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Episode 32 - Albert Belle And Ron Karkovice
14 Plays3 months ago
The 1994 Journey continues as we ramp up to a game between the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians on July 15, 1994. Corked bats, Hannah Storm, "Joey", another VERY special guest star ovah heah, and the most influential human being of the 20th century, Ron Karkovice.
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Transcript
Albert Bell's Corked Bat Incident
00:00:20
The Whole Ballgame
You know, 1994, Albert Bell's corked bat drama hit baseball like a foul ball straight to the groin.
00:00:25
lifegoesonromano
Thank
00:00:27
The Whole Ballgame
Loud, messy, and way too on the nose for a season already wobbling toward catastrophe. When the umpires snagged Bell's bat and locked it up like some mob witness, it felt less like a rules violation and more like the universe winking and saying, yeah, this season ain't gonna make it, buddy.
00:00:46
The Whole Ballgame
And of course, the infamous heist to swap the bat only made it better, because nothing says high-caliber professional sport like sending your pitcher through an air duct mission that would make Mission Impossible blush.
00:01:00
The Whole Ballgame
Meanwhile, the rest of the league was chugging along toward the strike like a train without with the brakes cut, everyone pretending things were fine while the tracks were clearly on fire, and for White Sox fans, oh, the pain.
00:01:15
The Whole Ballgame
We were riding high, really high, on the dream of bringing a World Series to the South Side for the first time since TVs had antennas and everyone smoked indoors.
00:01:26
The Whole Ballgame
Frank Thomas was an MVP machine. The team looked loaded and hope was so thick in the air you could have corked that too. But hey, Why let a little thing like labor Armageddon get in the way of destiny? So when Bell's bat blew up into national comedy, it felt like a perfect metaphor for the whole year.
00:01:46
The Whole Ballgame
A season full of swagger, power, and ridiculous potential, suddenly exposed as hollow and doomed to snap in half. The socks were primed for glory, and instead fans got a big steaming pile of what could have been.
00:02:01
The Whole Ballgame
Bell's bat was just the opening act of the 1994 baseball tragedy, proof that no matter how strong you look, how confident you feel, or how much you cheat, sometimes the baseball gods just decide to cork your entire year.
Podcast Format and Sponsor Jokes
00:02:17
The Whole Ballgame
It's a return to form this week for the whole ballgame. How we doing, Blakers?
00:02:27
lifegoesonromano
Thank you.
00:02:48
lifegoesonromano
We're back, Gabe. We're back on our shit once again. Back on track. Dialed in who knows. But um one thing is for certain, I've done nothing wrong since the last time we talked.
00:03:09
The Whole Ballgame
that's That's good to know. Appreciate it. Before we get much further into this podcast, we need to talk about our sponsors. Blake, go ahead.
00:03:17
lifegoesonromano
fine folks at Flying Horse have replaced our bastards at Muhammad's and we're gonna... Gene's drinking Mr. Pibb Zero, or as I should call him, Dad Krasnoff.
00:03:30
lifegoesonromano
He's in his...
00:03:30
The Whole Ballgame
It's me. I'm back. It's
00:03:32
lifegoesonromano
Dad Krasnoff back in his dad shirt in his bare naked, empty fucking house. It's depressing as shit to look at.
00:03:38
The Whole Ballgame
It is.
00:03:39
lifegoesonromano
He
00:03:40
The Whole Ballgame
There's some serious echo too. So apologies for that.
00:03:44
lifegoesonromano
is very barren. Nothing's on the wall. Rick's bed has a bunch of just black boxes.
00:03:50
The Whole Ballgame
That's a, that is a printer on on his bed. Uh-uh.
00:03:55
lifegoesonromano
was going to say maybe an Xbox 360. Or no, I meant like an Xbox, not a 360. But, uh, so, yeah, this was, uh, this is probably the last time you ever come to the six folks that pay and the other freeloaders that fucking listen. Um, and that humble abode of yours, won't it?
00:04:16
The Whole Ballgame
It will indeed. And what a way to go out talking about ah two of my favorite White Sox of all time.
Albert Bell's Career and Identity
00:04:25
lifegoesonromano
Well, yeah, yeah, true. I guess Albert did end up there. Albert and the Officer Cuck himself, Mr. Ron Karkovice, the forever young one.
00:04:38
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, 30 seed retired at 33 years old, this sumbitch.
00:04:43
lifegoesonromano
He looked like he was 43 for his entire career. That disgusting, gross mustache his.
00:04:47
The Whole Ballgame
He did.
00:04:50
The Whole Ballgame
And all those fucking pockmarks on his face. Like that Hooters waitress that we've talked about so many times here on the program.
00:04:58
lifegoesonromano
Didn't we talk about Clark's Deli one time? I can't remember.
00:05:01
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, yeah, the one in Florida.
00:05:01
lifegoesonromano
Mm-hmm.
00:05:04
The Whole Ballgame
um
00:05:05
lifegoesonromano
We had a sandwich place.
00:05:06
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, Ron's big time deli or Ron's big grand something. Grand Slam deli or something like that.
00:05:15
lifegoesonromano
I think it was Ron's Big Fucking Beef.
00:05:22
The Whole Ballgame
You know, I got a text today. um i i actually, I talked to an old buddy of mine to get them some information. they a
00:05:33
lifegoesonromano
That sounds dangerous.
00:05:33
The Whole Ballgame
Spoiler alert, everybody. Spoiler alert, everybody. They're they're trying to get Ferrigno on the podcast. So, mm-hmm.
00:05:41
lifegoesonromano
oh shit.
00:05:44
lifegoesonromano
Do they know that he's deaf or whatever?
00:05:48
The Whole Ballgame
I'm going to pronounce death. That's how my dad always said it.
00:05:51
lifegoesonromano
Nah, I think he's still alive. I mean, i don't think i don't think he can talk well. That's what I'm saying.
00:05:58
The Whole Ballgame
Anybody want a peanut? ah Yeah, if anybody's seen I Love You Man, you know exactly how well he speaks. so
00:06:04
lifegoesonromano
I don't want to hear Lou Frigno on a podcast, to be honest with you.
00:06:08
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, what going to do? We've probably given it more air time than it deserves at this point.
00:06:11
lifegoesonromano
Not listen to it.
00:06:12
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, there you go. Anyway. So we got Kark as our kisser this week, ah but more importantly, we got to talk about the man of the hour, ah Albert Franklin.
00:06:27
The Whole Ballgame
I'm sorry, Albert, Albert Jawan Bell.
00:06:32
lifegoesonromano
also known as, I believe, Albert Joey Bell.
00:06:36
The Whole Ballgame
Correct. Yes. Albert Joey. He went by Joey. I think the first year who was in the league, as a matter of fact.
00:06:41
lifegoesonromano
If you look up his rookie cards, it says Joey Bell on them, which leads me to a very important matter of distinction because we received such positive feedback last week, um or not last week.
00:06:44
The Whole Ballgame
They do indeed.
00:06:58
lifegoesonromano
I mean, I guess it was probably.
00:06:59
The Whole Ballgame
been like two weeks, yeah, it's fine.
00:06:59
lifegoesonromano
Yeah. um When we had, for patrons ah only, um Reverend Brown from the hit movie Coming to America came on and we dug we dug deep and and brought him in and he helped to portray the none other than Neon Deon Sanders. And since that was such a success, I thought, hey, let's do that again with Albert
00:07:30
lifegoesonromano
Joey Bell.
00:07:32
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, we we so we spent every dime of the the patreon
00:07:36
lifegoesonromano
No, not we, we.
00:07:37
The Whole Ballgame
is we spent every dime of the Patreon money on on the Good Reverend. And so this ah this week we dug in for the first time to that Spreaker ad money and and and sent that out the door so that the the podcast could be a little bit better for you.
00:07:49
lifegoesonromano
Okay.
00:07:55
The Whole Ballgame
So who who this is a surprise to me, everybody, as well. So who who you who'd you line up for us there, guest booker?
00:08:02
lifegoesonromano
I'll just say thank God for election season 2024 when our ad money shot through the roof. I think we made $10 in November. All right. That was a peak month for us.
00:08:14
lifegoesonromano
But
00:08:14
The Whole Ballgame
Unbelievable. Just chef's kiss.
00:08:18
lifegoesonromano
um I tell you what, I'm going to let you get going and then I'm going to bring him in
00:08:24
The Whole Ballgame
Wonderful.
00:08:25
lifegoesonromano
And I think we'll we'll do it that way. How's that sound? I'll get him settled in.
00:08:30
The Whole Ballgame
I love it. This sounds great to me. ah Without further ado, we're going to talk Albert Bell. But before we get into it, I want to just play this little fun piece for you that I found on the internet just to get us in the right frame of mind.
00:09:13
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, so that's ah that's from 1994. That was where we were living.
Surprise Appearance and Early Life
00:09:21
The Whole Ballgame
Hello?
00:09:21
lifegoesonromano
Oh, I might be here.
00:09:22
The Whole Ballgame
yeah yep are they that Are they here?
00:09:25
lifegoesonromano
Let me, let me, I gotta go and bring, let me hang on.
00:09:25
The Whole Ballgame
Shit. Okay, yeah, go ahead. I'll i'll jump into this.
00:09:29
lifegoesonromano
No, no, hang on. I'll get him in here from the start. Fuck it. Come on. Yeah. Yeah. Over here. Over there. Yeah. That's where want you
00:09:40
lifegoesonromano
You want me over here That's right. Joey Butterfuko over here That's right. Ladies and gentlemen, one Joey to another Joey.
00:09:52
lifegoesonromano
None other then the than the express driver of the Lolita Express, Mr. Joey Buttafuku. Hey, Gabe!
00:10:02
The Whole Ballgame
My goodness. yeah Yes, sir. Yes, Mr.
00:10:06
lifegoesonromano
joe Joey Buttafuku over here!
00:10:07
The Whole Ballgame
Buttafuku. Yes.
00:10:11
The Whole Ballgame
I'm so ah glad you're here, Mr. Buttafuku. This is going to be great.
00:10:19
lifegoesonromano
No, I'm over here. Joey Butterfuoco over here.
00:10:23
The Whole Ballgame
Okay. We... we
00:10:26
lifegoesonromano
you know, Gabe, Gabe, let me stop before you get going here. Let me explain something, because it's Joey Butterfuoco over here. You know, it's a... You remember the Lolita, the Long Island Lolita, Gabe?
00:10:40
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, yeah, Amy Fisher, sure.
00:10:41
lifegoesonromano
Yeah, we're back, brother. We're back. It's a big time for us Lolita fans, brother. We're getting the band back together. All right.
00:10:56
lifegoesonromano
Joey Buttafuoco over here.
00:11:01
The Whole Ballgame
Joey Buttafuoco over there. What a wonderful world we live in. I'm so excited that Joey's going to join us today. ah if If you want to read along ah with ah with the story that is to come, ah we we hearken back to our glory days here on the ballgame.
00:11:20
The Whole Ballgame
And we we headed over to Sabre.org as part of the biography project. And we have ah an article written by our good, close, personal friend of the podcast, Tom Wancho.
00:11:35
The Whole Ballgame
ah who who really put his his his work together here on on the biography of Albert Bell. So without further ado, we're going to head into this thing and we'll see where it leads.
00:11:49
The Whole Ballgame
ah My guess is we're going to hear from any number of pedophiles throughout the evening. So stay tuned. And here we go.
00:11:57
lifegoesonromano
Ayo, oway!
00:12:01
The Whole Ballgame
Joey is extremely smart. He's great with figures and crossword puzzles. He could spell backwards when he was five. Did you know my Joey was an Eagle Scout?
