No Crying In Baseball

Patti 0:00
Hi and welcome to episode 441 of No Crying in Baseball. The Nervous Jujus Episode. My name is Patti. I'm here with my friend, Pottymouth. Pottymouth, how the heck are you? Is that my new nickname? Nervous, right? It would sometimes, sometimes, that is how I describe you. Sometimes, what's potty mouth, real like? Well, sometimes, right? But most of the time she's just lovely and very calm. Not at all. A 12 year old boy,

Pottymouth 0:41
not at all, not at all. But I will, you know, spoiler alert. I have a couple spoiler alerts for you all. First spoiler alert is, I am really doing my darndest. How is that so far so good to keep this PG 13 or PG or even G this week, because we have an incredibly special guest that we just had our interview with Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, and we're both still just sort of recuperating from the amazing interview, so stay tuned that is coming later. My other spoiler alert is, have you ever watched the mass singer? I've not. Neither have I. So I didn't understand, right? You know, if you know us, so the only reason why I saw this is because baseball, right? So apparently, big Poppy is on the episode that I think already dropped. I didn't watch the full episode, and I didn't understand the concept. But apparently the concept is that there's a bunch of people who sing famous people who are not singers who sing anonymously. I guess I can see a future for myself in this retirement plan in a mask. And then the ones who lose, who are not good singers get unmasked first in this reality process. And then the grand finale is whoever's really good. And you finally find out who it is, anyone. So who lost first is my one of my very favorite baseball idols, big Poppy. So I he can't sing very well, but he tried really hard. And I feel like has other skills. As it turns out it does. I really feel like he was hampered by his mask, which was a full body suit. It was not a body suit like a monster that he was inside of. You have to look at it. It's a monster. Yeah? You do Yeah. He talks about how it was like a workout just being in there, because he's a large man in this monster, the big and big puppy, yeah, and did not seem like there was a lot of comfort space in there. But, you know, it's huge admiration for going out there and just trying a new thing. Because, hey, why not? Reminds me of that that's short lived TV series. Big Poppy needs a job where you tried all those different jobs if you haven't seen it, like, look it up on the internet somewhere, because that is like, gold, gold. But apparently this is another job that he is not going to keep but the highlight was, and our friend Shane will appreciate this that he got to get a little die Yankees lose as his final send off at the end. Excellent, but see that. Please see that. Okay. My only other intro thing, which nobody who listens to us regularly will be surprised about, is have to express my sadness to the death yesterday of Bob Weir. Oh, I had not heard that. I do not so it's I, you know, it's just in these sad times like life is hard on a day to day basis in the United States of America these days, and to get I'm trying to keep my language together, to get sad news. On top of that is really hard. And I was one of those 80s deadheads who was enamored of Bob Weir. And I remember friends sort of making fun of me, of it, and because that was Bob's polo shirt in jean shorts, sort of years, and so he wasn't looking as sort of hippie and cool as everybody else, but he was adorable, and he did so much in his later years to stay healthy. His yoga workouts were crazy, and weight lifting and just sadly, it was cancer to start, and then effects of probably previous years of not being as healthy that that unfortunately led to us losing him yesterday. So heartbreak, go turn on all your Grateful Dead albums. And actually, what Mr. Potty mouth and I did last night was watch the documentary about his life called the other one, which I very, very much recommend. There's a lot of stuff that, if you have been following the Grateful Dead for a while, you're like, wait, but why didn't you talk about that? But it is. It's focused on him, and it gives a lot of really good backstory to the whole like how the Grateful Dead started, and their intense fame, and how that fame. Affected some of them very negatively also, but a good watch and you know, cheers. I'm going to had some whiskey last night, going to toast right now to the life of Bob Weir.

Patti 5:10
I have a quick little cross training thing that I was happy to see that the Washington mystics are promoting the the pwhls takeover tour, the barnstorming tour that women's hockey is doing. So you could enter a sweepstakes. You could buy tickets, like through their site. And the Mystics are owned by monumental sports who also owns the capitals. And so the capitals logo ends up on there, so you've got NHL teams on there. So I was very happy to see that. And speaking of cross training with hockey, for those of you out there who are watching heated rivalry on HBO, talk to me offline about that. We could discuss that, that cross training privately,

Pottymouth 5:49
yeah, especially this episode on

Patti 5:54
today's show, we've got boyfriends on Texas and on Arizona. We've got a Venezuela update, what's happening with the ball players who are still there. And most importantly, we've got a special guest star today, Bob Kendrick. We interview the president of the National Negro Leagues Museum.

