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Episode 25 - 1994, An Examination - Baseball in Montreal
17 Plays1 year ago
1994 wasn't kind to baseball, but it was particularly cruel to the Montreal Expos. Today, ahead of a ballgame in June of 1994 between the Braves and Expos, we examine the last gasp of success for the Expos. Follow along with the articles referenced here:
https://www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/montreal-expos-fans-players-look-back-at-tragic-94-season/
https://pressbreak.substack.com/p/what-if-wednesday-the-1994-major
We've got public masturbation, Tim McCarver Stadium blueprints, Harry explains his theories on time travel, and Godzilla. All right here on The Whole Ballgame
Join us on PATREON: www.patreon.com/thewholeballgame
Email us: thewholeballgame@mail.com
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Transcript
The Montreal Expos' 1994 Season: Dreams and Disappointments
00:03:23
The Whole Ballgame
You know, Montreal baseball got absolutely screwed. The Expos were finally about to shove it right down Major League Baseball's throat in 1994. Best record in the league stacked lineup city that was ready to explode with baseball fever. But no, the league owners and the players decided they'd rather whip them out and measure contracts instead of finishing the season. And just like that, the Expos championship dreams got yanked away like a cheap motel bed sheet.
00:03:53
The Whole Ballgame
The team never recovered. The fans got ghosted harder than a bad Tinder date, and baseball in Montreal died a slow, painful, whiskey-drenched death. But you know what could have saved the Expos? Rick Russell. Yeah, that's right. Big Daddy.
00:04:12
The Whole Ballgame
A man built like a beer fridge with a sinker that could drop faster than your grandma's panties at a Tom Jones concert. He wasn't flashy. He wasn't pretty, but God damn, if he didn't get the job done, I think somebody messed with my chat GPT again. If the Expos had been smart enough to get Russell sometime in the late eighties, he would have anchored that rotation, kept them in contention. And maybe just maybe he built enough momentum to keep the city from getting screwed over a decade later.
00:04:38
The Whole Ballgame
That man was baseball's version of a reliable booty call, always there when you needed him. No drama, just results. And let's not kid ourselves, if baseball had survived in Montreal, the entire world would be better off today.
Cultural Impact: Montreal's Baseball Legacy
00:04:51
The Whole Ballgame
Maybe we'd have fewer hipsters brewing overpriced IPAs and more blue collar legends crushing molesons and chain smoking in the bleachers where they belong. Maybe kids today would know how to properly lay down a bunt instead of spending all their time making TikToks about their launch angle.
00:05:09
The Whole Ballgame
Hell, maybe society wouldn't be circling the goddamn drain. One big boned, ending-seating workhorse of a pitcher in the right place at the right time, and we could have had save- we could have saved baseball, saved Montreal, and saved civilization itself, but no. Instead, we've got
A Humorous Tangent: The Mucinex Booger
00:05:29
The Whole Ballgame
the goddamn Washington Nationals. How we doing, Blakers?
00:05:40
Pieree le France
Well, much much like the fate of the Expos, I, too, am locked in the dungeon of doom. P'ale vous français, wee wee.
00:05:50
The Whole Ballgame
all
00:05:51
Pieree le France
um I did have something that I needed to bring to your attention, though, because I didn't know that, and it really takes precedent over everything at the moment. Did you know, and were you aware,
00:06:07
Pieree le France
that the mucinex booger raped and killed a woman in 1990.
00:06:14
Pieree le France
I saw that online tonight.
00:06:16
The Whole Ballgame
What the fuck is happening right now?
00:06:21
Pieree le France
ah It's
Reflecting on the Expos' Potential and Iconic Players
00:06:23
The Whole Ballgame
i kid can Can you give me a favor? Can you just repeat what you said, just just to make sure that I'm not having a stroke?
00:06:23
Pieree le France
the Montreal Expos.
00:06:32
Pieree le France
The mucinex booger raped and killed a woman in 1990.
00:06:33
The Whole Ballgame
Okay.
00:06:37
The Whole Ballgame
I mean, if anybody's going to do it, it's the mucinex booger. um You know, a bastion booger's not going to do it.
00:06:46
Pieree le France
Certainly isn't gonna be trucker Norman is it Sure it wasn't the when the rape and the murder that got you in here Big big fan of the me sex booger
00:06:49
The Whole Ballgame
Hey Gabe, I just wanted to pop in here real quick. I heard what you said about me. I gotta tell you I'm so oh I'm so my I'm just tickled pink. I can't believe that you said those things Well, I mean look I Mean look but at the end of the day. I don't know about the boogers that I'm such a fan of I do like mutes next when I I'm feeling a little sniffly Okay Alright, I just want to thank y'all. That was nice. everyone so I hear you talking bad about me occasionally, but not not like that. That was real nice and I pretty appreciate it.
00:07:26
Pieree le France
I don't think anybody's talked bad about Sean here, Rick. I mean, did have that little, uh, you know, who caused the, the, uh, the water leak. Was it from a hanging or not from a hanging? Maybe erotic, maybe non-erotic, you know, not talking bad though.
00:07:47
The Whole Ballgame
Anytime I see anybody hanging from anything
Podcast Promotion: Patreon Content Highlights
00:07:50
The Whole Ballgame
I get a you know, a three-quarter chub at the very least So it's always erotic somebody's hanging, you know Brother So,
00:07:53
Pieree le France
well
00:07:56
Pieree le France
Hanging and banging dude a Brother do what that Oh
00:08:02
The Whole Ballgame
yeah, I've been listening long enough now that picture you and Gabe in the Hulkster that gets me through the night a lot of times Oh boy anyway
00:08:09
Pieree le France
Brother the big daddy rush will do Yeah, that's it that's the one back when we all had a little more pride It's been hard times for the true world order since then
00:08:19
The Whole Ballgame
Oh
00:08:23
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah.
00:08:24
Pieree le France
They came, they came, they've come for all of us.
00:08:24
The Whole Ballgame
10, 10, 10 short months ago.
00:08:28
The Whole Ballgame
They really have, uh, first they came for the orchestra and I did nothing. And then they came for old blakers and I did nothing. And here I am waiting for them to knock down my door.
00:08:38
Pieree le France
That was not there because they took, I don't know what I was fucking saying is now Anne Frank's dead.
00:08:47
The Whole Ballgame
Whatever it is. Uh, so it's, it's, it's no surprise. And there it is. It's no surprise. We're, we're, we're, we're back in 1994 and, and what better time to explore the legacy of baseball in Montreal than the year, uh, as we surmised through our pals at chat GPT, uh, and apparently Rick's hack, uh, that perhaps.
00:09:14
The Whole Ballgame
Perhaps this was also the year that spelled the demise of the Montreal Expos. bla
00:09:22
Pieree le France
Yeah, I don't think there's a perhaps to it. It ah ah definitely absolutely killed the Expos. The got close to a World Series, had the league championship ah taken out from underneath them in 81 and then This was really about the next, uh, next closest chance they ever got. And then as we went the season ended there, six games up and, and then it never began again and the team did not come back. So yeah, it's a good, it's a good, uh, astute assessment that this, uh, this did kill, kill the game in Montreal. They eventually, I mean,
00:10:18
Pieree le France
fuck, they go on to be owned by Major League Baseball for the final few years of their existence and playing half their games in Puerto Rico. And it's just a fucking mess. They got Frank Robinson out there as an employee of Major League Baseball managing the team. and Just. Yeah, so the actual game is from June 28 against the Braves, but since The story of Montreal baseball is such a, an interesting one figured, you know, we would take a, a detour, if you will, from the traditional kisser and, uh, and star format and just maybe, maybe we talk about the, the story of baseball and Montreal, man. This tax is up there too, you know.
00:11:13
The Whole Ballgame
Mm hmm. That's a Curtis in Jacksonville, Florida doing taxes.
00:11:19
Pieree le France
There's lots of different Jacksonvilles. We can do a few of those, man.
00:11:22
The Whole Ballgame
That sounds good.
The 1994 MLB Strike and Changing Sports Culture
00:11:24
The Whole Ballgame
That's wonderful. ah Welcome to the whole ball game. If you haven't done it yet and there are many of you out there that haven't done it, I highly recommend you head to the Patreon and see exactly what's going on over there. Blake and I have been working triple duty ah putting out content for that not just the short form stuff that is fun and will brighten your day stay tuned for the first episode of CNN but to also a couple of ah long form episodes we've got in there we've got
00:12:00
The Whole Ballgame
um We got the NBA on NBC, two thirds of that triple header from 1995, the playoffs.
00:12:09
Pieree le France
i have ninety five May is it worth?
00:12:11
The Whole Ballgame
So there it is. We've got, it's it's Houston at Utah, and the first game was, Jesus Christ.
00:12:24
Pieree le France
Smell the time baby.
00:12:25
The Whole Ballgame
Thank you, yes, yeah, it's the Pacers at the Knicks, it's the Reggie Miller game.
00:12:28
Pieree le France
You stupid son of a bitch. You can't even remember your own games.
00:12:31
The Whole Ballgame
Ah, fucking John Starks. John Starks is here, everybody, and I'm gonna kill myself.
00:12:33
Pieree le France
See, that was my game. That was my game.
00:12:36
The Whole Ballgame
Oh my god.
00:12:37
Pieree le France
No, you can't do that. That's what Blake's gonna do.
00:12:42
Pieree le France
He said, that's giving him friends, my bitch.
00:12:44
The Whole Ballgame
The Hulkster's gonna outlive both of us, I'm afraid. Jesus Christ.
00:12:49
Pieree le France
My brother, I'm gonna carry the man on the true world order, dude.
00:12:49
The Whole Ballgame
um
00:12:54
Pieree le France
We'll get you boys in the ground.
00:12:58
The Whole Ballgame
Well, I'm, but believe me, uh, if, if, uh, if page Falkenberg had anything to do with it, I'd already be dead.
00:12:58
Pieree le France
i'm Happy to do it Yep You are going to in fact die and perish
00:13:07
The Whole Ballgame
Uh, stay tuned for that. That's dangling out there. I need to post a post of that to the, the Patreon, a 16 minute phone call where diamond Dallas page lets me know, uh, not only to get my head on my ass multiple times, but also that, uh, I'm going to die.
00:13:24
The Whole Ballgame
Uh, Uh, I am. And, uh, and then he sent me pictures of his new accountability crib in Tampa or wherever the fuck he is.
00:13:31
Pieree le France
Mm-hmm Yeah, yeah because he don't want to be there in the summertime bra Since when he's gonna so he's gonna fucking loan it out to you for 1200 bucks for the week It's coming you fucking just wait.
00:13:33
The Whole Ballgame
Uh, no, Panama city, Panama city. Yes.
00:13:39
The Whole Ballgame
Nah, it's too hot, brother.
00:13:48
The Whole Ballgame
I know. Yep.
00:13:49
Pieree le France
Hey brah. I cut you a deal since it's such $900 what do you say?
00:13:54
The Whole Ballgame
I'm supposed to let him know monthly my progress. So I'll keep you aware. I'll keep him aware.
00:13:59
Pieree le France
oh yes that is amazing also on it also on his twitter uh lots of uh pro robert f kennedy propaganda there but
00:14:00
The Whole Ballgame
It's going to be great. It's going to be wonderful. i'm gonna I'm going to record every single phone call until he finds us out, until somebody posts it on his Twitter. And then please don't do that so that we can keep the bit going, by the way.
00:14:12
The Whole Ballgame
ah But yeah, it'll be it'll be fun to to watch how this plays out.
00:14:23
The Whole Ballgame
ah well you get k k hey boy you yeah ah I bring the blue iodine on the plane and I but who put it in my drink so that I stopped stuttering in front of Congress and straight.
00:14:40
Pieree le France
They both suck brah.
00:14:44
The Whole Ballgame
Uh, yeah, we get a little detour into politics, uh, uh, a nice dose of transphobia. Uh, it's, uh, it is, it is a portrait of a man. If there ever was one in 16 minutes, what like, 70.
00:14:56
Pieree le France
Look, you gotta remember this is also like a 70 year old man so.
00:15:01
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah. He's 71 years old, I think.
00:15:03
Pieree le France
So these these people have old people views at this point I guess.
00:15:08
The Whole Ballgame
I don't know.
00:15:09
Pieree le France
They're just disappointments.
00:15:09
The Whole Ballgame
It's a, it's a root. It's a lot. Yeah, just control and prepare yourself for the disappointment because it's um we're going to learn nothing but disappointing things about the people we love for the rest of time.
00:15:21
The Whole Ballgame
And that seems to be the name of the game over on Patreon is coming to grips with ah with hero worship and what it really does to you.
00:15:25
Pieree le France
and
00:15:30
The Whole Ballgame
So ah head over there. Check out what we've done so far. we' We've also got the the 1988 Royal Rumble. as well as the, the Saturday night's main an event from January of 1988 up and ready for you wrestling fans.
