November 13, 2024 • 34 mins
Join us as we unravel the extraordinary tale of Shohei Ohtani, the first and only player to achieve the jaw-dropping 50-50 milestone: hitting 50 home runs and stealing 50 bases in one electrifying season. We celebrate Ohtani's unparalleled dual role as both a pitcher and batter, marveling at how he's redefined boundaries and made what seemed impossible a dazzling reality. This episode isn’t just about stats but about the magic of witnessing a living legend in action—one that continues to captivate fans across the globe.
Beyond the Ohtani phenomenon, we step into the historical context of the 40-40 club, where only a handful of baseball icons like Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez have dared to tread. We reflect on the challenges these players faced in balancing power and speed on the field while highlighting the dedication and talent it takes to join such elite company.
We bring you all the juicy tidbits with a side of playful banter.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Chris (00:00):
All right, Chris, take us away.
Has anyone heard of a 50-50?
Victor (00:04):
club.
Yeah, that's what you enterwhen you get in an airplane,
right, you and your girl have togo into the bathroom and you
enter the 50-50 club.
Chris (00:12):
Okay.
Rob (00:12):
Is that?
No, that's fucking Jay-Z's club.
Cesar (00:16):
Yeah, that's Jay-Z's club , that's Jay-Z's 40-40 club.
Chris (00:20):
All right, let me rephrase my question.
Victor (00:25):
Has anyone heard of 50-50 club in baseball?
What the fuck is baseball.
Cesar (00:27):
Yeah, no bro.
Victor (00:28):
I don't really like baseball.
Cesar (00:30):
Is that the?
Victor (00:30):
sport where you have that weird bat and then the guy
throws it to three sticks.
Chris (00:37):
Okay then yes, you're trying to hit the ball, I know,
I know baseball.
Victor (00:42):
It's America's pastime, it's America's favorite sport.
Cesar (00:46):
I'm pretty sure football is now.
Victor (00:48):
No, baseball is America's favorite sport played
by Dominicans.
Cesar (00:53):
Yes, that's true, yes, and the best player is Japanese.
Chris (01:00):
Baseball season is over, as you guys know, but something
amazing happened this season.
Today we're stepping up to theplate to explore the 50-50 club
in baseball.
This isn't just milestone, it'sthe God status of offensive
achievements.
We'll slide into what it meansand how it compares to the
(01:20):
legendary 40-40 club.
I'm not dumb, but just howdifficult is it to achieve 50
home runs and 50 stolen bases ina single season?
Let's play ball.
Cesar (01:31):
Welcome to the I'm not dumb but Podcast, where we won't
claim to have the answers tolife's deepest questions but
we'll give you an excitingjourney into the realms of
knowledge you never knew you'dbe.
Might be mainstream, but notcommon knowledge.
From artificial intelligence toconspiracy theories, no topic
is too taboo for us to explore.
Let's get curious together.
Chris (01:51):
I'm your host, chris, and I'm joined by Rob, caleb, cesar
and Victor.
Victor (01:58):
How y'all doing.
What's up, guys?
Is this post-postseason?
Is this post-base post baseball?
What is this time period calledthat?
We're in hot stove, hot stoveit's called hot stove.
Cesar (02:09):
What baseball off season where they do a lot of
transactions, oh, oh oh, wowyeah, it starts maybe in a month
or so where a whole bunch ofteams do a whole bunch of
transactions what kind oftransactions are they doing?
Rob (02:22):
trading pictures, paying their bills?
Cesar (02:24):
bringing, paying their bills, bringing up players
because you know they have thethey're like scouting right.
I mean they're scouting.
Chris (02:30):
Trades like a free agent.
Cesar (02:32):
There's a big free agent right now who's in line to make
about maybe from $500 to $600million.
I'll be the money.
Chris (02:41):
As you guys know, baseball season ended about two
weeks ago and I just want to saycongrats to LA Dodgers for
winning the World Series.
Forget them, man.
Cesar (02:49):
What the fuck are you doing, boo Boo?
What are you doing right now?
Victor (02:52):
You're a New York-based podcast.
You don't give any love to theDodgers.
Rob (02:57):
Absolutely not.
Chris (02:59):
Jesus Christ, we'll be back next year.
Cesar (03:01):
We said that.
Rob (03:02):
Chris has always been West Coast.
We We'll be back next year.
We said that Chris has alwaysbeen West Coast.
We know it.
Yeah, you fucking traitor, youTo West South.
Victor (03:07):
What's Oregon's team?
Anyway, there is no Oregon team, exactly.
So what do people?
Chris (03:12):
in Oregon gravitate to Seattle Mariners.
Oh, okay.
Victor (03:16):
Seattle, seattle.
Do you honestly think you'refucking funny?
Chris (03:20):
Seriously, so this year a Japanese baseball player named
shohei otani.
He did something crazy thisyear and something no other
player has accomplished sincethe game began in the 1800s so
this is a first ever forbaseball, first ever yes, so
shohei became the only onlymember in the 50-50 club.
(03:43):
This accomplishment marks ahistoric moment in baseball.
Rob (03:47):
Who is Shohei Otani?
Do you guys know who it is, orhave you no?
Victor (03:51):
I don't even.
Rob (03:53):
I do not watch baseball.
Victor (03:54):
So I've only heard the name recently and they were
comparing him to a Chinese otteror something.
Chris (04:01):
I have no idea I don't get that either.
The animations I don't get it.
So the animations, I don't getit.
Victor (04:05):
So how long has he been playing baseball?
Chris (04:08):
It's been a couple years.
It's been 17 or 18.
That was his rookie season, ohshit.
So he's been a few years now,at least, and he's a Japanese
player, 6'4", 210 pounds.
Victor (04:19):
And he's Japanese.
Oh my god, 100%.
Chris (04:22):
Yep the monster.
Victor (04:24):
I want to see a 23 in me , yeah exactly.
Rob (04:28):
He's part of a government program.
Victor (04:29):
So he's on the Dodgers right now.
How many teams has he gonethrough?
Chris (04:33):
He's in Dodgers.
Victor (04:34):
He was with the Angels for a few years.
In the outfield.
Cesar (04:39):
Yeah, just remember, he's a pitcher.
No, he's a pitcher and a batter.
That's what's crazy about thisguy.
He can do two positions.
Victor (04:46):
I thought pitchers were strictly pitchers, yeah.
Rob (04:49):
Aren't they all batters?
Cesar (04:51):
That's the thing.
This guy is so good he's twoplayers in one.
Rob (04:54):
Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.
Pitchers are only pitchers.
Yes, they don't bat.
Victor (04:59):
No, they, they're usually shitty batters, aren't
they?
They're shitty batters.
Can they bat at all?
Cesar (05:04):
Does the National League have a DH now?
I thought, both did Pitchersnormally just pitch Really.
Rob (05:10):
Yeah, I did not know that.
Cesar (05:17):
A couple of years ago we had what's called interleague
play, where one team from oneleague played the other team and
the other team didn't have aposition called a DH, the
designated hitter.
This guy only bats.
So when American League teamswill go to the other side, the
pitcher would actually pitch andhit, but that's the only time.
Wow, now only pitchers pitchand hitters hit.
But this guy is so good thathe's amazing at both hitting and
(05:38):
pitching.
Chris (05:38):
To grasp why achieving 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases
in a single season seems nearlyimpossible.
We first need to explore thelegendary 40-40 club.
Cesar (05:50):
Yeah, I've been there.
Rob (05:53):
It's like $40 a drink.
Cesar (05:55):
It's kind of disappointing.
And Big Papi has a 40-40 clubIn DR too, In DR David Ortiz no,
he got sued he wasn't supposedto have it.
Jay-z sued him big poppy waslike whoa poppy.
Why?
Why you do that to me?
Chris (06:13):
true story you know what I got a gift for you.
So 40 40 club in baseball is aprestigious group that recognize
player who have achievedremarkable accomplishment of
hitting 40 home runs andstealing 40 bases in a single
season.
So they play around 162 games.
Victor (06:30):
That's the whole season, damn but does every player play
every game because, like, don'tthey have like 30 fucking
people on the fucking roster orwhatever the fuck?
Chris (06:39):
they're starters and if they injured they don't know.
But there are roughly 950active baseball players every
year.
For Cesar, out of 950-ish, 11%are Dominican Republic Thought
it was higher.
Cesar (06:53):
Somos los Dominican Quintes.
Chris (06:55):
Only 11%.
I thought it was a lot.
Rob (07:00):
I just thought the number would be a lot higher.
Yeah, me too.
Victor (07:03):
Yeah, they just on the best teams.
Chris (07:06):
No, just in general overall 11% I see more of them.
Cesar (07:10):
I think, for the most part, a lot of them are really
good.
Rob (07:13):
Oh, so they get more publicity, or whatever.
Cesar (07:15):
Yeah, because Sammy Sosa was Dominican.
Victor (07:17):
You know what I love, though.
I love it when the baseballannouncers try to say some
Hispanic name and they justsound really fucking racist.
It is the funniest thing ever.
Speaker 5 (07:30):
I pride myself and think of myself as a man of
faith, as there is a drive in adeep left field by Castellanos.
It will be a home run.
Chris (07:39):
So there are about 950 active Major League Baseball
players.
