July 25, 2025 • 38 mins
Doug weighs in on the new Executive order by President Trump that impacts college spots. Doug welcomes legendary baseball pitcher Jim Abbott on the show to talk about his memorable career and catch up on what he is up to now. Plus, Dan Beyer takes Doug through The Press.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Thanks for listening to The Doug Gotleb Show podcast. Be
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Speaker 2 (00:20):
We got a heck of a show for you today.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
If you miss ay today's show, check out the podcast
to be available at the top of next hour. Just
download the Doug gotleep Show podcast Reevi youw download podcast.
Jim Abbott played eleven years of the Biggs Angel Yankee
through No Hitter with the Yankees. Of course, he's the
subject to the new documentary South Pod. It's pretty good.
Check it out on Disney Plus and on Amazon. Got
(00:46):
to talk about Hall of Fame Kansas Hall of Fame
head coach Bill self getting a medical scare yesterday, and
I want to play for you something Nick Saban said
about rumors of his return to coaching.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
We'll do that in a second though, but it's really interesting.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
You know, yesterday I got text from people and we
talked about this a little bit on the show yesterday
about the presidential what is it? The executive order, the
Executive Order on College Sports, And here's what's I mean. Look, politicians, grandstand.
(01:25):
I think what's really interesting is that our president came
in as the anti politician politician, but everything he does
is like an expert politician, only only it's so obvious
and so transparent, that kind of mafia type of hey,
pay up or else type of thing that whereas other
(01:50):
politicians are a little bit more artful and you only
find out about the ties and connective tissues kind of
after the fact. But President Trump sign an executive Order
to protect student athletes and collegiate athletic scholarships and opportunities,
including Olympic and non revenue generating programs, and the unique
American institution of college sports. The order, and this is
(02:12):
from white House dot gov. The order requires the preservation
of where possible expansion of opportunities of scholarships, collegiate athletic
competition in women's and non revenue sports. Okay, it's kind
of contradictory, I understand, but well, that one was placed first.
I do think it's really really interesting that this is
(02:34):
a White House that has run on the Hey, no DEI,
no woke, no whatever. And yet the first part of
the order is to protect non scholarship, non scholarship, non
revenue generating, and women's sports specifically, which, by the way,
are going to be destroyed because of the new rules
(02:55):
or the new revenue sharing or use of nil.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Just reality, Okay.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
The order prohibits third party pay for play payments to
college athletes. This does not apply to legitimate fair market
compensation that third party provides to an athletes, such as
brand endorsement. So what are you talking about. Oh, it
has oversight into what is and what is not fair
market legitimate value. Not sure how many people know this,
(03:22):
but I've said this before. The NCAA does a lot
of stuff. Everybody criticizes any of the dumb stuff they do.
They try and do some smart stuff. They already have this,
I believe it's called NCAA go And anytime you get
compensated from a third party over six hundred dollars, they
have to investigate and clear it. The order provides that
(03:43):
any revenue sharing permitted between universities and collegian athletes should
be implemented in a manner that protects women's and non
revenue generating sports.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
How again, this is just simply, hey, what about Title nine?
We don't know?
Speaker 1 (03:58):
The order directs Secretary of Labor National Labor's Board to
clarify the status of student athletes in order to preserve
non revenue generating sports and irreplaceable educational development opportunities. It
goes on to some other things, but basically it's the hey, uh,
are you guys watching how much they're paying these kids?
(04:18):
And what do we do to save women's sports and
non revenue generating sports? And the answer is very little.
The answer is in this quest by so many, including
a lot of Republicans and a lot of Democrats. Okay,
to free them from free them from the oppression of
(04:39):
the NCAA. That's what people use. You're just Robin Peter
to pay Paul fu you're doing, that's what you're doing.
So there is only so I don't know how much
you guys saw this, but Iowa State estimates that over
the next five years they'll be I think it's over
two hundred million dollars in debts. They're not doing construction
(05:02):
on a new wrestling wrestling room and stopping construction on
Hilton coliseum, which is a palace that needs a refresh
for their basketball program.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
And by the way, those are two programs.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Wrestling probably makes a little bit of money, basketball makes
them a good amount of money. Football obviously makes them
the most money. Those are revenue generating sports in the
state of Iowa, and they're not doing any facilities upgrades
because they're going to be operating a whole And that's
not even talking about women's sports. Just so we're aware, Okay,
when the President gives an executive order, it doesn't actually
mean anything. It is grand standing. The funny part about
(05:40):
it is it's grand standing for things that a protections
that already exist and a problem that I don't know
how you solve, which is how do you funnel any
of your revenue and pay twenty up to twenty two
million of it and that's at the the highest level,
(06:00):
twenty two million of it to your athletes and still
have women's sports on scholarship. They're just going to get
phased out unless they can raise their own be self
sustaining and raise their own money. And look, i'm parent
of my daughter is in a non revenue generating sport
that is really expensive, and they have fifty girls, and
(06:23):
they did expand the scholarships. All the new rules do
is you can have up to fifty scholarships for a questrian.
Probably can't afford it, can't afford it, buyer. When you
saw the executive order, did you think there was anything
different or profound about it?
Speaker 3 (06:43):
I didn't look into it, dog, I'm gonna be completely honest. Yeah,
I saw Ross Dellinger tweet about it. Looked a little
into it, but I didn't pay much mind, so I
would be of no help in this discussion.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Jay Stu, when you and I discussed it today, you
thought it was something. But finally somebody said something. Finally
did someone. I was like, yeah, it actually it's kind
of already been said, already been done. I guess it
brings attention to it, but it doesn't actually do anything
to it.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
I mean, I honestly didn't even know if this executive
order was anything different than what's already going on. But
I will make this point, and this might trigger some people.
You guys are probably gonna think, oh, he's just some
maga guy. Nope, this says nothing political. This is fact.
Executive orders, by and large, by presidents are kind of
(07:31):
worth what they're printed on, and they are grand standing
and they are just you know, strong messaging from the
White House hoping everybody will fall in wine. But there
is a process to things. But Trump's different, right, and
the proof's in the pudding with it. With with my example,
zero border crossings, zero border crossings since he took over
(07:55):
all by executive order, No legislation has been passed since
he's been in office, and they have completely stopped the
spigot at the border. So I would say in general
executive orders are kind of frivolous and grandstanding, but there's
something about this presidency where people are falling in lint
(08:15):
and adhering to these orders.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
They aren't zero border crossings. There's a substantial decrease, but
there's not zero border crossings, just so we're aware.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
But yeah, I mean, they unleased ice on people, so
there's gonna be less. There's gonna be there's obviously gonna
be less, and they they've done a better job of
beefing up border security. So I kind of think you're
connecting things that aren't really connected because it's the ice
is not based upon the executive order there's been He's
(08:48):
had a million executive orders that nothing has happened about nothing.
Now he ran on immigration reform, and I don't want
to make this a political show, but I again, I
just in an effort to be as knowledgeable as possible.
There's that zero border crossings. There's far fewer.
Speaker 5 (09:05):
Yeah, I would hate for anybody to detect me. Literally,
I know that there's not zero. That's an exaggeration to
make a point significantly less or even how about this
a very small percentage of what was being allowed in
the last four years.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Wasn't there a wasn't there a stat where actually Obama
deported more people than Trump and Trump's first administration.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
It was like crazy.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
But again, a lot of this is about one side
celebrates their successes.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
The other side seems to run from them.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
It's just weird that way. But the college sports thing,
and I had a conversation with a dad who's a
good friend of mine. His son's a super high level
recruit and his son's going to make a a lot
of money in his first year playing college sports. And
he was like, yeah, I hate this. All these coaches
(10:07):
hate this. He's like, don't you hate this? And I said, no,
you know, it doesn't feel good when you sign a
kid and you give them an honest outlook and you're like, hey,
this is what I think.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
I think. This is what your one looks like. The ceiling.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
This is what your one looks like the floor. It
probably lands somewhere in the middle. This is I think
what year two looks like. Whatever, Hey, coach, I'm never leaving.
