Alex and Bobby discuss the news that five teams aren’t paying their players in extended spring training and whether we can expect to see change anytime soon. Then they answer listener questions about preferred ballpark food, weaponizing dugout snacks, the best time of day for a game, proper wave timing, Phoebe Bridgers, and more.
Links:
Minor leaguers lament lack of pay in extended spring training
Mark Canha on Pride Night and using his platform
Songs featured in this episode:
Led Zeppelin — “Whole Lotta Love” • The Mills Brothers — “I Can’t Stop Loving You” • Booker T & the M.G.’s — “Green Onions”
Episode Transcript
[INTRO MUSIC]
Tell us a little bit about what you saw and, and, and being able to relay that message to Cora when you watch Kimbrel pitching and kind of help out so he wasn’t Tipping his Pitches. So Tipping Pitches, we hear about it all the time. People are home on the stand, what Tipping Pitches it’s all about? That’s amazing! That’s remarkable.
BOBBY: Alex, last week, we started out with a bad take dramatic reading. Excellent work by you in the reading roll, the performing roll. This week, can we just start out by you telling me about your week in the real world? You just like tell me all the stuff you did like outside of the confines of your New York City apartment. So that that I can like kind of live vicariously through you.
ALEX: Well, I, I was actually not in my New York City apartment this week, right? I am, I’m–
BOBBY: So there you go, we’re already different.
ALEX: Yeah, exactly. I’m in California for, for a few weeks. You know, a couple, couple weddings to go to, just, just adult things. It’s that time of life, I guess.
BOBBY: It’s that time, it’s that time of growing up.
ALEX: Right. Uhm, but yeah, I’ve been enjoying the the California sun. It’s hot as hell here. It was not nearly this hot in summers when I was growing up, which is cool. That bodes well. I, I got in and out, right? I mean, like that’s kind of the big one. I checked that box once I landed at the airport.
BOBBY: As per usual.
ALEX: As per usual, that’s my, my routine. My stop on the way home. And other than that, you know, drinking lots of, drinking lots of water.
BOBBY: Congratulations on the water.
ALEX: Thank you.
BOBBY: That’s very important. Nothing says love like, hydration. The reason that I’m so interested in hearing about your week, and maybe the, the listener, the mundane tasks that you’ve been up to like drinking water and getting in and out. That’s not mundane, that’s very exciting.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: That reason that–
ALEX: I’m just take like ba- basic necessities of survival.
BOBBY: Food, water.
ALEX: Right. I have stock some.
BOBBY: Did you also breathe the oxygen or?
ALEX: You know, with the way my allergies are right now, probably not as much–
BOBBY: Not very much.
ALEX: –as [2:30] I should.
BOBBY: The reason I’m so intrigued by your normal activities is because I didn’t leave the apartment, really, except to take out the dog.
ALEX: Why is–
BOBBY: When necessary [2:40]
ALEX: –why is that Bobby?
BOBBY: It’s because I indeed, as I mentioned last week on the podcast was very likely to test positive for COVID. I indeed did test positive for COVID. And the last week I have had to COVID it hasn’t been very fun. So I apologize in advance if this podcast is maybe, maybe slightly less polished and prep than some of our other episodes have been in the past. There will be two reasons for that. Number one is I have COVID and didn’t leave the apartment all week. So I’m you know my verb for life and to be entertaining is maybe a little bit lower than in past episodes. And number two, Alex, number two is that I am now going on 72 hours without coffee, 72 hours without coffee!
ALEX: Wowwww!
BOBBY: This is the first time I’ve gone a full day without coffee in four years, four years.
ALEX: That’s remarkable!
BOBBY: Do you want to know why? It’s not because I’m trying to take care of myself and sleep better at night.
ALEX: God knows, no, right.
BOBBY: That’s not a reason. The reason is because coffee, I lost my taste when my tastes slightly came back. Coffee tastes like shit to me.
ALEX: Oh, no, no, yes.
BOBBY: So if my if my tastebuds don’t come back. There’s a decent chance that we might just end this podcast.
ALEX: This is, this is your new normal, is that what you are saying?
BOBBY: I don’t think that I could be the host of Tipping Pitches without a lot of espresso. So you know I need some- whoever is at home to say some kind of homeopathic prayer for me or something like that.
ALEX: I’m going to do some manifesting right now.
BOBBY: My deep sympathies God to anybody listening to this who has had COVID, it’s probably many of you since it has basically infected most everybody I know at least once or twice by this point in the pandemic. I have been watching a little bit of baseball here and there, New York Metropolitan. My doubt that you have been watching any baseball but that’s okay. Because we’re going to talk about something that we know how to talk about without even watching it. It’s how owners treat minor leaguers. We are also going to answer a bunch of listener questions at the end of this episode. But before we do all of that, I am Bobby Wagner.
ALEX: I am Alex Bazeley.
BOBBY: And you are listening to Tipping Pitches.
[4:51]
[Music Theme]
BOBBY: Alex, I think everybody knows what spring training is, right? That’s safe to say everybody listening to this probably has a good grasp on the concept of spring training.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: Do you agree?
ALEX: Best, best shape of his life month is really what it is.
BOBBY: Right. And it’s when we, you know, break our baseball fast, so to speak. It’s when we finally see major leaguers back on the field, play in Major League Baseball. Pitchers and catchers, you know, we come out of our long, cold winter. I think fewer people know what extended spring training is. And I’m not even really sure that I know exactly what they do there for that whole time. But extended spring training, Alex, little bit, it’s a little bit less well-known. It’s um, it’s where they keep the rest of the players who do not make the major league roster. Who they want to continue to observe and continue to give, give more acute training than they would get at their minor league facilities. All of that to say it’s, it’s a demanding time for a young player who is still trying to make their way in the game of baseball. Who’s still trying to make an impression on their organization. The least that you could give those players, in my view would be a little bit of money for their time and that extended spring training. Do you agree with this?
ALEX: It’s controversial, but yes, I generally think compensating people for their labor is a, is a net positive, right? You know, I mean, I know I’m, I’m really pro unpaid internships, right? I have–
BOBBY: That’s what, that’s what made you who you are today.
ALEX: Right, exactly. It was that grit, it was that drive.
BOBBY: Do you have an unpaid internship? I should know better than to ask sidebar questions right now.
ALEX: I don’t think so. I don’t think so.
BOBBY: Labor King, Alex Bazeley, turned down any internship that was unpaid.
ALEX: Well, I mean, kind of, right? Because if I’m going to dedicate my time to working for someone, I’m going to need to be able to pay for things every once in a while.
BOBBY: Right. Even if that only means breaking even from spending it all on Starbucks and avocado toast.
ALEX: Right, exactly.
BOBBY: To, to get you through. Yeah, so you and I agree that players at extended instructional spring training should receive money. Up until a couple years ago, not a single MLB club agreed with that, their thought. And that has changed alongside some of the improvements to minor league labor and the spotlight that has been on teams in the last few years. But it hasn’t changed for the A’s. Angels, Brewers, Marlins, and Reds, who still are not paying their players for spring training. According to an article from Evan Drellich, which cites the much discussed nonprofit on Tipping Pitches Advocates for Minor Leaguers. Where do we start with this? Because it’s a reversal. It’s a recent reversal of a trend. So it’s not like these teams are so far out of line that they’re back in the 1950s, or anything like that. But the thing that strikes me as so interesting about the collection of teams that are still left not paying their minor leaguers during spring training, is that it’s the exact five teams that you would expect it to be.
ALEX: Yeah, it’s really not shocking whatsoever. And I want to correct the, the record just slightly. I know you said they were unpaid, which, which isn’t entirely true. They would get a, they’d get a, they’d get a nice little Andrew Jackson every day for, for dinner, 20 bucks!
BOBBY: Oh, sorry. Somehow that’s worse. It’s not that they just refuse to give you any money. It’s that they give you money, and they try to make believe that that is enough money to do anything relevant with.