So there are about 950 activemajor league baseball players
and on average, each player hitsaround 6.2 home runs a season
and to consider to be a goodhitter, you need to hit around
20 home runs a season and that'sconsidered to be good.
(08:07):
Last year in 2023, out of 950people, only six players had 40
home runs or more.
It's kind of crazy.
Hmm, thought it'd be more.
And for stolen bases on averageeach player in a season, they
do 3.6 stolen bases per season,and last year, again, only six
player had 40 or more stolenbases.
So now, in order to berecognized to be part of the
40-40 club, you have to do both.
Victor (08:27):
How hard is it to steal a base?
Tell them Wash.
It's incredibly hard, reallyhard, it's really hard.
Why is it so hard to steal abase?
Because I'm looking at it on TVsometimes and I'm like I can
fucking beat this guy.
The timing of it.
Rob (08:46):
You need to have a timing, you need to have a speed, so
less than one percent is likethe 40 40 club.
Chris (08:50):
No, these are just the stats.
Rob (08:51):
Just the stats for the people who have home runs how
many people do you usually getin the 40 40 club a year?
Cesar (08:56):
not many none yeah, if any top one percent, one percent
of one percent, yes wow, howmany of them are on juice on the
trend cycle?
Victor (09:04):
probably all of them no one ever really wants to talk
about.
Cesar (09:07):
The pros are taking steroids.
So here's the starting lineup.
Here's the thing with thesteroids.
I feel like, since everybodywas on it, I'm okay.
Every everybody was juicing,everybody was juicing yeah
everyone's still juicing.
Victor (09:19):
How much fun did we have when?
What's his name?
Rob (09:22):
sammy and uh when barry bonds, oh man, when barry bonds
is hitting home runs.
Victor (09:27):
We had a blast.
Baseball was like, oh my god,baseball's so awesome.
Look at all these fucking homeruns.
And then they were like, oh man, they're fucking doing steroids
.
They should stop.
Rob (09:36):
I'm like, look at that, but look, no one's getting hurt.
Let's take it back, though.
Victor (09:40):
Let's get away from this challenge let's put some trans
women in there.
Rob (09:43):
Yeah, let's get away from the steroids.
Let's put some trans women inthere.
Yeah, let's get some transwomen in there, yeah can we just
?
Get women on steroids to play.
That's better than just guys onsteroids To diversity and
inclusiveness.
So average player hits six homeruns, a good player hits 20
home runs Right, and then a goodplayer steals how many bases.
Chris (10:07):
I didn't get that other stat.
On average, each player steals3.6 bases in a season.
Rob (10:15):
People usually do either or Not.
Many people do both.
Chris (10:19):
Yes, right, that's the crazy part, right?
Wow, first professionalbaseball game was played on may
4th of 1869, so it's been over150 years since baseball has
been played professionally wasthat a monday or?
It was on a star wars day.
Cesar (10:36):
Oh may the 4th yeah, did they dress up as luke and all
the?
100 years before somebody getthis big walking carpet out of
my way.
Chris (10:46):
So how many players do you think there are in 4040 Club
as of today?
Victor (10:50):
Fifteen Like.
Are you talking about like intotal?
In total Since the inception?
Rob (10:56):
Since the inception Any repeats Are there duplicates.
Chris (11:00):
No repeats count, but there are no duplicates.
Rob (11:02):
No one's ever duplicated themselves.
Chris (11:05):
No repeats count, but there are no duplicates.
No one's ever duplicatedthemselves.
That's another hint.
And then it's been over 150years, right?
So that means over 150 seasonsof baseball in play.
How many players are youthinking in 40-40 club?
Cesar (11:15):
I would say 10.
, 15.
18.
Chris (11:17):
18, 15, 10?
.
Cesar (11:18):
Barry's definitely in it, barry Bonds.
Chris (11:20):
There have only been six players.
Victor (11:22):
It's a hard thing to do, holy shit, didn't you say six?
Chris (11:25):
made it this year no six not both Just 40 home runs or
just 40 stolen bases.
Rob (11:34):
So why is it hard to?
Why is it hard to do either one?
Cesar (11:38):
They say that one of the hardest things to do in sports
is to hit a baseball.
So imagine hitting, doing oneof the hardest things now trying
to do that hit a home run 40times.
Rob (11:48):
It's incredibly hard.
I went to a family gatheringNot my family, because they were
playing softball.
My family doesn't play sports,but I went to a family gathering
.
Cesar (11:58):
You're not American.
Rob (11:59):
No, they play like backgammon and smoke hookah.
I don't know if you guys haveever played that.
Victor (12:11):
It's amazing.
A lot of it is everyone wins.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
Yeah, all the sports I'm sitting down.
Rob (12:14):
There's always tea or dates , it's, it's great.
But this, like little kid,wanted to play softball.
I mean whatever right.
So I'm like, all right, I'llyou know I'm with her.
I couldn't even hit this kid'spitch, he was like eight years
old.
He's just throwing heat downthe middle.
So I yeah, I think I agree withyou.
(12:35):
It is really difficult to fuckyour baseball going 90 miles an
hour.
Victor (12:41):
Have you ever went to the batting cages and shit?
Rob (12:44):
Batting cages are easy for some races, yeah.
Victor (12:47):
I was practicing for softball.
We put it on the softballsetting and I still missed half
of them, yeah.
Rob (12:54):
That is hard those girls throw heat yeah they can throw.
They do like the undergroundyeah.
Victor (12:59):
They wind up.
Rob (13:00):
They wind up, they just shoot it down.
That's wild.
Any questions about softball?
Okay, so that's why pitchersare out Because they don't hit
and if they don't hit, theydon't steal bases.
Yeah, ah.
Chris (13:15):
And generally they're not a great hitter.
Rob (13:17):
So are all the other people who got into the 40-40 club.
Were they all pitchers andhitters?
Cesar (13:25):
No, they're all only hitters.
Chris (13:26):
they're just hitters, yeah so let's give a percent.
That's 0.004 percent.
Wow, of the baseball playershave earned a spot in 40-40 club
.
That's crazy.
Cesar (13:38):
So first one I bet you, I can do it, you definitely do it
yeah at 38 years old, I can doit.
That's your prime bro.
Victor (13:47):
No professional training yeah 30s are the new 20s.
Rob (13:53):
I'm in the prime of my life , really Just get on a cycle.
Cesar (13:56):
You can do it, not me.
I'm in my prime.
Chris (13:59):
So the first player, player named Jose Canseco, jose
Canseco, jose Canseco.
Cesar (14:04):
Jose.
Chris (14:04):
Canseco.
Rob (14:05):
Jose Canseco.
I know that guy, that guy, Iknow it was in 1988.
Victor (14:09):
Of the four of us and the two of us that don't really
watch baseball.
We both knew how to say it, andthe guy who does watch baseball
didn't know how to say his name.
Chris (14:18):
Number two spot or second player ever was Barry Bond in
1996.
Kanye has a song about him Doeshe Does?
Victor (14:26):
he really.
Rob (14:27):
Yeah, Barry Bonds.
Victor (14:28):
What does he say?
Rob (14:29):
I think he just rhymes.
Victor (14:29):
Barry Bonds with things, just keep saying.
Rob (14:31):
Barry Bonds yeah, it's excellent.
Cesar (14:35):
Kanye fell off, bro you know how much does the earth
cost.
The crazy thing about BarryBonds is they kind of pinpointed
when exactly he may havestarted taking juice, because
you can kind of tell hisappearance started changing.
He got a lot bigger in his head, even got his head even got a
lot bigger right.
Rob (14:51):
That's like a big one.
Right is when the head gets big.
Cesar (14:54):
So what happens is like, from the start of his career to
like, yeah, they think when hestarted juicing.
He has two separate careers andboth careers are hall of famers
, so he was that good that evenwithout taking steroids he got
in twice.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
Oh wow.
Cesar (15:10):
Yeah, stealing bases.
He was really quick, he hadpower, but he just didn't have
that much power Once he startedtaking the juice.
That's when, like all thesehome runs, no power, all the
power.
Chris (15:19):
Unagi.
Cesar (15:20):
Isn't that a kind of sushi?
Chris (15:21):
Third player was Alex Rodriguez.
Victor (15:25):
Another guy juicing.
He still misses J-Lo.
Rob (15:28):
He's got a couple of Ford dealerships I hear it wasn't the
same after she left.
Chris (15:32):
After that was Alfonso Soriano.
Cesar (15:35):
Yes from the Yankees.
Chris (15:36):
That was in 2006.
And he was the fourth player toearn the spot.
And then it took 17 years forthe fifth person to join.
It was in 2023 ronald acuna jryeah, ronald acuna jr.
Cesar (15:50):
He's really good.
So the thing is right, you'rehitting home runs.
Stolen bases isn't really athing anymore.
Why not?
Because the money's all in home.
In home runs.
The batters, they don't reallythey.
All they want to do is hit homeruns what do you mean?
Rob (16:02):
the money's in home runs?
Victor (16:04):
yeah, is the game rigged ?
Are you breaking news?
Cesar (16:07):
No, no, no, it's not rigged.
A lot of baseball fans don'tLike it's all.
If you, the more home runs youhit, the more lucrative your
contract is going to be.
The popularity of your right,your stock goes up, yeah.
