the show you're going to—.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
I'll probably munch on it sometime.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Munch on it.
Okay, david Volk is just aninteresting story.
David Volk is a longtime Pirateseason ticket holder.
Of course, one of the thingsabout Hold my Cutter is it's
talking baseball, sports,western Pennsylvania, while
smoking a good stogie amongstfriends.
That's kind of what our themeis.
And David is a long-time pirateseason ticket holder but has

(02:16):
lived in San Francisco for howlong?

Speaker 3 (02:19):
Well, most recently for 30 years.
But I was born out inCalifornia, then moved all over
the country with my family.
My father was a naval officerand a Naval Academy grad, so we
moved around a lot until myparents divorced and that found
my sister and me out inCalifornia for the school year
and in Pittsburgh for theentirety of summer.
It's not a divorce custodyarrangement that would pass

(02:41):
muster nowadays, but they weremaking it up as they went along
and that was the deal.
We'd see my father and paternalrelatives once a year for the
entire summer.
So in Pittsburgh, out in Irwin,and so it lent itself to
becoming a huge Pirates fan inthe process.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
Well, your dad was a huge fan, of course, oh yeah,
and my grandfather worked at.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
National 2 for 40 years went in there in 19—.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
Were they all Volks, by the way?
V-o-l-k.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
Yes, and Granddad Volk went into National 2 about
McKeesport as a 14-year-old in1914, emerged as a 60-year-old
with a gold watch and a pensionand I adored him and he bought a
house out in the country hereferred to it in those days out
in Irwin and had his coupleacres and he loved it.
He's a very handy man and, youknow, just taught me how to fix

(03:24):
or do just about anything and sowe would spend the entirety of
summer with very loving, youknow, paternal grandparents and
aunts and uncles and cousins,and it was just a, it was, it
was just a idyllic situation andvery loving.
And then we'd go back to go toschool in California every year
but always looked forward tosummer and always kind of hated
to come back because it involvedschool and missing them.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
And your dad?
Did he bring you to your firstgame at Forbes?

Speaker 3 (03:51):
Field, at Forbes Field, and I can't recall my
first game, but I do recall onegame in particular, which was
1969, and it was bat day and Ibelieve it was against the
Padres.
Did you say bat day?
Bat day, yes, and I believe itwas against the padres and
they're in that day.
Bat day, yes, and and I Ibelieve it was against the
padres.
I have, I still have, thescorecards my dad hand scored
every game he ever attended.
so I have all those, you haveall those and I have the 1944 uh

(04:14):
all-star game you kept thescore also, which is which is
very rare, because there werepaper drives during second world
war and a lot of people threwthose in the paper drive to be
shredded.
And there's a hand-scoredall-star game Forbes Field 1944
scorebook that I have at home.
Anyway I'm sure that's going tobe worth something, but I guess

(04:35):
David Hunt expressed someinterest at one point, but it's
one of those things where itwould be the last thing I'd sell
.
It's my dad as a teenager, ohmy gosh.
But back to the Forbes Fieldgame that I recall so vividly.
That was 69.
I think it was against thePadres, but it was most
certainly bat day, and if youcan imagine today giving lethal
weapons to 30,000 people in aballpark Wait, wait, wait, they
get real bats, oh no.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
You're too young to know.
They did this up until I mean.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
Did they have a sword day by chance, and so my dad
was very much by the rules andhe, as we entered force field, I
remember he picked what lookedto be a short line, and I sussed
out that the reason the linewas long to the right or left of
us was because that was the boxthat had rc marked on it,
meaning roberto clementi,because it was too late for
rocky calavito at that point.
So I said, dad, can we go overthere?
Those are the clementi bats andsaid no, we picked this lane.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
We're sticking this line.
Son, you're going to learn Downthe road.
When you're on a podcast,you'll tell them.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
I ended up with the coveted Don Clendenin bat Don
with two N's.
I still have it.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
We used to play with it in the neighborhood.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
It's all beat up you to make out the Don Clendenin,
because those bats were secondsfrom Hillrich and Bradsby.
They would paint them yellowbecause they were kind of flawed
slugs that they would make intobats.
They called them bloom bats.
Yeah, right, right.
So anyway, that's the.
So, walking into Forbes Field,it was just the whole, the green
grass, the whole thing.
It was a shrine to baseball asfar as I'm concerned.

(06:00):
And then, so fun, got my bat,the, the.
Then the highlight became.
In 1970 we couldn't get ticketsto the first game at three river
stadium, which occurred, uh,july 16th, but we went to the
second game, which was the 17th,against the reds and, um,
remember just being in awe ofthis multi, you know, used

(06:20):
stadium and everything else anduh, so that began a tradition of
trying to see a couple games ayear.
It was always kind of an act ofCongress to get my dad or
granddad to go to a game,because you had to go downtown,
you had to park, all this stuff.
So most of my Pirates gameswere on the radio Bob Prince or,
if you guys recall you're notold enough, but you are there

(06:41):
was a game of the week period,full stop, one game for major
leagues, and I think it was onNBC, and when Pittsburgh was
playing they were blacked out.
But if you had the rightantenna on your roof, you could
get Johnstown and you couldbootleg the game out of
Johnstown, and so that was thewhole thing.
We had a big antenna, so youwere a bootlegger.
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (06:58):
It was popular.

Speaker 1 (06:59):
Give me my booty.

Speaker 3 (07:01):
Piracy of another time.
So anyway, that fostered anintense interest in the Pirates
that continued to this day andfast forward to going through
the ballparks.
I was lucky enough to go to the74 All-Star game with my dad,
and those were the quaint days.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
That was the River Stadium Right.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
There was no demand for.
So 74, we go to that game andthat involved sending a postcard
in to MLB to get tickets.
There was no scarcity, therewas no difficulty getting the
tickets.
So he took me then and then Ireciprocated in 94, because by
that time I was out working andthat was a pretty coveted game
and that set an all-timeattendance record for, I think,

(07:43):
a sporting event, but certainlya baseball game 59, 8 or
something like that.
They put in there for that 94all-star game that ended with uh
gwynn coming around after amoises aloo had knocked him
around this close pit the plateand that end of that game.
So but I was a grown-up at thatpoint I was able to take my dad
to the game after he'd taken methe game game in 74.
So came full circle and thenwas able to attend the 06 game

(08:05):
at PNC.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
I did not know.
You went to the 74 All-Stargame so you know, I'm growing up
in central Pennsylvania.
My dad took me once a year youwere in Mechanicsburg, in
Mechanicsburg he took me once ayear to one game because he was
in the coal business.
He was a lobbyist coal industryBring me.
He'd bring me to Pittsburgh,we'd hang out at the old Hilton
Hotel I would.
He paid like a bellman.
I don't know how much Tippedhim, mr Seminatory, I'll never

(08:29):
forget it, and he would go tomeetings all day.
My father went to meetings allday and here this little kid
running around the lobby of theHilton.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
Well, those are the days when nobody messed with
kids.
It was unbelievable we were allferal, we just, but it's so
true somebody can walk us to thecar and go have dinner that was
so wrong when I was a kid right, david, I'll never forget.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
Uh, so fanatical fan.
Now you know a kid and I'llnever get him calling me into
his home office at the house andhe was as unorganized as his
son is now and he had an officeorganized chaos oh, it was
mayhem.
This office just filled.
He had his typewriter, he was aspeech writer and and so he had
an office.
It's called Organized Chaos.
It was mayhem.
This office just filled.
He had his typewriter, he was aspeech writer and so he had
stuff all over the place andpapers everywhere.

