How To Watch A Baseball Game

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Welcome to the Complete GamePodcast, where we're all about baseball
with Ethan Dungan, owner ofGlovehound Baseball glove repair
shop. Rick Finley, founder ofMDNI Baseball Academy and the creator
of George Foster Baseball.
The MVP himself, Reds hall ofFamer George Foster.
I'm your host, Greg Dungan.
Now let's talk baseball.

(00:25):
Baseball. Apple pie Chevrolet.
Hey, fellas. So welcome toepisode 12. Did you think we'd make.
I'm not gonna cry, man, that's fast.
That's 12. Three months goesby fast, doesn't it?
It does.
It was fun.
We had a good time with this.
And one guy kept canceling,but it's.
All, oh, yes, man, they don'tknow what day this is. It's Wednesday.

(00:49):
It's, it's cool, though. We'vehad a good, had a good time, had
a good, good. Yeah, good runmaking these, these 12 episodes.
And so for, for those of youwho are, who are tuning in, this
is going to be the lastepisode of the first half of the
season, and we're going totake a few months off to play baseball.
We've got lots of stuff goingon. We got tournaments to play and

(01:09):
teams to coach, and Ethan'sgot a baby coming and we got all
kind of crazy stuff going on.So we're going to take a couple.
Months off here and then we'll be.
Back in September, October,November, with 12 more episodes.
So stay tuned. Follow it. Oh,there you go. Follow it on completegamepodcast.com

(01:30):
if you want to sign up for themailing list there. We'll let you
know when we go live again.And we're going to be posting some
stuff on social media and someother extra, you know, content in
between and things like thatto keep you engaged. But we'll be
back in the fall and lookingforward to doing that. But today

(01:50):
we're going to talk about howto watch a baseball game. One thing
that I have learned in thelast three months is how to watch
baseball entirely differentlythan I did before just by hanging
out with these guys. I have.It has changed the way I see the
game when I watch it. And sowe're going to talk about that. We're

(02:10):
going to focus on watching itat the ballpark today, not watching
it on television, because youcan see so much more when you go
to the ballpark. And we, wehope that we can inspire y' all to
go out and get some ticketsand go, go watch the ball game. And
even if you don't go to a, anMLB game, go to A minor league game,
go to a college game, go to ahigh school game, go to Little league
games. Colorado Rockies, gocheck some of that out.

(02:32):
Dayton Dragons.
If you happen to be able toget tickets to the tour when these
4 and 24, when the SavannahBananas come to town, that would
be, oh.
I want to play. I want to playthat game.
I was watching one of thosethe other night. They were playing
the party animals and.
Oh, my goodness, several times.
But those guys are athletic.
Oh, my goodness.
Even the umpire.

(02:52):
Some of those tricks. You see,it was crazy. A lot of dancing going
on. It looked like it'd be alot of fun to go see. So, anyway,
go see some baseball. Thisyear. We're going to start off. I've
messed up all the. All thesegments today, so we're going to
go back to featured faves, andwe're going to talk about some of
our favorite things. So one ofthe things we're going to talk about

(03:15):
here right off the bat is whatis your favorite ballpark food? And
the person I know at thistable who likes to eat more than
anybody else is this kid.Right. So, Ethan, why don't you start
us off. What is your favoriteballpark food? I think I know what
it is.
This is. This is the easiestquestion of all. Of all. This is

(03:37):
100% no doubter. For me, it isnachos, not.
Yeah, same with me.
That's mine.
It doesn't have to be justbaseball at. I. I will eat the little
round chips and the fake cheese.
Yeah.
Anywhere, any place, anytime.I love it. Yeah. It doesn't matter.

(03:57):
Football game, it doesn'tmatter. Marching band, it doesn't
matter. If there's aconcession stand and they have nachos,
that's what I'm gonna order.
You didn't care about gettinga seat. I want my knots.
I want my nachos. And thenespecially if they come with the
jalapenos on the side.
Now, I don't even mess with that.
So then when we went to. Mywife and I went to a game, a Reds

(04:18):
game last year, and I got thehelmet nachos, and they were. They
came loaded with all kinds ofstuff. And then I love nachos so
much that I took that helmet,that big classic helmet home and
I made helmet nachos at my house.
Oh.
And watch them.
Ate them on my nacho nacho cheese.
So, yes, my favorite, barnone, nachos.

(04:39):
Okay.
Okay, George, you've been inso many different ballparks over
the year. What is yourfavorite Ballpark food.
But I was playing. I couldn'teat. I was playing. But the last
time were two stories, one. SoJack Billingham's in the bullpen.
He wasn't. Yeah, he wasn'tstarting that day. So he ordered.
Had the clubhouse guy to makehim a sandwich. And then as the clubhouse

(05:01):
guy's going to the bullpen totake the sandwich. Sparky said, what?
Where are you going with thissandwich? Well, Jack Billingham asked
for a sandwich, so Sparky gotit and rolled it up, balled it up.
So now take it to him. But,yeah, because you don't. Not allowed
to really. You can sneak andeat, but you're not allowed to be
eating during the game. Butwhen I wasn't playing much, Dodger

(05:25):
Stadium was my favoritebecause I love their peanuts.
Okay.
And so in the bullpen, therewas a. It's connected to the concession
stand, and there was a littleopening there, and the kid was wanting
a baseball. So I traded abaseball for a bag of peanuts. So
I thought that was a greatbargain at the time. So I love it

(05:45):
in the bullpen. Spark said,you got to pinch it. You got to pinch
run. No, but I want to stayhere at least. I just. I left it
at peanuts. I didn't ask for adrink or what do you call the snow
cones? Slushies. I didn't wantto get an upset stomach before. During
the game, but peanuts. ButDodger Stadium and Riverfront had

(06:10):
the best peanuts. I actuallyordered a big box of peanuts for
me, and then I shared it withthe ground crew. But the peanuts,
they were the best.
Yeah, yeah, Peanuts. I alwaysremember the peanuts at Riverfront.
They were fun. That was alwaysa highlight.
Do you remember peanut jam?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I like.You know, some of these guys are

(06:32):
very accurate. You know, theywant peanuts and they throw them
up in the stands. But I said,how do you get your money back? I
mean, how do you get yourmoney? So they had to pass the money.
It's like in the church.
They pass it down.
But the guy, he passed $5, butby the time he got to the vendor
is what I'll never forget.
We went to a game when I was.I was a kid, and there was this guy

(06:53):
who was. Who would walk up anddown, and his call was very. You
could always tell it was himbecause he'd be like, roosted, salted,
and then he would say. And youcould always tell when he was anywhere
near you because he would sayit over and over again. And they
made you just want Those peanuts.
Yes.
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
That was cool. Rick, whatabout you, buddy? What's your favorite

(07:15):
ballpark food?
Well, besides nachos. Hot dog.A good hot dog, man.
Foot long.
Foot long. Yeah. Good hot dog.
Did you have mustard on it?
You know, it must relish. Relish.
You know, mayonnaise.
Just. Just those twocondiments, man. A good hot dog.
Ballpark franks, man, that's.

(07:36):
I love a good hot dog as well.I tell my wife, I've said, I'm so
glad that I married you,because otherwise I would probably
eat a hot dog for dinner everysingle night.
It's so easy and it's so good.Janice is not a big fan of the hot
dog.
No, she's not the.
Really?
Yeah. Not her favorite, but.
But growing up, not at theballpark. Sauerkraut. So he had the.

(07:58):
Had the hot dogs in thesauerkraut. So we had sauerkraut
like three times a day. Soafter a while, like, I want something
else. Make me some nachos orsomething. No, but sauerkraut, the
sauerkra get your heartburn.It did, but it feels the only one
that vinegar in it. Yeah.

(08:18):
So my favorite ballpark food.It all centers at Riverfront in the.
The thing that I coveted morethan anything else at Riverfront.
I like the peanuts. I like thehot dog. It was the ice cream sundae
in the batting helmet.
That was Sunday.
Yeah. You could go and orderand you could get a hot fudge sundae.
Okay.