So stolen bases it's been in acouple past couple years is like
(16:32):
teams just want you to be ahome run hitter and that's it I
was under the impression thatwhen baseball started getting
bigger in japan and we startedgetting more japanese players,
more bunting happening because Ithink bunting in japan is like
big deal.
Victor (16:46):
Like it's a big deal, yeah, and I thought there was,
they were trying to bring thatkind of over here.
But now you're saying it's justbig hits, now it's always been
big hits.
Cesar (16:54):
I think recently there's been more emphasis on like
bunting, stealing yeah, theseare fundamentals in the game
getting yeah when you yeah, whenyou pb baseball, you're taught
to do all these things becauseit helps you generate runs right
and runs, win the game.
Victor (17:12):
I've seen Moneyball.
There you go.
You ever seen the Sandlot?
I've seen more baseball moviesthan I've wanted to.
Cesar (17:19):
That's where I get all my knowledge from.
Rob (17:21):
Baby Ruth the Great.
Chris (17:24):
Bambino, my knowledge from baby the great bambino.
Also, when you steal base, Ithink you're prone to injuries
because you're, you have toslide.
You don't know.
You know a lot of players don't.
Cesar (17:32):
They don't try, that's true it's also like a chicken
and egg right.
There's no incentive to try tosteal and when you steal, you
get hurt so like it's like oh,do I really want to do it.
Chris (17:42):
And then last player was from this year, shohei Otani was
the sixth player.
Rob (17:47):
You get the 40-40.
So he reached 40-40 this year.
Well, how far into the season,because he still had enough time
to do 50-50, right.
Chris (17:56):
Right, I would say it's around summertime, like after
second half.
Probably Beginning of thesecond half it was on September
19th of 2020.
Probably the beginning of thesecond half it was on september
19th of 2020.
That was the game when shilhebecame the first player ever in
baseball history to hit 50 homeruns and had 50 stolen bases on
a one, two otani sends one inthe air the other way back it
(18:17):
goes they were playing againstmarlins.
he was going into the game with48 home runs and 49 stolen bases
.
Oh shit, all he needed was twohome runs and one stolen bases.
In that game.
He hit three home runs and twostolen bases and he finished the
(18:39):
game with 10 RBI.
Cesar (18:40):
The runs batted it.
Chris (18:41):
And then that was New Dodgers franchise record for a
single game.
He went on for 6-4-6 on batting.
I don't know what that means.
He got on the ball six timesand all six times he got it
either hit or better.
Cesar (18:54):
Just to put things in perspective, this guy is fucking
amazing, Like amazing.
Rob (19:00):
Is he like the best baseball player who's ever
played?
Victor (19:03):
I mean I guess he'd have to continue that kind of run.
Chris (19:06):
Do you guys remember, like in 64 games, when you play
baseball games and there's acheat code to every single time?
You put that cheat code in andyou hit home run every single
time.
Yeah.
Cesar (19:15):
Left, left, right, right, right it was that?
Chris (19:17):
O'Shea was that he had a cheat code on and he was hitting
home runs pretty much everysingle time.
He looks like a kid and he washitting home runs pretty much
every single time he looks likea kid he does.
Cesar (19:26):
He's a little kid.
Victor (19:27):
He's 30 years old.
He has a baby face.
He has a baby face, yeah.
Cesar (19:33):
I didn't think he was that fast for him to steal those
bases, to be honest, but for abaseball fan it's insane what
he's been able to accomplish.
Chris (19:42):
When he hit the three home runs that game.
That was his 51st home run.
That also became Dodgers'franchise record for most home
run in a season and, as wementioned, his pitcher right
First of all.
That's crazy, him pitcher andhitting like that and stealing
bases that's amazing An arm likea howitzer.
Second thing that's crazy is hedid all this while he was
(20:03):
injured.
This year he didn't pitch atall because he was experiencing
discomfort in his pitching armand it was revealed that he had
a tear in his UCL, whichtypically requires extensive
rehab and surgery.
Victor (20:17):
Bro his wife.
She's a basketball player.
Cesar (20:20):
She's a Japanese basketball player.
She's 5'11".
They're going to have big kids.
Victor (20:23):
The kids are going to come out all-stars.
He's 5'11".
They're going to have big kids.
Chris (20:26):
The kids that are going to come out, all stars.
Victor (20:27):
He's a basketball player this shit.
Hey, listen, if I was a massiveAsian baseball player?
I'm running through every K-popstar yeah.
Cesar (20:37):
That's why God didn't give you that gift, bro he knew,
he knew, he knew.
What a joke.
Victor (20:46):
He made me funny you gotta sense humor.
Big guy, you're gonna be five,nine bald, but you're gonna be a
funny.
You'll be pretty funny yeahyou'll be hilarious, yeah, yeah
you're gonna be a shitty podcast, but it's all good.
Cesar (20:58):
That's just sad right, so right.
Chris (21:01):
He's a pitcher and he was injured.
He accomplished.
Accomplished something that noone in baseball.
It's crazy, it's like he's afucking monster.
He's unstoppable.
Cesar (21:09):
You guys know the concept .
So in football, offense anddefense right, offensive players
don't play defense.
So imagine a quarterback.
Imagine Shohei Otani being aquarterback and then, when the
defense comes on the field, hestays on the field and tries to
attack the quarterback.
That's who this guy is inbaseball.
(21:31):
And they're getting sacks everysingle turn, every yeah,
throwing home runs when he's onoffense and on defense, he's
sacking the opposing quarterback.
That's who this guy is.
He's a monster, absolute beast.
So this year he he's so goodthat he's literally two players
in one.
Chris (21:40):
He's really good at playing as a pitcher and he's
really good at hitting and apitcher and he's really good at
hitting and during the game twohe was trying to steal a base
and he dislocated his shoulder.
He ended up still playing therest of the World Series.
So there was an article after.
They were saying that he prettymuch played with one hand
because his shoulder was prettymuch.
Victor (22:00):
Yeah, but you know what they got sports doctors who just
shoot you up.
You don't even feel the arm.
Worry about it later.
Chris (22:08):
That's true, right, but still that's crazy, right.
This is amazing.
Rob (22:12):
Yeah, this guy's amazing.
Victor (22:13):
Yeah, but I've heard that.
I mean not to say that this isany less, because that's insane.
Right, I'll get a paper cut,I'm done for the week, you
little bitch, but I've heardthat from a lot of athletes.
Yeah, you get injured, youbreak a bone, you break a
collarbone.
You got to keep playing.
You got to show the club thatyou're worth the money that
(22:35):
they're paying you.
If not, your contractdisappears.
Not in baseball, not inbaseball.
Cesar (22:41):
That's fully guaranteed, no matter what.
Victor (22:44):
Fully guaranteed.
Okay, so it's not like becausefootball they'll fuck you,
football they'll cut you.
Cesar (22:49):
Yeah, Basketball, it's fully guaranteed.
Baseball it's fully guaranteed.
So this guy's just doing itbecause he's a monster.
Chris (22:54):
I have some fun fact for you guys.
Victor (22:56):
Fun fact with Chris.
Chris (22:59):
Yeah.
Cesar (23:01):
Fun fact Introduce yourself in Korean.
Rob (23:04):
Fun fact in Korean.
Chris (23:05):
No, I didn't even say that.
Cesar (23:08):
Oh my god, Chris, you don't even speak Korean bro
You're not even Korean, are you?
Chris (23:13):
Fun de fact, that's Chachibichi.
Cesar (23:17):
Chachibichi is getting racist man.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
Buenos dias fanaticos .
Chris (23:22):
So the guy who caught Tony's 50th home run ball ended
up putting the ball on anauction.
Guess how much it was sold for$50 million.
No, not that one.
Victor (23:32):
His 100 grand, his 50th home run, oh, his 50th.
Chris (23:37):
Yeah, his 50th home run ball $250,000?
.
Nope higher Higher $1.5 million.
Victor (23:44):
Higher.
Rob (23:49):
It sold for more than 1.5 million.
It was a record breaking 4.39million.
Oh my god, that's crazy damn.
Chris (23:53):
And this guy gets to keep all that.
The guy who caught the ball, nofan.
The fan who caught the ball,fan, that's his ball.
And then I heard that when hecaught the ball, the Dodgers.
Victor (24:02):
He said I'm rich, that's like winning the lottery,
pretty much the odds of himcatching that particular ball.
Chris (24:11):
The Dodgers, the franchise tried to buy the ball
off of him for $300,000.
And the guy was like, nah, it'sworth more than that.
Rob (24:19):
That was smart.
Chris (24:20):
So prior to this ball, the record was $3 million, which
was Mark McGuire.
Remember him?
Yeah, his 70th ball he was onJuicy Tuna.
Oh, yeah, yeah definitely.
Victor (24:31):
Did Otani break the record for most home runs in the
season?
Cesar (24:37):
No someone else.
Victor (24:38):
Really, really.
So even after 50 in one season,he still didn't break the
record.
Cesar (24:44):
No, it was Aaron Judge who broke the single season home
run record.
Rob (24:48):
How much did he get?
Oh, really.
Victor (24:49):
Judge.
Cesar (24:50):
Yeah.
Victor (24:51):
Too bad he couldn't do that during the fucking World
Series.
Cesar (24:53):
Yeah, he fucking should have.
Yeah, how many was that ChrisJudge?
Was it last year?
I thought it was last year.
Was it last year?
I thought it was last year?
Was it this year, last year ortwo years ago?
