Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And when you listen to Rockies games, you hear two voices,
one of them being my guest right now, Jerry Shemel,
along with his partner in crime, Jack Corrigan. But we've
got Jerry today, And first of all, Jerry, I haven't
talked to you.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
In a little bit, so Hello, good to have you back.
Thank you, Ross. How are you doing really good?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I was hoping you could help me understand a particular
part of the Rockies announcement today. And so I see
that the current president and CEO, Greg Feesl, I hope
I'm pronouncing his name right, is going to be stepping
down at the end of the year. And then I'm
just going to read this. As part of the transition,
former vice president of Corporate Partnerships, Walker Montfort, who is
(00:38):
Dick Montfort's son, I guess, has moved into the role
of executive EP of the Rockies, effective immediately. He will
lead the club alongside Feesl through the transition and will
officially assume his responsibilities in January of twenty twenty five. So, Jerry,
there's a bit of a so where it says will
officially assume his responsibilities in January twenty twenty six. I
(01:00):
think I said twenty twenty five January twenty twenty six,
when it says assume his responsibilities, does that mean Walker
is going to assume Walker's responsibilities or does it mean
Walker is going to assume Greg Feesel's responsibilities and basically
do the job of President's COO, even though maybe he
won't have the title.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, it's the latter, not the former. He's going to
take over Greg Feesele's responsibilities, so he becomes a point man.
Now he'll take over. He'll he'll continue to oversee the
marketing department what he's done for the last I think
fourteen years. I've been here twenty years, a long time
as Dick Monfors kind of right hand man and son obviously,
But yeah, he's gonna take over those duties. He's going
(01:39):
to be the CEO the president eventually. I think he'll
probably gain both of those titles ross and would be
the number one decision maker. He'll be the point man
for all the major decisions I think moving forward, certainly
starting with January won twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
So do you do you know Walker Montfort and you
know to the extent that you either know him or
know about him?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
What can you tell us? Yeah, I do. I've been
here fourteen years, so this is my fourteenth and so
I worked along with Walker all these fourteen years. And
I can tell you this in all honesty. I've always
been super impressed with him because he is Dick Montford's son,
but doesn't act like it. He's a humble guy, He's
(02:20):
a hard working guy. We've always got along very very
well to me, and we haven't spent a lot of
time together ross, but to me, he's always been incredibly
I would tell him somebody this morning. Incredibly respectful, incredibly
friendly to me, knows my name and knows everybody's name
that works here. I've always had a great deal of
respect for him, So I think he is a really
good guy. I think he is in a position where
(02:42):
it might be tough for him because he's the owner's son,
but I think going forward he'd be a good dude.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
I saw a piece I actually, you know, I don't
talk about the Rockies a ton on my show, but
I did a couple of days ago because there was
a very interesting piece that you probably saw also in
the Denver Post where they interviewed Charlie, and it was
talking about how he's sober and he'd kind of like
to get back involved with.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
The team a little more.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
But one of the things that Charlie Montfort said in
that article was we need a new set of eyeballs,
a fresh set of eyeballs on this team. And he
was kind of pointing at how the Rockies have historically
promoted from within rather than hiring someone from outside. And
Charlie was saying, we probably need to hire some very
(03:26):
high level of management who's not already with the Rockies.
And I had an inkling this morning that some news
was coming from the Rockies, but I didn't know what
it was going to be. But I thought maybe they
would hire someone from outside, but they didn't. So what
do you think of that comment from Charlie Montfort? Implaying
like it's going to be hard for this team to
(03:48):
get better if we just keep having people who are
inside already trying to make the changes.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah, Russ, I really believe that he was talking about
baseball operations. I think he was talking about getting a
new set of eyes on baseball, not necessarily business. And
I think that's probably everybody sentiment. And in that same
piece that Patrick Sonders wrote Dick Mont for his brother
agreed with that, Yes, that maybe there needs to be
some new blood coming in, and I think that's going
(04:14):
to happen. I can't see it not happening. I don't
know if it's going to be sooner or later. It
might be during the season, but I think you'll see
a new baseball front office. I think you'll see new ideas,
new faces, new names, and get a fresh start what
this team needs. There's no question about that. So I
think Charlie was talking about baseball. He wasn't talking He
(04:34):
was talking about personnel and decisions and salaries and draft
and all that. You don't think he was talking about
business necessarily. I have heard that Charlie and Walkermont forget
along very well. They're very close, and they have a
lot of respect for each other. So I think Charlie's
talking about baseball operations, which I think everybody agrees needs
to change.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Okay, so I've got time for one more question with you.