00:15:46
The Whole Ballgame
Uh, lots of options there, lots of content and still a whole hell of a lot more coming your way. It's looking like one way or another, based on the the entries we've got from our hall of famers, we're going to be doing a Cubs game in, uh, uh, uh, in, in, in due time here for, for the Patreon.
00:16:03
Pieree le France
ah possibly yep, yep could could have a Cubs game more possibly a
00:16:06
The Whole Ballgame
Uh, so.
00:16:11
Pieree le France
a trip to the National League Championship Series. We'll have to have to get the Royal Rumble spinner out and draw at random. That'll be fun. can Can you make a noise?
00:16:21
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, that'll be a good one. um
00:16:23
Pieree le France
Can you do a sound effect with your mouth?
00:16:31
The Whole Ballgame
Something like that.
00:16:31
Pieree le France
That sounds good to me. I'll never notice.
00:16:34
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah. We'll, uh, we'll get, we'll get me and Gene and Fifi in here to, to, to canoodle underneath the desk and we'll draw, we'll draw, we'll draw, uh, the winner, Slamboree style, uh, or, uh, uh, sorry, Battle Bowl style.
00:16:38
Pieree le France
Oh, God.
00:16:42
Pieree le France
Oh, yeah.
00:16:50
Pieree le France
Battle Ball. Yeah.
00:16:52
The Whole Ballgame
Thank you very much.
00:16:52
Pieree le France
All right.
00:16:52
The Whole Ballgame
The first Battle Bowl was at Slamboree, if I remember correctly.
00:16:55
Pieree le France
Well, the first Battle Ball was stargate 91.
00:16:58
The Whole Ballgame
God, what a, so what a fucking mistake. Anyway, that's another show.
00:17:02
Pieree le France
Mm-hmm.
00:17:03
The Whole Ballgame
ah We'll get to that over on the patreon patreon dot.com slash the whole ball game. Let's let's get it going over there folks like this is a This is important to Blake and I.
00:17:14
The Whole Ballgame
And if you want quality content to continue here, we're going to have to, to make it, make it happen there. So patreon dot.com slash the whole ball game and, uh, uh, a little bit of news on the way.
00:17:27
The Whole Ballgame
You don't have it yet, but, uh, uh, old game has been putting around the computer and has found what he believes to be.
00:17:34
Pieree le France
what's new since since 1997 oh jesus jesus
00:17:34
The Whole Ballgame
but ah
00:17:41
The Whole Ballgame
He's
00:17:44
The Whole Ballgame
God damn it.
00:17:49
The Whole Ballgame
He's found, uh, Nikki Cox has started an OnlyFans and, and, and he's found a place for a whole ballgame merch.
00:17:54
Pieree le France
but
00:17:59
The Whole Ballgame
So we're going to, we're going to get on that and start, uh, start getting you the option to, to represent your favorite podcast out in the wild
Modern Content Consumption: Unified vs. Siloed Viewership
00:18:08
The Whole Ballgame
as well. So stay tuned for that. Um,
00:18:12
The Whole Ballgame
What's been going on with you, Blake? There's anything you want to cover before we jump into this shit?
00:18:16
Pieree le France
Oh, um, let's see here now. I think everything's getting better. So we're good.
00:18:25
The Whole Ballgame
Nature is healing. Is that what you're saying?
00:18:28
Pieree le France
Yeah, yeah, it's all fine. I think, uh, I I think once we get to the bottom of this, this is the music next booger story, uh, more to come on that. Uh, I'm going to feel a lot, I'm going to feel a lot better and sleep, sleep at night, uh, a little bit better maybe.
00:18:39
The Whole Ballgame
Mordecai.
00:18:45
Pieree le France
Get a little more in three or four hours, you know?
00:18:48
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, I understand. i I went to the geneticist today to a lot of HGH, a little Gattaca.
00:18:53
Pieree le France
What are you doing, some HGH?
00:19:03
Pieree le France
Like the movie?
00:19:03
The Whole Ballgame
But yeah, well, I mean, that's the those are the the the pieces of DNA. they're at G-A-T-C. Yeah. G-A-T-N-C. Anyway.
00:19:13
Pieree le France
Is that the one where Jude law gets thrown in the heat thing?
00:19:16
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah. Yeah. Uma Thurman and Jude Law and Gattaca.
00:19:20
Pieree le France
sure no and the yeah Your head up your ass besides that
00:19:21
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah. So anyway, uh, went and did that make sure that there's nothing, uh, too seriously wrong with me that caused all of my terrible heart issues other than you know the head up my ass and, you know, the dickhead on my couch that won't fucking leave.
00:19:40
Pieree le France
I could've saved y'all that money bro, it's to head up your ass.
00:19:40
The Whole Ballgame
Um,
00:19:43
Pieree le France
That's what's causing your heart problems. Shit.
00:19:46
The Whole Ballgame
Got it.
00:19:48
Pieree le France
Good God.
00:19:50
The Whole Ballgame
God damn, man. You still 380 or what?
00:19:56
Pieree le France
Let me get my notebook out.
00:19:56
The Whole Ballgame
I just, it's, I just, it's fucking, I can't wait for you to hear it. yeah if If you only sign up to the Patreon for one month, it's worth the, the, the $5 it's going to cost you to listen to this fucking thing.
00:20:12
The Whole Ballgame
It's unbelievable. Anyway, uh, it's baseball in Montreal. Where are we starting, Blake?
00:20:17
Pieree le France
over
00:20:18
The Whole Ballgame
We starting with a CTV or we starting with this, uh, okay.
00:20:20
Pieree le France
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're gonna go take a look at ah our friend ah Kelly Greg It's CTV news back in August of 2024 Wrote a nice little article Entitled My mom and no Montreal Expos fans, players look back at tragic 94 season. So this was the 30th anniversary of this fateful year as we look back and do the autopsy on what but killed those beautiful Montreal Expos and and gave us the Washington Nationals.
00:21:12
Pieree le France
Monday is the anniversary of one of the darkest days for Montreal Expos fans. On August 12th, 1994, the first full day of the Major League Baseball, the first full day of the Major League Baseball strike started. It also ended the Expos run at first place in the league, at the league's potential run to the World Series. Scott Abramovich was a bat boy with the team, along with his brother Jamie.
00:21:41
The Whole Ballgame
Well, I think there was a bit of shock, like, ah yeah wait a second, can this actually happen?
00:21:49
Pieree le France
Said Scott, Perry Giannis is a forever fan and collector of Expos merch.
00:21:56
The Whole Ballgame
Never, never in my wildest dreams did I think we of the season was going to be cancelled.
00:22:03
Pieree le France
He said, Sylvian Canteen sold peanuts at the Olympic stadium.
00:22:09
The Whole Ballgame
It was terrible because we never know what would happen in that year.
00:22:13
Pieree le France
He said, so you know, these people are all French Canadians by their accents. See that's because they all live in Montreal you understand The empty cavernous Olympic Stadium of 2024 was once packed with sell-out crowds in the golden time For those wearing the expos uniform.
00:22:33
Pieree le France
I feel like all these men are also selling young girls to and cigarettes Their trench coats with cigarettes and then then like on the other side.
00:22:38
The Whole Ballgame
There's no question. There's no question about it. Yes.
00:22:44
Pieree le France
There's a small girl and
00:22:46
The Whole Ballgame
Their there's their their their hair is all dyed blonde with black roots.
00:22:52
Pieree le France
It's, it's, yeah, and a little bit of a Frenchie Martin in there too.
00:22:58
The Whole Ballgame
one Yeah, one of them wears a monocle, certainly.
00:23:03
Pieree le France
The empty cavernous Olympic stadium of 2024 was once packed with sellout crowds and a golden time for those wearing the Expos uniform. Whether you were ace pitcher Pedro Martinez or a teenager from Cote Saint-Luc.
00:23:19
The Whole Ballgame
I didn't even have my driver's license for the first couple of months of the season. So I had to get lifts to the stadium. It was packed in 1994. Lift didn't exist in 1994, Scott. ah that That was a special place to see baseball. The fans, they were incredible. The sound of that place is something that I still remember. ah You folks heard the sound of the place when at the at the cold open here. It was pretty loud in there, even back in 2000.
00:23:48
The Whole Ballgame
It was a good feeling in the city, he said his, it was a good feeling in the city. When the X was one, people were talking about it. It was really great.
00:24:00
Pieree le France
After a moderate start, the Expos went on a tear.
00:24:04
The Whole Ballgame
Well, it's me here. We, uh, we are going, there's probably the best time I had going to a baseball field.
00:24:11
Pieree le France
Said Jeff Fisero, who pitched in Montreal from 1991 to 96. In 94, the Expos had the second lowest payroll at 18.95 million.
00:24:24
Pieree le France
According to the baseball cube site which tracks payrolls by the year only the San Diego Padres were lower to As a comparison the New York Yankees payroll was forty four point seven eight five million that year more than double the expos Geez only double. That's crazy the expos roster however was made up of stars including future Hall of Famers Martinez and Larry Walker and Giannis has an in-home museum of exposed merch in his basement and remembers every detail of 94. The sights, the sounds, and regrettably, the smells.
00:25:07
The Whole Ballgame
You try to like just zone out the rest of the stadium because he's you know, it is smelly. It was, you know, old and it was just not baseball stadiums. When you just watch the game and watch the guy, it was the best.
00:25:28
Pieree le France
In the stands, you may have heard Canton's voice as he hocked peanuts to playoff hungry fans.
00:25:35
The Whole Ballgame
The stadium was my second home. So I was there more often during the summer than my own house.
00:25:43
Pieree le France
Canton's arm may ah not have had the heat of Martinez, but it did the trick.
00:25:50
The Whole Ballgame
I had good precision all those years, uh, that high percentage to say, you know, 95%, maybe more.
00:25:57
Pieree le France
Joining Martinez, Fisero, and Walker on the field were familiar names such as Marquis Grissom, Moise Salou, and Cliff Floyd.
00:26:07
The Whole Ballgame
Cliff Floyd shit.
00:26:08
Pieree le France
Fisero spent 16 years in the major leagues, but never had the talent he did the he did in Montreal.
00:26:16
The Whole Ballgame
Hey, look, I played on some good teams. I can like Seattle, uh, St. Louis, you know, but there was, there's never that feel we had in Montreal.
00:26:27
Pieree le France
Fairy tale to a nightmare. The Expos hit August 12th as the best team in baseball with a 74 and 40 record.
00:26:36
The Whole Ballgame
74 40 I had no idea We were going to win the division and we got a chance at the World Series and everything I Have goose bump just saying when they finally announced it wasn't happening.
00:26:38
Pieree le France
Uh-huh, yep. Six and a half up on the Braves, I believe. Giannis already had tickets for the playoffs shelling out nearly 2,000 for them.
00:27:02
The Whole Ballgame
I felt like I just got Sucker-punched
00:27:06
Pieree le France
Do you see the picture of Perry Giannis?
00:27:08
The Whole Ballgame
I do. I do. That's the inspiration.
00:27:10
Pieree le France
This, this is exactly, this is, that's exactly what he would sound like.
00:27:12
The Whole Ballgame
He's the he's the fucking he's the fucking candle in Beauty and the Beast. p that's
00:27:22
Pieree le France
All right. 1994 was the first year in maybe MLB history since 1904 that the world series was canceled. No world series had been canceled since.
00:27:35
The Whole Ballgame
We all thought the players included that short lockout and it would all come back within a month or two, max, and that seasons will continue.
00:27:47
Pieree le France
Said Jamie Abramovich by September 14th, Jamie was proven wrong and the season was officially over. After the fairytale season, the rest of the expo story turned to more of a nightmare with the team eventually leaving town a decade later in 2004.
00:28:06
The Whole Ballgame
If I had a time machine to go back in time and take out that lock, uh, take that, take out that lockout to, to see what would happen. That's my wish. Uh, I could do that. That's for sure.
00:28:18
The Whole Ballgame
Hey, Hey, does someone want to say something about some goddamn time machine?
00:28:23
Pieree le France
ah
00:28:23
The Whole Ballgame
It's been a while since I talked to you boys. with happening
00:28:25
Pieree le France
Oh hey, Harry, I didn't expect to hear from you till the next story.
00:28:28
The Whole Ballgame
Hey, hey, look, at the end of the day, uh, someone mentions a time machine. I come running, you know, I, I don't have much left, uh, to live for, uh, now that I'm dead. So, uh,
00:28:42
Pieree le France
a
00:28:44
The Whole Ballgame
the time machine shit's really just kind of a gimmick now, you know?
00:28:47
Pieree le France
Ain't that the truth?
00:28:49
The Whole Ballgame
Uh-huh. All right. All right. See you later. and I don't, I don't need this hillbilly breaking my glasses.
00:28:50
Pieree le France
Yeah.
00:28:58
The Whole Ballgame
The pain, it never goes away. Every time you talk about it, it just gets, you know, riled up. It's so funny, I think, to how many games we were at as a kid and then as a bad boy, you know, on the field and to not to ever feel October baseballs is the only thing that I wish we could get back.
00:29:25
The Whole Ballgame
I think it's just an unfinished business that we never got to take care of the vendors.
