TDS Time Machine | Baseball

Speaker 1 This is an iHeart podcast.

Speaker 2 You're listening to Comedy Central.

Speaker 2 I don't know what you did this weekend. I hope you had a nice time.
I, what did I do this weekend? I went out, took the kids out to the park for a little bit, and had a nice dinner with my wife.

Speaker 2 We had a lovely time, and then on Sunday, I had my,

Speaker 2 what was it, my heart, taken out of my chest and

Speaker 5 then

Speaker 5 eaten in front of me

Speaker 2 my my beloved New York Mets after I went through the trouble all day Saturday of teaching a three-year-old the meet the Mets song

Speaker 2 meet the Mets Meet the Mets is that good daddy is it good love me

Speaker 2 I want the third stanza done with heart boy with heart

Speaker 2 The Mets lost in a historic collapse. I don't know if you saw this picture on the cover of the

Speaker 5 post.

Speaker 2 It turns out, yeah,

Speaker 2 it turns out the New York Post cameras can take a picture of my soul.

Speaker 2 But it's not over yet. Apparently, everybody thinks it's over, but if we can just get the Earth to reverse rotation,

Speaker 2 this thing can be played again. So there you go.
New York Mets.

Speaker 2 Motherfs.

Speaker 2 First, before we get into anything, I have a question for you. You ever been fired? I've been fired.
I've been fired a lot. I've been fired.

Speaker 2 I've been fired from bakeries that I worked at. I've been fired from women's clothing stores.
I was once fired by my brother.

Speaker 2 My brother fired me from a wars.

Speaker 2 But one thing that's never, I was fired by Stripogram once.

Speaker 2 One thing that's never happened to me is that I've been fired at 3 o'clock in the morning,

Speaker 2 3,000 miles away from where I live. Willie Randolph, the New York Mets manager, my beloved Mets,

Speaker 2 this guy, okay, the Mets suck.

Speaker 12 Fine.

Speaker 2 But they could have fired Willie Randolph at any point over the last year. So what they do is they wait before he takes a trip to Los Angeles.
They fly him all the way out to Los Angeles.

Speaker 2 He wins the game, and then they fire him that night at 3 o'clock in the morning. You don't get, when you get a call at three o'clock in the morning, that's for sex.

Speaker 2 That's not for being fired.

Speaker 4 He did not deserve that.

Speaker 2 It is classless.

Speaker 12 Here's how it matters.

Speaker 2 This is the New York Post, Tiger Woods. They don't even, they didn't even have time to put Willie Randolph being fired.

Speaker 2 Classless. I mean, maybe they flew him out to Los Angeles because I thought, well, we're going to fire him.
He should at least get his frequent flyer miles.

Speaker 11 I don't know.

Speaker 2 Bastardos.

Speaker 2 And this is is the worst part. We have a tape of the call of him being fired.
You cannot believe who they got to fire him.

Speaker 14 Hey, Willie, it's Mr. Met.
Good morning.

Speaker 15 Oh, and guess what?

Speaker 16 You're fired, so pack up your crap, get the fk out of the clubhouse, give you a s.

Speaker 18 What, you want to meet the Mets?

Speaker 14 Why don't you meet Mr. Met?

Speaker 16 I'll meet you in the parking lot, you bum.

Speaker 14 Oh, another thing, keep your dirty mitts off of Mrs. Met, you son of a bitch.
Go get respect. All due respect.
Forget about it. How you doing?

Speaker 12 Not right.

Speaker 8 Willie didn't deserve this.

Speaker 2 World Series is Wednesday night. Tampa Bay Rays facing the Phillies in the World Series starting Wednesday night.
Both these teams, and this is the key part from Crucial Swing States.

Speaker 2 This is going to put the candidates

Speaker 2 in a bit of a pickle. Tampa Bay, of course, from Florida, and the Philadelphia Phillies are from

Speaker 2 the festering sore on the end of my taint.

Speaker 5 I don't think that's right. Who wrote this?

Speaker 5 Mr. Met!

Speaker 20 Damn you!

Speaker 2 Obviously very upset that the Mets did not get into the World Series. Now obviously the candidates don't want to anger people by taking sides in this World Series.

Speaker 2 What would be the best way to navigate these treacherous waters?

Speaker 21 I am a White Sox fan, but let me say that since the White Sox lost, I'll go ahead and root for the Phillies now.