So your answer suggests, and I don't mean you intended
it in a negative way, and I don't take it
in a negative way.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Your answer suggests that.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
There's something I don't understand about baseball management. And obviously
you're right because what you just said, which I didn't understand,
but I just want to clarify, so I do understand.
What I think you just said is that the job
that Walker Montfort is going to move into is not
really the kind of job where you're necessarily deciding who
(05:28):
draft and how to play baseball. But it sounds like
you're saying this job is more about the business side
of the team. Can you elaborate a little bit on that.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
That's exactly what it is. You have to separate the two,
and I think a lot of people have trouble doing that.
They think, oh, it's a present of the team, he's
all about baseball decisions. It's not that way. I don't
think it's really that way. In most professional sports, you've
got a business side, you've got a baseball side in
Major League Baseball, and Walker Montfort's going to lead this
team going forward on the business side of things. Will
(06:01):
he be involved in decision making on who the regime
the next regime might be with the next general manager,
assistant scouts and all that will be Yes, He'll be
the point man there, I believe going forward, but he
is not going to make baseball decisions. I make you
probably make a baseball operations budget decision and then turn
that over to somebody else. But no, he's not going
(06:22):
to make personnel decisions. He's not going to hire scouts.
He's going to get in on if there's a new
general manager hired here, he'll be in as the lead
man on that decision. But he's not going to make it.
And I can tell you this, knowing Walker, I could do.
He doesn't want to do that. He doesn't want to
make baseball decisions. Lead that up to the professionals that
have been in that sport and make those decisions their
(06:43):
whole lives.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
That's a great answer. I learned a lot there. I'm
really glad I had you on the show because you
taught me some things. Jerry Shemmel is the color man
for the Rockies. You hear him along with his partner
Jack Corp again broadcasting every Rockies home and away game
where we're very fortunate to have such talented guys here
as part of the Kiawai family. And thanks for making
(07:05):
time for us this morning, Jerry, I really did learn
a lot that I really appreciate.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
That conversation. You got it, ross S, have a great
rest of your day and weekend. Okay, you two
And when you listen to Rockies games, you hear two voices,
one of them being my guest right now, Jerry Shemel,
along with his partner in crime, Jack Corrigan. But we've
got Jerry today, And first of all, Jerry, I haven't
talked to you.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
In a little bit, so Hello, good to have you back.
Thank you, Ross. How are you doing really good?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I was hoping you could help me understand a particular
part of the Rockies announcement today. And so I see
that the current president and CEO, Greg Feesl, I hope
I'm pronouncing his name right, is going to be stepping
down at the end of the year. And then I'm
just going to read this. As part of the transition,
former vice president of Corporate Partnerships, Walker Montfort, who is
(00:38):
Dick Montfort's son, I guess, has moved into the role
of executive EP of the Rockies, effective immediately. He will
lead the club alongside Feesl through the transition and will
officially assume his responsibilities in January of twenty twenty five. So, Jerry,
there's a bit of a so where it says will
officially assume his responsibilities in January twenty twenty six. I
(01:00):
think I said twenty twenty five January twenty twenty six,
when it says assume his responsibilities, does that mean Walker
is going to assume Walker's responsibilities or does it mean
Walker is going to assume Greg Feesel's responsibilities and basically
do the job of President's COO, even though maybe he
won't have the title.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, it's the latter, not the former. He's going to
take over Greg Feesele's responsibilities, so he becomes a point man.