62.
, 62 home runs.
Wow, he broke a record.
I think Roger Marris had 61,and it was like 30 or 40 years,
and then Judge came a coupleyears ago.
Chris (25:14):
This was a legitimate home run without any juicing.
Cesar (25:17):
Yeah, with no juicing.
Well, Roger Marris, probablyWas it Roger Marris, somebody
else, how can you not beromantic about baseball?
Rob (25:24):
Alright, so he looks like a nice guy, right, he's got a
nice family.
Victor (25:29):
Has he hit anyone drunk?
Rob (25:31):
Yeah, I'm saying.
Victor (25:33):
What's his skeleton in his closet?
Rob (25:34):
Talk about it.
Cesar (25:35):
Chris Talk about it.
Rob (25:37):
Talk about it, he's too good, he's too good, any rape
allegations.
He's got a baby face.
Victor (25:43):
How many Diddy parties did he attend?
Chris (25:46):
Yeah, I didn't really get into this, but there's been.
I think was it this year, Suzer, Do you remember?
Was it this year or last year?
I think it was the beginning ofthis year.
It was the beginning, Okay.
Victor (25:56):
So he had some allegations about gambling some
um, allegations about gambling,oh okay, yeah, that's, that's
good.
See, I want to see advice as ajapanese player.
He probably goes up to bat witha cigarette in his mouth and
he's cedar you want to talkabout, because I don't know
really much to it I think in thebeginning of this year he got
(26:18):
into a little controversybecause there was a bookie or
someone somehow, no, histranslator.
Chris (26:24):
There was a wire transfer .
Cesar (26:25):
A wire transfer got caught.
Or allegedly, his interpretertook money out of his account
because he had a problemgambling, so most likely what
happened was he's a gambler andhis book his interpreter fell on
the sword for him.
Chris (26:40):
And then he and Ohtani was like I have no idea, like I
didn't know he was doing that.
Cesar (26:44):
I just paid him.
Yeah, yeah.
Victor (26:47):
Likely story.
And then people are like, stickto Pachinko, my man, stick to
Pachinko.
Chris (26:51):
And then people are like there.
It's not like five bucks,they're taking like millions of
you know, like you didn't knowand you got it like that.
Victor (27:03):
You know some people like you know they, they do
laundry.
They find 20 bucks.
It makes their day.
He's just like kicking around.
Oh, is that a mil in my pocket?
Cesar (27:11):
Easy.
Do you know how much this guy'sgetting paid?
No, do you know the contractnumber, chris?
Victor (27:16):
Is it more than two million?
Because it says the salary is 2million.
Oh no, it's ridiculous it'sridiculous.
Cesar (27:22):
It's about 700 million dollars over a 10 year span.
What the crazy?
Listen to this.
The crazy thing about it isthat he deferred most of that
money, so that 2 million dollarsthat he's getting a year.
He's getting it for like 10years, I think, and then the
rest he's gonna get it over likea 12 year period, so he
deferred almost 600, yeah, 680million or whatever it was why
(27:45):
do that?
I have no one knows, no one hasany idea.
Rob (27:48):
It was probably because he was a gambler yeah, and he would
burn through all of it and hiswife was like yeah, you need to
one of the craziest contracts hewas helping out dodgers so that
, so they won't hit the salarycap.
Chris (28:01):
There is no salary cap't hit the salary cap.
There is no salary cap.
Is there no salary cap?
Cesar (28:04):
there's no salary cap in baseball there's luxury tax yeah
, there's luxury tax, but youcan spend as much tax.
Rob (28:10):
That sounds like a monopoly thing.
No, so if you land on it.
Chris (28:13):
If you land on it okay, the team has to pay a luxury tax
.
Rob (28:17):
Okay, all right, that's not bad.
Victor (28:18):
And if there's a hotel on that, you're fucked.
Rob (28:24):
What's a luxury tax, though ?
Speaker 5 (28:28):
In Major League Baseball, mlb, the luxury tax is
formally known as theCompetitive Balance Tax, cbt.
This system was implemented toregulate the total amount of
money teams can spend on theirrosters, aiming to maintain
competitive balance among teams.
The CBT is set by theCollective Bargaining Agreement,
cba.
And now back to your regularlyscheduled program.
Chris (28:58):
So until 2034, he'll make $2 million dollars a year.
10 years from now, and thenuntil 2044, he'll make 68
million guaranteed sheesh one ofthe craziest.
Cesar (29:12):
What if he dies?
Rob (29:13):
that's why you don't do that.
That sounds like a terrible.
No, seriously, what if he dies?
He's still gonna get that money.
Speaker 5 (29:18):
He's not just gonna enjoy his family it goes to his
family, it goes to his estate orwhatever.
Victor (29:24):
I'm sure he's got some lawyer figuring that out his
wife gets it in his future.
Cesar (29:27):
He's not gonna enjoy it.
But then again he's a gambler.
So I mean, what if?
What if you die?
Yeah, but I don't have 700million dollars, I would have
blew through that right nowyou'd be like sorry, honey, I
left you with a bunch of debt Ibought a platinum farm in the
moon I bought it from elon.
Victor (29:49):
Elon boat hooked me up it could turn around at any
moment.
What did he leave me?
A bunch of trump coin andfucking elon moon real estate.
Chris (30:00):
And one day we will indeed occupy Mars.
I said, shelly's baseball wassold for $4.39 million, right?
Rob (30:10):
Yeah.
Chris (30:11):
And then Aaron Judge his 62 home run ball was sold for
$1.5 million Damn.
Victor (30:18):
That's surprising.
The guy that caught it, whatdid his seat cost?
I was watching a few videos ofpeople that went to the World
Series at Yankee Stadium andthey were saying some of them
were paying $1,300 for theirseat For more.
Chris (30:30):
I heard it was like that.
That was like, yeah, that waslike a low price.
Cesar (30:33):
I heard something like $23.
Victor (30:35):
I heard like $25.
Cesar (30:37):
That's crazy.
Victor (30:38):
Right To spend on a seat at a baseball game.
Granted, it's the World Series,but still a baseball game where
your team fucking loses To takean L.
Cesar (30:50):
Take the L.
Victor (30:51):
When it's like what was it Like three errors.
Chris (30:56):
That was rough.
That was rough.
Victor (30:58):
An embarrassing fucking game he's just upset.
Chris (31:01):
But yeah, so Rob what'd you think?
Rob (31:04):
Coming from someone who doesn't really know anything
about baseball and youexplaining how difficult it is
to even get home runs, stealbases and just the percentage of
professional players who'veeven attained the 40-40 club
being so small, and then thisguy does 50-50, it seems like
this guy's incredible to me.
(31:26):
I would think like he'sprobably one of the best
baseball players out there everright now.
I didn't know that pitchersdon't hit and this guy seems
like a absolute beast.
Can the yankees get him?
Because all I know is justbeing in new york is like we
just buy everything, so like canwe just get him?
Is he just strictly West Coast?
(31:46):
Is he sold on that?
Yeah?
Cesar (31:48):
Have you talked to him?
Have you talked to him?
Well, he was trying to signwith the Mets, but he's closer
to Japan from that side, sothat's why he decided to go to
the Dodgers.
That's all they said.
Rob (31:59):
They can work on that, like with the Dodgers that's all
they said they couldn't work onthat and work on like a work
from home deal or something theycouldn't work something off of
him, cesar Yo man.
Cesar (32:06):
As a baseball fan, I've been following Shohei Otani's
career since like he came overand I've been truly blown away
by his absolute talent.
So, yeah, this season was crazy.
I actually saw that game wherehe hit the 50, 50.
Yeah, yeah it was.
It was against a shitty team.
I'm surprised he even, theyeven let him play that much.
Chris (32:27):
The score was 20 to 3.
Cesar (32:28):
That was the final score jesus in baseball in baseball
yep so, yeah, I I kind of I'vebeen following this his career
and I've been interested, sovictor.
Victor (32:39):
Listen, I don't follow baseball very much, um, but I do
love sports stories and this isuh, it sounds like an amazing
feat.
I still hold that I can.
I can give him a run for if Ientered baseball all right,
maybe I can't hit close.
I don't think I can hit 50 homeruns, but I can definitely
steal a few bases.
Victor wouldn't be able to bethe bad boy.
Cesar (33:03):
He wouldn't be able to do that.
Victor (33:05):
I could steal a few bases.
Okay, I just got to limber up abit.
Speaker 5 (33:09):
Hit the old peloton and yeah, give me like a year
and I can do it.
Victor (33:17):
Shoney Otani crazy feats of strength and I'll be looking
out for him now that I knowhe's around Are you interested
in the story.
I'm pretty interested in thisand I'll be looking out for him
now that I know he's around.
Are you interested in the story?
I'm pretty interested in this.
I've never actually heard ofhim.
I never heard of him beforetoday.
Chris (33:33):
I thought he was a Chinese beaver.
I still don't get it.
Rob (33:37):
I don't get it either.
Yeah, I don't know what's upwith that beaver.
Chris (33:41):
The 50-50 club is real, thanks to Shoei Otani, who just
turned baseball fantasy into ahistory.
Hitting 50 home runs andstealing 50 bases in a single
season that's impressive.
No one thought it was possible,not in our lifetime.
Let's celebrate this incredibleachievement that's sure to be
talked about for generations.