00:12:13
The Whole Ballgame
He took French in high school, finished sixth in his class of 266. I brought him up to excel in everything. He wants to be perfect.
00:12:25
The Whole Ballgame
That from Carrie Bell, Albert Bell's mother, in Sports Illustrated, June 24th.
Controversies of Albert Bell
00:12:32
The Whole Ballgame
1991. Strike one. It's impossible to be perfect or bat 1,000 over the course of a 12-year Major League Baseball career, which leads to... Sometimes he throws coolers around.
00:12:47
The Whole Ballgame
Sometimes he breaks phones in the clubhouse. There are cookies all over the place. This guy is so unbelievable. He can go three for three, going into his at-bat and pop out, and he's still throwing cookies around.
00:12:58
lifegoesonromano
Thank you.
00:13:01
The Whole Ballgame
That from former Indians teammate Omar Vizquel to the Associated Press, October 23, 1995. Strike two, in Bell's case, imperfection led to temper tantrums, shattering locker room sinks, ripping thermostats off clubhouse walls, and firing expletives at media members, which amped up Bell's anger inside and Throughout his major league career, Albert Bell has demonstrated a distinct pattern.
00:13:32
The Whole Ballgame
When the surly slugger gets P.O.ed, baseballs get K.O.ed. That from Mark Bechtel of Sports Illustrated, June 27, 1998.
00:13:42
The Whole Ballgame
During his tumultuous career, Albert Jovan Bell, born August 25, 1966, Shreveport, Louisiana,
00:13:53
The Whole Ballgame
almost always played pissed off, and his career statistics, a.295 batting average, a.369 on-base percentage, and averages of 32 home runs and 103 RBI per season second that emotion.
00:14:09
The Whole Ballgame
But when discussing Bell and or his playing career, words speak louder than numbers. Take your pick of adjectives, abusive and articulate, dominant and divisive, intimidating and intellectual, consistent and cursing.
00:14:27
The Whole Ballgame
Bell has fond memories of growing up.
00:14:31
lifegoesonromano
This is my pot, Gabe.
00:14:33
The Whole Ballgame
This is your part, Joe.
00:14:34
lifegoesonromano
I'm a road-ready professional, brother. Let me take a drink of Blake's Monster real quick and clear my pipes.
00:14:42
lifegoesonromano
All right.
00:14:45
lifegoesonromano
Hey.
00:14:48
lifegoesonromano
I was blessed to grow up with parents who possess different strengths and skills.
00:14:54
The Whole Ballgame
Bell wrote in an op-ed piece for the Baltimore Sun.
00:15:00
lifegoesonromano
Take two. Mom was and still the glue of the family, but Dad, parentheses, also named Albert, was the enforcer and silent pillar of strength.
00:15:05
The Whole Ballgame
Also named Albert.
00:15:14
The Whole Ballgame
Mom encouraged academics and culture and dad always promoted athletics. Oh, no, that was still you. Sorry, go back. You can you can do that again.
00:15:23
lifegoesonromano
Take three. Mom encouraged academics and culture, and Dad always promoted athletics. Both gave me and my brother all they had.
00:15:34
lifegoesonromano
Joey Buttafuoco over here.
00:15:37
The Whole Ballgame
Bell's mother was a math teacher and his father, in addition to his football and baseball coaching duties at another Shreveport area high school, was also an educator. The elder Bell pushed his twin boys hard.
00:15:51
The Whole Ballgame
To this day, I believe my late night batting practices during high school years were what made the difference in helping me arrive at the major leagues.
00:16:03
The Whole Ballgame
Wait a second. I thought for sure that was his dad.
00:16:05
lifegoesonromano
Sorry, Gabe, that was my part. I was over here doing cocaine on the Lolita Express.
00:16:07
The Whole Ballgame
I thought...
00:16:11
The Whole Ballgame
I thought for sure that was his dad speaking based on the way that they set that up. Anyway.
00:16:15
lifegoesonromano
I tell you what, bro, they just got a shitty writer, a dude.
00:16:18
The Whole Ballgame
Well, you know, you can't expect much from old Wancho.
00:16:24
lifegoesonromano
take four. To this day, I believe my late night batting practices during my high school years were what made the difference in helping me arrive at the major leagues. After high school baseball practice, I would go home, eat dinner, and tackle homework.
00:16:41
lifegoesonromano
Dad would usually arrive home after a long practice with his high school team. After talking to mom for a few minutes, he would poke his head in our room, enjoy Butterfuko's room over here. That was our signal.
00:16:55
lifegoesonromano
My brother and I would immediately bounce up and jog out of the house up to the local junior high with dad driving behind us. Dad would throw hundreds of balls, ayo, ayo, all night long.
00:17:10
The Whole Ballgame
After an all-state career and National Honor Society merit at Huntington High School in Shreveport, Bell attended Louisiana State University from 1985 to 87 in Baton Rouge, where he set school career marks for home runs with 49, total bases with 392, and RBIs with 172. But Bell's inability to control his temper...
00:17:31
The Whole Ballgame
and seventy two but bell's inability to control his temper appeared on a public stage for the first time during a game at the 1987 Southeast Conference Tournament.
00:17:44
The Whole Ballgame
Bell attempted to run down a fan who was shouting racial slurs at him. Two of his teammates tackled him, and he was suspended for the College World Series by Tigers coach Skip Burtman.
00:17:59
The Whole Ballgame
Tick, tick, tick. It wasn't the first time... Excuse me. It wasn't the last time Bell confronted a fan.
00:18:10
The Whole Ballgame
On May 11th, 1991, while with the Indians, he drilled Jeff Pillar in the chest with a fastball fired from 15 feet away after Pillar yelled, "'Hey, Joey!
00:18:19
lifegoesonromano
Thank you.
00:18:23
The Whole Ballgame
Keg party at my house after the game!' Two years later, on September 23rd, 1993, Bell was with some teammates at a Cleveland nightclub when he hit William Kelly twice in the face with a ping pong paddle after Kelly chanted, Joey, Joey, the name went Bell went by before his 10-week stay at an addiction treatment center in 1990.
00:18:54
The Whole Ballgame
Also, just for the before I go any further, the sentence,
00:19:01
The Whole Ballgame
hit William Kelly twice in the face with a ping pong paddle, is just, you know, beautifully written. The Indians selected Bell with their first pick in the 1987 amateur draft.
00:19:14
The Whole Ballgame
Bell spent parts of five seasons in the minor leagues, splitting time between Kingston and Waterloo during the 1988 campaign.
00:19:24
The Whole Ballgame
Bell belted 17 home runs with 54 RBIs and a.293 batting average. The next year, he jacked 20 home runs for AA Canton Akron, earning a promotion to the major leagues.
00:19:38
The Whole Ballgame
In 62 games, Bell struggled with his batting average,.225, but did club seven home runs while driving in 37. He was only 22 years old.
00:19:50
The Whole Ballgame
Seems really young, Joey.
00:19:54
lifegoesonromano
I mean, we're all 22 at one time, aren't we, Gabe?
00:19:58
The Whole Ballgame
Good point. Bell's 1990 season was interrupted by his rehab stay. Re-emerging clean, Joey Bell began going by his given first name, Albert, upon leaving the facility.
00:20:11
The Whole Ballgame
he made the try He made the Tribe's roster for good at the start season. he slammed home runs in games that year, while batting to eighty two he was just getting started From 1992 to 1996, there was no more dominant or feared batsman than Bell.
00:20:34
The Whole Ballgame
His five-year averages of.303, 41 home runs, and 123 RBIs were neither equaled nor surpassed by anyone. He was named to four American League All-Star teams during that span.
00:20:49
The Whole Ballgame
Of course, Bell being Bell, there were some speed bumps along the way. In the strike-shortened 1994 season,
00:20:59
The Whole Ballgame
teams refuse Parenthetically, teams refused to take the field for any of the scheduled August 12th contests and forced the cancellation of the rest of the season and the World Series. He had one of his bats confiscated by the umpiring crew during a July 15th Central Division showdown with the Chicago White Sox.
00:21:18
The Whole Ballgame
Chicago manager Gene Lamont, acting on a tip, asked the umpires to check the bat for cork. See, a bat filled with cork can be swung faster, because the cork makes it lighter and gives the baseball lift.
00:21:33
The Whole Ballgame
Following league policy, the umpires locked the bat in the umpire's room. After the incident, Cleveland pitcher Jason Grimsley, knowing that corked bats were part of Bell's arsenal, snaked his way through a maze of ductwork and ceiling tiles in the bowels of Comiskey Park.
00:21:54
The Whole Ballgame
My heart was going a thousand miles an hour, Grimsley said. And in the umpire's dressing room, I went, I just rolled the dice, a crapshoot.
00:22:07
The Whole Ballgame
Grimsley said he quickly dropped from the top of a refrigerator to a counter and down and immediately spotted Bell's bat in an umpire's locker. He made the exchange, as imperfect as it was.
00:22:20
The Whole Ballgame
According to other members of the Indians organization, Grimsley had to switch Bell's bat with one belonging to Paul Sorrento because every one of ball's ba Bell's bats was corked.
00:22:31
The Whole Ballgame
As often was the end game with Bell, he was suspended for seven games, reduced from 10. Hey, as an aside here, Blake, I got to ask you, got to imagine that these days, if somebody had a corked bat, seven games ah would be a slap on the wrist.
00:22:39
lifegoesonromano
Hey, yo. Yeah.
00:22:52
The Whole Ballgame
I'm thinking half the they'd be gone for half the year.
00:22:55
lifegoesonromano
Middle East, I'm sure. yeah there's no, they would be just, yeah, they would go crazy with it. But as I was also you know, along those lines, i was looking at, um,
00:23:03
The Whole Ballgame
During...
00:23:09
lifegoesonromano
photos earlier of Albert and particularly the one I posted on our Patreon and he's he's got the um the bat like broken in half in his hands and just looking like a just a he's a bad motherfucker and then I thought about what they look like today and it made me sad because you just have a bunch of stupid looking fucking dipshits with beards or kids, ah you know, guys with just fucking looking like goddamn Madden Kaa from, you know, whatever, just random generated faces. And and all these fucking guys had distinct, hurt like Albert was different than Ken.
00:24:07
lifegoesonromano
And Ken and Frank was different. And then you have Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn and Ozzy.
00:24:13
The Whole Ballgame
Well, I sure am glad you brought that up, Blake.
00:24:16
lifegoesonromano
oh
00:24:16
The Whole Ballgame
I was very different, being that I was a robot and all.
00:24:20
lifegoesonromano
Yes. Thank you, KG.
00:24:21
The Whole Ballgame
Nobody ever checked my bat for cork, though.
00:24:25
lifegoesonromano
Thank you, KG24. But... the
00:24:28
The Whole Ballgame
Beep boop beep. Daddy! Daddy!
00:24:32
lifegoesonromano
i fucking I'm fucking... And Brick Baker comes back. Oh, God. But the... the Like... Gwen.
00:24:43
lifegoesonromano
And you can go on and on. Sandberg. Fucking Pudge Rodriguez.
00:24:50
The Whole Ballgame
Archetypes.
00:24:50
lifegoesonromano
Kirby. Yes, this is exactly that.
00:24:51
The Whole Ballgame
Archetypes.
00:24:52
lifegoesonromano
That's it. You nailed it. and And... It's just... i You know... Otani stands on his own, obviously, because he's... greatest fucking baseball player ever.
00:25:05
lifegoesonromano
But outside of that, then there's just nothing. It's just very bland and there's nothing special. And
00:25:13
The Whole Ballgame
Even the stuff that they try to tell you is special is not, you know, Bryce Harper or ah even Freddie Freeman to some degree or Ronald Acuna Jr. or it's all It's all kind of just copy and paste of an amalgamation of three different AI generated humans.