Pottymouth 6:09
Cheers, all right. Cheers, so this is our regular party, the episode where we've been going week by week, two teams per week, choosing one guy per team to be our baseball boyfriends for this season. These are the guys that we pick every year, new guys, except for one that we get to keep. But mostly new guys every year, because there's cool, they're cool. There's something that we want to share about their lives. And then at the end of the off season, we're going to make a fantasy team. You can join us in fantasy baseball. Just get in touch with us the way that we mentioned at the end of the show. So for the American League, we have the Rangers, and I didn't know how much I would absolutely adore Danny Jansen until I started diving into this catcher, 30 years old, just signed with them for a couple of years. So I'm excited that I get this opportunity to talk about Danny Jansen. He was in Toronto for a long time, and he came up through Toronto. He was drafted in 2013 out of high school in Appleton, Wisconsin. Those things will come up later. His debut was in 2018 and he spent seven years there. So why I jumped at Danny Jansen was a story that we talked about last season. 2000 actually, two seasons ago, 2024 June, 26 the Toronto Blue Jays were playing against the Red Sox, and Danny Jensen was at bat. He had an oh one count at bat with one out. When the game was suspended due to rain, that game resumed exactly two months later, August 26 and Dalton varchow pinch hit for Janssen, because Jansen was busy behind the plate, catching for the Red Sox at that time, at the trade deadline, he had been traded from the Blue Jays to the Red Sox. And there's, you know, just some great quotes from Alex Cora saying, you know, dammit, we'll just make history. Does that count? Anyway, we'll do we'll make history by playing the same guy for two different teams in the same game, and that was history. Is the first player in MLB history to play for both teams in the same game. He went one for four for Boston because he didn't complete that at bat with the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays won the game four to one, and sadly, Jensen struck out swinging to end the game, but he said at the end of the day, it's a cool thing, his equipment and the scorecard are now in the Hall of Fame. So prior to another thing that I really admire about baseball boyfriends is the adopting of this idea of superstition or regular station, the adopting of the idea of superstition is is definitely a plus for me, because, you know, I believe in superstition. So July 19 to 2019 still with the Blue Jays playing against the Tigers, he had gone two games without a hit. He started the game oh for three somewhere between the top of the fourth inning when he was at by bat and the top of the sixth inning when he was at bat again. He shaved his mustache. He got an RBI single. So not only that, but he said, quote, I did the same thing last year in triple A. For some reason, I'm two for two with a mustache shave. So if it works, man, it works. Shave that mustache during the game. If you're not doing well, I'm like, all about this. You know, maybe change your undershirt or whatever it takes. But do that change? And you never know what's going to happen. So after his time with the Red Sox, it was just that sad half season, sad to see him go as a free agent. He signed with Tampa Bay. So you immaculate grid folks, those are three al East teams that he was with in a very short amount of time. And then at that trade deadline, he was traded to the brewer. Dollars on my anniversary. And Mr. Potty mouths anniversary, you guys have the same anniversary for minor leaguer Jared and IMO, who I tried to say his name before, when he was in the Venezuelan league Home Run Derby. So with, with a mid season trade, and especially this guy, he had a chunk of time with Blue Jays. Came up through the Blue Jays. Very connected, the Blue Jays and then boom, boom, boom, through three teams, which is hard. And to make it even harder, the news broke before he was playing for Tampa. Well, there was a Tampa Yankees game. It was an away game at the Yankees. Even though he knew he had been traded, he had to play that game because they hadn't brought another backup catcher with them, and there had to be a backup catcher, so he didn't actually play in the game, but he had to, like, be there as a blue jay, even though he not a blue jay, a Tampa Ray, even though he know, he knew he had been traded to Milwaukee because there was no other backup paid for being on both teams. That's a really good question. I mean, talk to the union rep. Yeah, right, exactly. So going to the Brewers, even though it was his fourth team in a very short amount of time, was actually a good thing, because he's going back to, and this is where the intro he was from Wisconsin. So his family, I love his family. You know, the parents get huge ncib Baseball boyfriend credit since age seven, since, since Danny was a little seven year old, his family hosted players. And this is something you'll super appreciate as a former coordinating of where baseball players can be housed for the high a Timber Rattlers. So at some of that time, they were a mariners, high A, because that lasted till oh eight, and then they were high, and they still are high for the Brewers including so this gets better. So not only are they hosting players, they hosted Adam Jones. I've heard of him, Adam Jones. So then to that. Fast forward. Danny is a player for the Blue Jays. He gets called up in 2018 a week after his MLB debut. He faces Adam Jones and the Orioles. He said, I texted him and said, Man, that was just crazy that we got to do that tonight. He said, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. It was awesome. And to add like just that Adam Jones, who cannot love Adam Jones. Adam Jones tweeted a picture of them from when Danny was a little guy hanging out with Adam Jones in his Timber Rattlers uniform, saying Danny his at whatever his Twitter handle, why you got to grow up on me. Danny had a good week. He had two singles in his debut and hit a home run the next day. So as far as the parents hosting goes, they did take a little break when Danny was in high school, but then started back up at least through to 2019 which is when I read the article. I don't know if they're still doing it, but his dad worked. They were huge baseball supporters and supporting Danny and his siblings as they grew up. And his dad was a truck driver for 40 something years and worked nights so that he could coach us during the day, is what Danny said. So he just signed this two year deal with Texas, which kind of surprised me. Jonah Heim, who's a past baseball boyfriend pick of mine, was non tendered and is now a free agent, so Danny's going to be splitting time with Kyle higeshoica, and they're both guys over 30, which I like in a baseball player, but it's kind of interesting that the Texas Rangers are going that angle. He is engaged, or he's married now. He was engaged to his now wife right before the pandemic, Alexis, and when he got engaged, this story like makes me teary. He asked his teammate rowdy, tell us to officiate. This is when they were both on the Blue Jays. So Danny and rowdy came up together. They were buddies through the miners. They stuck together through all those years, and rowdy. Tell his mom, rowdy, rowdy. Tell us his mom got cancer while they were in the miners together and so rowdy says. Quote, my family couldn't make it out very often while my mom was sick, so janssen's family became my family rowdy's mom died two weeks before his MLB debut, and the Janssen family was there for him, and Danny Jansen was there for them. So when rowdy tell us got traded to the brewers. It couldn't have been a better place, because he had family there, because the Janssens were still his family, and they were there for his first home game film Milwaukee. So rowdy did officiate in 2022 and huge. So many emotional quotes, but the one that got to me said, I got some this is from rowdy. Said I got some laughs in I bawled my eyes out. I had the time of my life. And now Danny has a son, miles, Joseph and a daughter, Josephine, Stevie. I loved Stevie as the middle name, so you know, here he is in Texas. Danny's excited. He said, to be part of a winning atmosphere in a clubhouse with great dudes is key. And here's to. Yeah, another great dude. Cheers.

