Alex and Bobby talk through Alex’s journey to London for the Mets-Phillies MLB London series, including the people Alex met, his attempt to meet the Phillie Phanatic, the food at the ballpark, the stadium experience, and more. Throughout the episode, you’ll hear natural sound and interview tape that Alex captured during his weekend at the games.
Links:
Join the Tipping Pitches Patreon Tipping Pitches merchandise
Songs featured in this episode:
Booker T & the M.G.’s — “Green Onions”
Transcript
Tell us a little bit about what you saw and be able to relay that message to Cora when you watch Kimbrel pitch 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 all about? That’s amazing. That’s remarkable.
BOBBY: Alex, you know, my original plan was to start this podcast, I asked you what the biggest lesson you’ve learned from your week in the United Kingdom was, the MLB London Series, boots on the ground in Europe. Not in the European Union, but in Europe.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: I was gonna ask you what the biggest lesson you learned was, but in discussing with you before this podcast, what we’re going to talk about and hearing about your day, I found out that biggest lesson, and that is the maximizing airline profit, it’s more important than anything.
ALEX: Which we’ve known. I— like, I knew this in my heart, but I had to see it and experience it with my own eyes.
BOBBY: I’m just really glad to see you back in your own apartment, because for a while there—
ALEX: God. You and me both.
BOBBY: —it didn’t look like you were gonna make it.
ALEX: There were a good couple hours there where I— where I thought I’d just be there stranded in perpetuity.
BOBBY: So what happened? Did they overbook your flight?
ALEX: Yeah. Well, that’s what they— that’s what they do, right? It was an overbooked flight, a fully booked flight. I did not check in, right? We’re not acknowledging the user error element of this, whatsoever. In part— because, like, maybe if I pay hundreds of dollars for you to fly me from one side of the world to the other, you should hold up your end of the bargain on— on—
BOBBY: And actually do it? Like, they’re not— do you remember to check in?
ALEX: Right. And actually do it. Right.
BOBBY: You’re not checking in. It’s just like— come on.
ALEX: So baller.
BOBBY: Come on. So baller? This makes you—
ALEX: There were three—
BOBBY: —0-2 on international travel, bro.
ALEX: 0-2 on international travel, yes. Italy via Russia went splendidly.
BOBBY: Have we told that story on the main feed or was that on the Patreon feed?
ALEX: I don’t— I don’t know if we have.
BOBBY: Have we ever even said that on the podcast or we just talked about that in real life? I can’t— I can’t tell anymore.
ALEX: [2:15] that’s come up so often.
BOBBY: Alex came to visit me when I was studying in Italy, and he waited too long to book his flight, and the only flight that— that was affordable enough to—
ALEX: Are you picking up on the trend here?
BOBBY: The only flight that was affordable enough to actually still come was to have a layover in Moscow, right?
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: Moscow.
ALEX: Moscow.
BOBBY: Moscow.
ALEX: Lovely place, beauty— beautiful place, at least from the inside of the airport.
BOBBY: And on the way back, what happened? They put you on a bus out to the parking lot and you thought that they were going to cap you in the back of the head?
ALEX: Yeah, it was like— you know, we— we sat on the plane for a couple hours, and then they were like, “Well, this one’s”— they would, like, interrupt my sleep every 20 minutes to be like, “The plane still isn’t working. “And I was like, “Okay, well just let us know what it does, I guess.”
BOBBY: Right.
ALEX: And then— and then after a couple hours, they said, “This— this plane is— is fully not working. We’re gonna put you—”
BOBBY: Okay.
ALEX: “—on another plane.”
BOBBY: So you thought that they maybe saw your tweets or something, and they were like, “We’re gonna put this guy next to the Romanovs.” Or what?
ALEX: Right. Well— and after the— after the plane malfunctioned, I wondered if maybe they were just too embarrassed to, like, admit that something like— they were like, “We need to get rid of the evidence. No one can know that anyone of our planes ever malfunctioned ever.”
BOBBY: Okay. And then so this time around, on your way back from London, you were like, “Everything went too smoothly on the way here.”
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: “Let me throw a couple wrinkles in on the way home.”
ALEX: That’s right. Yeah.
BOBBY: Okay. Well, it’s good that you got on. What— what seat did they give you? Was it— was it favorable?
ALEX: It’s the very last row. It was— it was an aisle seat, though, so I was not too—
BOBBY: Oh, clutch.
ALEX: —too mad about that. I will say I’m—
BOBBY: Aisle or— wait, wait, wait. Aisle or window guy?
ALEX: I am typically a window guy, but on a long— but on a long flight—
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: —I really do like an aisle, because I’d— I’d hate like— I hate being the person who’s like, “Excuse me, can I, like, get out—”
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: “—to go pee?” I just hate being that person. Especially on a long flight, it’s like the person might be asleep, what, am I going to wake them up?
BOBBY: Not up. Some people are out there waking people up aggressively.
ALEX: I’m— oh, I know. Yeah.
BOBBY: You know? Because I’m an aisle person, and I’m the person that’s getting woken up.
ALEX: Yep.
BOBBY: And you would throw a little elbow to the ribcage, being like, “I gotta go.” You know?
ALEX: Yeah. Like, “All right. I don’t know you like that, buddy.” I am— I’m recording this podcast in— in sweats. I don’t know why I didn’t change before this. In sweats that I have, like, tequila soda all over one side, because the— the young man sitting next to me was having a really nice time. So nice that he fell asleep with his drink in his hand, and— and did not know where it was going at that point.
BOBBY: Tequila soda on the flight back. Some people are living da— dangerously.
ALEX: After— after, like, three little, mini bottles of wine, so—
BOBBY: What an interesting concoction. I have [5:02]
ALEX: They were putting— they were putting the work. He even apologized to me and was like, “This is my— I’m sorry, I’m— I feel so bad. This is my first time.” And I was like, “First time what? Fl— flying, drinking?”
BOBBY: Flying, drinking? I—
ALEX: Spilling on strangers?
BOBBY: I always tell you about the guy that was sitting next to me on a flight once. He drank about five bottles of red wine, and then he brought out a bag of his own peanuts, shelled peanuts, and started eating them in between.
ALEX: That’s so cool. That is so cool.
BOBBY: I think that might be like the single worst plane snack.
ALEX: Yes.
BOBBY: It’s like maybe even a little too much sometimes for, like, indoor sporting events. And this guy—
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: —was doing it on a plane, you know?
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: In— in economy seats.
ALEX: Yeah. Couldn’t have gotten away with it on this plane, because there was a peanut allergy, right? The— the flight attendants made everyone well aware of that.
BOBBY: And— and you think that’s because of wokeness now that we have peanut allergies?
ALEX: Yes, I do. Yeah.
BOBBY: And, like, too many kids these days can’t just deal with—
ALEX: I don’t— the kid— kids didn’t have one when I was growing up.
BOBBY: They definitely did for me.
ALEX: Yes, they— they did, they did.
BOBBY: They would always tell us stories like in elementary school, about like some boyfriend who had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and then he kissed this girl who had a deadly peanut allergy, and she died. You know, they would say that—
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: —stuff to us all the time at lunch.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: So they’d be like, “Go to the— go to the peanut table,” you know? Or, “Stay away from the peanut-free table.” I can’t remember which way they did it. Probably the—
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: —latter, honestly.
ALEX: Right. The peanut-free ta— make the— all the allergic kids sit together in one little area just so that everyone else can be like, “Haha.”
BOBBY: Corral them all in one place and then drop them into the ocean, you know, so that we could Darwinism— we have Darwinism.
ALEX: Right. Well, they’re easier to bu— bully all in one place that way. Drop them to the ocean. Jesus.
BOBBY: So you made it back, United States, how many hours sleep are you working on?
ALEX: I’m doing pretty well. The flight was not too early this morning. Working on a good six, seven hours of sleep. I— I— I will— I mean, I will say my body clock is, like, five hours ahead right now. We’re recording this on Monday evening. I am— I am mere hours from touching back down in New York. And so the pod might get a little weird, I will say, as this— as this goes on.