ALEX: Yes, exactly. The thinking being that well, you really just need to, to eat. Remember, as we were talking up top, right? There, there are very few necessities in life, one of those being eating food every day for the most part. And so if you, if you’re providing these players with, with breakfast and lunch, as many teams do, then you just got to take care of their dinner and there’ll be golden, right? I, those are really the only things I spend money on at all.
BOBBY: The part that is so galling about it to me is that you’re asking them to be somewhere else also. So like you’re asking them to be in Florida or Arizona, so they’re already not in the comfort of their own home or their hometown. And then you’re just throwing them 20 bucks a, a day to eat as if they they don’t need to do anything else to be human beings. It’s just like feed yourself so you don’t die and then come play baseball tomorrow. They don’t have cars there, they don’t have, $20 is not gonna get you anywhere significant and back on Uber if you’re trying to eat on that $20 as well. And, man, I know I said this already, but it’s, it’s really the exact five teams that you would expect. And when I say that, I don’t mean necessarily that it’s the five cheapest owners or the five worst owners or the five most immoral franchises. What I mean by that is it’s the five teams, maybe with the exception of the Brewers, they’re slightly surprising to me. It’s the fi- it’s the five teams or four of those five teams that you look at and you say, this is organizational dysfunction. These are teams that don’t invest in not only just the health and well-being and respect of their employees and minor leaguers. But in developing good baseball players and, and creating good baseball teams. The A’s, the A’s, Angels, Marlins, and Reds, those four teams sell themselves short by doing stuff like this. And if the other 25 teams in baseball have looked at it and said, oh, it’s actually a good thing for me to invest more money in the players that are here. So that they can focus more on what they’re actually here for, what we actually flew them out for. Then I don’t, I don’t really understand it’s not like it’s a make or break amount of money for these organizations. Extended spring training is not very long, it wouldn’t be the same as saying you have to pay all of your minor leaguers fair wages 24/7 365.
ALEX: Well, and the other upsetting part of the story, which Evan points out, is that extended spring training is very heavily populated by Latin American players, right? So a lot of these are like little kids, right? Teenagers who have, who are just arriving in the United States with very little in the way of any sort of safety net or anything like that, right? Already having to overcome, like, the, just the cultural barriers that come along with moving to another country, right? And it’s, it’s these kids that are literally being hung out to dry, by, by their teams, right? Because when a part of your business model is recruiting, let’s say. You know, young men out of–
BOBBY: The Dodgers would love to call it that. In a legal setting–
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: –and have a judge not dismiss it.
ALEX: When, when you are consistently getting, getting these young men and Latin American countries to come play baseball for you. You are taking on the role of being that kind of great connector for them, right? You, they are many major league teams are, you know, act as kind of that, that one piece of stability that can help them acclimate to their new homes. And, and you know, interface with the, with the broader world. And so when you are literally not paying these guys, right? Forcing them to make decisions about whether they can have dinner that night, or if they should buy groceries for the next night. Or buy gas, if they have a car or, or take an Uber if they don’t, you know. Like, every day, you get one decision that you get to make, you know, about where your money is going to go. And it’s, I mean, it’s cruel, right? Like, it’s, It’s inhuman, and it’s setting up a lot of these kids for failure, right? It, I mean, it’s just another example of how untenable it is for many, many people to even try and play baseball, right? Because it’s not it’s, it’s not a system, it’s not an environment that is actually willing to support them, you know, on the, the lowest levels of the game.
BOBBY: Yeah. And we should also say, like the organizations that are quote, unquote, “paying” these, these players for extended spring training, they’re giving them like a few $100 a week. It’s not–
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: –it’s not like they’re giving them enough money to feel comfortable and secure in their role within the organization. They’re gonna make $400 a week. So it’s not, it’s not like everybody else is really crushing it. And these five organizations are just the last few to kind of jump on the bandwagon, that’s the first thing. And then the second thing is that there’s a player in here and I think it speaks to what you’re talking about as you’re playing here compares it to the Hunger Games that only you know a couple people are going to make it out of this situation. And this like scarcity mindset that it reinforces when you intentionally add unnecessary roadblocks to success. And I think that honestly, if you got a bunch of old baseball people on this podcast right now, or the owners themselves on this podcast right now, and you gave them truth serum, whatever that is. For some people, that’s a guillotine hanging over their head. For some people, that’s tequila, I don’t know. If you gave them truth serum, I think that they would say it’s a test of their character. Whoever makes it out, that’s the one that I want taken at bats for my Major League Baseball team. And honestly, I think that’s such a tired old world mindset that I’m just not really sure, like the friction of it with how the rest of society operates. With how we can actually see windows into these things. With how their advocacy groups to show us these problems. With how young people understand their worth better than they have in, in decades. I don’t think that that is a really tenable course of action anymore. And I think that, it’s obvious when you read an article like this, it’s almost hard to talk about it for you and I. Because it’s just so obviously, wrong-minded.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: And so for so many hundreds of reasons. But to turn on our like manager speak, the, the first reason is that they’re not going to play well, they’re not going to become good baseball players because of this. So yeah, the market and efficiency here is actually treat people better? I don’t know. I don’t know.
ALEX: This is what, this is what a Marlin’s spoke- spokesperson had to say about this story. He said we’ve made significant invent, I want you to try and see if you can figure out what the spokesperson is saying.
BOBBY: Okay, so–
ALEX: We ma–
BOBBY: –many bad things dramatically in here?
ALEX: Right, exactly. We have made significant investments and enhancements for our team members throughout our player development system. Including a recent increased focus on compensation, housing, nutrition, education, mental health resources, and more. As with any aspect of our business, we’re constantly reviewing as to how we can continue to elevate the experience and work environment for all members of our organization.
BOBBY: The experience.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: The experience, this is not like waiting in line at Disney World. This is like whether or not you eat–
ALEX: Yeah, like, like literally life or death.
BOBBY: –three meals a day. You know what I mean? Like, the–
ALEX: I love–
BOBBY: –experience. Ooh!
ALEX: –I love that–
BOBBY: Really nice to them when the we get that $20 bill.
ALEX: Exactly.
BOBBY: We give them a handshake afterwards.
ALEX: And tell not–
BOBBY: We say nice job not just–
ALEX: –ended all in one place, you know. I love the, I love the line, significant investments and enhancements for our team members.
BOBBY: The team members are the owners. Oh, I love team members as codewords for like employees, you know.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Like how Starbucks calls their employees, partners?
ALEX: Yep!
BOBBY: Yeah. We’re, you’re our partners. This is how I treat our partners.
ALEX: Yeah, I’m like, alright, I’ll wait for that stock to vest then.
BOBBY: You should get one Starbucks stock for every latte that you or whatever, for every drink that you ever had to remake while on a shift because somebody would–
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: –think about it, you should get a whole stock for that.
ALEX: You know, I, this might be the time to agitate for that, you know. Howard Schultz is, is thinking about other things right now. So–
BOBBY: No he’s on the ropes is what he is.
ALEX: I know.
BOBBY: Let’s get him!
ALEX: Exactly!
BOBBY: Don’t give up now! Go get that stock, Alex. I’m just trying to picture an alternate world where you still work at Starbucks and you’re unionizing one of the, one of the Starbucks locations. And I’m just there every day ordering coffee that says union yes, Alex.
ALEX: Yeah, that’s right. I, I mean, the thing is, right, you know, I didn’t work there that long. And I didn’t get to know my partners there incredibly powerful–
BOBBY: But it’s ever come and say, hey, partner. Thanks for all the hard work you’re doing.
ALEX: You know, unfortunately, no, but I think at the time, wasn’t he running for president running for president?
BOBBY: Yeah, yeah.
ALEX: So we actually, we were given like scripts about like, what to say, you know, if someone asks–
BOBBY: Wait, wait.
ALEX: –you about.
BOBBY: Really?
ALEX: Yes.
BOBBY: Scripts?
ALEX: Yeah. Like a ,like just a little blurb of this is what you know, like I’ve, I, I don’t remember it. No one ever asked me about it. But there was something about, you know, acknowledging that he’s not with the company and he’s a, he’s a grown man who can make his own decisions.
BOBBY: He’s a grown man. So like, if somebody came in to fight, let’s say, say someone named Bobby Wagner came into the store and was like–
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: –hey, what do you think of Howard Schultz running for President?