(09:11):
But he called me, which youweren't supposed to go into,
even his home office.
He called me and he goes hey,what's that letter right there,
all these papers?
I pick it up and he goes lookat it, it's a PO box.
Up and said, look at it, it's aPO box.
He said I think that's fromThree River Stadium, isn't it?
I said what he goes, open it,open it Four tickets to the 1974
All-Star game.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
Like it was yesterday .
What did you do in that exact?

Speaker 1 (09:34):
moment, the elation beyond words.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
You just went to shock.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
Oh, incredible.

Speaker 3 (09:40):
Similarly when he produced those 74 tickets.
Just a lot of memories of thefew games we would go to forbes
field uh, I'm sorry, threerivers.
After the two games I witnessedat forbes field as a younger
kid but caught a lot of goodstuff at three rivers, including
luke walker took a no hitterinto the ninth inning and joe
ferguson, catcher for thedodgers, came up as a pinch

(10:02):
hitter and busted up with a homerun.
But we had such bad seats atThree Rivers that my
recollection is that home runwent to right field.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
And we were up in one of the perches where you
couldn't tell you lost the ballat a certain point.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
But pretty soon the rest of the crowd belied what
had happened and busted up LukeWalker's no-hitter to become a
one-hitter.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
So you only point to two games at forbes two games at
forbes, that I reckon okaythat's all I recall, but then
quite a few at uh, uh, threerivers.

Speaker 3 (10:31):
And then, um, fast forward to pnc's opening and my
dad became terminally ill inabout the year 2000 uh, with
lung cancer.
And when I heard about the newpark opening up, I was trying to
figure out some way to againthank him for this gift of
baseball for lack of a betterterm that he instilled in me, as
did my grandfather, and so Ibought him two seats behind home

(10:54):
plate, which included a meal,and he was on chemo and I
thought a variety of food and adistraction would be good for
him, knowing that he wasn'tgoing to make it.
But he attended about in twoseats.
I went to a couple with him buttwo so that he could take a
buddy to drive him and so forth,and that turned into a whole
thing where, if it was televised, I could spy on him and see how
he was doing.

(11:14):
And then the ushers and theservice people up in the home
plate club conspired to.
Every once in a while they'dcall me and say your dad had
kind of a rough night tonight orhe had a great night or
whatever.
So I had a bunch of spieskeeping an eye on him so it was
just a nice thing to share withhim.
And then I figured what do Ihave any business having season
tickets in Pittsburgh?
And then I kind of figured outhow to make it work.

(11:34):
And the tickets I don't use goto the Ronald McDonald House.
And if you're in the RonaldMcDonald House you have three
things going on You've got avery sick child, you're not from
around here and you probablydon't have the means to lease a
house while you're receivingcare, and sometimes these
multiple organ transplants willtake 18 months to get the kid
back in fighting shape to gethome.
So that became my charity ofchoice and it's a perfect outlet

(11:59):
for that.
And then I exchanged my ticketsso that I get mostly Sundays
for kids days and stuff likelike that.
Anyway, I made it work througha combination of attending some
games every year but also givingmost of them away.

Speaker 1 (12:09):
How many games a year now do you think you get to in
Pittsburgh from San Franciscothis year?

Speaker 3 (12:14):
was pent-up demand, because I had about a
two-and-a-half-year span where Ididn't go to any games, for
reasons we might get into later.

Speaker 1 (12:26):
But I try to get to about 10 a year, something like
that.
Um, we are.
We will get into that in amoment, but I want to go back to
the uh, the bat day.
Yeah, when you said, dad, let'sgo over to the clemente line,
do you remember, do you like allthe kids probably wanted to get
in the clemente line, right he?

Speaker 3 (12:39):
figured it out because the boxes had code
stamped on them and the rc.
Like I said, it wasn't gonna berocky col Colavino, it was
Roberto.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
Clemente, so you got the DC line and that's fine.

Speaker 3 (12:49):
My dad was very regimented, he was a naval
officer, so he gets it honestly.
And I get some of that too,where you just stick to your
plan and you follow through onit.
But it was still.
I was a little crestfallen whenI got the Don Clemente.

Speaker 1 (12:59):
You said you went to Second game ever in the history
of Three River Stadium in Julyof 1970 against the Reds the
Pirates, I think lost the firstgame.
Did they win that second game?
I think they won the second oneis my recollection.

Speaker 3 (13:09):
And then there was another side right there where I
have a tremendous aunt whoremains a huge Pirates fan and
she somehow finagled her waydown to the Reds exit and got my
idol Johnny Bench's autograph.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
Wow, I have that in my house.
That was presented to me.

Speaker 3 (13:27):
If I could digress quickly, a little tip of the cap
to Steve Blass, our mutualfriend.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
You might have heard of him.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
I don't know him Mildly, funny story.

Speaker 1 (13:38):
There's nothing mildly funny when it comes to
Steve Blass.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
That's why he's here.
That's why Joe Boo's here.

Speaker 3 (13:43):
In the late 60s.
That's why he's here.
That's why Joe Boo's here.
In the late 60s, another auntand her husband were living in
Swissvale in an apartmentbuilding that Steve and Karen
Blass were living in what?
In the early days of his.
So this might have been 67, 68,you know, something like maybe
69.
But at some point they allattended a dinner party or a
cookout in the parking lot orwhatever.
It was very loose, loose and itwas, you know, young couples

(14:11):
and so forth.
So my aunt sent me a to davidbest wishes, steve blasts
autograph and it was the firstautograph I'd ever received
because that predated the johnnybench one, you know, when three
rivers opened.
So I created this little shrineand a bookcase and everything
else and had you know thing andI described it to steve in later
years and uh, he said, well,clearly it wasn't.
You know, it needed to be on amarble pedestal, it needed to be
lit better and so forth, so hewas a little disappointed, I
didn't pay more homage to it.
But fast forward to 71 and theGiants lost to the Pirates,

(14:37):
which allowed the Pirates toadvance to the World Series.
And I was going to school inOctober in California, in San
Francisco.
So if I hadn't been tall Iwould have gotten a terrible
beatdown at school for myPirates beat because I was very
vocal about my I love thePirates and all things.
So they left me alone becausethey didn't want any problems.
So fast forward to Steve'sexemplary two complete game wins

(15:00):
in the series.
So there I am, an 11-year-old,I'm collecting baseball cards
like a maniac.
I have this guy's autograph onmy shelf Only autograph, you
know that.
And the Johnny Betts there weretwo of them, wow.
And so then fast forward to youknow the punchline, which is,
if you'd ever told me in thatmoment, when I'm, you know,
elated that my Pirates won theWorld Series against the heavily

(15:20):
favored, you know, 420 gamewinner Orioles, that I would
meet this man, let alone counthim among my friends, I would
have said there's no way thathappens in the world.
But here we are and I'm I'mfortunate enough to know Steve
and you and others who I justthought these were all sort of
deities who you never got tomeet.
You just got to admire them andwatch them play a game that I
love, and and so it all kind ofcame full circle.

Speaker 1 (15:41):
We talk about this a lot, michael McHenry and I.
The ties that bind whatbaseball has done through the
generations.
Just the perfect story aboutthat, how it's passed down from
generations.
Right, and here you are andyou're going to these games.
You're meeting people likeSteve, who's become a good
friend of yours.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
Can I throw out some elephant in the room?
Why San Francisco?

Speaker 3 (16:03):
Because my parents, when they divorced my mother,
had hailed from California.
My dad was a Pittsburgher, sothe deal was, my mom went home
after they divorced, and so thatwas when I was eight and my
sister was five, and you know,again, very loving, it was one
of the most amicable divorcesI've ever witnessed, because
they never spoke ill of eachother.
The whole objective, I think,was to help raise these kids in

(16:26):
a loving setup.
We weren't spoiled, but we were, you know well, uh, cared for
and, um, it really wasn't aterrible situation.
I mean, the fact that both yourparents were sort of instantly
happier was better than thediscord that occurred.
So, anyway, that that's how allthat came about and then you're
still there.
Well, pretty much I'm all overthe place.