BOBBY: Would you like just— now that you’re feeling loose and just a couple hours after this long trip, you want to start any feuds? Do you want to end any feuds? You want to come out as like pro Jomboy?
ALEX: I didn’t see him there. I’m just— I’m just saying. Like, we have an international presence and they don’t. I don’t know what to tell you.
BOBBY: The guy is trying to co-opt cricket and he won’t even go to the MLB London Series.
ALEX: Yeah, for real. He won’t even leave your— your woke liberal enclave in New York City.
BOBBY: Did you see that we just got a DM from Jeff Passan?
ALEX: Saying— saying what?
BOBBY: This is all staying in the pod, by the way.
ALEX: Okay, this is good.
BOBBY: Great stuff. Incredible.
ALEX: Great stuff. Always appreciate. Kudos from— from Jeff Passan. Yeah, Francisco Lindor to the Oakland Athletics. I’m sure you saw .
BOBBY: Oh, God. A friend of mine sent me— sent me that tweet and then he was like, “This definitely got me,” and then I saw the follow-up about Ohtani being suspended for life.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Then I knew that that would never happen, so—
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Okay. You— you went to the London Series. I stayed here—
ALEX: I went to the London Series.
BOBBY: —with— with the— with designs on going to the— what I’m calling the Bank of America Derby, Yankees vs Dodgers. But the tickets are too expensive. I got priced out by my friends at Merrill Lynch.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: And so I didn’t end up going. I just watched it on— on television.
ALEX: Well, they’re trying to grow the game.
BOBBY: One of us— one—
ALEX: It’s not just— it’s not just about you. Those bankers want to— bankers watch baseball, too.
BOBBY: This is true. I was about to say one of us always has to be in America just to— just to keep ourselves tied down to our roots, but that— that— we’ve broken that rule, so—
ALEX: Yeah, we have.
BOBBY: We’ve broken that rule. Like the good millennial Gen Z cusp that you are, you kept notes all week in your iPhone Notes app.
ALEX: I did.
BOBBY: Just writing down random thoughts. So in order to share with the listeners what the experience was like, in the only way that we know how here at Tipping Pitches, we are going to run through Alex’s iPhone notes. And we’re going to splice across this episode a bunch of audio that have Alex talking to strangers.
ALEX: Yes. You were— you were kind enough to receive the amalgamation of audio clips that I was just like— just walking around the city, just holding my microphone in the air.
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: Like a lunatic.
BOBBY: How did that feel? Was that bringing you back to the old days when we were in like a journalism school?
ALEX: It was bringing me back to a— to a J school class, yes. 100%.
BOBBY: I like how that, in this analogy, I’m kind of like the professor.
ALEX: Right, grading my work, saying, “All right.”
BOBBY: Right.
ALEX: “What can we make out of this?”
BOBBY: “You need to ask more hard-hitting questions.”
ALEX: You can—
BOBBY: “You know?”
ALEX: Yeah. Well, we probably do. You can— you can hear in those clips, I— I start every single one of those interactions the same way. I’m like, “Hey, hey, excuse me, guys. Hi, how’s it going? I’m Alex. I do a podcast.”
BOBBY: I’m gonna make a supercut— I’m gonna make a supercut of the intros that you gave to people.
ALEX: Okay, great.
BOBBY: I’ll put that at the end of the episode. Okay. That’s what—
ALEX: Don’t— don’t cancel me for not saying, “Hey, y’all.”
BOBBY: That’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna talk through Alex’s week in London, the MLB London Series. A split, the Mets splitting with the best team in baseball. Look at that. Mets back??? We’ll see. But before we do all of that, I’m Bobby Wagner.
ALEX: And I’m Alex Bazeley.
BOBBY: And you are listening to Tipping Pitches.
[music]
ALEX: I— I think the— actually the biggest thing that I learned— or— or maybe the biggest thing I will take away from— from thew whole trip—
BOBBY: Oh, you’re just diving right in. Look at you. You’re just taking over hosting responsibilities.
ALEX: Well— yeah. Well, I was— I was reflecting on a little more and— and—
BOBBY: Just ripping the wheel away. Look at me. I pulled up the Patreon to do new patrons and you’re just—
ALEX: Oh, no.
BOBBY: —you’re two— two steps ahead. Just go for it. I like it. I like it.
ALEX: I love— I love the word cheers. Like I— like it’s sometimes cute to, like, do it in an email.
BOBBY: Uh-huh.
ALEX: But like that’s— that’s their sign-off. That’s their salutation, after— after you get the beer, after you order the food. I have— a lot of the trip revolved around like eating and— and drinking, so it was mostly servers saying cheers to me.
BOBBY: Cheers [11:42]
ALEX: Just— it may have also related to the— what I was enjoying, but— and then I started adopting it. I would— I’d be like, “Oh, yeah. Thanks, mate. Cheers.” You know? And it was hard to, like, not do a little bit of— like, I found myself accidentally doing some accent work in conversation and really had to, like, pull back.
BOBBY: Bro, they could get you into a cult easily. Like, the fact that you’re just—
ALEX: It’s so easy.
BOBBY: Modeling behavior just from a person saying something to you, like you would be in that cult, you know?
ALEX: Right. I’m like, “That’s sick. That’s cool.”
BOBBY: I can’t skip the— I just can’t skip thanking the new patrons this week—
ALEX: No, you can’t.
BOBBY: —because we got a lot of them the last couple of weeks. Because we reran a Patreon episode on the main feed last week, because you— you know you were traveling to this here event. So thank you this week to our new patrons, Leah, Joel, Chelsea, Jeremy, Nick, Zoe, Brad, Russ, Maisie and Annie, Siti, and Joseph.
ALEX: Banner week.
BOBBY: Look at you. The look on your face. You didn’t even know that we got all those new patrons. You haven’t been following. You haven’t. Too busy on the field, you know?
ALEX: It’s true. Yes.
BOBBY: All right. So—
ALEX: I would check in with— I would check in with my editor every so often, say, “What am I— am I getting the right stuff? Are you pushing me in the right direction?”
BOBBY: So cheers— you put cheers— you want to bring cheers to the pod?
ALEX: Cheers.
BOBBY: Okay. Sign off—
ALEX: I’m bringing cheers to the pod.
BOBBY: —every week with cheers. Cheers.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: What else? You went to the MLB London Series. We’ve talked a lot about the MLB London Series. We talked about it last year when it was an interesting diplomatic effort from the United States, sending the Cubs and the Cardinals. Once again, an interesting diplomatic effort this year, sending the monstrosity known as the New York Mets. We talked about just MLB’s— a lot about MLB’s international expansion, and their designs on international expansion. And how much this is something clearly that the league wants, that they are trying to get the players on board with a lot of talk about player ambassadors I saw online this past week. They brought out the— the finest they could possibly find, Daniel Murphy.
ALEX: That’s right.
BOBBY: And then obviously, Chase— Chase Utley—
ALEX: And a one Chase Utley.
BOBBY: —is sort of like the czar of UK baseball.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: So— so what was it like? Take us through it. MLB London Series through Alex’s eyes.
ALEX: It ruled, I want to be very clear. It was sick. Like, you— we— we get on here, and do this podcast every week.
BOBBY: Uh-huh.
ALEX: And spend most of the time complaining about the— the— the ills that have befallen the sport, whether it’s creeping private equity, right? Or, you know, the labor exploitation rife throughout the Minor League landscape. It’s easy to get pretty disillusioned, I would say, with the state of the game. And—
BOBBY: I don’t— I don’t feel that way. I feel very illusioned.
ALEX: No, you—
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: Okay. Okay, good.
BOBBY: Just so you know.
ALEX: There’s really nothing like a— like a baseball game to pull you back in.