(08:38):
And they would serve it to youin this little plastic batting helmet
and you eat it out of battinghelmet. I thought that was the coolest
thing in the world. And I usedto like, totally hold out to get
the. The ice cream sundae withthe batting helmet. That was just
my favorite.
You want the ice cream or thebatting helmet?
Both. Yes, but the battinghelmet was like this.
Yeah.
Yes.
And you would just eat. It wasa little cup. But I loved that. And

(09:02):
that. That. That's my. That'sbaseball. Now when you start talking
football, like that's. I'vebeen to. To the holy land to see
the packers play a couple oftimes. And. And that's where you
eat the brat.
Yeah, it is amazing.
Yeah, it is amazing. And Iwill. I will often opt for the brat
over the hot dog if I'mfeeling. If I'm feeling spendy that

(09:23):
day. But yeah, I do. I do likethat. Remember, there was one spot
in. When you were little, wewould go to the Reds game, and there
was one spot you had to walkall the way around. But you get like
$50 hot dogs.
Yes.
We would walk all the wayaround the dumb thing and go down
and then find it. It was likedown near the kids area.
$50 hot dogs and you could getcheap hot dogs.
We go down there and pound ofhot dogs. Those was always fun, but

(09:43):
some of.
The ballpark wasn't really fair.
It.
It had the kids menu and Ireally wanted that. You know, you
get the chicken fingers.You're like, yeah, I'm getting this
for my kid.
One year we went for Mother'sDay. This was, this was epic. We
went down and we decided. Wetook Leslie and we were going to
go down for the. And so Ethanand, and Madison, Leslie and I, we

(10:05):
all went down for the game andit was raining and so we thought,
well, let's go. They had a,they said, well, they got a brunch
up in the. Whatever therestaurant was. That's out over.
Out over down the first baseline up there. Nice restaurant up
there that you can kind ofsee. That's big.
Sometimes it's enclosed inglass, but sometimes.
They open it up anyway.

(10:26):
They told us to go up thereand they had a brunch and so we went
up there and we all went in.We had brunch and whatever they.
But it was going to be foreverto get in. And so we were like, well,
it's raining outside. Might aswell just wait. And so we're waiting
and we're on the list. Andthen this, this lady came in behind
us and she starts harassingthe hostess, like, absolutely entitled.

(10:46):
I wanted my seat should beright and she just giving it to her,
just like letting her have it.And I felt so badly for this girl.
And. And afterwards this ladystomps away, you know, and afterwards
I went, I said, if, if she'sthat mad, you could give her our
spot. We'll. We'll wait forsomething else. She's like, no, no,
you're fine. It wasn't fiveminutes later the, the, the manager

(11:09):
comes over and he goes likethis. And we went in and they took
us down the tier and had ussitting right by the window. We got
her seats.
Was it on first base side?
Yeah, it was on first baseside. And we were, we were right
up, right on the line, man.And we watched. And that was the
day of.
Say, that was not just anybaseball game. No, that was the day

(11:31):
that Joey Voto hit three homeruns with one of them being a walk
off grand slam against theNationals. That was.
Oh yeah, that was an amazingstraightaway center.
Yep. So every time I, I see areplay of that, I'm like, oh, that's
pretty cool. I was.
And we sat right there at thisfancy table right against the glass
and watched the whole thing.

(11:51):
Sometimes it's good to be nice.
Yeah, it was a good Mother'sDay. All right, so where is your
favorite place to sit, Ethan,when you go to a baseball game?
Man, I.
After the nachos.
Especially with the jalapenos.
Oh, man, I usually bubbly. Iusually like to be as, as behind

(12:14):
home plate as possible. Therewas a game that you and I went to
and we got some really nice.Was it dime.
We got scout seats.
Yes, that was, that was reallycool. Um, but this last just a couple
months ago, we went on. It wasgame two of the season and we were
behind home plate but up inlike the middle tier. And that was
really cool. I thought we weregoing to be too high, but you really

(12:36):
had a great view of everythingand you can't see the pitches move
quite as much when you're thatfar away. But that was really cool
to be able since, since, youknow, doing the show and having a
better appreciation for themovement of, of the players not involved
in the play, it was cool to beable to see everything going on.
So I really enjoyed that. Ithink, I think I like that better

(12:58):
than being down the linebecause you get a better feel for
how far the ball is going andthat kind of thing.
What about you, George? Wheredo you like to sit when you take
in a baseball game?
It depends on the batter. Ifit's a right handed batter, I want
to be between home plate andfirst base. If it's left handed,
between home, home plate andthird, because I want to see the

(13:18):
mechanics, seeing how they're.Yeah, there's their footwork happening
or mechanics. So that, thathelps me to really watch and see
the difference in their, theirstances and, and their mechanics.
And the other one is beingstraight away and out, out in the
outfield. So I can see everynot only the fielders, but seeing

(13:38):
once again the approach by, bythe battery. So those three aspects,
I didn't, I didn't like beingbehind home plate. The diamond seats,
you know, those are plusseats, but they don't have a screen
above and those foul balls arecoming. So I have a fear, not only
the balls coming at me, buttrying to catch it and miss it. And

(13:59):
they're like, didn't that guyused to play? That happened in one,
in the, in a game room. Withmy team. I had gone to the ladies
room, I had gone to therestroom and a foul ball came and
I tried to catch a bare handand it hit my hand and it dropped.
It's like everybody wassilent. Oh, did he really do that?

(14:20):
Is he the manager of the team?And he dropped that foul ball.
Oh my gosh.
But yeah, the diamond seats. Ilike the fact that you get everything
free. Free parking.
Well, sure do.
And you get. Cause I had takena friend there. I said, get it. Get
whatever you want. Then hesaid, you sure? Said, yeah, it's
on me. Get everything you want.

(14:42):
What about you, Rick? Where doyou like to sit?
Well, lately, my wife, hercompany and my daughter's company,
they had the scout seats.Sonia's company, they have scout
seats. So I've been thereseveral times. Or on the side too.
So those are pretty nice seats.
And then it's great when it's.It's real hot or it's raining. Because

(15:03):
you're undercover.
Yes. And then lately, about acouple of weeks ago, my daughter
Nikki, her. Her company, shedoesn't even watch baseball, but
she gave me tickets and withsome other people and we were on
that first base side and theyhad, you know, all the food and everything

(15:27):
in there and you know, so thatwas nice. So. And that was pretty
easy to see. You can write offthe first basis. Not on the line
is on the line, but up alittle bit in the. What's they call
it, some kind of nice. It's anice enclosed, you can indoor.

(15:47):
Oh yeah. Where you can go inand get food.
You come back in and actuallyyou can sit and still watch it indoors.
You see everybody sittinglined up and everything. Or you can
go to your seat and sit rightoff of first date.
Something or other club orsomething. I bet you it's amazing.
So my. My daughter's company there.
So when's the last time youbought a ticket?

(16:10):
Do you go last year?
I think we go around asking,do you have a ticket? I really want
to go to games.
When's the last time youbought a ticket?
Yeah, now why you want Mr.
Freeze for me? When was thelast time you bought a ticket?
Yeah, we'll tell you this.Last year, I believe I did. We bought
it and we were in left field.

(16:32):
You said you right?
Yeah, I think I bought it orit was given to us. But we were on
the first time ever on theleft field foul pole line right there.
Home in the outfield rightnext to the line. And there's the
TV cameras right there too.And it was hot, man. We were there

(16:59):
two minutes. We sat.
We.
But it was a great seatbecause if there's a home run, all
you had to do or a foul ball,whatever yours you're near, you could
have.
Slid down the pole. You're a fireman.
We could have.
So my. My favorite place tosit. Okay. So there's two different

(17:21):
things here. So first of all,my favorite place to sit in the whole
world doesn't exist anymore.And that was in the green seats at
Riverfront.
Oh yeah.
We were always shoot for twoin the green. That's where. That's
where we went. They weren'tnecessarily the best seats. They
were the economy seats. Sothey were the seats that. That the
adults in my life had when wewent. But those I remember so fondly

(17:42):
because that's where we alwayssat was always two in the green.
Every once in a while youcould get them in the blue right
above the dugout.
Yes.
And that was. You could godown above the dugout and that was
really cool. And then youcould have a shot at maybe get somebody
sign something or, you know,whatever. But it was always two in
the green seats. And I lovedthe green seats. We were usually

(18:05):
down one line or another.Wasn't a big fan of sitting the outfield.
The. And I don't like being uptoo high. Like red seats. Red seats
were a little too much.
Yes.
My dad used to have seasontickets to the Bengals and he had
them in the red seats. Now thefootball up high is not. Is not.
Not bad because you can kindof see everything going whatever.