I had two guys who left last year. We're in it.
You can red shirt us, not play us, don't care.
We're in it for four or five years, whatever. We
just want to grow. And they both like, I didn't
(10:46):
like this that I don't know my growth, Like I
your year ended up better than even I told told
you could have been.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
And I bring it up because I actually enjoyed. I
like it. Some coaches really like it.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
They'll never sit it on camera more because they like
the refreshing and getting a good cycle of new guys
every year, new energy. Because at the end of almost
any of you can only play five guys, only have
one basketball, there's gonna be some unhappy people.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
You get rid of the unhappy ones.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
The problem is that a lot of times you get
rid of the happy ones too, because they transfer up
a level when you're a level like ours, and so
many of these old coaches don't like it because it's
not what they signed up for. It's not what it
used to be about. It may be about the team
at the start of the year, but by the end
of the year, everybody's looking for their own success stories
so they can elevate themselves. And it's never about the school.
(11:39):
It's never about the team, or very seldom is about
the team or about the school, and it's often about
them and about how much money and you have to
deal with agents and some don't like to do that.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Now.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
For me, I came in in this era, so I
don't know what it used to be like. I don't
know from a coach's side if it was way better.
And the common persumption is that's why guys like Nick
Saban aren't in the game anymore. This was Nick Saban. Okay,
(12:10):
Nick Saban, I love this line. He didn't he say
that his wife made him vacuum downstairs and he's like, man,
my job when I was head coach Alabama was a
lot of these year, so it was the first time
I ever thought about coaching again. I do think most
of the old guard will get out of it, because
(12:30):
it is a lot. You're managing budgets, you're managing salaries
with players. You still have coaches, right, you can't bump
up coaches in terms of what they want to make
what they feel like they're rightfully deserving of in compensation,
you know, fifteen twenty years in the business, because now
you have to compensate players who you don't really know
what you're getting. I'd be interested to see if Saban
(12:54):
comes back, but I don't think he comes back.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Oh yeah, I love it here.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
I just don't. I just don't.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
And the Presidential Executive Order, it sounds great, but it's
it's grand standing. Hey, we really got to pay attention
to these women's sports and non revenue generating sports. Okay,
we'll pay attention to them. Do you have a way
in which we can compensate athletes be competitive at the
top of the sport and and have enough money left
(13:22):
over to have scholarships and coaching staffs and travel and
budget for those sports.
Speaker 6 (13:26):
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Speaker 2 (13:39):
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Speaker 2 (13:53):
Be, uh skip.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Scary situation yesterday buyer where Bill self was hospitalized had
two stints put in.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
So had had a buddy of mine who was.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Who I was told he was playing golf when it happened,
and and that he's in good spirits and his usual
Joe cracking self this morning. But I think, you know,
the big question is we play them the first game
of the season. We play Kansas November third at fog Allen,
And you know they hired Jock Vaughan, who is as
(14:37):
beloved a former Jayhawk as there is, plus is a
former NBA head coach. And the thinking is that at
some point maybe that's where the baton gets passed to.
I just wonder, like, Bill's got two national championships, He's
got like twenty million Big twelve titles, Like at what
point he's like, yeah, I'm good here, I'm good.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
I think that the health scare obviously adds to it,
and you know, Bill self a better than most. What
I also find interesting is that the advances in medical world,
and I think everybody's probably dealt with someone who has
had to have stents put in, So it comes across
as like, oh, of course, Okay, he's gonna be He's
gonna be fine, But there is a scary situation with it.
(15:17):
And aside from everything going on in college sports as
well that you just kind of alluded to earlier, which
had forced other coaches to maybe step away from the game.
Self is one of the one of those remaining. So
now you got health into the picture as well.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yeah, and and remember did he miss the NCAA tournament
when they lost? Was it two years ago? Did health
he had health concerns then too, right?
Speaker 3 (15:39):
I can't remember, but I just remember that this past
season wasn't very fun for them.
Speaker 7 (15:44):
No, it's been very fun for you.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Know, two years ago they lost I think in the
second game. He didn't coach either of those games. He
didn't coach in the Big twelve term, and he had
a healthcare then.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
I just it sucks because I mean that's it's like
people ask all, well, why would you play Kansas. Well,
you get a chance to coach at probably the greatest
arena in the country.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Like it's flawless.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Literally the rules of the sport are right there at
Allen Field House and then against Oklahoma State lump or
okam State point guard. And oh yeah, by the way,
in any conversation with the all time greatest coaches, it'd
be a bummer if he's you know, it has to
take a couple of months off and doesn't coach that game.
But you do wonder longevity wise when you get when
(16:32):
you get multiple health scares, at some point you go like,
I've made a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
I'm good here.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Jim Abbott's going to join us upcoming in like two
minutes personally, And I know Jay su he grew up
in Orange County where he's a little bit older than me.
Like I know, lots of people say it's about people
who need prosthesis that he's a hero to. He was
a hero to everybody growing up. The new documentary's out
about the story of his successful career. We'll talk to
(17:02):
Jim about in a second. It's The Doug Gottlieb Show
Fox Sports Radio if you if you go to ESPN
Plus or Disney Plus, there's a documentary out on a
player who I was I think the entire sports world,
and again I was fourteen at the time when he
kind of broke through with the Angels, one of the
(17:23):
most memorable players of my lifetime in professional sports.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
It's called South Ball.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
It's based upon the life of Jim Abbott, and he's
kind of to spend some time this year on the
Doug Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 7 (17:36):
Jim, how are you.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
I'm great, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
It's so interesting because I'm watching the documentary and I'm
just it's like I felt I was there. I remember,
but there's lots of parts I did not know. And
I think there's so many people in this generation of
sports who have no idea about your story. You were
born without a hand, Like, what's your first memory of
(18:04):
being different than other kids?
Speaker 4 (18:08):
You know, I guess the best my memory recollection would
be was kindergarten. You know. My parents, you know, were great,
they were my heroes. They had me at a young age.
I was born a little bit differently, and they searched
for a lot of ways to help me. You know,
just kind of throwing them things against the wall to
(18:29):
see what would stick. And so they suited me up
with the prosthesis and the shape of a metal hook.
You know, it was kind of awkward. It was cumbersome.
I went to kindergarten wearing that, and obviously that brought
the stairs and the questions and different awkward moments. And
I think that, you know, when I walked into school
for the first time, was the first time that I
(18:50):
was like, man, I am really different from the rest
of the kids.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
What was it like the first time you thought about
playing ball.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
Well, I grew up in Michigan, so you know, that's
just what you did. And I grew up in a
tough town. I grew up in Flint, Michigan, as you know,
a great basketball town. I used junior high school. I
used to play basketball with Glenn Rice every day, you know,
But in Blint, it was a It was a way
to make your name, you know, to fit in. To
(19:24):
belong was to be on a team. And so it
wasn't particularly baseball, although I could always throw things. I
loved basketball. I loved football, and I love the sense
of belonging that it gave me. At recess or on
a playground.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Yeah, but baseball specifically. Again, like I had no understanding
that anyone with one hand could play baseball like basketball. Again,
it seems limiting, but and that that had to be hard. Right,
So when you played basketball, did you play with the
hook on or did you play with it off?
Speaker 4 (19:59):
No? I quickly, you know, I dropped the processus pretty quick.
It didn't you know it. It may work for a
lot of people, but I, you know, it didn't help
me to do the things I love to do. It
didn't help me dribble to my right, you know, it
didn't help me to play baseball or hold a bat.
So I gave it up after a couple of years.
(20:20):
And then I just, you know, with my parents' blessing,
I just started, you know, trying to do things my
own way. And whether it was switching the glove on
and off of my left hand and throwing and catching
with the same hand, or you know, holding a baseball bat,
or to this day, trying to hold a golf club.