(16:47):
My work is in Chicago and thenI try to get back here as much
as possible.
But up until about a year and ahalf ago I moved back here to
care for my ill girlfriend, andshe's since passed.
But I just decided to sort ofleave my house and I'm still
catching up on my house, becauseyou can't really leave a house
for three years but I did it,and so I came out here to take
care of her, and so I've kind oflived in a bunch of places, but

(17:10):
I still get my mail in SanFrancisco, so that's a good way
to describe it.

Speaker 1 (17:13):
David, was it Blass who told you about beer sales at
Forbes Field?
You were too young to havedecided to partake.

Speaker 3 (17:22):
I learned it belatedly, but my accounting of
this and somebody can quicklydisabuse me of this, but my
understanding is, Forbes Fieldnever had beer vending or beer
sales of any type, but therewere many taverns around where
you could carry it in and Idon't think you had to sneak it
in there's a BYOB, yes.
My understanding is, if youwanted to bring a six-pack of
beer in that you'd bought at thetavern across the street.

(17:44):
That was fine.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
That's a college party nowadays, Right?

Speaker 3 (17:47):
right.
I'm not sure anybody rolled akeg in.
Maybe somebody did, Probably,but no, I think that that was
the way it went.
I mean, I know there were nobeer sales but I think it was
okay to bring your own.
But you can check that out withBlast, Because somebody said
they made a reference to.
You know, extra inning games.
There's almost beer floodingdown the stairs from people
spilling it.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
Yeah, I have heard that.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
Yeah, there's no cutoff if you bring it in
yourself.

Speaker 1 (18:09):
Yeah, that's true.
That's a good point.
There's no analysis, no moreyeah, exactly no more beer.

Speaker 3 (18:16):
They actually let people on the field to watch the
game too, right Way deep oh,way back when, oh, originally,
yeah, yeah, there was nooutfield fences, so the people's
there was like a rope line,yeah.
And then there are alsopictures of Exposition Park
where they did it that way too.
It was just like a cow pasturewhere they kind of roughly
demarked the outfield.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
I don't know why I kind of wouldn't mind that
coming back.

Speaker 1 (18:36):
The great thing about it is like you could just keep
running and the outf had to runa jump over the rope and then
scramble through the crowd tofind the baseball.

Speaker 2 (18:44):
But it was a magical place.

Speaker 3 (18:47):
And the way that the first base and I assume the
third base too, but the firstbase field boxes kind of jutted
out toward the first baselinesuch that if Clemente or any
right fielder dug something outthat was rattling around in the
corner down there, the throat ofthe plate would go over some of
the people's heads.
It was really interesting.
And there was never a no-hitterpitched in Forbes Field.

(19:10):
That was another thing becauseit had so much foul territory
and it was just cavernous.
And then there's the wholething of the last three home
runs that Babe Ruth hit as abrave, I want to say because
that's late in the game.
He hit them at Forbes Field andone of them cleared the roof on
the right field and the roofwas like starge Alaskan terms.
In order to get it over theroof it had to be.

(19:31):
Just they're still looking forthat ball.

Speaker 2 (19:33):
And that's probably when he had a pinch runner too.
He was a lot older then, rightthe Babe.

Speaker 1 (19:37):
Yeah, probably, but I think he was able to trot
around the base three timesthere's a waddle A waddle.

Speaker 3 (19:44):
Sorry for that digression.
No, no, that's great.

Speaker 1 (19:45):
That's the whole point of it is to talk about
memories and I was going to askyou about.
You mentioned a couple of games, but is there one baseball
moment?
You attended a game?
It could have been in the lastfew years.

Speaker 3 (20:03):
Well, I think the most exciting, visceral,
impossible to describe or dovirtue to on a video, was 2013,
in the blackout that rivals, Imean and, for example, I
witnessed in person a lot ofpeople say they were there, but
a million people say they werethere and they weren't but the
famous play between Cal andStanford where they did five
rugby passes.

Speaker 1 (20:21):
Wow, you were there.

Speaker 3 (20:22):
And that was very exciting, but nothing at all
compared to the blackout.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
Wildcard game.

Speaker 3 (20:30):
I've never been part of that much humanity that was
in such an agitated, excited,ebullient state.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
It was like a Roman Colosseum.
If I could imagine what thatwas like.

Speaker 3 (20:40):
Obviously they're fighting to the death, it felt
like our life was on the line.

Speaker 2 (20:48):
And then Kutch's mom doing the anthem.

Speaker 3 (20:49):
The whole thing just coalesced and it was, it was.
You know they nailed it.
Yeah, it was, it was incredible.
So I'd say that was probably it.
But but many, many, I mean thatthat 94 all-star game was
exciting, because here I am, I'mtaking my dad to a game and
great ending national leaguewins.
You know, that's just, youcan't script that.
And they unveiled the clementistatue at that all-star.
That's right.
That's the other littlefootnote there.

Speaker 1 (21:07):
So anyway, you've talked about the people that
you've been able to meet.
Do you become good friends withscott bonnet?
It was longtime clubhousemanager.
Oh yeah, aka, he's bones.

Speaker 3 (21:16):
I mean, he's the best he's.
I count him as one of my verybest buddies and um I was
honored to be in his wedding andhe's a great human, isn't he?
Yeah, no, absolutely.
He's the real deal in allrespects.
I would do anything for him andI know he'd do anything for me.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
And you've met others , not only in uniform, out of
uniform, including Bones.
But what about, aside fromBlass, other people,
acquaintances?

Speaker 3 (21:43):
well, another, another uh sort of uh
overlapping, uh diagram is I gotto meet maz at fantasy camp and
so the way I got to meet bonesis through fantasy camp.

Speaker 2 (21:52):
Okay wait, wait, wait .
I don't see a fantasy camp.
Where are you at?

Speaker 3 (21:57):
you're coming back well, I did my 10, I got, I got
I.
Okay, I did I.
I got my 10, I I I'm.
I guess I'm in the hall of fameby virtue 10 years although
campers, in fairness, don'trefer to it as the hall of Fame
or a ten-year guy, they refer toit as the $35,000 club.
You got a way to play itBecause that's what it costs
over those years, but no, soback to the Mavs thing.

Speaker 2 (22:22):
Hey, see, he avoided my question.

Speaker 3 (22:23):
Yeah, he did.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
I'm recruiting.
I'm trying to win achampionship.
He's trying to win achampionship here.

Speaker 3 (22:27):
I'll catch for you, I caught every inning of every
game for my team and I willstill do that Wow.

Speaker 1 (22:32):
I'll be in worse shape.

Speaker 3 (22:33):
You'll have to put me on an ibuprofen drip.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
My first year there.
We had an 80-year-old catcher.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
He turned 80, caught every game.
Well, to have fantasy camperscome into it.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
It sounds like you might work a deal out here,
McHenry pay.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
I'm going to tell Blass who's in charge of this
whole thing.

Speaker 2 (22:48):
No, it's NIL NIL.
Yeah, I know, I know we have abudget.
Hold my cutter Volk has beenrecruited.
Hold my cutter.

Speaker 1 (22:57):
Boy you talk about money laundering.

Speaker 3 (23:05):
This is bad, so I'll be back for one or two, okay
cool.
And one thing it's such a greatthing.
This is not a plug for FantasyCamp, it's a sincere endorsement
.
I've made such amazing friendsas a function of being there
that there are times when I willgo down there mid-Fantasy Camp
and just to socialize with mybuddies in their room at Pirate
City.

