Ben & Woods On Demand Podcast

8am Hour - Tim Flannery Joins The Show In-Studio

Woodsy and Paul start the 8am hour by welcoming our dear friend, former Padres infielder Tim Flannery to the studio! Listen here as the guys kick back and let the great storyteller himself share some incredible stories of his long career as a player and coach, how impressed he's been with Jackson Merrill, comparisons he sees between this Padres team and the championship Giants teams that he coached, and MUCH more!

Duration:: 1h 0m
Broadcast on:: 08 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

What kind of programs does this school have? How are the test scores? How many kids do a classroom? Homes.com, those, these are all things you ask when you're home shopping as a parent. That's why each listing on homes.com includes extensive reports on local schools, including photos, parent reviews, test scores, student teacher ratio, school rankings, and more. The information is from multiple trusted sources and curated by homes.com's dedicated in-house research team. It's also you can make the right decision for your family. Homes.com. We've done your homework. Hey, fantasy football fans. This is Zach from Upper Hand Fantasy. You don't want an embarrassing tattoo just because you lost a bet in your fantasy football league, right? If you do, I suggest I'm remade holding a football, but let's avoid that altogether. Bros and I are here to get you ready for your fantasy football drafts with insights and advice from sleepers to busts. We've got you covered to give you the upper hand on your friends. Start your fantasy football prep now. Join us and stay ahead of the competition. Follow and listen to Upper Hand Fantasy on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Nice. Today's episode is sponsored by Nerd Wallet Smart Money Podcast. Get your head in the financial game with smart investing and budgeting tips straight from the nerds. Nerd wallets experts will set future you up for success. With dependable fact-based insights, no financial misinformation allowed. Learn how to save on your summer vacation. Find your next credit card or loan for a big purchase and invest in your next index fund. Make smarter decisions in 2024. Follow Nerd Wallet Smart Money Podcast on your favorite podcast at half way home on a Monday, then it was '97 through the fan. First of all, I want to apologize to Sammy Levitt for playing him off because we ran out of time. And Paulie was giving me the wrap up. And I'm like, bro, he's on a roll. I can't-- I'm not Ben, where I can just go da, da, da, da, da, da, da, and just plow through. I just let him finish. If he runs out of time, he runs out of time. You know, I don't know what to tell him. But then, people were in the chat. I'm like, why does everyone be in mean about Sammy? And you're like, Sammy has a lisp, but he doesn't have a lisp. Not that there's anything wrong with having a lisp, but he doesn't have a lisp. No, he doesn't. But he's then texted you and said, why did Zoom give me a lisp? Did you put him on some-- I didn't do anything. [LAUGHS] So good. Sammy Levitt joins us. It's the moment right to the occasion. And Joe Grit show fight, they have certainly given you all of that. It really did. Somebody said it sounded like he had a retainer in. Yeah. He's working on some of this line, which I did it. I get it. He's like, what happened? I don't know. I thought you had a retainer in, honestly. Tyler said, Paulie activated the Braceface filter. Yeah, it makes you sound different. Well, we are very honored this morning to be joined by one of my dear friends, one of my favorite people in the world, the great Tim Flannery joins the program. Morning, Flam. Good morning, everybody. How are you? I'm really good. We had a night at the belly up last night, and I played the last three songs. So every day game I would walk in the clubhouse and say, why is everybody up in the middle of the night? Right. That's kind of how I feel at the moment. And that's when you played and coached, right? Like, you just-- the day game for a baseball player, not your favorite. He was always great once you got there and got work in and got. But you get on your schedule, and you get in the grind of the 162 games. But it's just part of it. It's part of who can sustain all the things that happen over a season because the season's so long. And how long is it, you might think, even though I did a lot-- I did 25 years in the big leagues and managing at every level in the minor leagues. But my last year, I didn't even know that my nephew got his wife pregnant in spring training. And she had a baby before the World Series was over. The season's so long, you could carry a baby, a human, in your body. And that's when I said, I'm going home and I'm going surfing. This is exactly why I wanted to bring Flair into this morning to chop it up. We've got a chance to get to know you over the last couple of years, and certainly in fantasy camp, got to spend some time together and hang out. But being able to coach your grandson, Jesse-- when I found out that Jesse was on my squad, I was like, oh my god, Tim Flair is going to be at my games. He's going to be watching me coach, which is very intimidating. You're a great coach. Thank you very much. And Flair pulled me aside. He goes, I don't know how you do this. And I said, I don't either. I don't either. And you said, when we get to the real deal, where there's outs and strikes and ball, you give me a call, and we'll work with them. And you'll get the fun goes, go and get them on their knees, picking the grounders and stuff. Because that's the stuff I'm really looking forward to. I couldn't believe how great they got and how much they improved. And that's totally a credit to you and you. And I manage at every level in the minor leagues. I manage the Padres rookie league when all the Americans come to you in June. And we always said, the three P's, you've got to be persistent, you've got to be patient, you've got to be positive. And you were that and you are that. So thank you for-- because I don't ever want to put pressure on. Look, I never played catch with my father. My father was a Christian minister, a hillbilly minister out of the mountains of Kentucky. My mother's brother is Hal Smith, who played for the World Series' 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates. And he was a songwriter. So I always thought that everybody played baseball and wrote songs. Yeah, right. I didn't think there was anything bad about it, you know? So the baseball and the music really came from my mother's side. And you're-- so I got a chance to meet your mom and see her. And she is how old again? 92. 