You know, I just tried to take a lot of
(20:40):
trial and error, a lot of trying to figure things out,
but just trying to figure out what seemed most natural
to me.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
How did you How did you developed the ability to
to field as well as you did, because like it was,
it was honestly like a thing of beauty. It's like wow,
it happens like so quickly where you'd throw and then
you'd you'd put put the glove on your on your
left hand. Take me through the steps of how that
(21:08):
how you learned that?
Speaker 4 (21:10):
Well, there were several steps. You know. I first started.
It was very slow. It was kind of cumbersome. You know,
I had a baseball mit that was probably more like
a softball mint, and you know, it just it didn't flow.
So I had to learn, you know, to get the
right size glove. And I would throw a ball against
(21:31):
a brick wall and try to catch it over and
over again because I love to do it, much like
shooting baskets. It was just something that was a release
for me, something that I spent time doing alone. And
then you know, when I made it. I got to
the University of Michigan, and I knew playing at the
collegiate level D one level that you know, people were
(21:53):
going to start trying to take advantage and that's fair enough,
you know, so I would I really started devoting a
lot of time, you know, to my fielding and working
on buns and working on you know, bun down the
third baseline and switching the glove on and off. So
I spent a lot of time doing it right up
until you know, my last days in the major leagues.
(22:15):
And honestly, you know, I was proud of my fielding.
I felt like I deserved you know, I felt like
I had earned some recognition for fielding because of all
the hard work.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
In eighty nine, he got called up to the big club,
right and you're playing for the California Angels at the
old Anaheim Stadium, which is a big, gigantic kind of
a model of What do you remember about your first
start in the bigs?
Speaker 4 (22:44):
Not much, not much. It was such a blur. I
remember pitching against Mark Langston, who was one of the
best left handed pitchers in the Major leagues at the
time and now a great friend of mine. We became
teammates later. But you know, I was drafted by the
Angels in nineteen eighty eight and I went and played
(23:07):
in the Olympics. So I spent the entire summer playing
in the Olympics the previous year and we won we
want to go medal. I didn't play professional that season,
and then I went to spring training in eighty nine
and I made the team. I made the club out
of the out of spring training.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
And how they tell you a by the way, how
they tell you how did you find out you made
the club?
Speaker 4 (23:28):
They were my pitching coach, Marcel Latchman, who was a
great mentor and a hero to me to this day.
We were at the Gene Autry Hotel in Palm Springs.
Back then, the Angels spent part of spring training in
Palm spring and we were just about ready to break camp.
I thought I was heading from Midland, Texas to Double A,
and he pulled me aside and said, hey, we're going
(23:50):
to You're coming with us. You're coming with the big
club back to Anaheim, and you're going to be our
fifth starter. So, you know, pretty exciting. That's why I
don't remember much of that first game because things were
just moving so fast and I was, you know, I
was just trying to adjust, trying to recalibrate the idea
of going from amateur baseball to professional baseball.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
When did you feel like I can do this? You know,
because your your whole life. You know, it's very understandable, reasonable,
but people just looked at you and said, there's no way.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Like it doesn't there's just no way. When did you
feel like I can do this?
Speaker 4 (24:32):
You know? I felt like playing on the in the
USA team. I played two summers with the USA team,
one in the Pan Am Games and the second following year.
After my junior year in college, I played in the
Olympic team. And I was playing with guys, you know,
Robin Ventura, Tino Martinez, Ben McDonald's, Charlie. You know, we
(24:57):
were playing. I was playing first raft.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Smart McGuire was on that team, right, wasn't he?
Speaker 4 (25:02):
No, McGuire was nineteen eighty four. I was nineteen eighty eight.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Okay, okay, this is Soul, Korea.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Eighty he was on the eighty four team that never
played was eight? No eighty eighteen? Wait, didn't you get
which was the year that they didn't go? Guys, we
didn't go. I guess eighty we didn't go. Eighty we
didn't go.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Yeah, that's right, that's right. Yeah. And then so you
know I was playing, we were playing the Cuban team,
you know, who were you know in their late twenties thirties,
you know, hitting with Eastern bats and going up in
incredible competition, and I began, you know, I was a
big part of the rotation on that team. And so
(25:39):
it was playing with those first round draft picks. It
was playing with those guys and holding my own that
I finally started to believe that maybe I could play
professionally and you know, and kind of fit in with
that potential.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Okay, so your first win, just you know, was against
the Orioles. Is your third start, right right? And it
was it was at the Big A. And here's the
big thing. I don't know if you know this game
duration two hours and thirty nine minutes. It wasn't just
that you were awesome and that you you had this
amazing ability to field and ultimately threw a no hitter
at ninety three. It was that you were You weren't
(26:16):
wiping the sweat, taking a trip around the mountain. You're
just in there doing your job and getting the heck out.
I mean, two hours and thirty nine minutes. That's the
env even of teams now at the pitch clock.
Speaker 4 (26:27):
It was different back then. You know, it was you know,
you moved fast, you got the ball, you got it
out of your hand, and you get up and you
did it again. And I'm a big fan of the
pitch clock. I think it pulled the game back in
that direction. It's so much easier to watch when the
game moves quickly.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
The no hitter, you know, it's it's interesting when I
was watching the documentary, right, and the no hitter is
like the culminating moment. I guess for so many people.
I don't know if you feel that way for you.
For me, it was more just your rookie year and
watching you and you kind of took over the league
and everybody was paying attention. But the no hitter is
interesting because I'm trying to figure out what you were thinking, because, uh,
(27:09):
have you ever seen the movie, let's say, Kevin Costner
Baseball not Bull Durham, the the game, Yeah, for love
of the Game, right, where he's got all this other
stuff on in his life and then for that three out,
he's having all these flashbacks. Do you remember what was
going on in your in your brain Yankee Stadium that day?
Speaker 4 (27:29):
You know? That is one of my favorite baseball movies
and in the book by Michael Shara was also terrific
because it captured the stops and starts of a game.
You know, it's I mean, pitching is you're out there,
you're in this rush, You're in this moment. You're pitching,
you're strategizing, you're throwing, and then then you have everything
(27:51):
stops and you come in and you sit in the
dugout and the you know, what goes through your mind
can have everything to do with the game, and it
can have nothing to do with the game. And that
movie captured that perfectly, you know, just sitting there and
that no hitter, you know how it goes your teammates
quit talking to you. That adds a different dynamic that
(28:13):
you know, the mood and the stadium changes, you know,
so your mind is just kind of running in all
these different directions. And I remember you're very observant those
times in between the innings as much as I remember
being out on the mound that day, the excitement.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
You know, how do you want people to describe your career?
Speaker 4 (28:42):
That's a good question, you know. I you know the documentary,
and I appreciate you bringing it up. Obviously, I was
born missing my right hand, and for a long time, Doug,
I fought against that, and I didn't want the label,
you know. I didn't want the first perception of me
(29:03):
to be what people thought of me or what I
could do. But I think the documentary in some ways
captures the journey of coming to terms with my hand,
you know, because I met so many kids, so many
families like me, similar to me, like my parents, and
(29:27):
there was a time when I didn't want to be
known for that. But I had to embrace that, you know,
I had to come. I had to say, yes, this
is who I am, and I wouldn't have done the
things that I did had I been born differently. I
believe that deeply, and so now for me, I want
to I don't mind being remembered for having done things differently.
(29:51):
You know. I know it's who I am, and I
know it pushed me in ways I never would have
been pushed before, and later in life. I'm proud of it,
and I'm not you know, I don't shy away from
a label that I once wasn't, you know, didn't always embrace. Well.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
I can only tell you this as a young athlete
that was born with all my working limbs, it was
still inspirational for me. Like I think I'm sure anyone
you met who needed a prosthesis, you know, you were inspirational.
But for anybody else, you're like, hey, if Jim Abbott
can overcome what he was born with, you can depth, right,
(30:29):
So it's amazing that. I'm sure so many people think, wait,
such an inspiration is so many? No, No, you were
actually inspiration to all young athletes, especially in southern California.
