GBag Nation
Texas Rangers OF Travis Jankowski on the Rangers remaining season; World Series memories; HIs love for Texas
This podcast is brought to you by Men's T clinic. Men's T clinic is the team I trust with my total wellness optimization. And so should you five DFW locations with North Frisco, El Dorado Parkway at Dallas North Tollway now open call 972 go men's T or visit men's T clinic.com. Here we go. It's our number three of the G back nation on 105 three the fan. We're having a great day here with you on a on a toxic tollo Tuesday here on your home of the world series champions 105 three the fan at his time now for the Rangers player show joining us now a man that did play a right field in the clinching game five victory of the Texas Rangers over the Arizona Diamondbacks where they are tonight with the pregame coming up at eight o'clock Travis Jane Kowsky joins us now here on the fan and it's brought you by Golden Chick and Globe Life. Everyone has beneficiaries. Not everyone has life insurance, Globe Life. Who's your beneficiary as Janko joins us now here in the nation in a good afternoon, sir. How the heck are you? I'm doing good. How you guys doing? Oh, we're doing wonderful. You know, just soaking up the remaining games of this season and the memories of game five of the World Series last year. Of course, you were in right field and had the two RBI game and in game four participating in game seven of the Alcs. What do you first think of when your mind goes back to last fall? Gosh, just how much fun it was, you know, the the amount of, you know, high level intent situations that we kind of put ourselves in that we managed to get out of. You know, really just the memories you make with the guys, you know, pop and champagne in the clubhouse, going to Houston and doing what we did in Houston and then, you know, go on being able to, you know, have a huge game one back home in front of in front of the home fans in Texas and then close things out here in Arizona. It was, there's a ton of memories. It's so hard to pick just one. Are the vibes still in the air as you play in Arizona for the first time since that World Series? Yeah, I think it definitely definitely brings back some memories, you know, being in the clubhouse, the hotel realized, you know, last time we were here, we did something special. That being said, you know, I don't think we're too too infatuated with it at this moment. You know, we got 18 games left and, you know, we got a lot of ground to make up and one of those things that we got to go out and we got to play every game like it could be our last and they're they're busting games each and every one of them. So as much as last year was awesome, we're really focused on these last 18 games and trying to make up some ground. Yeah, it has been fun, Janko. I mean, Rangers Twitter hasn't circulating that final out with Sporzi all over today, but you're right. I mean, you guys have been red hot playing some really good baseball. Has there been a little bit of carefree play going on when things were kind of not so good. All of a sudden, you're falling down on the standings. It's like, you know, let's just go out and try and see how we can finish this thing off. Yeah, I think you can attribute it today. You contributed to some other things too. You know, all fences click in pitching is doing really well. Pitching has been well all year. It's kind of been the offense that has struggled a little bit. But, you know, the last, you know, five or so games has reminded me of the 2023 offense we had last year, you know, scored runs early and often logging again. So if there's any time to make a push, man, I'm glad that we're getting hot at this time. I think you guys just had to get Corey Seager out of the lineup. You know what I'm saying? That's a coincidence. I gotta say, you know, I go out on a limb and say we're better with him in the lineup. Travis Jay Gowski here. Okay, it's great to see you out there though. How about that catch a couple of weeks ago? How do you, how do you do that, man? What's the what's the key to a perfect Rob job there? You know, for me, that's all just anticipation. You know, those are the plays that, you know, as a kid, I dreamed of making, you know, and I didn't didn't have a fence in my backyard. So I'd be catching balls over the couch or over the railing of the steps going up to the to the second story of our home. But, you know, that's just a lot of timing. You know, it's everything has to line up right. If that balls, you know, three feet shorter, it's a can of corn. If that balls a foot further, it's a home run and a walk off, you know, everything lined up perfect. Time to jump pretty well. And, you know, for me, that's just one of those things that you can't let that play go to go to waste. You got to make that play because that's a month in the lifetime play. And you don't know if that's going to come again. So I unfortunately, I have dropped a few once in a lifetime play. So to be able to hold on to that one felt really good. Jacob, is that one when you're picking up the ball off the bat that you can tell that you have a chance by looking at where it's coming off the crowd? How do you, how do you, what's the angle that you think? Okay, I got a shot at this one. So that probably struck me about three or four steps in off the bat. I knew that that ball was probably going over the fence. It was just a matter of how far you take three or four steps, you got your eyes on the ball, you're kind of checking the wall to see how close you're getting. And then you kind of see, oh, man, this is, this is really coming into play here. This is, this is one of those ones where I'm going to have to make a pretty good effort and give it everything I got if I'm going to try and make this catch. So as you approach the wall, you kind of get your timing, you chop your feet a little bit, try and dig into the wall if you can use anything you can to pull yourself up over that thing. And then just reach and what I tell you what feeling that ball hit the leather. That's that's a heck of a feeling. The freeze frame of you climbing that wall, that's got to be on a mantle somewhere portrait style in the in the Janko