00:29:31
Pieree le France
So you can kind of see there, there's a the the fans, the players, the did you see the, do you see the picture of the dipshit at the bottom too?
00:29:41
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah.
00:29:42
Pieree le France
How are they looking?
00:29:45
The Whole Ballgame
Let's see what, what, what, what happened with these gentlemen, uh, certainly, uh, Oh, my goodness. OK, I had to close it out already, so I had to reopen it, but I didn't look at the guy on the far right um with the glasses.
00:29:57
Pieree le France
Oh no, you sorry.
00:30:02
Pieree le France
Yes.
00:30:03
The Whole Ballgame
I don't know which one of them he is, but that kid.
00:30:04
Pieree le France
I believe that's Sarsivian.
00:30:07
The Whole Ballgame
OK, that's Sylvain, like Sylvain Grannier of the.
00:30:10
Pieree le France
Yeah, I was about to call him Sylvain Garnier and we should probably just do that.
00:30:11
The Whole Ballgame
ah Yes. Yeah, so Sylvain Grannier certainly masturbated in the women's bathroom in between innings.
00:30:20
Pieree le France
Absolutely.
00:30:20
The Whole Ballgame
he He went into a stall and he jerked off in the women's room.
00:30:23
Pieree le France
He comes.
00:30:24
The Whole Ballgame
ah he he would He would close and lock the stall and he'd sit on the toilet and he'd pop his feet up on the front so no one could see underneath, but no one could get in either.
00:30:27
Pieree le France
Sure.
00:30:30
Pieree le France
Oh, yeah. Uh, oh boy.
00:30:33
The Whole Ballgame
And he would listen to the women pissing in the in the toilets next to him and jerk off.
00:30:37
Pieree le France
Oh, he's not in there by himself. Okay.
00:30:40
The Whole Ballgame
No, no, no, no, no, no. that yeah That's how he started. This is escalated, you don't understand?
00:30:44
Pieree le France
Uh, yes, sure.
00:30:47
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah.
00:30:48
Pieree le France
Good Lord. It's not going to be long before he's going to figure out a way to be collecting PP or something.
00:30:54
The Whole Ballgame
there was There was one time in late May of 94, he had escalated at this point. He had asked he had asked ah ah the guy in the middle there, the buff one, if he wanted to come with him into the same stall. And he said no, and then he offered to jerk him off. um And that was when they kind of parted ways and and stopped talking for a little while. By mid June, everything was cleared up though.
00:31:23
Pieree le France
Is that when the rush of the Montreal rumors started
00:31:26
The Whole Ballgame
That is correct. I'm glad you brought that up, Blake. I'll tell you, I pushed so hard to get up there because, ah you know, I don't know if you're you're aware, but ah here in the States, there is a real, a real anti ah-part homosexual bias in the 1980s.
00:31:47
The Whole Ballgame
And I just, you know, I felt more at home any time we went on a road trip up to Canada.
00:31:50
Pieree le France
Mm-hmm sure Yeah,
00:31:53
The Whole Ballgame
um It also, ah you know Montreal give if something were to escalate with dad Montreal would likely offer me asylum and I wouldn't have to be extradited back to the states, you know Yeah, I mean look and it's Montreal is closer to the maritime provinces which you know, it's it's where there's a lot less population and
00:32:04
Pieree le France
yeah, you always got to think about where you can possibly get your asylum
00:32:15
The Whole Ballgame
a lot more places to hide out. There's not a lot of authorities in places like Halifax and things like that out in the the cold waters of the maritime provinces, you know.
00:32:24
Pieree le France
Hmm right now that makes sense That's gonna say you got a plan What
00:32:28
The Whole Ballgame
Oh, I thought this out. This has been something that I've been thinking about for years. I reckon my next stop, my next stop after this tiny town in in Michigan is is up in the maritime provinces to hide out and spend the rest of my my few days. So I don't have to listen to that bitch daughter of mine complain on Twitter. Beth, fuck you, Beth.
00:32:51
Pieree le France
You don't think you're going to live out the rest of your days at Gabe's place?
00:32:55
The Whole Ballgame
Oh, I've done him enough to serve us here. I think, you know, eventually we'll move on. I'm not quite done with him yet. He still hasn't introduced me in real life to Chad. And I think that's really the, the, the culmination of all this, you know, and next time he comes down your way, I think I might just pack a pack a bag and come along with him too.
00:33:09
Pieree le France
Sure. Yeah, that'll be cool.
00:33:17
Pieree le France
Oh, yeah. just Just come on along. Hop on in there. That'd be fine.
00:33:21
The Whole Ballgame
I think, I think it would be real fun to help you ah take care of your special needs. It'll be great. It'll be great.
00:33:28
Pieree le France
shit yeah that would be really awesome wouldn't it so moving on not boy oh Rick yeah you do don't you thanks our friend Kyle Kinzing
00:33:36
The Whole Ballgame
I've got a lot more missing than she does. I'll tell you that.
00:33:50
Pieree le France
um
00:33:51
The Whole Ballgame
This is a great sub stack, by the way, I, uh, well you sent me this link and, uh, I got to it and I, I did some reading, not just of the, the posts that you, you've got here and we'll put these posts down in the show notes so you can go take a look, but he's got a, um, sub stack called, uh, the press break. And he does a lot of baseball and and general sports content and he's a pretty decent writer. I would highly recommend giving him a shot.
00:34:20
Pieree le France
Yeah, it's fine Doesn't really give a ah resolution but we'll get there For something on what what if Wednesday like that I feel like when you're doing a what if whatever you need to have an answer What if they would have came So
00:34:29
The Whole Ballgame
That's for us to to provide. Yeah.
00:34:39
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, dude, i was I was being nice. That's all. i That's all.
00:34:44
Pieree le France
that that fucking surgery did do you to
00:34:47
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah. Left a scar in more ways than one, pal.
00:34:52
Pieree le France
Mm hmm. Mm hmm. The adrenaline in your soul uptakes at a slower speed now because they shut you down, you know.
00:35:04
The Whole Ballgame
and How many times do I have to tell you it's adrenochrome, not adrenaline?
00:35:07
Pieree le France
Mm hmm. What if Wednesday, the 1994 Major League Baseball strike and the death of the Montreal Expos? By Gabe's good friend Kyle Kinzing.
00:35:23
Pieree le France
ways in which the 1994 strike changed the landscape of Major League Baseball have been dissected ad nauseam over the last 30 years, including the tangible financial implications of the work stoppage.
00:35:37
Pieree le France
This also written in 2024, so fairly recently.
00:35:40
The Whole Ballgame
Mmhmm.
00:35:42
Pieree le France
But in case you didn't realize it, this ain't Sportico Pal. The press break specializes more in the intangible and the and MLB strike certainly produced a variety of intangible changes. Most commonly referenced is MLB's decline in popularity. This is undisputable. Anyone at all familiar with the sports place in the zeitgeist before 1994 can tell you without having to reference Nielsen ratings or anything of the sort that baseball was undeniably more prominent before the strike. See, there you go.
00:36:19
The Whole Ballgame
I remember a lot of very specific things from I don't remember much of anything specific outside of the things that we've covered on the on the the show ah before the summer, of of ninety the summers, I guess, of 98, 99.
00:36:28
Pieree le France
Yeah.
00:36:44
Pieree le France
Yeah, I think I was actually like me and my kid were talking about it today and specifically around
00:36:57
Pieree le France
I don't think maybe the Super Bowl is what got us on it, but we're talking like, you know, and and essentially how, at least I feel like things are just so kind of more ah fragmented and in their own silos and whatever. And, you know, after a certain point, like kid not all kids watch baseball, not like kids of our age, all pretty much watch the same stuff and now you know you can just fall into your thing and stay into it because it's so deep and vast and whatever and you know the seasons never change really kind of deal they don't have to
00:37:41
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, we're I mean, we're right back to that that thought process we've been talking about on the shows recently of everything, like you said, being put into a silo and all of our everything. And i I hate the term, but it's the only way to really express it. But all of the content that we ingest is seemingly honed and specialized for us individually, or at least the archetype that we represent digitally.
00:38:09
Pieree le France
Look at this horse shit this is this is like a niche of a niche of a fantasy like Alma like you know you can You can find anything you want to find out there now and like you know once you can fill your days with all of your favorite shit and Why the fuck are you even going to be bothered to look at anything else, you know, that.
00:38:34
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, I mean, I guess what we're saying here, what it all comes down to, if we distill this down to a fine point, it's that more of us should be masturbating in women's rooms.
00:38:45
Pieree le France
Like Sylvan Grannier, yes.
00:38:47
The Whole Ballgame
Correct.
00:38:48
Pieree le France
And and then um assisting. Assisting Vincent and the rock and rolling the holster out, dude, I just I just watched that match.
00:38:57
The Whole Ballgame
Brother.
00:39:00
The Whole Ballgame
What are you doing to yourself?
00:39:00
Pieree le France
Like, I was rewatching the 2003 pay-per-views in order.
00:39:09
The Whole Ballgame
you're you're You're particularly the nostalgic about the 2003 pay-per-views?
00:39:09
Pieree le France
You must know.
00:39:13
Pieree le France
No, that was just the year I was on.
00:39:15
The Whole Ballgame
ah
00:39:17
Pieree le France
No, I'm all over the place, man.
00:39:19
The Whole Ballgame
i I actually, at the time, 2003, 2004, I was going to a lot of shows, so I shouldn't say anything, but you know, that was...
00:39:19
Pieree le France
It's the end of times.
00:39:28
Pieree le France
I was watching much much less but you know that 2003 no way out man had uh that was Austin's return too and then he went away again that was weird no no no way I was in Montreal hey look at that wee wee hey so in grenade look it all connects all right
00:39:42
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, I think that was, and that was in, that was in Chicago, Rosemont, no way out 2003. That's what I meant. That's what I meant. oh home
00:39:56
The Whole Ballgame
See?
00:39:59
Pieree le France
Let's see.
00:40:03
Pieree le France
However, there are spikes post-strike that suggests Americans still have viewed baseball as their pastime. The 98 home run chase and the 2001 World Series captivated the country in unique ways that no other sport could match the clearly overall more popular NFL included.
00:40:12
The Whole Ballgame
There it is.
00:40:21
The Whole Ballgame
i I call bullshit on the 2001 World Series.
00:40:25
Pieree le France
Eh.
00:40:26
The Whole Ballgame
that was ah That was New York, New York, right?
00:40:29
Pieree le France
No, that was New York and Arizona, but that was after September 11th.
00:40:30
The Whole Ballgame
it It was the Yankees. the It was the Yankees, though. The and 9-11.
00:40:35
Pieree le France
Yeah.
00:40:35
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah. Fuck off. I don't know. It wasn't maybe in the metropolitan areas. It was something special, but that didn't not. You can't compare 2001 World Series to the 1998 home run race.
00:40:47
The Whole Ballgame
You can't you can't or chase. You can't do that.
00:40:49
Pieree le France
No, I think it's certainly a step, a step down, but
00:40:49
The Whole Ballgame
I don't think I don't think it's the same.
00:40:57
Pieree le France
I get what he's trying to say.
00:40:58
The Whole Ballgame
OK.
00:40:58
Pieree le France
It's certainly the only other thing that you could throw in that category, but there's basically after the 94 strike, you got Ripken's 95 and then he got the home run chase and you know that, but let's see whether the strike was a hinge event unto itself or merely one contributing factor.
00:41:26
Pieree le France
In a series of factors working against baseball's prominence consistently for the last 30 years, each argument has validity. Similarly, the 94 strikes impact on the death of the Montreal Expos and resurrection as the Washington Nationals may be one in a variety of factors. The strike may have had no impact at all on an inevitability.
00:41:52
Pieree le France
But on the return of the press breaks, what if Wednesday I ask you to revisit the summer of 1994 in the weeks leading up to the work stoppage and asked what would have happened to the Montreal Expos had a settlement been reached and the season continued. Allow me to preface this entry with a personal aside, the Expos fascinated me for my earliest days seeing baseball typically when my dad had on WGN Cubs telecasts.
00:42:22
The Whole Ballgame
Hey, hey, I remember those.
00:42:27
Pieree le France
We'll get to you in a second, Harry.
00:42:29
The Whole Ballgame
I don't know what you mean, Blake.
00:42:32
Pieree le France
We'll just listen and shut the fuck up.
00:42:33
The Whole Ballgame
Okay.
00:42:37
The Whole Ballgame
Hey, hey, I'm not, I might be dead, but my pimp hand is strong. I'll slap the shit out ya.
00:42:41
Pieree le France
ah Oh, I know you come at me every fucking time I do your impersonation. I got it, Harry. I know how strong your pimp hand is. So does Duchy.
00:42:56
The Whole Ballgame
I'd pass the duchy on the left-hand side.
00:42:57
Pieree le France
that's right keep the pimp in on the right I do all right played which they did when the back when the alignment was correct both teams played in the National League East um and like all NLE teams the expos at certain players whose names ring through my memory and Harry carries cadence when they came to at bat to be clear
00:42:58
The Whole Ballgame
You know.