SPEAKER 3: He played baseball in the UK for so many years. I never went to watch it. I was like, “What am I— what do I— what am I missing?” We went to New York in 2018, and we went to Citi Fields to watch a Mets game, and it was absolutely freezing. It snowed the day before. I was like, “Oh, my God, I’m gonna sit out here. Here, it’s cold. It’s horrible. It’s miserable.” The stadium was empty. The game started, could not take my eyes off— off, like, the pitch. I loved it. I was just— and that was it. I just fell in love with the sport there and then. And the Mets was my team, because that was— that’s what made me fall in love with the sport. And I’ve just—
ALEX: You get out there, that kind of all just falls away. I’m like, “Damn. The sport— the sport rocks.” It’s— it also the— like, the environment of it was really cool. I mean, so they were playing in, like, London Stadium, which was built for the 2012 Olympics. Now, West Ham, the soccer team who plays there. And so it’s like— you know, it’s a big stadium, and it’s kind of unreal to be watching a baseball game with, like, 60,000 cheering fans, a middle of June baseball game. Between the first and fourth place teams.
BOBBY: That’s what they took from us when they knocked Chase Stadium.
ALEX: I know.
BOBBY: They used to pack 50,000 in there regularly.
ALEX: Yeah. And it probably suck, then it was probably amazing. And you can— it’s some lifelong memories. It was just— it wa— it was a really good vibe and— and as you’ll hear in some of these interview clips, I— like everyone— it definitely had a different tone than I think a— the— the maybe fatalistic tone that Americans can bring to baseball. Specifically, say, throwing fan base names out there. Like Mets fans, for example, right? There— people were far too—
BOBBY: I wouldn’t know anything about that.
ALEX: People were far too positive about what they were about to witness. “You know, I’m so happy to be here. This is just great. I love— you know, I’ve”— whether you’re a— whether they were a lifelong baseball fan, or they’d never watched an inning before. People were just jazzed about it.
SPEAKER 4: First— first MLB game ever.
ALEX: This is your first—
SPEAKER 4: Yeah.
ALEX: —in-person MLB game?
SPEAKER 4: Our— our first, our first game.
ALEX: Wow. Congratulations. Well [17:03] I mean, do you— do you, like, keep up with the— the teams, like, throughout the years?
SPEAKER 4: Of course. Of course.
ALEX: You— you watch them?
SPEAKER 4: We— we— we text each other. We— we live in different cities and we take text each other. “Well, how— how did the Mets play today? “Oh, they lost?” “So did the— the Cubs lost as well?” Maybe tomorrow. There’s so many games of the year, the days and this— it’s— it’s quite interesting.
ALEX: That’s amazing. So what are you guys most looking forward to for this— this series right now? Just seeing baseball in person?
SPEAKER 4: Of course. A game with a lot of action. We hope a lot is happening.
ALEX: Yeah.
SPEAKER 4: And, yeah, good time. Have a good time.
ALEX: What do you think that— and— and when I say people, I will— I will— I will note that that is people inside the ballpark, because the handful of folks who I mentioned it to, offhand, throughout the week had no idea there was a baseball series going on. I assumed— I was like, “The city is going to shut down. Everyone is going to be everywhere. People are going to be buzzing about it.” Not— not even close. Which I kind of respect them for, right? They’re like, “Oh, yeah, you have your little two-game series over there. Have fun with that, chaps.”
BOBBY: It’s not like New York shuts down when they do the Dominican Winter League Series here, you know? Like—
ALEX: I know. I really don’t know what I was— this is— I mean, this is my typical American imperialist perspective that assumes the world stops for us.
BOBBY: Right.
ALEX: Because it— because it often does.
BOBBY: So most of my direct questions that I have for you have to do with the type of people like that you ended up talking to seeing—
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: —observing, meeting, because— well, number one, all the buzz was that Phillies fans showed up.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: It appears that the Mets fans did not travel well, and/or London is a Phillies town.
ALEX: Yeah. I— I think that the latter is probably true. They have a handful of Philly sports bars scattered— or— yeah. They have Philly sports bars scattered around the city. The team, like, showed up there on Friday night before the series kicked off on Saturday. Huge power move. So it definitely felt like the city was leaning one way, but I will say there was— like, Mets fans were out there. They were out in full force, for sure. And then that’s not even to mention— I would say about half the people there were wearing— well, it— it was probably like 40% Phillies, 30% Mets, and like another 30% just kind of a smattering of baseball teams. What do you— what do you think like the— the makeup of the crowd is here? Like, Phillies versus Mets?
SPEAKER 5: You know, I think it’s 50/50. I mean, yeah, we’ve come to, like, over events, it’s been mixed from every team all over America, like representing. But here is very 50/50. We’re not seeing much other teams, which is great. That’s what we want, the right atmosphere, you know? [19:58]
SPEAKER 6: Well, we’re trying to gauge how the— the spread between the Phillies and the Mets fans here today. It’s pretty even, to be honest.
ALEX: It’s pretty even.
SPEAKER 6: Yeah.
ALEX: I— I was— I thought they were gonna be more Phillies fans, but there are Philly bars here, right?
SPEAKER 6: Oh, okay.
ALEX: There are Phillies—
SPEAKER 7: It’s definitely been Philly— you see, yesterday on the TV, it’s a Phillies Stadium, isn’t it? I mean— in [20:16] or something, the Phillies have been going from [20:17] so they’ve changed their name four times, because most of the [20:21] they had been going sort of time, you know? When it was just the American League. And they moved three, four times, you know? But they’ve got a history to them. It’s—
SPEAKER 8: [20:28]
SPEAKER 7: You know? So we’re the young underdogs and they’re— they’re the old— old, smart dogs, you know? I suppose. It [20:34]
ALEX: I loved— and I— and I texted you this. I loved the Nick Hundley Mets jersey, such a poll. [20:40] That’s like— you only wear that if that is your guy. That’s your ride or die.
BOBBY: Yeah. It made me feel sad that I didn’t send you my— send you with Ike Davis jersey.
ALEX: I know.
BOBBY: That was a mistake.
ALEX: I would have gotten some kudos for that.
BOBBY: Yeah, you would have. Some clout.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Now— okay. Hold on. I was just reminded of something.
ALEX: Okay.
BOBBY: You decided to wear Phillies stuff on Saturday and Mets stuff on Sunday. Take me through that decision. By the way, you— you did it backwards, because the Mets were the home team on Saturday and the Phillies were the home team on Sunday. Do you just— you just think of yourself as more of an away team guy?
ALEX: I think more of a— more of an away team guy, for sure. That’s kind of the vibe I bring to the party.
BOBBY: Uh-huh.
ALEX: And I definitely was aware who was the home and away team when I made—
BOBBY: Right.
ALEX: —those choices.
BOBBY: Uh-huh.
ALEX: I was— I was aware that each team was going to get a— a home day and away day.
BOBBY: Well, one team has to be the home team. That actually [21:35]
ALEX: Well, yes, I know. Right. I found myself pondering that as we started. I was like, “I wonder— are the— are the Phillies just home both days? Huh. I guess we’ll find out.” Then I found out.
BOBBY: So— okay. Back to my question about the type of people that you talked to. What would you say the split was of travelers, tourists, people from the United States, either from Philly or New York, or neither of those places that went there for the occasion versus people who are from England coming out, because this event is coming to them? At least in your—
ALEX: I was—
BOBBY: —total experience, I know the— the serve the polls [22:20] that you were running, all of the exit surveys that you had going, the big data, the Gallup polls. We’re still collating that data, so we’ll get back to people.
ALEX: Right, right. But this is just a little snap analysis on— on my part as I look at the numbers.
BOBBY: Who’s that guy— who’s that guy that’s always like, “I’ve seen enough. I’m calling this a Dave”—
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: What’s his last name?
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: That’s you.
ALEX: That’s me.
BOBBY: So what was the breakdown?
ALEX: A lot of European countries represented. Germany especially, pretty heavily represented.
BOBBY: Yeah. No one works over there. They’re just like, “Oh, an event? Sure, I’ll go.”