household. Travis. That might make it to the man cave. Just maybe. Yeah, it's got to make it to the main cave. Now we know you as Janko, we know you as El Blondie. But I also see that you have a nickname and maybe maybe MLB.com is ball sack in me here, but they have a nickname for Travis Jankowski being Fred. Yes. Could you please explain that one? Yeah, because the Twitter handle is also like @FreddieJ. Yes. All right. So it's going to take a minute. But so when I was younger, I'm the youngest of three older brother and sister. And I used to love Mr. Rogers neighborhood. Like that was my favorite show. Oh, there we go. And his yep, first name's Fred, right? So my older brother and sister would come home from school. And I would be, you know, on the couch watching Mr. Rogers neighborhood and they could not stand it. You know, it was too elementary for him. It was too boring for him. So they started calling me Fred and I couldn't stand it, you know, they started calling me Fred in hopes that I would stop watching it. So it's picked on me, teased me, I started, you know, crying and, you know, my parents eventually had enough of it and they're like, guys, like, stop calling him that he doesn't like it. Like he's, you know, obviously upset about it. And, you know, them being smart, you know, I guess there were probably second grade and fourth grade. They said, okay, well, if we can't do it, we'll get our friends to do it. So their friends start calling me Fred, you know, teachers start calling me Fred, coaches start calling me Fred. You know, next thing I know, I'm like, boy, I better embrace this because it's not going to be a good look for, you know, a 21 year old to be crying over a nickname. Yeah, you got to lean into that. That's incredible. Do we have in the wardrobe? Do we have button up sweaters? Maybe my name? Yeah, do we? I mean, do we have that look where you can you throw it down? Like at a Halloween party where you got the sweaters and the tie and the boat shoes and stuff? So I could probably get the boat shoes pretty easily. I've been looking for some sweaters with some patches on the elbows. Yes. Say a little tribute to them. But it's almost like they went out of fashion or something. They're kind of hard to find. Put a train that goes through the man cave for you with that mural. Yeah. Exactly. Now did did you see the movie? I have not. No, I watched a documentary on it. Gosh, I feel like the movie in the documentary came out a few years ago. Watch the documentary. I have not seen the movie, but I've heard great things. Yeah, it's a plus man. I enjoyed that show growing up as well. And I thought I thought the movie was just outstanding. You know, my kid. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's more of a grown up movie. I think it's more for us, Janko, than it is our kids. Really? Yeah. Well, I might might rekindle a little Fred Rogers and me that. That's wetter. Let's go ready. Okay. How about the timing, though, of making that catch and then designated for assignment shortly thereafter? Was that like the most awkward thing ever? How'd that whole thing go down? You know what? I've been around this game long enough to know that one, baseball doesn't really care what you do, right? It's one of those things that you can be, you know, best player in the world. The next day, you know, something happens, you get BFA, you get traded. All that stuff happens. You get hurt, you know. So I've been around long enough to know that you take every game, you know, with a grain of salt, you're good in your bed. You take with a grain of salt, knowing that stuff can happen in this game. So, you know, credit to see why he was incredibly professional as he has been the entire tenure here in the past two years. And he called me in and said, Hey, you know, I want to do you the professional courtesy of, you know, letting you know before it comes out in the media that we're going to put you on waivers. And you know, if there's a contender out there who wants a guy like you on their team, we want you to play in the postseason and, you know, make a run with the team. He said, if not, we'd be glad to have you back. So to me, you know, that's not so much, you know, you can take it as, wow, that's really for timing. That really sucks. But you know, maybe I'm naive to me was he was doing me a favor, right? Yeah, I play this game to to win every single night. I want to win a World Series for, you know, obviously the Texas Rangers show them on now. But if another team needs me for that, for that role in the postseason, I would have been happy to do that too. You know, at the end of the day, winning is why I play this game. And I want to go and help the team win. Well, you certainly have done that. I mean, anytime your numbers called, it seems like you're coming up with a big time hit or a big time catch. And you're a fan favorite. I know last year, you know, the contract situation went right up towards the end of really the off season. And then you show up at fan fest. How important would it be for you to maybe just stay as a ranger finish out your career here if God willing, that's a possibility. So I'll shoot, I would sign a lifelong contract for for a pretty good price, you know, it's to me, you know, everything about Texas is right grown up in Pennsylvania is a little more country, you know, I'm not a big city boy. So, you know, nothing against playing in Philly or New York or San Diego. But to me, you know, and for for my family, my wife, my kids, we just feel at home in Texas, you know, Arlington isn't a huge city. If we want to go and see a big city, we go to Dallas or Fort Worth. So we have, you know, a nice rental property here, pull in the backyard, a little bit of land. It just, it really feels like home, you know, and if you would have asked me, shoot, eight years ago, I probably would have said, I don't know if Texas is right for me, but we're not in my life right now. With like I said, wife or kids, it's, it's too perfect, you know, so, you know, it's, it's no secret. I would love to stay here forever. But like I said earlier, I understand that this game and the business side of it has, it's, you know, plans of its own. And you take it