ALEX: Yes. I would–
BOBBY: You would have to–
ALEX: –have a little piece of paper right there.
BOBBY: –you would have to look at me and read a piece of paper and if you did not read the piece of paper and there was like a manager there or something or like a regional manager, they would like sorry to bother you like stick the script you’re fired? If you didn’t do that, if you were–
ALEX: I was like no–
BOBBY: –Howard Schultz is a billionaire, dirtbag we should–
ALEX: Right, I think it probably depends on what, what my actual response was how far it strayed from the intended narrative. I don’t think actually my managers would have given a shit. I mean, they all hated working there. Which, you know, tracks. But I did, like late, later on, kind of in my tenure, like shortly before I before I left, I did like–
BOBBY: Tenure, you’re college [20:37].
ALEX: I did.
BOBBY: And my stint with Starbucks.
ALEX: Right, exactly. I, I like kind of joked about unionizing, right. Because we consistently talked about–
BOBBY: Oh, that’s how–
ALEX: [20:50] fucking, fucking suck, suck to work there, you know? What, it’s kind of what you start. Yes. slipping into conversations and then seeing who’s like, huh, yeah no. Wait, are you serious? Like, am I, are you seriously awkward?
BOBBY: Are you, are you, is this, are you? Did we just become best friends?
ALEX: Playing, playing footsie with, with potential union members.
BOBBY: It was like tapping each other on the shoulder, no, you’re joking, no, you’re joking. No, you’re joking, you’re like signing the union card? No, you’re effing around.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: What if we sending mail to the National Labor Relations Board? No, this is such a good bit.
ALEX: What if we, what if we unionized in the, in the back room, ha JK! Unless–
BOBBY: That’s how it starts.
ALEX: It is.
BOBBY: That’s how it starts for me too. Someone, well, it started on the phone for me. But then I, you know, I would take my coworkers down the street and be like, hey, you want to grab a drink after work? And they’d be like, sure? You’re awfully chipper. I’d be like, so [21:57]–
ALEX: [21:57] your motive, right?
BOBBY: Yeah, there’s actually something else I want to talk to you about. Just like a Jehovah’s Witness, but for solidarity. Anyway, back to minor leaguers, not getting paid for extended spring training. Anything else to add about this before we, before we go into some listener questions, Alex? How do we get them to do it?
ALEX: I mean, again, I think Advocates for Minor Leaguers is doing an incredible job of bringing these sorts of stories to light, right? And even going so far as making compelling cases in court as to why Major League Baseball teams should be fairly compensating minor leaguers, right? And so I think that’s really important. And, and at the same time, I think the public element of this, right? Of, of, you know, what basically amounts to kind of public shaming kind of works like it has worked in the past, right? When, right there was the the early days of the pandemic, right? When teams said they they were not going to pay their minor leaguers. And there was so much outrage over that, that they reverse course on that, right? Obviously, in the last year, teams have started provisi- providing housing for players as well, right? So it’s certainly a, a slow drip, right? But this fight almost feels easier given that a majority of the teams already do this, right?
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: Like there’s, there’s almost like no excuse at that point.
BOBBY: Yeah. I think the thing that for me, that really just I find it hard to sit with, is that there’s no one who can compel these teams to do this on a faster timeline.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Like Rob Manfred can make teams do a lot of things. He can make, primarily he can make players do a lot of things. He can sit down and in an instant, he can be like, stop using Spider tack. And then the next week, they have rules to enforce. So that players are not using Spider tack anymore. He can sit down and he can say, I want more home runs. And then the next week, sud- all of a sudden the ball starts flying out of the ballpark. Now he can do it, he can do a lot of stuff. He seems to have a lot of power that he occasionally wields from time to time. But what he can’t do is call up five of his bosses and say, hey, it sucks that the 17-year old kids who came over with a promise and a dream to play Major League Baseball and enrich us eventually in the, in the process. It sucks that those people have to buy Chipotle and store it in their fridge for three days and hope that it doesn’t go bad and make them sick. Rob can’t make that phone call? That’s interesting.
ALEX: It’s, it’s really kind of interesting to see, I mean, these are a lot of these issues when it comes to just the, the broader economic system of baseball has, has been broken like this for a long time, right? These are, these are issues that go, go back well before Rob Manfred’sfor its time, right? But he is kind of the one who’s sitting in the chair, as all of this stuff is kind of unfolding, right? And he’s–
BOBBY: I know, he got to be so pissed.
ALEX: Right. He’s like are you serious guys?
BOBBY: It’s gonna be [25:19] sitting in the hall of fame while I’m getting shit every day–
ALEX: Right. He passed me the hot potato and now I’m caught holding it, you know. Like, and so I’d be I–
BOBBY: They made him captain of the Titanic right after it hit the iceberg.
ALEX: Exactly. Hey, dude, can you just take the wheel real quick. But I think it’ll be interesting to see kind of how this informs his legacy, right? As overseeing the, the, like, actual potential destruction of a lot of elements of this sport, right? And I certainly I, I will, will not lose an ounce of sleep over, over, you know–
BOBBY: Rob Manfred’s legacy?
ALEX: –what that legacy looks like. But you have to think he’s, yeah, a little, a little peeved by this, right? He’s like, guys, I get it, there’s some issues, can we maybe hold the back to like, like bring up like one a year, you know? Like, I know, you guys got a laundry list, but like, maybe let’s pay some out a little bit and then save some for the next guy too. I don’t, I don’t envy, I don’t envy him. That’s, that’s for sure.
BOBBY: I don’t think he envies us either, though.
ALEX: No.
BOBBY: I think he’s doing just fine. I think he makes like $20 million a year. So, yeah, that’s probably okay. All right–
ALEX: Rob Manfred could personally, personally pay these guys.
BOBBY: Wow!
ALEX: And be, and be alright.
BOBBY: Let’s put that on a t-shirt. I would, I would kill to know what Rob actually makes per year.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Release Rob’s tax filings.
ALEX: If anyone knows DMs are open, you know. If you–
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: –if you interned for him one summer, and you–
BOBBY: And you weren’t [27:04]–
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: And he called you a partner when he came in.
ALEX: Send it our way, we wanted to know.
BOBBY: Unionize the MLB Commissioner’s Office. All right, let’s take a quick break and then when we come back, listener questions.
[27:19]
[Music Transition]
BOBBY: Okay, Alex, we are going to rely on the wonderful creative input of our listeners. Because, you know, I’m still on the mend from COVID. You are sniffling up a storm. Got a little hay fever over there, and you’ve been traveling. So we’re gonna rely on our listeners to round out this episode here. We got a bunch of great questions in Slack, and a bunch of great questions on Twitter. If you would like to submit questions for the podcast, without any prerequisite for us calling for questions, that’s totally fine too. Please, DM us on Twitter, tipping_pitches. We’re probably more likely to see it if you drop it in our Slack in the podcast mailbag, in the podcast mailbag Slack channel. You can get access to the Slack by signing up for our Patreon. If you don’t know, it’s patreon.com\tippingpitches. Any tier of the Patreon gets you access to our Slack for life, we will not kick you out. If you have to drop off the Patreon for a couple months here and there, that’s totally fine. You’re once, you’re in you’re in. You can also email us tippingpitchespod@gmail.com or call into our voicemail and we’ll play your voicemail, your question live on the air recorded on the air, 785-422-5881. Okay, let’s do it. Slack questions first. Alexis wants to know, what is the best time for a baseball game? Day of the week and time? The ideal time for baseball, Alex? Do I have to choose the time that there are actually games? Like can I pick a ray- can I pick like Friday at 3am?
ALEX: Right. That, baseball at that point would be amazing!
BOBBY: It’s pretty amazing.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: When the, when the A’s and Mariners opened up in Japan and–
ALEX: Yeah!
BOBBY: –you are up like 3 in the morning watching them blow leads in seventh inning.
ALEX: That was, that was, that was pretty tough.
BOBBY: Yeah, I would call that maybe not ideal, but what’s the best time for you?