(23:25):
Oh, how cool is that, we'll filla bathtub full of beer and we
have the fun just great funnytimes, and so that's the kind of
bond that we've created, and wehave a text string where six or
seven of us, every couple ofdays, we'll ping each other on
something.
It's not limited to baseball,it can be popular culture,
whatever, but it has this weirdunwritten set of ground rules
where you kind of know what youcan and can't say on this thing

(23:48):
and you keep it to a minimum.
But sometimes you'll be havinga terrible day and you get one
of those texts and your dayturns around instantly.

Speaker 1 (23:55):
That is so neat.

Speaker 3 (23:56):
Or some baseball trivia or whatever.
So back to the meeting people,the Mavs.
Thank you for sharing that no no, I appreciate that, but it's
great, but it's great.
And then I'll circle back tofantasy camp in a minute because
I want to acknowledge something.
But the Maz thing, to yourpoint of who have I met.
It was just a dream come trueto meet Maz.
One by and of himself, he's oneof the great human beings ever

(24:17):
put on the planet, On top of allhis legendary feats and fame in
Pittsburgh.
But, more importantly, my dad,Maz, was inducted into the Hall
of Fame in the 01 class.
My dad said to me, knowing hewasn't going to make it, he died
in August of 01, he turned tome one day and he said you know,

(24:39):
I feel better knowing that Mazgot into the Hall of Fame.
It meant something to himbecause Maz was one of his very
favorite players and he viewedthat as one of the great
injustices of all time that hehad to go in because nelly
bryles is almost single-handedlyresponsible for lobbying for
maz to come in under theveterans mechanic yeah um, and

(24:59):
and the shorthand reason for mazbeing overlooked.
I had always heard, as thebaseball writers are
predominated by New York writersand New York never got over
that.
You know the vaunted Yankeesbeing beaten by this second
baseman from some.
You know city that many peoplehave never been to.
I'm sure it's more to it thanthat.
But Maz deserves to be in theHall of Fame by any objective

(25:22):
measure.
And so anyway.
But my dad, it was reallytouching when he said, the gist
of which was I can die a happyman knowing Mazeroski finally
got into the hall of fame and Itold Maz that in a, in a quiet
moment, and he gets all sorts ofadulation and I didn't expect
it to register, but he said thatmeans a lot to me.
He said the fact that somebodypicked me as their guy and then

(25:43):
I was able to make good on knowgetting in the hall of fame, it
means something to me becauseyou know what a, what a blubber
fest it was when he did hisacceptance.
He was, he's one of the mostmodest yes incredibly gifted
people.
His hand-eye coordination is isunrivaled.
I mean, maybe jack wilsonrivals it because he can bowl
from both sides.
But but maz is an amazing, youknow, physical specimen in terms
of his abilities, but one ofmost modest, normal people you'd

(26:06):
ever want to meet.
And so, anyway, that's thedad-mas story.
That's amazing, and there aremany others and I'm probably
missing somebody, and I'm sorryif there's somebody that feels
like why didn't you mention myname?
Well, you've got a new friendin me.
The good news is well, thanks,mike, I appreciate that, and we

(26:33):
have a whole catcher thingcomments.
Oh yeah, I have immense respectfor that.
But um, no, back to fantasygame.

Speaker 2 (26:37):
It's one thing I wanted to mention very quickly,
which is um we lost at a verytender age and at least when I'm
64 60 is a tender age.

Speaker 3 (26:40):
Um chad bowers was a yeah, a hall of fame guy.

Speaker 2 (26:41):
There was no kinder thoughtful I don't know if he
could not not smile, oh no hewas just a great, great person
and, again, weird baseballintersections.

Speaker 3 (26:50):
But he died at the Stargell Foundation weekend in
Wilmington, north Carolina, andhe got the exit he deserved in
that he was at a cocktail partyand he crumpled and he was gone.
There was no, you know, hangingon for two days or whatever.
But we as a fantasy camp, ifyou want to call it community or
brotherhood or whatever youwant to call it, because there
are women there too, so it's amisnomer.

(27:10):
But the, the family, fantasycamp family, that that one hit
hard because gone way too soon,60 years old, um, he had season
tickets, I think just aboutevery franchise in town was
incredibly generous on allfronts, he was a philanthropic
guy, he was a kind guy.
So anyway, all that, by the way, saying here's to chad we miss
you and love you and you knowgodspeed again talk about the,
the relationships that aredeveloped.

Speaker 1 (27:33):
It's just a, it's an odd.

Speaker 3 (27:34):
It's an odd thing but it's really lasting and, and
you know, it's incredible whatbaseball has done with the
pirates and we're so lucky youknow not, I'm not just saying
this just because michael's here, but but I think, pitt, think
Pittsburgh would stack upagainst anybody in terms of
veteran involvement, verysignificant veteran involvement,
like have you ever told me thata Mazeroski, or whoever you

(27:55):
want to name a Candelaria justrattle off any number of names
of guys you watched as a kidwould be there and trying to
teach you things?
A Manny Sangian, you know, Igrew up loving Manny and he
taught me a great little trickwhich is and he said it's
perfectly legal, but nobodythinks about this.
But his whole thing was if hecaught a ball for a play at the
plate, it wasn't in his mitt,secured by his meat hand, it was

(28:19):
in his meat hand, in the glove.
So if he got knocked ass overtea kettle, he probably still
had that ball in his hand.
It didn't squirt out of the endof the glove.

Speaker 2 (28:27):
Yeah, you're leaving a lot of room for error Now
maybe that's common practiceamongst you guys.
It's different now, becausethey want you to avoid contact.

Speaker 3 (28:34):
Well that's a whole different thing.

Speaker 2 (28:35):
I'm an old school guy and I actually tried to create
contact, depending on where thehop would take me because it was
kind of that gray area.
But going back to Manny, he wasa guy that would jump in in
spring training when we weren'ttrying to create contact.
This was way before the rulewhen Buster Posey got hit, but
he'd jump in in the middle ofspring training and start
showing us he could barely move.
But that passion, thatenthusiasm, it was just

(28:58):
absolutely contagious.

Speaker 3 (28:58):
And he's one of the amazing people too, in terms of
he'd give you the shirt off hisback.
He's a deeply faithful man andhe's just a fine person.

Speaker 2 (29:05):
We should call that sourdough.
The man against the man.

Speaker 3 (29:12):
Which reminds me of a Steve Blass joke we can't get
into.
Anyway, I apologize if I'mmissing somebody.
I hope we get to him at somepoint in this.
But I just am honored andflattered and very lucky to have
met the men I've met, many ofwhom are my heroes.
It's been an amazing life and Ioften tell people I started

(29:32):
doing this, going through thismental process, maybe 10 years
ago, as I started to lose somepeople in my life and I can,
honest to God, say that if Iwalk out there and get hit by a
bus or, you know, have a cardiacarrest, that I did not get
cheated in life at all.
I've been exposed so manykindnesses and so many lucky
breaks and so many justtremendous experiences that I

(29:56):
didn't get shorted in any aspectof life.
You also paid it forward.

Speaker 1 (29:59):
Well, it wasn't by luck either, because he's such a
good, good human being.
What is luck anyway?
That's right, luck is theresidue of design.
One of my favorite sayings hasalways been.

Speaker 3 (30:06):
It's attributed to Louis Pasteur, but it what is
luck anyway?
Well, talk about the effort andwhat you did for your
girlfriend Deb who you lost toALS April 11, 2023.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
You decided that it was going to be up to you to
take care of her.
You left California and youcame to Pittsburgh.