92 years old was at this birthday party. And her brother was Hal Smith. He played for the Pirates, as you mentioned. So the World Series against the Yankees, everyone remembers Mazaroski. But Hal Smith did what? Well, the Yankees were killing. And when they won those games, when they won three of the games against the Pirates, it was like 13 to 1, and 12 did nothing. And when the Pirates would win and be 2 to 1, 3 to 2. And in game seven, down by two runs, my uncle pinched it, and the eighth inning had a three-run bomb that put the Pirates ahead. And then the Yankees, that next innings, tied the game. And then Mazaroski won it, the next inning. So we had the real to real big films of the Pirates. And I just always loved it, and was always just a baseball guy that loved it. They say I used to sit and watch games when I was two years old. I probably did. Yeah, 100%. And we talk a lot about it, because there's a dad of a player that is absolutely on fire for the game. You do worry about the burnout and this and that. And you kind of said the same thing. You said, no, it was the same way. I never could get enough. Everyone said you would burn out. And here you are still. You're still not burned out. Well, the neighbors used to tell my mom, you don't think he's going to burn out. He's going to burn out. And they were right, you know? About 2015, I had enough after about 50 years. 50 years, right. All right, well, both can make another 50 years. I'm pretty happy. I joined by Tim Flannery in the studio this morning. Flan was telling me at this party. And again, remember, we remember, we got to edit part of the story. But there was a-- tell me about the strike in baseball. When you went through the strike-- and just listen to how different it is now than it was then. This is fascinating. This is fascinating. I went through four of them. And the two of them were over 50 days. And I'm going to start on the other side and then work back to the strike. For context, the most recent strike, how long was that? That was-- The lockout? The lockout? That was like 90 days? 90 days, stuff like that. But that's how I coached. You know, I would say-- I can remember, I was in charge of all the bunning in San Francisco. And 45 minutes a day, I'd had the pitchers. And I would bun them and hit and run and slash. And we were the best in the league where they got signs. Because we worked on it 45 minutes every day. But some days, like I can remember Matt Caine said, I'm not going to do it. And I grabbed him by the uniform. I go, I went on four strikes so you can make a billion dollars. So now you come and save my job. Wow. So I mean, that's how-- but the story you like, and it is the honest God truth, this is before cell phones. In 1981, we went on a 50-day strike. And it didn't seem like it was going to end at all. And I was living in Del Marra in a little beach house for $400 a month. And my wife, at the time, was not my wife. She was in Europe, and we were going to get married. Anyway, I was on a surf trip. And I was down in Mexico when the strike settled. But nobody could get a hold of me. I didn't know. [LAUGHTER] I was surfing every day, playing beach volleyball every day. I mean, I was in fighting shape. And when I finally did get back a couple days later, everybody's getting on a scale. And guys are like 20 pounds overweight. You know, I was five pounds underweight. [LAUGHTER] But you've been down in Mexico doing teal shots, surfing, all day. Think about that for a minute. So you go on a strike. To think like, what-- how-- you got-- you know me, Paulie. You know me. We go on strike. And I'm just like, all right, get me later. Like, there's no way. I would have been calling someone every day. We closed. You just said, I'm going surfing. And how did you know to come back? You didn't. You just happened to come back. When the surf trip ended, we came back. And when I got to the border, and of course, we're servers, they had to take our car apart. Oh, they've got to have drugs if they're serving. Well, they've been down there for two months or whatever. And then they were telling me, hey, the strike's like, what? So we got to-- you know, we went right to the ballpark. It's like, how late were you to, like, reporting? Two days? Two days. Two days. But the funny thing about the whole thing was not funny, really, at that time. But I was-- I got sent to AAA, and I'm thinking, this is great. You know, and I was making big league minimum, which was $32,000. Good God. And this was 1981. And the Padres called me up because they knew there was going to be a 50-day strike. They didn't know it was going to be a 50-day strike, but they knew it was going to be a work stoppage. And to save money, that's where the money was these days. It was $32,000. They didn't want to pay it. That's unbelievable. But it did. You got your big league time. You got 50 days more big league time. You know, I had 10 years when a final was over. I was a player that got 10 years in the big leagues and a coach that 15 years in the big leagues. So I had 25 years. So, you know, it all worked out. It was just-- you know, the game was different. The city was different. Everything here, it's been amazing to watch it just become what it is and all the people that the side lures and all the folks that had a lot to do with it. So grateful. You know, San Diego, when we first came to the big leagues, in my 10 years, I played for seven different managers in 10 years, like three different front offices. So it was so hard to find any continuity really until Dick Williams came in and put this club together and the organization got on the map, got rolling, and it's great to have been a part of some of that early success. Well, and it's great to have you back in the fold with the San Diego Padres for us. You know, certainly, when we heard you were going to be at camp, I was so elated in the stories that we got to hear from 84. Second to none, Ben moderated the whole thing. It was incredible. Some of the best baseball stories I've ever heard. You know, I hope you enjoyed Fantasy Camp, because I need you back there every year now. Both of you guys played really well. So I am at Fantasy Camp. Yes. During the tryout section, I tell all the good players, fake injury, you know, we'll still draft you number one, but we need you to not to get drafted by somebody else. It's been great to see you back in the fold. You know, I've been in town for 14, almost 15 years, and there was a time when it didn't feel like you were, and now that you are, it's great. I mean, and honestly, like bygones and you're back to and stuff with the team, and of course, you know, you still have a huge piece of your heart in San Francisco. You got three rings there with the San Francisco Giants. Nobody begrudges you that, but it's just great to have you back around the San Diego Padres. I love it, you know, it reminds me of who I am, and what really happens. You know, people think that, you know, we just left San Diego. That's not the case. Just because you're with the San Diego Padres, we had different ownerships. We had different front offices. And San D'Aller said would send a little computer readout every day down to boats, who's supposed to play that night. Is that right? He backed in, and boats would tell the guy that walked in with, you know, he's like four feet with the glasses. The gopher. Boats says, you take that up to whoever gave it to me and tell him to shove it up. So, Boats went, he was leaving. And think about that, the guy won two division titles and they let him walk. Yeah. You know, and I'll hear Boats fired me in 2002, and I needed to be fired because I don't pretend well. And we got to the ballpark passed in '98 by winning. We had to win to get the ballpark passed with the voting. And then all the lawsuits kept it from happening. So, you know, we just had to hang with him, you know, and we were told to develop a couple of guys, but it's not gonna be pretty. Well, I'm not your guy if you're pretending. And he got unhealthy for me, you know. And so, Boats, you know, said, "Hey, you gotta go." But, and then in 2007, I'm walking my dog and I get this phone call from Boats and he goes, "You got another ride left in you?" He goes, "They're trying to win up there." And then he sent me the video of Lonesome Dove about the two pig farmers retired at home, kicking the pigs. And that's where he got me. I said, "Yeah." And my wife goes, "You're going again, aren't you?" I go, "I gotta go one more time." - Oh, man. - Did you think when you were fired in '02, you said? Did you think that was it? You were done? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I, you know, like I said, I started with that salary at 32, right? 1,000 and I played 10 years. And I was always playing on a one year contract until my last couple years. And so, you're playing for your life. And anybody that played in the '80s, even if you made money, you know, I mean, you can't retire on the money that was made then. - Yeah. - So I had to eat and I was raising kids. So I, you know, be in the song and dance, man. I took my music to another level, but I also started getting it in down here with the radio and the TV and learning this business. And this has been over the years, you know, when I went up to San Francisco afterwards, I did five years of TV and then three years with MLB Network. So it all works out, I guess is what they say. And, but I am so honored to be able to come back to the Fantasy League. And Peter Sideler, him and I connected. And I really didn't connect over baseball with Peter. I connect over his work with the homeless. - Sure. - And I wanted to find his or anything I can do. You know, I don't, you know, I hit nine home runs in the '80s. I can't just write a check, you know. And Peter took me and we were sitting an opening day and he'd, together and he would ask me questions about the guys and I'd ask him questions about how to help, you know. So that was that, how that developed. And then I got invited, you know, to the Fantasy League. I love it. - It was awesome. - I love it. It's great to be a part of it. - We got Tim Flannery here. Let's see a quick break. We'll come right back. I want to get some thoughts that you had. You shared with me about Jackson Merrill, one of your favorite Padres who is going to be an All-Star as a rookie, which is just spectacular. Talk about some of the guys that you've, you've helped bring up in this great game of baseball. We'll be right back. The Bed of Woods on 97.3 of the fans. - Nice. - Today's episode is sponsored by Nerd Wallet Smart Money Podcast. Get your head in the financial game with smart investing and budgeting tips straight from the nerds. Nerd wallets experts will set future you up for success with dependable fact-based insights. No financial misinformation allowed. Learn how to save on your summer vacation. Find your next credit card or loan for a big purchase and invest in your next index fund. Make smarter decisions in 2024. Follow Nerd Wallet Smart Money Podcast on your favorite podcast app. - Hey, fantasy football fans. Do you want to be the owner who was doing a crime session the night before the draft? I didn't think so. You need to start your prep now. This is Faraz from Upper Hand Fantasy. Zach and I are here to get you ready for your fantasy football drafts with insights and advice from sleepers to bust. We've got you covered and give it the upper hand on your friends. Today is the day to start getting ready for the draft. So join us and stay ahead of the competition. Follow and listen to Upper Hand Fantasy on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. What kind of programs does this school have? How are the test scores? How many kids do a classroom? Homes.com, those, these are all things you ask when you're home shopping as a parent. That's why each listing on homes.com includes extensive reports on local schools, including photos, parent reviews, test scores, student teacher ratio, school rankings, and more. The information is from multiple trusted sources and curated by homes.com's dedicated in-house research team. It's also you can make the right decision for your family. Homes.com. We've done your homework. Welcome back to Ben & Woods, 97-3 the fan and honor to have the great Tim Flair. He joined us for a couple hours and man, the stories. We're at stories we're getting off the air, just phenomenal. I mean, it's like this is so good another time. Those are for a podcast. Ben is out today. He'll be back tomorrow. But yeah, I wanted to just talk to a man who I love very much and is a very soulful guy. And I appreciate that when it comes to the game of baseball. You know, there are different types of people that you meet and players that you meet. And Flan is, "You're all heart and soul, my friend." And I know that you brought a lot of that into the teams that you played for and then the teams that you coached. And, you know, the hardest thing about, I would imagine from your perspective, is all the different personalities in one room. It's just got to be insane to try to manage that. And not only manage that together, travel together, be together, then also win together is just impossible. And that's what a good coaching staff does. And I know you are a huge, huge part of the giant successes over the years and you and Boach and the rest of your crew. But how difficult is that when you get 25, 26 guys trying to all do the same thing? Well, I think Boach was just a genius at it because the way he treats people. And he also remembered how hard the game is to play because it looks so easy from a distance. And everybody out there included myself. As soon as we got out of the game, we became better. It's a very difficult game. And, I mean, think about it, right? Yeah, man. And that's one of the problems. It's a third base coach every night. And here in all the fans over 15 years, you know, it's why I'm a little callist and I don't bruise easily because every night I was getting screamed at and people who don't know anything about it would tell you how to do it. But we also had the teams that win. And this team down here in San Diego, this team, I didn't care for the other one. Even though all the hype, because that's not how you win. You know, this club is playing together. And Carlos Santana, not the catcher, the great guitar player. He's in the dugout with like two weeks left in the season. No, about a month left in the season. And he's got a giant uniform on with Santana on the back. And I go out for my early bunning and there's Carlos Santana. I know who he is. And we just chit-chat, chit-chat. And then he says, you know why you guys win? You have collective, you bring your collective in tangibles. The things that can't be quantified. Those types of things. And then he says, I'll see you again and we'll celebrate in the rain. A month later, a month later against the Cardinals, it's pouring down rain in October in San Francisco. And Marco Scudero catches that ball in the rain. And I just get, I still get chills going. Oh, that's why he has a record called Supernatural. Wild man, wild. The intangibles, I like that. And you start to think about, you start to think about the little intangibles that this team has. Jerkson