ALEX: I personally love day games. 1pm starts, especially on a weekday, which like I, I can’t do very much because again I’m I do have a job that doesn’t allow me to work remotely from Yankee Stadium yet.
BOBBY: Are you sure that it doesn’t? Like you had no calls–
ALEX: You know, I technically have to asked, right?
BOBBY: Yeah, you could do it. He had a small little team there, they’re understanding.
ALEX: Yeah, exactly. And I–
BOBBY: You taking a call with your boss and then in the background, somebody’s like, go fuck yourself! [30:03]
ALEX: Shirt- shirtless, shirtless men in the back of the Zoom. But I, I love, I love weekday games because they are a little more sparsely populated. It just feels the aura, there just feels a little bit more relaxed, you can usually spread out a little bit. I mean, the flip side of this is you could also just go to an A’s game, and it doesn’t matter. The time of day or the day of the week.
BOBBY: Does this answer differ for you, whether it’s in person or on TV? I feel like I like going to a day game during the week. Because it sort of feels like you’re like stealing a little bit of time back from your employer by being there during–
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: –the week too. But when you’re doing on the weekend, it’s like that’s on your time, which is fine, too. But it’s not, it’s not something that’s quite as satisfying about it. But does this answer differ for you for a game that you’re watching on TV?
ALEX: Oh, definitely. I mean, I being out here on, on the West Coast, you know, for a few weeks and–
BOBBY: Oh, God, so far superior.
ALEX: –and, and having grown up watching baseball up out here. It’s, it’s so great. I love waking up and getting an alert that a game is gonna start in like 15 minutes or whatever–
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: –you know. Like I get to start my day with baseball.
BOBBY: Yep!
ALEX: It’s amazing. That obviously you, you miss some of the joys of, of Late Night Baseball that you get out on the East Coast. But that’s, that’s fine. That’s a trade I’m, I’m willing to make.
BOBBY: So okay, now ever since I started working from home, I much prefer games to start much earlier.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Because then I can just put it on to the side of whatever I’m doing at home and be like, completely non intrusive to whatever is going on. And I used to really value and I still do, I still like a West Coast game that starts at 10 or whatever. And it’s like a really nice matchup, and you stay up late with the West Coasters and they’re like, Oh, look at my East Coast brethren staying up to watch this game, I love that. But I don’t love it as much as I did, like, say when I was in college, when I was just staying up that late anyway.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: Now I have to like stay up intentionally for the game. And therefore I’m not like as sharp as I, as I used to be during games. Like, if the game was not that exciting when the Mets were on their 10 game, West Coast road trip. I was asleep by the seventh inning on the couch.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: And sometimes even when it was exciting, I would wake up to the Mets like walking off the Dodgers and be like, fuck!
ALEX: Yeah, it’s so, I mean, we’ve, we’ve talked before about kind of baseball as a baseball is the kind of, you know, second screen sport, right? It’s, it’s a wonderful thing to like, just have on while you’re doing other stuff. And like you were saying, having games that are played throughout the day is amazing. When I like open up my MLB app. And the first game on there is like 4 or, or worse, like, you know, 6 or 7 or something like that.
BOBBY: Dark times.
ALEX: What the, what the fuck is this man?
BOBBY: We supposed to focus on work?
ALEX: Yeah, what?
BOBBY: Stop, stop. No, you’re just gonna go to Twitter.
ALEX: Right. I’m just gonna watch highlights from last night like, fuck that!
BOBBY: I’ll say okay, so Alexis, in the Slack who asked this question said I love midweek games at noon local time. So that’s kind of what you’re talking about.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: And they also said, I love a Friday night game. Now I love a Friday night game too. If I’m going with a group of friends. But I’ll say Friday nights at like Citi Field, for example, kind of a weird energy. A lot of like high school kids took the Long Island Rail Road in for Friday night–
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: –games for–
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: –whatever reason. They like as soon as they got out of school that coming into the city, ooh, let’s go crazy. And it’s, it’s a, it’s a weird crowd Friday night at Mets games. Saturday and Sunday are much more reliable crowds at Citi Field–
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: –if you’re, if you’re a making the trek out. Okay, next question. Miuyabi asks, your go to ballpark snack? Any food and drink? And your fav- your favorite food item that you’ve had at a ballpark?
ALEX: Anyone who knows me knows that my go to snack is a big ol’ bucket of popcorn.
BOBBY: Yep.
ALEX: I destroy those things.
BOBBY: Except not like you eat half of it. And then you’re like–
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: –is it somebody please help me finish this, I’m dying here. Butters I’m sweating butter–
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: –by the sixth inning.
ALEX: It is especially bad if it is like a, like a, like a hot day. And–
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: –the popcorn is like really salty.
BOBBY: Oh, yeah, and just drying yourself out like Spongebob when he goes [34:41]–
ALEX: Right, yeah, exactly. I’m like how shagging, chugging water. The beer is not helping my cause whatsoever.
BOBBY: You are not chugging water! No, that is–
ALEX: I know.
BOBBY: –such a lie. You’ve never chugged water at a baseball game.
ALEX: Wow. Put me on blast.
BOBBY: I will. I know your mom listens to this podcast so she could maybe compel you and shame you for not hydrating well enough. We started this podcast by talking about how important it is to drink water, Alex.
ALEX: That’s true, that’s true. So that’s, that’s my go to snack. Also, if sunflower seeds are there, I, I will partake.
BOBBY: Just more salt, just more salt everywhere. Gums are bleeding.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: By the time the closer comes into the game.
ALEX: I, I honestly, I think a lot of ballpark snacks are actually kind of overrated.
BOBBY: Oh, yeah, here we go.
ALEX: Like–
BOBBY: Put Cracker Jack and the ground, brother.
ALEX: Yeah. Honestly.
BOBBY: Bury it.
ALEX: Cracker Jacks like it’s actually something that has grown on me a little bit as an adult. But it still is kind of like, I don’t know, it’s so sweet and, and rich.
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: That it feels a little like, too indulgent to like meet at a, at a baseball game. Just peanuts, incredibly mid. I’m sorry to anyone who likes peanuts. But I just sit there inconvenient to eat. That, yeah, I mean, I suppose it’s good, because it forces you to pace yourself because you have, you have like one every minute, you know?
BOBBY: Yeah, I think it’s much more about the ritual of cracking up and and eating them.
ALEX: Right. And there’s someone who, who loves–
BOBBY: You just said you like Sunflo–
ALEX: Sunflower seeds–
BOBBY: Yeah, exactly.
ALEX: I get it. I do. I do. I just, I–
BOBBY: Sunflower seeds are different, though. That’s like you’re showing off by eating Sunflower seeds. Like, oh, I’m gonna put a bunch of Sunflower seeds in my mouth and cracked one open at a time.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: I mean, that’s just so–
ALEX: Well so so–
BOBBY: –you probably played baseball if you do that.
ALEX: It’s a hands-free activity, right?
BOBBY: Right.
ALEX: As with, with peanuts you [36:39]–
BOBBY: Use your hands for live betting and those kinds of things.
ALEX: Right, exactly. What about you, what is your go to snack?
BOBBY: I’m not much of a snacker, I’m there to eat a meal, you know?
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: I’m not like, oh, let’s get some popcorn. I’m like, oh, let’s get a sausage.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: Uhm, but if I had to, if I had to choose one snack, I guess I would probably be Sunflower seeds. I, I have been known to stress eat Sunflower seeds during baseball games. Like if the Mets make the playoffs, I’m like a like a bag of Sunflower seeds a night kind of guy. We like, talk about like drying yourself out on the night of the Chase Utley slide against Ruben Tejada in 2015, I blame Sunflower seeds as well as I believe it was Modelo, 10 Modelos and a whole bag of Sunflower seeds. You try staying sober and not tweeting that Chase Utley should go fuck himself after that.
ALEX: Not really unhinge tweets in the early days of that Twitter account, ’cause–
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: –we had access to it.
BOBBY: That was from the personal dog, I was just like, everybody know this one’s attached to me.
ALEX: Yeah, that was tough. We shouldn’t have been allowed to have access to, to Twitter during college.