(18:25):
Yeah.
But the baseball up high. Idon't care. For now.
It's not like being at a game.
Yeah.
It's a game over. Why arepeople leaving?
Yeah. So then when you switchand go to Great America. Now I'm
convinced there is no bad seatin Great America.
There isn't.
That place has great viewsjust about anywhere you are.
No bad See. But dangerousseats. People that watching and get

(18:46):
hit in the head.
I do prefer the scout seatsright behind home. I love watching
a game behind on Blade. Andthe way we got those was always,
you know, there's a. There's aweek. Usually it's a weeknight game.
Giving away my secrets. Herethere's. If it's a weeknight game
and you wait until about threehours, two hours right before the

(19:10):
game and you go on to like oneof these ticket sites and you see
what's there. A lot of timesyou can nab those seats up for a
Good value. And I mean,they're still expensive, but they're
not nearly what they would beif you were, you know, buying them
weeks out. And you can, youcan nab those seats up. And we've
done that I don't know howmany times. I'll be like, dude, let's
go to a ball game. It's like,okay. And I get on it like, oh, great,
we got two seats. Let's go.And then, you know, you go get your

(19:32):
hot dog, you walk right outinto it. So that's probably my favorite
place at Great American towatch a game is in the scout seats.
Those are cool, but I forgot.How could I forget that? The, the
most popular seat is in theowner suite. That was free food and
great up get a chance to meetthe front office individuals. So

(19:55):
right there, that's. It wasgreat. But still I had. I'm watching
the game and I had to becordial because people want to talk
to me. I want to watch thegame. But the other part, I get to
see the replay. So that's onething that stands out, watching the
game there compared to beingat home. You can watch the replay.
So how did. What happenedthere? But, yeah, but I, I just,

(20:17):
I just. And also I watch theoutfielders, seeing if they're backing
up, backing up third orbacking up first. A lot of those
guys just standing there, oh,I'll wait till the balls hit me.
But yeah, I had fun. It was a.I guess I felt great being able to
back up third base, showingthat I'm in shape. Back up third

(20:38):
base. And, and just being ina. There. There's always a place
you need to be as, as a, as a.As a player. And all those guys,
some of them don't know, but,but I knew where to go, and I was
excited to be able to get there.
Now, of all the guys sittingat the table, there's only one of
us who may have actually everbeen to the broadcast booth. Have

(20:58):
you ever been in the broadcastbooth, George?
I have, yeah.
What, what kind of view dothey have? I'm always curious.
They have a good view, butit's dangerous because some of them
don't have that window thereand the walls. Most of those guys
didn't play baseball. They tryand get hit in the head or something,
but they feel good about, wow,this is how it feels to get hit with
a baseball.

(21:20):
So you finished the seasonlast year exhausted from all the
travel and the tournaments,and you tossed your gear in a bag
where it's been sitting allwinter. Now you're ready for another
year. But your favorite glovethat fits just right is an error
waiting to happen.
The leather is dry, the laces are.
Brittle, and this year you'reon a new team with new colors. And
it sure would be cool if youit matched well. Wouldn't it be great

(21:41):
if you had a glove guy whocould help you out with that? You
do. His name is Ethan, and heowns Glovehound baseball glove repair
shop in Fairfield, Ohio. Justcontact him@glovehound.com and upload
pictures of your glove.
He'll give you a call back to.
Talk it over, and then you cansend it in for a repair. Relays,
recondition, whatever youneed. If you're in the area, you

(22:01):
can even just stop by theshop. That way you don't have to
bother with shipping. And alot of times, he can even fix it
while you wait. Rawlings,Wilson, Mizuno, All Star, Nakona.
He's seen them all, and he'shelped players at all levels, from
beginners to pros. Last year,he worked on a glove that Jose Trevino
used in the World Series. Andhe can help you, too. You can find
Glovehound on Google,Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and

(22:24):
on the web@glovehound.comyou're only going to get busier.
So reach out today and giveyour glove the love it deserves at
Glovehound.
All right, so the nextquestion is this. Okay. Who took
you to games? Who took you toyour first games as a kid?
Yeah, that was. That wasdefinitely mom and dad. I. I only
went.
Left you there for three hours.

(22:46):
Well, you were always a goodstudent. We get that. We get the.
Oh, yeah, those were never great.
They were terrible seats.
But they were free tickets.Free tickets. And, you know, sometimes
late in the game, especiallyif the Reds weren't playing so hot,
which was rather often in myyouth, you could kind of sneak down
and find some better seatslate in the game. But yeah, always

(23:06):
it was always a family affair,and I always enjoyed that. There
was. There was one time I gotto go on a. On a school night. I
remember we were playing theGiants. Jeff Samarja was pitching.
But. But yeah, it was usuallyalways a family affair. Always. Always
a good time.
We had a good time at theballpark. How about you, George?
Who took you to games when youwere a kid?
At the time, it. It's called aYMCA now, but it's called the Teen

(23:29):
Post. When I was growing up,so the Teen Post would take guy or
take the kids to the ballpark.And so that's, I think that was the
first time going to. I went towatch Dodgers in the Pirates play.
Okay.
And I remember they, they. Ithink Willie Davies got a base hit
and, and Clemente was soupset, he threw the ball. I said,

(23:50):
wow, this guy has a great arm.He threw the ball in the parking
lot. And then that's when Ihear sirens going off because it
hit somebody's car. But Isaid, this guy has a great, great
arm. But ironically, Clementewas in the Dodger organization then.
They didn't protect him, so heended up going to the, to the Pirates.
But I love watching theDodgers. Willie Maury Wills, Willie

(24:11):
Davis. We call Willie Davis athree dog. Those guys could run.
So. Yeah, because when youwere so, so our, our baseball universe
was Cincinnati when we werekids. So yours would have been Dodger
Stadium. Right? Okay.
California.
You were a Dodgers. Dodgersfan growing up.
I just loved going to the gamebecause it was free. You know, I
love going to watch the gameand, and just getting a chance to

(24:35):
see, see the game. I mean, Ilove watch listening on tv, listen
on radio. Because Vince Gully.
Yeah. You know, you don't getbetter than Vince Gully.
Vince Gulley and JerryDoggett. So then when I started playing,
I got a chance to meet thoseguys. So it's like a dream come true.
Other than in, other thanmeeting Willie Mays. But I called
him the golden voice ofbaseball. Vince Kelly and Jerry Doggett.

(24:58):
Yep, those guys were great.What about you, Rick? Who took you
to the games when you were a kid?
My dad, of course, and then mygrandma Jenny. She loved baseball.
Jenny.
Yeah, my grandma Jenny, man.She loves, she loved baseball and
we had a Aunt Daisy. AndDaisy, she loved baseball, man. So

(25:20):
those three people.
Yeah, I remember the, the twomain people who took me to baseball
when I was a kid was my dadand my Aunt Linda. She was, she was
awesome. We went lots ofdifferent places. I've talked about
her before and we went andtook in, in games together and that
was a lot of fun. She was, shewas the reason why I was a Johnny

(25:40):
Bench fan, because she wasJohnny Bench fan. And that's where
I first started, you know,learning about him and whatever.
And then when I got interestedin catching, I was like, you know
that. Yeah, this is it, thisis it. You know, that's cool. But
those were, those were greatdays. I, I always remember going
to the ballpark because welived north of Dayton, so it was

(26:05):
a whole day. Like you had toget up in the morning you, you drove
all the way to Cincinnati, youknow, and then a lot of times she
would take us someplace cool.Like we'd go through the 580 gift
shop for a while or we'd go,you know, it's like a tour, Reds
hall of Fame. So, you know,we'd see something cool down while
we were down there and then wewould take in the game. And then
by the time it's over, you'redriving home. I mean, it's a whole

(26:25):
day thing and man, I justcould not think of a better day.
It was one of my favorite things.
It's usually better a greatweekend because most of the time
the, the fans come and stay awhole weekend and long before Ethan's
time, they had the sheriff andGibson. That was the place that people
would go.
Yeah.
And there were, there werelines around the block just to get

(26:49):
in.
Yeah.
And so I learned, I learnedthat not to get on a floor higher
than the fourth floor becauseI would never get on the elevator.
So at least I can take thestairs. But one time, mistakenly
I think I was on like the 10thfloor. So I got in shape going up
and down the stairs.
Yeah, one of the, one of thefun things she, my aunt Linda, she

(27:09):
had, she would take binocularsand so that was always fun is, you
know, you're gettingsquirrelies. A kid, she's like, here,
use these, man. I'm looking ateverybody. I'm looking at the game.
We were taking care ofeverything. She had this one cool
set of binoculars that alsohad a camera in it. It was really
cool. So like you'd be lookingand if you wanted to, you could snap

(27:30):
a photo. It was, it was thecoolest thing. But yeah, we, we used
to take the binoculars andwhat. And sometimes she'd taken and
listen to Marty and Joe.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And that was always do that.
We, we always preferredanytime you could hear Marty and
Joe over top of anything else.I mean, it was just cool.
It wasn't baseball withoutlistening to them.

(27:53):
That's the other thing is, isthe prep, the, the things at the
ballpark that were such apreference. Like I prefer the organ
player at the ballpark. I amso glad that they do that now over
like pre recorded music. I'mmuch, much a bigger fan of some guy
up there just playing thestuff and doing the thing. And that's
so much more fun than, than abunch of pre recorded music. And

(28:13):
then they would, you know, wewould always wait until they'd play
the charge. We'll charge itwas just. This is fun. It was a great,
great day. I, I.
A great day.
Always remember that veryfondly. Those were, those are great
days. Okay, so who taught youhow to watch a games? Who taught
you what you were looking at?
That's a, that's a good one.