Speaker 2 (30:44):
How did you guys meet ?

Speaker 3 (30:45):
first.
Well, that's a great story.
So thank you for thatacknowledgement, Brownie, and I
wish I could still be takingcare of her.
She was an amazing person, isan amazing person in my mind
because I think of her every day.
But no, so the way we met getsback to baseball too, michael.
So we have a.
In fact he was a guest on yourshow, mike Fetchko, who's a

(31:05):
character, and so Mike Fetchkoand I befriended each other.
I think what happened there wasa Western Pennsylvania
fundraiser dinner with Maz asthe honoree.
This was before I knew Maz, butKevin McClatchy, who I'm a
friend with through a wholeother California thing, but

(31:25):
basically got to know him fromPNC opening on, and Kevin's been
nothing but great to me throughthe years, as has been his June
his assistant, who remains hisassistant she's a great lady,
and she's been great to me too.
So Mike was the emcee, or atleast on the dais, of that event
it was a big thing at maybe theDoubletree or whatever, and

(31:47):
they gave away prints of Maz'shome run run around the base or
whatever.
It's an artist who's local andforgive me for not remembering
his name, but every attendee atthis rubber chicken dinner
fundraiser got this poster and atube.
So I'm in line at US Air to flyhome to San Francisco the next
day and I see a guy in front ofme with a poster tube and I said

(32:09):
hey, you must have gone todinner last night.
Unmistakable, had like a yellowcap on or whatever he turns
around.
I said you not only went to thedinner, you were up on the dais
.
I said you know David Volk, I'mMike Fetchko and so so this was
you know, whatever it was, oh,two or three or whatever.
So Mike said I lease space fromthe pirates on the federal

(32:33):
street side, like where ARA hastheir offices and stuff like
that.
Mike used to have an officebecause he packaged you know
what he does from prior showsvery gifted guy and knows a
million people.
So he said I have an office.
He said you must feel likeyou're at odds when you're on
the road all the time.
If you ever want to just havean office, have an assistant,
get a letter printed out,whatever, use the phones Just

(32:54):
very open invitation and verykind of him to do.
And I took him up on it and becareful what you ask for.
And so I would camp out therebefore games or whatever.
And that became a greatfriendship.
But then fast forward to.
I took Mike.
This is after my dad's gone andI don't recall the exact year,

(33:15):
but I took Mike to a ball gamein the same seats that I kept
through these years and Mike atsome point sees a gaggle of
women across the room andamongst them sees a woman that
he needs to talk to about abusiness thing.
It's, it's as simple as that.
It's just like oh, there aresome women, let's go talk to him
.
It was a come over here for aminute.
I got to say something to thiswoman.
So he goes over there and we hi, hi, hi hi, we're all saying

(33:38):
hello, and then he's talking tothe woman on the side and all of
a sudden he looks at Deb andlooks at me and he says you're
both single, right.
And before we could answer.
He said you two need to talk.
So there was no premeditation.
There was no.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
He's just like that he just raps.

Speaker 3 (33:57):
So Deb and I started to talk and we just kind of
instantly hit it off and forquite a long period we were just
friends who would get togetherwhen I came to Pittsburgh or if
I had some dinner to go to orwhatever.
She was great, she was knownaround town, she knew a bunch of
people and she was just a greatcompanion.
And then much later we gotromantically involved.
But that's why I blame Fetchkoand also the other extenuating

(34:18):
circumstance is Deb was not abaseball girl, she was a big
Steelers girl.
So the fact that she was at abaseball game was a really rare
bird.
It was girls' night out and shemight have gone to one Pirates
game every three years.
So that was dumb luck.
And then the fact that my buddyFetchko decides to be a
smartass was great.
And then it all kind of wentfrom there.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
I think that comes naturally.
It all kind of went from there.

Speaker 3 (34:38):
But then I would invite Deb to games when I'd
come to town.
I'd say you want to go to a?
And she, very quickly she wasno dummy, she was a very, very
smart woman and she quicklylearned baseball.
But at some point she saidwe've gone to six or seven games
, we've done other things.
But she said can we dosomething other than go to a
baseball game when you're intown?
So I got the memo at that point.

(35:01):
We started to do some otherstuff and she took me to some
Steeler games and stuff likethat, because her family had
some seats forever at theSteelers, anyway, but that's how
that happened.
So again, I blame baseball formeeting the greatest woman I've
ever had the honor of being withand I look at it as, for all
intents and purposes, we weremarried because as soon as she

(35:21):
got sick, I said I'm here, I'mnot going anywhere, and it's a
dreadful disease.
I'm here, I'm not goinganywhere, and it's a dreadful
disease.
I mean, she handled it withcourage and grace and she could
smile about the damnedest stuffvery late in the game.
And I just, I miss her every dayand that's a terrible disease.
There's no treatment for it, nocure for it.
It's a death sentence when youget it.

(35:42):
And so, in addition to takingcare of her, which was not
always easy, her family helpedout a lot.
We had a whole network ofpeople helping, but I considered
myself as kind of primarycaregiver for her.
I just, you know it was anexperience that wasn't easy, as
I say, but I wouldn't trade itfor anything and I was honored
to have known her and, like Isaid, I'd give anything to be
helping her right now.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
Bless your soul.

Speaker 3 (36:03):
But thank you, and that was a whole thing where I
met tremendous people throughher and then, in her memory, we
started doing what's called thewalk to defeat als in pittsburgh
, which is a long establishedthing that the als association
does, and we started a team andwe raised very significant money
the first year we more thandoubled that last year.
We're going to try to make goodon that.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
How would we get involved?

Speaker 3 (36:27):
Well, we have a walking team and you're welcome
to join us.
It happens right around the10th of September every year and
it doesn't happen in every cityat the same time.
They roll through the calendar,but you can count on it being
at Point State Park it's only amile so that ALS patients, if
they can walk or roll it, theycan feel like they're involved
in it.

(36:47):
And it's just a directfundraiser.
It's not a per-mile thing, butwe seek pledges from people to
back this.
It's all tax-deductible.
The ALS Association, in ourcase, really made an impression
on us in that when Deb got tothe point where she was having
trouble navigating her house inEdgewood, they said what do you
need?
And we said we need a stairclimber, we need ramps, we need

(37:08):
all this stuff.
And they just materialized overabout four hours put all that
stuff in no charge.
They said when you don't need itanymore, call us and we'll take
it away.
So that alone, I mean you'reduring the headlights, you're
dealt with this terriblediagnosis, you're getting your
head around all of that.
And when I eulogized her I saidthe two words I would use to
characterize ALS is it's lossand it's adaptation, and that

(37:30):
you're losing functionality,you're losing the ability to
walk, speak, whatever the casemay be along the road, and you
have to try to stay ahead ofthat, because if you get too far
behind it you'll never catch up.
So it's what's the next need?
And as she started to get bad,I started on on the sly buy
wheelchairs and walkers andstuff and shove them in the
garage.
And when she all of a suddenneeded something, I said well,

(37:51):
just so happens, I have thiswhole stockpile of stuff.
And she was furious for abouttwo minutes and then she said I
get it.
And I was able to kind of stayahead of that because I like
planning a little bit and I'mpretty Regimented.
A little bit, yeah, prettyregimented a little bit, yeah,
so I get it honestly.
So thanks, dad.
But um, so we were able to getthrough it together and I saw

(38:11):
her right to the end and and shehad a great departure.
She was surrounded by familyand she had her dog's head in
her lap and I was next to herand she got the departure she
deserved.
And, like I said, she was aforce to be reckoned with and
really can't get into her wholeachievements.
But she started a one of thetwo major talent and modeling
agencies in Pittsburgh on acredit card, because nobody
would make bank loans to singlewomen at that point, and she

(38:33):
just did it by sheer force ofwill and became somebody who has
affected many, many people'slives.
She discovered Joe Manganiello,she discovered a guy named Zach
Quinto who's now got a verysuccessful show Many others I'm
missing, but she launched a lotof careers and so she knows a
million people by virtue of that.
And she was just a givingperson who really nurtured
people's careers.