00:25:36
lifegoesonromano
You can't have anything special when everything's the same.
00:25:39
The Whole Ballgame
Mm-hmm.
00:25:40
lifegoesonromano
So that's the problem. Everything's the same and everything's moving towards being more the same than ever. just a Yeah, it's just about... because that's i guess that's the end game of efficiency anyway. to Just boil everything down to one thing. and You can just do one fucking thing everything will work.
00:26:02
lifegoesonromano
so Because fuck it.
00:26:06
The Whole Ballgame
During the strike-delayed 1995 campaign, Bell became the only major leaguer to sock 50 home runs and 50 doubles in the same season, which was all of 144 games.
00:26:18
The Whole Ballgame
Bell played in 143 of them. He tied Babe Ruth's 1927 record for home runs in September with 17. Like Ruth, Bell was the best player on the best team in baseball.
00:26:33
The Whole Ballgame
Despite his offensive fireworks, Bell placed second in the 1995 American League Most Valuable Player race behind the inferior stat line of first baseman Mo Vaughn.
00:26:45
lifegoesonromano
Actually, I'm surprised I got as many votes as I did.
00:26:50
The Whole Ballgame
Said Bell, who received 11 first place votes to Vaughn's 12th.
00:26:55
lifegoesonromano
I'm kind of upset that they gave baseball writers all this power when other media people who were former ballplayers should be involved in the voting too. Maybe it should be 50-50 with those guys and writers. Or maybe not let the baseball writers vote at all. Whoa.
00:27:15
The Whole Ballgame
The Indians ended a 41-year World Series drought when they faced the Atlanta Braves in their future Hall of Fame-loaded starting rotation of Tom Glavin, John Smoltz, and Greg Maddox.
00:27:27
The Whole Ballgame
Though the Braves won in six games, Bell made headlines, although not necessarily for his offensive prowess. Though he hit just.235, Bell had two home runs, four RBIs, four runs scored, and seven walks for an eye-popping 1.047 OPS.
00:27:47
The Whole Ballgame
During batting practice before Game 3, which for Bell was akin to a church service, he became annoyed at the number of media members in the Indians' dugout. Are you sensing a through line here?
00:28:01
The Whole Ballgame
According to NBC reporter Hannah Storm, Initially, he screamed at all the media to get out of the dugout in that language that was horrible. Two or three men left. They were frightened.
00:28:13
The Whole Ballgame
I was the only one who stayed because I was waiting to do an interview with Kenny Lofton. When I stayed, he directed his tirade at me.
00:28:22
lifegoesonromano
Whoa!
00:28:25
The Whole Ballgame
Major League Baseball was slow to react. While it could not have approved of Bell's actions, the strong arm of the players' union lurked in the background. For his part, Bell felt he should be neither fined nor suspended.
00:28:39
lifegoesonromano
If that's what Bud wants to do, I'll just tell him that's bullshit. If I gotta to be suspended for trying to get back some batting space, that he as commissioner should have given us in the first place.
00:28:53
The Whole Ballgame
Bell's logic was not shared by Selig. He ruled on February 29, 1996, that the outfielder had a choice, $10,000 fine or a 10-day suspension.
00:29:05
The Whole Ballgame
Bell reluctantly chose the former punishment. Bell's agent, Arne Tellem, Jesus Christ.
00:29:17
The Whole Ballgame
Tellem, comma, Arne, not surprisingly, agreed with his client. and This fine is who without any precedent and is totally unjustified, he said.
00:29:29
The Whole Ballgame
But we had no choice but to accept the fine, given that Selig had no remedy to go before someone neutral to hear this matter. It would be like Marsha Clark deciding the fate of O.J. Simpson.
00:29:47
The Whole Ballgame
Interesting that he plays the race card there. i wonder what that's all about.
00:29:50
lifegoesonromano
Well, you gotta remember too, it's also 1995.
00:29:53
The Whole Ballgame
Of course.
00:29:53
lifegoesonromano
So, you know.
00:29:54
The Whole Ballgame
Biggest thing in the world. ah Bell's...
00:29:56
lifegoesonromano
Lance...
00:29:56
The Whole Ballgame
neck
00:29:57
lifegoesonromano
Lanceito is on Saturday Night Live's Mike Myers, okay?
00:30:03
The Whole Ballgame
During his 1996 free... I'm sorry. Bell's 1995 was not over until Halloween night when he jumped into his truck to chase down... Fuck me.
00:30:15
The Whole Ballgame
Oh, God.
00:30:16
lifegoesonromano
wow
00:30:17
The Whole Ballgame
this is the This is the best part of not reading these things ahead. Bell's 19...
00:30:22
lifegoesonromano
Always, always.
00:30:22
The Whole Ballgame
bell's name
00:30:23
lifegoesonromano
You never, I i didn't, eat I've never, I was sitting there and it's like, yeah, I mean, you think about it anymore because it's so much better when you don't.
00:30:34
The Whole Ballgame
Bell's 1995 was not over until Halloween night when he jumped into his truck to chase down kids from his neighborhood who had egged his house. He was convicted of reckless operation of a motor vehicle and fined $1,000 for that bit of horseplay.
00:30:54
The Whole Ballgame
That's a donkey. During the 1990s...
00:30:56
lifegoesonromano
yeah See, most people have to read this shit ahead because they can't do what we do.
00:30:57
The Whole Ballgame
During the... Hmm.
00:31:01
lifegoesonromano
They can't go... yeah
00:31:03
The Whole Ballgame
Hmm. During the 1996 free agent walk year with the Indians, Bell continued to get the job done on the field. His 148 RBIs led the league. He clubbed 48 homers while batting 311.
00:31:17
The Whole Ballgame
Bell received his fourth straight silver slugger, finished third in the MVP voting, and won a five-year, $55 million dollars contract with the Chicago White Sox. Just like the Babe, Bell was now baseball's highest paid player.
00:31:32
lifegoesonromano
Well, I just said, quite frankly, maybe we can get this done with Albert.
00:31:38
The Whole Ballgame
Thank you.
00:31:40
lifegoesonromano
You're welcome, Gabe.
00:31:40
The Whole Ballgame
be
00:31:41
lifegoesonromano
It's been a while.
00:31:41
The Whole Ballgame
well
00:31:42
lifegoesonromano
How you doing?
00:31:42
The Whole Ballgame
yeah that's
00:31:43
lifegoesonromano
Well, let's talk baseball.
00:31:45
The Whole Ballgame
um I'm worse now than I was, but that has almost everything to do with the fact that you showed up. so
00:31:53
lifegoesonromano
Well, that's good. Hey, you gonna come on down to the park this season?
00:31:57
The Whole Ballgame
Absolutely not. I am now a Detroit Tigers fan.
00:32:01
lifegoesonromano
want What, what? Nah, i out you don't mean that now, pal.
00:32:04
The Whole Ballgame
they give it They give a shit about their ball club. That's all.
00:32:08
lifegoesonromano
look like how long how Look at how long I'm on this team. You can't say i don't give a shit about my team.
00:32:13
The Whole Ballgame
I can. i say i say it's you're done with it and you don't want to hold give up the power. You don't give a shit about the baseball. You give a shit about the power.
00:32:20
lifegoesonromano
i mean, I could be doing a number things. I could do anything I want right now, and I'm here trying to win a championship with the Chicago White Sox.
00:32:26
The Whole Ballgame
right. are Are you? Are you? Oh my goodness. I had no idea. I take back everything I said. I'm so glad you're trying to win a championship by by grossly overpaying one guy who couldn't even make a starting roster in Boston.
00:32:43
lifegoesonromano
let me Let me ask you this, my friend. How many millions of your dollars have you put into your baseball team?
00:32:56
The Whole Ballgame
I understand what you're trying to say.
00:32:58
lifegoesonromano
It's a simple question.
00:32:58
The Whole Ballgame
The problem, the the problem,
00:32:59
lifegoesonromano
How many millions?
00:33:01
The Whole Ballgame
The problem, sir.
00:33:02
lifegoesonromano
You don't need to take in some weird direction to where you have a point.
00:33:02
The Whole Ballgame
773.
00:33:05
lifegoesonromano
How many millions have you put into your baseball team?
00:33:05
The Whole Ballgame
the problems there
00:33:12
lifegoesonromano
It's a simple question, you stupid bitch.
00:33:18
The Whole Ballgame
seven hundred and seventy three
00:33:22
lifegoesonromano
Isn't that the amount of news that Fox News had the amount of money fox news had to pay to the american for lying to the American people, Gabe?
00:33:31
The Whole Ballgame
That has nothing to do with anything, Jerry. Please try to maintain a focus here.
00:33:37
lifegoesonromano
no, you just said 7 Thurs. I'm a numbers guy because you know why. Because I actually have millions. I'm not just saying shit coming out of my ass mouth like you.
00:33:51
lifegoesonromano
you know what? I'm going to go dig up Kraus and we're going to bring a fucking title to this city. And when we do, I'm going to put your big fat face up on the front of the field that says, don't let this pervert in ever.
00:34:03
The Whole Ballgame
Wonderful.
00:34:08
lifegoesonromano
But his daughter can come in for free.
00:34:10
The Whole Ballgame
Wonderful. Perfect. For Bell, the move to a division rival represents...
00:34:15
lifegoesonromano
Dang, man, that's cold, man, dude.
00:34:20
The Whole Ballgame
The move to
00:34:28
lifegoesonromano
Credence on the... What? Oh, dang, man, no.
00:34:34
The Whole Ballgame
For Bell, the move to a division rival represented a new beginning after 10 years and a lot of uneasiness with the same organization. His unhappiness over the Indians' 95-96 offseason moves was still evident one year later.
00:34:49
lifegoesonromano
After we went to the World Series, I told them, please keep this team together. We'll win the World Series a few times, but only if it's kept together. All they needed to do was re-sign Pauly Sorrento and Kenny Hill, and our offseason moves would have been over.
00:34:58
The Whole Ballgame
All in.
00:35:04
lifegoesonromano
We would have been set. We would have brought back the same team, and I'm telling you, we would have won more games and gone back to the series and won it. When you go to a World Series, you can't take it with the chemistry of a team because you fight so hard to get that kind of chemistry.
00:35:21
The Whole Ballgame
At least one of Bell's ex-teammates begged to differ. I got tired of answering questions about him, said shortstop Omar Vizquel during 1997 spring training. He was all in his own little world. He's a great player, but he didn't contribute to team chemistry, and team chemistry che chemistrymistry is important.
00:35:43
The Whole Ballgame
Indians manager Mark Hargrove said some of the things surrounding Albert were not good, but you take the good with the bad. The 1997 Indians did not win as many games as Bell's last tribe team had, but still captured the AL Central by six games over his new squad.
00:36:04
The Whole Ballgame
After taking care of the Yankees and Orioles in the playoffs, the Clevelanders advanced to their second World Series in three years, dropping Game 7 and the series to the Florida Marlins.
00:36:16
The Whole Ballgame
Bell had his first of two productive seasons with Chicago. In 1997, he recorded his sixth consecutive season of hitting at least 30 home runs and driving in at least 100 runs with 116. The year after, he increased that streak to seven years with 49 homers and a career-high 152 RBI.
00:36:39
The Whole Ballgame
In two years, the White Sox slugger compiled a.301 batting average, and at age 31, he was among the game's elite and raised his salary ante to get paid like it.
00:36:51
The Whole Ballgame
Bell's original contract with the White Sox called for him to remain among baseball's top three paid players. The White Sox refused to negotiate, giving Bell and his agent a narrow window to shop his services.