Profar, being one of them, the smile. The smile, but he's also a stone cold killer. He's such an irritant now. He was getting under the Rangers broadcaster skin. Why? Because he ran too slow around the bases, right? He's got one leg. He's got one leg. He's running around. And listen, he's got 10 years in the game, knows the game, has seen it all in the game, is having the best season of his life. Let that man enjoy himself a little bit because he certainly has earned it as well. Yeah. And you know what? If you look at the teams in San Francisco that won, and you look at what's happening up there, is guys like Profar, people that they would trade for maybe a veteran who'd been around, over one before, and when they come over, they see what it's all about when you start winning, and Profar is like that, and what he's doing this year has been fantastic. How do you, anybody that shows up every day mentally, physically, spiritually, and ready to play the game? It's not easy. 162 games in 180 days. It's really easy to make excuses. But Profar, sometimes you have to go through all that you go through to get to a point where you're playing for everything, playing for all the marbles, and he's that way. And as far as Merrill, I'm just going to tell a quick story. I came to the big leagues when I was 21 years old too, and it isn't easy because all of a sudden you're facing the guys that you might have posters on your room that you grew up with, and now they're on the mound, and you've got to go through all of that. And even though in the minor leagues I was runner-up for every batting title, you know, and they started pounding me in, pounding me in, and I couldn't make that adjustment. And I even knew it was coming, and I didn't know how to get there because I was more up the middle the other way in the gaps for Merrill to come up here. And I watched it because they started pounding him in. We always used to say that the national leagues, they call it the hands league, because that's where they're throwing the balls on your hands. And then you've got to split the plate. You can't cover, maybe Tony could do it, but not many people can cover, and I could do it up for AAA, you can't cover the whole plate. You've got to look away and be able to take in, or you've got to look in, like I had to do a cheat a little bit to get to that fastball in and take the off speed pitch or take the ball away. And you make those adjustments as you go. He's done it remarkably. And the way he plays, the way he handles himself, those are the guys. Those are the guys that are going to bring you amazing memories when his career is over. You're going to look back. And he's the reason I turn television on every night and watch him. No kidding, he's definitely up there for us too. And in our family, Bo loves him, obviously. This is Jackson. Hi, Jackson. Jackson's now going to extend what a moment. And even what he said after was, yeah, we lost the game. I'm pretty pissed. I love that. You love that. Even if it's BS, I don't even care if it's BS. He's allowed to be proud. He's allowed to be excited. He should be excited and proud of himself. But he knows the job's not done yet. Do you think I love the adjustments you talk about? Because you said, oh, they started pounding me in. So I started cheating a little bit. Well, then once you start to cheat, what do they do to you? They mix it up on you again. Then you go the other way. But I liked that out there. And you have to go through all of that. The adjustments to stay in the big leagues. And I manage, like I said, at every level, I even manage it in the big leagues for a day and got the victory. That's a whole 'nother game story. I'll tell you that. I know off that one, too. But in AAA, when I was managing, almost everybody had amazing moments in the big leagues in AAA. I mean, Joe Charbonneau is Rookie of the Year. And then the next year, he's back in AAA because you can't make adjustments. This is a game of adjustments, and they'll find out in 15 minutes. And everybody will be coming at you until you make that adjustment. So what he's done has been really remarkable at his age. Take a quick break. We'll be right back with more from Flann. Obviously, you want to talk some Tony Gwen. He played with Tony. You talk about his acumen. I would like, personally, for fans to stop comparing. And we're not comparing. But saying, like, well, Tony Gwen could do it because you played with him. You saw him how he worked. He's a unicorn. He's won in a billion, right? So I want to talk about the work that he put in, how he did it, some great Tony Gwen stories, and more coming up next with Tim Flannery here on The Fan. Welcome back, Meadow Woods. 97.3, the fan, very special guest in studio. This morning, the great Tim Flannery joins us telling all kinds of baseball stories. We will get right back to them after we do a quick check of traffic. I joined Live in Studio by Tim Flannery, former Padre. Second baseman, shortstop, utility man. Wherever they needed your fan, you would play. You would hit anywhere. You didn't care. Just wanted to be in the lineup every day. Which is such a different mentality than guys like I have. Don't hit it here. Please let me have to sacrifice Bunt because I'm afraid to hit. Right? I was always that guy. But, no, I mean, some of the guys that you played with, obviously, legends of the game. We heard the panel at Fantasy Camp talking about the '84 team, and it was staggering. Some of the stories. Goose Goss is lunatic, straight up lunatic. Gary Templeton. Yeah. Yeah. Old Goose telling Ben he's a nerd was amazing. We made the mistake of putting Goose on Live Radio. We did. Yeah, that is amazing. And then Ben, it was huge. And that fan started needling him about analytics in today's game. He lost it. That's the drop. You're a nerd too. Yeah. Called him a nerd. Straight up. Point at it. You're a nerd too. Ben's like, oh man, I just thought I would leave now the nerd. It's great. Well, they brought nettles and goose over the bright before the season in 1984. We watched them walk in the clubhouse at Jack Murphy, Qualcomm, whatever it's called, was called. And we all looked at each other, and it was such a positive, it was like the front office. They just saved us. They want, we're going to, this is the time, this is our time. And they were such a huge part of, and nettles being a guy that I loved with New York. He was living in North County. I would drive every day too. And back for the ballpark, he would take me with him on him and Goose out on the road at night time after games. Oh my God. I'll never forget it was like 2.30 in the morning in New York City. And we come up an alley. They're taking me to Studio 54. And we get out and it's pitch black in the middle of the night. And there's a line. And one guy just, they just said, Mr. Gossage, Mr. nettles, come on in unreal. He taught, he taught us a lot. And the stories that you were talking about earlier of PV and Trevor came to that fantasy camp to be around that crew, be around our 84 crew. I heard PV telling Trevor, "Hoffy, you got to get in here and listen to their stories." These guys, they fought the fans. They were in the stands, fighting the fans. They fought other teams. They beat each other up. And then I'd always say, "Yeah, but we'd always, I