(28:35):
For me, it was the same thing.It was going with dad and.
I.
Don'T know, it just naturally. Yeah.
I mean, just naturally justwould, just.
Was learning the game and.
Yeah.
You know, when you can tell akid, you know all you want how it
works, but when, and watchingit on tv, you can kind of get an
idea for it. But when you'reat the ballpark, you can point out

(28:56):
so many different things. Sohim being able to point out, you
know, what the catcher isdoing, where he's going, why he's
going there, and that kind ofthing. And then also just learning
about keeping score and, andthat kind of thing. So. Yeah, definitely,
definitely dad on that one.
What about you, George?
Well, keeping score, that's,that's a plus. I would have, I would

(29:17):
encourage parents when theytake their kids to the ballpark,
have them to keep score sothey can really get involved in the
game. I remember back, I was,my daughter at the time, she's probably
like 30, and she said, dad, Iwant to learn how to keep score.
And I said, that is, that'sgreat because I didn't really know
that she was really into thegame as much just to keep score.

(29:39):
And I said, okay, I hope Iknow how to keep score.
Yes.
So I don't want some strangeplay to come up and I don't know
how to score this, but I thinkthe director of the team poll say
would tell the kids, you know,we're here to have fun, but also
to learn. Now find out whichplayer. Look at your position. Okay,

(29:59):
that guy's playing left field.See what he's doing. So focus on
what position you have andthen follow that guy. So now you
can learn from that. And Imean, this is the major league, the
highest level. So this is whatthey're doing. So find out what they're
doing. So I guess the teampost director, that's cool.
What about you?
For me, it's just naturally,you know, just pre game inborn and,

(30:23):
and just, just naturally justfollowing the game.
He came out.
But I used to always liked howthe, how people, how they kept score
and then still watched thegame and stuff. So it was pretty
unique to see people thatwere, and you looked at their, at

(30:45):
their score. I'm like man, youdid pretty good. You know, how organized
they were and stuff, how theyunderstood, especially women.
Yeah, my mom. Mom kept score.Yes. Yeah, I got to go back and look
at the scores. Maybe I canchange a few hits.
But yeah, yeah, especiallywomen. And, and so my mother in law,

(31:06):
she used to have a softballteam and we talked a lot about watching
the game. I used to watch thegame with her. And so I probably.
That's why I stayed in thefamily so long.
I like that, Rick.
Yeah, we talked baseball. Shewas a Dodgers fan. My grandmother
was a Dodgers fan too. And youknow, so watching the game taught

(31:29):
you how to watch the game,talk about the game and different
players and plays and you know.
Well, and that's, you know,Ethan talked about learning things
that I would have taught him.Well, those are things my dad taught
me. And, and the people that Iwent, yes, my aunt Linda, my mom,
both were very good at keepingscore. My mom kept score for the

(31:50):
church softball team foryears. She was very good at keeping
score. And so everybody. Mydad would keep score if we went to
a game. It's just something wealways learned to do. So teaching
me to keep score also kept asquirrely kid with something to do.
So that was good.
Yeah.
And, and so we would, we woulddo, do that. But at the same time,
my dad was really good atexplaining to me why things happened.

(32:13):
And so I'd be like, well, sowhy did that happen? Or why did that
happen? Or he would say, okay,so now that was an error on this
guy and that he got chargedwith an error because of this.
Right.
You know, or, or that was. Orthis pitcher is now, now the winner.
Or this guy now got the save.Or this guy, you know, and that can
be which pitcher wins andwhich pitcher gets saved. Be very
confused.

(32:33):
It is challenging. Yes, thatis challenging.
But to explain, okay, well,this is why this rule that came into
play here, and that's why thatguy was safe, or that's why that
guy was out. That's why, youknow, and so I was very inquisitive
child and he was alwayswilling to explain things to me as
it went. And that was reallycool because now you weren't just
sitting there in the hot sunbacon. Right. For more popcorn.

(32:55):
Game over.
Yeah, you're just doing some.And Ethan had the. He. He asked more
questions than any child Ihave ever known in my life.
More than you.
Oh my gosh. When he wasprobably three years old.
Why is the ball around?
Oh, he used to ask me questions.
Hey, dad, how Many stitches onthe ball.
Hey, dad, guess what? Hey, dad.

(33:17):
Hey, dad.
All the time. And so we got tothe point where I would limit him.
I'd say you get threequestions today. That's it. And so
he would be like, dad, yes.Okay. And he would, like, try and
figure out how to, how to askme something without a big part.
Two.
Yeah, yeah. Because he didn'twant to blow all his questions in

(33:37):
one shot. So, yeah, he asked alot of questions. That's why he got
a lot of answers. But yeah, Ithink it's that. That relationship
you have with the adults inyour life that pass that down to
you, that's one of the reasonswhy baseball is so special. I think
it is past time. It'ssomething that's passed down from
person to person.
It forces you to think, itforces you to use your mind, and

(34:01):
it forces you strategize,strategize thinking two and three
steps ahead of the game. And Ithink that's what's missing in how
to teach the game to this newgeneration of, you know, because
no matter what generation,baseball is still played the same.
You still need outs, you stillneed to throw strikes.

(34:22):
Those rules don't change.
Yeah, they don't change.
I think also the advent ofvideo games has changed a lot of
things because these, yourgeneration, you guys learned a lot
of things by playing video games.
Yeah, I learned a lot of mlb.Yeah. Yeah. And we didn't have video
games at our house. But. Butwhen I went.
There's a reason for that.
But when I went to friend.When I went to friends houses, you

(34:44):
know, obviously we play. Andthen once I got to high school and
I, you know, bought my ownthing and whatever, but my best friend,
he had MLB 2K11. I don't knowwhy that's the one he had. So that's
what we played. I played somuch MLB 2K11. So learning, learning
different players and thatkind of thing and then learning how

(35:07):
to. That was really helpfulwith pitch sequencing, to be honest,
because you. In a game, youknow how the ball's supposed to move
and you know, in real life,you can't always make it move the
same every way. But trying to.Trying to set them up and then. And
have some intention with whyyou're choosing what pitches.
Right.
I. I don't know. I think itwas very advantageous for. For me

(35:28):
learning the game. You. Theother thing about playing a video
game is when you have anoption, you want to use it. Like
the whole, why did you do it?Well, because I could. So, like,
if you can steal a base, youwant to. So you're always trying
to steal. You're alwaysbunting, even if it doesn't call
for it, just because you can,you know, so learning some. Some
strategy there, you know,seeing if you can make your guy take

(35:51):
off for second and have theguy from third run home and try to,
you know, get in a pick, youknow, all that kind of stuff. And
now I've heard a lot of. It'skind of traveling up and a lot of
simulation and that kind ofstuff is happening at the major league
collegiate level, and they'restarting to use that to learn the
game, which is interesting.

(36:11):
Yes, they are. But what, whatwe're all talking about, these are
things that should help kidstoday and I think be more engaged.
Yes. Be engaged, be morecreative. I, you know, when my, my
teams was coming up, I'll letmy catcher call again.
Yeah.
You know, help them think,help them fail, help them grow through

(36:34):
the failure. Help themunderstand that, hey, man, you owe
to. Why you throwing thatright here? You know, but through
failure, they'll learn. So.And I always ask kids today, you
know, they play MLB, the gameand stuff like that, from 2011 to
now, the graphics, I'm sure,has changed.

(36:56):
Yeah, not as much as it was.It really wasn't bad for 2011. But
I like what you're sayingabout creativity, because if you're
playing the video game, youmake every decision, but when you're
out on the field, if the coachmakes every decision, you know, it
is kind of suppressing that.
This is why, like that,that's. This is why I talked to a
lot of coaches, and they saida lot of kids don't know the game.

(37:18):
They know the game, butthey're not getting a lot of leeway
to. To fail. You know what I'msaying? Because everybody's trying
to control everything and.
Even become so robotic.
Yes.
They.
They. They don't think so.This is probably why a lot of kids
don't talk the game. I grewup. We talk the game. You know, we

(37:38):
can. It's all like being on abasketball court. You know, you hear
language, you hear this andthat, but we talk the game. And then
when we went to play the gameout and you know, in baseball, you
know, it helped us think twoand three steps ahead of the game
without we able to react.
Yeah.
You know, there's certainthings I learned that I want that

(37:59):
play to happen so I can do itduring the game.
Yes.
So I'm playing left field. Theball hit down the line. Some guys
go in differently. So I'mwatching Willie Mays, you know, he's
going to go in backhanded andthen step, step behind and crow hop
and throw to whatever base.
Right.
But other guys, they don't. Ordown the right field line. I catch
it. And yes, but, but theguy's round in first base thinking

(38:22):
that, okay, he has secondautomatic, but I'm in a position
to make that throw.
Right.
So. But being able to utilizethat in the game situation, that's
exciting because I, I sawthat. I saw Willie Mays do it. I
saw.
Yeah.
Bobby Bonds or somebody elsewould do it.
Yeah. And a quick mention too,last week when you guys did the,
did the clinic. We, we allcame together and these guys put

(38:45):
on a clinic last Wednesday fora local team and shout out to coach
Jimmy and the team, you guys,Coach Jimmy. Listening.
Jimmy. Jimmy.
The kids. These kids weregoing from station to station and
they went over and they weretalking about outfielding and George
was working with them onoutfielding. And then they moved
on to another station. Theywere standing. I went over and I

(39:06):
was talking to him. I said,let me ask you a question. I said,
have you ever thought thatmuch about outfielding in your life?
And they're like, no. Like,you can see the steam coming out
their ears. Like they had noidea there was that much to talk
about when it came down.
Let's think about, you know,the bad fielders go in the outfield.
You know, they're the lastline of defense.