00:37:04
The Whole Ballgame
they found a willing suitor in the Baltimore Orioles, who showered Bell with a five-year, $65 million dollars contract. As he had done with the White Sox, Bell played nice with the media at the start of his Orioles career, granting interviews, attending Baltimore's Fan Fest during the 1999 winter, and signing autographs during spring training. But a slow start at the plate,
00:37:31
The Whole Ballgame
a 200 batting average with one RBI, led him to announce March 14, 1999, that...
00:37:40
lifegoesonromano
I'm done with you guys.
00:37:43
The Whole Ballgame
And just like that, three months of goodwill went right down the clubhouse drain. He played two years in Baltimore before an arthritic right hip condition forced him to retire on March 11, 2001.
00:37:56
The Whole Ballgame
He was productive up until the end, averaging 30 home runs and 110 RBIs per season with the Orioles. Bell considered RBIs the most important offensive statistic in the game.
00:38:11
lifegoesonromano
Hitting for a high average is nice. So he's hitting a ton of home runs. But driving in a run a game is awesome.
00:38:24
The Whole Ballgame
It's too bad he did not think of media relations as highly. When his name first appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2006, he received a minuscule 7.7% of the vote.
00:38:36
The Whole Ballgame
Translated, 520 ballots were cast, and Bell was recognized on just 40 of them. His second and final year on the ballot came in 2007, when he collected just 3.5% of the vote.
00:38:49
The Whole Ballgame
Needing 5% to remain on the ballot, Bell was off his ticket to Cooperstown for good. Bell's career average 162-game season compares favorably with those of others already in the Hall, including Willie Stargel, Hack Wilson, Harmon Killebrew, Tony Perez, and Jim Rice.
00:39:13
The Whole Ballgame
So why was he bounced from the ballot after just two seasons? His numbers were good, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer said. i thought if he played one or two more years at a high level, i'd have I'd have to vote for him. But he didn't.
00:39:27
The Whole Ballgame
He was a bad guy. And what goes around comes around. Wasn't just us. He would sit there and dare people to talk to him. huh He would abuse the clubhouse guy, the PR guy, everybody.
00:39:41
lifegoesonromano
Barry and p Tommy and Zuzu.
00:39:46
The Whole Ballgame
According to Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune, who covered Bell during the 98th season, he was even a menace to Sox employees. He once cursed out a broadcaster for having the gall to enter the trainer's room to get an aspirin, and he belittled hitting instructor Von Joshua by for forgetting forbidding him from discussing his swing with reporters.
00:40:08
The Whole Ballgame
Bell mellowed, but only after he was retired. He visited the Indians' training camps in 2012 and 2015,
00:40:16
The Whole Ballgame
The father of three girls, he lives with his phoenix excuse me he lives with his family near Phoenix.
00:40:24
lifegoesonromano
I got a Phoenix, brother. Have you ever seen one of those? They're pretty cool, dude. They're on fire!
00:40:31
The Whole Ballgame
In 2016, Bell was elected to the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame.
00:40:41
lifegoesonromano
ah yes
00:40:44
The Whole Ballgame
Citing family commitments, he declined to attend the ceremony.
00:40:50
The Whole Ballgame
Bear Bell never met a fastball he couldn't crush or a rider he wouldn't berate. He played by his own rules, answering to no one.
00:41:01
The Whole Ballgame
Maybe that's why one of the best players in Cleveland Indians history is not remembered fondly, but frownly.
00:41:13
The Whole Ballgame
What a terrible way to end this article. Jesus Christ, Wancho.
00:41:17
lifegoesonromano
The worst fucking just dog shit ending ever. Just shit all over everything you just wrote.
00:41:21
The Whole Ballgame
Jesus Christ.
00:41:26
The Whole Ballgame
like Like, it's not even...
00:41:26
lifegoesonromano
The fucking pun.
00:41:28
The Whole Ballgame
No, it's not even... Like, it would be a pun if Fond was the opposite of Frown.
00:41:36
lifegoesonromano
Okay, well...
00:41:37
The Whole Ballgame
He's a fucking... dickp He's a dipshit.
00:41:39
lifegoesonromano
Deconstructed. i Whatever.
00:41:41
The Whole Ballgame
Anyway, sorry. yeah Look, I would love to get an understanding, especially since you're in Phoenix, of whether you've seen the portal to hell open up over top Bob's house at any point, Albert. I know you probably live in relative close proximity to where where our good friend a Bob... ah What's his last name again?
00:42:08
lifegoesonromano
Horner.
00:42:09
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, Bob Horner lives.
00:42:12
lifegoesonromano
Yeah, I think Bob lives out in the desert part of a Phoenix. I live over in the white guy part.
00:42:19
The Whole Ballgame
Got it. Okay, that makes a lot more sense. Wonderful.
00:42:22
lifegoesonromano
They don't mess with me, though.
00:42:24
The Whole Ballgame
No, and nor should they.
00:42:26
lifegoesonromano
I live down the street from Nasty Nate, brah.
00:42:33
The Whole Ballgame
Have you ever eaten at Filiberto's?
00:42:35
lifegoesonromano
I've never felt Berto's anything, dude. Nasty Nate's wife has got a banging bod, brah.
00:42:44
The Whole Ballgame
How old is Nasty Nate's wife?
00:42:46
lifegoesonromano
don't know, dude. Like 30, maybe, dude. I don't know. Younger than his old ass.
00:42:55
The Whole Ballgame
Fantastic. Do you have anything else to add to the conversation, Joey?
00:43:02
lifegoesonromano
Lolita Express 25, brah. We back. We up again. Let them know. We on the train, brah.
00:43:15
The Whole Ballgame
Fantastic. Ladies and gentlemen, Albert Bell on the whole ballgame.
00:43:22
lifegoesonromano
Well, naturally. what a I'd say we're two for two. What a great, great fucking creative direction this has been with the guests.
00:43:30
The Whole Ballgame
I got to tell you, i I expected a lot of things in terms of who we were going to get for this week. i Joey Buttafuoco was not in the top 500. Nope.
00:43:48
lifegoesonromano
No, no.
00:43:49
The Whole Ballgame
nope
00:43:49
lifegoesonromano
It was either him or my dead great-uncle Albert, who I basically know because one time when I was five, we had to stop at his house because I had to piss.
00:44:03
lifegoesonromano
He was married to a woman named Aunt Edna, who would often... call my grandmother's home and I would listen to my grandmother just talk to her like dog shit like she's a fucking moron it was kind of funny listening to my sweet sweet grandmother talk to people because she would just just just completely just talk directly to them and like tell them to stop doing things and it's awesome but um yeah so I didn't think that would be too good but um so we got Buttafuoco he was the next guy on my Rolodex
00:44:37
The Whole Ballgame
Wonderful. Just wonderful. Well, I suppose that leads us to to covering our
00:44:47
lifegoesonromano
Our kisser.
00:44:47
The Whole Ballgame
are our kisser this week, the the one and only off Officer Karkavice.
00:44:49
lifegoesonromano
Yes. The officer.
00:44:55
lifegoesonromano
Mm-hmm.
00:44:56
The Whole Ballgame
Our good friend, you know, our good friend Hawk Harrelson gave him that nickname. and And actually, ron Ron actually belongs to a a pretty rare club ah within Major League Baseball, never played for another team, just a White Sox all the way through.
00:45:03
lifegoesonromano
Uh.
00:45:11
lifegoesonromano
Uh-huh.
00:45:14
lifegoesonromano
Really?
00:45:15
The Whole Ballgame
yep
00:45:15
lifegoesonromano
Do you think that's because ah he was just didn't want to move ever?
00:45:22
The Whole Ballgame
It might be part of it, but I'm more apt to believe that the the White Sox valued having a catcher that was worth a damn that wasn't so good that they had to pay him an absurd amount of money ever, but was good enough to be able to maintain a certain level of consistency behind the plate. That's all I can really account it. That's the only way I can account for it.
00:45:46
lifegoesonromano
Look, I'll just tell you this.
00:45:49
The Whole Ballgame
Great.
00:45:49
lifegoesonromano
Ron was very valuable to me for various reasons, Gene.
00:45:57
lifegoesonromano
A jack of all trades, if you will. A nefarious means.
00:46:03
The Whole Ballgame
I absolutely hate you.
00:46:06
lifegoesonromano
Come on down to the ballpark on Tuesdays for dollar dogs. $17 bleacher tickets.
00:46:18
The Whole Ballgame
I hate you so much.
00:46:20
lifegoesonromano
two for three for 80.
00:46:20
The Whole Ballgame
two
00:46:24
The Whole Ballgame
I'm glad we're giving a good deal on them. You know, if you buy two, you get a little percentage off. That's good.
00:46:32
The Whole Ballgame
Oh, dear. Here we go.
00:46:36
The Whole Ballgame
There's actually a surcharge if you want to bring the rest of the family.
00:46:41
lifegoesonromano
Well, you see when you see the math.
00:46:47
The Whole Ballgame
you You are a numbers guy, Jerry, as we all know.
00:46:48
lifegoesonromano
yeah
00:46:52
lifegoesonromano
It's about having the right mix. You see, you want 2.7 family members. So you really want to, it's like going through the third time of the batting order. You understand? You're a, you're a safer metrics guy.
00:47:03
lifegoesonromano
You know, the average goes up when you go through the third time.
00:47:03
The Whole Ballgame
i don't
00:47:06
lifegoesonromano
So you you want to keep that starting pitcher, you know, you only want to go through there twice. So no, we don't need all three of the families because I want two separate families there because we want to bring families together, Gene.
00:47:19
lifegoesonromano
That's what White Sox baseball is all about.
00:47:22
The Whole Ballgame
Thank you. Thank you, sir. That's, you know, I'm glad we could bring this back to a positive sort of connotation instead of Constantly harping on your inability to put together a team that's worth a shit.
00:47:37
lifegoesonromano
Well, you can put that on the board, yes.
00:47:40
The Whole Ballgame
Oh, boy.
00:47:41
lifegoesonromano
So... um
00:47:43
The Whole Ballgame
Mercy!
00:47:44
lifegoesonromano
What we have is a because Officer Kark wasn't quite important enough to get his own Sabre article, but we do have an article where um the the steady catcher huffs and puffs to sink the twins with an inside the park grand slam. It is August 1990.
00:48:10
lifegoesonromano
And the White Sox are obviously playing the Twins. And we have an article on this game written by our long, long-time personal and close friend, Jake Bell at Sabre.
00:48:22
The Whole Ballgame
I'll tell you, Blake, i yeah I remember that day very well, and it's one of the one of the greatest greatest days of my life.
00:48:24
lifegoesonromano
Oh. This is the officer.
00:48:32
The Whole Ballgame
Look, i yeah everybody knows I'm not the fastest guy, but look, when when history calls, you you pick up.
00:48:44
lifegoesonromano
Okay, yeah, that's... I'd like to think I i would do that myself. so um We have a beautiful shot of ah Ron in his 1990 Donruss here in the the just heinous White Sox uniforms that time frame.
00:49:00
The Whole Ballgame
Absolutely terrible uniforms.
00:49:02
lifegoesonromano
Ugh.
00:49:02
The Whole Ballgame
Some of the most beautiful baseball cards of all time. I love these red Donruss cards so much. With the white script, you guys know what we're talking about.
00:49:10
lifegoesonromano
Yeah. Yeah.
00:49:11
The Whole Ballgame
You'll probably you'll probably see it on the on the podcast picture there.
00:49:18
lifegoesonromano
To some observers, the 1990 Major League Baseball season seemed at times like a 162-game formality. A steady march toward the Oakland A's winning their third straight American League pennant and repeating as World Series champions.