We want to thank you forlistening and, if you enjoyed
(34:03):
today's show, feel free to namedrop this podcast to your
friends and family To stayupdated on new content and to
join in on the discussion.
Check us out on YouTube at I'mNot Dumb but Podcast, and on the
Twitter or X at I'm Not Dumb,but Please rate, like and review
whatever you get your podcast.
Until next time, stay curious.
Victor (34:24):
Peace.
All right, Chris, take us away.
Has anyone heard of a 50-50?
Victor (00:04):
club.
Yeah, that's what you enterwhen you get in an airplane,
right, you and your girl have togo into the bathroom and you
enter the 50-50 club.
Chris (00:12):
Okay.
Rob (00:12):
Is that?
No, that's fucking Jay-Z's club.
Cesar (00:16):
Yeah, that's Jay-Z's club , that's Jay-Z's 40-40 club.
Chris (00:20):
All right, let me rephrase my question.
Victor (00:25):
Has anyone heard of 50-50 club in baseball?
What the fuck is baseball.
Cesar (00:27):
Yeah, no bro.
Victor (00:28):
I don't really like baseball.
Cesar (00:30):
Is that the?
Victor (00:30):
sport where you have that weird bat and then the guy
throws it to three sticks.
Chris (00:37):
Okay then yes, you're trying to hit the ball, I know,
I know baseball.
Victor (00:42):
It's America's pastime, it's America's favorite sport.
Cesar (00:46):
I'm pretty sure football is now.
Victor (00:48):
No, baseball is America's favorite sport played
by Dominicans.
Cesar (00:53):
Yes, that's true, yes, and the best player is Japanese.
Chris (01:00):
Baseball season is over, as you guys know, but something
amazing happened this season.
Today we're stepping up to theplate to explore the 50-50 club
in baseball.
This isn't just milestone, it'sthe God status of offensive
achievements.
We'll slide into what it meansand how it compares to the
(01:20):
legendary 40-40 club.
I'm not dumb, but just howdifficult is it to achieve 50
home runs and 50 stolen bases ina single season?
Let's play ball.
Cesar (01:31):
Welcome to the I'm not dumb but Podcast, where we won't
claim to have the answers tolife's deepest questions but
we'll give you an excitingjourney into the realms of
knowledge you never knew you'dbe.
Might be mainstream, but notcommon knowledge.
From artificial intelligence toconspiracy theories, no topic
is too taboo for us to explore.
Let's get curious together.
Chris (01:51):
I'm your host, chris, and I'm joined by Rob, caleb, cesar
and Victor.
Victor (01:58):
How y'all doing.
What's up, guys?
Is this post-postseason?
Is this post-base post baseball?
What is this time period calledthat?
We're in hot stove, hot stoveit's called hot stove.
Cesar (02:09):
What baseball off season where they do a lot of
transactions, oh, oh oh, wowyeah, it starts maybe in a month
or so where a whole bunch ofteams do a whole bunch of
transactions what kind oftransactions are they doing?
Rob (02:22):
trading pictures, paying their bills?
Cesar (02:24):
bringing, paying their bills, bringing up players
because you know they have thethey're like scouting right.
I mean they're scouting.
Chris (02:30):
Trades like a free agent.
Cesar (02:32):
There's a big free agent right now who's in line to make
about maybe from $500 to $600million.
I'll be the money.
Chris (02:41):
As you guys know, baseball season ended about two
weeks ago and I just want to saycongrats to LA Dodgers for
winning the World Series.
Forget them, man.
Cesar (02:49):
What the fuck are you doing, boo Boo?
What are you doing right now?
Victor (02:52):
You're a New York-based podcast.
You don't give any love to theDodgers.
Rob (02:57):
Absolutely not.
Chris (02:59):
Jesus Christ, we'll be back next year.
Cesar (03:01):
We said that.
Rob (03:02):
Chris has always been West Coast.
We We'll be back next year.
We said that Chris has alwaysbeen West Coast.
We know it.
Yeah, you fucking traitor, youTo West South.
Victor (03:07):
What's Oregon's team?
Anyway, there is no Oregon team, exactly.
So what do people?
Chris (03:12):
in Oregon gravitate to Seattle Mariners.
Oh, okay.
Victor (03:16):
Seattle, seattle.
Do you honestly think you'refucking funny?
Chris (03:20):
Seriously, so this year a Japanese baseball player named
shohei otani.
He did something crazy thisyear and something no other
player has accomplished sincethe game began in the 1800s so
this is a first ever forbaseball, first ever yes, so
shohei became the only onlymember in the 50-50 club.
(03:43):
This accomplishment marks ahistoric moment in baseball.
Rob (03:47):
Who is Shohei Otani?
Do you guys know who it is, orhave you no?
Victor (03:51):
I don't even.
Rob (03:53):
I do not watch baseball.
Victor (03:54):
So I've only heard the name recently and they were
comparing him to a Chinese otteror something.
Chris (04:01):
I have no idea I don't get that either.
The animations I don't get it.
So the animations, I don't getit.
Victor (04:05):
So how long has he been playing baseball?
Chris (04:08):
It's been a couple years.
It's been 17 or 18.
That was his rookie season, ohshit.
So he's been a few years now,at least, and he's a Japanese
player, 6'4", 210 pounds.
Victor (04:19):
And he's Japanese.
Oh my god, 100%.
Chris (04:22):
Yep the monster.
Victor (04:24):
I want to see a 23 in me , yeah exactly.
Rob (04:28):
He's part of a government program.
Victor (04:29):
So he's on the Dodgers right now.
How many teams has he gonethrough?
Chris (04:33):
He's in Dodgers.
Victor (04:34):
He was with the Angels for a few years.
In the outfield.
Cesar (04:39):
Yeah, just remember, he's a pitcher.
No, he's a pitcher and a batter.
That's what's crazy about thisguy.
He can do two positions.
Victor (04:46):
I thought pitchers were strictly pitchers, yeah.
Rob (04:49):
Aren't they all batters?
Cesar (04:51):
That's the thing.
This guy is so good he's twoplayers in one.
Rob (04:54):
Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.
Pitchers are only pitchers.
Yes, they don't bat.
Victor (04:59):
No, they, they're usually shitty batters, aren't
they?
They're shitty batters.
Can they bat at all?
Cesar (05:04):
Does the National League have a DH now?
I thought, both did Pitchersnormally just pitch Really.
Rob (05:10):
Yeah, I did not know that.
Cesar (05:17):
A couple of years ago we had what's called interleague
play, where one team from oneleague played the other team and
the other team didn't have aposition called a DH, the
designated hitter.
This guy only bats.
So when American League teamswill go to the other side, the
pitcher would actually pitch andhit, but that's the only time.
Wow, now only pitchers pitchand hitters hit.
But this guy is so good thathe's amazing at both hitting and
(05:38):
pitching.
Chris (05:38):
To grasp why achieving 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases
in a single season seems nearlyimpossible.
We first need to explore thelegendary 40-40 club.
Cesar (05:50):
Yeah, I've been there.
Rob (05:53):
It's like $40 a drink.
Cesar (05:55):
It's kind of disappointing.
And Big Papi has a 40-40 clubIn DR too, In DR David Ortiz no,
he got sued he wasn't supposedto have it.
Jay-z sued him big poppy waslike whoa poppy.
Why?
Why you do that to me?
Chris (06:13):
true story you know what I got a gift for you.
So 40 40 club in baseball is aprestigious group that recognize
player who have achievedremarkable accomplishment of
hitting 40 home runs andstealing 40 bases in a single
season.
So they play around 162 games.
Victor (06:30):
That's the whole season, damn but does every player play
every game because, like, don'tthey have like 30 fucking
people on the fucking roster orwhatever the fuck?
Chris (06:39):
they're starters and if they injured they don't know.
But there are roughly 950active baseball players every
year.
For Cesar, out of 950-ish, 11%are Dominican Republic Thought
it was higher.
Cesar (06:53):
Somos los Dominican Quintes.
Chris (06:55):
Only 11%.
I thought it was a lot.
Rob (07:00):
I just thought the number would be a lot higher.
Yeah, me too.
Victor (07:03):
Yeah, they just on the best teams.
Chris (07:06):
No, just in general overall 11% I see more of them.
Cesar (07:10):
I think, for the most part, a lot of them are really
good.
Rob (07:13):
Oh, so they get more publicity, or whatever.
Cesar (07:15):
Yeah, because Sammy Sosa was Dominican.
Victor (07:17):
You know what I love, though.
I love it when the baseballannouncers try to say some
Hispanic name and they justsound really fucking racist.
It is the funniest thing ever.
Speaker 5 (07:30):
I pride myself and think of myself as a man of
faith, as there is a drive in adeep left field by Castellanos.
It will be a home run.
Chris (07:39):
So there are about 950 active Major League Baseball
players.
So there are about 950 activemajor league baseball players
and on average, each player hitsaround 6.2 home runs a season
and to consider to be a goodhitter, you need to hit around
20 home runs a season and that'sconsidered to be good.
(08:07):
Last year in 2023, out of 950people, only six players had 40
home runs or more.
It's kind of crazy.
Hmm, thought it'd be more.
And for stolen bases on averageeach player in a season, they
do 3.6 stolen bases per season,and last year, again, only six
player had 40 or more stolenbases.