00:43:01
The Whole Ballgame
You you get it. You you understand.
00:43:26
Pieree le France
The often inebriated Shoville Harry adopted a low. You got to let him take that shot at you, Harry. Call you inebriated. Adopted a low grid manner of speaking when it came to reputed cub killers.
00:43:41
The Whole Ballgame
Hey, hey, look, look, I don't, I haven't, I haven't seen him say anything that's a lie at this point. Uh, uh, here's the thing though. Uh, Marty or Melvin or whatever the fuck your name, Kyle, Kyle, look here, pal. At the end of the day, me inebriated is better than a million of you perfectly sober, you dumb bitch.
00:44:08
Pieree le France
Thank you Harry. Let's see.
00:44:13
The Whole Ballgame
Kyle Kinzen writing things on the internet. That's as bad as Gabe saying your shit's any good. I don't know. It makes me want to vomit if I'm being totally honest with you. Much like my my my my oftentimes inebriated self in the press box with Stoney. Stoney would hold the garbage can for me. Stoney was fantastic.
00:44:36
Pieree le France
I I thought you two are a great team I mean Okay I You've been uh, I gotta tell you I mean that your saltiness and death much more and than than live Harry.
00:44:40
The Whole Ballgame
Kyle Kinzen. Kyle can sing me a song about how stupid he is, god damn it. Kyle can sing. You see what I did there? Alright.
00:44:58
Pieree le France
It's
00:44:59
The Whole Ballgame
Hey, look, look, people talk a lot about heaven, about what to expect when you get here. ah Sugar plums and and angel food cake and all that shit.
00:45:10
The Whole Ballgame
Let me tell you something. There ain't nothing but salty snacks.
00:45:14
Pieree le France
Yeah.
00:45:14
The Whole Ballgame
I can't find a tasty cake. I can't find a hostess twinkie to save my goddamn life. I gotta eat peanuts and flaming hot Cheetos and shit.
00:45:25
Pieree le France
Why do you think that is?
00:45:27
The Whole Ballgame
I don't know. Ask the big guy. I don't know what to tell you. Maybe Kyle Kinsey has a thought in his next edition of What If Wednesday? What if, what if we went to heaven and there was no sweet snacks? What's, what's Kyle got to say about it?
00:45:44
Pieree le France
I could send him an email.
00:45:47
The Whole Ballgame
Just send him this clip of me flipping him off, dirty rotten peckerwood.
00:45:48
Pieree le France
that shit alright ah the Can you say these names for me?
00:45:57
The Whole Ballgame
I suppose I can.
00:46:00
Pieree le France
Do you need me to say them or you just gotta read them?
00:46:05
The Whole Ballgame
I'm looking at Andy Van Slake. Barry Bonds, my personal favorite. This man, we pass the duchy on the left-hand side regularly. It's Bobby Bonilla.
00:46:22
Pieree le France
And in the case of Bonilla, he joined Howard Johnson among New York Mets who prompted that audible grimace from Carey.
00:46:31
The Whole Ballgame
That's why I mispronounce his name, you understand. I could say N-B-O-N-E-A all day.
00:46:33
Pieree le France
ah I understand.
00:46:35
The Whole Ballgame
I just don't want to give him the time of day. We cut up, though. He's a good man.
00:46:41
Pieree le France
oh
00:46:42
The Whole Ballgame
Hey, you know, he's still getting paid by the Mets, too. People talk about it up all the time.
00:46:47
Pieree le France
Hey man, I respect that. It's kind of like tax day. It's Bobby Bonilla day. That's right.
00:46:55
The Whole Ballgame
Hey, is that Cameron from ah Winston-Salem, North Carolina?
00:47:00
Pieree le France
That's right, man. You know it's like up in the trust tree, Harry. You ain't fail.
00:47:05
The Whole Ballgame
Never will.
00:47:08
Pieree le France
Now with those tight lips, a few of these batters played for
00:47:12
The Whole Ballgame
Hey, how's that big tinted blonde? Is she still working for you or what?
00:47:16
Pieree le France
You talking about that fat girl? A few of these batters played for the Montreal X was in the first half of the nineties in 2024.
00:47:28
Pieree le France
I could log onto to a baseball reference or another such spot and pull up exact numbers, perhaps even invalidate.
00:47:37
The Whole Ballgame
invalidating, I think is what he was going for there.
00:47:39
Pieree le France
Yeah, I think he's trying to say invalidate my.
00:47:40
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, I take it. ah Hey, ah Kyle, I take it back.
00:47:46
The Whole Ballgame
Don't subscribe to this bullshit. It's just this is acting as a vessel.
00:47:50
Pieree le France
here Harry Harry poisoned him.
00:47:50
The Whole Ballgame
That's all this is.
00:47:53
Pieree le France
He can't he can't fight it off too much longer But this edition of what if Wednesday is asking you to get into the 1994 mind frame. God. I wish I could is it Or your frames like your glasses good because you're known for your glasses and
00:48:03
The Whole Ballgame
Hey, I'm asking you to get the hell out of my mainframe, you understand? What if Wednesday? Look, at the end of the day, these things are just a vessel.
00:48:22
Pieree le France
Like Garth Brooks.
00:48:26
The Whole Ballgame
I never heard of them, but have you heard of Chris Gaines? That guy can sing a pop tune, man.
00:48:30
Pieree le France
No, no, he's. I can't, I can't say it.
00:48:35
The Whole Ballgame
Just great hair.
00:48:35
Pieree le France
I can't.
00:48:36
The Whole Ballgame
Remember that one time he was on Saturday Night Live and Garth Brooks introduced him?
00:48:39
Pieree le France
I did. Yeah, yeah.
00:48:42
The Whole Ballgame
It was the weirdest thing ever, cause I could've swore, man, they could be twins.
00:48:46
Pieree le France
Yeah, they do look alike, kind of like you and Stoney.
00:48:54
Pieree le France
No. All right.
00:48:57
Pieree le France
If I want to use the internet, excuse me.
00:49:00
The Whole Ballgame
The two of us don't lick anything of that, Blake. I don't know what you're talking about. That's the silliest thing I ever heard. Have you been smoking weed tonight, pal?
00:49:08
Pieree le France
That was the joke. okay Cause you know, you get, you don't look alike. All right. The information superhighway to contextualize my perspective. I can only do so.
00:49:20
Pieree le France
with a 28.8K modem and hope the AOL disk that came in the mail buys me sufficient time to surf.
00:49:28
The Whole Ballgame
I know what you're trying to do, Kyle. It's not funny.
00:49:31
Pieree le France
Yeah, it's really not. Thus, I'll give you my memories of the Cubs and Expos clashing. Deline of the Shields would be enshrined in Cooperstown if he only played the Northsiders. And what's going on out that wall, dude? Yo, know Gizzle. Gizzle's looking out the curtains, dude.
00:49:50
Pieree le France
Something's going on outside.
00:49:50
The Whole Ballgame
found I found Alphonse, but uh...
00:49:53
Pieree le France
I thought something was going on outside, dude, so I came running in here. You okay?
00:49:59
The Whole Ballgame
I'm okay. The, the lino to shields, uh, starting the lineup guy is missing.
00:50:01
Pieree le France
I need to call Jimmy.
00:50:05
The Whole Ballgame
I'm guessing my daughter stole him.
00:50:07
Pieree le France
You want me to send Jimmy over, dude, get that little bitch.
00:50:08
The Whole Ballgame
No, now we're good. He, that, that guy just steals heat. That's all he does.
00:50:15
Pieree le France
and Come over, watch that kid of yours, make sure she don't take no more figures.
00:50:18
The Whole Ballgame
No, I don't think that's a good idea either. I don't think we should get Jimmy heart within 50 feet of any female.
00:50:25
Pieree le France
Oh, he used to babysit Bertini all the time, dude.
00:50:28
The Whole Ballgame
I believe that, yep, I will believe that.
00:50:28
Pieree le France
It's cool.
00:50:30
Pieree le France
All right, whatever.
00:50:32
The Whole Ballgame
Thank you, brother.
00:50:33
Pieree le France
Stay blizz. ah Tree of Larry Walker, Marquis Grissom, and Moises Alou combined to form the greatest outfield in baseball history. Oh, and if you're lucky enough to steal a game at Olympic stadium, consider it a win.
00:50:52
Pieree le France
It's impossible to take a full series from that French-Canadian terror down. Given this was my impression of the Expos and this childhood in the childhood underscores a few things. The Cubs were pretty bad in the first half of the nineties and my early years closely following Major League Baseball overlapped with an extremely rare window of success for a mostly downtrodden franchise.
00:51:17
Pieree le France
Despite Chicago's futility against Montreal, I didn't harbor the same ill will towards the expos I did towards the Mets. In a way, I liked the expos for the little I saw of them. You know, I think there's something anybody dislike the expos.
00:51:36
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, um as a kid, i yeah I didn't think much of them except for how much I absolutely loved their logo.
00:51:46
Pieree le France
Yeah, I think the logo does a lot of work.
00:51:47
The Whole Ballgame
i I didn't fully understand the logo until I was an adult, frankly. We've talked about this, I think, early on in the show. I always thought it was a J and a B.
00:51:56
Pieree le France
Mm hmm.
00:51:59
Pieree le France
Mm hmm. Yeah.
00:52:00
The Whole Ballgame
But yeah, you're sporting the X was hat tonight.
00:52:04
Pieree le France
Yeah, right there. Yep. You know, when it's funny because you mentioned Jacksonville earlier, I'm pretty sure when I was a kid, I remember this because I I went to, it was at the time, the Royals double a team, the Memphis chicks.
00:52:21
Pieree le France
So I didn't, and you know, you know what the name of their stadium was Gabe Tim McCarver stadium.
00:52:29
The Whole Ballgame
Mm, great.
00:52:30
Pieree le France
Yep. But, um, anyway, uh, I had a program and I looked at it a million times and.
00:52:38
The Whole Ballgame
You know, it made it really different though, Blake, that stadium.
00:52:42
Pieree le France
Was it the pitching man? Was it the home plate no place where the pitching man goes? Fuck. Yeah. You all right?
00:52:58
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah.
00:53:02
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, I'm fine. It's fine. It's fine. I, I was so excited.
00:53:04
Pieree le France
What?
00:53:08
The Whole Ballgame
It popped in my head and I went, Oh, that's wonderful. And of course, because, you know, I have half the brain that you do. We, we share the same fucking thing. And of course, of course
00:53:16
Pieree le France
see it see it see it see it oh shit oh no his little neighbor seth oh shit dude my battery i forgot to go get the battery that's what i did i gotta run to get my battery dude
00:53:20
The Whole Ballgame
of course. Are you, so are you sit or are you the, the poor kid with Down syndrome that he pulled the ring?
00:53:32
The Whole Ballgame
Seth, yep. No worries, you we're gonna continue this in a minute. ah the ah you know I'm just gonna hit pause, because I don't wanna be my amp. We're back, battery's all set to go.
00:53:49
Pieree le France
I got my battery plugged in my battery hole Gabe.
00:53:54
The Whole Ballgame
I suppose that's better than in your misdemeanor.
00:53:58
Pieree le France
I thought say my penis hole.
00:54:02
The Whole Ballgame
Assault hole.
00:54:08
The Whole Ballgame
We'll get there eventually. It's fine.
00:54:11
Pieree le France
Let's let Blake get back to his reading, shall we Gabe?
00:54:14
The Whole Ballgame
Thank you, Tim.
00:54:16
Pieree le France
All right.
00:54:17
The Whole Ballgame
Hey, was that Tim McCarver? I thought I heard Tim McCarver. Tim McCarver here. Blake, was that was that Tim McCarver?
00:54:24
Pieree le France
That was Tim McCarver here, yes, he was here.
00:54:26
The Whole Ballgame
You ever been to Tim McCarver Stadium down in it and Memphis?
00:54:30
Pieree le France
I have, yeah.
00:54:32
The Whole Ballgame
Have you? hello The Memphis chicks played there as I recall.
00:54:35
Pieree le France
Mm-hmm.
00:54:35
The Whole Ballgame
I was loved hearing about the Memphis chicks cause I thought, oh, I bet they're sexy. Cause they're Southern bells, you know.
00:54:42
Pieree le France
Yeah, hey.
00:54:43
The Whole Ballgame
You be my Dixie chicken. I'll be your Tennessee ham. We can walk together down to Dixie land. Remember that song?
00:54:52
Pieree le France
You know, I know I don't What's that what's that You know what Gabe told me about it That the the home plate in the pictures man were inverse, you know that hair thing
00:54:54
The Whole Ballgame
Oh, it's called Dixie Chicken. You should look it up. Garth did a cover of it. As a matter of fact, you would, but we talked about him a little earlier. Hey, hey, uh, you know, what was weird about that stadium, don't you? Is that I was named after a dipshit like Tim McGarver.
00:55:12
The Whole Ballgame
What's that?