Speaker 22 So when you see

Speaker 22 a White Sox fan showing love to the Rays

Speaker 22 and the Rays showing some love back,

Speaker 22 you know we're on to something right here.

Speaker 17 It's two Messiah.

Speaker 2 The local sports franchise pander.

Speaker 11 Come on, man.

Speaker 2 You've got to do better than that.

Speaker 5 You know something?

Speaker 2 I smell a mcat.

Speaker 23 I think I may have detected a little pattern with Senator Obama. It's pretty simple, really.

Speaker 23 When he's campaigning in Philadelphia, he roots for the Phillies. Then when he's campaigning in Tampa Bay, he shows love to the Rays.

Speaker 2 That guy's an ants.

Speaker 2 You know, no offense there, Senator McCain, but once you said a guy's a terrorist, you call him a fair weather fan.

Speaker 9 It doesn't really hurt.

Speaker 2 Unless you've got an attack ad to go with it.

Speaker 24 Barack Obama says he's sworn allegiance to Tampa Bay. Then why does he pal around with this fanatic from Philadelphia?

Speaker 10 Barack Obama. Wrong on baseball.
Wrong for America.

Speaker 8 Nailed it.

Speaker 2 Nailed it. You got to get up pretty early in the morning to sneak a sports flip-flop past the McCain Palin team.

Speaker 25 A good night last night for Florida. How about those Tampa Bay Rays? That was good.
It tells me that

Speaker 25 the people in this area know a little something about turning an underdog into a victor. Philly fans, you do know all about turning an underdog into a victor.

Speaker 25 Red Sox fans know how to turn an underdog into a victor.

Speaker 11 Three team pander. She's done it.
The triple.

Speaker 11 The triple crown.

Speaker 2 Been over one year since Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed SB 1070, a controversial anti-immigration bill that some call Tantamount's racial profiling into law with some unintended consequences.

Speaker 26 Baseball, nearly 30% Hispanic, is a flashpoint for protests. Baseball's all-star game scheduled for Phoenix next summer may hang in the balance.

Speaker 2 That's the only way in this country that we decide who gets home field advantage in the World Series.

Speaker 12 Unless someone, you know, flips a quarter.

Speaker 2 Anyway, for more on the impact of SB 1070 on the All-Star game, we go to Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona with senior Latino correspondent Al Madrigal.

Speaker 6 Al.

Speaker 13 What a night for baseball, John. History in the making.
A little hot. Could be that it's 127 degrees in Arizona or I got a case of baseball fever.

Speaker 2 Al, you're supposed to be covering the protests about the law in Arizona, not enjoying the game. I thought the Latino community was furious about this.

Speaker 11 Oh, yes.

Speaker 12 Right.

Speaker 13 Very furious. Muy furioso.

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 2 are there protests? Are you covering the protests?

Speaker 12 Sure. Yes, it's.

Speaker 11 Oh, come on, John. It's baseball, man.
I mean, I'd protest if it was any other sport, but we love baseball.

Speaker 13 It's the only sport a Latino can dream of playing in America.

Speaker 13 We're too short for basketball.

Speaker 12 We're too small for football.

Speaker 13 Too smart to strap on a pair of ice skates and let a Canadian beat the shit out of us.

Speaker 13 Besides dog whispering, baseball is...

Speaker 13 Baseball is all Latinos have left.

Speaker 2 So Latinos love baseball.

Speaker 2 And dog whispering so much

Speaker 2 they'll look past any injustice done to them.

Speaker 13 Are you familiar with the Battle of Chavez-Ravine?

Speaker 13 During the 1950s, 3,800 Mexican immigrants were literally whipped from their homes in Los Angeles so the newly relocated Dodgers could have a stadium. And guess what they call those people today?

Speaker 13 Seasoned ticket holders.

Speaker 2 That is incredible.

Speaker 17 Hold on a second. Hey, beer!

Speaker 2 So Adrian Gonzalez is doing well and he doesn't want to miss the game? Is that it?

Speaker 11 What's your excuse?

Speaker 12 I don't even know what you're talking about, man.

Speaker 2 I'm talking about how you called a bender for a beer and then

Speaker 11 just apparently took it from some guy that was standing over.

Speaker 11 Anyway.

Speaker 13 I didn't realize.

Speaker 13 I didn't realize this guy was right here.