00:49:35
lifegoesonromano
I do recall that, even at the time. That is very much the sentiment. Everybody pretty much assumes that Oakland is going to win the World Series. I did. um They were just head and shoulders above everybody.
00:49:50
lifegoesonromano
m Sports Illustrated, Athlons Baseball, the Sporting News Baseball Yearbook, Inside Sports Baseball Preview, and the Baseball Digest all agreed that everyone else was chasing the A's.
00:50:03
lifegoesonromano
The A's are the best team in the majors, right? Or similar sentiments. Another universal prediction was that the AOS division's seller belonged to the Chicago White Sox.
00:50:16
lifegoesonromano
The consensus opinion was that the roster, with the exception of 42-year-old Carlton Fisk, was too young and inexperienced to compete in 1990.
00:50:27
The Whole Ballgame
You know, Carlton, he taught me just about everything he knew. That's part of the reason that i ah decided to retire as early as I did, just you know watching Carl That's what I called him.
00:50:38
The Whole Ballgame
I called him Carl. We were close.
00:50:39
lifegoesonromano
Mm-hmm.
00:50:40
The Whole Ballgame
Watching him suffer through the end of his career, you know, and watching his knees go slowly, but surely as he, he, he, he he d ended up his career there and in in inch Chicago, where wherever it was he was in Chicago.
00:50:56
The Whole Ballgame
And, um, I gotta tell you, um if it hadn't been for for for Carl, i you know I probably never would have have assassinated the the Archduke Ferdinand in 1914. It set a ripple through the rest of the the Western half of the the the Western hemisphere and you know eventually got us tied up in World War I. But if it hadn't been for Carlton's incredible,
00:51:28
The Whole Ballgame
incredible dedication to the game. I never would have had the inspiration to do it and set us on the path that we're on now.
00:51:35
lifegoesonromano
Now, did I hear you correct, and did you say that he taught you everything that he knows?
00:51:43
The Whole Ballgame
Correct. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not everything I know, everything he knows.
00:51:45
lifegoesonromano
Right. Okay, I wanted to make sure that that distinction was made, and that is what you indeed intended to say, because that is what I heard. Mm-hmm.
00:51:54
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, certainly so. i mean, look, at the end of the day, if if I told you that he taught me everything I know, that would be a lie. And I'm no, I, I, I value nothing higher than, than truth and honesty.
00:51:59
lifegoesonromano
Right.
00:52:07
lifegoesonromano
That's what it sounds like.
00:52:09
The Whole Ballgame
Okay, good.
00:52:09
lifegoesonromano
But while the A's lived up to expectations, the White Sox exceeded them. By the end of April, they settled into second place, occasionally nipping the heels of the athletics, but always watching their quarry pull away.
00:52:26
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, this is this guy, um this Todd character who's writing this, believes he's he's too smart by half and is putting nonsense words together to try to make himself, I'm sorry, Jake, Jake Bell.
00:52:40
lifegoesonromano
Jake Bell, yes, I was gonna get there.
00:52:41
The Whole Ballgame
he said he These guys,
00:52:46
The Whole Ballgame
if you read enough of these, here's a little soapbox where you you read enough of these articles. from enough of these same guys over the year, over the years we've been doing the podcast. Can you believe that?
00:52:57
The Whole Ballgame
Multiple years we've been doing this.
00:52:59
lifegoesonromano
Yeah, was looking over there, it's been a while. Oh, by the way, that three ah three days ago, last year We had our show where you came back to tell everybody you didn't die.
00:53:13
The Whole Ballgame
be son of a bitch.
00:53:14
lifegoesonromano
The 18th.
00:53:15
The Whole Ballgame
Uh-huh. Well, there we go. Yeah, that would, that would have been, my goodness, a year, a year and, uh, yeah, what a year indeed.
00:53:16
lifegoesonromano
It's been a year.
00:53:20
lifegoesonromano
What a year.
00:53:23
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, it's been about, yeah, about six weeks ago. was the one year anniversary of the surgery. Anyway, uh, I'm here. I'm not dead yet. Uh, soon enough. Um,
00:53:34
lifegoesonromano
Maybe you died and took us all with you.
00:53:37
The Whole Ballgame
I've thought about this hypothesis quite a bit, that that maybe I am dead.
00:53:41
lifegoesonromano
Well,
00:53:42
The Whole Ballgame
It would explain a lot of things. A lot of things. But anyway, ah ah yeah, you read enough of these, the like, these Saber articles, and you start to go, well, maybe this Saber shit is bullshit. If these are the mines that are behind it, this Saber metrics thing might be...
00:54:05
The Whole Ballgame
For the birds, after all. Maybe we should just focus on whether we think people can play baseball well or not.
00:54:07
lifegoesonromano
well
00:54:13
lifegoesonromano
Look, you gotta remember though, cause those are like, they're like math fucking guys and stuff. So what's the one thing they wanna be? They wanna be fucking clever and funny. So they write these dog shit articles.
00:54:25
lifegoesonromano
They're not clever and funny though. Like, so. It's not like you got a bunch of witty motherfuckers that are, you know, wanting to crunch baseball numbers. Anyway. In August, uh, is that where we're at?
00:54:39
lifegoesonromano
Yes.
00:54:40
The Whole Ballgame
Mm-hmm.
00:54:40
lifegoesonromano
Uh-huh, that's Quarry. Pull it. In August, White Sox fans still had hope that their team might pull off an upset. With the trade deadline looming at the end of the month, the White Sox opened a homestand against Oakland on August 20th with an 11-1 drubbing that saw A's center fielder Dave Henderson lost to injury.
00:55:02
lifegoesonromano
Chicago won the series two games to one and was five and a half games back. Two more wins over the California Angels followed before a heartbreaking loss and the White Sox spiraling.
00:55:15
lifegoesonromano
One strike from a shutout, Chicago closer Bobby Thigpen allowed Lee Stevens game-winning three-run homer and the White Sox lost to rookie Joe Gray a day later.
00:55:27
lifegoesonromano
But seeing the last place Minnesota Twins on the schedule for four games kept some White Sox faithful, clinging to the hope that a Monday-Thursday sweep in the Metrodome might be enough to prompt Chicago's front office to make a key trade or two.
00:55:44
The Whole Ballgame
greatly doubted that that was going to happen. As we all know, probably didn't. But it just reminds me, you're talking about the the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.
00:56:00
The Whole Ballgame
I was, it was, gosh, it was, i guess it was, oh, late, late, no, late November, early December. Yeah, no, it was, that I flew out late November.
00:56:13
The Whole Ballgame
out of Minneapolis. Um, and, and, you know, is's it's a long flight out there, but, um, I was there for two weeks for vacation, uh, myself and this, from this friend of mine, uh, you may have met him. He floats around your neck of the woods. He hangs out at, um, Applebee's.
00:56:36
The Whole Ballgame
Um, I mean, it's been so long, I forget his name.
00:56:43
The Whole Ballgame
Todd, Todd Nakazawa, um, Mike, no, no, um, had a thing with his index finger.
00:56:46
lifegoesonromano
Oh, Michael, yeah.
00:56:53
The Whole Ballgame
I don't, um, you don't have to, Don Terry, that's his name, Don Todd, you, you get it.
00:56:55
lifegoesonromano
Oh, Don Teriyaki? Uh-huh.
00:57:00
The Whole Ballgame
there that He's an Asian guy.
00:57:01
lifegoesonromano
Sure.
00:57:02
The Whole Ballgame
But, um, uh, we, uh, we vacationed in Hawaii together that year.
00:57:03
lifegoesonromano
Right.
00:57:07
The Whole Ballgame
Uh, he had a lot of friends there. And, um,
00:57:10
lifegoesonromano
What year was this? Okay. Okay.
00:57:14
The Whole Ballgame
We were, we flew down to, I don't remember, we flew into the Big Island. I know that. We were at this beautiful little restaurant on the water.
00:57:28
The Whole Ballgame
And the does I remember it like it was yesterday. It December 7th. I was halfway through my vacation. And, uh, there I was, you know, watching, watching these, these Japanese planes fly into to Pearl Harbor there and took out a good number of our boys.
00:57:52
The Whole Ballgame
I, I instantly, of course, grabbed Don by the back of the neck and brought him to the local authorities because clearly he he had something to do with it.
00:57:57
lifegoesonromano
Sure.
00:58:01
The Whole Ballgame
Why was he there looking the way he looks and not have something to do with it? So yeah, never would have thought he was a hell of a guy. It, But yeah, i just it reminds me because i that was the first time I ever saw the Metrodome was there. As I was flying out, I looked down and I went, what the hell that big white bubble?
00:58:21
The Whole Ballgame
That's what it was, the Metrodome.
00:58:24
lifegoesonromano
Weren't you 27 years old here in 1990?
00:58:29
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, yeah.
00:58:31
lifegoesonromano
But you you so you ah you assassinated the Archduke Francis Ferdinand and then you've also been in Pearl Harbor, is that correct?
00:58:40
The Whole Ballgame
Well, yeah, but I wasn't in, I was in Pearl Harbor in 1941, but that wasn't until 1999.
00:58:49
lifegoesonromano
Gotcha. The twins had their own bad luck that season. On July 17th, they turned two triple plays in one game, something no other team had ever done and still lost.
00:59:05
lifegoesonromano
Five years later.
00:59:05
The Whole Ballgame
Well, you know, I hate to be the the guy to step in here and tell you that you're wrong when they're talking about turning triple plays. It's really only one guy to, to speak on the subject.
00:59:17
The Whole Ballgame
And I figured I'd pop on in here and let, you know, it's, it's me, your old pal Mick.
00:59:17
lifegoesonromano
oh God damn it.
00:59:22
The Whole Ballgame
And, uh, I knew you'd be happy to see him here.
00:59:24
lifegoesonromano
Thank you.
00:59:26
The Whole Ballgame
Blakers. I, uh, if you don't mind me calling you as such, I know Gabe does quite a bit and I, I've taken a liking to it myself, but, uh, if there's anybody who can talk about, uh, uh,
00:59:38
The Whole Ballgame
just how a how much a triple play can turn a game around. It's ah it's the guy who turned the the seventh unassisted triple play in Major League Baseball history, Mickey Morandini. That's me.
00:59:52
The Whole Ballgame
I'm here just to talk about that. You know, I've i've recently taken a position with the the Philadelphia Patriots Phillies who used to be the Philly I hear you you talking about the athletics you know this uh the the athletics used to be in Philadelphia before they moved to Oakland and uh and then the Phillies took sure but yeah but in Kansas City doesn't count that's a shithole of a place and a shithole of a state so really don't want to talk too much about that but They have they have pretty fantastic dispensaries from what I can tell in in Missouri and Kansas City.
01:00:03
lifegoesonromano
Uh-huh.
01:00:07
lifegoesonromano
Uh-huh. Kansas City in between, even.
01:00:22
lifegoesonromano
Missouri?
01:00:29
The Whole Ballgame
ah ah
01:00:29
lifegoesonromano
Get the flying horse up there.
01:00:31
The Whole Ballgame
Oh, absolutely. I heard they're the sponsors of the program today, so I wanted to give them another shout out for you because I'm a team player. You know, at the end of the day, whether it's the Cubs or the Phillies or ah the Bucs,
01:00:44
The Whole Ballgame
the, the, the triple a blue horns. I, uh, I'm certainly going to be a team player. I mean, you know, an old chase knows, uh, that, uh, uh, boy, oh boy.
01:00:56
lifegoesonromano
See, I told you, boys, we're back.
01:01:04
lifegoesonromano
White Sox fans nearly saw a sweep, but not the one they wanted. Minnesota took the first three games of the series, outscoring Chicago by a combined 25-7, effectively ending any remaining playoff fantasies.