And I think also part of it was you never
talked about it. It wasn't You did kind of shy
away from it, and so it made it like it
it's not even part of his thought process. He didn't
(30:51):
think this is anything special. So, yeah, we should be
able to achieve way more considering what we were born with.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Does that makes sense?
Speaker 4 (31:01):
Yeah, I believe that, you know. You know, it cracks
me up as I meet people. And I have met
people along the way, kids, boys, and they'll say hey,
you know, and they have two hands, you know, and
they play baseball in on them away and I hear
all the times we used to be out on the street.
We would switch the glove on and off.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Sure we were strugging everybody, And I.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
Say, well, why do you do that? It's probably harder,
but who knows. You know, that's it's the way I
was born. It's all I ever knew, and so you know,
I do think it's a testament to making the most
and listen, a lot of people have it a lot
worse than me. I know that it's up to us
to make the most of what we've been given. And
it doesn't matter if you're the most talented person on
(31:45):
a team or the least. You know that the effort
is the measurement.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Could agree with you more well, I just I just
want to tell you an inspiration to me and I
love watching watching the documentary and as soon as it
came out, I talked to Jason and I said, Jason,
can we have Jim abbottan And he's like why. I
was like, why not, and he's like, that's a very
good point. It's a very very good point. I encourage
people to watch it and to fall in love with
your story and Jim, it's just an honor to catch
(32:11):
up with you.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
Thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
Thanks Doug, take care man.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
You too, Doug Gottlib Show Fox Sports Radio Ready for
a new job. Let Express and playing professionals help While
Express helps people in all industries find work. Our sweet
spot is logistics roles and Express never charges job seekers
a free Go to expresspros dot com. By the way,
it's time for our Express Pros Pro the Week. This
year's This week's winner, Vlad Guerrero Junior had three hits,
including game tying double to help the surging JS beat
(32:37):
the Tigers. Congrats to Vlad Guro Junior.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Be on an Express Pros Pro of the Week.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Okay, coming up next to The Doug Gottlieb Show, more
than one hundred current players are.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
In hot water with the NFL. What they do fight
out next.
Speaker 6 (32:49):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
It It's a Doug Gottlieb Show Fox Sports Radio. Sure
they have the show. Our podcast be going up. If
you missed any today's show, check out the podcast again.
Just search Doug Gotlibervig your podcast follow up? Rate review
that podcast again, Suirrechtug Gottlieber at your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Let's get to Dan Buyer for the Press.
Speaker 6 (33:19):
The Press.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
You can listen to us and did you know you
can also see us. Check out the Fox Sports Trader
Hello the YouTube channel to search Foxport Trade on YouTube.
You see a whole bunch of video highlights from our shows.
Be sure, subscribes, you always have instidt access to our
Fox Sports Radio videos on YouTube. Dan Byer, what do
you got?
Speaker 3 (33:37):
ESPN reported earlier today that more than one hundred players
are under investigation by the NFL for selling their Super
Bowl fifty nine tickets above face value. Now, some of
the violators have already paid the fine that comes with
that violation, which is almost twice the amount of a
face value ticket, Plus they lose their ticket privileges for
the next two Super Bowls. If they don't pay the fine,
(33:59):
they could be suspended for their actions.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
This is really interesting, right, This is people got to
learn the the old school technique of how to not
get arrested for scalping tickets where scalping tickets was illegal.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Do you know what?
Speaker 4 (34:14):
Do you know?
Speaker 2 (34:14):
What you do?
Speaker 4 (34:15):
There? Dan to look?
Speaker 7 (34:18):
Just tell me, okay, you.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
Have I have these tickets, I have a pencil. The
tickets I'm gonna sell to you at face value. The
pencil I'm going to sell to you for one thousand dollars.
I'll give you the tickets, but you gotta buy the pens.
Speaker 7 (34:34):
I always love the need two tickets. Yes, yes, that's
where I thought you were going with h.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
I love that one new too, Andy.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
It's it's so interesting, like that's like in the all
time everybody knows the deal. Greatest lie in sports is
need two tickets, which means I'm selling tickets.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
You may need tickets to the new air Bud. Yes,
it's back for a fifteenth version, arriving in theaters next season.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
At what point in time is Bud going to be
a doodle. Let's just be honest. When Airbud came out,
Golden Retrievers were all the rage. My mom, we had
Golden Retrievers growing up. We're not growing up. I bought
the first Golden Triever when I was in eighth grade,
and then it became a succession. We went from Casey
to who is next Casey to Hank to Gus. Right,
but she's moved on to the doodles. I think Airbud
(35:23):
should become a doodle. It's a sign of the times.
Speaker 5 (35:27):
Well, the movie executive offered up a quote to Variety.
It says the movie will engage nostalgic air Bud fans
while introducing a new generation to beloved basketball playing Golden
Retriever Buddy. It builds up the legacy of the og
air Bud with all the fun, magic and heartwarming scenes
and Buddy playing basketball.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Well, LEAs damn a go ahead, I'm.
Speaker 5 (35:49):
Guessing at the end of the movie they win. They
win the championship with Airbud scoring the winning points. And
it always goes back to the same joke for me.
Whenever you hear one of those broadcasts with the lazy line,
they would take the script into a script meeting in
Hollywood and they would get kicked out. There's no way
they would believe that Kurt Warner could win a Super Bowl. No,
(36:13):
air Bud's gonna win a championship for a high school
team and he's a Golden Retriever.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Wait, wait, waitif there's fourteen other air Buds, who knew?
Did anybody know there were fourteen other air Bud movies?
Speaker 8 (36:23):
We were talking about that in a break they must
have gone straight to video, straight to DVD, straight to
Hallmark Channel, straight to streaming.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
Well, I'm just happy that none of the gold Retrievers
got hit displayship big problemly Golden Retrievers.
Speaker 7 (36:35):
I knew.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
I some people didn't know, but I knew there was
gonna be an air Bud fifteen because at the end
of Airbud fourteen he actually picked up his player option.
So I knew that there was more meat on the
bone that he would be back for another one.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
I heard Bud was very disturbed over his teams, like
they went and made it big trade and now it's
not about Airbud, you know, he just Earbud wants to
compete for championships.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
It wants to give be for champions Colorado.
Speaker 3 (37:02):
And football coach Dion Sanders will have his medical team
on hand during his Monday press conferences the Buffs open
up preseason camp. Sanders has been away from the team
this summer because of an undisclosed health issue.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
How long do we think he does it? Second?
Speaker 7 (37:19):
Another two more years, two more years.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
Yeah, this will be interesting, right, first time coaching when
he's not coaching his kid gonna be fascinating.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
By the way, Tonight at Ffiser Forum just down the
road a couple hours from you, Doug Nate Barghetsi is
going to be performing. He's currently in the Youth with
your buddy Brian Anderson Billy Schroeder on the Brewers broadcast
as the Brewers and Marlins are scoreless. In the third
Brewers celebrating twenty five years of American Family Field formerly
(37:51):
known as Miller Park.
Speaker 8 (37:53):
Hopefully Anthrax or Pantera open up for Nate Bargatsi to
keep in line that great tradition that they do up there.
He's like, I'm only gonna do Wisconsin dates.
Speaker 7 (38:06):
That's it. I'll be in Euclaire a couple of weeks later.
But this is.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Why wouldn't you get what well, I suppose if you're
doing green Bay earlier in the year. Yeah, you know,
it's probably better to not do Milwaukee right after that, right,
come back and allow some people from Green Bay to
come down and prevent people from Milwaukee from you know,
not going up there.
Speaker 7 (38:28):
So I guess it makes sense. That's the press.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Bag, get out there and pressed. That was the press
all right.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Rumor is Jay Stuw's back in the fold, not pouting
about the Dodgers anymore. You missed aining today's show, check
out the podcast Dog Gotlip Show Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Have a good weekend.