with stride, you know, you take it and you make the most of it. Travis, Jan Kousie here with you on the Rangers player show. Any special plans tonight? Did you guys have a celebration spot or a haunt last year that you might revisit this evening? No, I don't think so. The locker room doesn't smell like champagne anymore, so I guess we get a good job cleaning that out. But I do miss the smell of it. Maybe, maybe if there's a leftover bottle and if we went tonight, maybe we'll pop one open for a good time's sake and we can all have like, I don't know, it's half of a sip of it. As glorious as it was to get to play in the World Series after, you know, the injury and all that and, you know, the game for performance that you had, you know, you had built a lead in the series and you're going there up and then before too long, we're in game five and like, I don't know, the drama kind of got sucked out of it, at least from a fans perspective, as you're watching and it was like, oh my goodness, they're going to win the World Series. It wasn't a shock like the Houston series was. What was it like to be on that field in in game seven down there as, you know, you're winning after the dismay of how everybody felt coming out of game five? Yeah, it's, I'll be honest with you, there was some stressful situations there, you know, Evo, Evo didn't make it completely easy on himself, you know, but he found a way to get out of it. So I just remember being in right field and, you know, I'll be honest with you. I thought I was having a heart attack a few times, you know, like, I know how hard it is, you know, obviously playing for a few years before this, how hard it is to get to the postseason but along the World Series. And, you know, unlike the Super Bowl, it's seven game series, right? So you can't get too high after a win or a loss, you know. And I remember that so vividly after winning game one with, you know, adults's walk off, I was like, holy shoot, what a, you know, one of the best brother World Series games ever played. And guys went about it and they were excited, but it was like, okay, let's take care of business tomorrow, you know. So yeah, I just remember game five being like, all right, let's, let's close this thing out. Let's, you know, put the nail in the coffin. Let's not do anything to take this back to Arlington as much as we would have, you know, love to win in front of our own fans there. But boy, once once we got that last out, once boys and struck him out, I just remember being in right field, glove got launched into oblivion, somewhere high up in the dome and I came right in to celebrate with the guys and it was complete just stressed on complete euphoria. And no number on hedgy's ass. Still waiting for those traps to come out too. How wild and unique is Wyatt Langford and some of the things that he's been able to do. I know he wasn't part of the magic that happened last year, but as a young guy that you've been able to kind of watch and develop as a rookie season, what's it out to you about him? You know, what stood out to me like one of the first things in spring and this is kind of going to sound weird is that nothing stood out, right? Like you'd expect a guy who was in college six months ago to, you know, stand out and not such a great way, right? Kind of do some stuff, you know, let, you know, anxiety or pressure situations, even in spring training, you know, he knew that he had a good chance to make the team and and it was there for the taking, but he never seemed to put pressure on himself, you know, he after a couple of offers, he was never in the cage over working or, you know, changing his swing. He knew that, you know, this is just part of the game. So instantly, I was like, okay, there's something special about this guy. And then, you know, kind of helping him out along the way and being around him a good bit. It's, it's been incredible to see just the mental side of the game that he has. It's it's something that I probably didn't pick up until true. I'll throw to 28 or 29, you know, just a mental fortitude. The just mental toughness that he has knowing that it's not going to be, you know, butterflies and rainbows in the big leagues, you're going to take your legs. And he's handled it perfectly. You know, you know, I know why, like you said, wasn't there to, you know, celebrate on the field with us and enjoy that moment. But, you know, I foresee wide having an opportunity here in the future, just the way he handles himself every single day. And as you guys know, and all the fans know, it's talent speaks for itself. You know, you guys see it all, you know, every single night. But what you guys don't see is the type of person he is in the clubhouse and the work ethic he has. And, you know, I'll tell you that first hand, it's it's above and beyond what it should be for 22 year old and should probably, you know, most 30 year olds in this game. New youngster coming in Thursday. I believe he is 24 years old. But I don't know if you got the memo, it's pronounced Kumar, not Kumar, like the movie, just in case you were wondering. Thank you for for a series in a row and Travis. We've had you on twice this year. You're an absolute stud when it comes to interviewing guys. And we hope you are a lifetime Ranger, buddy. Thank you so much for joining us here on the fan. Well, thank you guys. You guys have a good day. Cheers. There he goes. Travis Giankowski brought you by globe life. Everyone has beneficiaries. Not everyone has life insurance, globe life, who's your beneficiary and golden chick, Brian. Yeah. And for being on again, we're going to give them some more wings. $100 gift certificate to pluckers. They got eight of those in the DFW location. So thank you to Travis and thank you to the Rangers for being on with us today. Yes, sir. Okay, we're coming back with Wolfchuk's top 10 at four 20 buddy. What do you have in store for us? Yeah, I had some tollos reached out of some top 10 ideas eight, seven, seven, eight, eight, one, one, five three. If you've got any that you want to throw my way, feel free. This one's from at 10 zero to 30. What's the best superpower top 10 superpowers? If you can have one, what would it be that's next in the