So now, in order to berecognized to be part of the
40-40 club, you have to do both.
Victor (08:27):
How hard is it to steal a base?
Tell them Wash.
It's incredibly hard, reallyhard, it's really hard.
Why is it so hard to steal abase?
Because I'm looking at it on TVsometimes and I'm like I can
fucking beat this guy.
The timing of it.
Rob (08:46):
You need to have a timing, you need to have a speed, so
less than one percent is likethe 40 40 club.
Chris (08:50):
No, these are just the stats.
Rob (08:51):
Just the stats for the people who have home runs how
many people do you usually getin the 40 40 club a year?
Cesar (08:56):
not many none yeah, if any top one percent, one percent
of one percent, yes wow, howmany of them are on juice on the
trend cycle?
Victor (09:04):
probably all of them no one ever really wants to talk
about.
Cesar (09:07):
The pros are taking steroids.
So here's the starting lineup.
Here's the thing with thesteroids.
I feel like, since everybodywas on it, I'm okay.
Every everybody was juicing,everybody was juicing yeah
everyone's still juicing.
Victor (09:19):
How much fun did we have when?
What's his name?
Rob (09:22):
sammy and uh when barry bonds, oh man, when barry bonds
is hitting home runs.
Victor (09:27):
We had a blast.
Baseball was like, oh my god,baseball's so awesome.
Look at all these fucking homeruns.
And then they were like, oh man, they're fucking doing steroids
.
They should stop.
Rob (09:36):
I'm like, look at that, but look, no one's getting hurt.
Let's take it back, though.
Victor (09:40):
Let's get away from this challenge let's put some trans
women in there.
Rob (09:43):
Yeah, let's get away from the steroids.
Let's put some trans women inthere.
Yeah, let's get some transwomen in there, yeah can we just
?
Get women on steroids to play.
That's better than just guys onsteroids To diversity and
inclusiveness.
So average player hits six homeruns, a good player hits 20
home runs Right, and then a goodplayer steals how many bases.
Chris (10:07):
I didn't get that other stat.
On average, each player steals3.6 bases in a season.
Rob (10:15):
People usually do either or Not.
Many people do both.
Chris (10:19):
Yes, right, that's the crazy part, right?
Wow, first professionalbaseball game was played on may
4th of 1869, so it's been over150 years since baseball has
been played professionally wasthat a monday or?
It was on a star wars day.
Cesar (10:36):
Oh may the 4th yeah, did they dress up as luke and all
the?
100 years before somebody getthis big walking carpet out of
my way.
Chris (10:46):
So how many players do you think there are in 4040 Club
as of today?
Victor (10:50):
Fifteen Like.
Are you talking about like intotal?
In total Since the inception?
Rob (10:56):
Since the inception Any repeats Are there duplicates.
Chris (11:00):
No repeats count, but there are no duplicates.
Rob (11:02):
No one's ever duplicated themselves.
Chris (11:05):
No repeats count, but there are no duplicates.
No one's ever duplicatedthemselves.
That's another hint.
And then it's been over 150years, right?
So that means over 150 seasonsof baseball in play.
How many players are youthinking in 40-40 club?
Cesar (11:15):
I would say 10.
, 15.
18.
Chris (11:17):
18, 15, 10?
.
Cesar (11:18):
Barry's definitely in it, barry Bonds.
Chris (11:20):
There have only been six players.
Victor (11:22):
It's a hard thing to do, holy shit, didn't you say six?
Chris (11:25):
made it this year no six not both Just 40 home runs or
just 40 stolen bases.
Rob (11:34):
So why is it hard to?
Why is it hard to do either one?
Cesar (11:38):
They say that one of the hardest things to do in sports
is to hit a baseball.
So imagine hitting, doing oneof the hardest things now trying
to do that hit a home run 40times.
Rob (11:48):
It's incredibly hard.
I went to a family gatheringNot my family, because they were
playing softball.
My family doesn't play sports,but I went to a family gathering
.
Cesar (11:58):
You're not American.
Rob (11:59):
No, they play like backgammon and smoke hookah.
I don't know if you guys haveever played that.
Victor (12:11):
It's amazing.
A lot of it is everyone wins.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
Yeah, all the sports I'm sitting down.
Rob (12:14):
There's always tea or dates , it's, it's great.
But this, like little kid,wanted to play softball.
I mean whatever right.
So I'm like, all right, I'llyou know I'm with her.
I couldn't even hit this kid'spitch, he was like eight years
old.
He's just throwing heat downthe middle.
So I yeah, I think I agree withyou.
(12:35):
It is really difficult to fuckyour baseball going 90 miles an
hour.
Victor (12:41):
Have you ever went to the batting cages and shit?
Rob (12:44):
Batting cages are easy for some races, yeah.
Victor (12:47):
I was practicing for softball.
We put it on the softballsetting and I still missed half
of them, yeah.
Rob (12:54):
That is hard those girls throw heat yeah they can throw.
They do like the undergroundyeah.
Victor (12:59):
They wind up.
Rob (13:00):
They wind up, they just shoot it down.
That's wild.
Any questions about softball?
Okay, so that's why pitchersare out Because they don't hit
and if they don't hit, theydon't steal bases.
Yeah, ah.
Chris (13:15):
And generally they're not a great hitter.
Rob (13:17):
So are all the other people who got into the 40-40 club.
Were they all pitchers andhitters?
Cesar (13:25):
No, they're all only hitters.
Chris (13:26):
they're just hitters, yeah so let's give a percent.
That's 0.004 percent.
Wow, of the baseball playershave earned a spot in 40-40 club
.
That's crazy.
Cesar (13:38):
So first one I bet you, I can do it, you definitely do it
yeah at 38 years old, I can doit.
That's your prime bro.
Victor (13:47):
No professional training yeah 30s are the new 20s.
Rob (13:53):
I'm in the prime of my life , really Just get on a cycle.
Cesar (13:56):
You can do it, not me.
I'm in my prime.
Chris (13:59):
So the first player, player named Jose Canseco, jose
Canseco, jose Canseco.
Cesar (14:04):
Jose.
Chris (14:04):
Canseco.
Rob (14:05):
Jose Canseco.
I know that guy, that guy, Iknow it was in 1988.
Victor (14:09):
Of the four of us and the two of us that don't really
watch baseball.
We both knew how to say it, andthe guy who does watch baseball
didn't know how to say his name.
Chris (14:18):
Number two spot or second player ever was Barry Bond in
1996.
Kanye has a song about him Doeshe Does?
Victor (14:26):
he really.
Rob (14:27):
Yeah, Barry Bonds.
Victor (14:28):
What does he say?
Rob (14:29):
I think he just rhymes.
Victor (14:29):
Barry Bonds with things, just keep saying.
Rob (14:31):
Barry Bonds yeah, it's excellent.
Cesar (14:35):
Kanye fell off, bro you know how much does the earth
cost.
The crazy thing about BarryBonds is they kind of pinpointed
when exactly he may havestarted taking juice, because
you can kind of tell hisappearance started changing.
He got a lot bigger in his head, even got his head even got a
lot bigger right.
Rob (14:51):
That's like a big one.
Right is when the head gets big.
Cesar (14:54):
So what happens is like, from the start of his career to
like, yeah, they think when hestarted juicing.
He has two separate careers andboth careers are hall of famers
, so he was that good that evenwithout taking steroids he got
in twice.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
Oh wow.
Cesar (15:10):
Yeah, stealing bases.
He was really quick, he hadpower, but he just didn't have
that much power Once he startedtaking the juice.
That's when, like all thesehome runs, no power, all the
power.
Chris (15:19):
Unagi.
Cesar (15:20):
Isn't that a kind of sushi?
Chris (15:21):
Third player was Alex Rodriguez.
Victor (15:25):
Another guy juicing.
He still misses J-Lo.
Rob (15:28):
He's got a couple of Ford dealerships I hear it wasn't the
same after she left.
Chris (15:32):
After that was Alfonso Soriano.
Cesar (15:35):
Yes from the Yankees.
Chris (15:36):
That was in 2006.
And he was the fourth player toearn the spot.
And then it took 17 years forthe fifth person to join.
It was in 2023 ronald acuna jryeah, ronald acuna jr.
Cesar (15:50):
He's really good.
So the thing is right, you'rehitting home runs.
Stolen bases isn't really athing anymore.
Why not?
Because the money's all in home.
In home runs.
The batters, they don't reallythey.
All they want to do is hit homeruns what do you mean?
Rob (16:02):
the money's in home runs?
Victor (16:04):
yeah, is the game rigged ?
Are you breaking news?
Cesar (16:07):
No, no, no, it's not rigged.
A lot of baseball fans don'tLike it's all.
If you, the more home runs youhit, the more lucrative your
contract is going to be.
The popularity of your right,your stock goes up, yeah.
So stolen bases it's been in acouple past couple years is like
(16:32):
teams just want you to be ahome run hitter and that's it I
was under the impression thatwhen baseball started getting
bigger in japan and we startedgetting more japanese players,
more bunting happening because Ithink bunting in japan is like
big deal.
Victor (16:46):
Like it's a big deal, yeah, and I thought there was,
they were trying to bring thatkind of over here.
But now you're saying it's justbig hits, now it's always been
big hits.