01:01:22
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, it was a tough one. was a tough series in in Minneapolis. And yeah I know you're where you're getting to here. We're going to talk about it, you know. and
01:01:30
lifegoesonromano
Okay.
01:01:31
The Whole Ballgame
But what it reminds me of, the the way that we were taken so so wholly out of the game, out of the the race, you know, to trying to win it all sort of thing.
01:01:32
lifegoesonromano
Do you?
01:01:45
The Whole Ballgame
It reminds me so much of the
01:01:49
The Whole Ballgame
the killing fields in Laos there shortly after the Viet Cong had us forced out of Vietnam. Think about it quite a bit.
01:02:03
The Whole Ballgame
So it was tough. i Seeing all those men on their knees with the bags over their head and the ties wrapped around their necks.
01:02:14
The Whole Ballgame
There were atrocities, Blake, that I saw with my own eyes and I don't like thinking about it, but when I hear about four-game series Minneapolis and what I did to try to get us out of it, I can't help but be reminded of the lives that I was able to save in Laos by slicing the bags off of those men's heads.
01:02:20
lifegoesonromano
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
01:02:45
The Whole Ballgame
I didn't get to all of them. But had I not gotten to the 16 or 17 I got to, their families would be fatherless as well. So, obviously the corollary between baseball and war is strong here. But until you've lived both of them, you can hardly understand. That was 1974 in night.
01:03:18
lifegoesonromano
But it was two key trades made by Oakland before the series finale that felt like nails in Chicago's coffin. On August 29th, the Athletics replaced the injured Dave Henderson with three-time Gold Glove winner Willie McGee and broke my heart. I was very sad.
01:03:39
The Whole Ballgame
I bet.
01:03:41
lifegoesonromano
it was all It was all over for Whitey Ball. That was it We lost Willie. Vince Coleman goes to the Mets in free agency. And it was time to start over.
01:03:53
lifegoesonromano
Bob Horner shit the bed.
01:03:57
The Whole Ballgame
i mean, this is just a ands you know if shere your opinion. um
01:04:04
The Whole Ballgame
you're entitled and you're entitled to it. And I guess everybody else is entitled to it.
01:04:04
lifegoesonromano
his historyies's History's opinion.
01:04:10
lifegoesonromano
Three homers. Three.
01:04:11
The Whole Ballgame
guess it's entitled to it too. I never made any promises about what I was going to go out there, I try my best. And it's where you you do it. And, you know, I think, you know, um I stopped being...
01:04:31
The Whole Ballgame
as committed to her Dark Lord. And and that that sent me back.
01:04:35
lifegoesonromano
Mm.
01:04:38
lifegoesonromano
That was it.
01:04:39
The Whole Ballgame
you know after After that season, I talked to Anton, and and he set me straight.
01:04:39
lifegoesonromano
Yeah.
01:04:44
The Whole Ballgame
you know And then he sent me to to do some other things for him. It's been been good ever since.
01:04:50
lifegoesonromano
Yeah.
01:04:52
The Whole Ballgame
Drink a little beer.
01:04:54
lifegoesonromano
Yeah. yeah Been been 35 solid years ever since. Right.
01:04:59
The Whole Ballgame
That's right. There's nothing. i mean, you know, it took my own life last year sometime.
01:05:03
lifegoesonromano
Right, yeah, there that.
01:05:04
The Whole Ballgame
i remember never exactly exactly when that was. It was on your program, though. So, yeah.
01:05:08
lifegoesonromano
Uh-huh. Well, you look, around here, nobody...
01:05:11
The Whole Ballgame
It's the ultimate indulgence, you understand. you know, you're good you get it.
01:05:13
lifegoesonromano
yeah
01:05:14
The Whole Ballgame
You know.
01:05:15
lifegoesonromano
Final indulgence or something like that?
01:05:16
The Whole Ballgame
It's a final indulgence.
01:05:16
lifegoesonromano
Yeah.
01:05:17
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, is. I mean, life is an indulgence. That's why, you know, that's why I'm here.
01:05:21
lifegoesonromano
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Well, you know, I think...
01:05:24
The Whole Ballgame
Chocolate and suicide is what I'm saying.
01:05:25
lifegoesonromano
Right, right.
01:05:26
The Whole Ballgame
And beer.
01:05:27
lifegoesonromano
I think we found around here that nobody really dies, you know? we We just...
01:05:33
The Whole Ballgame
I'm here, right? Yeah, of course.
01:05:35
lifegoesonromano
Right. We merely transform. um Three-time Gold Glove winner Willie McGee, who was in the midst of his best season since he won MVP honors in 1985 and might have been in consideration for the award again if the Cardinals hadn't been in last place.
01:05:55
lifegoesonromano
You want to what's interesting is that Willie, even though when he gets traded to the AL, he wins the National League batting title.
01:06:05
lifegoesonromano
Because most of he met the requirements for the games before he got traded.
01:06:07
The Whole Ballgame
Wow.
01:06:11
lifegoesonromano
So let's see here. But the real dagger in the hearts of White Sox fans was the A's trade with the Texas Rangers for the the lowest, worst Hall of Famer of them all, Harold Baines.
01:06:30
lifegoesonromano
Drafted by Chicago in 1977, the fourtime all star four-time All-Star Hall of Fame, as it what is joke, had called Comiskey Park home for nine years and was still beloved on the South Side.
01:06:44
lifegoesonromano
Some speculated that A's manager, Tony La Russa, may have engineered the trade as a personal vendetta for revenge when the White Sox had fired him four years earlier.
01:06:57
The Whole Ballgame
What do you think about that, Jerry? You think that's the case? You're friends with Tony. You should have some special insight into this. is He's shared with you over the years that that's exactly what this was about. he just he wanted he wanted He wanted some sort of revenge for for you getting rid of him, and so he made a play for for Harold.
01:07:19
lifegoesonromano
Gabe, can you hear them?
01:07:20
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah.
01:07:23
lifegoesonromano
They talk about us, telling lies, spreading their thighs.
01:07:32
The Whole Ballgame
I hate you so much.
01:07:32
lifegoesonromano
My lips are sealed.
01:07:36
The Whole Ballgame
God damn it.
01:07:39
lifegoesonromano
next afternoon, Minnesota sent David West to the mound. The lefty retired leadoff hitter Sammy Sosa, Phil Bradley walked and advanced to second on a weak grounder from Yvonne Calderon, but was left stranded on a called third strike to designated here Frank Thomas, batting 313 in the first month of his big league career.
01:08:04
The Whole Ballgame
And, you know, did you remember, too, that was Sammy's first year in the league, too.
01:08:10
lifegoesonromano
Oh, yeah.
01:08:10
The Whole Ballgame
Sammy was a rookie. he played right field for us a year before he ended up on the other side of town. And
01:08:21
The Whole Ballgame
I guess that's all I got to say.
01:08:23
lifegoesonromano
Oh, okay.
01:08:26
lifegoesonromano
But you're going to tell me how you guys like, I don't know, went to Teddy Roosevelt's inauguration together.
01:08:35
The Whole Ballgame
Oh, no, no, no, no. Oh, understand what you're saying now. No, no, no, no. No. Um, I, I never, I never met Teddy. Um, now Franklin, on the other hand, um, uh, I called him Frank, you know, like, like Frank Thomas.
01:08:47
lifegoesonromano
oh FDR. Yeah.
01:08:50
lifegoesonromano
Sure.
01:08:52
The Whole Ballgame
And I, uh, of course I saw the blanket cum stains all over that thing.
01:08:52
lifegoesonromano
Did you see the blanket?
01:08:56
lifegoesonromano
The FDR blanket. Yeah, so I knew it.
01:08:59
The Whole Ballgame
Um, but, um, uh,
01:08:59
lifegoesonromano
Knew it. FDR blanket. Goddamn.
01:09:03
The Whole Ballgame
yeah, you know, I, I visited the white house and, gosh, it must've been 43, 44, something like that. Um, uh, it was, it was, it was, it was a meeting we were talking about, um, you know, I'm from California.
01:09:13
lifegoesonromano
Mm-hmm.
01:09:22
The Whole Ballgame
Um, that's where I was, I was born.
01:09:22
lifegoesonromano
Sure.
01:09:24
The Whole Ballgame
i was born in California and, uh, And I talked to Franklin about but planting trees, how important it might be to plant trees to to sort of bring the environment here in the States back a little bit. And more importantly, um focus on on on on rebuilding our workforce.
01:09:46
lifegoesonromano
Mm-hmm.
01:09:46
The Whole Ballgame
And so that's what I pitched to Franklin Roosevelt, the importance of of something that I coined the Civilian Conservation Corps, the CCC. And we started You know, we we we hired hundreds of thousands of men who are out of work, got them back to work out of the the Great Depression here and.
01:10:05
lifegoesonromano
Uh-huh.
01:10:07
The Whole Ballgame
He planted hundreds and thousands of trees in California and various other national parks all over the country and and really did a number on on bringing back prosperity to the United States in a post-World War II environment.
01:10:27
The Whole Ballgame
But of course, that wasn't until, I mean, that was 2003 when I went to went went to see him at the White House 1943.
01:10:37
lifegoesonromano
Um, so aren't these guys, wouldn' wouldn't they just be out of work once all the trees are planted?
01:10:44
The Whole Ballgame
Well, no, see, there was more work to be done. they they were they planning...
01:10:47
lifegoesonromano
I mean, how many out long can you plant trees?
01:10:50
The Whole Ballgame
ah years. it was It was two or three years that they were planting trees in California. And then they moved on to other sorts of things, moving a clearing brush and building trails and all of those sorts of things. I mean, the Pacific Coast Highway is full of trails that were that were were built in the the mid to late 40s by the members of the Civilian Conservation Corps.
01:11:15
lifegoesonromano
The Don Owen territory?
01:11:17
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, Dono went all the way from from Sacramento up north to Tacoma.
01:11:27
lifegoesonromano
Oh, you mean Arco the fucking the Kingdome?
01:11:31
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, correct. Yeah, Arco Arena all the way up to the Kingdom.
01:11:35
lifegoesonromano
Gotcha.
01:11:36
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah.
01:11:38
lifegoesonromano
I guess it's the Tacoma Dome, but whatever.
01:11:40
The Whole Ballgame
Well, look, what I want to make clear is is that...
01:11:40
lifegoesonromano
Mm-hmm.
01:11:43
The Whole Ballgame
Is that, you know, in life, as in baseball, only there's only one thing that truly matters. do you want to take a guess at what that might be, Blake, or do you want me to give you the lesson?
01:11:58
lifegoesonromano
I'll take the lesson.
01:11:59
The Whole Ballgame
Truth.
01:12:01
lifegoesonromano
The truth, yeah. Yeah. what is it gonna get I I agree, but that wasn't going to be what I was going to guess with you. But yeah, you're right. Thank you for the truth, Ron.
01:12:15
lifegoesonromano
White Sox starter Jack McDowell was riding the hottest streak of his career to date. In his previous five games, McDowell was 4-0 and nearly...
01:12:27
lifegoesonromano
5-0 with a ERA of 1.54 allowing just 32 base runners and only 7 runs in 41 innings. After spending all of 1989 in the minors to deal with an arthritic hip, he was finally looking like the a ace that Chicago had hoped for when they drafted him, 5th overall in June of 87.
01:12:50
The Whole Ballgame
I just want to point out to right now to the listeners out there here that that's two Chicago White Sox that had arthritic hips during this this conversation we've had this evening.
01:13:01
lifegoesonromano
That's interesting. I wonder if there's more. Do you think it has anything to do with the facilities?