Speaker 2 Last year, Al, you were...

Speaker 2 Last year.

Speaker 2 Last year. Wait.

Speaker 11 This is really important.

Speaker 2 Last year, you were really angry about this issue. Roll the tape.

Speaker 3 And that's why my madrigal mystery bore of 2010 is Sex of the City 2.

Speaker 13 If I may, John, just a quick personal message for Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig. Arizona's law is racist and having the all-star game there is total bull.

Speaker 3 Thanks, Thanks, John. All right, thank you, Al.

Speaker 2 How do you explain that, Al?

Speaker 4 I don't know.

Speaker 13 I liked the first sexual city.

Speaker 11 I just thought the sequel is unnecessary.

Speaker 11 Why mess with the perfection?

Speaker 2 So, Al, there's going to be zero acknowledgement of SB 1070 at tonight's All-Star game?

Speaker 13 I wouldn't say that. I mean, players are showing solidarity in their own subtle ways.
Beneath each eye, many have decided to wear thick black marks, symbolizing the dark turn in Arizona's politics.

Speaker 2 Al, baseball players always do that.

Speaker 13 Ah, but they're also going to grab their balls and spit.

Speaker 2 I believe they do that as well.

Speaker 13 No, but this time they're going to mean it.

Speaker 13 Look, you can't keep Latinos from playing baseball. Just like the ghost from the cornfield in that movie with Kevin Costner said, if you build it,

Speaker 13 they will come. And by they, I mean hordes of Latinos.

Speaker 2 Thank you, Al. Al Magrigal, everybody.
We'll be right back.

Speaker 2 We're back with my guest tonight on New York Mets Legend. His new book is called Mookie, Life, Baseball, and the 86 Mets.

Speaker 12 Please welcome to the program, Mookie Wilson.

Speaker 2 An honor to see you here.

Speaker 12 All right, great.

Speaker 2 Thank you for being here.

Speaker 12 Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 This is really the last time in many years that I can actually say that to a New York man.

Speaker 12 It's been rough times.

Speaker 11 It's been some rough times.

Speaker 2 This really was, you know, you write about 86.

Speaker 2 There is something

Speaker 2 truly indelible about a championship season

Speaker 2 that makes it worthy of remembrance. What was it about the 86 team when you guys won the World Series? Besides the dramatic fashion that you wanted it?

Speaker 12 I think it's the characters.

Speaker 17 I think that we're a group of individuals that weren't afraid to be themselves.

Speaker 12 And I think you need more of that in sports, actually.

Speaker 11 More of that. Yes.

Speaker 2 But you were, you know, the 86 team had Doc Gooden, Daryl Strawberry, Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter. But you were a beacon of maturity.

Speaker 11 Ooh, that's good. Don't you think?

Speaker 2 You were the one guy everybody loved and nobody ever worried about.

Speaker 2 You always thought Keith Hernandez,

Speaker 2 at some point, six in the morning, somebody's going to be like, where's Keith?

Speaker 2 Monkey Wilson never had that issue.

Speaker 17 No, I think the team, we had this group over here that was really outgoing. A lot of people called them a scum bunch, you know.

Speaker 17 Then we had this other group over here that was really, you know,

Speaker 17 Gary Carter's, you know, Ron Darling's, guys like that. Then it had those guys in the middle, you know, like myself and Raphael Santana that kind of, you know, kept it all together.

Speaker 2 And that chemistry. Yes.
And it brings up an issue. So everybody is talking about this Donald Sterling, this relationship between a racist owner.

Speaker 2 Sports really is an unusually almost paternal situation with the owner. They can

Speaker 2 ship you out to another city. Do the players feel that relationship?

Speaker 17 I think it's always, it's going to be that weird relationship between players, you know, and management, knowing that management does have the last word. Sometimes it doesn't matter how well you play.

Speaker 17 It's all about the relationship between the player and ownership. Now, this basketball situation is really, really different.
We got a lot of racists from Mars, and here he owns a team that's over 80%

Speaker 12 black. That's kind of weird.

Speaker 11 That is.

Speaker 12 That is weird. That's weird.
That's weird.

Speaker 2 But it's always, you find in these leagues, the owner is typically white.

Speaker 2 The athletes, typically African-American, the athletes who are African-American, had to fight to be allowed to play

Speaker 2 and even now still have to fight for rights. This idea that, okay,

Speaker 2 you know, you're allowed to leave after seven years, but you have to put in this amount of time.