Cesar (16:54):
I think recently there's been more emphasis on like
bunting, stealing yeah, theseare fundamentals in the game
getting yeah when you yeah, whenyou pb baseball, you're taught
to do all these things becauseit helps you generate runs right
and runs, win the game.
Victor (17:12):
I've seen Moneyball.
There you go.
You ever seen the Sandlot?
I've seen more baseball moviesthan I've wanted to.
Cesar (17:19):
That's where I get all my knowledge from.
Rob (17:21):
Baby Ruth the Great.
Chris (17:24):
Bambino, my knowledge from baby the great bambino.
Also, when you steal base, Ithink you're prone to injuries
because you're, you have toslide.
You don't know.
You know a lot of players don't.
Cesar (17:32):
They don't try, that's true it's also like a chicken
and egg right.
There's no incentive to try tosteal and when you steal, you
get hurt so like it's like oh,do I really want to do it.
Chris (17:42):
And then last player was from this year, shohei Otani was
the sixth player.
Rob (17:47):
You get the 40-40.
So he reached 40-40 this year.
Well, how far into the season,because he still had enough time
to do 50-50, right.
Chris (17:56):
Right, I would say it's around summertime, like after
second half.
Probably Beginning of thesecond half it was on September
19th of 2020.
Probably the beginning of thesecond half it was on september
19th of 2020.
That was the game when shilhebecame the first player ever in
baseball history to hit 50 homeruns and had 50 stolen bases on
a one, two otani sends one inthe air the other way back it
(18:17):
goes they were playing againstmarlins.
he was going into the game with48 home runs and 49 stolen bases
.
Oh shit, all he needed was twohome runs and one stolen bases.
In that game.
He hit three home runs and twostolen bases and he finished the
(18:39):
game with 10 RBI.
Cesar (18:40):
The runs batted it.
Chris (18:41):
And then that was New Dodgers franchise record for a
single game.
He went on for 6-4-6 on batting.
I don't know what that means.
He got on the ball six timesand all six times he got it
either hit or better.
Cesar (18:54):
Just to put things in perspective, this guy is fucking
amazing, Like amazing.
Rob (19:00):
Is he like the best baseball player who's ever
played?
Victor (19:03):
I mean I guess he'd have to continue that kind of run.
Chris (19:06):
Do you guys remember, like in 64 games, when you play
baseball games and there's acheat code to every single time?
You put that cheat code in andyou hit home run every single
time.
Yeah.
Cesar (19:15):
Left, left, right, right, right it was that?
Chris (19:17):
O'Shea was that he had a cheat code on and he was hitting
home runs pretty much everysingle time.
He looks like a kid and he washitting home runs pretty much
every single time he looks likea kid he does.
Cesar (19:26):
He's a little kid.
Victor (19:27):
He's 30 years old.
He has a baby face.
He has a baby face, yeah.
Cesar (19:33):
I didn't think he was that fast for him to steal those
bases, to be honest, but for abaseball fan it's insane what
he's been able to accomplish.
Chris (19:42):
When he hit the three home runs that game.
That was his 51st home run.
That also became Dodgers'franchise record for most home
run in a season and, as wementioned, his pitcher right
First of all.
That's crazy, him pitcher andhitting like that and stealing
bases that's amazing An arm likea howitzer.
Second thing that's crazy is hedid all this while he was
(20:03):
injured.
This year he didn't pitch atall because he was experiencing
discomfort in his pitching armand it was revealed that he had
a tear in his UCL, whichtypically requires extensive
rehab and surgery.
Victor (20:17):
Bro his wife.
She's a basketball player.
Cesar (20:20):
She's a Japanese basketball player.
She's 5'11".
They're going to have big kids.
Victor (20:23):
The kids are going to come out all-stars.
He's 5'11".
They're going to have big kids.
Chris (20:26):
The kids that are going to come out, all stars.
Victor (20:27):
He's a basketball player this shit.
Hey, listen, if I was a massiveAsian baseball player?
I'm running through every K-popstar yeah.
Cesar (20:37):
That's why God didn't give you that gift, bro he knew,
he knew, he knew.
What a joke.
Victor (20:46):
He made me funny you gotta sense humor.
Big guy, you're gonna be five,nine bald, but you're gonna be a
funny.
You'll be pretty funny yeahyou'll be hilarious, yeah, yeah
you're gonna be a shitty podcast, but it's all good.
Cesar (20:58):
That's just sad right, so right.
Chris (21:01):
He's a pitcher and he was injured.
He accomplished.
Accomplished something that noone in baseball.
It's crazy, it's like he's afucking monster.
He's unstoppable.
Cesar (21:09):
You guys know the concept .
So in football, offense anddefense right, offensive players
don't play defense.
So imagine a quarterback.
Imagine Shohei Otani being aquarterback and then, when the
defense comes on the field, hestays on the field and tries to
attack the quarterback.
That's who this guy is inbaseball.
(21:31):
And they're getting sacks everysingle turn, every yeah,
throwing home runs when he's onoffense and on defense, he's
sacking the opposing quarterback.
That's who this guy is.
He's a monster, absolute beast.
So this year he he's so goodthat he's literally two players
in one.
Chris (21:40):
He's really good at playing as a pitcher and he's
really good at hitting and apitcher and he's really good at
hitting and during the game twohe was trying to steal a base
and he dislocated his shoulder.
He ended up still playing therest of the World Series.
So there was an article after.
They were saying that he prettymuch played with one hand
because his shoulder was prettymuch.
Victor (22:00):
Yeah, but you know what they got sports doctors who just
shoot you up.
You don't even feel the arm.
Worry about it later.
Chris (22:08):
That's true, right, but still that's crazy, right.
This is amazing.
Rob (22:12):
Yeah, this guy's amazing.
Victor (22:13):
Yeah, but I've heard that.
I mean not to say that this isany less, because that's insane.
Right, I'll get a paper cut,I'm done for the week, you
little bitch, but I've heardthat from a lot of athletes.
Yeah, you get injured, youbreak a bone, you break a
collarbone.
You got to keep playing.
You got to show the club thatyou're worth the money that
(22:35):
they're paying you.
If not, your contractdisappears.
Not in baseball, not inbaseball.
Cesar (22:41):
That's fully guaranteed, no matter what.
Victor (22:44):
Fully guaranteed.
Okay, so it's not like becausefootball they'll fuck you,
football they'll cut you.
Cesar (22:49):
Yeah, Basketball, it's fully guaranteed.
Baseball it's fully guaranteed.
So this guy's just doing itbecause he's a monster.
Chris (22:54):
I have some fun fact for you guys.
Victor (22:56):
Fun fact with Chris.
Chris (22:59):
Yeah.
Cesar (23:01):
Fun fact Introduce yourself in Korean.
Rob (23:04):
Fun fact in Korean.
Chris (23:05):
No, I didn't even say that.
Cesar (23:08):
Oh my god, Chris, you don't even speak Korean bro
You're not even Korean, are you?
Chris (23:13):
Fun de fact, that's Chachibichi.
Cesar (23:17):
Chachibichi is getting racist man.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
Buenos dias fanaticos .
Chris (23:22):
So the guy who caught Tony's 50th home run ball ended
up putting the ball on anauction.
Guess how much it was sold for$50 million.
No, not that one.
Victor (23:32):
His 100 grand, his 50th home run, oh, his 50th.
Chris (23:37):
Yeah, his 50th home run ball $250,000?
.
Nope higher Higher $1.5 million.
Victor (23:44):
Higher.
Rob (23:49):
It sold for more than 1.5 million.
It was a record breaking 4.39million.
Oh my god, that's crazy damn.
Chris (23:53):
And this guy gets to keep all that.
The guy who caught the ball, nofan.
The fan who caught the ball,fan, that's his ball.
And then I heard that when hecaught the ball, the Dodgers.
Victor (24:02):
He said I'm rich, that's like winning the lottery,
pretty much the odds of himcatching that particular ball.
Chris (24:11):
The Dodgers, the franchise tried to buy the ball
off of him for $300,000.
And the guy was like, nah, it'sworth more than that.
Rob (24:19):
That was smart.
Chris (24:20):
So prior to this ball, the record was $3 million, which
was Mark McGuire.
Remember him?
Yeah, his 70th ball he was onJuicy Tuna.
Oh, yeah, yeah definitely.
Victor (24:31):
Did Otani break the record for most home runs in the
season?
Cesar (24:37):
No someone else.
Victor (24:38):
Really, really.
So even after 50 in one season,he still didn't break the
record.
Cesar (24:44):
No, it was Aaron Judge who broke the single season home
run record.
Rob (24:48):
How much did he get?
Oh, really.
Victor (24:49):
Judge.
Cesar (24:50):
Yeah.
Victor (24:51):
Too bad he couldn't do that during the fucking World
Series.
Cesar (24:53):
Yeah, he fucking should have.
Yeah, how many was that ChrisJudge?
Was it last year?
I thought it was last year.
Was it last year?
I thought it was last year?
Was it this year, last year ortwo years ago?
62.
, 62 home runs.
Wow, he broke a record.
I think Roger Marris had 61,and it was like 30 or 40 years,
and then Judge came a coupleyears ago.
Chris (25:14):
This was a legitimate home run without any juicing.
Cesar (25:17):
Yeah, with no juicing.
Well, Roger Marris, probablyWas it Roger Marris, somebody
else, how can you not beromantic about baseball?