BOBBY: Most of the time, it was just us tweeting like really dumb jokes that got like six likes.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Yeah, but my go to food, my go to food at the ballpark like for a meal is chicken tenders and fries. City Field has some killer chicken tenders and fries. And uh- individual items don’t really stand out to me. There’s like a fuku sandwich at Citi Field. That’s really good, that I’ve had a couple times. I got barbecue- oh, I will say I got barbecue at Kansas City at Kauffman Stadium. And it was really good. That’s probably the one that I would choose for individual [38:30]
ALEX: Yeah. Garlic fries, at the Giants Stadium, really good. They know what they’re doing there.
BOBBY: Okay, garlic fries at Giants Stadium, I’ve never had them. They might be great. Garlic fries at Dodger Stadium? I’m sorry to all my Dodger’s homies out there, they’re bad! Dodger Stadium food sucks!
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: It’s, it’s, I’m not even trying–
ALEX: Talk to the Dodger dog. Let’s go!
BOBBY: The Dodger dogs?! Okay. Dodger dogs are like really hit and miss if they’re fresh, first of all, they changed them. Just recently, so I think a lot of like true Dodgers fans are with me on this one. But if they’re fresh, and like the bun is good, then it’s, then it’s okay. It’s a, it’s a good stadium hot dog. But like 7 out of 10 times you get like a stale bun and the hotdog is not that hot. And I’m just like, what am I eating here? What is this log of processes meat? Thatt doesn’t even taste that good, why am I doing this? And the fries they’re just, they’re not good. I’m not, I’m like not a French fries snob, for sure. I’ll eat any French fries anywhere and usually enjoy them. But the fries there they taste like cardboard. So, sorry to the Dodgers concessions, sorry to their fans, but their, their, their stadium is some of the worst in any of the ballpark I’ve ever been to. I’m not, I’m not going to sugarcoat it. It’s one of the worst things, it’s probably the worst thing about Dodger Stadium.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Everything else they got to figure it out. It goes stadium concession–
ALEX: You have, you have [39:56] without a peg a bit.
BOBBY: Yeah, it goes stadium concessions and the fact that they don’t, I’ve never heard of an escalator in that entire season. It just like, oh, this was built in the 1940s. Okay, next question. Becca asks, if you were in a benches clearing brawl, well, first of all, Becca says, Hi, Bobby, and Alex. Thanks, Becca, hi! If you were in a benches clearing brawl, and opted to reignite the brawl by launching a pallet of snacks across the field, what snacks would you launch?
ALEX: Well see, we may have just answered this question, right? I would probably launch peanuts.
BOBBY: Because they suck. I would launch Dodger Stadium garlic fries. Even if I’m like great American ballpark. I’m like somebody gave me some Dodger Stadium fries to throw.
ALEX: I mean, I, so this is obviously a, a reference to the, the incredible brawl that happened in today’s Angels-Mariners game. We’re recording this on Sunday as usual, and Raisel Iglesias, after the two teams had dispersed and gone back to their dugouts. He was still quite heated, and threw a crate of, of little bags of Sunflower seeds onto the field. Do we know why he did that? Like what, like what was he, what was the message he was trying to send? Like here, you take these fucking things, right?
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: Where Sunflower seeds an integral part of the dialogue that was going on between those two teams?
BOBBY: Oh, for sure.
ALEX: I, like of that, this took–
BOBBY: [41:31] the best flavors, Dill Pickle!
ALEX: Right, exactly!
BOBBY: Raisel Iglesias was like, no!
ALEX: Where is the cracked pepper?
BOBBY: Cracked black pepper! They had some truly horrifying Sunflower seeds. Sunflower seed flavors growing up like, remember cheddar? That was tough. That was tough, man, come on! Come on, I actually liked ranch. I saw you taking a shot at ranch on Twitter, with your little jokes.
ALEX: Ranches is fine, it was very common growing up, you know, it was like it was oftentimes it was like–
BOBBY: Oh, wow!
ALEX: Sorry.
BOBBY: So you [42:06] like a noob or something?
ALEX: Yeah, yeah.
BOBBY: Wow, this guy likes ranch. It’s real original.
ALEX: It was just like a lot for me.
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: Like I don’t know, it was like almost too flavorful. Like I kind of appreciate the more subtler flavors of Sunflower seeds, right when like your fingers aren’t like caked in powder after eating them. And–
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: –and I think that was my, that was my beef with ranch a little bit. But–
BOBBY: Our coaches used to get so mad at us if we were playing bad. And we had like, fancy flavors of Sunflower seeds. I remember my one coach would just be like, because of these damn Sunflowers, you’re too focused on the Sunflower seeds. Then he made–
ALEX: You mean like you–
BOBBY: –all of us, he made all of us spit all of the Sunflower seeds out all at the same time before going on to the field on tournament.
ALEX: That’s, that’s good, that’s a good bit on his part.
BOBBY: Yeah. And it happened again, another time with bubble gum. Like one coach had brought some Double Bubble for everybody to like, get into, like, you know, like your big leaguers. And I think a couple kids had Big League Chew.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: And Big League Chew was a wild concept, by the way, a wild concept.
ALEX: I know.
BOBBY: Like, oh, you can just have a little kid imitate chewing tobacco.
ALEX: Yup!
BOBBY: Alright. And my coach, we went out and the first thing we were all chewing on the Double Bubble and the Big League Chew. And we just played the worst inning of baseball you’ve ever seen. Does a bunch of errors like a bunch of walks. We were losing like five nothing after to the first inning and came back into the dugout and he was like, get rid of the damn gum now! We were like 10? Uh-mm.
ALEX: Teaching you about responsibility there.
BOBBY: Yeah. I don’t think the, the brawl was about Sunflower seeds. Just kind of got on a limb here and say that that was the first thing that Raisel Iglesias could grab, that he could throw.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: That was not like an item of somebody else’s.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: I think you’d be pretty pissed. Like I think Mike Trout would be pretty pissed of Raisel Iglesias threw all of his bats onto the field. Mike Trout would be like, you’re just gonna have to go get those because I need those–
ALEX: Right. Yeah.
BOBBY: –I’m Mike Trout.
ALEX: Do you have any other answers to this question? Was because, because I–
BOBBY: What snack would I throw on the field?
ALEX: What sback would you throw? Because I’m trying to think of things that would normally be found in a baseball dugout, fries might be one of them.
BOBBY: Chicken wings and beer for the Red Sox.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: Uhm, I don’t kno- like, are there snacks–
ALEX: Right?
BOBBY: –in the dugout other than Sunflower seeds? I guess that’s the only answer that you could reasonably say, in a legitimate way. But I mean, I would throw something that would be harder to clean up. You know, I’d more, I’d want to make more of a scene. Of I’m gonna throw something onto the field. I want it to take some time to clean up.
ALEX: Yeah, you get those groundskeepers man, they’ve had–
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: –your guard down too long.
BOBBY: They’re sitting on their high horse is a little too much for me recently. Groundskeepers? Come on! No I throw–
ALEX: We get it, you can do the YMCA.
BOBBY: –throw a slushie machine on to the field.
ALEX: Right. Yeah.
BOBBY: Like it spills out like freezes the dirt, they’re like out there like hosing it down, trying to clean out.
ALEX: Well, I mean, I was, I was thinking like as, as someone who like doesn’t drink a ton of like Gatorade or like Powerade like, I just don’t really–
BOBBY: Wow!
ALEX: –like–
BOBBY: So you hate electrolytes?
ALEX: Yeah, I do! Boy, I do. Yeah. Like, like that might be something that I would throw out there. Like a, like a big ol’ cooler of Powerade, you know?
BOBBY: Yeah. Uh-hmm.
ALEX: And–
BOBBY: Or Gatorade, no free ads.
ALEX: Or, or- right. And maybe try and like get it on the dirt, you know? Like leave a little mark, right?
BOBBY: Yeah, yeah.
ALEX: So when they, when they do the, the like overhead shot of the field or whatever. There’s just like a little, little blob of blue up right next to the third base bag.