mean, Goose and I would go to blow sometimes." And then when I'm going out to hit, he'd be there cheering for me and then we would be out that night. It was just a different time. And thank God there wasn't social media. Oh, you've been toast. I mean, I think about it all the time. I think about those old crazy ass Yankee teams out every single night. That you know, it's one thing too, like obviously me as a potteries fan now, there's a part of me that's glad that I don't see my favorite guys out at Studio 54 at three o'clock in the morning because then I'm like, "All right." And then the next day you go one for four, strike out three times. It's like, "Well, no wonder, there's so much information now." Back then, ball players were a bit of a mystery and you could get away with a lot more. Yes, you sure could. And even before that, I hear stories of my uncle told me about Mickey Mantle. He played with Mickey Mantle and during the trains when they were traveling on trains, you know? Yeah. I tell you, we used to talk like the old coaches in San Francisco because we were the old coaches. Right. I'm going to tell you back in the day when we took the train. So the train's ready to leave and Mickey shows up right when the train's leaving about one, two in the morning and he had a couple girls with him and they said, "Mick, you know the rules. There's no women on these trains." And Mickey goes, "Okay, good luck in Cleveland then." Oh my God. And they okay. Come on. Come on. Oh my God. We could love in Cleveland. Yeah. It's unbelievable. I mean, it's so good. But if that came out about my favorite player now, I would hate it. It would be a huge scandal. I mean, we'd be wearing it on Twitter and everything else, but oh my God, what a different, what a, what a bygone area. Let's talk about, let's talk about Tony Gwen, somebody that you played with and, and you know, obviously he's one of those guys where every day if you're on social media, whatever, you always see, whether it's Instagram, whether it's Twitter, it doesn't matter where it is. You see some thing pop up and it's Tony Gwen's face and it's Tony Gwen only struck out three times in 14 years or something against this picture and every day there's this new stat that I see and I went, it just blows my mind. I know how hard hitting is. I have no idea how hard it is to hit at that level and against the pictures that he did it against and the pictures that you did it against. But my God, did he make it look easy? He worked at it. He worked at it harder than anybody. And of course, the story, and it's true that he brought the video in. He brought the first time videos we're in and I'll tell you to this day, he's probably the only guy that knows what they're looking for when they're looking at the video instead of just staring at it with, you know, glazed over the eyes. 'Cause you're supposed to. Yeah. Right. He knew exactly what he was doing and even if he had four hits the night before, he had an early hit and every day at four o'clock and it was just, you know, and selfishly, my best year when I got to play every day, I was a utility guy, you know, and but when I did play every day a couple of years, I had had my best years because I let off and Tony hit second. And when the count would go one and oh, I'd see the manager sprint to the mound, I knew exactly what he was saying. Don't walk this guy. Tony's coming up. So I'd get hit to hit. But just the way he, and you know, he was my locker mate next to me and you know, that game you've always played before the season against San Diego State, the last game after spring training, Tony, when he was at San Diego State, went five for five off of our big league pitches. It's unreal. And I remember Dick Williams says that kid over there, I don't know, I'm just telling you when he gets to the big leagues, he's never going to be taken out of the lineup ever. And then Tony came up and, and I had 10 years sitting next to him in a locker and I turned him on to his bat, his B267, 33 inches, 33 and a half inches, 32 ounces that I used. It was a B267, a nice barrel. And Tony used that his whole career as well. So here, here comes this kid and you know, you, you'd seen him a little bit. Obviously you, you'd heard about him and knew what he was capable of. And he's your locker mate. You got 10 years in the big leagues. It's very similar to what's going on right now. I think in the Pekko park Jackson Merrill, jerks and pro far did an in game interview yesterday, which I hate, by the way, in the middle of the hitting and he's great. He did, he did a fantastic job, but he's talking about a 21 year old coming in, moving guys around defensively. He just started playing center field and pro far saying on the interview, now he's moving us. He's positioning us and he's taking charge and bro, this kid's unbelievable. Was that some of the vibe that you got with Tony? Was he a, was he a vocal guy when he got there? Was he just kind of quiet? He was quiet and lead by example, lead by example. He was willing, wanted to learn everything he could learn. But we all, it's just the way he handled himself as a professional as a man. It was one of the, one of the greatest, to be able to play with him for 10 years and then coach him for another seven. Yeah, seven not, we didn't really coach him. He was, I was, I was a coach on the team, nobody coached Tony gets your hands off a little more. Right. But it was just remarkable to watch some and it's like that, that thing and Cincinnati when I was coaching, I've told the story more than once I did our MLB network. I saw that. Tell it again. It was, it was. We were playing the Reds and we had rain delays all night and then about 1145, they brought out a lefty. There was two guys on and who knows what inning it was. But they brought in a lefty to face Tony and then the heavens opened up and just poured, poured, poured. So they suspended the game till the next day, which means you got to play the same line up that pitcher hadn't thrown any pitches. He just warmed up. He's got to start the game, start the game the next day. So on the way up now, it's like midnight. We've been there all night with rain delays and I'm walking with Tony at the stairway in old Cincinnati Riverfront. He goes, "Land, tomorrow, this guy's going to throw me a first pitch slider and I'm going to hit it in that left center field gap and both runs are going to score. It's going to be two to two, be ready." And you know, I'm thinking after we've been there 14 hours as coaches, I go, "Okay, whatever Tony." Sure enough the next day, first pitch slider. He knew what the guy was going to throw him before the guy on the mound and knew. And that's what Pete Rose could tell you. And Tony could do the same. He could look at a calendar and say, "Okay, in three weeks we're playing the Pittsburgh Pirates and this guy will be starting and these are the pitches, they're just geniuses in and they're all in on it." It's why it makes me insane because of the comparison, not comparing, like they compare Louisa Rise, he's one of the more similar guys too. That doesn't make me mad at all because he does have that ability, you know, the bat to ball, good quick hands, can hit the spray ball or if Tony had a little more pop than Louisa does, probably a better base runner, definitely a