Thanks for listening to The Doug Gotleb Show podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday three to five,
twelve two Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local
station for The Doug Gottlieb Show at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching app as Talk Doug Gottlieb Show,
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
We got a heck of a show for you today.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
If you miss ay today's show, check out the podcast
to be available at the top of next hour. Just
download the Doug gotleep Show podcast Reevi youw download podcast.
Jim Abbott played eleven years of the Biggs Angel Yankee
through No Hitter with the Yankees. Of course, he's the
subject to the new documentary South Pod. It's pretty good.
Check it out on Disney Plus and on Amazon. Got
(00:46):
to talk about Hall of Fame Kansas Hall of Fame
head coach Bill self getting a medical scare yesterday, and
I want to play for you something Nick Saban said
about rumors of his return to coaching.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
We'll do that in a second though, but it's really interesting.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
You know, yesterday I got text from people and we
talked about this a little bit on the show yesterday
about the presidential what is it? The executive order, the
Executive Order on College Sports, And here's what's I mean. Look, politicians, grandstand.
(01:25):
I think what's really interesting is that our president came
in as the anti politician politician, but everything he does
is like an expert politician, only only it's so obvious
and so transparent, that kind of mafia type of hey,
pay up or else type of thing that whereas other
(01:50):
politicians are a little bit more artful and you only
find out about the ties and connective tissues kind of
after the fact. But President Trump sign an executive Order
to protect student athletes and collegiate athletic scholarships and opportunities,
including Olympic and non revenue generating programs, and the unique
American institution of college sports. The order, and this is
(02:12):
from white House dot gov. The order requires the preservation
of where possible expansion of opportunities of scholarships, collegiate athletic
competition in women's and non revenue sports. Okay, it's kind
of contradictory, I understand, but well, that one was placed first.
I do think it's really really interesting that this is
(02:34):
a White House that has run on the Hey, no DEI,
no woke, no whatever. And yet the first part of
the order is to protect non scholarship, non scholarship, non
revenue generating, and women's sports specifically, which, by the way,
are going to be destroyed because of the new rules
(02:55):
or the new revenue sharing or use of nil.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Just reality, Okay.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
The order prohibits third party pay for play payments to
college athletes. This does not apply to legitimate fair market
compensation that third party provides to an athletes, such as
brand endorsement. So what are you talking about. Oh, it
has oversight into what is and what is not fair
market legitimate value. Not sure how many people know this,
(03:22):
but I've said this before. The NCAA does a lot
of stuff. Everybody criticizes any of the dumb stuff they do.
They try and do some smart stuff. They already have this,
I believe it's called NCAA go And anytime you get
compensated from a third party over six hundred dollars, they
have to investigate and clear it. The order provides that
(03:43):
any revenue sharing permitted between universities and collegian athletes should
be implemented in a manner that protects women's and non
revenue generating sports.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
How again, this is just simply, hey, what about Title nine?
We don't know?
Speaker 1 (03:58):
The order directs Secretary of Labor National Labor's Board to
clarify the status of student athletes in order to preserve
non revenue generating sports and irreplaceable educational development opportunities. It
goes on to some other things, but basically it's the hey, uh,
are you guys watching how much they're paying these kids?
(04:18):
And what do we do to save women's sports and
non revenue generating sports? And the answer is very little.
The answer is in this quest by so many, including
a lot of Republicans and a lot of Democrats. Okay,
to free them from free them from the oppression of
(04:39):
the NCAA. That's what people use. You're just Robin Peter
to pay Paul fu you're doing, that's what you're doing.
So there is only so I don't know how much
you guys saw this, but Iowa State estimates that over
the next five years they'll be I think it's over
two hundred million dollars in debts. They're not doing construction
(05:02):
on a new wrestling wrestling room and stopping construction on
Hilton coliseum, which is a palace that needs a refresh
for their basketball program.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
And by the way, those are two programs.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Wrestling probably makes a little bit of money, basketball makes
them a good amount of money. Football obviously makes them
the most money. Those are revenue generating sports in the
state of Iowa, and they're not doing any facilities upgrades
because they're going to be operating a whole And that's
not even talking about women's sports. Just so we're aware, Okay,
when the President gives an executive order, it doesn't actually
mean anything. It is grand standing. The funny part about
(05:40):
it is it's grand standing for things that a protections
that already exist and a problem that I don't know
how you solve, which is how do you funnel any
of your revenue and pay twenty up to twenty two
million of it and that's at the the highest level,
(06:00):
twenty two million of it to your athletes and still
have women's sports on scholarship. They're just going to get
phased out unless they can raise their own be self
sustaining and raise their own money. And look, i'm parent
of my daughter is in a non revenue generating sport
that is really expensive, and they have fifty girls, and
(06:23):
they did expand the scholarships. All the new rules do
is you can have up to fifty scholarships for a questrian.
Probably can't afford it, can't afford it, buyer. When you
saw the executive order, did you think there was anything
different or profound about it?
Speaker 3 (06:43):
I didn't look into it, dog, I'm gonna be completely honest. Yeah,
I saw Ross Dellinger tweet about it. Looked a little
into it, but I didn't pay much mind, so I
would be of no help in this discussion.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Jay Stu, when you and I discussed it today, you
thought it was something. But finally somebody said something. Finally
did someone. I was like, yeah, it actually it's kind
of already been said, already been done. I guess it
brings attention to it, but it doesn't actually do anything
to it.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
I mean, I honestly didn't even know if this executive
order was anything different than what's already going on. But
I will make this point, and this might trigger some people.
You guys are probably gonna think, oh, he's just some
maga guy. Nope, this says nothing political. This is fact.
Executive orders, by and large, by presidents are kind of
(07:31):
worth what they're printed on, and they are grand standing
and they are just you know, strong messaging from the
White House hoping everybody will fall in wine. But there
is a process to things. But Trump's different, right, and
the proof's in the pudding with it. With with my example,
zero border crossings, zero border crossings since he took over
(07:55):
all by executive order, No legislation has been passed since
he's been in office, and they have completely stopped the
spigot at the border. So I would say in general
executive orders are kind of frivolous and grandstanding, but there's
something about this presidency where people are falling in lint
(08:15):
and adhering to these orders.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
They aren't zero border crossings. There's a substantial decrease, but
there's not zero border crossings, just so we're aware.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
But yeah, I mean, they unleased ice on people, so
there's gonna be less. There's gonna be there's obviously gonna
be less, and they they've done a better job of
beefing up border security. So I kind of think you're
connecting things that aren't really connected because it's the ice
is not based upon the executive order there's been He's
(08:48):
had a million executive orders that nothing has happened about nothing.
Now he ran on immigration reform, and I don't want
to make this a political show, but I again, I
just in an effort to be as knowledgeable as possible.
There's that zero border crossings. There's far fewer.
Speaker 5 (09:05):
Yeah, I would hate for anybody to detect me. Literally,
I know that there's not zero. That's an exaggeration to
make a point significantly less or even how about this
a very small percentage of what was being allowed in
the last four years.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Wasn't there a wasn't there a stat where actually Obama
deported more people than Trump and Trump's first administration.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
It was like crazy.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
But again, a lot of this is about one side
celebrates their successes.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
The other side seems to run from them.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
It's just weird that way. But the college sports thing,
and I had a conversation with a dad who's a
good friend of mine. His son's a super high level
recruit and his son's going to make a a lot
of money in his first year playing college sports. And
he was like, yeah, I hate this. All these coaches
(10:07):
hate this. He's like, don't you hate this? And I said, no,
you know, it doesn't feel good when you sign a
kid and you give them an honest outlook and you're like, hey,
this is what I think.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
I think. This is what your one looks like. The ceiling.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
This is what your one looks like the floor. It
probably lands somewhere in the middle. This is I think
what year two looks like. Whatever, Hey, coach, I'm never leaving.
I had two guys who left last year. We're in it.