BOBBY: That’s pretty good. I can’t remember who it was, but I feel like it was someone on the Phillies. I just, Aaron Rowand is in my head. I don’t know if I’m, I don’t know if I’m right about–
ALEX: Wow.
BOBBY: –this, but I know right? That’s, that’s how you know I grew up in the greater Philadelphia area. But got tossed from the game one time. And it could have been Ryan Madson, now just remembering some guys from the late 2000s Phillies.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: But they got tossed from a game one time and threw a water cooler onto the field. And it was kind of, it was kind of badass.
ALEX: As far as throwing stuff on the field goes.
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: As far as throwing temper tantrums go.
BOBBY: You can really like clutch your pearls about this, if you’re throwing stuff onto the field after you get tossed like oh, it’s dangerous. It’s teaching the kids the wrong thing. Raisel Iglesias 10 games–
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: –suspension, minimum.
ALEX: I mean, to be clear, it’s pretty stupid.
BOBBY: Oh, yeah.
ALEX: Even more stupid I think to do it after the brawl is, is over. You know, like–
BOBBY: Oh, so you want them to throw it during the brawl? I like that. You use it as a weapon. Okay.
ALEX: Right, exa- start pelting the other team with little–
BOBBY: This umpire [46:50]
ALEX: –individual, individual peanuts or whatever, like take that shit!
BOBBY: Yeah, yeah. Go to the slushie machine, make snowballs out of the other team.
ALEX: See, brawls would instantly become so much more entertaining.
BOBBY: Teams would start getting other snacks in the dugout just in case there was a brawl. Like you’ve better stuff to throw.
ALEX: Right, it’s your arsenal.
BOBBY: You’re crunching up peanuts in your hand and throwing them on top of people.
ALEX: Right. Like chewing some bubble gum and then, and then like sticking Sunflower seeds in or like, like outfit roll round–
BOBBY: Rolling round, yeah.
ALEX: –you know? Right, exactly. Yeah.
BOBBY: Yeah. That’s a good idea. Thank you for the question, Becca. It’s much appreciated. Give us the reason to talk about that Brawl.
ALEX: Inspired more, more thoughts about this that I think I, I originally thought I had.
BOBBY: Okay, let’s move to a couple Twitter questions. The first one comes from dear friend of the pod, Mike Schubert, hi, Mike. I just gotta say the Yankees, I’m saying this because Mike is a big Yankees fan. The Yankees continue to just shock and amaze me. Aaron Judge walk off home run today, his 28th of the year. It’s just, I don’t think it could be going any better for the Yankees. Is this attempt, is this an attempt to reverse jinx them? You’re damn right it is, you’re damn right it is, Alex. Mike asks, maybe this question is a reverse jinx in and of itself for asking a question like this to us, Alex. Mike asks, under what circumstances do you think the wave is allowed? Mike says, I think any delay of game or if the game is enough of a blowout, that position players can pitch. That’s when he thinks the wave is allowed. What do you think, Alex?
ALEX: It may not come as much of a surprise to the listeners of this podcast that, that neither you nor I are big fans of the wave. Sometimes it, sometimes it impresses will say. You and I were at a game once at Yankee Stadium no less, where the wave went around. Like I think like six or seven times, like without, without stopping, like continuous. You know, by the third or fourth time I was like, I’m actually kind of in on this now, you know, I–
BOBBY: This is actually solidarity?
ALEX: Right. I’m like, this is like, it’s like a–
BOBBY: This is standing–
ALEX: –live study kid–
BOBBY: –side by side by your brothers and sisters.
ALEX: Right, exactly. It’s a psychological study, you know?
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: I, I like Mike’s assessment of any sort of delay in the game, right? Like say during an umpire review or something like that, right? You know, you’re gonna, you know you’re gonna have some time to do that. I mean, obviously, the problem with something like that is, is oftentimes people are captivated by what the outcome of, of the call would be, right?
BOBBY: Right. Yeah.
ALEX: I’m trying, I’m trying not to be a downer and say that it’s just not acceptable. But I am having trouble coming up with specific moments in which I am like pro wave or at least not as staunchly anti wave, you know.
BOBBY: I’ll tell you when the wave is allowed, Alex.
ALEX: During the National Anthem.
BOBBY: Here’s- wow! Okay, wait, that’s number two, that’s number.
ALEX: That’s number one!
BOBBY: Here’s the second time the waves amazing work by you amazing. This is why we do a podcast together. Why is not just [50:10]. Here’s the second time the wave is allowed, if you’re on a Little League game. Great, have fun. So exciting. Everybody do the wave. Oh, yeah, a bunch of kids, so exciting. If you’re in a Major League Baseball game, just watch the game. You paid $75 to sit where you’re sitting, okay? You didn’t pay $75 to every 45 seconds, stand up and go wooo! Nope! Nope! You want to do that? Go to an amusement park. Go to a Little League game. That’s my assessment, that is my assessment of when you’re allowed to do the wave. During the National Anthem as Alex said.
ALEX: I, will you, will you–
BOBBY: Or God Bless America.
ALEX: –please, will you please- right or God Bless America. Will you please do this with me the next time we’re–
BOBBY: Yes!
ALEX: –there for the National Anthem?
BOBBY: I mean, maybe, it depends on the crowd.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: I’m, I’m kind of afraid of what, what happens to us.
ALEX: I don’t really, I actually want to do that, especially at a Mets game or something like that, you know?
BOBBY: Or a Yankees game.
ALEX: Or a Yankees game.
BOBBY: Someone might place you under citizen’s arrest if you do that.
ALEX: Yup. Yeah.
BOBBY: The wrong part of Yankee Stadium.
ALEX: Yeah, I mean, I got scolded for, for not stopping to listen to the National Anthem at a Mets game while in the team store. So like I’ve, if they can get you there, they’ll get you anywhere.
BOBBY: What did you say?
ALEX: I didn’t, I just even know how, how to respond. I think I’ve just kind of like chuckled nervously, you know?
BOBBY: You should kneel–
ALEX: [51:40] walked away–
BOBBY: –you should silently with solemnly kneeled and put it done the Colin Kaepernick.
ALEX: Yeah, that I actually [51:48]
BOBBY: Oh, thank you for reminding me, Neil.
ALEX: They, they may have kicked me out, I [51:51] that.
BOBBY: Okay, thanks for asking, Mike. I appreciate your optimism. And your acceptance of all people who do the wave. We aren’t, we’re not like that here, no.
ALEX: I know. I mean, I, the wave is something I really struggle with. Because I, I, well, I’m just gonna go in on the wave right now. This podcast is already quite unhinged. We talked about–
BOBBY: Bro!
ALEX: –my time at Starbucks for like five minutes there.
BOBBY: Please think about every action that you’ve taken in your life that has led you the multiverse of actions that have led you to this moment to say I struggle with the wave in earnest on a podcast 3000 miles away from your co host, sitting in a room by yourself. I struggle with the wave.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: Deep, deep down, it hits me to my core the wave.
ALEX: It, it poses a an interesting moral, moral question.
BOBBY: Quandary.
ALEX: Right, yeah.
BOBBY: Yeah, no, no question quandary.
ALEX: Because on the one hand, I, I don’t enjoy it and oftentimes find it annoying, and, and distracting, right? And then also, I’m probably in the minority of that, right? When you’re at a baseball game and the wave starts doing it. A majority of the people there partake in it, right? So–
BOBBY: It’s kind of the whole, yeah, that’s kind of a the rub–
ALEX: That the [53:13] yeah.
BOBBY: –majority of people don’t, then it doesn’t happen.
ALEX: So like, I don’t know, where, we, we try to be a, a big 10 podcast, right? How, how do we reach across the aisle with this one?
BOBBY: No.
ALEX: No? Is it this is our, this is our line?
BOBBY: No, because if you compromise who you are this easily, then, then who are you?
ALEX: That sucks!
BOBBY: I know. That’s so profound, bro. It’s found once, if you compromise who you are, then who are you? No! We’re a big 10 podcast about things that actually matter, this doesn’t actually matter.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: We’re not actually like kicking people out of the game for doing this.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: We’re just sitting in our seats just booing loud enough for us and the six people around us to hear so everybody knows how cool we are.