(39:27):
Yeah. But I'll tell you what,you talk about a great bunch of kids.
Yes.
They were some really goodcoaches and some fantastic parents.
It was. Yeah, it was a lot offun and I look forward to doing more
of those with you guys. Thatwas, that was, that was fun.
And afterwards, I get a lot oftexts and, and even I went to their
opening day on Saturday that Iposted. It was, it was packed. You

(39:51):
had to park two and threeblocks away.
Oh, my God.
That's how, that's how packedit was.
That's fantastic.
Have ballet. I'm not going to.
I had parents say they had topark in. Friends parking in a driveway.
Yeah.
Call them up. Hey, can we parkin your truck to the game is over.
It's like, yeah, come talkabout a couple episodes ago. We were
making the case for rec ball.Man, that's. That's good to see happening.

(40:14):
Oh, man, that's good to seehappen. That's awesome.
That's great to hear.
That's awesome.
It was so.
Okay, next question is, whatis something that you look forward
to when you go to the ball game?
For me, this was. You get tosee athletes in person. You can watch.
You can watch all thehighlights you want, but until you're

(40:35):
in person, you can'tappreciate it. So the first thing,
the first one I rememberspecifically is getting to watch
Billy Hamilton run. Becauseyou see him run on tv, but you see
the pitcher throw it and thenyou see the last, you know, five
steps of him, and then thecatcher makes attack. But seeing
him run in person was unreal.That guy was so fast.

(40:56):
Run, Billy.
And then last year, getting tosee Ellie De La Cruz. He is so much
taller than you think he is.Yeah, like. Like he looks tall on
tv, but then you see him inperson and it's like, holy crap.
And getting to watch him run,too, is. Is just incredible.
I know Ellie is tall, but Iwas standing next to Aaron Judge,

(41:17):
like, wow.
Oh, my goodness.
This guy.
He's tall and thick, isn't he?
Oh, yeah, he's a big guy.
And then the game that we wentto this year, Matt Chapman was playing.
Third base, and I like the way he.
Getting to watch him play was.Was really cool. And then, and then
last but not least was in thatgame against The Giants, Matt McClain

(41:37):
and Ellie de la Cruz turned, Ithink three double plays. So watching,
Watching them turn the doubleplays was, oh, it was incredible.
And it was a different waythey did it every single time. And
it was just, just. It wasflawless. It was so, so cool to watch.
And then. And then thisanother thing was watching everybody
move as a unit. You know, theysay, they say, like, chess game.

(42:01):
Well, they say it has like.
Like the team.
The team has one. One breathor one rhythm, you know? That's exactly
what I mean. It was. Nobodywas, like, looking around. Everybody
just knew exactly where to go.
Are they going to be?
Yeah, the. I can remembertrying to learn outfield cutoffs
in high school, and it was sochoppy and unnatural them. It was
like the first baseman's justfalling in line, you know?

(42:23):
Yeah.
Like it's nothing. Thirdbaseman's falling in line, shortstops
already there at third. Like,it was just so, so cool to watch.
So fluid.
Yeah.
Muscle memory.
Yeah, muscle memory.
What about you, George? Whatdo you look forward to when.
You go to the ball game oneday? I look forward to getting there
early and watch batting practice.
Thank you.
There you go.
You don't get a chance to seea Guy maybe swinging bat much during

(42:44):
the game, but watching battingpractice. I remember when I lived
in Connecticut and hadretired, I would go go watch the
Mets, watch him take battingpractice. Did I go home and watch
the game so because there wasa certain guy I wanted to watch go.
He's gonna get about 20, 25swing, so I get a chance to see that.
And. But if you watch it ontv, the guy may get like, say four,

(43:07):
four or five swings, buttaking batting practice and, and
actually being down on thefield, being able to watch him take
batting practice. So that's afun part for me.
Yeah.
What about you, Rick?
Same with me, too. So when Itook my, my boys, especially Ricky,
since he played baseball thelongest, taught him how batting practice

(43:30):
is done. First round,everybody goes right side. Bam, bam,
bam. Second round, Then buntor Elon drives. Second round, boom,
back up the middle. You seeeverybody. That third round, everybody.
Then you see the guyscranking. They, they teeing off.
So just really showing their.The hitting dynamics. But Right.

(43:52):
How the approach to hittingis, you know, and so that, that's,
that's always fun. And thenjust in between innings, just how
fluid everybody takes infieldor ground ball work or how they throw.
Yeah. There's no balls goingon, right?
Yeah, there's no.
Yeah, just ground ball workand stuff like that. So.

(44:12):
But that was fun, too. Butthey don't take infield now. But
I love watching infield. Butnot only the, the infield per se,
but the fungal hitter.
Yeah.
Oh, and how, how accurate he is.
Yeah. Oh, man.
And yeah, that was, that wasfun. Watch it. Watching that. But
back to watching the game nowas a spectator watching batting practice.

(44:33):
I did the same thing when Iplayed, but that's for strategy.
So in batting practice, theguy's going to show you his true,
true swing. So if he's hittingline drive. So they say this guy's
a pull hitter. I say, does hepull in the air, pull on the ground?
It makes a big differencewhere you're going to play. So now
when the game starts, Ialready know, I laugh at these guys.

(44:55):
Every, every inning they hadto look at this card where to play
somebody.
Yeah.
And they're saying, these guyssupposed to be bigger, stronger,
faster, but I don't know aboutsmarter because. But we would, before
a game, the first game of thatseries, would look at the card and
tell us where the guy shouldplay. Say, but that's. You got to

(45:16):
change as. Get more strikes on him.
Right.
So we memorize that. But theseguys, ah, we don't have to memorize
this. I'll just look at thecard. So, but, but it's, it's a little
different now than before.Like we use the word robotic. So
they're more robotic. Yes, buttaking batting practice and watching
batting practice and watchinginfield play.
There you go. My thing I lookforward to, I look forward to trying

(45:42):
to guess the.
Game call from the catcher.
So my thing was I'm watching,I'm watching the catcher like crazy
and I'm trying to, I'm tryingto guess what pitch he's going to
call.
Yes.
And then you watch him,they're shaking it off and they're
back in there trying to figureout, you know, whatever. And then
you see the pitch and you'relike, okay. And it can be really
challenging in person becausethere's no little thing that pops

(46:04):
up on the screen and tells youwhat that pitch was. And so, you
know, when you're a kid, youbasically know, all right, that came
in really fast, that was acurveball. And anything else just
moved.
You know, Pitch recognition.
Yeah. Learning to do. But, andthen being behind as, as a grown
up, I was, I've been able toget those seats behind play and I
love watching the ball movein. They used to, when you would

(46:29):
see it on television, rememberthey used to show the behind the
umpire camera more often. Nowthey don't ever show that hardly
at all, but they used to showit more regularly and you could see
the ball move when they wouldthrow it. I always, it was, it's
deceptive when you're behindthe pitcher all the time looking
at that camera, right. And hethrows. And a lot of times it looks

(46:50):
like it moves like this acrossthe plate when it's really cooling
from, you know, up to down.And so when you're in there and you're
watching it move, you're like,holy crap, that thing really moves.
I definitely like to play thepitch guessing game when I'm watching
on tv. But one, one thing Iwould say.
When you watch it on tv,especially Greg Maddox.
Oh yeah, yeah.
Goodness.

(47:10):
It's always over the pitcher'sright shoulder. Even if he's left
handed, it's still the rightshoulder. And so I've obviously,
I've watched Nicola Dolo pitchon TV and it's like, okay, cool.
It's Nick Ladolo, you know,he's left hand, whatever. I saw him
in game and that his motionlooks so much different because I
was, I was up and behind theplate. I could see the motion from

(47:31):
the other side. And sosometimes when you watch lefties
throw on tv, it doesn't looklike it moves much. And I know whenever,
whenever pitching ninja willshow his, will call out lefties for
pitches. That moved a lot.He's, sometimes he's like, no, I
know it doesn't look like it,but it actually moved this much.
You just can't see it. Sogetting to see lefties in person

(47:52):
is definitely a different.
Yeah. And when you're a littlekid and you're watching it and you
see how hard that ball comes in.
Yeah.
And you see how much it movesyou, you are immediately realizing
this game is a completelydifferent level that I have never
seen before. And it was, itwas really cool. The other thing
was, and this is a goofything, but being a musician, I, I,

(48:13):
it's a lot of what has to doin life. A lot of the memorable things
in life for me are what youhear. And I miss the days when they
used to call the player's nameand repeat their last name. They
used to do all the time.Johnny Bench. Yeah, Bench. You know,
I mean, they would always saythey don't do it anymore and that
this was before the days ofwalk up music and all that nonsense.