[laughter]
ALEX: Slandering the whole country and their people, and I’m here for it. I did speak with a lot of baseball fans who live in London, or the— the greater sort of, you know, England area, folks who had traveled in from Manchester. I met, you know, a— a— a couple one of— one of whom was American, one of whom was British. And where are you guys from?
SPEAKER 9: Manchester, England.
ALEX: All right. Okay. So you’re decked out in full Phillies gear. Are you big baseball fans already? Is it—
SPEAKER 9: [23:31]
ALEX: Okay, you got the Eagles tattoo.
SPEAKER 9: Yeah.
ALEX: Phanatic Socks.
SPEAKER 9: Yes. Yes, you name it.
ALEX: You’re—
SPEAKER 9: [23:37]
ALEX: Right, exactly. What— how did that happen?
SPEAKER 10: Wow. I mean—
SPEAKER 9: Just— just as a kid—
SPEAKER 10: Well, it’s hockey first years ago.
SPEAKER 9: Yeah. Got into ice hockey. As a kid, I used to play ice hockey [23:47] I don’t know why. No idea. It just clicked. And then full— all in Philly ever since I was a kid.
SPEAKER 10: Yeah.
ALEX: And it was the American who got the British one into baseball. And then I also met folks who were just there for the vibes.
SPEAKER 11: Yeah, it’s really good.
ALEX: How— what are you most looking forward to about this year?
SPEAKER 11: Just the vibes.
ALEX: Uh-huh.
SPEAKER 11: Oh, I hate saying the vibes. It sounds really goofy.
SPEAKER 12: It’s always the atmosphere.
ALEX: Right.
SPEAKER 12: It’s— it’s just the people. Everyone’s really nice to one another. We’re just chatting with some random Dutch people. Yeah. And—
SPEAKER 11: I feel like I’m at home as well, because I live here, so it feels—
ALEX: Oh, you do?
SPEAKER 11: Yeah, it feels like home, which is really nice.
ALEX: Right. That is very cool. Many of the— the Brits who I approached, I said, “Hey, I do a podcast. Can I ask you some questions?” Were very quick to point out. They know me [24:32]
BOBBY: And they, like, pepper sprayed you. They were like, “Podcast? Get away from me.”
ALEX: Right, yeah. Exactly. They were— were quick to note, “I don’t know anything about the sport. Don’t ask me— like don’t expect any”— and I was kind of like, “Honestly, we’re probably operating off of a very similar knowledge bank about the sport, frankly. And what actually happened is day-to-day, so it’s fine.” And where are you guys from?
SPEAKER 13: We’re here from London.
ALEX: Okay. So what— you said you’re here for the experience. What drew you to—
SPEAKER 13: We’ve always wanted to go to a baseball game and a basketball game in the US.
SPEAKER 14: It’s very cinematic, isn’t it?
SPEAKER 13: Yeah.
SPEAKER 14: Like, we grew up seeing these things and it’s like, “I’m gonna experience [25:08]”
SPEAKER 13: We found out that it was here in London. We’re literally 10 minutes away, so thought it was a great opportunity to come watch.
ALEX: That’s amazing. And— and those are some of my favorite people just to talk to and sort of say, “How does this sort of vibe match up to a standard sort of British sporting event? What are you most looking forward to? What is the vibe that you’re kind of getting from this— this whole scene? And— and like I said, people— I do think like Phillies fans lost a bit of their edge. Everyone was— was very nice. With the— with the exception of kind of the broad booing of Mets players, like during in— introductions.
SPEAKER 15: Playing first base, number 20, Pete Alonso.
[crowd booing]
SPEAKER 15: [25:53] left fielder, number 9, Brandon Nimmo.
[crowd booing]
SPEAKER 15: [26:01]
ALEX: There was no razzing. There was no heckling. Even staying seated for both the Star Spangled Banner and God Save the Queen. No one batted an eye.
CROWD: O say, can you see by the dawn’s early light? What so [26:21] God save our gracious Queen. Long live our noble Queen, God save the Queen.
ALEX: I was a little disappointed, frankly. I was trying to bait the Brits into— into a heated discussion about whose— whose national anthem is shittier, but no one— no one took me up on it.
BOBBY: Now, you go to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. You sit down in the bank. You try to sit down during the National Anthem. Not even wearing Mets gear, wearing an Ohtani jersey.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: You’re gonna get it stuck to you. That’s for damn sure.
ALEX: Right. Although— although not to my face, I guess.
BOBBY: It’s in a text message.
ALEX: I technically won’t even know I’m being razzed.
BOBBY: I actually think that that is my favorite thing that’s ever happened in my life.
ALEX: I think so, too. I think so, too.
BOBBY: So— okay. Well, you didn’t even actually answer my question. My question was, what is the— what was the makeup? Was it more tourists or more Brits in your estimation?
ALEX: I— I would say it was probably a pretty decent 50/50 split, honestly. There were a lot of— there were certainly a lot of American fans there, right? You had like The 7 Line Army who traveled from New York, right?
BOBBY: Boo [27:35] boo.
ALEX: Yeah. There— there’s our next rivalry if we’re really— you wanna really [27:39] them up.
BOBBY: We’re not sending our fucking finest, okay? So— sorry, I can’t get distracted by this.
ALEX: The sense that I got is a— a lot of the Americans who were there, were there for both games, because if you’re gonna fly, you know, thousands of miles across the world, like, you might as well catch both games, that— you’re— you’re already in for like a grand. You might as well—
BOBBY: Right.
ALEX: —be in for more. And then— and then you had, again, Brits, people from kind of around who were like, yeah, just took the train and, “I wanted to see— I wanted to see what’s going on.” And I was like, “That’s— that’s a beautiful way to— to conduct your life and to watch— this is the perfect sport for that, to just like poke your head and grab a pint, chat with the mates, you know?
SPEAKER 16: Sometimes I feel like it’s quite a passive thing to watch. Like, people are not necessarily always paying full attention to what’s going on. [28:31] It’s quite an interesting— I think it’s a bit like cricket in that way.
ALEX: Yeah.
SPEAKER 16: Yeah. But it’s nice. It’s just that you chill out, relax.
ALEX: Right.
SPEAKER 16: And just have a good time.
ALEX: It’s— it’s a great—
BOBBY: So broad takeaways, 50/50 split among tourists and people from England. Great time, big stadium.
ALEX: Big stadium, yeah.
BOBBY: How are the sight lines? Because I know that that is a bit of a point of discussion on the MLB London Series in the past. They’re playing in a soccer stadium, not quite as naturally conducive to a baseball game, but seemed like they— it seemed to me, based on tele— we’re watching on television, by the way, if we’re going to talk about the flip side of the coin.
ALEX: Yeah. Uh-huh.
BOBBY: Because there’s no seats right behind home plate.
ALEX: You’re right. It’s just like a black bar, right? Like—
BOBBY: Yeah, it was a black bar with a Zoom ad. I was like, “What the hell?” It seemed like the whole series was presented by Zoom because the helmets also said Zoom on the side of them. Did you see any ads for AI— I mean, Bespoke?
ALEX: Not a single— I was really disappointed, frankly, in— in our brightest and best minds. But what it just suggests to me is that there’s a market there that’s untapped. And then—
BOBBY: Right.
ALEX: —maybe you and I could fill that void. AI leftist baseball podcast who says no.
BOBBY: AI Tipping Pitches hosts does play-by-play of the MLB London Series next year.
ALEX: Oh, well, it’s—
BOBBY: What about those business feelers?
ALEX: Well, it’s not going to be in London next year. It’s going to be—
BOBBY: Wait, this is not true. I— I saw you— I heard you say this. There— there is a London series next year.
ALEX: Really?
BOBBY: I think so.
ALEX: Wow. I got lied to then. Lied to.
BOBBY: Lied to by who?
ALEX: I don’t— I don’t know.
BOBBY: I don’t know. Maybe they haven’t announced it. I think they’re probably going to do both. You’re talking about the fact that it’s— that it’s rumored to— they’re— they’re going to be doing a Paris Series next year, too.