00:55:18
The Whole Ballgame
Oh yeah, absolutely. ah They did that, uh, to honor Tim in a different way, you know, cause his, his penis goes where his butthole goes and his buttholes where his penis usually was.
00:55:23
Pieree le France
Right.
00:55:26
Pieree le France
Mm hmm.
00:55:28
The Whole Ballgame
So, so I figured they would make the pictures amount representative of his penis and the, the home plate representative of his butthole.
00:55:29
Pieree le France
Mm hmm.
00:55:37
The Whole Ballgame
And then they'd swap them around and, uh, they called it the inaugural butthole mound.
00:55:41
Pieree le France
I do.
00:55:43
The Whole Ballgame
You understand.
00:55:44
Pieree le France
It was it was very difficult to hit a home run in that ballpark.
00:55:48
The Whole Ballgame
it was because you know there's a pitcher if it's a butthole mound there's no real mound it goes underneath you know there's a hole you're standing in and so really it's like you're only three feet tall as a pitcher pitching out of the butthole oh there's a hole or two that's for sure
00:55:54
Pieree le France
Alright. Uh-huh. There's a whole slew of issues.
00:56:05
Pieree le France
The Shields was a terror on the base paths. Walker, Bash, Dangers, and Allu ended up being a favorite cub of mine in the 2000s. And then there was Olympic Stadium. Olympic Stadium was not only was wasn't the only domed ballpark in the National League.
00:56:23
Pieree le France
but I viewed the Astrodome as a football stadium nice enough to welcome the Astros during the off-season. Olympic Stadium, however, was the Expos' home, and it appealed to me in a different in a way difficult to describe, but similar to my feelings about Idaho football's Kibbe Dome.
00:56:43
The Whole Ballgame
Hey, you know what I want to know? What kind of dipshit has any kind of feelings about Idaho football?
00:56:49
Pieree le France
That's a great question, Harry. um Maybe a guy that went to there? I don't know. It's not some ironic and lame sicko's novel, gazing, yucking it up to get a load of this shitty place, but rather a genuine fascination and appreciation appreciation for its uniqueness.
00:57:08
Pieree le France
<unk>
00:57:09
The Whole Ballgame
This guy rats like I shit. And let me tell you something. I'm a, I'm, I'm dead. Uh, and I'm talking about how I shit when I was alive and nobody wanted to to see that Jesus Christ serves gave right for being nice.
00:57:17
Pieree le France
Uh-huh. Yeah.
00:57:24
The Whole Ballgame
He probably should actually read some of this shit before he put it over.
00:57:28
Pieree le France
Yeah, you know, Gabe's kind of got a bad habit of doing that. and Well, you know, he figures whatever it is, if he oversteps, he's smart enough to bullshit his way out of it and just fumble fuck around for a while.
00:57:31
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah. it's If you ask me, it's just intellectually dishonest.
00:57:43
The Whole Ballgame
Hey, it's gotten him this far, hadn't it?
00:57:44
Pieree le France
Yeah, yeah that's right. You got Rick Russell living under his fucking couch, for God's sakes.
00:57:52
The Whole Ballgame
that That guy's still there? My God, why didn't he kick him out months ago?
00:57:55
Pieree le France
ah
00:57:56
The Whole Ballgame
I would have killed myself if I had been Rick Russell.
00:57:59
Pieree le France
He tried, he ended up causing a water leak.
00:58:02
The Whole Ballgame
Oh dear, that's no good.
00:58:03
Pieree le France
Nope, nope, nope.
00:58:04
The Whole Ballgame
I'll tell you what, okay?
00:58:06
Pieree le France
We're going to work through it though, Harry.
00:58:09
Pieree le France
What's more, Montreal seemed exotic to my childhood brain. Yes, it's a naive view of a city that's only a five hour drive from Boston and perhaps clouded by Quebec's French speaking population.
00:58:23
Pieree le France
Nevertheless, of all the cities with Major League franchises then, Montreal seemed the most far-flung of them all. And as I got older, I came to appreciate the Expos' underdogs. I especially loved the 2002 team, reminiscing on Vlad Guerrero, Orlando Cabrera, Jose Vidro, Brad Wilkerson, and Bartolo Colon.
00:58:45
Pieree le France
Takes you back to my freshman year of college and playing as the Expos on the PlayStation 2 title, High Heat Major League Baseball. Never played high heat myself.
00:58:57
The Whole Ballgame
I mean, either.
00:58:58
Pieree le France
I played All-Star Baseball with Derek Jeter on the PlayStation 2. That was my franchise of choice.
00:59:05
The Whole Ballgame
I mean, you know, when I press play on this YouTube video, I might have played this um not much, but I probably rented it at a time or two.
00:59:12
Pieree le France
Mm-hmm.
00:59:16
Pieree le France
Talk of the expos leaving Montreal exploded around that time after MLB took over ownership from Jeffrey Loria. I hope the hot finish to the 2002 season might carry over in 03 and build a ground soil of support for a new owner to emerge. While the late season success of 02 did carry somewhat into 2003, ownership committed to Montreal never materialized. 2002 and 2003 marked the first time since 9394 Montreal produced back to back above 500 records. It wasn't enough to get in the Expos into the playoffs, however, effectively ending the organization's run and fitting futility. Before the late 90s, however, I didn't realize until years later that the Expos played in exactly one playoff series.
01:00:07
Pieree le France
That one series was played before I was born and coincidentally in the last work stoppage season, shortened season of 1981. Also the year I was born, not not coincidentally.
01:00:21
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, no, not coincidentally at all. We're here for a reason, Blake.
01:00:24
Pieree le France
a
01:00:27
Pieree le France
Montreal's stretch of five seasons ending with above 500 records from 1990 through 96 was the most sustained sustained success the franchise enjoyed since producing a 531 or better winning percentage four straight years from 79 through 82. And yet not once from 90 through 96 did the Expos make the playoffs.
01:00:51
Pieree le France
Blame the old post-season format in which the winners of the two divisions that made up each league were the only qualifiers for denying the 87-75 expos of 92 and the 94 and 68 expos of 93 spots.
01:01:07
Pieree le France
The restructuring...
01:01:08
The Whole Ballgame
How do you, how do you feel about what Kyle's got to say there?
01:01:10
Pieree le France
Ah, that's horseshit.
01:01:13
The Whole Ballgame
Okay.
01:01:14
Pieree le France
Hey, no, because I tell ya, I don't...
01:01:18
The Whole Ballgame
Well, if you weren't the best, you don't get to, you don't get to go to the playoffs. That's the whole point we make here. Like it's fine. It's, you were, you were good enough to get that record. Congratulations. You weren't good enough to make the playoffs because you weren't the best.
01:01:28
Pieree le France
The 90 that 93 team that's also where and this is where all this horse shit really went over the edge was Because the fucking Giants is a 102 or 103. I don't know but that The Giants, the Braves end up winning one more game than the Giants do, but the Giants won like 102 games and didn't make the playoffs. And it was a fucking travesty, you know, because the Braves won 103. And three it's like, that's that's the fucking way it is. So, but you know, you just give the owners an excuse to add more playoff games and then they're off to the races. They fuck, they just assume every team makes the playoffs and
01:02:14
Pieree le France
just, you know, maximize the number of fucking games you can play and tickets you can sell. And no, no, I, I, I remember as a kid being excited about, and even the one wild card, I guess is fine, but I don't think you can go past what they had.
01:02:42
Pieree le France
94 was the first year they were going to do it. But then the season didn't happen. But I liked it better when there was seven teams in each division and each 14 in each league. But I'm just an old bitch.
01:02:58
The Whole Ballgame
We know that's true.
01:03:00
Pieree le France
The restructuring of Major League Baseball ahead to the 94 season. Oh, here we go. which expanded each league by division and awarded a wild card playoff berth would have not saved the Expos playoff prospects. The outstanding Atlanta Braves teams of the early 90s moving out of the West would have relegated the Pirates and Phillies squads that bested Montreal in the East into the wild card. However, in 1994, the wild card offered an ace in the hole that presumably would have landed the Expos in post-season regardless how the canceled month and a half remaining on the schedule unfolded at the time of the strike. Not that Montreal needed the wild card in 1994. 114 games into the 94 season at the outset of the strike, the Expos held a six-game lead over Atlanta in the NL East and won two of the three head-to-head series played to that point.
01:03:57
Pieree le France
The second Montreal series win over the Braves included a 5-3 defeat in which Greg Maddox made the start for Atlanta. The Expos second straight victory in that in a game that the dominant Maddox took the hill. The Expos won a 7-2 game in June, part of a series that demonstrated how much of baseball city Montreal could have been with consistent winning product on the field. The late June series, which is the series we'll see here,
01:04:25
Pieree le France
even predated a pivotal stretch in which Montreal ripped off 20 wins in 23 games. The Expos were red hot and showing no signs of slowing down when the strike began on August 12th. Jack Todd, column in the Montreal, I was trying to come up with a clever joke and this all I had was Mary Todd.
01:04:51
Pieree le France
So anyway, Jack Todd, husband of Mary, column in the Montreal Gazette a week earlier, characterizes the beginnings of the strike as quote, like falling madly in love with someone who's moving to Mongolia next month. We know that heartbreak, don't we?
01:05:13
The Whole Ballgame
It is a love untold for the ages. I wrote about it in the Gazette in 1994. I loved the expos. We all did. But this, this was too much. The cruelty to have a team so good so hot for so long, and to know in the back of our mind we would never get to see it through to fruition. And then, of course, the next ten years playing in what amounts to purgatory. What a life for the world. What a game.
01:06:04
Pieree le France
Mm-hmm. It was beautiful. Thank you.
01:06:08
The Whole Ballgame
I am Jata!
01:06:12
Pieree le France
How's Mary?
01:06:16
The Whole Ballgame
He's not a funny joke. and That is the wife of Abraham Lincoln and she's been far long dead.
01:06:21
Pieree le France
Did I
01:06:21
The Whole Ballgame
My last name is Todd.
01:06:26
Pieree le France
tell a story about my neighbor, Todd?
01:06:29
The Whole Ballgame
No, but I think we need it.
01:06:33
Pieree le France
This is my neighbor when I was a kid Maybe it did I feel like I have because Todd had played boys stacked his basement and he would borrow my Nintendo on the weekends from time to time No No, no yeah, that was that was Livingston now Todd was like in his mid 20s and he lived with his mom and you know, I'm like eight or nine and
01:06:43
The Whole Ballgame
No, I don't remember that, all I remember is, this looks like a good six inches to you. And that's a different guy, so.
01:07:02
The Whole Ballgame
Jesus Christ.
01:07:05
The Whole Ballgame
You're a fucking magnet for these guys. Christ almighty. got your You got your card collector guy that invites you over for a sleepover.
01:07:09
Pieree le France
Well, see yeah yeah oh we can't all have the the sweet eyed Chad Reeve, you know, look at us.
01:07:13
The Whole Ballgame
It's perfectly, perfectly natural and normal. You got old Livingston whipping his dick out at you every 10 minutes. And and then you got Playboy Man next door whose who's more a man child than old 75-year-old Rushall on my couch.
01:07:34
The Whole Ballgame
Or the brothers down the street whose computer I used to masturbate pretty regularly.
01:07:38
Pieree le France
Jesus Christ, of course he now Todd just wanted my Nintendo man This man had so little shame That he would come over to an eight-year-old's house on a Friday and asked if he could borrow the Nintendo for the weekend No
01:07:42
The Whole Ballgame
Good enough.
01:07:54
The Whole Ballgame
Jesus Christ. Cause you didn't have plans with that fucking thing, did you?
01:07:58
Pieree le France
Yeah, no exactly no no money no offering of it like there's nothing being exchanged and other than the fact that he's going to hook it back up for me.
01:08:12
Pieree le France
Anyway, but no, he had a, he had a cousin who was closer to my age and we would hang out from time to time. And one time we were over there and we found Todd's playboys in his closet.
01:08:24
Pieree le France
That's how I knew about it. Todd was the kind of guy that had a bunch of those fucking mirrors from carnivals up. You know, you remember those things like
01:08:31
The Whole Ballgame
Oh, yeah, the the like the like like post like rock and roll posters.
01:08:34
Pieree le France
rat yep and her sandman baby oh yeah i tell you though he had a hot younger sister melinda she looked like something out of a damn yankees video that's that's who the the the cousin was her her son
01:08:36
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah poison Yeah He's been throwing a lot of darts at the county fair, huh?
01:08:51
The Whole Ballgame
Oh, yeah Uh
01:09:02
The Whole Ballgame
Oh, I see. Did the, did the mirrors all have the white cardboard with the gold squiggle in the middle of it all the way around?
01:09:06
Pieree le France
Yeah. Yep. Yep.
01:09:08
The Whole Ballgame
All right.
01:09:08
Pieree le France
Yep.
01:09:09
The Whole Ballgame
Yep.
01:09:09
Pieree le France
That's it.
01:09:10
The Whole Ballgame
That's, you know exactly what you're thinking about now.
01:09:12
Pieree le France
Mm hmm.