Patti 15:02
So I picked two guys, you know, as we do, and they have weird, a weird, long list of things in common. I've got two Texas boys, both first round draft picks. They both started out as Yankees fans. Oh, but that's okay. They didn't play for the Yankees. That's okay. It's okay. And they were rookies in the same world series. Wow, yes. So I for Texas. I picked Josh, young third baseman, 27 years old from San Antonio. Name might sound familiar because last year I picked his brother, Jace. So I'm not going to repeat a lot of the information, because when I talked about Jace, I talked about their childhood, growing up, being super competitive with each other. Go back to that episode if you want to hear all those stories about everything was a competition growing up. Parents are both school teachers. His dad was also the high school baseball and football coach, so of course, the kids played baseball and football. So Josh went undrafted in high school, and so island of Texas Tech where for three consecutive years he was named an All American. Three consecutive years, that's a lot. That's a lot. As a junior, he was the 2019 Bobby Reagan collegiate slugger award winner, which is kind of a big deal. And then in 2019 he was, in fact, drafted by the Texas Rangers in the first round and signed for $4.4 million which is pretty good. His minor league career was so broken up. It was so broken up for a couple of reasons. So, you know, he was drafted in 2019 so, you know, played a little bit at the end of 2019 there was no 2020 minor league season, as we all remember. He missed the beginning of 2021 of surgery to repair a stress fracture in his foot. He missed the beginning of 2022 for a torn labrum in his shoulder, and then came back in, in in, in July, actually, yeah, it came back in July of 2022 and so we got a couple. He had 23 games in in AAA, and then in August. And then he was called up on September 9 in 2022 so back up to when he was a kid, and he and his brother were playing wiffle ball in the backyard, and, you know, they were playing all the sports, and the parents were trying to corral these kids. And he told his parents, when he was 11, he's going to Homer in his first major league 11. So he did, he did? He did? He homeward in his first major league back. And only I'm jerks in profile is the only other person who has done that as as a ranger. He also singled and stole the bass. So it was a pretty good debut. 2023 just rolled for him. It was his big year. It was his big year. We want to get him back to his 2023 shape. He was the Al Rookie of the month for both April and May. Both months April and May, he is the first al rookie to win back to back months since Julio Rodriguez did it, and then no more Mazzara did it in 2016 as so that's the second player in Texas history to earn consecutive ao Rookie of the month honors. So his manager, Bruce beauche, at the time, said, Wow. I mean, he just keeps doing something every day to impress you. I mean, he gives us relentless playing good baseball on both sides. Man, what a joy he's been. So then, in 2023 after these two consecutive months, is Rookie of the you know, Ricky the month. He started the all star game at third base as a rookie. Then was with Texas at in the postseason. So he set Texas postseason rookie records for runs, hits, home runs, RBI and total bases of 35 his 20 hits were tied with Atlanta's Chipper Jones from 1995 for the most ever by a rookie as a third baseman over a single postseason. His 35 total bases at the MLB record for a rookie third baseman in one postseason. Oh yes, they also won the World Series. So here's the list. Here's the full list of all rookies who started an all star game and also won a World Series. Joe DiMaggio, 1936 Fernando Valenzuela in 1981 and Josh young in 2020 Wow. That's it. Those 320, 24 um, he fractured his wrist after being hit by a pitch after four games, yeah, came back in July 2025 this is a story we we've I told you last year because he and his brother Mother's Day weekend faced off in major league games. When you know Detroit played Texas, and as Mary and Jeff the parents will remind you, there's only 33rd baseman in all of MLB, and their sons are two of them. So that was pretty cool. So um, in 2025 he went back to triple A in July, for a month, got been bounced back down, came back in August. Welcome back in August, he had a three run walk off homer in the bottom of the 10th versus the Yankees. So you know, right? I like them better, see, see. So now you know 2025 again. You know there were injuries, all these things. He wasn't a great season for him. So he really needs to, like fight to come back to that 2023 level for this upcoming season. So skip Schumacher, who's the new manager for Tech. This is, I want him to come in hungry, and I want him to try and win a position. So that's literally the goal of the majority of our guys. Albert Pujol said that after winning MVP, when he came into spring training, like, I'm going to fight for a position, even though he came in as an MVP. So he says, the guy like that says it. I think our guys can say it as well. That's right for his philanthropic side. This is really cool. So he runs, he and his brother actually run Young's backyard battle, which is a wiffle ball tournament, because they played wiffle ball in their backyard. Do you know there's, like, a major league wiffle ball there's a major like wiffle ball League, M, L, W, or something. Wow. So this is his the second annual one is coming up in about a week or so, um, yeah, January, 17 and 18th, and so he does this this it's gonna be a two day tournament this year. It was a one day thing last year. And it's gonna feature MLB players and professional wiffle ball players and then amateurs, including kids like you can sign up a team. Wow. So play. So some of it will be, you know, exhibition games, you know, with the major league players and all of this, but it benefits both the Rangers Foundation, the base that their team's Foundation, and also the miracle league. And the miracle League, Dallas Fort Worth quote, provides children and young adults the opportunity to play baseball regardless of their abilities. For instance, they have like a rubberized, rubberized, like field, so wheelchairs can have access, and so has all kinds of accommodations. So anybody who wants to play can play, which is fantastic. Last year with the one day tournament, $10,000 went to the miracle foundation. So this year it's two day tournament. Could be more. It could be more. On the side, he's a comic book fan. He's a baseball card collector, and his favorite superhero is Captain America.