(38:54):
I mean, yes, it was a way tomake money, but she had a
humanistic element to her whichreally left an impression upon
people and so a lot of thosepeople have come to participate
in the walk, pledged money.
It's a whole ecosystem of fansof Deb and we call it Team Deb
Doherty in her memory and we'regoing to keep it coming.
As long as I can stand and pushout air, I'm going to keep

(39:16):
doing this.

Speaker 2 (39:17):
Is there a link to it ?

Speaker 3 (39:19):
Yes, there is.

Speaker 2 (39:20):
All right, send it to me, we'll put it in the bio.

Speaker 3 (39:21):
Oh, I appreciate that very much and it happens once a
year and it's just a greatassociation.
And then back to baseball again.
There was a feature on CBSSunday mornings that covered Bob
Euchre's unlikely path fromsort of a journeyman baseball
guy to, you know, being wellknown for a million reasons.
And he I found out when I askedhim questions of the ALS

(39:43):
association.
Throughout that interview hewore an ALS association hat, but
they must have edited it outand he mentioned that, or he
didn't want to go there.
But I found out that he lost adaughter in 2022, I believe it
was to ALS, and he isunderstandably very interested
in it.
So I hope to meet him somedaybecause I'd like to increase,

(40:05):
even though MLB acknowledges LouGehrig for obvious reasons and
has an ALS Lou Gehrig day onJune 2nd, which has an
interesting coincidence initself, june 2nd is the day he
replaced Wally Pipp in thelineup to begin his 2,130-game
string, which Cal Ripkeneclipsed, but it was also the
day he died.
So it's kind of a weirdbookended thing.

(40:27):
For Lou Gehrig, june 2nd is theday MLB does it, but it's left
up to each team to observe itthe way they wish and to varying
degrees, teams have time orinclination to do it, and I'm
going to try to somehow, throughsome avenues, try to get MLB to
unify it a little more and giveit a little higher profile,
maybe along the lines ofstand-up to cancer or something
like that, because it's anabsolute death sentence when you

(40:48):
get it.
I mean, people can beat cancerbut they can't beat ALS right
now, and we hope to make a worldwhere people have a shot.
Amen.

Speaker 1 (40:55):
John Shambi's done a great job in stepping forward,
helping baseball take that nextstep by the way Right, so
there's always room forimprovement.

Speaker 3 (41:03):
I just hope that we can increase its profile.

Speaker 1 (41:06):
So that's Team Deb.
Deb Docherty who, as you said,her agency.
She had it for a number ofyears.
Of course she was well-knownaround this time.

Speaker 3 (41:17):
It exists because the beauty of it is she's got two
brothers who have complementaryabilities and have jumped in
there and taken the place over,so it's been seamless.
And then she has an agencymanager, jared pascoe, who has
really grown into the job ofreally running the place day to
day and it lives on, so it's anice tribute to her.
Oh, that's awesome creating it.
So it didn't.
It didn't die with her.
So, um, yeah, it's a.
It's a pretty neat tale and andit really is sort of a

(41:39):
pittsburgh fixture.
And she was right down there onmarket street, across from a
place called froggies which wasa notoriously great busy bar.
I've actually heard of Froggy's.
And Greg knows of it.

Speaker 1 (41:49):
He was around as soon as you mentioned Froggy's.
It's hard to believe, it's no?

Speaker 2 (41:53):
longer there.
You kind of live your life atFroggy's don't you?

Speaker 1 (41:56):
Yeah, froggy.

Speaker 3 (41:59):
So anyway, that's the ALS tangent not to go down a
sad story.

Speaker 1 (42:03):
I'm glad you mentioned that because your
story is incredible, the way youdid for Gavin.

Speaker 3 (42:08):
I said in my eulogy, she absolutely made me a better
man and she has propelled me.
Her struggle and eventualpassing has propelled me to make
this my cause and my passion,to really see that ALS gets as
much money as it can.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
And I don't want to get too deep with it, but if
you're on my chair, how did youbalance that?
You said you left San Franciscofor three years.

Speaker 1 (42:33):
Yeah, essentially.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
I have a best friend that lives here, owns a business
.
He took care of his dad forquite a few years before he
passed and hearing his storyjust kind of blows me away.
He's going to come on thepodcast at some point, but I
don't think people understand.
It's not only tough, but you'realso having to make a living.
You have to do the thingsyou've got to do.
How did you balance?

Speaker 3 (42:53):
that.
Well, it was just a lot and Iguess not to get too deep about
it, but I do.
I am a God-fearing person and Ithink things happen for a
reason sometimes, and my work isI run a company that's working
on a children's brain cancertreatment.
It's in Chicago.

Speaker 2 (43:11):
Wow, that's powerful.

Speaker 3 (43:13):
And so when COVID hit , deb got well back up a second.
There's no straight test forALS to say, oh, you have ALS and
we're going to do this.
You have to do it by exclusion.
So they figure out all theterrible things you don't have,
and then they're like hey, wefigured it out, which is a crazy
.

Speaker 2 (43:29):
Yeah.
How about the process ofelimination?
Yeah, you're like oh gosh, Idon't have that Thank goodness,
because you have hope.

Speaker 3 (43:42):
You've never prayed harder for MS, because people
can live with MS, but they'rejust throwing stuff at the wall
anything out?
well, no, and she had an awfulyear before she got the awful
news of all these.
You know she got double vision.
She got all these thingshappened to her, but she handled
it with such a palm and such anamazing.
She's just an example to us all.
But so in 2020 the wheelsstarted to get really wobbly and

(44:05):
I decided I need to be inPittsburgh more often.
But 2020 was also beginnings ofCOVID and for a company doing
clinical testing on children incancer.
All the health care facilitiesgot jammed up to where we
couldn't enroll kids in ourtrial.
So we went zombie by necessitybecause we couldn't do anything.
So that gave me a break becausethere was nothing for me to do.

(44:28):
So my work was in a deep freezeand it allowed me to take care
of her, and people at work cutme slack too and covered for me
and so forth, and so it all sortof worked out to where I got a
big window of time where I coulddo nothing but take care of her
and my family.
I mean, everybody helped.
Her family helped.
If I absolutely had to go hometo do something like pay

(44:50):
property tax or whatever, asister would fly in, a brother
would.
So it really took a lot ofpeople to do it, but I viewed it
as being on duty at all timesand it was always running in the
background of my mind, but itwas just a fortuitous.
I mean, there are very fewfortuitous things about COVID,

(45:13):
but the fact that it gave me atv time out to do all that was a
blessing.
And so about the time shepassed and I, you know, was
devastated and kind of tried toget my feet back under me we
were able to kind of get goingagain with our company.

Speaker 2 (45:18):
So it all kind of ebbed and flowed and just
happened in a in a good way well, it goes back to something
brownie has said to me multipletimes you can't wait to win, you
have to prepare now to win.
And then too, in the darkestmoments, you can always find a
little bit of light if you'rewilling to look.
It sounds like you did.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
In a similar vein, talking about ALS and Lou Gehrig
disease.
A friend of mine who was aformer member of the Pirates
scouting department named JohnNiederer, who became scouting
guy for the then CaliforniaAngels.
He had ALS and knew John verywell and his son.
He had divorced from his firstwife but his son.