01:09:12
The Whole Ballgame
So you're welcome everybody.
01:09:14
Pieree le France
Mm hmm. Marquise Grissom won the third of four straight go gloves in 95 as a member of the Braves. He was on the opposite side of Ken Hill who'd had a breakout 94 season with the Expos.
01:09:27
Pieree le France
In the 95 World Series Hill was pitching for Cleveland. Moises Alou and Cliff Floyd each got their chance to play in the World Series two years later, winning rings with the Florida Marlins. The young rising star of the Montreal pitching staff in 94, Pedro Martinez, stayed around longer than most of the core 94 expos. He won the Cy Young Award in 97, becoming the only Cy Young Award winner in franchise history.
01:09:59
Pieree le France
Pedro won two more in 99 and 2000 with the Boston Red Sox. Was simply of qualifying for the playoffs in 94 and saved baseball in Montreal? Probably not. Despite the success of the previous seasons, then owner Claude Brochul was unable to put the money together to maintain the powerhouse roster built prior to the strike after the league returned in 95.
01:10:27
Pieree le France
Winning a World Series, on the other hand, may have well done the trick. Beyond the obvious impact winning a championship has in cultivating a fan base, the attention may well have sparked the investment into the club that Broucheux could not secure and that was necessary to retaining some star talent. How much of a fan base ah a World Series run could have built beyond Canada or even just the Quebec province is questionable.
01:10:56
Pieree le France
But one year removed from the Canadians winning what is still today, the last Stanley Cup won by a Canadian NHL franchise. An Expos World Series may well have galvanized Montreal around an identity as a city for champions. Think Boston at its peak when the Patriots, Celtics, Red Sox, and Bruins all won titles in less than three, in less than a decade. Getting that taste for winning.
01:11:25
Pieree le France
Transforming 25 years of built up apathy into an expectation for success may well have been the key Montreal was denied. Organizations that move in pro sports almost always do so amid stretches of consistent failure. No franchise in any of the four highest profile leagues has moved within a decade of winning a championship since the Hawks left for St. Louis, St. Louis for Atlanta in 1968.
01:11:53
Pieree le France
exactly 10 years after the only NBA title in club history. St. Louis Rams left for Los Angeles 17 years after winning a Super Bowl, though that was a unique situation given that the organization originated in l LA. The closest the team is coming to moving within a decade of winning a title was the Minnesota North Stars relocating to Dallas just three years after reaching the Stanley Cup finals.
01:12:22
Pieree le France
Winning organizations typically do not typically move. A more common occurrence in the last 30 years are transient franchises finding immediate success upon moving. However, the Baltimore Ravens winning a Super Bowl five years removed from sustained misery is the Cleveland Browns. The aforementioned Dallas Stars hoisting the Stanley Cup six years removed from being the North Stars. And in 96, the Colorado Rapids Avalanche won Lord Alfred Hayes Stanley Cup in their first season Dragon fruit strike their first season after moving from Quebec City the Nordiques had struggled mightily in the latter half of the 80s into the 90s and
01:12:54
The Whole Ballgame
Promotional consideration paid for by the following.
01:13:16
Pieree le France
qualifying for the and NHL playoffs just once from 87 through 94. In the lockout-shortened 94-95 campaign, however, Quebec City finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference, a playoff flameout against the defending Stanley Cup New York Rangers into the Nordic's existence. But the pieces that were in place that season, Joe Sackick, Peter Forsberg, Patrick Raw, were primed to win a cup.
01:13:44
Pieree le France
and they did so in Colorado. Think Marvin had anything to do with getting in there?
01:13:50
The Whole Ballgame
Well, I tell you what, I'm glad you brought it up. I was just thinking about that. I i had nothing, look, I'm not a hockey guy. I think that much is clear about looking at me, but I prefer the warm weather.
01:14:02
Pieree le France
Sure.
01:14:05
The Whole Ballgame
I prefer, ah you know, the sunshine. That's why I stayed here in Denver for as long as it did, you understand?
01:14:11
Pieree le France
Mm-hmm, I do.
01:14:12
The Whole Ballgame
There's over 300 days of sunshine in Colorado. It's it's got it's all down to the, the the the altitude you know we're above the clouds as it were you know ah but I didn't care much for hockey and what I did care for was success in my city and and on top of that ah providing all of the the avian delicacies to the the arena in which the the Colorado Avalanche, they played until it was torn down and a new one was built, you understand? So yes, I am, my one of my my shell companies, they they provided all of the chicken and an occasional turkey leg two to the concessionaire there, and that's the only tie I had, and that counts neckties, you know,
01:15:04
Pieree le France
Have you been keeping an eye on the evolving bird flu situation, Marvin?
01:15:08
The Whole Ballgame
There's no such thing as bird flu. It's a myth and I don't like hearing about it. So I'd rather you keep that name out of your mouth.
01:15:12
Pieree le France
Oh.
01:15:13
The Whole Ballgame
There's no such thing.
01:15:15
Pieree le France
Okay, well there's my answer. Now it's important to note that Montreal and Quebec City are, oh boy, no, naive Marvin.
01:15:20
The Whole Ballgame
Trump 2028. Okay.
01:15:24
The Whole Ballgame
Oh, it's true. I, you know, I, here's what I don't like.
01:15:26
Pieree le France
Oh.
01:15:28
The Whole Ballgame
I don't like waste. I, I saved the feathers. I saved the bones.
01:15:32
Pieree le France
Right.
01:15:32
The Whole Ballgame
I save everything. And, uh, you know, i I appreciate a man who, uh, who doesn't like waste neither.
01:15:38
Pieree le France
so you're are you are you politicking for the job as the head of the d o a e that we did yeah that would be it yeah though yeah yeah sure we can get shitty a i mean you fucking some bird in the ass like gave coughs to death in the mic
01:15:48
The Whole Ballgame
W the department of avian efficiency. You got damn right. I am dope. Do away is what what we call it here.
01:15:59
The Whole Ballgame
o You ah got me all excited over here. I don't want to tell you this voice is hell on my throat.
01:16:10
Pieree le France
a
01:16:10
The Whole Ballgame
I can't help it. Oh, Jesus Christ.
01:16:12
Pieree le France
It would be a show game wouldn't hack it into the microphone but Next I'm on the whole ball game of patreon Marvin Davis reads Atlas Shrugged
01:16:18
The Whole Ballgame
smooth as Smooth as silk, but it's like somebody's taken a fucking ah sandpaper grinder to my throat. God damn it. Anyway.
01:16:36
Pieree le France
couldn'
01:16:37
The Whole Ballgame
Pride and prejudice, law war and peace.
01:16:42
Pieree le France
Uh, good stuff. Now it's important to note, Montreal and Quebec city are two vastly different cities with their own identities and a very real rivalry.
01:16:54
Pieree le France
I'm not going to go all national NFL reporter erroneously suggesting San Diego and Los Angeles fan bases are one in the same. It's probably some specific Canadian thing that he's describing here.
01:17:03
The Whole Ballgame
Eh, whatever.
01:17:06
Pieree le France
I bring up the Nordiques and their immediate Stanley cup win as the avalanche, not because it affected the people of Montreal. Those who follow hockey surely loving the Canadians. Rather, the Nordiques may have offered a warning about letting a championship caliber franchise slip away to the States.
01:17:26
Pieree le France
A little foreshadowing of the States and Canada rivalry, right?
01:17:30
The Whole Ballgame
Oh dear.
01:17:31
Pieree le France
The Expos simply never proved to be championship caliber, which is what sent the 94, which is what the 94 seasons cancellation took from them.
01:17:42
The Whole Ballgame
Well, thank you to Kyle Kensing for that riveting piece of gibberish. um We get the point. I think i think this this particular article was picked because it covers the basis that we would want to cover. We would just do it much better like we just did.
01:17:59
The Whole Ballgame
um Uh, but yeah, don't, don't waste your time on anything else with the press break there on, on sub stack. Uh, instead, uh, spend your time going to patreon dot.com slash the whole ball game and figure that out.
01:18:14
The Whole Ballgame
Um, here's what I i don't understand ah about the, it's, it's neither here nor there, I suppose, but, um, but maybe it does have some.
01:18:19
Pieree le France
oh
01:18:27
Pieree le France
Where is it?
01:18:28
The Whole Ballgame
It's somewhere, maybe. It's under the couch behind me, as a matter of fact.
01:18:34
Pieree le France
Aww.
01:18:34
The Whole Ballgame
um
01:18:38
The Whole Ballgame
what what What do you need, Gabe? I'm here for you.
01:18:40
Pieree le France
Do you need a Phillips head?
01:18:41
The Whole Ballgame
What do you need? i I'll take care of it. i heard the dog I heard the little dog clicking around over there. I don't know. Is there something wrong with the baby? Do you need me to rock or to sleep?
01:18:53
The Whole Ballgame
or you know Do you need me to go take care of Jamie or something like that? What do you mean take care of her, Rick?
01:19:00
Pieree le France
if
01:19:01
The Whole Ballgame
I think you know exactly what I mean, Gabe. I heard the way you talked about my body type ah earlier in the show. I think you've been looking at me this a little bit different ever since that hand job.
01:19:15
The Whole Ballgame
oh um
01:19:16
Pieree le France
Gotta love is his eyes
01:19:17
The Whole Ballgame
i there's ah there's ah There's a significant difference, I think, um in the situation, like I understand the stretch and him looking, you know, talking about he he just does a very poor job of of ah ah illustrating the kind of pain that Montreal as a sports city has within it, I think is what he's getting at with all of the the the losing that's taken place there despite the potential for good things to happen.
01:19:49
The Whole Ballgame
And he compares it to some other towns and stuff like that. And and we get into the and NHL stuff. The problem with that that analogy, those those comparisons is that the way that the NHL is set up and the way that the that Major League Baseball is set up could not be more different.
01:19:57
Pieree le France
Thank you.
01:20:09
The Whole Ballgame
You didn't have, look, for all that Major League Baseball has done wrong, the fact that they stepped in and took over ownership when yeah ahead of moving the city, the town, the team out of the town immediately, or cutting them out of the league entirely because there was no owner, shows that would never happen in the NHL because of the way the league is structured, because of the way ownership works.
01:20:39
The Whole Ballgame
um And so I don't think it's a valid comparison. What I what i do wonder about is why there wasn't someone one out there making a bid on the team and why Major League Baseball allowed it to move and the nefariousness there and I think like exploring that would be a really interesting thing to do you know down the road obviously we're focused on 94 now but um if we ever get to the point that we're talking about the next set of Major League expansion like we did cover
01:21:18
The Whole Ballgame
ah Colorado and and Florida in the archive. Go check that out. That's where we got introduced to our good pal Charlie. um And Marvin, as a matter of fact, ah I think there's there's a lot to explore there, but I don't think it's it's germane to the conversation that we're having. I don't i don't like that he went that direction, frankly.
01:21:42
Pieree le France
ah Thought we were talking about the hand job with you and Rick and who's this Jermaine fella? This got more interesting what's going on It's a three-way hand job, dude Yeah, well, I guess it runs in the family No
01:21:53
The Whole Ballgame
germain croer that's a sylvan brother ah he he Germaine Germaine Grenier actually hides up in men's bathrooms, whereas Sylvain Grenier is in the women's room.
01:22:14
Pieree le France
who was yeah, Arizona and Tampa Bay is the next expansion. Um, those guys can go fuck themselves, but baseball had to step in and, and, and prop them up. Otherwise, you know, it would end up, I think basically nobody would buy, I mean, cause there was no,
01:22:42
Pieree le France
Financial future there is with the stadium and they couldn't get the place to build a new one. So That was kind of it I'm sure they would have got a new stadium built somebody locally would have probably bought it but you know Quite frankly, it sounds like you're talking about shit.
01:22:57
The Whole Ballgame
Sounds a lot like the situation in on the south side of Chicago right now.
01:23:05
Pieree le France
You don't know about again She can't jock that up to however many fucking episodes of this shit box you guys have done. I've been on four or five of them myself.
01:23:16
The Whole Ballgame
Thanks, Jerry.
01:23:18
Pieree le France
Well, you'll get the bill as soon as you start making some fucking money.
01:23:22
The Whole Ballgame
And that's where you come in.
01:23:24
Pieree le France
Mm hmm.
01:23:24
The Whole Ballgame
at patreon dot.com slash the whole ball game. You said we got one one more piece here, right?
01:23:28
Pieree le France
Did it? Yeah, we did have one more piece based in somewhat reality.
01:23:30
The Whole Ballgame
Where we're...
01:23:35
Pieree le France
um I I don't. I don't ne exactly know what you would even call this fan fiction I guess but God bless him someone out there came up with a um alternative there's a site I haven't delved very deeply into it because it seems it just it seems kind of sad it's called it says alternative history fandom dot.com and this one there's there's many different timelines you can choose from
01:24:08
Pieree le France
So if you'd like to fuck around and go see some different timelines, feel free. But um somebody had the timeline of the 94 baseball strike averted. And I thought, well, why not?