Speaker 12 Do you think this

Speaker 2 could be a turning point in that relationship?

Speaker 17 I don't think so. I think that sports has survived.
I mean, over the years, as much as we've tried to mess baseball up, we haven't with strikes and all that. The game will survive.

Speaker 17 You're thinking you can make all the rules you want to, but until you change the attitudes of people, you're going to have this kind of idiocy, no matter what you do. It's just going to happen.

Speaker 2 As a player, how do you handle that? You know, these guys are in the midst of a playoff run.

Speaker 2 Now, you've played in New York. There was a tremendous amount of distraction, a tremendous amount of media.
They're the same in Los Angeles.

Speaker 2 Is it even possible for an athlete at that high level to still compete? with this type of emotion under the surface.

Speaker 17 Well, first and foremost, is that athletes deal with pressure every day. Every day they go out on the field, it's all about what you do that day.

Speaker 17 And this is no different. They're not playing for their honor.
They're playing for their own self-respect. And I've heard things about, well, should the borrowed the team boycott and not play?

Speaker 17 That serves no real purpose. I mean, it would defeat the purpose of you being there, playing basketball at the NBA level.
That's a great, great honor. And to let some idiot

Speaker 2 not let you you fulfill the potential that your team has i think you'd be doing yourself a disservice in in the league itself do you see what i mean about you having the maturity look at me i'm ready to fly off the handle just walk away from the game and you brought me back you know it's a little here's what i think should happen yes okay the clippers rally around this yeah

Speaker 2 they play unbelievable basketball for the next month they win The NBA championship.

Speaker 2 And in the locker room, in the jubilation, the trophy is handed to them. Donald Sterling is right there.
And they get the tallest guy.

Speaker 12 Let's go with Blake Griffith.

Speaker 2 He's about 6'11. And he just holds the trophy up like this.

Speaker 11 And Donald Sterling just

Speaker 8 has to,

Speaker 11 can't get it.

Speaker 4 And done.

Speaker 12 They don't let him out of it.

Speaker 8 Do you still...

Speaker 2 Are you still able to get together with some of the fellas and reminisce about it? You know, tragically, Gary Carter of college passed away, great character guy.

Speaker 2 Are you able to get together and still sort of revert back to form from the 80s and have a great time together? No, we don't want to go back.

Speaker 11 No, I know, okay.

Speaker 17 We don't want that. Right.
But we do get together, and when we do this one big reunion, and we talk a lot, and we lie a little bit too

Speaker 11 much.

Speaker 12 That's what reminiscing is all about.

Speaker 11 That's all about.

Speaker 2 And who would have thought that that would be the last championship the Mets ever won?

Speaker 2 Well, it's an absolute pleasure to see you and to have you here on the show. Get yourself Mookie,

Speaker 2 one of the greats. Mookie Wilson, ladies and gentlemen.

Speaker 9 But first, let's start with something we don't get to say often enough. Some good news out of Chicago.

Speaker 10 The longest drought in the history of American sports is over. The curse is dead.

Speaker 8 Chicago erupting overnight.

Speaker 19 Thousands celebrating in the streets. Because

Speaker 19 we're in the World Series!

Speaker 4 Oh, yes. Yes.

Speaker 9 You know, before last night, I had almost forgotten what joy looks like.

Speaker 9 Everybody in America has been so tense and grim. Even Halloween this year, people were walking around like, well, zombies.

Speaker 9 I do feel bad for the Indians, though. Defeated on their own land again.

Speaker 9 Although most Native Americans are probably okay that this guy lost. This needs to change, people.
This

Speaker 4 needs to change.

Speaker 9 One thing I really loved last night was seeing all the news and the pictures of Cubs fans celebrating. They were so happy.
He's so relieved. You know, they were so look.

Speaker 9 I mean, like, look at this guy.

Speaker 7 Wait,

Speaker 25 can you? Is that?

Speaker 9 Is that Roy Wood Jr.?

Speaker 8 You damn right it was.

Speaker 8 Oh, it's Roy Wood. Oh, it's Roy Woodrue, everybody.

Speaker 8 You damn right there.

Speaker 4 Our number one Cubs fan.

Speaker 5 Fresh from Cleveland, man.