ALEX: Yes, exactly.
BOBBY: Anything else to add about the wave? We were already going for 10 minutes about it. We might this one, get it all it out now!
ALEX: I’m sure, I’m sure something will, will come to me. I’m going to do some meditating on this tonight when I sleep.
BOBBY: Imagine you’re just sitting on the subway and someone starts the wave. Why? Why?
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Why? That’s just as appropriate of place to do that. There’s people, you’re all lined up and it would be just as easy you just start the wave on the subway, then. No, you would never do that because it’s absurd. It’s an absurd–
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: –thing to do.
ALEX: You get your shit kicked in.
BOBBY: Yeah, maybe not that far, you feel me? We don’t need to beat people up [54:34], Alex, come on!
ALEX: I’m not, I’m not condoning, I;m just saying–
BOBBY: You, you might pelted with a ba- stray bag of Sunflower seeds. Oh, God, I hope this podcast is even approaching listenable, ‘cuz I’m having fun. I hope you’re having fun too. Okay, next question comes from Britney. Britney asks for Pride Night hits and misses, Alex?
ALEX: So an obvious hit was the Mets Pride Night at Citi Field, which happened this past week I believe. And, and featured a couple players who were very, very vocal about their support of, of pride in the LGBTQ community. Pitcher Taijuan Walker spent some time in the team store during the Pride Night. And offered to pay for anyone’s purchase of Pride themed Mets apparel. And he’s been very, very vocal about his support on social media. As well as just kind of in, in and around the clubhouse, that sort of thing. Mark Khanna is the other one. That’s, that’s noted cool guy, Mark Khanna.
BOBBY: Cool as hell.
ALEX: Who spoke at, at length with Andy Martino over, over at NSY, about the state of LGBTQ acceptance in Major League Baseball. And kind of how, how he sees Pride Night, as you know, being a really important force for, for good that teams can kind of take part in. And he had a lot of really interesting things to say about kind of the, the power that comes with having this sort of platform, right? And the responsibility that athletes have to make their voices known on this, on this sort of thing. I, I encourage everyone to go and, go and read the interview because it’s really, it’s really fascinating. The link is in the description. But I, but I just want to read a brief excerpt from, from their conversation.
BOBBY: This is Andy Martino known scribe of the LGBTQ movement. Andy Martino, thank you based Andy Martino.
ALEX: Good God, curse words. So he, he talks about, you know, trying to have discussions with, with teammates, about queer acceptance. And the difficulty of that sort of thing happening in the league like Major League Baseball, that is very conservative, very, very buttoned up. Very, that takes a lot of its ideals from half a century ago, right? But he kind of, you kind of talked about that process, what it means to have discussions like that with your, with your teammates. And, and why the conversations are, are tough and why they’re not always received well. But he initially talks about, you know, trying to meet people where they are not being combative in these discussions. And as the conversation went on, he, he kind of flipped that a little bit. He, he went back on that and said, you know, I do think if you want progress, you should be combative. He said, It makes me angry. But I know there’s only so much I can do about it. It’s something that I want to be militant and combative about. Because I think it deserves that and it needs that. But at the same time, it’s like, how far am I gonna get? That’s where you draw the fine line. And that’s where we are as a country. And I really admire his kind of real time reflection and kind of–
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: –growth in his stance, right? Because we are at that point where the peaceful protest, right, that the the nice, friendly sit down chat is not going to get you very far. And you see Mark, kind of recognizing this, as he’s having this discussion with Andy, and I really, I really admire his, his candidness throughout this whole conversation. But specifically that understanding of the, the urgency of this, righ? The that sometimes acceptance actually takes a fight. And that as an athlete, he does bear some of that responsibility for, you know, being a leader in, in his community. So I shout out Mark Khanna and Taijuan.
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: [59:32]
BOBBY: I think, it’s really cool to root for them both knowing that, that they take the time to like think about their actions and how they will reverberate throughout the community of Mets fans. Like I think that there is this, this view among a certain type of like athlete and a certain type of coach and a certain type of fan, that the more like generally accepting you are of everything, the better. You know, like the more tolerant, this idea of tolerance that we have and overused in America. And I kind of think that that’s, that’s wrong, I kind of think that that is bullshit. Like you, the more specifically accepting you are of more things, the better. Not the more blandly accepting of everybody Kumbaya let’s all, let’s all sit around and sing Kumbaya and love each other, no matter what. Like, are you sure? Are you sure everybody is gonna be okay with that? Are you sure that some people are not just imagining that some people are not a certain way? Because to hit on the misses here for a second, you know, the Rays players thought that they could get away with just kind of not embracing this. But, but generally saying we accept everybody for who they are. But we don’t believe that we need to specifically state our acceptance for you know, the poor way that they phrase this was accept people for this kind of lifestyle. We don’t, we don’t believe in this kind of lifestyle, our, our religion tells us that we can’t explicitly support members of the LGBTQ community on Pride night. And if that kind of like specific, counteracting, that Mark Khanna is doing that I think is really important to have at the same time. Because in order to make people uncomfortable, in order to affect change, in order to explicitly state what is wrong, and what it needs to be corrected, and what we should have pride about, I, I feel like you need to be specific about, about who you do support, who you accept it in as a member of the, of the community of fandom surrounding your team. And the more specific you can be, the, the better. And some more baseball players can start doing that. The notion of Pride Nights are going to continue to be framed as this thing that could be controversial when it’s not, and it shouldn’t be. You know, we still have one team to hit on the other miss, we still have one team that just didn’t do it, the Texas Rangers. And I mean until there’s like a critical mass of players who are like, no, I want this to happen. I understand why this needs to happen, I support. I, I support members of the queer community who want to come out and openly celebrate that they are members of the community, of the queer community at the ballpark. Then, you know, like the Rangers are not going to be pressured to do this. They’re not going to be forced to do this and understand why it was wrong that they did it up until now. So good on Mark Khanna and good on Taijuan Walker. I don’t know about other, you know, hits, so to speak. I was not able to attend any specific Pride Nights. And we should say that not all of them have happened yet so far. There are still–
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: –I think four or five that are coming in the last few days of June and maybe the first couple days of July. Okay, Alex, next question. Any further thoughts from the Phoebe Bridgers show? Favorite song that she performed? My further thoughts from the Phoebe Bridgers show are number one- live music is great. Number two- Phoebe Bridgers excellent in concert. Number three- it’s cool to have a therapy session with 1000s of people all at once. And number four- I got COVID from that concert. Those are my thoughts.
ALEX: Can we get you a shirt that said I went to a Phoebe Bridgers concert and–
BOBBY: All I got was COVID. Yeah.
ALEX: That’s too easy.
BOBBY: Yeah. My favorite song that she performed was ‘I Know the End’ that was the song that she performed at the end of the concert, ‘I Know the End’.
ALEX: Right, everyone–
BOBBY: Specifically the reason? Yes it was because everyone gets to scream at the top of their lungs. How about you Alex? What was your favorite song that she performed? Honestly, that might not even be true. I might not even be my favorite song that she performed. When she came out and she did the Encore and shifted Me & My Dog by herself. That’s a boygenius song but she did it. I really, I really liked that song. It’s really sad and sweet and it sounded really good like acoustic outdoors in that kind of venue is amazing.
ALEX: I love the Chinese Satellite. I mean a lot of her music is so kind of ethereal and atmospheric, that–
BOBBY: I kept turning to you and being like imagine being the drummer for Phoebe Bridgers–
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: –concert and you just like for, for, for like an hour you hit the drum like 12 times total.
ALEX: Yeah, yeah. And, and a lot of her songs are obviously a little more low key, so to speak. And so it was really cool to see kind of how she changed the arrangements of a lot of her songs especially the ones on, on the new album. To kind of fit a, a like large concert vibe, right? Having, having big like drops in in the middle of a song when the, when the drums come in or, or something like that, right. I thought that the overall aesthetic of the show is gorgeous. I loved, I know that one of your concert takes that you, that you shared with me. One of, one of many that you shared with me, was that your anti the kind of media screens that–
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: –are, that are behind musicians as they play that are oftentimes, you know, just playing something that’s almost like the like Apple iTunes visualizer, you know?