01:24:23
The Whole Ballgame
Why not?
01:24:23
Pieree le France
What the fuck else do we have to go off of? And it did seem fairly plausible. So um I figured let's take a look and let's just call this the reality.
01:24:38
Pieree le France
They have a beautiful 94 World Series logo on here, by the way. This timeline is specifically related to baseball. It speculates on what would occurred if the 94, 95 Major League Baseball players strike had been averted and the playoffs of 1994 had not been canceled. It is an open timeline and very much a work in progress. I have no idea what that means and I hope I never do.
01:25:07
Pieree le France
don't know what an open timeline means. It sounds like some weird thing timeline people do. The 94 MLBs.
01:25:16
The Whole Ballgame
Hey, hey, hey, I can i can fill you in on the timeline thing.
01:25:17
Pieree le France
Hey, oh.
01:25:20
The Whole Ballgame
you know Ultimately, what it what it it's just a fancy way of saying that anything can happen, right?
01:25:21
Pieree le France
Oh, sure.
01:25:28
The Whole Ballgame
So, whereas like, for instance, if you remember the 1985 film, Back to the Future,
01:25:37
Pieree le France
I do, yeah.
01:25:38
The Whole Ballgame
ah There's there's a famous scene in that film ah Well, I is it's a series of scenes really but the old man from the future jumps in that old fancy looking car and he flies it back to the The passing gives himself a book that helps him helps him cheat at sports gambling, you know and so Everybody goes on as a normal and then
01:25:52
Pieree le France
All right.
01:26:02
The Whole Ballgame
ah Doc and Marty, they fly on back to 1985 where they came from. But here's the problem. The old the old man who gave the book to the boy some 30 years ago and he he's gone ahead and developed a ah schism in the timeline.
01:26:21
Pieree le France
Mm hmm.
01:26:21
The Whole Ballgame
you know So you get this alternate 1985 that's developed and that's locked in so long as you're going forward in time. you know If you go forward in time from there, you can't change the past.
01:26:30
Pieree le France
Right.
01:26:35
The Whole Ballgame
right You can't change the timeline back to the way it was or should be. you know so Uh, basically what an open timeline says is that anything is possible instead of, instead of, uh, getting locked in, even if you're going forward, you can still change things in the present, uh, the way that you want them to be, as opposed to, ah to kind of be unlocked. There's some speculation, for instance.
01:27:03
The Whole Ballgame
For instance, that the reason that Hitler killed all the Jews is is because his entire life, he had been dodging bullets from a lot of Jewish folks who went back in time to try to kill him, to keep him from doing in the Holocaust.
01:27:03
Pieree le France
Yeah. and
01:27:23
The Whole Ballgame
But ultimately, it could well be that He doesn't trust the Jews because they've been throwing bombs and guns his way Since he was a little boy and failing every time because you couldn't change the past That is the opposite of an open timeline to see because it's not always been there
01:27:49
Pieree le France
I'm in a bunch of bullshit.
01:27:58
Pieree le France
It's so fucking in depth.
01:28:04
Pieree le France
Harry's got harry's got markers and white boards. it it is just There's spewing lines.
01:28:12
The Whole Ballgame
there's there's a There's magnets and and and string connecting people's faces and dates. It's ah it's a real problem in here.
Satirical Narratives and Unheard Theories
01:28:22
Pieree le France
oh that's good thank you for that
01:28:23
The Whole Ballgame
Oh, anyway, open timeline. There you go. Thank you, Harry.
01:28:37
The Whole Ballgame
just I want to put out there for the record that this is this is all satire and that uh we uh there are no roman salutes happening here jesus christ ah sir certainly certainly
01:28:48
Pieree le France
oh no no hey I had never heard that theory. But Terry had been around the block a time or two, he knows.
Fictional Highlights: 1994 MLB Season and Expos' Journey
01:29:01
The Whole Ballgame
yes
01:29:01
Pieree le France
The 94 MLB season appeared gravely threatened after the 93 four off season as negotiations broke down between MLB players association owners for a new labor contract. A strike date was set for August 12th, 94 after on August 9th, after a tense
01:29:22
Pieree le France
series of meetings with MLBPA representatives and federal mediators, the owners agreed to withdraw their demand for a salary cap. ml b The MLBPA agreed to the revised terms of the contract, effectively averting the strike at the 11th hour. The 94 regular season, Felipe a lu Felipe Alew's Montreal Expos 105 and 57 finished with the best record in baseball.
01:29:53
Pieree le France
The New York Yankees 97 and 65 were the best team in the American league. Other teams reaching the playoffs in 94, including the Chicago White Sox. There you go, pal.
01:30:05
The Whole Ballgame
Yup.
01:30:05
Pieree le France
oh Oakland A's and the Cleveland Indians of the American league. and the Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Houston Astros of the National League.
01:30:17
Pieree le France
The athletics had the dubious distinction of winning their division despite a losing record. This was the first year in which each league had, yeah, that's how it was going to happen too.
01:30:24
The Whole Ballgame
Jesus.
01:30:28
Pieree le France
there There was nobody leading in the West when it ended, or over 500.
01:30:31
The Whole Ballgame
That's right. the we We saw we saw the the standings last week or last time with the Mariners.
01:30:36
Pieree le France
Mm-hmm.
01:30:37
The Whole Ballgame
yeah
01:30:38
Pieree le France
Perhaps the biggest story in 94 concerned San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Williams and his quest to break Roger Maris' 1961 record for home runs in a season. Williams ultimately beat Maris' record with 63 home runs. He would later be elected National League MVP over Houston's Jeff Bagwell. Fans also... Thank you.
01:31:07
Pieree le France
Fans also followed San Diego's Tony Gwyn and his quest to hit 400 in a single season, though ultimately he fell short. This was the first season that included permanent division series.
01:31:22
Pieree le France
Coincidentally, 1981 was the only previous year which the Expos had reached the playoffs. In the NL division series, Montreal, Los Angeles, and Cincinnati ultimately dispatched Houston.
01:31:36
Pieree le France
In the NLCS, the Expos beat the Reds in five games, sending them to their first World Series ever. In the American League, the Yankees made short work of the hapless A's, while the Indians narrowly upset Chicago.
01:31:50
Pieree le France
In the A's.
01:31:51
The Whole Ballgame
fuck fuck the cleveland indians i don't like it it's true it's a good point
01:31:53
Pieree le France
Hey, it's like a major league there.
01:31:58
Pieree le France
Don't have Jack Parkman.
01:32:02
Pieree le France
In the ALCS, the Yankees swept the Indians to reach the World Series. The 94 World Series Montreal versus New York game one at Yankee Stadium.
01:32:15
Pieree le France
The first game saw a matchup between two aces Montreal's Ken Hill and New York's Jimmy Key. Did I tell a story about Jimmy Key and the neighbor kid?
01:32:24
The Whole Ballgame
Yes, you did. Yes, absolutely.
01:32:25
Pieree le France
Yeah, that's right.
01:32:26
The Whole Ballgame
Um, so it's that's a, that's a three and a half hour train ride to get from, from New York to Montreal. That's an, that's an easy series to go and check out. If you're a fan in Montreal, get down to the city.
01:32:40
Pieree le France
Cross the country that easy? Probably back then, I guess.
01:32:43
The Whole Ballgame
I mean, no, Montreal is only three and a half hour train ride.
01:32:47
Pieree le France
Well, I know, but you got to cross customs, right?
01:32:50
The Whole Ballgame
oh Oh, yeah. It's when you're doing transfer. Yeah. I assume it was a lot easier then that's for sure. But when you're doing it that way, it's basically you get off the train and you just go through the line and they stamp your passport and you keep on walking.
01:33:01
Pieree le France
Hmm. a The first game saw a match up between two aces, Montreal's Ken Hill and New York's Jimmy Key. Key gave up two runs in the second inning and three in the fourth. Despite scoring four runs later on, the Yankees were unable to make up the deficit as the Expos won game one. Final score, Montreal six, New York four. Hill credited with the win and Key the loss.
01:33:30
Pieree le France
In game two, Montreal's Pedro Martinez faced the one-armed Jim Abbott. Despite scoring two runs in the first inning, the Expos would fall behind in the fourth on a grand slam by classical guitarist Bernie Williams and were unable to regain the lead as the Yankees, even the series, final score 7-3 New York. Game three at Olympic Stadium was a rather tight, high-scoring match-up between the Expos, Melito Perez, and the Yankees, Jeff Fisero.
01:34:06
Pieree le France
I think they got those backwards, maybe. It was ultimately decided by Rondell White, Lime Drive, in the bottom of the eighth, scoring Mike Lansing to break a tie. The Expos held on to win and take a 2-1 lead in the series.
01:34:20
Pieree le France
Final score, 6-5 Montreal.
01:34:24
The Whole Ballgame
Hey, hey, what happened in game four?
01:34:25
Pieree le France
Hey, here.
01:34:28
The Whole Ballgame
I gotta know, did Godzilla beat up King Kong in the bottom of the seventh or what?
01:34:34
Pieree le France
What are you talking?
01:34:36
The Whole Ballgame
What I'm saying is all this is a bunch of hoo-ha bullshit.
01:34:39
Pieree le France
Yeah, yeah, it is all horse shit, Harry.
01:34:41
The Whole Ballgame
Okay, I just wanna, yeah, i did Superman show up and uses heat vision on the picture in the bottom of the sixth in game five or what?
01:34:50
Pieree le France
I don't know. You tell me.
01:34:53
The Whole Ballgame
Hey, is that Randy Johnson or is that Jesse Ventura? I can't tell, I don't have my glasses on. Anyhow, my point is, is if we're gonna talk about mythical things that happen in a baseball game, why not spice it up a little bit, throw a superhero in or a kaiju or something like that, you know, a Godzilla or a King Kong, you know, the big animal things, I love them, I love them.
01:35:13
Pieree le France
Uh-huh. Gaiju.
01:35:20
Pieree le France
Yeah. Yeah, no. Well, fuck.
01:35:23
The Whole Ballgame
What a world.
01:35:25
Pieree le France
Sure, okay, let me see what I can do for you. Game four at Olympic Stadium in the pit of hell. What had been a scoreless-
01:35:34
The Whole Ballgame
Hey, I didn't know that they were doing you ball games in Memphis. Tim McCarver Stadium, you know, the pit of hell is what they call the home plate, you know, because it's supposed to represent where his penis was.
01:35:41
Pieree le France
ah
01:35:48
Pieree le France
right yeah been yeah yeah would have been scores pitchers between montreal's kirk reader and terry godzilla mall hall into the yankees
01:35:49
The Whole Ballgame
So you're standing at home plate, it's like you're standing on a dick hole. So you're about, you know, three and a half inches up above all the ground, but ah you got to stand on one foot on your tippy toes because it's too tiny. What I'm saying is Tim McCower's dick's real small.
01:36:15
Pieree le France
was blown wide open in the seventh and eighth innings, thanks to a two-run homer by, and a strong rally led by teeny little super guy, Larry Walker and Will Cordero.
01:36:21
The Whole Ballgame
By Mothra, Mothra hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh. It was wonderful.
01:36:33
Pieree le France
The Expos took a three-one series lead, putting them on the cusp of a world championship. Final score, Montreal eight, New York zero.
01:36:45
Pieree le France
on the brink of a- yeah it was there.
01:36:45
The Whole Ballgame
Sounds like a blowout to me, Blake.
01:36:48
Pieree le France
On the brink of elimination Buck Showalter chose to start Elvis Presley again against Butch Henry in an attempt to force the series back to the Bronx.
01:36:56
The Whole Ballgame
Hey, he's the king, you know.
01:36:59
Pieree le France
ahha
01:36:59
The Whole Ballgame
Oh man. Let me tell you what, the amount of Saturday nights that I've had partying with the king since I died, you wouldn't believe the shit he was into. Oh my goodness. Makes Sylvain Grenier look like a goddamn priest.
01:37:13
The Whole Ballgame
And I'm not talking about a Catholic one neither. That's not a joke.
01:37:18
Pieree le France
you think you can take care game.
01:37:21
The Whole Ballgame
I don't understand the question.
01:37:24
Pieree le France
Game five of Olympic stadium I just did that let's see down three to two in the ninth with one out. With one out remaining the Yankees managed to score Bernie Williams I look off a single by pinch hitter Danny tartiable forcing the game into extranings the get
01:37:46
The Whole Ballgame
This is like a Seinfeld reunion.
01:37:47
Pieree le France
Yeah, it is, isn't it? One of the most dramatic World Series games in recent memories culminated Not really, not now.
01:37:57
The Whole Ballgame
So no, I don't, okay, so it just to the side, I think there are listeners that have kids. Does your daughter watch any Elmo or did did your kid watch Elmo at all?
01:38:10
The Whole Ballgame
Okay, so somehow, and I assume it's through preschool, Stella's gotten obsessed with Elmo, loves Elmo, loves him. Like Elmo, Elmo ah constantly wants to watch Elmo, fine.
01:38:23
Pieree le France
What's the Democrats grooming?