Speaker 17 I can't believe it. Roy was actually at the gate.

Speaker 9 I can't believe you came to work. I can't believe you're still wearing the same robe.
This is amazing, Roy. You are back in New York, Roy.
You can put the sign down, man.

Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4 Mm-mm.

Speaker 5 You sound just like United Airlines.

Speaker 5 Captain, don't tell me I need to sit down and put the sign away.

Speaker 2 Not tonight.

Speaker 8 Fly the plane, Sully.

Speaker 4 Okay, Roy.

Speaker 4 Can we just talk about the game real quick, man?

Speaker 9 You must, like, for real, you must have had an emotional night.

Speaker 11 Yeah, I mean, you know, dude, it was grown-ass men brought to tears.

Speaker 12 You got to remember, dude, Cup fans, like, this wasn't just for them.

Speaker 5 This was for the generations, three generations of ancestors who never lived to see the Cubs win the series.

Speaker 9 So then if it was for generations, who were you there for?

Speaker 5 I was there for myself. I'm the only Cubs fan in my family.

Speaker 9 Yeah, actually, no, but actually now that you bring that up, you're from Alabama, so how did you become a Cubs fan?

Speaker 5 Yeah, because it came on TV. Look, in Alabama,

Speaker 5 look, in the 80s, only two baseball teams came on TV, the Cubs and the Braves. And I couldn't watch the Braves because they came on at night.
And my daddy wanted to watch Airwolf.

Speaker 5 What do you know about Airwolf?

Speaker 9 I actually loved Airwolf. By the way, I hate to bring this up, but what does that smell?

Speaker 5 Oh, man, this is the Lucky Robe. I ain't watched it in a year.
I was riding all over the game, man.

Speaker 11 I had it all last night.

Speaker 5 Fellowshipping with complete strangers. Plus, when that storm hit, this is the best part, man.
That rain storm started coming around the ninth inning.

Speaker 5 This robe sucked up all the water, and I brought it back as a souvenir. Look at this right here, man.

Speaker 8 That is authentic game seven precipitation.

Speaker 17 Oh, yeah, man.

Speaker 5 I'm ringing this out. I'm gonna sell this for a grand announce on eBay, man.

Speaker 2 This is concentrated victory, boy.

Speaker 5 Go on, hit you. Some of that.
Hit that.

Speaker 4 No, I'm good, Roy. I'm good.

Speaker 11 All right, your loss, man.

Speaker 4 All right,

Speaker 27 congratulations, Roy.

Speaker 18 Where would you know, everybody? Where would you know?

Speaker 4 Good fans.

Speaker 9 The sun is out and summer sports are in full swing, which means it's time for another edition of I Apologize for Talking While You Were Talking.

Speaker 5 My usual partner, Michael Costa, is out this week, but it's all good because I got my man Ronnie Chang with me, and he is psyched to talk baseball.

Speaker 8 Aren't you, Ronnie?

Speaker 17 I hate baseball.

Speaker 5 That's the spirit. You know, Ronnie, baseball is America's national pastime.

Speaker 28 Oh, really?

Speaker 3 I thought it was racism.

Speaker 5 Well, lucky for you, this week's big story has both.

Speaker 29 Early pitcher Josh Hayter made his first appearance on the mound for the Milwaukee Brewers since Saturday since controversial tweets from when he was 17 resurfaced during the all-star game last week.

Speaker 29 After giving an emotional apology for those racially charged and homophobic social media posts on Friday, Hayter was warmly greeted by the fans at Miller Park on Saturday, given a standing ovation when he came in to pitch the top of the seventh inning in a game against the Dodgers.

Speaker 6 Now, that was a great thing to see, Ronnie.

Speaker 5 Josh Hayter busted for racist tweets, apologizes, and now the Milwaukee fans are showing forgiveness.

Speaker 16 I don't know, man. It kind of looks like some people are clapping for the racism.

Speaker 4 Okay, well, we don't know.

Speaker 17 Let's just be honest.

Speaker 5 We don't know why they were clapping. Sometimes you just join in on something because everyone else is doing it.

Speaker 8 Like the wave or cocaine. What?

Speaker 3 No, Ew.

Speaker 2 Who's doing the wave?

Speaker 16 I think they let him off easy because he can throw a ball really fast.

Speaker 5 Yeah, that's how sports work.