01:13:09
The Whole Ballgame
I think it probably has more to do with the women's suffrage movement.
01:13:15
lifegoesonromano
That was my second guess.
01:13:17
The Whole Ballgame
Pfft. Pfft.
01:13:21
lifegoesonromano
After getting leadoff hitter Dan Gladden and his problematic hair to ground out to third baseman Robin Ventura, however... You know, he broke his leg, so maybe there's something with the the the bone fucking calcium or something in Comiskey.
01:13:41
The Whole Ballgame
Well, we should ask Jerry if he allowed milk in the clubhouse. That could be part of the problem. He probably said no.
01:13:46
lifegoesonromano
Look, i after 1973, had nothing to do with Harvey
01:13:59
lifegoesonromano
McDowell's after SC. He surrendered a single to Nelson Liriana.
01:14:03
The Whole Ballgame
I'm glad you, I'm glad you brought that up, Jerry.
01:14:05
lifegoesonromano
Oh.
01:14:05
The Whole Ballgame
I, uh, uh, you know, Harvey and I were, uh, were very, very, very close for a time.
01:14:06
lifegoesonromano
Oh, yes. Of course.
01:14:13
lifegoesonromano
Oh, uh-huh.
01:14:14
The Whole Ballgame
As you know, I was, I grew up in California and, uh, with, with parents like mine, you know, it's, uh, you're out of the house 16 running around like crazy. Cause you just need to get away from your parents. And, you know, it, it, it,
01:14:32
The Whole Ballgame
Well, I never have...
01:14:42
The Whole Ballgame
is hard. Yeah,
01:14:43
lifegoesonromano
Yeah, that's what he said.
01:14:47
The Whole Ballgame
I see where youre where you're going with that and talking about his penis. um I guess you see the writing on the wall here. Yeah. i I, do ah appreciate the, the tender embrace of a female companion.
01:15:02
lifegoesonromano
Oh, uh-huh.
01:15:03
The Whole Ballgame
Um, but, I am not one to turn down a loving embrace of a, uh, uh, well, uh, well chiseled featured, um,
01:15:17
The Whole Ballgame
man, either. and Harvey and I, were we were lovers in the late 60s. um Haydashbury was a hell of a place. and And we took full advantage of, well, of San Francisco, of the the Bay Area, and of each other.
01:15:42
lifegoesonromano
He surrendered a single it' to Nelson Liriano, T...
01:15:45
The Whole Ballgame
I did. i sir i surrendered myself to him.
01:15:47
lifegoesonromano
No, not you. this is This is Black Jack's pitch.
01:15:48
The Whole Ballgame
Oh. My fault. Okay. Go ahead.
01:15:53
lifegoesonromano
T-dub...
01:15:53
The Whole Ballgame
I mean, I remember the game very well. So, I mean, you're telling me the story here, but I...
01:15:57
lifegoesonromano
Good.
01:15:57
The Whole Ballgame
i'm my My part was coming.
01:15:57
lifegoesonromano
Yeah, no, your part's coming. Then
01:16:02
The Whole Ballgame
You're absolutely was right. It was.
01:16:08
lifegoesonromano
Then T-dub... There, there it is. teed up a pitch to Kent Herbeck that Kent Herbeck launched more than 400 feet and into the right field upper deck for his 20th home run of the year.
01:16:22
lifegoesonromano
Gary Gaiety got a board on an error and Gene Larkin drew a walk before McDowell escaped the inning, lucky to be down only 2-0. That's probably the least amount of stuff I've had in a while, he later confessed.
01:16:38
lifegoesonromano
West and McDowell each retired the next six batters they faced. Chicago was hitless until Bradley led off the fourth with a line drive single to right. Collarone followed with a double to left, but Gladden got it to got to it quickly enough to keep Bradley from scoring.
01:16:55
lifegoesonromano
Thomas then worked a 3-1 count into a walk to load the bases. Unlike earlier innings, West was falling behind in the count, and it was costing him.
01:17:06
lifegoesonromano
Now the Southpaw attacked the strike zone and sent Carlos Martinez back to the bench on just three pitches. He continued to throw strikes, getting ahead one and two to Ron Karkivais, better known for being one of the game's best defensive catchers than for his bat.
01:17:25
lifegoesonromano
Karkivais made contact with West's fourth offering, smacking a line drive toward the outstretched glove of Greg Gagne. for what once seemed a sure inning-ending double play once the Twins shortstop snagged the drive and doubled up Calderone at second.
01:17:47
The Whole Ballgame
I saw it go straight to the shortstop and I said, no way.
01:17:53
lifegoesonromano
Karkovice recalled, worried that he'd killed the team's rally. Instead, the ball sailed just beyond Gagne's reach and into the alley off of left center field.
01:18:05
lifegoesonromano
I think I might have nicked it a little bit, Gagne said. Ironically, playing for a double play with Gagne in a few steps looking to turn a grounder into two outs had cost the Twins a double play when he wasn't in the ideal position to catch the liner.
01:18:25
lifegoesonromano
Gladden and center field John Moses both chased after the ball as it bounded and rolled across the artificial turf, artificial turn to the outfield wall. mo Moses got there first as runners crossed the plate and Karkavice came around second.
01:18:43
The Whole Ballgame
When I saw the ball heading into the alley, i thought, I got a chance for a triple here.
01:18:51
lifegoesonromano
But when Moses went down to nab the ball, his foot slid on the warning track and got wedged under the fence. He couldn't stand up. In desperation, Moses lobbed the ball toward Gladden, who turned his attention to the infield.
01:19:06
lifegoesonromano
oblivious to his teammate's predicament, until the ball landed several feet in front of him. When Moses went to get the ball, I just figured he would throw it in Gladden said later.
01:19:20
lifegoesonromano
He wasn't even looking at me, Moses recalled understandingly. It shouldn't be too much for him to expect me to stand up to at least do that. Karkovice had his back to the play, so he relied on third base coach Terry Bevington to signal whether he needed to slide. Instead, he was wildly waving him home.
01:19:48
The Whole Ballgame
The guys, the guys said, when I rounded third, my face was beet red. i was huffing and puffing by the time I got home, reminded me of my days with Harvey.
01:20:04
lifegoesonromano
Wes was able to shake off the setback and retire the next two hitters. And his teammates struck back in the bottom of the inning with two outs rookie Paul Sorrento belted his third career homer to deep right center, making his score Mm-hmm. Oh. Okay.
01:20:19
The Whole Ballgame
I gotta, I gotta step in here. Cause I didn't, you know, you talked about Greg, uh, Greg and i had a really unique relationship. We're about the same age and, um, you know, yeah, correct.
01:20:31
lifegoesonromano
okay
01:20:33
lifegoesonromano
Twin shortstop Greg Gagne. Okay.
01:20:36
The Whole Ballgame
Uh, we, um, I, I don't know if you know this or not, Blake, I don't, I don't know what kind of fandoms you hold or how much attention you pay to professional sports in general, but back in the the late 70s, early 80s, for a short time, i was a professional wrestler in the AWA territory with with Greg's dad.
01:20:49
lifegoesonromano
Right.
01:21:02
The Whole Ballgame
And we we wrestled a little bit in the AWA. I didn't wrestle as Ron Karkovice, obviously. It's not a very good wrestling name, but I wrestled under the name Buck Zumhoff.
01:21:11
lifegoesonromano
Sure.
01:21:21
The Whole Ballgame
We...
01:21:22
lifegoesonromano
Rock and roll bug zoom off.
01:21:22
The Whole Ballgame
no Yeah, rock and roll Buck Stumhoff. Greg and I had a ah lot of ferocious battles in the ring back and forth. you know and yeah Every once in a while, he'd bring his his eight-year-old son to the the wrestling matches.
01:21:40
The Whole Ballgame
you know I taught the boy to wrestle a little bit too. so you know There's a lot going on there. but i mean Look, at the end of the day, you know i wrestled from from 70, 77 or until when Hogan left the promotion for the first time. And um i will say ah You know, it wasn't until that i went back in time i i'm sorry. It wasn't until until I
01:22:22
The Whole Ballgame
i wrestled for the first time in nineteen seventy seven there's not any there's no time travel happening here
01:22:33
The Whole Ballgame
You see, I had to create a time loop so I didn't end up going to federal prison.
01:22:42
lifegoesonromano
Bro, I told you. up aboard the Express because we're coming in hot dog. The Lolita Express, brah.
01:23:00
The Whole Ballgame
funny, you should mention.
01:23:00
lifegoesonromano
What was that about a time loop?
01:23:09
lifegoesonromano
Was that in the song? Was that just part of the Quad City DJ's maybe track?
01:23:14
The Whole Ballgame
maybe that's what you heard. don't recall ever saying anything about time travel or time loops or federal prison or any of that.
01:23:21
lifegoesonromano
Yeah, there's something about prison, I thought, too.
01:23:24
The Whole Ballgame
No, I don't, I don't know.
01:23:26
lifegoesonromano
OK, well, maybe i'll maybe it's just part of the story.
01:23:26
The Whole Ballgame
Um,
01:23:29
The Whole Ballgame
Look, here's here's what you got to remember.
01:23:30
lifegoesonromano
Mm-hmm.
01:23:32
The Whole Ballgame
I mean we're talking about hitting home runs regardless of how they regardless of how they're hit, right?
01:23:32
lifegoesonromano
OK.
01:23:35
lifegoesonromano
Inside the park.
01:23:38
lifegoesonromano
OK.
01:23:39
The Whole Ballgame
ah I wasn't a big power guy, but, you know, ah finesse was really my thing, clearly.
01:23:45
lifegoesonromano
Sure.
01:23:47
The Whole Ballgame
i I like to... Let me tell you something. This one's probably the hardest on my throat of any of the ones that I've had to do. But... um
01:23:55
lifegoesonromano
You chose your own path.
01:23:57
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, we are where we are, aren't we? um i i
01:24:00
lifegoesonromano
Vis-a-vis.
01:24:03
The Whole Ballgame
that does the What it reminds me of when we talk about, that's great.
01:24:06
lifegoesonromano
Fucking music's still playing. Jesus, sorry.
01:24:09
The Whole Ballgame
That's totally fine. I enjoy a nice tune every now and again. um The ladies love them too.
01:24:13
lifegoesonromano
Maybe.
01:24:14
The Whole Ballgame
And that's what I was getting at. You know, home runs, rounding third, headed for home, that sort of thing.
01:24:16
lifegoesonromano
Mhm
01:24:20
lifegoesonromano
Mhm Mhm
01:24:20
The Whole Ballgame
Back in the the early 40s, between my time in Hawaii and my time with the president at the White House and a little after that as well, um I was responsible for something like 30 to 40 million children being born in the United States.
01:24:40
lifegoesonromano
wow
01:24:41
The Whole Ballgame
Uh, they call it, uh, they call it the baby boom. Uh, you may have heard of this, but, uh, they've, they've traced it back to one donor for the most part. And it's, you know, spoiler alert, as the kids like to say these days, it's, it's me, it's old cargo vice, uh, officer car spreading it around. You understand?
01:25:03
The Whole Ballgame
So, uh, you know, it look, and and I don't, I don't bring up these stories because, uh,
01:25:08
lifegoesonromano
Not sure if that math checks out.
01:25:09
The Whole Ballgame
Because i know i don't bring up these stories out of wanting to self-aggrandize or pump myself up as something more than I actually am. I bring up these stories to create some relatability and to to really connect with the audience. I think that's very important. And I think them understanding...
01:25:29
The Whole Ballgame
my global and international importance throughout the 20th century is really what's going to tie all of this together and hopefully finally get me the recognition I deserve in the landscape of of both professional sports and broader pop culture generally.