ALEX: That’s correct.
BOBBY: I don’t think they’ve decided.
ALEX: Okay. Well, that’s sick, actually. I feel even better than I was spreading disinformation the entire weekend.
BOBBY: Some journalists do—
ALEX: “Yeah, don’t— don’t check in next year. It won’t be here.”
BOBBY: You told— you told people that it’s not gonna be there next year?”
ALEX: No. Only our good friend Stephen from Batting Around, who you will hear me tell him live on the podcast coming out later this week, so—
BOBBY: On our Patreon, patreon.com/tippingpitches, where all of those other people signed up for our great content, full of fucking lies.
ALEX: That’s right. I know.
BOBBY: Full of mistruths.
ALEX: Yep. Falsehoods.
BOBBY: Misinformation.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: Slander. That’s the good stuff, though. That’s what you come for. You come for the slander.
ALEX: Exactly. Yeah, it was presented by Zoom, and they’re like whole tagline was like, “Live the London Series.”
BOBBY: Okay.
ALEX: I don’t— I don’t really know. I’m here already. I’ve— do you want me to do more?
BOBBY: So many companies have bad slogans, bro. What are we doing? What are we doing? We need to open the schools. And by schools, I mean, we need to open the marketing majors up and interrogate them, be like, “What? What are you learning? It’s not doing well.” I have a take. Are you ready for the take?
ALEX: God, I’m always ready.
BOBBY: The only good market— the only company that markets well, Coca-Cola.
ALEX: Okay. Say more.
BOBBY: I was at my parents’ house— I was at my parents’ house two weekends ago, I was looking through the closet, the shoe closet, for a baseball glove. And I discovered a hat from the 1980s that was given to my father as part of some promotional thing at the job that he was working. He has this hat. It’s a Coca-Cola hat. And it’s like just— it’s a bottle of Coca-Cola embroidered onto a white hat with a red bill. And it just says, “Enjoy Coca-Cola” in the Coca-Cola font. Done. Done. W.
ALEX: Perfect. All you need.
BOBBY: W. I wear it— I wear it all around Brooklyn now.
ALEX: You’re a walking advertisement.
BOBBY: And you know what? I am. And I’m fine with it. Because Coca-Cola is a great product.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: We used to build things in America. We used to make recipes, and those recipes used to be enjoyed by millions.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: Did the sugar lobby cause an American obesity crisis? Yes. Is Coca-Cola a delicious soda that will improve your life and the thing that you’re doing? Also yes.
ALEX: I love— because I feel like you’re not really like a soda guy. Like, you love—
BOBBY: I’m not.
ALEX: —your like sparkling water. But it’s—
BOBBY: I—
ALEX: But I— but—
BOBBY: I try not to drink too much soda, honestly.
ALEX: Right. But I appreciate that you can see a pro— even if it’s not a product that you actively consume and say, “That’s a good product right there.”
BOBBY: I’ve been consuming it more and more, though.
ALEX: Interesting.
BOBBY: Since I’ve given up alcohol—
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: Potentially forever.
ALEX: Uh-huh.
BOBBY: Like, I gotta get something, you know? I need a— I need a new vice. I’m also cutting back—
ALEX: Some sort of—
BOBBY: —on caffeine, so like— I know coke has caffeine but not as much as a double espresso.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: And I when I go into a movie theater, you know what goes perfectly with a movie? A bottle of Coke.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: And popcorn. Salt, sweet, fizzy, texture. Come on. That’s— that’s money right there.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: How did we get on this—
ALEX: A thing that makes you believe we’ll— we’ll make it. Yeah.
BOBBY: It— it also might arguably make me think that every movie that I see is the best movie ever made. Like, another five-star masterpiece, Bad Boys 4. Okay, let’s go through your notes app.
ALEX: All right.
BOBBY: Alex’s Takeaways. Alex’s Diary?
ALEX: Yeah, my diary. Some of them— some of them are— are not fully formed thoughts. Others— others are a little more extensive. So— so we’ll just— we’ll kind of rapid fire through some of them.
BOBBY: Any musings on dreams in there?
ALEX: On dreams? On, like—
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: —my just personal, what I was dreaming about over there?
BOBBY: Yeah, if it’s your diary, like what’s in there?
ALEX: Well, I was mostly the Philly Phanatic, frankly, but I keep that in a separate journal, for what it’s worth.
BOBBY: We haven’t discussed you holding hands with the Philly Phanatic. This— see, that just doesn’t even— that doesn’t faze me because the Philly Phanatic was kind of like always around my childhood. You know, the Philly Phanatic—
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: —came to my elementary school every year. Like, this guy, me and him, we go way back.
ALEX: Like— like on Career Day? It was like you can be an electrician, you can be a carpenter, or you can be the Philly Phanatic?
BOBBY: Right, pretty much. It wasn’t on Career Day, because we didn’t have Career Day in elementary school, but—
ALEX: You weren’t thinking about your 401k then?
BOBBY: No, I think they would just send him just once a year, just to have the kids lose their shit.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: And maybe like, you know, flipping them off.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: Intentionally wearing a full Mike Piazza uniform pants, cleats, jersey hat.
ALEX: Cleats. Saying, “See me out there. Right out there.”
BOBBY: Right.
ALEX: “Phanatic.”
BOBBY: “I’ll take you for 50 to dead center, Mr. Phanatic.” All right. Let’s— take me— take me through the [35:32]
ALEX: Yeah. Let’s do it. Let’s do it. The— the first note I made is the— the stadium urinals were— were like trough chique.
BOBBY: Ooh. Trough chique.
ALEX: And what I— what I meant by that is like— it’s like they were— and— and I will— I will note that this is— these were in the men’s restrooms. As an Oakland A’s fan, I grew up knowing and loving the— the metal troughs at the Oakland Coliseum.
BOBBY: Notable that you call yourself—
ALEX: It’s like—
BOBBY: —an Oakland A’s fan and not a Phillies fan. Notable.
ALEX: That’s it. Yes, it is true. Yeah. The urinals were like— they were ceramic, but they were also kind of joined together. Like, there were allusions to them being split, but you were also just like, cheek to cheek with the— with the guys next to you.
BOBBY: Cheek to cheek.
ALEX: I mean, maybe— maybe everyone else wasn’t, but I was.
BOBBY: I would think it would be more hip to hip, but you do it however you want to do it.
ALEX: So they were— they were splitting the difference a little bit, you know? They were elevating it.
BOBBY: Okay. Right.
ALEX: It still had that like— that gritty grassroots feeling, you know, of peeing in a trough.
BOBBY: Yeah. It’s like when you put nice wheels and tires on like an old Honda Civic.
ALEX: Exactly. Yes. So I wanted to call that out, because that was my biggest takeaway, obviously.
BOBBY: Okay, that reminds me of a time—
ALEX: First thing [36:54]
BOBBY: —that we were at the Brooklyn Cyclones stadium. And we were— after the game— after the— this was after the Tipping Pitches meetup and we stopped by the restroom, and we were— we were both standing next to each other at the urinals, peeing. And I had to pull out my phone to take a selfie of us, and then a man also walked in at that same time, so it looks like I was trying to get a selfie with that guy, with the stranger. And I have that selfie and it’s like so blurry. And we’re, like, not even actually ready to take it because the stranger— I didn’t want the stranger to think I was trying to photograph him.
ALEX: [37:28] Right. Of course. I think if you’ve explained what was going on, he would have consented.
BOBBY: What was going on and that I just wanted to capture this moment with my friend?
ALEX: Right, exactly. And he— now, he’s a part of that moment.
BOBBY: There’s a long—
ALEX: Forever in Tipping Pitches lore.
BOBBY: —storied history of us taking photos together at baseball stadium bathrooms, you know? You, me, and the hamburger on the ground at Nats Park. Come on. This is great stuff. This is— this is the great work, Alex. This is what we’re— this is what we’re put here for.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: To document. All right.
ALEX: They had mascot races both days.
BOBBY: Hmm.