better defensive player. Well, Tony made himself a defender. Yeah. And but you watch it, but for me it's like, well, Tony Gwyn can do it. Tony Gwyn used to do it all the time and it's like, "Bro, you got to leave him out of any modern conversations because there's nobody that does it like that." Absolutely. And for as long as he did it. Nolan Ryan's another one. Oh, well, Nolan Ryan did this and I'm like, "He's a freak, he's a unicorn. He worked his ass off, but he was also one of a billion." You know what I mean? I face Nolan Ryan 71 times, more than any pitcher I've ever faced. I face him 71 times. You had success, didn't you? Enough to be fed to him the next time he pitched. Oh, okay. You know, I mean, this guy was, I had some good moments against Nolan, but nobody would play. I could watch, if we was like two days before the, there was a catcher up in San Francisco and Timmy Lintz had come throwing a bullpen. So I kind of got back and so I wanted to see what Timmy was throwing and what it looked like. You got in there. And I'm walking away and the catcher goes, "Hey, Flan, did you ever face any nasty guys like Timmy?" I go, "Yeah, I've faced Nolan Ryan 71 times." He goes, "Well, how come?" I go, "Well, I played 10 years in the big leagues and everybody would get sick. They'd get this virus called Ryanitis." And to this day, that kid still takes it. There's a really reverse guard. He might, he's looking for a vaccine for it. So Ryan's on the bump the next day, all of a sudden, my knee's a little swollen, my back's a little stiff. I would start, if he's pitching on Sunday on Friday, you hear guys coughing, you know, and I knew that this was, I'm a left-hand hitter, I got to do it. And then when I was leading off, Nolan, my last couple of years, he would get the, you know, get the ball in the games about to start. He's rubbing the ball and he walks down and he's playing like he's checking the grass right by the plate and he's looking right at you like you better not blunt. And so after about the third or fourth time he did, I just looked at him, I said, "Hey, Mr. Ryan, I ain't going to bump." Speaking of grass, it's not that grass. You told me a story because, you know, obviously being a part of three championship teams with the Giants and you had some characters, you had, you were just talking about Timmy Linscomb, you had Buster Posey, but one of the biggest characters, literally and figuratively, it was Pablo Sandoval. I mean, a guy that could absolutely rake a portly or, portly or fellow, not really flee to foot, but could pick it, had a good arm, the whole thing. And you were telling us, tell me about that story, what you had the groundskeepers do out in San Francisco. Well, first of all, the thing I liked about San Francisco, you'd see the best outfielders arms and they would be blowing on their hands and hands in their pocket and they would be moving back a little bit. And it was just the way the game was up there. I remember Mike Quatty when he was managing the Cubs. He said it best. He told the Cubs. He goes, "We're going to San Francisco. It's going to be cold. It's going to be windy. It's going to be two to one." Yeah. And that's the way it was. So, Pablo, of course, he wasn't running very well, especially at the end. And I don't even think, and I said this on MLB Network and one of the guys went and did all his analytics and came back and said, "You're right." And I go, "Well, how about that?" Yeah. Imagine that. I just watched him. He couldn't go first to third or second to home very often. So, I had the grounds crew grow the grass out and I deflated the football. Oh my gosh. And I had it. It was a little thicker out there just so we could get some of these guys around the bases. And the grounds crew got three World Series shares. That's the... I mean, bro, those are the... You want to talk about winning the margins, winning the inch. You grow out the grass a little bit longer so that that Buster Posey Knock checks up a little bit. Instead of skips right to the center fielder, he checks up on him a little bit and it slows the ball down. Pablo Santa Ball can score one extra run a week, whatever it may be. Those are the inches, the margins. That's the most fascinating stuff for me about the game of baseball. The fact that you had to think about that, thought about that, and then had them executed was amazing. It's amazing. I love this. It's been a couple of minutes left before we got to go to break again. But when we come back, I want to talk to you about the art of third base code, coaching third base. Absolutely. And the work that goes into it, that again, the moron layman, like myself, will just watch the game and go, "Inte it!" Oh, why would you send him? He was out by 10 feet. The calculations that go into very, very rarely is it willy nilly. I mean, there's a lot of work that goes into it. I want to talk about Tim Leeper. We talked about him. He's a pot-graced third base coach. We've talked about it on the show. When Flann was out there at Fantasy Camp back in January, talking to us about how simple it was to coach third base for him, the simplicity behind it, it blew our minds. Well, because he had to dumb it down for dumbball players after a while. Like, you're like, "Oh, MLB players and coaches, they wouldn't use belt for bunt." No. He would. Flann would. And he had to. Oh, look, everybody had video cameras on every third base coach. This thing, first of all, about the trash can. Welcome back, Ben Woods. 97-3, the fan, very special guest in studio this morning. The great Tim Flannery joins us, telling all kinds of baseball stories. We will get right back to them after we do a quick check of traffic. I joined live in studio by Tim Flannery, former Padre. Second baseman, shortstop, utility man, wherever they needed your flan, you would play. You would hit anywhere. You wouldn't care. Just wanted to be in the lineup every day, which is such a different mentality than guys like I have. Don't hit it here. Do not please let me have to sacrifice bunt, because I'm afraid to hit. Right? I was always that guy. But no, I mean, some of the guys that you played with, obviously legends of the game, we heard the panel at Fantasy Camp talking about the '84 team, and it was staggering. Some of the stories. Goose Goss is lunatic. Straight up. Lunatic. You're a nerd, too. Yeah. Yeah. Old Goose, telling Ben he's a nerd, was amazing. We made the mistake of putting Goose on live radio. We did. Yeah, that is amazing. And then Ben, it was huge. Huge. Huge. And Ben started needling him about analytics. Yes. In today's game. He lost it. That's the drop. You're a nerd, too. He called him a nerd. Straight up. Straight to his face. Point at it. He pointed at it. You're a nerd, too. Yeah. Ben's like, oh, man, I just thought I would leave now the nerd. It's great. It was great. And Goose over, the bright before the season in 1984, we watched them walk in the clubhouse at Jack Murphy, Qualcomm, whatever it's called, was called. And we all looked at each other and it was such a positive, it was like the front office. They just saved us. They want, we're going to. This is the time. This is our time. And they were such a huge part of, and Nettles being a guy that I loved with New York. He was living in North County. I would drive every day, too, and