BOBBY: Yeah, yeah.
ALEX: I thought, I thought hers was really cool.
BOBBY: Hers was cool, yeah. Hers was cool. I’m generally anti them, but that doesn’t mean that there can’t be like exceptions.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: That proves the rule. I, I like the art of the concert backdrop. I just prefer if it’s like stationary.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: It’s just a little, it was a little distracting, it’s a little distracting for me, I don’t know. Maybe that means that I just have a short attention span.
ALEX: Yeah, that’s fair. I liked Graceland Too, too.
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: I, I also–
BOBBY: I like–
ALEX: –Graceland Too.
BOBBY: –Graceland Too, also.
ALEX: And Kyoto, obviously, which is like–
BOBBY: Such a banger.
ALEX: –it’s such like such an incredible, incredible like tight songwriting.
BOBBY: I know.
ALEX: So good! So good! Never gets old!
BOBBY: Tight in multiple ways. Like that’s tight, bro, and tight like not a wasted note.
ALEX: Right, exactly.
BOBBY: That was the Phoebe Bridgers concert. Okay, Gold Sachs asks, I know you guys always mentioned and suggest other pods to listen to as they come up. But could you do a speed round suggestion list of your faves, just so it’s all in one place. I have a few that I will suggest really quickly while Alex assembles his list. Number one- Trillbilly Worker’s Party. Not like anybody needs us to suggest this podcast at the end of a Tipping Pitches Podcast. But they’re sort of like a better version of us but they just don’t talk about baseball. They do a lot of bad take dramatic reading. So if you listen to that pod, you will, you’ll probably identify some, I don’t know, conversational inspiration to our show. At least on my end, I don’t know if Alex listen to that podcast. Batting Around, we shout them out all the time. That is the companion Baseball Podcast, our podcast. And then I’ll keep it short, the thir- the, the third and fourth on my list. The third one is if you like basketball, particularly all kinds of basketball, not just not just the NBA. Spinsters, which is made by my friend Haley O’Shaughnessy, and Jordan Ligons and their production team. They, they, I don’t know, they’re talking about basketball in a different way than I’ve ever really heard anybody talking about basketball on a podcast. And then finally, I hope a lot of people listen to this podcast, listen to this podcast, it’s called Revolutions. It’s just a, it’s a podcast made by Mike Duncan about all of history’s revolutions, not all of them but Many of history’s revolutions. It’s so in depth, it’s so well done. It, talk about tight it, doesn’t waste a single minute, he just tells you what happened in a funny and interesting and direct way. And it’s, it’s really informative. I’m currently listening to, I’m like two thirds of the way through like a 95 part Russian Revolution Podcast. It’s, it’s pretty great, it’s pretty great. Those are my four, how about you?
ALEX: I really haven’t listened to podcasts as much lately especially now that I don’t like commute or–
BOBBY: Yes.
ALEX: –or anything.
BOBBY: Yes.
ALEX: Down with pod this is my, this is my anti podcast pivot.
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: There are, there are a few that stand out that I do come back to. The first is obviously 5460: The Joe West Podcast.
BOBBY: For a second I was like what is that? I haven’t heard that. Oh, man.
ALEX: You know, I actually, I haven’t thought about this ever since we’d like did a, a bit about it, you know, when it first came out.
BOBBY: It’s usually [1:08:40]
ALEX: I, I actually might go back and, and listen to some of these, Jerry Reinsdorf was on.
BOBBY: Oh my God, Really?
ALEX: Like, yeah.
BOBBY: I feel like you have to do this.
ALEX: I kind of feel like I, I need to do that from just a reporting perspective.
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: Okay, I’ll, I’ll circle back with that information. The actual podcast that I do listen to
BOBBY: Is The Corp? A. Rod’s Barstool Podcast?
ALEX: Is, is he still doing that?
BOBBY: I don’t know. No, I don’t think so.
ALEX: Hey, dude, we got, we got some space on the feed over here.
BOBBY: It feels like Adam Silver was probably like wrap that one up, A. Rod.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: You’re an owner now. We got some space on the feed over here. Please do not handout completely spots on the feed live on the podcast, Alex.
ALEX: Only the Alex Rodriguez.
BOBBY: We’re 50/50 partners, man.
ALEX: I really liked the plot- the podcast series Blowback, which takes a look at critical moments in the history of the American empire, right? Things like the Iraq War and the Cold War. And their, their, their third season that’s coming up is about the Korean War. It’s really, it’s a really great in depth–
BOBBY: Various wars.
ALEX: –various wars, yes. You, you have the revolutions, I’ve got the wars.
BOBBY: So [1:10:04] spoiler alert, the revolutions take many wars.
ALEX: That’s, yes. So check it out if you’re interested in history and or just hearing about our, our ever growing tentacles just fucking up various corners of the world. I like Drilled as well, which is a podcast about climate change that kind of takes it, that kind of uses the true crime format to talk about issues surrounding climate change today. It’s really good, it’s really creative as well. And that’s another one that, that big, big fan, big fan. And I love The New York Times Podcast. That shit goes.
BOBBY: Wow!
ALEX: John Kerr Monica is my boy.
BOBBY: Let’s go, stumping for the great lady at the end of the pod.
ALEX: Absolutely! You know, this is–
BOBBY: I thought you were gonna say The Daily. What?! What?!
ALEX: Yeah, big Mikey Barb’s fan over here.
BOBBY: Can we get him on the pod?
ALEX: Probably.
BOBBY: There’s so many more that I could share.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: But, but we don’t have time. If you want to ask us more about podcasts that we listened to and other media that we enjoy consuming. Please join us at the top tier of our Patreon. At our live Q&A every other month. We do those every other month for the top tier of our Patreon. We’ve done one so far, it was phenomenal. Many people showed up and ask wonderful questions. I know that’s what I would say if nobody showed up and asked any questions but it’s actually true. And you won’t know for sure, unless you sign up and come to it. It’s patreon.com\tippingpitches. The Alex Rodriguez VIP club tier, we’ll get you access to that. And many of the things, including our newsletter, which is coming out later this week. And you will also get yourself a shout out at the end of every episode, five members of that club will get a shout out at the end of every episode. Those five members this week are Michael, Kyle, Shocker, Mike, and RC. Alex, anything else to leave the people with?
ALEX: $11 million. I’m not leaving the people with $11 million.
BOBBY: I was like, woah! We have $11 million, to giveaway?
ALEX: That [1:12:15] money is flowing!
BOBBY: We’re just giving away?
ALEX: That is–
BOBBY: I was like dang! Uncle Sam coming or what?
ALEX: That is Rob Manfred’s salary, according to–
BOBBY: Wow!
ALEX: –The Washington Post.
BOBBY: Wow! Of course, that’s a reliable source.
ALEX: That’s, it’s really a reliable source. Yeah.
BOBBY: Almost. Like pretty reliable. Democracy dies in darkness this podcast dies without knowing what Rob Manfred salary is. 11 mil? Okay.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Okay, Robs.
ALEX: That’s okay. That’s pretty good.
BOBBY: That’s okay.
ALEX: It’s not good to know–
BOBBY: I mean, when you and I make–
ALEX: –60 million.
BOBBY: Right, when you and I, well, that’s the NFL. It’s a whole different.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: That’s like a sovereign state. When you and I make $11 million each from just this podcast. I mean, I know that Rob’s 11 million kind of pales in comparison.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Sorry, my brain just broke thinking about rod man for making $11 for going out there and saying dumb shit all the time. Thanks for listening to another very unhinged episode of Tipping Pitches. We will be back next week.
[1:13:20]
[Music]
[1:13:29]
[Outro]
ALEX RODRIGUEZ: Hello everybody, I’m Alex Rodriguez, Tipping Pitches, Tipping Pitches. This is the one that I love the most, Tipping Pitches. So we’ll see you next week. See ya!
Transcriptionist: Vernon Bryann Casil
Editor: Krizia Marrie Casil
Tipping Pitches 
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