You can red shirt us, not play us, don't care.
We're in it for four or five years, whatever. We
just want to grow. And they both like, I didn't
(10:46):
like this that I don't know my growth, Like I
your year ended up better than even I told told
you could have been.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
And I bring it up because I actually enjoyed. I
like it. Some coaches really like it.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
They'll never sit it on camera more because they like
the refreshing and getting a good cycle of new guys
every year, new energy. Because at the end of almost
any of you can only play five guys, only have
one basketball, there's gonna be some unhappy people.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
You get rid of the unhappy ones.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
The problem is that a lot of times you get
rid of the happy ones too, because they transfer up
a level when you're a level like ours, and so
many of these old coaches don't like it because it's
not what they signed up for. It's not what it
used to be about. It may be about the team
at the start of the year, but by the end
of the year, everybody's looking for their own success stories
so they can elevate themselves. And it's never about the school.
(11:39):
It's never about the team, or very seldom is about
the team or about the school, and it's often about
them and about how much money and you have to
deal with agents and some don't like to do that.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Now.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
For me, I came in in this era, so I
don't know what it used to be like. I don't
know from a coach's side if it was way better.
And the common persumption is that's why guys like Nick
Saban aren't in the game anymore. This was Nick Saban. Okay,
(12:10):
Nick Saban, I love this line. He didn't he say
that his wife made him vacuum downstairs and he's like, man,
my job when I was head coach Alabama was a
lot of these year, so it was the first time
I ever thought about coaching again. I do think most
of the old guard will get out of it, because
(12:30):
it is a lot. You're managing budgets, you're managing salaries
with players. You still have coaches, right, you can't bump
up coaches in terms of what they want to make
what they feel like they're rightfully deserving of in compensation,
you know, fifteen twenty years in the business, because now
you have to compensate players who you don't really know
what you're getting. I'd be interested to see if Saban
(12:54):
comes back, but I don't think he comes back.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Oh yeah, I love it here.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
I just don't. I just don't.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
And the Presidential Executive Order, it sounds great, but it's
it's grand standing. Hey, we really got to pay attention
to these women's sports and non revenue generating sports. Okay,
we'll pay attention to them. Do you have a way
in which we can compensate athletes be competitive at the
top of the sport and and have enough money left
(13:22):
over to have scholarships and coaching staffs and travel and
budget for those sports.
Speaker 6 (13:26):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 2 (13:39):
Doug Gottlieb show, Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
For forty years, tyrec has been helping custmers on the
right tires for how what where they drive ship fast
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Speaker 2 (13:53):
Be, uh skip.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Scary situation yesterday buyer where Bill self was hospitalized had
two stints put in.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
So had had a buddy of mine who was.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Who I was told he was playing golf when it happened,
and and that he's in good spirits and his usual
Joe cracking self this morning. But I think, you know,
the big question is we play them the first game
of the season. We play Kansas November third at fog Allen,
And you know they hired Jock Vaughan, who is as
(14:37):
beloved a former Jayhawk as there is, plus is a
former NBA head coach. And the thinking is that at
some point maybe that's where the baton gets passed to.
I just wonder, like, Bill's got two national championships, He's
got like twenty million Big twelve titles, Like at what
point he's like, yeah, I'm good here, I'm good.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
I think that the health scare obviously adds to it,
and you know, Bill self a better than most. What
I also find interesting is that the advances in medical world,
and I think everybody's probably dealt with someone who has
had to have stents put in, So it comes across
as like, oh, of course, Okay, he's gonna be He's
gonna be fine, But there is a scary situation with it.
(15:17):
And aside from everything going on in college sports as
well that you just kind of alluded to earlier, which
had forced other coaches to maybe step away from the game.
Self is one of the one of those remaining. So
now you got health into the picture as well.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yeah, and and remember did he miss the NCAA tournament
when they lost? Was it two years ago? Did health
he had health concerns then too, right?
Speaker 3 (15:39):
I can't remember, but I just remember that this past
season wasn't very fun for them.
Speaker 7 (15:44):
No, it's been very fun for you.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Know, two years ago they lost I think in the
second game. He didn't coach either of those games. He
didn't coach in the Big twelve term, and he had
a healthcare then.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
I just it sucks because I mean that's it's like
people ask all, well, why would you play Kansas. Well,
you get a chance to coach at probably the greatest
arena in the country.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Like it's flawless.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Literally the rules of the sport are right there at
Allen Field House and then against Oklahoma State lump or
okam State point guard. And oh yeah, by the way,
in any conversation with the all time greatest coaches, it'd
be a bummer if he's you know, it has to
take a couple of months off and doesn't coach that game.
But you do wonder longevity wise when you get when
(16:32):
you get multiple health scares, at some point you go like,
I've made a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
I'm good here.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Jim Abbott's going to join us upcoming in like two
minutes personally, And I know Jay su he grew up
in Orange County where he's a little bit older than me.
Like I know, lots of people say it's about people
who need prosthesis that he's a hero to. He was
a hero to everybody growing up. The new documentary's out
about the story of his successful career. We'll talk to
(17:02):
Jim about in a second. It's The Doug Gottlieb Show
Fox Sports Radio if you if you go to ESPN
Plus or Disney Plus, there's a documentary out on a
player who I was I think the entire sports world,
and again I was fourteen at the time when he
kind of broke through with the Angels, one of the
(17:23):
most memorable players of my lifetime in professional sports.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
It's called South Ball.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
It's based upon the life of Jim Abbott, and he's
kind of to spend some time this year on the
Doug Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 7 (17:36):
Jim, how are you.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
I'm great, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
It's so interesting because I'm watching the documentary and I'm
just it's like I felt I was there. I remember,
but there's lots of parts I did not know. And
I think there's so many people in this generation of
sports who have no idea about your story. You were
born without a hand, Like, what's your first memory of
(18:04):
being different than other kids?
Speaker 4 (18:08):
You know, I guess the best my memory recollection would
be was kindergarten. You know. My parents, you know, were great,
they were my heroes. They had me at a young age.
I was born a little bit differently, and they searched
for a lot of ways to help me. You know,
just kind of throwing them things against the wall to
(18:29):
see what would stick. And so they suited me up
with the prosthesis and the shape of a metal hook.
You know, it was kind of awkward. It was cumbersome.
I went to kindergarten wearing that, and obviously that brought
the stairs and the questions and different awkward moments. And
I think that, you know, when I walked into school
for the first time, was the first time that I
(18:50):
was like, man, I am really different from the rest
of the kids.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
What was it like the first time you thought about
playing ball.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
Well, I grew up in Michigan, so you know, that's
just what you did. And I grew up in a
tough town. I grew up in Flint, Michigan, as you know,
a great basketball town. I used junior high school. I
used to play basketball with Glenn Rice every day, you know,
But in Blint, it was a It was a way
to make your name, you know, to fit in. To
(19:24):
belong was to be on a team. And so it
wasn't particularly baseball, although I could always throw things. I
loved basketball. I loved football, and I love the sense
of belonging that it gave me. At recess or on
a playground.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Yeah, but baseball specifically. Again, like I had no understanding
that anyone with one hand could play baseball like basketball. Again,
it seems limiting, but and that that had to be hard. Right,
So when you played basketball, did you play with the
hook on or did you play with it off?
Speaker 4 (19:59):
No? I quickly, you know, I dropped the processus pretty quick.
It didn't you know it. It may work for a
lot of people, but I, you know, it didn't help
me to do the things I love to do. It
didn't help me dribble to my right, you know, it
didn't help me to play baseball or hold a bat.
So I gave it up after a couple of years.
(20:20):
And then I just, you know, with my parents' blessing,
I just started, you know, trying to do things my
own way. And whether it was switching the glove on
and off of my left hand and throwing and catching
with the same hand, or you know, holding a baseball bat,
or to this day, trying to hold a golf club.