Now he'll take over. He'll he'll continue to oversee the
marketing department what he's done for the last I think
fourteen years. I've been here twenty years, a long time
as Dick Monfors kind of right hand man and son obviously,
But yeah, he's gonna take over those duties. He's going
(01:39):
to be the CEO the president eventually. I think he'll
probably gain both of those titles ross and would be
the number one decision maker. He'll be the point man
for all the major decisions I think moving forward, certainly
starting with January won twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
So do you do you know Walker Montfort and you
know to the extent that you either know him or
know about him?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
What can you tell us? Yeah, I do. I've been
here fourteen years, so this is my fourteenth and so
I worked along with Walker all these fourteen years. And
I can tell you this in all honesty. I've always
been super impressed with him because he is Dick Montford's son,
but doesn't act like it. He's a humble guy, He's
(02:20):
a hard working guy. We've always got along very very
well to me, and we haven't spent a lot of
time together ross, but to me, he's always been incredibly
I would tell him somebody this morning. Incredibly respectful, incredibly
friendly to me, knows my name and knows everybody's name
that works here. I've always had a great deal of
respect for him, So I think he is a really
good guy. I think he is in a position where
(02:42):
it might be tough for him because he's the owner's son,
but I think going forward he'd be a good dude.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
I saw a piece I actually, you know, I don't
talk about the Rockies a ton on my show, but
I did a couple of days ago because there was
a very interesting piece that you probably saw also in
the Denver Post where they interviewed Charlie, and it was
talking about how he's sober and he'd kind of like
to get back involved with.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
The team a little more.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
But one of the things that Charlie Montfort said in
that article was we need a new set of eyeballs,
a fresh set of eyeballs on this team. And he
was kind of pointing at how the Rockies have historically
promoted from within rather than hiring someone from outside. And
Charlie was saying, we probably need to hire some very
(03:26):
high level of management who's not already with the Rockies.
And I had an inkling this morning that some news
was coming from the Rockies, but I didn't know what
it was going to be. But I thought maybe they
would hire someone from outside, but they didn't. So what
do you think of that comment from Charlie Montfort? Implaying
like it's going to be hard for this team to
(03:48):
get better if we just keep having people who are
inside already trying to make the changes.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah, Russ, I really believe that he was talking about
baseball operations. I think he was talking about getting a
new set of eyes on baseball, not necessarily business. And
I think that's probably everybody sentiment. And in that same
piece that Patrick Sonders wrote Dick Mont for his brother
agreed with that, Yes, that maybe there needs to be
some new blood coming in, and I think that's going
(04:14):
to happen. I can't see it not happening. I don't
know if it's going to be sooner or later. It
might be during the season, but I think you'll see
a new baseball front office. I think you'll see new ideas,
new faces, new names, and get a fresh start what
this team needs. There's no question about that. So I
think Charlie was talking about baseball. He wasn't talking He
(04:34):
was talking about personnel and decisions and salaries and draft
and all that. You don't think he was talking about
business necessarily. I have heard that Charlie and Walkermont forget
along very well. They're very close, and they have a
lot of respect for each other. So I think Charlie's
talking about baseball operations, which I think everybody agrees needs
to change.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Okay, so I've got time for one more question with you.
So your answer suggests, and I don't mean you intended
it in a negative way, and I don't take it
in a negative way.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Your answer suggests that.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
There's something I don't understand about baseball management. And obviously
you're right because what you just said, which I didn't understand,
but I just want to clarify, so I do understand.
What I think you just said is that the job
that Walker Montfort is going to move into is not
really the kind of job where you're necessarily deciding who
(05:28):
draft and how to play baseball. But it sounds like
you're saying this job is more about the business side
of the team. Can you elaborate a little bit on that.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
That's exactly what it is. You have to separate the two,
and I think a lot of people have trouble doing that.
They think, oh, it's a present of the team, he's
all about baseball decisions. It's not that way. I don't
think it's really that way. In most professional sports, you've
got a business side, you've got a baseball side in
Major League Baseball, and Walker Montfort's going to lead this
team going forward on the business side of things. Will
(06:01):
he be involved in decision making on who the regime
the next regime might be with the next general manager,
assistant scouts and all that will be Yes, He'll be
the point man there, I believe going forward, but he
is not going to make baseball decisions. I make you
probably make a baseball operations budget decision and then turn
that over to somebody else. But no, he's not going
(06:22):
to make personnel decisions. He's not going to hire scouts.
He's going to get in on if there's a new
general manager hired here, he'll be in as the lead
man on that decision. But he's not going to make it.
And I can tell you this, knowing Walker, I could do.
He doesn't want to do that. He doesn't want to
make baseball decisions. Lead that up to the professionals that
have been in that sport and make those decisions their
(06:43):
whole lives.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
That's a great answer. I learned a lot there. I'm
really glad I had you on the show because you
taught me some things. Jerry Shemmel is the color man
for the Rockies. You hear him along with his partner
Jack Corp again broadcasting every Rockies home and away game
where we're very fortunate to have such talented guys here
as part of the Kiawai family. And thanks for making
(07:05):
time for us this morning, Jerry, I really did learn
a lot that I really appreciate.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
That conversation. You got it, ross S, have a great
rest of your day and weekend. Okay, you two
The Ross Kaminsky Show News
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