Rob (25:24):
Alright, so he looks like a nice guy, right, he's got a
nice family.
Victor (25:29):
Has he hit anyone drunk?
Rob (25:31):
Yeah, I'm saying.
Victor (25:33):
What's his skeleton in his closet?
Rob (25:34):
Talk about it.
Cesar (25:35):
Chris Talk about it.
Rob (25:37):
Talk about it, he's too good, he's too good, any rape
allegations.
He's got a baby face.
Victor (25:43):
How many Diddy parties did he attend?
Chris (25:46):
Yeah, I didn't really get into this, but there's been.
I think was it this year, Suzer, Do you remember?
Was it this year or last year?
I think it was the beginning ofthis year.
It was the beginning, Okay.
Victor (25:56):
So he had some allegations about gambling some
um, allegations about gambling,oh okay, yeah, that's, that's
good.
See, I want to see advice as ajapanese player.
He probably goes up to bat witha cigarette in his mouth and
he's cedar you want to talkabout, because I don't know
really much to it I think in thebeginning of this year he got
(26:18):
into a little controversybecause there was a bookie or
someone somehow, no, histranslator.
Chris (26:24):
There was a wire transfer .
Cesar (26:25):
A wire transfer got caught.
Or allegedly, his interpretertook money out of his account
because he had a problemgambling, so most likely what
happened was he's a gambler andhis book his interpreter fell on
the sword for him.
Chris (26:40):
And then he and Ohtani was like I have no idea, like I
didn't know he was doing that.
Cesar (26:44):
I just paid him.
Yeah, yeah.
Victor (26:47):
Likely story.
And then people are like, stickto Pachinko, my man, stick to
Pachinko.
Chris (26:51):
And then people are like there.
It's not like five bucks,they're taking like millions of
you know, like you didn't knowand you got it like that.
Victor (27:03):
You know some people like you know they, they do
laundry.
They find 20 bucks.
It makes their day.
He's just like kicking around.
Oh, is that a mil in my pocket?
Cesar (27:11):
Easy.
Do you know how much this guy'sgetting paid?
No, do you know the contractnumber, chris?
Victor (27:16):
Is it more than two million?
Because it says the salary is 2million.
Oh no, it's ridiculous it'sridiculous.
Cesar (27:22):
It's about 700 million dollars over a 10 year span.
What the crazy?
Listen to this.
The crazy thing about it isthat he deferred most of that
money, so that 2 million dollarsthat he's getting a year.
He's getting it for like 10years, I think, and then the
rest he's gonna get it over likea 12 year period, so he
deferred almost 600, yeah, 680million or whatever it was why
(27:45):
do that?
I have no one knows, no one hasany idea.
Rob (27:48):
It was probably because he was a gambler yeah, and he would
burn through all of it and hiswife was like yeah, you need to
one of the craziest contracts hewas helping out dodgers so that
, so they won't hit the salarycap.
Chris (28:01):
There is no salary cap't hit the salary cap.
There is no salary cap.
Is there no salary cap?
Cesar (28:04):
there's no salary cap in baseball there's luxury tax yeah
, there's luxury tax, but youcan spend as much tax.
Rob (28:10):
That sounds like a monopoly thing.
No, so if you land on it.
Chris (28:13):
If you land on it okay, the team has to pay a luxury tax
.
Rob (28:17):
Okay, all right, that's not bad.
Victor (28:18):
And if there's a hotel on that, you're fucked.
Rob (28:24):
What's a luxury tax, though ?
Speaker 5 (28:28):
In Major League Baseball, mlb, the luxury tax is
formally known as theCompetitive Balance Tax, cbt.
This system was implemented toregulate the total amount of
money teams can spend on theirrosters, aiming to maintain
competitive balance among teams.
The CBT is set by theCollective Bargaining Agreement,
cba.
And now back to your regularlyscheduled program.
Chris (28:58):
So until 2034, he'll make $2 million dollars a year.
10 years from now, and thenuntil 2044, he'll make 68
million guaranteed sheesh one ofthe craziest.
Cesar (29:12):
What if he dies?
Rob (29:13):
that's why you don't do that.
That sounds like a terrible.
No, seriously, what if he dies?
He's still gonna get that money.
Speaker 5 (29:18):
He's not just gonna enjoy his family it goes to his
family, it goes to his estate orwhatever.
Victor (29:24):
I'm sure he's got some lawyer figuring that out his
wife gets it in his future.
Cesar (29:27):
He's not gonna enjoy it.
But then again he's a gambler.
So I mean, what if?
What if you die?
Yeah, but I don't have 700million dollars, I would have
blew through that right nowyou'd be like sorry, honey, I
left you with a bunch of debt Ibought a platinum farm in the
moon I bought it from elon.
Victor (29:49):
Elon boat hooked me up it could turn around at any
moment.
What did he leave me?
A bunch of trump coin andfucking elon moon real estate.
Chris (30:00):
And one day we will indeed occupy Mars.
I said, shelly's baseball wassold for $4.39 million, right?
Rob (30:10):
Yeah.
Chris (30:11):
And then Aaron Judge his 62 home run ball was sold for
$1.5 million Damn.
Victor (30:18):
That's surprising.
The guy that caught it, whatdid his seat cost?
I was watching a few videos ofpeople that went to the World
Series at Yankee Stadium andthey were saying some of them
were paying $1,300 for theirseat For more.
Chris (30:30):
I heard it was like that.
That was like, yeah, that waslike a low price.
Cesar (30:33):
I heard something like $23.
Victor (30:35):
I heard like $25.
Cesar (30:37):
That's crazy.
Victor (30:38):
Right To spend on a seat at a baseball game.
Granted, it's the World Series,but still a baseball game where
your team fucking loses To takean L.
Cesar (30:50):
Take the L.
Victor (30:51):
When it's like what was it Like three errors.
Chris (30:56):
That was rough.
That was rough.
Victor (30:58):
An embarrassing fucking game he's just upset.
Chris (31:01):
But yeah, so Rob what'd you think?
Rob (31:04):
Coming from someone who doesn't really know anything
about baseball and youexplaining how difficult it is
to even get home runs, stealbases and just the percentage of
professional players who'veeven attained the 40-40 club
being so small, and then thisguy does 50-50, it seems like
this guy's incredible to me.
(31:26):
I would think like he'sprobably one of the best
baseball players out there everright now.
I didn't know that pitchersdon't hit and this guy seems
like a absolute beast.
Can the yankees get him?
Because all I know is justbeing in new york is like we
just buy everything, so like canwe just get him?
Is he just strictly West Coast?
(31:46):
Is he sold on that?
Yeah?
Cesar (31:48):
Have you talked to him?
Have you talked to him?
Well, he was trying to signwith the Mets, but he's closer
to Japan from that side, sothat's why he decided to go to
the Dodgers.
That's all they said.
Rob (31:59):
They can work on that, like with the Dodgers that's all
they said they couldn't work onthat and work on like a work
from home deal or something theycouldn't work something off of
him, cesar Yo man.
Cesar (32:06):
As a baseball fan, I've been following Shohei Otani's
career since like he came overand I've been truly blown away
by his absolute talent.
So, yeah, this season was crazy.
I actually saw that game wherehe hit the 50, 50.
Yeah, yeah it was.
It was against a shitty team.
I'm surprised he even, theyeven let him play that much.
Chris (32:27):
The score was 20 to 3.
Cesar (32:28):
That was the final score jesus in baseball in baseball
yep so, yeah, I I kind of I'vebeen following this his career
and I've been interested, sovictor.
Victor (32:39):
Listen, I don't follow baseball very much, um, but I do
love sports stories and this isuh, it sounds like an amazing
feat.
I still hold that I can.
I can give him a run for if Ientered baseball all right,
maybe I can't hit close.
I don't think I can hit 50 homeruns, but I can definitely
steal a few bases.
Victor wouldn't be able to bethe bad boy.
Cesar (33:03):
He wouldn't be able to do that.
Victor (33:05):
I could steal a few bases.
Okay, I just got to limber up abit.
Speaker 5 (33:09):
Hit the old peloton and yeah, give me like a year
and I can do it.
Victor (33:17):
Shoney Otani crazy feats of strength and I'll be looking
out for him now that I knowhe's around Are you interested
in the story.
I'm pretty interested in thisand I'll be looking out for him
now that I know he's around.
Are you interested in the story?
I'm pretty interested in this.
I've never actually heard ofhim.
I never heard of him beforetoday.
Chris (33:33):
I thought he was a Chinese beaver.
I still don't get it.
Rob (33:37):
I don't get it either.
Yeah, I don't know what's upwith that beaver.
Chris (33:41):
The 50-50 club is real, thanks to Shoei Otani, who just
turned baseball fantasy into ahistory.
Hitting 50 home runs andstealing 50 bases in a single
season that's impressive.
No one thought it was possible,not in our lifetime.
Let's celebrate this incredibleachievement that's sure to be
talked about for generations.
We want to thank you forlistening and, if you enjoyed
(34:03):
today's show, feel free to namedrop this podcast to your
friends and family To stayupdated on new content and to
join in on the discussion.
Check us out on YouTube at I'mNot Dumb but Podcast, and on the
Twitter or X at I'm Not Dumb,but Please rate, like and review
whatever you get your podcast.
Until next time, stay curious.
Victor (34:24):
Peace.
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