back for the ballpark. He would take me with him on him and Goose out on the road at nighttime after games. Oh, my God. I'll never forget. It was like 2.30 in the morning in New York City. And we come up an alley, they're taking me to Studio 54. And we get out and it's pitch black in the middle of the night, and there's a line. And one guy just, they just said, Mr. Gossage, Mr. Nettles, come on in. Unreal. He taught us a lot. And the stories that you were talking about earlier, P.V. and Trevor came to that fantasy camp to be around that crew, be around our 84 crew. And I heard P.V. telling Trevor, "Hoffie, you got to get in here and listen to their stories." These guys, they fought the fans, they were in the stands, fighting the fans. They fought other teams. They beat each other up. And then I'd always say, "Yeah, but we'd always, me, Goose and I would go to blow sometimes." And then when I'm going out to hit, he'd be there cheering for me, and then we would be out that night. It was just a different time, and thank God there wasn't social media. Oh, you've been toast. I think about it all the time. I think about those old, crazy ass Yankee teams out every single night. You know, it's one thing too, like, obviously, me as a potteries fan now, there's a part of me that's glad that I don't see my favorite guys out at Studio 54 at three o'clock in the morning, because then I'm like, "All right." And then the next day, you go one for four, strike out three times, it's like, "Well, no wonder." There's so much information now. Back then, ball players were a bit of a mystery, and you could get away with a lot more. Yes, you sure could. And even before that, I hear stories that my uncle told me about Mickey Mantle. He played with Mickey Mantle, and during the trains, when they were traveling on trains, you know? Yeah. Well, I tell you, we used to talk like the old coaches in San Francisco, because we were the old coaches in Woders to go, "I'll tell you back in the day when we took the train." So the trains ready to leave, and Mickey shows up right when the train's leaving about one, two in the morning, and he had a couple girls with him, and they said, "Mick, you know the rules. There's no women on these trains." And Mickey goes, "Okay, good luck in Cleveland then." Oh my God. And they okay, come on. Come on. Oh my God. You could love him in Cleveland. Yeah. It's unbelievable. I mean, it's so good. I mean, but if that came out about my favorite player now, I would hate it. It would be a huge scandal. I mean, we'd be wearing it on Twitter and everything else, but oh my God, what a different, uh, what a, what a bygone area. Let's talk about, uh, let's talk about Tony Gwyn, somebody that you played with, and, and, uh, you know, obviously he's one of those guys where every day, if you're on social media, whatever, you always see whether it's Instagram, whether it's Twitter, doesn't matter where it is. You see some thing pop up and it's Tony Gwyn's face, and it's Tony Gwyn only struck out three times in 14 years or something against this picture. And every day there's this new stat that I see and I went, it just blows my mind. I know how hard hitting is. I have no idea how hard it is to hit it that level, um, and against the pictures that he did it against and the pictures that you did it against. But my God, did he make it look easy? He worked at it. He worked at it harder than anybody. And of course the story, and it's true that he brought the video in. He brought the first time videos we're in, and I'll tell you to this day, he's probably the only guy that knows what they're looking for when they're looking at the video instead of just staring at it with, you know, glazed over the eyes. Yeah. Because you're supposed to. Yeah. Right. He knew exactly what he was doing. And he, even if he had four hits the night before, he had an early hitting every day at four o'clock and it was just, you know, and selfishly, my best year, when I got to play every day, I was a utility guy, you know, and, and, but when I did play every, every day a couple of years, I had had my best years because I let off and Tony hit second. And when the count would go one and oh, I'd see the manager sprint to the mound, I knew exactly what he was saying. Don't walk this guy. Tony's coming up. So I got a pitch to hit. But just the way he, he, and, and, you know, he was my locker mate next to me. And you know, that game you've always played before the season against San Diego State, the last game after spring training, Tony, when he was in San Diego State, went five for five off of our big league pitches, and I remember Dick Williams says, that kid over there, I don't know, I'm just telling you, when he gets to the big leagues, he's never going to be taken out of the lineup ever. And then Tony came up and, and I had 10 years sitting next to him in a locker and I turned him on to his bat, his B267, 33 inches, 33 and a half inches, 32 ounces that I used. It was a B267, a nice barrel. And Tony used that his whole career as well. So here, here comes this kid and, you know, you, you'd seen him a little bit. Obviously you'd heard about him and knew what he was capable of. And he's your locker mate. You got 10 years in the big leagues. It's very similar to what's going on right now. I think in the Peko park, Jackson Merrill, jerks and pro far did an in-game interview yesterday, which I hate, by the way, in the middle of the hitting and he's great. He did, he did a fantastic job, but he's talking about a 21 year old coming in, moving guys around defensively. He just started playing center field and pro far saying on the interview, now he's moving us. He's positioning us and he's taking charge and bro, this kid's unbelievable. Was that some of the vibe that you got with Tony? Was he a, was he a vocal guy when he got there? Was he just kind of quiet? He was quiet and lead by example, he led by example. He was willing, wanted to learn everything he could learn. But we all, it's just the way he handled himself as a professional, as a man. It was one of the, one of the greatest, to be able to play with him for 10 years and then coach him for another seven, yeah, seven, not, we didn't really coach him. He was, I was, I was a coach on the team, nobody coached on him. Tony, get your hands off a little bit more, right? It was just remarkable to watch some, and it's like that, that thing in Cincinnati, when I was coaching, I've told the story more than once I did our MLB net work. I saw that it was amazing. Tell it again. It was, it was, we were playing the Reds and we had rain delays all night and then about 11 45, they brought out a lefty. There was two guys on and who knows what ending it was. But they brought in a lefty to fist face Tony and then the heavens opened up and just poured poured poured so they suspended the game till the next day, which means you got to play the same line up that pitcher hadn't thrown any pitches. He just warmed up. He's got to start the game, start the game the next day. Yep. So on the way up, now it's like midnight. We'd been there all night with rain delays and I'm walking with Tony up the stairway in old Cincinnati Riverfront. He goes, plan tomorrow. This guy's going to throw me a first pitch slider and I'm going to hit it in that left center field