You know, I just tried to take a lot of
(20:40):
trial and error, a lot of trying to figure things out,
but just trying to figure out what seemed most natural
to me.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
How did you How did you developed the ability to
to field as well as you did, because like it was,
it was honestly like a thing of beauty. It's like wow,
it happens like so quickly where you'd throw and then
you'd you'd put put the glove on your on your
left hand. Take me through the steps of how that
(21:08):
how you learned that?
Speaker 4 (21:10):
Well, there were several steps. You know. I first started.
It was very slow. It was kind of cumbersome. You know,
I had a baseball mit that was probably more like
a softball mint, and you know, it just it didn't flow.
So I had to learn, you know, to get the
right size glove. And I would throw a ball against
(21:31):
a brick wall and try to catch it over and
over again because I love to do it, much like
shooting baskets. It was just something that was a release
for me, something that I spent time doing alone. And
then you know, when I made it. I got to
the University of Michigan, and I knew playing at the
collegiate level D one level that you know, people were
(21:53):
going to start trying to take advantage and that's fair enough,
you know, so I would I really started devoting a
lot of time, you know, to my fielding and working
on buns and working on you know, bun down the
third baseline and switching the glove on and off. So
I spent a lot of time doing it right up
until you know, my last days in the major leagues.
(22:15):
And honestly, you know, I was proud of my fielding.
I felt like I deserved you know, I felt like
I had earned some recognition for fielding because of all
the hard work.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
In eighty nine, he got called up to the big club,
right and you're playing for the California Angels at the
old Anaheim Stadium, which is a big, gigantic kind of
a model of What do you remember about your first
start in the bigs?
Speaker 4 (22:44):
Not much, not much. It was such a blur. I
remember pitching against Mark Langston, who was one of the
best left handed pitchers in the Major leagues at the
time and now a great friend of mine. We became
teammates later. But you know, I was drafted by the
Angels in nineteen eighty eight and I went and played
(23:07):
in the Olympics. So I spent the entire summer playing
in the Olympics the previous year and we won we
want to go medal. I didn't play professional that season,
and then I went to spring training in eighty nine
and I made the team. I made the club out
of the out of spring training.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
And how they tell you a by the way, how
they tell you how did you find out you made
the club?
Speaker 4 (23:28):
They were my pitching coach, Marcel Latchman, who was a
great mentor and a hero to me to this day.
We were at the Gene Autry Hotel in Palm Springs.
Back then, the Angels spent part of spring training in
Palm spring and we were just about ready to break camp.
I thought I was heading from Midland, Texas to Double A,
and he pulled me aside and said, hey, we're going
(23:50):
to You're coming with us. You're coming with the big
club back to Anaheim, and you're going to be our
fifth starter. So, you know, pretty exciting. That's why I
don't remember much of that first game because things were
just moving so fast and I was, you know, I
was just trying to adjust, trying to recalibrate the idea
of going from amateur baseball to professional baseball.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
When did you feel like I can do this? You know,
because your your whole life. You know, it's very understandable, reasonable,
but people just looked at you and said, there's no way.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Like it doesn't there's just no way. When did you
feel like I can do this?
Speaker 4 (24:32):
You know? I felt like playing on the in the
USA team. I played two summers with the USA team,
one in the Pan Am Games and the second following year.
After my junior year in college, I played in the
Olympic team. And I was playing with guys, you know,
Robin Ventura, Tino Martinez, Ben McDonald's, Charlie. You know, we
(24:57):
were playing. I was playing first raft.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Smart McGuire was on that team, right, wasn't he?
Speaker 4 (25:02):
No, McGuire was nineteen eighty four. I was nineteen eighty eight.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Okay, okay, this is Soul, Korea.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Eighty he was on the eighty four team that never
played was eight? No eighty eighteen? Wait, didn't you get
which was the year that they didn't go? Guys, we
didn't go. I guess eighty we didn't go. Eighty we
didn't go.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Yeah, that's right, that's right. Yeah. And then so you
know I was playing, we were playing the Cuban team,
you know, who were you know in their late twenties thirties,
you know, hitting with Eastern bats and going up in
incredible competition, and I began, you know, I was a
big part of the rotation on that team. And so
(25:39):
it was playing with those first round draft picks. It
was playing with those guys and holding my own that
I finally started to believe that maybe I could play
professionally and you know, and kind of fit in with
that potential.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Okay, so your first win, just you know, was against
the Orioles. Is your third start, right right? And it
was it was at the Big A. And here's the
big thing. I don't know if you know this game
duration two hours and thirty nine minutes. It wasn't just
that you were awesome and that you you had this
amazing ability to field and ultimately threw a no hitter
at ninety three. It was that you were You weren't
(26:16):
wiping the sweat, taking a trip around the mountain. You're
just in there doing your job and getting the heck out.
I mean, two hours and thirty nine minutes. That's the
env even of teams now at the pitch clock.
Speaker 4 (26:27):
It was different back then. You know, it was you know,
you moved fast, you got the ball, you got it
out of your hand, and you get up and you
did it again. And I'm a big fan of the
pitch clock. I think it pulled the game back in
that direction. It's so much easier to watch when the
game moves quickly.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
The no hitter, you know, it's it's interesting when I
was watching the documentary, right, and the no hitter is
like the culminating moment. I guess for so many people.
I don't know if you feel that way for you.
For me, it was more just your rookie year and
watching you and you kind of took over the league
and everybody was paying attention. But the no hitter is
interesting because I'm trying to figure out what you were thinking, because, uh,
(27:09):
have you ever seen the movie, let's say, Kevin Costner
Baseball not Bull Durham, the the game, Yeah, for love
of the Game, right, where he's got all this other
stuff on in his life and then for that three out,
he's having all these flashbacks. Do you remember what was
going on in your in your brain Yankee Stadium that day?
Speaker 4 (27:29):
You know? That is one of my favorite baseball movies
and in the book by Michael Shara was also terrific
because it captured the stops and starts of a game.
You know, it's I mean, pitching is you're out there,
you're in this rush, You're in this moment. You're pitching,
you're strategizing, you're throwing, and then then you have everything
(27:51):
stops and you come in and you sit in the
dugout and the you know, what goes through your mind
can have everything to do with the game, and it
can have nothing to do with the game. And that
movie captured that perfectly, you know, just sitting there and
that no hitter, you know how it goes your teammates
quit talking to you. That adds a different dynamic that
(28:13):
you know, the mood and the stadium changes, you know,
so your mind is just kind of running in all
these different directions. And I remember you're very observant those
times in between the innings as much as I remember
being out on the mound that day, the excitement.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
You know, how do you want people to describe your career?
Speaker 4 (28:42):
That's a good question, you know. I you know the documentary,
and I appreciate you bringing it up. Obviously, I was
born missing my right hand, and for a long time, Doug,
I fought against that, and I didn't want the label,
you know. I didn't want the first perception of me
(29:03):
to be what people thought of me or what I
could do. But I think the documentary in some ways
captures the journey of coming to terms with my hand,
you know, because I met so many kids, so many
families like me, similar to me, like my parents, and
(29:27):
there was a time when I didn't want to be
known for that. But I had to embrace that, you know,
I had to come. I had to say, yes, this
is who I am, and I wouldn't have done the
things that I did had I been born differently. I
believe that deeply, and so now for me, I want
to I don't mind being remembered for having done things differently.
(29:51):
You know. I know it's who I am, and I
know it pushed me in ways I never would have
been pushed before, and later in life. I'm proud of it,
and I'm not you know, I don't shy away from
a label that I once wasn't, you know, didn't always embrace. Well.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
I can only tell you this as a young athlete
that was born with all my working limbs, it was
still inspirational for me. Like I think I'm sure anyone
you met who needed a prosthesis, you know, you were inspirational.
But for anybody else, you're like, hey, if Jim Abbott
can overcome what he was born with, you can depth, right,
(30:29):
So it's amazing that. I'm sure so many people think, wait,
such an inspiration is so many? No, No, you were
actually inspiration to all young athletes, especially in southern California.