01:38:25
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, of course. ah So Elmo ah has this friend named Zoe, and Zoe has a pet rock named Rocco,
01:38:33
Pieree le France
Oh yeah, yeah.
01:38:41
The Whole Ballgame
ah
01:38:42
Pieree le France
What about Johnny Grunge?
01:38:46
The Whole Ballgame
Elmo gets a very, very, very upset when like, when I say very upset, I mean like annoyed when Zoe treats the rock like it like, like, like, like Rocco, like a human being. um And very, what did I get into this for? What was the last thing you said?
01:39:08
The Whole Ballgame
I've missed the point here. My point is just that, uh, uh, yeah, I forget, but I wanted to tell a story about that. Cause like, uh, if you ever see that it's actually quite funny, uh, Elmo, like Zoe says Rocco wants a sandwich and Elmo says Rocco's a rock.
01:39:32
The Whole Ballgame
Rocco doesn't eat. Like what are you talking about? Like literally says this to the Muppet. What are you talking about? It's a rock.
01:39:40
Pieree le France
Well that doesn't sound very necessary talking about Danny Tardible
01:39:43
The Whole Ballgame
it's It's great. it's It's definitely just for the parents like to enjoy. But yeah, I think there was some through point there that I had, but I lost entirely.
01:39:57
The Whole Ballgame
Uh, no, there was something else that that stuck in my head, but it's fine.
01:40:02
Pieree le France
I'm rereading this, it's whatever.
01:40:03
The Whole Ballgame
We fine. It fine.
01:40:06
Pieree le France
It was Expos rally in the bottom of the 10th started by Moises Alou ends with a single by Darren Fletcher that scored Alou delivering Montreal's first ever world championship final score in Montreal, New York three.
01:40:24
Pieree le France
The Expos won the 94 world series against the Yankees four games to one a historic first For the Once Apples franchise, 1994 marked the third straight world title for a Canadian team. Expo's shortstop, Will Cordero, was named the series MVP.
01:40:43
The Whole Ballgame
I remember now, it there was some language in there about the most exciting this or that in the history of, or something.
01:40:51
Pieree le France
Oh yeah.
01:40:52
The Whole Ballgame
And ah my my thought process went to, it's fake.
01:40:52
Pieree le France
Oh yeah.
01:40:57
The Whole Ballgame
What are you doing?
01:40:58
Pieree le France
Mm-hmm.
01:40:58
The Whole Ballgame
And so immediately I thought of, it's a rock. We're talking about a rock here.
01:41:01
Pieree le France
Yeah. Mm hmm.
01:41:03
The Whole Ballgame
um Uh, yeah, that's all very cool. Like I, I understand the value of it. I do because ultimately it's, it's fun and it's neat, but what you're doing now, I think in, in the show is going to be far more entertaining.
01:41:17
The Whole Ballgame
And as we get closer to the end of the year, I think we got to figure out a way to get some of that screen capture, uh, content footage for, uh, for patrons on the Patreon of what you're currently doing at MLB the show.
01:41:19
Pieree le France
It's all fake Gabe.
Simulation Theories and Alternate Histories
01:41:30
Pieree le France
<unk> all fake gay but You have to accept that.
01:41:33
The Whole Ballgame
Well, no, no, no, see, if you take the theory, hey, if you take the theory that we currently live in a simulation, then technically all you're doing and is taking part in a separate simulation and everything is real within that world. If our lives are real to us, the fake Moises Alou that you're using in your 1994 season on the show, he's living his life and you're just in control, you understand.
01:42:04
Pieree le France
Harry, what have we got ourselves into here? I feel like we're just spinning around. the
01:42:11
The Whole Ballgame
Do you have any idea how many people went back in time to try to kill Hitler? So many of them.
01:42:16
Pieree le France
I have no clue. I hear a bunch of Jewish people.
01:42:20
The Whole Ballgame
There were some Jews, sure. There were some Gypsies and some Polish folks. oh
01:42:25
Pieree le France
I mean, it makes sense that if I was a Jewish person, really,
01:42:27
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah. More, more, more homosexuals and you can shake a stick at it from being honest with you. Absolutely. Rick might be interested in doing something.
01:42:35
Pieree le France
I was gonna say.
01:42:35
The Whole Ballgame
I might live in the glasses one day. Cause if anybody can break through the rules of of the past, it's Rick fucking Russell, big daddy, old man himself.
01:42:37
Pieree le France
oh No, no.
01:42:44
The Whole Ballgame
Maybe he could take that bitch sister ah or daughter, at his Beth with him, leave her there.
01:42:50
Pieree le France
Leave that the 1939 following.
01:42:53
The Whole Ballgame
To hell with it.
01:42:54
Pieree le France
Fucking bitch.
01:42:57
Pieree le France
Undoubtedly, the 94 season had the greatest impact on the Montreal Expos. With the added revenue and greatly enhanced interest in the team resulting from the victory, the Expos were able to hold on to several of their stars, including Larry Walker, Pedro Martinez, Marquis Grissom, and Cliff Floyd.
01:43:16
Pieree le France
Though they did...
01:43:17
The Whole Ballgame
Well, I'll be honest with you, I don't like the sound of this.
01:43:20
Pieree le France
Though they did trade Moises Alou to the Yankees for pitching prospect Mariano Rivera. How do you like that, Gabe? They got Mariano Rivera. That's a hell of a deal.
01:43:31
The Whole Ballgame
He's a rock!
01:43:34
Pieree le France
Though they fell to the eventual world champion Braves in the 95 and LCS, the Expos would go on to win championships in 97, 98, and 2001, becoming one of three preeminent teams of the period along with the Yankees and Braves.
01:43:51
The Whole Ballgame
Also 9 11 never happened.
01:43:53
Pieree le France
Exactly. See, the Expos success increased their attendance despite the inadequacy.
01:43:54
The Whole Ballgame
Yep. Mm-hmm. President out president Al Gore throughout the first pitch at the 2001 world series.
01:44:01
Pieree le France
Oh. My God, think of all the things that could have happened differently. No Bin Laden, no Al Qaeda.
01:44:11
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah. I mean, hell look, look, uh, our Republican friends would have been thrilled because Obama wouldn't been the one that killed ah oh ah and Osama bin Laden.
01:44:19
Pieree le France
It's true. The expo success increased their attendance. Despite the inadequacies of Olympic stadium, the team requested public financing for a new stadium in downtown Montreal, Quebec.
01:44:34
Pieree le France
Quebec turn
01:44:35
The Whole Ballgame
Did they get it? He's a rock.
01:44:41
Pieree le France
to page 242 buddy if you'd like to get the stadium guy if you would like to go home and jack off let's
01:44:47
The Whole Ballgame
Oh, hell yes.
01:44:52
The Whole Ballgame
No, if you want to check off in the women's bathroom.
01:44:54
Pieree le France
yeah there you go Quebec premier Lucien Bouchard opposed the idea leading speculation the team might leave Montreal
01:44:55
The Whole Ballgame
yeah
01:45:03
Pieree le France
However, the expos were sold in 2002. The new owners were able to negotiate an agreement for a partial public financing of the new stadium, thanks to the widespread public support caused by the expo's success. After several delays in construction, the expos opened Lebatt Park in 2009 to wide a claim to be continued.
Bob Euchre's Legacy and Cultural Influence
01:45:30
Pieree le France
and dada Like back to the future.
01:45:35
Pieree le France
you should throw that in here
01:45:37
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, and we'll throw it in. What the hell. Instead, we'll throw this in.
01:45:38
Pieree le France
and
01:45:41
The Whole Ballgame
We haven't had the chance, um ah now that we're through with our our Montreal episode, we haven't had the chance to talk live about the passing of our are old pal Bob Euchre.
01:45:54
The Whole Ballgame
We did a few minutes on the Patreon and i I snipped it a little bit for the main feed and threw it on there. but I figured we could speak extemporaneously a little bit about you can and the reason he resonates, right? And I think that's the most important part. um He's been gone for a few weeks now, but I think about it a lot, especially in the last couple of days for reasons we can get into, I suppose.
01:46:23
The Whole Ballgame
but ah
01:46:26
The Whole Ballgame
I think the resonance of someone like him is worth examining a bit before we leave the show for the night. um What i I think is most impressive about the guy, um clearly it's not the baseball, it's not the playing, it's not it's it's the ah
01:46:51
The Whole Ballgame
I suppose you can compare it to Harry Carey in a lot of ways, right? It's the Harry Carey of it all. And I think that's what what resonates to me. I was never a Milwaukee Brewers fan. I didn't give a shit about them. um I didn't really give a shit about National League Baseball much at all. um I mean, I guess they were in the AL for a while, but you understand. um I think the reason there was a resonance there is because where my head goes is, ah at least for people of our age with the same sort of experiences that we have, you get a little bit of Harry Carey, you get a little bit of Bobby Heenan, and you get this sort of childlike humor that
01:47:39
The Whole Ballgame
Sticks in the brain of a pre-adolescent and I think um You know the wrestling thing that went a long way for me obviously because the wrestling loom so large in my Childhood like it did yours and most of the folks that listen I would assume but I think losing a guy like that even at the advanced age that we lost him at 91 um is a blow and it because there's so few left of his ilk, right? did You want to talk about an archetype. Bob Buecker was an archetype.
01:48:17
Pieree le France
i agree I agree.
01:48:20
The Whole Ballgame
So next time we've got the whole ball game itself here where we're going to, are we going to Fulton County stadium or Turner fields? Or are we going, are we in Olympic stadium for the next one?
01:48:33
Pieree le France
No, in all seriousness though, i I remember him from wrestling before I remember him from anything.
01:48:39
The Whole Ballgame
Sure. Yeah, me too.
01:48:40
Pieree le France
So I had to get my mom to fill in the blanks if I remember correctly on ah
01:48:50
Pieree le France
Yeah, because it's been in WrestleMania WrestleMania four In that I don't know probably watching I know I watch Belvedere, but I don't know if it was live or he has probably when it was live, so Yeah, I feel like it was on ABC maybe that's what I seem to remember
01:49:05
The Whole Ballgame
the ah I don't think I watched it live. I remember, I believe I watched it in reruns on USA.
01:49:17
Pieree le France
I don't know if I did, it was towards the tail end of it, But, yeah, I didn't know.
01:49:20
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, it was definitely on, it was a it was on T, like it was, I think it was in the first line of TGIF when that came out.
01:49:28
Pieree le France
I didn't know he was a baseball announcer for a long time, because it's not like you ever saw whatever fucking brewer game's on or anything like that.
01:49:31
The Whole Ballgame
Hmm.
01:49:39
Pieree le France
But, you know, it's a decent run for a...
01:49:49
Pieree le France
I don't want to say, uh, I guess the man's charm is the fact that he is, uh, just a normal man. There's never anything particularly, you know,
01:50:07
Pieree le France
I don't want to say special cause it's not the right word cause he was special, but you know, what that was what it, what made him special was that everyday charm.
01:50:16
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, the the common the commonality of it, right? The ability to relate to the humans.
01:50:23
Pieree le France
like dusty roads.
Humorous Fictional MLB Narratives
01:50:25
The Whole Ballgame
If you will, ah did you know that Rick Russell once gave up a triple to Jim Abbott?
01:50:34
Pieree le France
No, I didn't.
01:50:35
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, yeah, I pulled that up while we were here at the Jim Abbott Wikipedia page and just struck my eye and thought I'd want to share that with the fans here that this dickhead, but go back to go back to Jesus Christ, go back to bed, you fucking prick.
01:50:52
The Whole Ballgame
um um he yeah He gave up a triple to Jim Abbott, the man with one one aren one hand.
01:50:59
Pieree le France
You know, my stepdad had one arm and he knocked the shit out of a ball in a parent's kid's game in like a between sixth and seventh grade off the kid to do the fucking hardest on the kid was so like 60 miles an hour in sixth grade.
01:51:14
Pieree le France
My stepdad stepped there in one fucking arm and line drive the shit out of the ball. It was pretty impressive.
01:51:19
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, those are perfectly comparable situations.
01:51:23
Pieree le France
How many baseballs have you hit with what your one arm?
01:51:23
The Whole Ballgame
Next time we had to, where where are we going? We're going to Olympic Stadium?
01:51:29
The Whole Ballgame
ah ah next I'm a little bit deaf in the right ear, so next time speak a little bit louder. Are we going to Olympic Stadium or Turner Field next time?
01:51:39
Pieree le France
ah's It's a fucking Montreal, you bitch. You stupid fucking asshole.
01:51:43
The Whole Ballgame
I figured as much. Great.
01:51:45
Pieree le France
I'll come up there if they didn't take my visa.
01:51:48
The Whole Ballgame
more More John, they only take MasterCard. More John Starks on the Patreon, patreon dot.com, slash the whole ballgame. ah We'll head to ah to Montreal ah for the ballgame next time right here on.
01:52:04
Pieree le France
That's the whole ballgame, you motherfucker.
01:52:07
The Whole Ballgame
God damn it.