01:25:46
The Whole Ballgame
You understand.
01:25:48
lifegoesonromano
You certainly deserve a lot. I'll give you that. Neither starter allowed a run another run. Wes left after six innings. McDowell lasted through the eighth.
01:25:58
lifegoesonromano
But in the ninth, Torborg went to the bullpen for Bobby Thigpen to get his 44th save. The right-hander was three saves short of Dave Rigetti's four-year-old Major League record of 46.
01:26:12
lifegoesonromano
Uh-huh.
01:26:12
The Whole Ballgame
You know, you mentioned Jeff. I'm sorry. Jeff brought his boy around the clubhouse quite a bit as well. And I, when I was there in the clubhouse, Dale dale really, really loved professional wrestling.
01:26:18
lifegoesonromano
Mm-hmm.
01:26:26
lifegoesonromano
Right.
01:26:26
The Whole Ballgame
i So i i taught him the basics of, of you know,
01:26:30
lifegoesonromano
Mm-hmm.
01:26:33
lifegoesonromano
Teach him how to lock up.
01:26:34
The Whole Ballgame
we We locked up. I taught him the ah the Indian death lock. I taught him i taught him the the standard the standard sleeper hold.
01:26:41
lifegoesonromano
Mm-hmm.
01:26:43
lifegoesonromano
Did teach him how to Rana?
01:26:47
The Whole Ballgame
and And yeah, the head scissors.
01:26:51
lifegoesonromano
Plancha?
01:26:52
The Whole Ballgame
The head head scissors were were what he enjoyed the most.
Humorous Anecdotes and Claims
01:26:56
lifegoesonromano
Oh, okay.
01:26:56
The Whole Ballgame
um And so we spent a lot of time with his head in between my legs.
01:27:02
lifegoesonromano
Mm-hmm. Where did you guys...
01:27:04
The Whole Ballgame
I think he was 13 at the time.
01:27:05
lifegoesonromano
Mm-hmm. so Oh! The right-hander was three saves short of David Gettys' four-year-old major league record of 46.
01:27:21
The Whole Ballgame
Wesley, do bring me my underage boys.
01:27:25
lifegoesonromano
In 1984, I played Mr. Belvedere for four seasons on ABC with with my mentor, Bob Uker. I also am a lesbian...
01:27:36
The Whole Ballgame
He, added I'm not, I don't appreciate, I i don't, I don't appreciate. ah We need an update there. i don't appreciate you mocking my voice. But I will say this.
01:27:48
The Whole Ballgame
I did temporarily change my middle name to Aloysius.
01:27:54
lifegoesonromano
um My mom said it was just a friend.
01:28:00
lifegoesonromano
I think she's...
01:28:00
The Whole Ballgame
Oh, baby, you, you got what I need. You say she's just a friend. They went to Red Rocks together.
01:28:11
lifegoesonromano
Yeah.
01:28:11
The Whole Ballgame
women Women of that age do not go to Red Rocks together to a Bonnie Raitt concert as friends.
01:28:16
lifegoesonromano
Yeah, Bonnie Raitt. And Sturgis.
01:28:19
The Whole Ballgame
there were There were clams being eaten all night long.
01:28:24
lifegoesonromano
They're just friends that went together and they just share the cost and one of the the lady doesn't like to drive. ah Look, even before my sister was married when I was five and I didn't even know what one was, I thought she was a lesbian. Even after she got married, I still thought she was lesbian. Everything makes sense. that His stash of granny porn back in the the the the him leaving her.
01:28:55
lifegoesonromano
I never saw them ever exchange any kind of fucking intimacy at all. And I...
01:29:01
The Whole Ballgame
might not have been his granny porn.
01:29:06
lifegoesonromano
Oh. and That's interesting. Wow, what a wild card. Thanks, Kark.
01:29:13
The Whole Ballgame
Well, you brought up lesbians and it reminded me of the the spring to Berlin for
01:29:20
lifegoesonromano
Sure.
01:29:20
The Whole Ballgame
when i
01:29:20
lifegoesonromano
Naturally.
01:29:22
The Whole Ballgame
i flew
01:29:22
lifegoesonromano
Tell me more.
01:29:23
The Whole Ballgame
i flew to berlin for the the the the falling of the wall. And I met this Russian, either these two, these two, these two German women, Ergelgru and Victoria, larger women, but, but very sweet, very kind, but also very lesbian.
01:29:47
lifegoesonromano
right.
01:29:51
The Whole Ballgame
I tried to get in there and it just did it wasn't going to happen. But I did, i did i don't think you remember seeing the video, but you can find it out there on YouTube.
01:30:01
The Whole Ballgame
Just ro type in Ron Karkerweiss Berlin Wall. I'm the one that took the sledgehammer and and and and ah brought down the last piece of the first big crack in the wall and allowed people to go ahead and flow through. You can tell it's me by the pockmarks.
01:30:21
The Whole Ballgame
on the side of my face. i was I had a little extra growth. I had been growing out a goatee because I really liked the way that it looked on blackjack. And so you can see the pockmarks behind the the sort of blondish goatee on my beard, but you look for it. It's out there. i'm um I'm a little bit everywhere, obviously, but that's where you can see me there. That wasn't until, my goodness,
01:30:50
The Whole Ballgame
When did I go to 1989 for the Berlin Wall? That was probably... Oh, no, that was... Yeah, I went to 1989 for the Berlin Wall. That was like 81 that I ended up there. It one of the first... Anyway, yeah, keep go you can keep going.
01:31:07
The Whole Ballgame
Butterfly in the sky. i can fly twice as high.
01:31:13
lifegoesonromano
Mr. Karkvice, well, tear down that wall.
01:31:19
The Whole Ballgame
Oh, yeah, that guy. Jesus Christ.
01:31:21
lifegoesonromano
What a jelly bean.
01:31:28
lifegoesonromano
Anyway. After Larkin hit a line drive into Calderon's glove and Harper smacked a grounder to shortstop Scott Fletcher for the next to last out of the game.
01:31:43
lifegoesonromano
Sorrento gave Twins fans a glimmer of hope with a line drive single into left field. The rookie was replaced by the speedier Shane Mack at first, but the pinch runner could only watch as the first pitch Moses saw from Thigpen popped up high and landed safely in Fletcher's glove to end the game.
01:32:05
lifegoesonromano
Despite this White Sox win and 20 more in their remaining 33 games, They never got closer than five and a half games from first from first the rest of the season, finishing nine games back of the 103-win Oakland A's.
01:32:23
lifegoesonromano
Chicago's record of 94-68 represented six more wins than the AL East division champion Boston Red Sox in third most in the majors. Oakland was swept in the 1990 World Series by the 91-win Cincinnati Reds.
01:32:39
lifegoesonromano
And Minnesota finished last in the ALS with a record of seventy four and eighty eight The next season, the Twins won the World Series, the first champions ever to go worst to first.
01:32:53
lifegoesonromano
There's also a video in the very bottom of a very effeminate CarKai5.
01:33:01
The Whole Ballgame
look uh high five was uh it was kind of a i don't i don't know if you're aware of this but um high five was invented in the nineteen thirty s in germany yeah originally like it was originally it wasn't called the high five it's called the heil five i did yeah well i mean look you know i i was an undercover agent um
01:33:15
lifegoesonromano
Oh, really?
01:33:20
lifegoesonromano
Did you have something to do with that?
01:33:28
The Whole Ballgame
working with the Central Intelligence Agency in the the late 1930s in Berlin, my second time in Berlin. not Not in a linear sense, but certainly not down the road.
01:33:41
lifegoesonromano
Sure.
01:33:43
The Whole Ballgame
I was there.
01:33:43
lifegoesonromano
Made a real mess for yourself, haven't ya?
01:33:47
The Whole Ballgame
Well, I mean, look, you know, I'm i'm talking to you now and it's, it's it's I believe you're it's 2025 for you.
01:33:59
The Whole Ballgame
For me, it's 1914.
01:34:01
lifegoesonromano
is it? How do you have this technology?
01:34:02
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, I mean, I'm in a, I'm in a, um what? what
01:34:07
lifegoesonromano
The technology to do this 1914.
01:34:09
The Whole Ballgame
I don't, I'm fully unaware of what technology is.
01:34:17
lifegoesonromano
For a man who knows about a time loop to not know technology is just wild, Kark.
01:34:25
The Whole Ballgame
Well, look, I mean, what you got to understand is is
01:34:29
lifegoesonromano
What? What is it?
01:34:36
lifegoesonromano
yeah
01:34:38
The Whole Ballgame
the most important thing is that we remain steadfast and honest with each other. And so just know i am what I say I am.
01:34:46
lifegoesonromano
The truth, yes.
01:34:49
The Whole Ballgame
I am where I say I am. i am when I say I am. And, um you know, I mean, look, if it weren't for me, you sons of bitches probably wouldn't even be alive because 14 years from now, I invent penicillin. Well, I don't invent it, but I discover penicillin.
01:35:11
The Whole Ballgame
And certainly that keeps the human race alive for at least 117 more years, which puts us.
01:35:18
lifegoesonromano
You discovered penicillin in 2039?
01:35:19
The Whole Ballgame
No, no, no, no, no.
01:35:19
lifegoesonromano
Oh, Gotcha. Yeah.
01:35:22
The Whole Ballgame
From where I am now.
01:35:23
lifegoesonromano
oh nineteen for it gotcha yeah
01:35:25
The Whole Ballgame
Yeah, so 1928 is when I discovered it, but it keeps the human race going until, gosh, 2028, and then in another 17, 30, 40, 20, 20, 45.
01:35:41
The Whole Ballgame
You know, and then, I mean, you know, that's that's not for me to decide to tell you about. You got to figure that out on your own, but, you know, yeah.
01:35:48
lifegoesonromano
Mm-hmm.
01:35:50
lifegoesonromano
I'll try.
01:35:51
The Whole Ballgame
I that's all anybody can do. You know, that's, that's what, that's what I've been doing.
01:35:55
lifegoesonromano
and be honest, right?
01:35:57
The Whole Ballgame
Try and be honest. You know, I, you know what I watched, you know what I watched tonight?
01:36:01
lifegoesonromano
Not the exact opposite. You haven't been doing that at all.
01:36:05
The Whole Ballgame
I watched Finding Dory, the sequel to Finding Nemo.
01:36:07
lifegoesonromano
Oh. Sure.
01:36:09
The Whole Ballgame
What a beautiful television in a movie that was. How I watched it, I don't remember. i'm in 1914, It could be part of the loop that I'm grabbing memories from other times. There is no loop.
01:36:25
The Whole Ballgame
um Thank you for this opportunity.
01:36:30
lifegoesonromano
Well, thank you, Mr. Cart. Oh.
01:36:35
The Whole Ballgame
I don't know where he went.
01:36:39
The Whole Ballgame
So that's interestingly, that's
Upcoming Broadcast Announcement
01:36:43
The Whole Ballgame
that. ah My throat is dead. ah And next time on the whole ball game, get to watch a ball game.
01:36:51
The Whole Ballgame
Blake, what are we watching?
01:36:54
lifegoesonromano
It's the, uh, it's where Albert Bell Buttafuoco over here is bat cracks, and it's July 15th, I believe, of 1994, and it's the White Sox and that smiling Chief Wahoo and the Tribe.
01:37:01
The Whole Ballgame
July 15th, 1994.
01:37:05
The Whole Ballgame
july fifteenth ninety ninety four
01:37:14
The Whole Ballgame
It's all right here next time on.
01:37:20
lifegoesonromano
ball game.
01:37:23
The Whole Ballgame
I got to get out of here. I got to get to. I got to invent the computer.