And I think also part of it was you never
talked about it. It wasn't You did kind of shy
away from it, and so it made it like it
it's not even part of his thought process. He didn't
(30:51):
think this is anything special. So, yeah, we should be
able to achieve way more considering what we were born with.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Does that makes sense?
Speaker 4 (31:01):
Yeah, I believe that, you know. You know, it cracks
me up as I meet people. And I have met
people along the way, kids, boys, and they'll say hey,
you know, and they have two hands, you know, and
they play baseball in on them away and I hear
all the times we used to be out on the street.
We would switch the glove on and off.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Sure we were strugging everybody, And I.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
Say, well, why do you do that? It's probably harder,
but who knows. You know, that's it's the way I
was born. It's all I ever knew, and so you know,
I do think it's a testament to making the most
and listen, a lot of people have it a lot
worse than me. I know that it's up to us
to make the most of what we've been given. And
it doesn't matter if you're the most talented person on
(31:45):
a team or the least. You know that the effort
is the measurement.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Could agree with you more well, I just I just
want to tell you an inspiration to me and I
love watching watching the documentary and as soon as it
came out, I talked to Jason and I said, Jason,
can we have Jim abbottan And he's like why. I
was like, why not, and he's like, that's a very
good point. It's a very very good point. I encourage
people to watch it and to fall in love with
your story and Jim, it's just an honor to catch
(32:11):
up with you.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
Thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
Thanks Doug, take care man.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
You too, Doug Gottlib Show Fox Sports Radio Ready for
a new job. Let Express and playing professionals help While
Express helps people in all industries find work. Our sweet
spot is logistics roles and Express never charges job seekers
a free Go to expresspros dot com. By the way,
it's time for our Express Pros Pro the Week. This
year's This week's winner, Vlad Guerrero Junior had three hits,
including game tying double to help the surging JS beat
(32:37):
the Tigers. Congrats to Vlad Guro Junior.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Be on an Express Pros Pro of the Week.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Okay, coming up next to The Doug Gottlieb Show, more
than one hundred current players are.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
In hot water with the NFL. What they do fight
out next.
Speaker 6 (32:49):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
It It's a Doug Gottlieb Show Fox Sports Radio. Sure
they have the show. Our podcast be going up. If
you missed any today's show, check out the podcast again.
Just search Doug Gotlibervig your podcast follow up? Rate review
that podcast again, Suirrechtug Gottlieber at your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Let's get to Dan Buyer for the Press.
Speaker 6 (33:19):
The Press.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
You can listen to us and did you know you
can also see us. Check out the Fox Sports Trader
Hello the YouTube channel to search Foxport Trade on YouTube.
You see a whole bunch of video highlights from our shows.
Be sure, subscribes, you always have instidt access to our
Fox Sports Radio videos on YouTube. Dan Byer, what do
you got?
Speaker 3 (33:37):
ESPN reported earlier today that more than one hundred players
are under investigation by the NFL for selling their Super
Bowl fifty nine tickets above face value. Now, some of
the violators have already paid the fine that comes with
that violation, which is almost twice the amount of a
face value ticket, Plus they lose their ticket privileges for
the next two Super Bowls. If they don't pay the fine,
(33:59):
they could be suspended for their actions.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
This is really interesting, right, This is people got to
learn the the old school technique of how to not
get arrested for scalping tickets where scalping tickets was illegal.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Do you know what?
Speaker 4 (34:14):
Do you know?
Speaker 2 (34:14):
What you do?
Speaker 4 (34:15):
There? Dan to look?
Speaker 7 (34:18):
Just tell me, okay, you.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
Have I have these tickets, I have a pencil. The
tickets I'm gonna sell to you at face value. The
pencil I'm going to sell to you for one thousand dollars.
I'll give you the tickets, but you gotta buy the pens.
Speaker 7 (34:34):
I always love the need two tickets. Yes, yes, that's
where I thought you were going with h.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
I love that one new too, Andy.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
It's it's so interesting, like that's like in the all
time everybody knows the deal. Greatest lie in sports is
need two tickets, which means I'm selling tickets.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
You may need tickets to the new air Bud. Yes,
it's back for a fifteenth version, arriving in theaters next season.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
At what point in time is Bud going to be
a doodle. Let's just be honest. When Airbud came out,
Golden Retrievers were all the rage. My mom, we had
Golden Retrievers growing up. We're not growing up. I bought
the first Golden Triever when I was in eighth grade,
and then it became a succession. We went from Casey
to who is next Casey to Hank to Gus. Right,
but she's moved on to the doodles. I think Airbud
(35:23):
should become a doodle. It's a sign of the times.
Speaker 5 (35:27):
Well, the movie executive offered up a quote to Variety.
It says the movie will engage nostalgic air Bud fans
while introducing a new generation to beloved basketball playing Golden
Retriever Buddy. It builds up the legacy of the og
air Bud with all the fun, magic and heartwarming scenes
and Buddy playing basketball.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Well, LEAs damn a go ahead, I'm.
Speaker 5 (35:49):
Guessing at the end of the movie they win. They
win the championship with Airbud scoring the winning points. And
it always goes back to the same joke for me.
Whenever you hear one of those broadcasts with the lazy line,
they would take the script into a script meeting in
Hollywood and they would get kicked out. There's no way
they would believe that Kurt Warner could win a Super Bowl. No,
(36:13):
air Bud's gonna win a championship for a high school
team and he's a Golden Retriever.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Wait, wait, waitif there's fourteen other air Buds, who knew?
Did anybody know there were fourteen other air Bud movies?
Speaker 8 (36:23):
We were talking about that in a break they must
have gone straight to video, straight to DVD, straight to
Hallmark Channel, straight to streaming.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
Well, I'm just happy that none of the gold Retrievers
got hit displayship big problemly Golden Retrievers.
Speaker 7 (36:35):
I knew.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
I some people didn't know, but I knew there was
gonna be an air Bud fifteen because at the end
of Airbud fourteen he actually picked up his player option.
So I knew that there was more meat on the
bone that he would be back for another one.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
I heard Bud was very disturbed over his teams, like
they went and made it big trade and now it's
not about Airbud, you know, he just Earbud wants to
compete for championships.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
It wants to give be for champions Colorado.
Speaker 3 (37:02):
And football coach Dion Sanders will have his medical team
on hand during his Monday press conferences the Buffs open
up preseason camp. Sanders has been away from the team
this summer because of an undisclosed health issue.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
How long do we think he does it? Second?
Speaker 7 (37:19):
Another two more years, two more years.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
Yeah, this will be interesting, right, first time coaching when
he's not coaching his kid gonna be fascinating.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
By the way, Tonight at Ffiser Forum just down the
road a couple hours from you, Doug Nate Barghetsi is
going to be performing. He's currently in the Youth with
your buddy Brian Anderson Billy Schroeder on the Brewers broadcast
as the Brewers and Marlins are scoreless. In the third
Brewers celebrating twenty five years of American Family Field formerly
(37:51):
known as Miller Park.
Speaker 8 (37:53):
Hopefully Anthrax or Pantera open up for Nate Bargatsi to
keep in line that great tradition that they do up there.
He's like, I'm only gonna do Wisconsin dates.
Speaker 7 (38:06):
That's it. I'll be in Euclaire a couple of weeks later.
But this is.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Why wouldn't you get what well, I suppose if you're
doing green Bay earlier in the year. Yeah, you know,
it's probably better to not do Milwaukee right after that, right,
come back and allow some people from Green Bay to
come down and prevent people from Milwaukee from you know,
not going up there.
Speaker 7 (38:28):
So I guess it makes sense. That's the press.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Bag, get out there and pressed. That was the press
all right.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Rumor is Jay Stuw's back in the fold, not pouting
about the Dodgers anymore. You missed aining today's show, check
out the podcast Dog Gotlip Show Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Have a good weekend.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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