(45:59):
I liked John Jr and I alwaysliked him a lot.
I thought he was a good guy.
He was a bat boy for thePirates for a while, but To see
him care for his father the wayhe did, but a whole different
light now that I appreciate himso much more, not that I didn't
appreciate David.

(46:20):
No surprise that David did whathe did.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
But my gosh on full display.

Speaker 3 (46:25):
I appreciate that, because it's one of those things
you just throw.
I didn't give myself any choice.
I said this is what I've chosento do, I'm in this.
It was exhausting, it wasfrustrating Because you just are
task-oriented and past acertain point I'd have to get up
about an hour ahead of her toget some stuff ready for the day
, and then we'd get through theday and then at the end of the

(46:48):
day I'd have equipment to cleanand so forth.
So I'd tuck her in in, kiss hergood night, say I'll be in in a
bit, and I'd have stuff to do,and so it made for a long day.
But I, you know, I wish I coulddo it today.
So but, um, the it's.
It's interesting because, toyour point of watching somebody
take care of somebody, we, deband I, were obviously very, very
close and best friends and allthat going into this thing.

(47:09):
But the bond it creates is isis so profound and I don't say
that in a self-glorification way, I mean just it's a you can't
even put words around it.
It's just because justpractical things like modesty
goes out the window, it's just,it's just the human condition
laid bare, yeah, and there's nosubstitute for it and it just

(47:31):
it's I.
I would be a lesser person if Ihadn't gone through that I guess
is the way I'd put it, and sothat's a gift she gave me, if
you want to call it that, where,if I had missed that chapter in
life, I wouldn't have, you know, gotten to experience, and then
I would have been a lesserperson.
That's all I can say.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
You probably appreciate more things now, oh,
like you never could haveappreciated more things now, oh
I can never appreciate.

Speaker 3 (47:51):
Well, more and less in that.
She, for example uh, Imentioned a house in edgewood.
We had to move her into a anapartment in fox chapel that was
single level and you know thatworked out perfectly too.
Her brother found that it'svery hard to find a single level
apartment in pittsburgh withall the old people and all the
but.
You'd think there'd be a ton ofthem, but they're hard to find.
So her brother john found thatwe in there, but in the process

(48:12):
we had to have the mother of allgarage sales at her house.
So she basically saw everyaspect of her life torn down,
sold, and she was just as braveand dispassionate about it as
you could be.
So basically, you're seeingeverything disappear and you're
seeing your ability to disappear.
Your hand doesn't work anymore,you're having trouble speaking,
you can't walk anymore, you'rerelying on people to help you

(48:32):
with everyday things.
You know toothbrushing andtoileting and so forth.
So all that loss and shehandled it with a plum.
But back to your point whereyou know the sort of the stop
and smell the roses every day isa gift thing, which I agree
with.
In spades, it also taught methat we get wrapped around the
axle in terms of materialism orwhat have you.
When you get right down to it,you just don't need that much

(48:53):
stuff.
She proved it to me in that youjust need food on the table, a
warm environment, you know, somehelp and, uh, somebody to have
your back and that's that's kindof all you need I mean think
about.

Speaker 2 (49:04):
How many times have you heard either someone that's
made a lot of money or been verysuccessful kind of wrap their
arms at the end of it, say, sayit's really just the people
around me that matter.

Speaker 3 (49:14):
Yeah, it gets pretty raw and pretty basic Really raw
and really simple.
So, anyway, I don't want to bea downer on that, but I'm a
better person, for it is all Ican say, and I wouldn't change
anything that occurred.
You know, I just did everythingI could for her left it all on
the field and somewhere.

Speaker 1 (49:34):
I think she knows it.
No doubt We'll jump on boardTeam Deb next summer.
Well, thank you.

Speaker 2 (49:37):
That's the greatest gift you guys can give me.
No doubt I just need to getthrough you guys.
She was a wonderful person.

Speaker 3 (49:42):
You guys have a huge megaphone and I would just like
to see her honored for the next20 years.

Speaker 1 (49:50):
We talked earlier about your favorite.
I guess it would be yourfavorite souvenir, your memento
that you got from Steve Blassand Johnny Bench.
What would third place be ofall the things?
Because you collect yourfather's scorecards as well.

Speaker 3 (50:11):
Yeah, no, that's a big deal, just because I can see
him doing it.
And every game I ever went towith him he insisted on doing it
.
He taught me how to score agame.

Speaker 1 (50:17):
Is there one item that stands out?
I don't have the patience forit.
Of all the things you've gottenover the years, not necessarily
.

Speaker 2 (50:24):
Do you have like a room?

Speaker 3 (50:26):
No, I haven't done that yet.
Oh, actually, I can tell youwhat it is, because it was such
an odd circumstance.

Speaker 1 (50:37):
You okay over there.
Yeah, yeah, drop my cigar, goahead.

Speaker 2 (50:39):
Such an odd circumstance that made it happen
, Ralph.

Speaker 3 (50:42):
Eric On the and Deb was part of this.
This was before we were seriousand shortly after we'd met.
But in 2010, it was theobservance of the 50th
anniversary of the 60 WorldSeries and you guys were on the
road, but they had a gala incenter field in a tent.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
No, I was there.

Speaker 3 (51:02):
Oh, did you go that night?
Okay, well, I'm sorry, no itwas very memorable.

Speaker 1 (51:05):
The MC was very memorable.
Once again, my apologies.
Were you there.
You were on the road.

Speaker 3 (51:12):
I've been lucky enough to spend so much time.

Speaker 1 (51:14):
I understand it all blurs together.
You were a soothing voice.

Speaker 3 (51:17):
Oh yes, and bear in mind too, I'm with this woman
who I'm fairly enamored of butnot romantically involved with.

Speaker 1 (51:24):
I understand she's a beautiful woman, he's working
things.
She was a beautiful woman.
She always dressed up well.

Speaker 3 (51:30):
So you might or might not recall that night went a
little longer than peopleintended and they had a very
ambitious live auction scheduleand they didn't manage it
particularly well for my selfishpurposes, because I don't know
if you guys know.
You know who Burton Morris is?
I don't know whether you do ornot, but he did the poster for
the 06 All-Star, very, veryfamous artist, pittsburgh-based
guy, and so up at some pointlate in the night I'm with this

(51:55):
woman.
I barely know and I'm trying tonot be that guy, but I was
always a big fan of burtonmorris and they produced this
very large work of maz turning adouble play at second base.
And so, again, this is in thewake of my dad dying and maz and
the whole thing and likingburton morris, and so bidding
starts.
Your eyes are this big, well,this big.
But I'm also thinking to myself.

Speaker 1 (52:15):
I don't want to be that guy You've got to be cool
about it.
I don't want to be that guy oh,that's mine, that's for me,
right, right.

Speaker 3 (52:22):
So the bidding is crickets because most people
left.
They got tired.
It was like 10 o'clock by thetime they should have done the
big ticket items and then theweekend at Nemecol and way down
the.

Speaker 1 (52:32):
MC's fault, but anyway, so it was my fault.
Yeah, I heard that.
I did hear that it wasn't all.

Speaker 3 (52:37):
Anyway.
So their loss was my gain inthe following way there were
only two of us bidding, everyonehad like auction fatigue and I
set myself a budget in my headand it started to go and it was
way below my budget and all of asudden you know guy's ahead of
me and the gavel's about to godown.
So I said you know whatever,another $500 or whatever.

(52:58):
So I won the darn thing for asong.
I mean, his agent was mildlyannoyed because anyway.
So then Deb turns to me and shesays you know Burton's here
Because she knew Burton, becauseshe represented him way back.
Wow, so she said, and Maz wasthere.
She said you should have bothof them sign.