ALEX: The— taking part was Freddie Mercury.
BOBBY: The mascot of—
ALEX: Heard of him?
BOBBY: —the stadium?
ALEX: Rolling Stones.
BOBBY: Right.
ALEX: Okay.
BOBBY: I’m confused as to how that’s a mascot, but we can power on.
ALEX: Well, I guess— so I guess another [38:19] I don’t know. There’s like— it’s like the Nationals have the presidents. Sure, it’s on a mascot. Well, what the heck else you gonna call it?
BOBBY: Who else was— who else was part of the mascot race?
ALEX: We also had a king. I don’t know which one, King George VIII? Does that sound right?
BOBBY: Sure.
ALEX: A member of the— the royal guard with their big hats. I don’t— by the way, I just want to say I went to Buckingham Palates— Palace, not a single member of the royal guard in sight.
BOBBY: Really?
ALEX: It’s like why did I come that— all that way?
BOBBY: Maybe the king wasn’t there. Maybe he was somewhere else.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Royal guard doesn’t need to be there if the king’s not there.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: No one to guard.
ALEX: Maybe at Passyunk Avenue?
BOBBY: You’re thinking Charles was at Passyunk Avenue?
ALEX: It’s possible.
BOBBY: King Charles, what do you think of Kyle Schwarber’s OPS this year?
ALEX: And the final participant was one Winston Churchill himself, who I will note, lost miserably in both races, which I kind of appreciate.
BOBBY: Justice—
ALEX: I don’t know— I don’t know who won, but that’s how I [39:19]
BOBBY: Justice served, justice served.
ALEX: There were a lot of gestures to sustainability, like you don’t really see in Major League Baseball [39:28] and I think that maybe is— is true of London and/or maybe even Europe, writ large, that they have a different approach and oftentimes a better approach. For example, not a single paper towel in sight in any bathroom, right? It’s all the, like, blow dryers, which like your mileage may vary on how sanitary it is. And also like if you’re just displacing like, tree waste to, like, electricity usage, but maybe that’s conversation for another day. All the food items had, like, little sustainability grades next to them, so it’s, like, based on like the emissions.
BOBBY: Oh, wow.
ALEX: So it’s like this is an A, this is a D, this is an E. I— did it impact my buying choices? No. I didn’t base my— the— the purchase off the grade.
BOBBY: What did you eat?
ALEX: I’m so glad you asked that, Bobby.
BOBBY: Well, I saw you post a photo of some— some un— unseemly looking items, frankly.
ALEX: Yeah, and I— and I didn’t touch any of those. The Philly cheesesteak the Polish Boy. You’re familiar with the famous sandwich, the Polish Boy.
BOBBY: Classic Philadelphia sandwich.
ALEX: Yeah. So I did not touch any of those, but I— I did opt for their American dog.
BOBBY: Okay.
ALEX: And I— and I ordered it and— and it had for— it was like a bratwurst. It had, like, crispy fried onions on it, coleslaw, and mustard, which I— it said it came with mustard and not coleslaw, but they served coleslaw, and then I added mustard myself. I don’t— I don’t know. I was a little flustered up there. And then the man behind me was like, “That’s not an American Dog. That’s a Welsh Dog.” And I’m like, “Am I being punked right now?” And I searched Welsh Dog and all you just get is, like, pictures of like corgis and stuff.
BOBBY: Great.
ALEX: Which I’m not mad about, but it didn’t really help decipher that man’s comment to me.
BOBBY: Speaking of searching, I heard the Wi-Fi was good [41:32]
ALEX: The Wi-Fi was next level.
BOBBY: That’s insane. What are— we— we’re lagging behind here.
ALEX: We really are.
BOBBY: Literally and figuratively.
ALEX: Yeah, it was— it was so good. I couldn’t communicate without it. Like I just— simply, service would not work. But the Wi-Fi was— was banging. MLB teams, take note. I bought a— a quart of beer or something to that effect. I didn’t really know what I was buying, but they were like, “Do you want a small or a large beer?” And it was the eighth inning. And I said, “A large, I suppose.” And it was large. It looked like one of those little, like, plastic containers that, like, kitchens keep, like, large quantities of, like, sauce or soup in. Or like—
BOBBY: Uh-huh.
ALEX: —or, like, on, like, The Bear—
BOBBY: What they drink out of.
ALEX: —what they drink water out of.
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: So I had an inning to— to do what I could with that, this thing that was about the size of my head.
BOBBY: Bear Season 3 17 days away. Get your Hulu—
ALEX: Ooh.
BOBBY: —subscription back in line, everyone. This ad is brought to you by— this podcast is brought to you by FX.
ALEX: Uh-huh. That’s right.
BOBBY: And Coca-Cola. What kind of beer did you drink? Did you have any Guinness?
ALEX: I— I had a Guinness not at the game.
BOBBY: W.
ALEX: In my— in my prior travels. Quite good. Quite delicious. Good product. Big— big products episode here. I hope the listeners are keeping note.
BOBBY: We are the number one—
ALEX: Coca-Cola, The Bear.
BOBBY: We are the number one anti-capitalists, products-oriented, baseball shit-posting podcast.
ALEX: A— AI-powered. You forgot.
BOBBY: AI-powered. And I would like to see come with— someone come for our throne. I challenge someone to do this better than us.
ALEX: [43:14]
BOBBY: I challenge.
ALEX: I— I challenge someone to remember what you had just said, so—
BOBBY: I challenge you to remember what I said.
ALEX: Ex— exactly. Yeah, you know, the public transit there is sick.
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: It’s— it’s cool. Stephen and I talked about that a little bit on the bonus episode coming on the Patreon later this week. But, like, man, what a— what a thing to radicalize you— about how things could be.
SPEAKER 17: Please do show [43:41]
ALEX: Except for—
BOBBY: I mean, him more than— him more— him more than you. He lives in Philly. You live in New York.
ALEX: Well, yes. Right. Yes, exactly. But— but— but— I would say the Tube works better than the MTA here.
BOBBY: It does, yeah. And it’s not— it’s such a political football.
ALEX: [44:09] it’s not a political football. It’s just generally cleaner. They— they— there— there was a sign there that was like, “Hey, if your training is delayed more than like five minutes, reach out and we’ll refund you.” And, like, do I ever want to do that? No.
BOBBY: That— that actually makes me laugh.
ALEX: The burea— the bureaucracy of that seems like a nightmare, but I love it.
BOBBY: I like to imagine you reaching out, and on the other end of the line is Rishi Sunak. And he’s just like, “Alex, thank you for reaching out.”
ALEX: “I hear you had a bad experience today on your way to Stratford.”
BOBBY: Frankly, it’s disappointing to me how little British accent you’ve done on this episode, given that you just had 10 days to work on it.
ALEX: I know.
BOBBY: What was it all for? What did we spend all that money for?
ALEX: I know. I toy— I toyed with just doing the whole episode in. And I feel— I—
BOBBY: That would have been worthwhile expenditure if it got you to do the whole episode in a British accent.
ALEX: Okay, that’s good.
BOBBY: All right, what’s next?
ALEX: Well, the last thing I’ll say on public transit is it was really good except for at the stadium itself, where they made you walk just on a highway that appeared to be closed from the station to the— to the stadium, which was an enjoyable experience.
BOBBY: It is still the MLB London Series, you know?
ALEX: That’s right. The MLB—
BOBBY: It wouldn’t be MLB without a couple highways.
ALEX: Right. Yeah, the Robert Moses effect.
BOBBY: Goated.
ALEX: I don’t know, man. I— I will say I met up with listener Owen.
BOBBY: Nice.
ALEX: Shout out to Owen. Bought me a beer. We sat and chatted about his eventful year with some wonderful life milestones. Yeah, shout out to Owen. I had a great time chatting with him, and it was— it was good to— to connect with our listeners—
BOBBY: Owen is the—
ALEX: —across— across the pond.
BOBBY: Owen is the purveyor of the Tipping Pitches fan survey every year.
ALEX: Uh-hmm. Yep.