Speaker 5 The better you are, the more shit you can get away with. Josh Hayter is an all-star, which means he's so good he can bounce back from bad tweets.
Ron R.

Speaker 5 Tess was so good, they let him punch fans in the face.

Speaker 5 And Shaq was so good, he got away with Kazam.

Speaker 4 Paul was fanning, bro.

Speaker 16 Okay. Paul was fanning.
Okay, hang on. Hang on.

Speaker 16 So, you'd be okay if LeBron James went around punching babies?

Speaker 5 Up to three babies, I'd be fine with that.

Speaker 5 But hey, let's move on to a lighter story.

Speaker 27 Well, Millennial Night was the talk of the town in Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery. You might remember us telling you about some of the backlash this promotion got on social media.

Speaker 30 The first 100 fans through the gate received a participation ribbon just for showing up with super food options such as avocados and selfie stations.

Speaker 30 And as if that wasn't enough, the biscuits also provided nap ponds for sleepy fans.

Speaker 5 Oh man, selfie stations, you gotta admit, Ronnie, this baseball team really stuck it to those millennials.

Speaker 16 No, they didn't. They just accidentally made baseball a thousand times better.

Speaker 16 Yeah, I get to eat avocados and take a nap, just take away the game and it's a perfect afternoon.

Speaker 16 And also,

Speaker 16 that wasn't a real millennial experience, okay? If it was, the fans would have left the game with $100,000 in student debt.

Speaker 5 But rest well, millennials. You aren't the only young people having problems at baseball games.

Speaker 15 When it comes to baseball etiquette, one Chicago Cubs fan strikes out, watch the the first base coach throw the ball to a kid in the front row.

Speaker 31 The little boy drops the ball, it rolls back a row, uh-oh, that man, he scoops it up and hands it to the woman next to him.

Speaker 15 Since there's no crying in baseball, the kid watched as the adult continued to gloat.

Speaker 5 No, no. Pro tip, if you want a ball, you don't steal it from a kid.
You go to Walmart and you steal it like a goddamn adult. This story makes me so mad, Ronnie.

Speaker 16 Really? Because it just proves how boring baseball is. The most interesting thing that happened was a ball that went out of bounds.

Speaker 5 Come on, Ronnie, Ronnie, look, no matter what you think of baseball, we can both agree. This guy is an asshole.

Speaker 16 No, that video is totally out of context. Dead Spin reported that that guy everyone hates actually gave that same kid a ball earlier.

Speaker 5 Well,

Speaker 5 but still, the kid could have had a second ball.

Speaker 3 Now he's only got one ball. He's walking around like Lance Armstrong.

Speaker 9 I don't like that guy.

Speaker 4 Oh, I don't like him.

Speaker 8 He got two balls.

Speaker 16 But that guy only took the second ball so he could give it to another kid. So not only is he not an asshole, he's like baseball Jesus.
Yeah, he gave gifts to children and we crucified him for it.

Speaker 16 All we had to do was wait for the whole story. Isn't sports more fun when you wait five minutes for all the facts to make an informed decision instead of reacting to everything with blind passion?

Speaker 5 Thank you so much for coming in. My real partner, Michael Costa, will be back next week.
Thank God.

Speaker 7 Running check, we're with you to everybody.

Speaker 4 We'll be right back.

Speaker 9 Starting with a major milestone in the world of baseball. The only sports that's somehow better on radio.
Baseball is a game that treats its records with reverence.

Speaker 9 You know, all of them from Kel Ripken Jr.'s more than 2,600 consecutive games played to Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak to Derek Jeta's record of being the only successful guy ever to be named Derek.

Speaker 4 But

Speaker 9 no stat is more revered than the home run.

Speaker 9 And last night, Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge smashed his name into the record books.

Speaker 6 With the swing of his mighty bat, Yankee superstar Aaron Judge slugged his way into history. There it goes, selling into history, 62.

Speaker 1 It took until the 161st game of the season, but number 99 has finally etched his name in the record books.

Speaker 1 Aaron Judge passes the great Roger Maris to break the record for most home runs in a single season by an American league player.

Speaker 19 Ball was caught by Corey Eumans of Dallas, a vice president at Fisher Investments. He said he hasn't decided what he's going to do with the souvenir, which could be worth a couple of million dollars.

Speaker 9 Well, there's a feel-good story for you. I'm glad things are finally working out for that executive at an investment firm.