(48:36):
They just call their name andrepeat their last name. And you were
like, yes, that's what.
We'Re doing Dodger stuff alot. And of course, Yankee stayed
and did.
That a lot because whenever wewould play in the backyard, if we
were pretending to be theannouncer, we would always do that.
You know, you'd always callthe person's last name twice.
Derek. Jada. Jada.
Yeah, it was always, alwaysone of those fun things. So, yeah.
Trying to, trying to outguessthe pitcher and, and trying to, to

(48:59):
figure out how the catcher wascalling the game. That was probably
one.
Another thing I looked at ispredicting the play.
Yeah.
So a guy just hit the ball tosecond base. And so now we're going
to say, okay, this guy's goingto make an out, but will he pop it
up? Will he hit a ground ball?So it just, it really keeps you into

(49:21):
the game. But I think the mainthing is seeing if the guy's going
to make the adjustment.
Right.
So he just got jammed. So nowis he going to make an adjustment
or has go order more.
Bats or when we were atRiverfront, if you were down, if
you're down first base line,the big thing was trying to guess
if he was going to steal. Likewhen's he going to go right. When's
he going to go, is it? And youknow, they throw back over and that

(49:42):
was when you could throw overas many times as you want. So sometimes
that would really turn into alittle battle there for a while and
then, you know, you, okay,he's going to go, he's going to go.
And then he goes, you know, I.
Was like, I think, I don'tthink I know. That would have helped
us in the, in the World Seriesagainst 72 World Series against Oakland.
So Blue Moon Odom, that was.He kept throwing over the first,
on over the first and hefinally picked Morgan off or he got

(50:06):
thrown out of second. But nowyou're limited to what, three throws,
so. But would have been ouradvantage, but they took advantage
of the fact that it keptthrowing, kept throwing and they
were patient and it wore us down.
That's cool. Our last questionin this section is what do you pay
close attention to whenyou're. When you're watching a game

(50:27):
at the ballpark and we'vetalked about this a little bit in
this thing, but somethingthat, that you're keying in on. Like
you say, okay, if thishappens, that I know this game is
headed in this direction orthat direction, like, what is it
the thing that you really payclosest attention to.
Now? I pay more attention todefensive positioning and people

(50:53):
who are not involved in theplay. But that's mainly because of
this podcast and theappreciation I have for that now.
Before it was, I had a. I'mgoing to look where the ball is every
single time. But I would sayin previous games, it's just watching,
watching the fluidity of afielder, field the ball. I don't

(51:15):
know that was. It's justbecause, because you, you're. When
you're in the stands, you'renot as keyed in on pitcher, batter.
And so you're watching more tome, you're watching more defense.
Yeah, right, you are.
And so watching, watching justhow natural, you know, no, they're
not thinking about their.
It just happens. That's why Isaid thinking two and three steps

(51:37):
ahead of okay, ball hit theleft field, we got a man on second
base. Okay, boom. I know whereI'm going to be at.
And then the other thing Iwould say is watching the flight
of the ball. There's nothinglike seeing that in person. You don't
realize how that or how highsome of those pop ups get hit. I
mean, when you're in thesecond deck and you see it come up
to eye level and, and you'relike, man, if I was on that field.

(51:58):
I don't know if I could catchthat fly ball. But yeah, watching
the fly to the ball is. Isalways impressive as well.
Anything else stick out issomething you really pay attention
to.
Well, two things stick out.One, like Ethan was talking about,
I like to see if they. Theoutfielders more so make the adjustment
according to how many strikesthe batter has or if the guy, a right

(52:18):
hander is fouling everything,he's late on the ball. Will they
move towards right field orstay straight away? And more times
than none, they just stay inthe same place. And then if they
was to move a couple of steps,they had a chance to catch the ball
that was hit to them. And theother one is the, the route, the
route that they're taking. Andright away you're knowing that, okay,
left hand hit the ball moretimes than done is going to hook

(52:40):
towards the left field lineand officer with the right hander.
But I see a ball hit the rightfield and the right field is going
towards center. And then nowhe has to re. Regroup. Fraley did.
He made that adjustment. Heended up making a catch. But I see
these guys, they don't knowthe correct routing on there. And
then we talked about the spinplay. You gotta be spinning as you

(53:03):
catch the ball, not catch itand then spin. So they don't. They
gotta go to ballroom dancing,I guess to learn coordination. Their
coordination. Theircoordination. But baseball about
choreography, the movement outthere that I would maybe focus on
and say if it is a Dela Cruzor a guy who's a great outfielder

(53:26):
seeing this movement, why doeshe get a good jump on the ball? If
he had the crossover step, hehad the drop step. So mechanics,
mechanically I really wouldfocus on.
I agree. What I would do isthat even. And I'm just talking about
my own, My own son since heplayed outfield and infield.
What's his name?

(53:47):
I think it's Ricky. What Iwould do is the things that I see
in a game, we'll go and workwith it at home in practice. So he
had always hit a lot of flyballs and different angles and different
routes and things like that.Because it's going to happen in the

(54:08):
game. So the more times you,you do that, those movements become
natural to them. Yeah, okay.They react to it and things. And
then just like infield, samething. A lot of ground balls. My
nephew the other day made aplay. He plays 13U and I haven't

(54:28):
seen a play like that in along time. He went in a hole barehanded
it and threw the kid out inthe hole. Yeah, we got it on video.
Did you teach him that?
Huh?
Did you teach him that?
Well, the last person I seenout of my family make that play was
my son, Ricky. Seriously. AndI was like, man. And I was like,

(54:49):
well, it gave me goosebumps.I'm like, man, that play is nice.
So I. You can hear the. Theaudio people said, man, I wouldn't
have did that with my. Butagain, those instincts, those natural
instincts and things thathappen, they. You don't think they

(55:10):
have. Because you do. Youpractice it so much. It just happens,
you know, you don't thinkabout it.
Well, positioning. You've beenin the right place to be able to
make that.
Just like again, when Georgewas saying about going in the corner
and making that. That reversethrow to the infield, man, and all

(55:30):
in one motion, man, that's.That's a beautiful play when it's
done.
That's styling.
Yeah, that's beautiful play.
So I learned early on, my dad.My dad taught me that if you want
to know what's going on in. Inthe baseball game, there are three
people to watch. You watch thecenter field or the shortstop and
the catcher. And those are theguys calling the shots on the field.

(55:52):
Those are the guys that I'mwatching. I'm watching the center
fielder captain the outfield.I'm watching the shortstop captain
the infield, and I'm watchingthe. The catcher. You look over everybody.
And I was always, especiallyas a catcher, I was always interested
in how to best lead a team.How can I be that leader for my team

(56:15):
and be helpful? Not just a guywho's back there popping off about
stuff, but actually helpingthe team. And so by watching those
guys do what they do. Ifyou've never done that at a game,
it's fascinating to see allthe communication that goes on during
a game and the fact that they,you know, the outfielders are communicating

(56:37):
with each other. The centerfielder is the guy who calls who
calls who, you know, whetherhe's got the ball or he doesn't have
the ball or, you know,whatever's going on, or if you're
converging on a play and it'sone guy's job to call people off
or say what he's got orwhatever. You know, those are. Those
are the. The captains to lookat. And that's. That's what I always
keyed in on. I used to. So ifyou watch the. The center field of

(56:59):
the shortstop and the. And thecatcher, then it's you get a good
overall view of what's going on.
Yeah for us Benny Outfieldlike say we look at the or how the
guy is swinging the bat and Iwatch Geronimo he's going to move
left right so we don't want tohave a big gap that's there and so
but he would a lot of timegesture where I'm moving towards

(57:22):
right field and and so Griffsometime played played center field
but it was just fun becauseeverything was flowing so well, so
fluidly. So it made it fun andlike you say watching the infielders
so I watched Davey would moveup the middle or move to his right
and when I was playing centerfield a few times I did I watched

(57:43):
the catcher sitting outside orsitting inside so it doesn't really
matter a lot of time to pitchbut I'm looking at he want that ball
away so it helped me to get aone or two.
Steps jump Ethan is more thanmy podcast partner. He's my son and
like every baseball parent, myfirst priority was his development
as a player. Every year we'dstart out with a new coach and a

(58:07):
new team making new promises,only to end up playing the same old
tournaments with little to nopractice in between.
You know what I'm talking about.
That's why I'm so thankfulthat we found MDNI Academy. I first
met Coach Rick over a decadeago when Ethan was just a kid, and
I'll never forget the relief Ifelt watching his first lesson. I
knew right then that no matterwhat team he played for, my son would

(58:29):
have amazing, consistentinstruction from someone who cared.
Rick has trained baseball andsoftball players at the select, travel
and even college levels, so Iknew that Ethan could continue his
excellence through trainingapproach for his whole baseball career.
He learned hitting, pitching,catching, fielding, and more all
in one place. Most of all, helearned to love the greatest game

(58:49):
in the world and how to playit with character and integrity.
MDNI is a first class facilitywith plenty of tunnels for hitting
and pitching instruction thatopen up into large areas for teaching
fielding, baserunning, speedand agility. They even have a weight
room for strength training. Soif you you're wearing yourself out
running all over town tomultiple teachers or worse, you're

(59:10):
counting on that new selectcoach to actually develop your child.
You need to check out MDNIAcademy today. Go to mdaiacademy.com
and contact Coach Rick tolearn how you can get all the baseball
instruction you need fromsomeone who cares about your favorite
player as.
Much as you do.
@ MDNI Academy.
All right, so today we aregoing to launch into it.