BOBBY: Gathering information about what the Tipping Pitches Community prioritizes. Most of the time, what Tipping Pitches prioritizes is ogling attractive baseball players, and Owen has chronicled—
ALEX: Yes.
BOBBY: —with data over the years. So thank you for all of your hard work, Owen. Great to hear that you guys met up. That’s so exciting.
ALEX: Yes. I— I— we’re— I was ships in the night with our friends, Bat Flips and Nerds, who I—
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: —really regret not meeting up with. They were doing some really amazing content, and I— you know, I encourage you all to— to go and listen. They’ve done some recap pods and they got some really cool interviews, so go check out their feed. Give them a listen. They’re— they’re good blokes.
BOBBY: Did you or did you not lay eyes on Robert D. Manfred?
ALEX: I did not. And I actually heard afterwards, I— I was reading this last night, that Steve Cohen was there on Saturday.
BOBBY: Oh, I didn’t know this. I know he was talking about giving—
ALEX: I— once again, this might be round two of disinformation, so [47:01]
BOBBY: He was giving interviews— he did give interviews about how London has better food than New York. Did you see this?
ALEX: That’s— that’s not true.
BOBBY: Lot of Mets fan did not—
ALEX: No, I didn’t— I didn’t see that. What—
BOBBY: They’re not happy with that one.
ALEX: Why would you open yourself up to that?
BOBBY: Especially since like— I saw someone saying, like, Flushing alone has better food than all of— like most of Europe.
ALEX: Yes. Literally.
BOBBY: London included. I don’t know, ’cause he’s Steve Cohen, you know?
ALEX: I know.
BOBBY: Cancel him if you dare. Right?
ALEX: And he saw the spotlight drifting away from him, and he was like, “Not so fast.”
BOBBY: All right. What’s— what’s— what else is on the list?
ALEX: David Rubenstein. I don’t know, man. The merch was lame. I— if I had seen that crossover Philly-Mets, like, polo or whatever, collared shirt in the wild, I would have bought it on site.
BOBBY: Right. Yeah. Since that’s you, basically.
ALEX: Right. Pretty much. You’re just wearing the same thing both days.
BOBBY: I know what you wore— I know what you wore on the first day, which was the— you were Heavy Slimed out, basically.
ALEX: That’s— yeah.
BOBBY: Shirt and hat, right?
ALEX: Actually, I don’t think the shirt is Heavy Slime.
BOBBY: Which— I don’t remember what shirt it was. But the Heavy Slime hat is the nicest thing that either of us own, and I’m so fucking mad about it. Because I love it so much and I’m like, “I’m glad I bought it for you, but also it’s so cool and I wish I could wear something that looked like that.”
ALEX: Right. Yes. Well, we’ll work on it. The gauntlet has been thrown to— to the Mets brands out there. Come up with a sick corduroy Mets hat.
BOBBY: With a— important to make it look goth in some way.
ALEX: Yeah, right. Exactly.
BOBBY: It’s important to me, personally.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: What Mets stuff did you wear? Did you wear any Tipping Pitches merch? Well— so I will say, so— I guess we can back up a little bit. At Trafalgar Square on Friday— they— you know, they were doing like a fan fest the whole weekend.
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: You know, like batting cages and like a virtual Home Run Derby and stuff. It was like mostly all really kind of boring. It was like, “Oh—”
BOBBY: Did you attend the Chase Utley, Daniel Murphy Home Run Derby?
ALEX: I didn’t, actually.
BOBBY: Oh, my God.
ALEX: I know. I’m falling down on the job. But— but Stephen filled me in. I hear it was not riveting. Hilarious concept overall.
BOBBY: Pop-up Home Run Derby, yeah, a very funny concept.
ALEX: But I did— I wore my A’s “Sell the team” shirt when I went there on— on Friday.
BOBBY: Okay.
ALEX: It did get a few shout outs. I did have some folks asked me what team they wanted me to— they wanted to be sold, and I was like, “I think it seems obvious.” But that’s okay. No judgement here. And then— and then on Sunday— what did I do— oh, Sunday, I did— I did “Nationalize Baseball,” a little Orioles long sleeve shirt and then threw my Lindor jersey over it. So— so we got some Tipping Pitches representation out there. I was disappointed by the lack of representation among other fans with Tipping Pitches merch, although it did occur to me that we literally do not ship our merch there.
BOBBY: You should have came— you should’ve went with, like, a chest worth of Tipping Pitches merch and just thrown it into Trafalgar Square without looking. And just giving it away for free.
ALEX: Come equipped with my own T-shirt gun and just start blasting them out, be like, “Philly Phanatic, this one’s for the— the lady four years ago.
BOBBY: Customs is like, “What is this, sir?”
ALEX: Yeah, right.
BOBBY: “This looks like a weapon.” And you’re like, “No, no, no, I promise. I’m just gonna shoot T-shirts, not anything more dangerous.”
ALEX: Right. Exactly. And then as you mentioned earlier, the Philly Phanatic refused, refused to take a selfie with me.
BOBBY: Do you think that’s because you were wearing Mets stuff? Or did he just seem like he had a different mission?
ALEX: I think he was on a mission. I— I approached him. I was very giddy. I said, “Excuse”— probably— Probably said, “Excuse me, Mr. Phanatic, do you have time for a selfie?” That was my John Fisher approach and it worked there. And— and the hired goons that were following the Phanatic around said, “No, he’s in a rush. No time, no time.” But it didn’t stop me, obviously. I was like, “Oh, well, I’m gonna document this— this moment however it goes down whatever happens from here on out. I need photographic evidence.” And so it was not clear to me if the Phanatic was trying to bat my hand away, or, like, keep me at arm’s length, or if it was just like, “I can’t stop for a photo, but I will hold the closest extremity of yours.” And so I do have a lovely photo of me and the Philly Phanatic holding hands. I’m actually getting prints of it done so I can hang it in each of the rooms in— in my house and the office as well.
BOBBY: We should get it— yeah, we should get it printed that for the— for the studio.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: I got— I hung up my Abbey Road Studios sign—
ALEX: Oh, hell yes.
BOBBY: —already, so— while you were gone, I hung up the Dodgers photos, too.
ALEX: Oh, man. [52:03] studio I come back to.
BOBBY: I’m out here [52:04] it out. Yeah, exactly. I love the— love the visual— love the visual of you trying to get a selfie with the Philly Phanatic and he’s like the fucking Pope. You know, he’s, like, on the Popemobile still moving and they can’t— can’t possibly stop for you.
ALEX: Right. Exactly. Secret Service is—
BOBBY: Or—
ALEX: —like, “Keep it moving.”
BOBBY: Right.
ALEX: “Keep it moving.”
BOBBY: Right. Or you’re like a reporter trying to ask a question to John Fetterman—
ALEX: Right. Exactly.
BOBBY: —and he’s just, like, running away.
[laughter]
ALEX: Well, what I— what I later learned is I think he was on his way to serve tea to, like, the TV broadcast booth.
BOBBY: Oh, yeah.
ALEX: Because I saw them a tweet out a clip about that.
BOBBY: I saw that, I saw that on TV. I watched that.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: So you— you touched the Phanatic—
ALEX: Now, you—
BOBBY: —right before that?
ALEX: Right before. So you could say I touched the tea that was going— I don’t know. Who were the— who were the broadcasters?
BOBBY: This was on Sunday, right?
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: That was the ESPN broadcast, so it was your fucking boy, Michael Kay.
ALEX: Oh, my God.
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: So by the transitive property, I touched Michael Kay’s tea?
BOBBY: Correct. Yes. Yeah.
ALEX: Okay.
BOBBY: So if he gets ill—
ALEX: If I had known that, I probably would have done something more malicious.
BOBBY: Parody, parody.
ALEX: Parody.
BOBBY: Parody. Can we talk about the end of the game on Sunday, by the way? The— the Saturday—
ALEX: Sure, yes.
BOBBY: —not— not very good. Not a very good game.