gap and both runs are going to score. It's going to be two to two. Be ready. And I, you know, I'm thinking after we've been there 14 hours as coaches, like, okay, whatever Tony sure enough the next day first pitch slider. He knew what the guy was going to throw him before the guy on the mound and knew and that's what Pete Rose Pete Rose could tell you and Tony could do the same. He could look at a calendar and say, okay, in three weeks we're playing the Pittsburgh Pirates and this guy will be starting and these are the pitches. They're just geniuses in and they're all in on it. It's why the, it's why it makes me insane because of the comparison, not compared, like they compare Louisa rise. He's one of the more similar guys too. That doesn't make me mad at all because he does have that ability, you know, the bat to ball, good, quick hands, can hit the spray ball or Tony had a little more pop than Luis does better, probably better base runner, but definitely better defensive player. He made himself a defender. Yeah. But you watch it, but for me it's like, well, Tony Gwyn can do it. Tony Gwyn used to do it all the time and it's like, bro, you got to leave him out of any modern conversations because there's nobody that does it like that. Absolutely. And for as long as he did it. Nolan Ryan's another one. Oh, well, Nolan Ryan did this and I'm like, he's a freak. He's a unicorn. He worked his ass off, but he was also one of a billion. You know what I mean? Nolan Ryan is 71 times more than any pitcher I've ever faced. I faced him 71 times. You had success, didn't you? Enough to be fed to him the next time he pitched. You know, I mean, this guy was, I had some good moments against Nolan, but nobody would play. I could watch if we was like two days before the, there was a catcher up in San Francisco and Timmy Lindsay comes throwing a bullpen. So I kind of got back and so I wanted to see what Timmy was throwing and what it looked like. You got in there. I'm walking away and the catcher goes, hey, flan, did you ever face any nasty guys like Timmy? I go, yeah, I faced Nolan Ryan 71 times. He goes, well, how come I go? Well, I played 10 years in the big leagues and everybody would get sick. They'd get this virus called Ryanitis and to this day, I kid still thinks that there's a rigorous guard. He might. He's looking for a vaccine for it. So Ryan's on the bump the next day, all of a sudden, my knees a little swollen, my back is a little stiff. You start if he's pitching on Sunday on Friday, you hear guys coughing, you know, and I knew that this is, I'm a left hand hitter. I had to do it and then when I was leading off, Nolan, my last couple of years, he would get the, he, you know, gets the ball in games about to start. He's rubbing the ball and he walks down and he's playing like he's checking the grass right by the plate and he's looking right at you like you better not blunt. And so after about the third or fourth time he did, I just looked at him. I said, hey, Mr. Ryan, I ain't going to, but speaking of grass, you, it's not that grass. You told me a story because, you know, obviously being a part of, of three championship teams with the Giants and you had some characters, you had, you were just talking about Timmy Linscomb. You had a Buster Posey, but one of the biggest characters, literally and figuratively, it was Pablo Sandoval. I mean, a guy that could absolutely rake a portly or, portly or fellow, not really flee to foot, but could pick it, had a good arm, the whole thing. And you were taught telling us, tell me about that story, which you, which had the grounds keepers do out in San Francisco. Well, first of all, the thing I liked about San Francisco, you'd see the best outfielders arms and they would be blowing on their hands and hands in their pocket and they would be moving back a little bit and I, and, and it was just the way the game was up there. I remember Mike Quatie when he was managing the Cubs. He said it best. He told the Cubs. He goes, we're going to San Francisco. It's going to be cold. It's going to be windy. It's going to be two to one. Yeah. And, and that's the way it was. So I mean, uh, but Pablo, he, you know, of course he wasn't running very well, especially at the end. And I don't even think, and I said this on MLB network and one of the guys went and did all his analytics and came back and said, you're right. And I go, well, how about that? Yeah. I just watched it. He wouldn't, he couldn't go first to third or second to home very often. So I had the, the, the grounds crew grow the grass out and I deflated the football. Oh my gosh. And it was a little thicker out there just so we could get some of these guys around the bases. And then the grounds crew got three world series shares. That's the, I mean, bro, that is those are the, you want to talk about winning the margins, winning the inch. You grow out the grass a little bit longer so that, that, that Buster Posey knock checks up a little bit instead of skips right to the center fielder. He checks up on him a little bit and it slows the ball down. Pablo Santa ball can score one extra run a week, whatever it may be. Those are the inches, the margins. That's the most fascinating stuff for me about the game of baseball. The fact that you had to think about that thought about that and then had them executed was amazing. It's amazing. I love this. We got, we got a couple minutes left before we got to go to break again. But when we come back, I want to talk to you about the art of third base code coaching third base and the work that goes into it, that again, the moron layman like myself will just watch the game and go, idiot, oh, why would you send him? He was out by 10 feet. The calculations that go into very, very rarely is it willy nilly. I mean, there's a lot of work that goes into it. I want to talk about Tim Leeper. We talked about him. He's a Padres third base coach. We've talked about it on the show. Like when Flann was out there at fantasy camp back in January talking to us about how simple it was to coach third base for him, for him, the simplicity behind it, it blew our minds. Well, because he had to dumb it down for dumbball players after a while. Like you're like, oh, MLB player, like players and coaches, they wouldn't use belt for bunt. No. He would. Flann would and he had to. And we had, look, everybody had video cameras on every third base coach. This thing, first of all, about the trash cans, look, if the hitter can hear somebody banging on a trash can, the catcher probably can hear it. A coach should hear it. They finally caught on. Yeah. But it's like you've got to just, we always knew that, but when Glenn Hoffman was down here coaching third and I love the Hoffman's, I grew up with him. To the best. My wife of 43 years dated Glenn on Fridays in high school. And me on Saturdays, we went to different high school. And then when he became a number one pick, he got a, you know, he got his bat contract. And I found that bat and Don is holding this, hold this, hold this story. Stay right here. We got to go to break. I'm talking to two o'clock in the afternoon. It's fine. Absolutely fine. These dumb breaks we have to do. We'll be right back. So sorry. You're right back, Ben and Woods, 97 through the fit. 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