Speaker 27 That's what the game is all about. Good for you, buddy.

Speaker 4 Good for you.

Speaker 9 But yeah, huge congratulations to Aaron Judge, right? With just one game left to go in the season, he broke the American League home run record set by Roger Maris all the way back in 1961.

Speaker 9 Think about that, 1961. That is a long-ass time for a record to stand.
I mean, back in 1961, you understand how long ago that was? America didn't have a Voting Rights Act, and abortion was illegal.

Speaker 9 Very different times.

Speaker 4 Now, to be clear,

Speaker 9 this is just the American League home run record, right? Not the all-time record. But some people think it should be.

Speaker 9 Because everyone who's above Aaron Judge on the list was busted for taking performance-enhancing drugs. And whether you like it or not, this is a complicated issue.

Speaker 9 Because every player, whether they took steroids or not, has some advantage over players from other eras. You know, like Babe Ruth, he didn't have access to modern medicine.

Speaker 9 Yeah, if he pulled a muscle, the team doctor would be like, here, smoke this entire pack of cigarettes. If that doesn't work, I'll prescribe you some asbestos.

Speaker 3 Go on out there, buddy.

Speaker 9 You know, if I'm being honest, though, I don't know why we celebrate home runs in the first place. Yeah, because to me, all that happened is that you just lost the ball.

Speaker 9 Yeah, and now we've got to get a new ball. That's like, what, $10? With 62 homers? That shit adds up, Aaron.

Speaker 7 And I don't know if you've heard, but America's 31 trillion in debt.

Speaker 7 We shouldn't be handling this shit. We can't afford it.

Speaker 7 He's bidding the balls out there.

Speaker 7 You know who we should be celebrating? We should be celebrating the batsers who missed the ball completely so we can keep using it.

Speaker 9 Those people are the real heroes. I'm really fun at parties.

Speaker 9 Spring is on its way in America, and you know what that means. Sunny days, flowers blooming, eating your weights in clariton.
But there's one spring tradition that is unfortunately getting cancelled.

Speaker 10 For the first time in more than a quarter century, Major League Baseball is canceling games over a labor dispute.

Speaker 18 The calendar dictates that we're not going to be able to play the first two series of the regular season, and those games are officially canceled.

Speaker 10 That's 91 games so far. Economics are at the heart of it.
Major League Baseball saw revenues go from around $8 billion to nearly $11 billion right before the pandemic.

Speaker 10 Yet player salaries went down slightly for four straight years. And of the four major American sports, baseball has the lowest minimum salary at around $570,000.

Speaker 20 No!

Speaker 9 No, don't cancel the baseball games. How else will I get to spend $45 on a hot dog? That's a little too dry.

Speaker 9 The MLB is canceling games because the players and the league cannot agree on who gets to share the money.

Speaker 18 Yes.

Speaker 9 And I'll be honest with you, I was shocked that baseball players' minimum pay is less than all the other leagues, especially considering that this sport brings in $11 billion.

Speaker 9 And yes, I know $570,000 is a lot of money. It is a lot of money.
But when you think about it from the players' point of view, Think about how long a baseball game is.

Speaker 9 What does that $500,000 break down to?

Speaker 28 It's like, what, $4 an hour?

Speaker 9 And by the way, please remember this. I know a lot of people go like, I hate the sport.
But but don't remember that when this happens, a lockout doesn't just affect the players.

Speaker 9 It affects everyone who works in and around the game, like the people who work at the stadium, the people who work just outside the stadium, right?

Speaker 9 It affects the umpires, the guys selling beer, the security guard who tackles the naked guys who run out onto the field.

Speaker 20 Yeah.

Speaker 9 In fact, just to pay the bills, Mr. Met has already had to start an OnlyFans account.
It's sad.

Speaker 26 It's sexy.

Speaker 28 Everyone's being very alarmist about this, all right? Dude, this is America. As though they're going to stop baseball.
It's going to come back. Of course, they're going to find an agreement.

Speaker 28 Oh, what's alternative? They're just going to never play baseball again? Of course, it's going to happen. This is like an encore at a Billy Joel concert.
You know, he's going to play piano, man.

Speaker 28 Just calm the f down. Just wait.
There's no patience here in America. We love baseball.
We don't like patience, which is ironic because it's the game you need the most patience for because it's long.

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