ALEX: Not a— not— not a great hang.
BOBBY: The Mets suck. The Sunday game, however, was a little bit better of a game.
ALEX: The Mets rule.
BOBBY: Some back and forth, some home runs, a little go ahead hit by pitch the Mets way, I like to call it,
ALEX: That’s— yeah.
BOBBY: That last play, what an exhilarating way to end a baseball game.
[crowd cheering]
[music]
[crowd cheering]
BOBBY: Luis Torrens, what— draft him into—
ALEX: Just like [54:09] it out.
BOBBY: Draft him into the Mets Hall of Fame. We just put it in Darryl Strawberry. Let’s get Torrens in there now. A two-three double play to end the London Series. What a cool play. What a bullshit dirty slide by Garrett Stubbs. Fuck that. Fuck that guy. That’s a slide that happens when Chase Utley is around.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: But I’m glad— I’m glad to see that my man Torrens is all right. Although I don’t know, he could have a broken leg. They just haven’t announced it yet.
ALEX: It’s okay. This is a— this is a disinformation pod.
BOBBY: David Stearn’s masterclass signing Torrens. I don’t know what to tell you. I’m back in on Stearns.
ALEX: Uh-huh.
BOBBY: Any other things to share from the MLB London Series before we wrap it up and get out here? By the way, I know you’ve alluded to it a couple times, later this week on the Patreon feed, we’ll be— we will be hosting a conversation— I know— I put it on Twitter as well. We’re hosting a conversation with Stephen from Batting Around, talking about your guys’ experience there. It’s just like a— a chat between you two.
ALEX: Yeah, we— we—
BOBBY: For bonus content, it’ll be on our Patreon as well as Batting Around’s Patreon. And if you don’t know anything about Batting Around, I suggest you head back into our archives and look for the Dumbest Things of 2023, or 2022, or 2021, our collaboration—
ALEX: And also how— how—
BOBBY: Yeah, right.
ALEX: Like, if you know about us and not them? I—
BOBBY: Right. It seems unlikely.
ALEX: What spheres are you occupying?
BOBBY: It seems unlikely. However, it’s just worth— worth saying.
ALEX: Of course.
BOBBY: You know, those are our pals, and it’s fun to— I like— I love the idea of a crossover, but it’s just one person from each pod, you know?
ALEX: Yeah. I know. You and Lauren are up next, I guess.
BOBBY: I guess. I guess so. Although Lauren has been dishing it out to the Mets this year and it’s—
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: —it’s cutting deep. So, like, I— I didn’t make them this way. I’m— I didn’t make the other Mets fans this way, either, by the way. I’m just trying to be a guy in the world. I didn’t choose that my mother was born on Long Island. You know, I didn’t choose it. It was handed to me.
ALEX: Yeah, definitely keep an eye out for that bonus episode. We recorded it on the Sunday morning, and so it was just kind of some— before the second game, so it was instant reacts to— to what we’ve experienced. And it was just great to hang with him again, a person I— I know, I think, quite well and who I’ve never met in person until this past week. And his mom— his mother is lovely as well, so—
BOBBY: Oh, his mom was there, too? Oh, my God.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Incredible FOMO for me.
ALEX: Oh.
BOBBY: It’s all right. We can all meet up at the Neshaminy Mall at some point in the not too distant future.
ALEX: There you go. That’s it. That’s all I got.
BOBBY: Would you like to bring—
ALEX: London 2024, a success.
BOBBY: Would you like to bring some with your best British accent? Because you did it on the pod before this, and so now, people will see if it improved at all.
ALEX: Right. I don’t— the thing about the British accent is like they’re so regionally specific and my ears are not trained to pick up on that. So I’ll like slide in and out between, like, British— I’ve— I’ve— I— their regional dialects. I don’t even— I don’t even— the Cockney? That’s one.
BOBBY: I’m— I’m just letting you dig, you know?
ALEX: I know, yeah. Irish, that’s another one.
BOBBY: Irish is tough.
ALEX: Irish is tough. But one that I do accidentally when I’m trying to do British.
BOBBY: Take us home. Tell the people, “Cheers.”
ALEX: Well, blimey mate, had a smashing good time at the London Series this past week.
BOBBY: That’s right.
ALEX: Absolutely. Bloody lovely. They did quite a proper job of putting—
BOBBY: That’s right.
ALEX: —on a baseball game.
BOBBY: And thank you for listening.
ALEX: Cheers to Allah. Lovely, smashing good listeners out there. Keep it going—
BOBBY: I think that was the second smashing.
ALEX: I think so. I’m sorry.
BOBBY: Holy shit. That was so great.
ALEX: It’s my soundboard. It has very limited range.
BOBBY: Well, thank you all for all of your diligent work in relaying the— the vision, the Tipping Pitches vision of MLB London. And thank you, everybody, for listening. We hope you enjoy this. We hope that if you’re interested in checking out that bonus conversation with Stephen from Batting Around, you check out our Patreon, patreon.com/tippingpitches. On— I think next week, we’ll just be back to our regularly scheduled programming, unless you want to talk about flying to a different European city and maybe watching two baseball games.
ALEX: Yes.
BOBBY: Even if they’re not being exhibited there.
ALEX: I— I can do that. I can—
BOBBY: And chatting about it. Yeah. We just keep sending you around.
ALEX: I’m a foreign correspondent now?
BOBBY: There are worse gigs. You’re like—
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: You’re like Eric Adams. You’re going around looking for different— you’re scouting for MLB as to where they should do the next one.
ALEX: Right. Yeah. Well, I’ve— I’ve always said that New York is the London of— of the US.
BOBBY: Right.
ALEX: So I’m happy to be— to be home.
BOBBY: New York is the London of the Mid-Atlantic. And with that, thank you for listening, everybody. We will be back next week.
[music]
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!
DAVE: How are you doing?
ALEX: How are you doing? My name is Alex.
DAVE: I’m Dave.
ALEX: I do a baseball podcast called Tipping Pitches. May I ask you guys a couple questions? Excuse me, guys.
SPEAKER 19: It’s all right.
ALEX: How’s it going?
SPEAKER 19: All right.
ALEX: My name is Alex.
SPEAKER 19: [59:34]
ALEX: I— I do a baseball podcast.
SPEAKER 19: Oh, wow.
ALEX: Can I ask you guys a couple questions?
SPEAKER 19: Yes.
ALEX: Excuse me, guys. How’s it going?
SPEAKER 20: [59:41]
ALEX: I— my name is Alex. I do—
SPEAKER 20: Hi, Alex.
ALEX: I do a baseball podcast.
SPEAKER 20: Oh, do you?
ALEX: Can I ask you guys a couple questions?
SPEAKER 20: Of course you can. I’m more of an NFL fan, but we’re gonna give it a go.
ALEX: That’s okay. Hey— my name’s Alex.
STEWART: Nice to meet you, Alex. Stuart.
ALEX: Nice to meet you, too, Stuart.
STEWART: Stuart, yeah.
ALEX: Lovely to meet you. I— I do a baseball podcast and I talk about the game and things going on. I’m from New York. Can I ask you a couple questions?
STEWART: You can, but I’m not an [1:00:03] I’m— it’s almost a first time thing.
ALEX: Oh, that’s— that’s amazing.
STEWART: So I’m not [1:00:08]
ALEX: Excuse me, guys.
SPEAKER 22: [1:00:10]
ALEX: Hi. My name is Alex. I do, like, a baseball podcast and I’m just chatting with fans—
SPEAKER 22: We’re not—
SPEAKER 23: We’re not—
SPEAKER 22: We’re just here for the experience.
ALEX: That’s— that’s okay. That’s— do you— can I chat with you guys for just a minute? Hi there. My name is Alex. I do a baseball podcast, so I’m just kind of chatting with folks here.
SPEAKER 24: Oh, okay.
ALEX: Can I chat with you guys?
SPEAKER 25: Of course you can. Yeah, absolutely.
ALEX: What are your names?
Tipping Pitches 
Leave a comment