(59:36):
Who's the hero?
Didn't work for this one. Sowe're calling it Fun Fan Facts. Today
we're talking about triviathat has to do with ballparks and
ballpark food and ballparktraditions. And I've got. I am loaded
for bear.
You won one episode. And I wanted.
Yeah, I was gonna say that.This is what I was gonna say. Somebody's
owing.02. I don't know whoit's not.

(59:58):
Man, we got two for two. Man,I'm two for two.
All right.
Played his own game.
This will decide who is theseason one world champion.
Don't give a bonus questionthat he doesn't win.
The world champion of thefirst half of season one. There you
go. That sounds good. Allright, so question number one. In

(01:00:20):
a significant game fromGeorge's career.
Oh.
The president of the UnitedStates threw out two first pitches.
One with his right hand andone with his left board. What was
the game? And who was thepresident? Ford was the president.
I don't know what game was itopening day.

(01:00:41):
It was opening day.
It was not opening closingday. So was it World Series?
It was not a World Series.
You can't ask questions. So I.Do I get a half a point?
You get. Yeah, you get half apoint for that. And we'll make this
one worth. This will be thisone worth two points. So George got
one of the two. So one. Onceagain in a star game.

(01:01:08):
No, that's.
Yes.
You're not allowed to ask questions.
Well, so you guys split thatone. It's one of these. Are you keeping?
You.
Why don't you keep.
I kind of gave them. Yeah,hold on.
No way. That. Keep our stuffscore. Because you don't need to
keep yours.
I kind of helped you guys withit by saying.
There you go.
There you go.

(01:01:29):
All right. This. This stadium,okay, was the very first domed stadium
ever built in major LeagueBaseball. It was the Astrodome. One
for Rick.
No, one for Rick. It's a tie.
It's a die. Okay, here we go.Now, remember that follow up question.

(01:01:50):
A product was installed thereby necessity that has changed baseball
forever. Absolutely.Artificial turf at the Astrodome,
which is why to this day, wecall it Astro Turf.
Oh.
Did you know that?
Yeah, that's exactly why.Okay. This ubiquitous, ubiquitous

(01:02:13):
ballpark food was invented byan army veteran named Frank Liberty.
Hot dogs.
Nope.
French fries.
And it debuted at a TexasRangers game in 1976. Today, this
stadium staple is served atSporting events all over the world.
What is this famous food? Andit is nachos.

(01:02:36):
This is fun Mexican.
Frank Liberto. Libertoinvented nacho cheese. He invented
a cheese sauce.
Would know that his family was.
Had a. Had a food business andhe invented a. A sauce. A cheese
sauce that could be servedquickly at ballparks. And so it.

(01:02:57):
It was there. And so theywould serve it and with the jalapenos
on the side at the Rangersgame. And that's where nachos came.
Hey, in a minute it's going tobe one one, one.
No, it's. It's three one one.
You're. You're tearing it up today.
Yeah.
All right, here we go.Originally opening in 1912, this
major league ballpark was the.Has the shortest center field distance

(01:03:20):
190ft. It is the oldest MLBstadium that.
Is still in Wrigley Field. No.Is it Fenway?
It is Fenway.
There we go.
It is Fenway Park.
They didn't even know.
I got it.
Okay.
Three, two, one.
You said polo grabs for theshortest center.

(01:03:40):
I'm gonna save this one forlater. No, this one is really.
Yeah, I'm gonna get that one.
This one's really tough.
Wait a minute. Put the mirrorup so I can see. You should wear
glasses.
Okay. So the longest game bytime that fans ever had to endure
was a contest between twoAmerican League teams in 1984. The
that lasted 8 hours and 6minutes spanning 25 innings and ended

(01:04:06):
at.
Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox.
3:30 in the morning. Who werethe teams? White Sox was one.
Was a Rangers.
Boston.
No, no, Rangers. White Sox.And the Oakland Orioles.
Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners.Let see.
No, not the Angels. They don'tplay that long. They lose early.

(01:04:30):
Kansas City.
They're not in the AmericanLeague anymore.
Oh, Milwaukee.
Milwaukee. Point for George.
What's it? 3 3.
2.4, George.
2 3, 3.
Okay, here's a. Here's a morerecent one for you, Ethan. A fan
at Dodger Stadium did this.Morgana four times in a single game

(01:04:54):
in 2018.
Catch foul ball.
Beating astronomical oddsestimated at 1 in 1 trillion.
Huh?
They estimated that it was 1in 1 trillion odds that one guy catches
four foul balls in a game.
Was it Zach Campbell?
I don't know. It was. It was a fan.
It's just a fan.

(01:05:14):
It's a fan. We didn't get the name.
Foul balls.
Four foul balls in the game. Okay.
Rick wanted to know it wasn'tfair towards her.
The K signs displayed by fansfor strikeouts originated with the
fans of this National Leagueteam to show support for their star
pitcher.

(01:05:35):
Texas Rangers.
Angels.
National League team.
New York Mets.
Pirates.
Tom Seaver.
And why did you have Tom Seymour?
Why did they use a kid? Whowere they? Who were they backing?
Dwight Gooden.
That's right.
Yeah, that's right.
That's a bonus.

(01:05:55):
I was gonna say you should know.
I wasn't looking at the case.I'm just glad I wouldn't taste them
all right.
This infamous ballpark oncehad an in stadium, courthouse and
jail cell to process rowdyfans. Primarily at football games

(01:06:16):
immediately after incidents.
The Coliseum.
Oh, I remember that.
Oh, this place is infamous forhaving Washington National.
No, Risky.
I guess somebody inPhiladelphia. Somewhere in Philadelphia.
I don't know. The stadium.
Veterans.
No, veterans.
It was veterans. You guys cansplit a point if you want.

(01:06:37):
No, once you guys just split.
We'll split it. We'll split it.
Take a height.
It was called Eagle's Court.
Eagles Court.
And if you got nailed fordoing something, it would process
nachos.
Yeah.
Okay. This famous stadium wasthe last one to install lights for
night games.

(01:07:00):
Yes.
The name of the field, not the city.
I know.
It held out until 1988. Andironically the first night game game
got rained out after three anda half innings and had to be played
during the next day.
And guess what? I have thepicture in my Indian eye on the wall.
Yes, I do. Yep. I found it ata good wheel.

(01:07:21):
Oh, goodness.
Yes. Yeah. Found it.
That's famous.
Level swing. Let it travel.
Wait for your pitch. Beaggressive out there.
It's no wonder young playersget confused at the plate. What if
your son or daughter couldlearn not only how to hit the ball,
but also where to hit it, whento hit it there and why. George Foster

(01:07:43):
has played baseball at thevery highest levels. He was the National
League MVP when he hit 52 homeruns and 149 RBIs in a single season.
He led the major leagues inhome runs twice and RBIs three times.
He was a five time All Star, aSilver Slugger. And he helped the
Reds win back to back Worldseries. During his 15 year career,

(01:08:03):
George developed a uniqueapproach to hitting that made him
one of the greatest hitters ofall time. And now your favorite player
can learn it too.
That's right.
Baseball legend George Fosteris currently accepting new students.
Learn the psychology ofhitting, situational hitting, hitting
for power, bunting and more.Every team needs players who can
hit. And George explains thethe game in a way that's easy to

(01:08:26):
understand and exciting tolearn. So check out georgefoster
baseball.com to learn how youcan apply for private lessons with
a member of the CincinnatiReds hall of Fame. Spots are limited
and the roster will fill upfast, so don't wait. Apply@georgefoster
baseball.com.
All right, let's see.
Okay, so I'm running the roll.What? I got 10.

(01:08:46):
What's our. What's our score? Ethan?
I got 10.
I've got two. George has six.Rick has four.
Okay.
What? I thought you had three.
All right, here we go.
I got six.
Nationals park features amassive three pound burger named
after one of their players.Fans. Fans who can finish it within

(01:09:07):
the allotted innings receive acommemorative T shirt and their photo
on the stadium's wall of fame.What is it called?
Was it. Is it a pass player?
Is it the Big Donkey?
Oh, De Soto.
Keep going. It's a three pound.
It plays Harper Burger.Harper. Yeah. No. Oh.
Is it a current player? For acurrent player.