(53:19):
This is an original piece ofart, big big thing.
And so we all went up there forthe photo.
The winning person who won thepicture, and Maz and Burton
Morris signed the thing in themoment lower right corner.
So I would say in terms of likea backstory and a cool, that's
probably.

Speaker 1 (53:38):
That probably takes well, I've got a story.
It's not because of its valuebaseball's so amazing and this
is gonna maybe blow your minds.
It blows my mind because you'reaware that the other bidder, we
decided to go ahead and get asecond print because you guys
got it up to a number, you gotup to a number, we had to go
ahead and get a second printbecause you guys got it up to a
number.

Speaker 3 (53:53):
You got up to a number, we had to Okay.
So in order to raise money, soI spent 500 too much on it.
That's what you're telling me.
No, no, no, so, so, so,basically, we had two people
make me feel bad.

Speaker 1 (54:02):
Do you know who the other guy was at one?
Well, no, who was it?
My cousin.

Speaker 3 (54:09):
Wow, so you remember all this?
Here's a story.
It's crazy.

Speaker 1 (54:13):
You said 2010.
Tell me A couple years beforethat.
Tell me that side of the Brownfamily grew up in Uniontown,
pennsylvania.
I think they had nine ten kids.

Speaker 3 (54:26):
Big Mac was invented, but that's another story.
Whatever what Big Mac wasinvented, joe Deligati, deligati
, joe.
Right, we'll wrap back to thatAnyway.

Speaker 1 (54:36):
So they moved to California in probably the 1960s
, whatnot, and they dispersedall over the place.
My cousin Tommy is still agreat Pirate fan in Houston,
Lived in Houston, Always see himwhen we go to Houston all the
time.
Always see him when we go toHouston all the time.
He gets on a Facebook messageagain from Uniontown from the

(54:57):
1960s.
This is about 2008.
He gets a message from somebodythat says hey, didn't you used
to live at 550 Crawford Street?
Yeah, that's my home, he goes.
Well, we moved into this houseand we found a box in the corner
in the attic and in this box isa scrapbook filled with just

(55:19):
nothing but Bill Mazeroskistories and pictures of Maz and
your family used to live.
Could that possibly belong toyou?
And he said that's my sister's.
Wow, Can you send it to me?
Just so happened his sister, mycousin, was dying of cancer out
in California.
He gets the scrapbook, he wrapsit up.

(55:42):
He flies to California.
She's so weak she can.
She has to live on the firstfloor.
He walks in.
My cousin Tommy walks in to hissister who's dying of cancer,
with this scrapbook wrapped up.
She opens it up.
Tears start flowing.
She said my mad scrapbook shehad not seen in 40 years.
She said it was the best day,one of the best days of her life

(56:05):
.
She would pass away a few weekslater.
Now fast forward to 2010.
I'm the MC and I'm told I canbring someone.
I know how big a fan Tom, mycousin Tom Brown, is.
I call Tom.
I said if you get down here onnext Friday I'll pick you up at
the airport.
You got to wear a tux.
I know you're not much fortuxes, nor am I, but we got to

(56:26):
figure that out.
So he stays at the Spring HillSuites, right across the street
from the ballpark, for that gala.
This is incredible.
He goes to dress the tux.
I'd say I'll meet you at thepress gate at 4.30.
The gala starts at 5.
I'll meet you at the press gate.
I'll wait for you.
He gets dressed in his tux.
He's on like the fifth floor,Hits the lobby button, Gets down

(56:51):
to the third floor, theelevator opens up.
Guess who walked into thatelevator?

Speaker 3 (56:56):
Bill Mazeroski Wow.

Speaker 1 (56:59):
And he told Maz the story.
Now Maz is crying.
So lo and behold at thisfunction, at this auction you
and my cousin.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
We never knew this story before Right, right.
So anyway, that's crazy, crazystory that didn't blow my mind,
so there's two of these pieces,yeah.

Speaker 3 (57:16):
And David and my cousin Tom have them, and then
they made a reproduction of itand I was able to and this was
another interestingthree-cushion shot but they made
a reproduction of it and I gotone somehow and got it signed
and then delivered it to theronald mcdonald house because
they have a big wow uh, activityroom for people.

(57:38):
And then again how weird stuffworks.
Burton morris's mother, bunny,is a very active volunteer at
the ronald mcdonald house.
So bunny sees it and says doyou want to have's?
So, anyway, it's hanging upthere in the Ronald McDonald
house, double signed by theartist and the subject.
How cool.

(58:00):
But one thing I just flashed onin terms of general this is not
pirate memorabilia, but onething that I'd probably want to
be buried with if I had anoption.
My dad was a pretty goodbaseball player, as was my
grandfather, and my dad playedfor Navy, not division baseball,
not, you know, intercollegiatebut he had a Wilson three-finger

(58:24):
glove, so thumb and actuallytwo fingers and to take care of
your four fingers, two, you know, two in each run and it's in
great shape and it's seen a lotof wear and I have that.
Oh, that's special.

Speaker 1 (58:39):
Well, that's a keepsake right there.

Speaker 3 (58:40):
Because when I was a kid, that's the way you get back
to kind of like the end ofField of Dreams where he would
be, wearing that glove when weplayed catch, and we played
catch with a ball.
This is inconceivable to metoday.
But when he was walking into agame at Forest Field when he was
in his 20s or 30s he all of asudden hears a crack on the side
he was late for the game Crackon the sidewalk and realizes
that's a foul ball.

(59:01):
And he looks up and he gets itand it had like a Ford Frick
signature on it or somethinglike that.
It's back when they had twodifferent balls.
And so he put it in the drawernext to all his old baseball
cards in a Velveeta wooden boxand I said, Dad, do you want to
play catch?
And he's like, yeah, I've got aball here somewhere.
It's like the same one.

Speaker 1 (59:20):
Yeah, it's the same one.

Speaker 3 (59:22):
It wasn't a big deal, but we just beat that ball to
death and it was unrecognizable.
It would be nice to have thatball, but it's gone, so anyway,
but his glove.
I think is the thing Because, ashe was getting late in his days
, at one point he gave me hisNaval Academy ring and I called
my mom.
I said you know, my dad gave mehis ring and she said he knows

(59:46):
he's going to die soon.
He never took that ring off andso that was my mom teared up
when I was talking to her andshe said if he gave me that ring
, he knows he's done.
We still have that in the family, obviously, and everything else
, David, I'll tell you what atreat this has been.

Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
This is absolutely an honor to be part of this.

Speaker 3 (01:00:04):
It's good to get to know you better.

Speaker 1 (01:00:06):
There's nothing like smoking stogies on Hold my
Cutter, having some good chatand breaking bread with your
friends.

Speaker 3 (01:00:16):
That was baked at 5 pm Eastern time.
Bordenavi's in San.

Speaker 1 (01:00:21):
Francisco.
So as we do this, we will breakbread and continue when I
picked it up at 2 in theafternoon in California it was
still hot.
Wow, wow, is that good, stillwarm.
That is that good, still warm,still warm.
That's a bad sign.
Oh man, is that good?

Speaker 3 (01:00:39):
That's got great taste, there's a lot of regional
snobbery about foods, but thattaste is one that's very, very
hard to duplicate.
It's a little bit like New Yorkbagels, where there's something
about the water or thesourdough starter or whatever,
but it makes for a good loaf ofbread.

Speaker 1 (01:00:52):
Thank you for this, absolutely.
And thanks for being on yourfavorite podcast and ours.
Thank you, guys, for includingme and thank you for being
willing to help with the ALS.
We will Hold my cutter.