(01:09:30):
Couldn't be a current.
It is a three pound burger.
Burger. Whose burger? Or it'sa burger.
There's a Jake. There's a Jake Burger.
But he doesn't know.
He don't play no more. Yeah,look it up.
You got it.
Nah, he's a pitcher. Or it wasa pitcher.
I don't.
A three pound burger namedafter one of something.

(01:09:52):
Is there is a hint there?
Three Scherzer. No, no, the burger.
The Scherzer.
It's not. Oh, Mark. It's not Burley.
No. What's that? The righthander that always getting hurt.
Strasberg.
There you go.
Yeah.
Oh, really?
What's the name of the burger?
The straws.
Yes. Ethan gets Strasburger.

(01:10:12):
This Ross burger.
Did I get a fourth of a pound?
Three pounds of burger.
Three pounds. Wow.
And if you eat it, you get onthe wall of fame And a commemorative
t shirt.
And nine. 11 real.
Okay, here we go. Last.
Getting juicy now.
Last question.
Wait a minute. What score?
I don't know. I think you'rewinning, Rick.

(01:10:34):
Barely.
Barely. No, it's strasberger.
Okay. In 1908.
Oh, yeah, I remember that year.
Vaudeville performers JackNorworth and Albert Von Tilzer collaborated
to create a piece History.Ironically, neither one of them had

(01:10:56):
ever attended a baseball game.And yet their contribution is alive
and well today. What did thesetwo men contribute to the game?
National anthem.
I think you just had it.
Yeah, I did.
What did you say?
Me out to the ball.
Yeah, that was pretty goodright there.
Now do you know that? What weknow is take me out to the ball.

(01:11:17):
Game is only the chorus. Thereare also verses, really, that tell
the story of some lady wholoves baseball.
And I think I seen that on adocumentary. The guy that does it.
All those documentaries allthe time. What are you. Because I
watch it on the HistoryChannel. Yes.

(01:11:40):
Yeah. So basically, JackNorworth is riding into. On a New
York City subway, and he seesan ad for a game at the Polo Grounds,
and he starts writing thelyrics in his mind, he's never been
to a ball game. He actuallydidn't go to a ball game until 32
years after the song was written.
Okay.
And so he had never been to aball game. He just saw an ad, started

(01:12:01):
writing it, gets to where he'sgoing, and his buddy Albert von Tilzer
writes the melody and theycrank this out and they perform it
on vaudeville for years. Andit was actually part of vaudeville
shows long before it ever madeit to the baseball field. In fact,
started to have to buy.
The rights to it. Baseball or.
I don't know. So, in fact,this is our follow up question here.

(01:12:22):
Okay. It did not become a partof regular baseball games until.
Babe, we're saying it.
No, until the. The. The 1970s,when this hall of Fame announcer
who worked for both Americanand National League teams in the

(01:12:43):
same city was responsible forthe tradition of singing it during
every seventh inning stretch.
I know who it is. What is? Hepassed away.
He used to have the glasses.
Oh.
Yeah, Harry. White socks.

(01:13:07):
And that was actually when it began.
White socks in the car.
And that was when it began.
Really, 1970.
Yeah, in the 1970s. And thenwho would have thought? Because he
went to the. He went from theWhite Sox to the Cubs.
Right.
In like 83 or 8. Yeah, right.Early early 80s. So because he was.

(01:13:27):
He was with the Cubs by thetime you went. You were with White
Sox. So. But yeah, Harry Careywas the one that gave us. Take me
out to the ball game duringthe seventh inning stretch. Thank
you. To many Internet.
That was.
All right, what's our. What'sour total, Ethan? Who won?
I got 17.
You guys. You guys tied at six.

(01:13:49):
Oh, no.
All right, let's get one more.
I'm gonna have to come up withanother bonus. Let me see what I
got. This one. This playerfamously once ate a dozen hot dogs
and drank eight bottles ofsoda. Two games of a double.
Hell, that's right. You gottalet him finish the question.

(01:14:10):
Cheater.
Cheater.
Americans in any given yearwill consume about 7 billion of these
during the course of abaseball season.
Hot dog.
Hot dogs.
Give yourself Another point there.
It doesn't count.
Let me see here. Oh, this.This ballpark is famous for what

(01:14:36):
they call McCovey Cove, whichis where fans can wait in kayaks.
Home Run Giants.
It's not Giant. It's his name.
It's the name of the park.
Is it AT T now?
No, no.
It starts with a P. Is.
It's not pnc.
No, not pnc.
And it does not start with aP. Oh, okay. It starts with an O.
Oracle Park. So, yeah, that was.

(01:15:03):
Hey, you know What?
I have McCovey. Cool.
Also, I seen it in the GoldenState warriors stuff, man.
Oral San Francisco.
Yeah. Because now they'remoney. They're all named after sponsors.
Then they don't just have.
Yeah.
Money, money, money.
Right.
Cool.
Okay, so Fenway has theshortest left field distance to center

(01:15:30):
field.
Oh, center.
Right.
Oh, center at 390ft.
Really?
This park is the longest.Coors Field at 420ft. No.
Oh, that today's feel.
Oh, man, I. I know that the longest.
Oh.
Oh, the longest to centerfield at 420ft.

(01:15:55):
Is it the Coliseum?
No.
American League Global?
No. American Family.
I can see it.
Midwest.
Oh, Astros. No, no, no, no,no, no, no.
Midwest. Great Lakes.
Yeah. It must be Minnesota.
Oh, Tigers.

(01:16:15):
No.
What's the name of the field?It is the Tigers. What's the name
of the field?
Oh, because they changed oneof these goofy Cornells because they
didn't change the name. Tiger Stadium.
I always call it TigerStadium. Comerica.
Yeah. Yes.

(01:16:37):
Comerica. Yeah.
I'm not a big. I'm not a bigfan of the corporate naming of stadiums
much.
The money, though, preserved.
Yeah. The good one, though.The good one, though, is Great American
Ballpark. Because, like, itjust sounds like it.
Is a great American ballpark.That's true. That's true. Okay. How
are we doing?
I think, Rick, I've gotRenegade George tied again.

(01:16:58):
You got him tied again.
You gotta ask one final question.
If you ask a question that Iknow, a question, it's got to be
about.
Yeah, yeah. Give.
Your chest won't know something.
Oh, gosh. Hold on. Let me get.Let me get back.
Say what. What shoes did youwear into the stadium?
Yeah.

(01:17:19):
First game, the World Series.I know, George. I seen you.
Goodness. Let me see here.
What picture? Did I get? Myfirst hit. I know. What team did
I get?
Oh, did you get your. No, theball off your. Your first hit.
Did you remember?
Okay.
It wasn't as popular then, butI think so.
Okay, okay, let's move awayfrom ballparks. If we can. Let me

(01:17:43):
see if I can. Oh, wait, no, Igotta get this.
One, one, one. One last question.
Okay, one last question. Thisballpark has the most. Well, that's
not the one I want.
To say the most fights the most.
There's a better one aboutthat ballpark, but they have a place
where you can watch beer beingmade and make a special brewers.

(01:18:09):
They make a special brew allyear long and they only make it as
long is in contention.
Oh, Core Stadium, Coors Field. Yep.
Okay. Yes, they do.
That is it. So, Rick, we don'tdrink beer.
So then now we finish it. One.
One, one at first, I.

(01:18:30):
One, one and one. That's howit's going to finish.
All right, so when we came on.
Strong man, we come back, butyou're looking at the answer like.
When we come back in thesecond half, we'll have to see who
can be the reigning championof season one. Right now everyone
is tied. So that was great. Soanyway, well, I hope you guys have

(01:18:50):
enjoyed this. This little funbit about watching baseball, maybe
even learned a little bitabout watching the baseball game.
I want to say from. From thebottom of my heart, all of you who
have listened and taken thesethings in, thank you so much for
all your support. Thank youfor being a part of this. We have
had a ball making this showweek after week. It has been the
privilege of my life to sitdown with these guys and talk baseball.

(01:19:12):
And I know that they've had agreat time as well. And we look forward
to coming back real soon withthe second half of season one. And
until then, we wish you thebest. Have a great summer and we'll
see you again on the CompleteGame Podcast.
We hope you've enjoyed theComplete Game Podcast, the show that's

(01:19:33):
all about baseball. Newepisodes drop each week, so be sure
to subscribe so you don't missa thing. If you'd like to support
the podcast, consider leavingus a five star rating or better yet,
drop us a comment or aquestion. Let us know what you think.
The Complete Game Podcast isproduced and distributed by 2Creative
Digital Marketing. Check usout at 2CreativeDigital.com on behalf

(01:19:57):
of Ethan Coach Rick and theSilver Slugger George Foster, I'm
Greg Duncan saying have agreat week and we'll see you real
soon.

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