Pottymouth 21:38
Can get behind that. I want to see a professional wiffle ball.

Patti 21:43
Okay, only they're on YouTube, and that's how he got he found them on YouTube. Was like, This is amazing. Yeah, we need to do something together. Wow. Because for him, it was like, as kids, everybody on on a major league team played wiffle ball at some point. And look at these guys who are playing it professionally. His idea was, I saw a video of the tournament last year and it the MLB players did not do well. Did not do well.

Pottymouth 22:03
Yeah, that ball's not gonna its throw the same way. Yeah, that's I'm gonna go check that out. Yeah. All right, we are on to the D backs in the National League. And I do admit that I chose Blaise Alexander purely by his name for the start. According to MLB, he's a shortstop. According to fan graphs predict projections for next year's lineup. He's a left fielder. I think he's utility, and he plays a lot of positions, which really is a good thing when we're playing fantasy baseball. So I'm excited about this, 27 years old. The other thing that caught my eye is this quotation from, I think it was an MLB article that says, quote, it's hard to catch Blaise Alexander without a smile on his face. The D backs infielder is perpetually happy, someone who can find the silver of the sun, this sliver, sliver of sunshine in an otherwise cloudy day. So our baseball boyfriend requirement is somebody you want to hang out with and have a beer with. I want to hang out with someone who's perpetually happy looking for that sliver of sunshine that I can't see with my lack of glasses on. Yeah. So baseball is in his blood. He comes to this honestly, mostly on the mound. His grandfather, Charles, pitched in the Cubs organization after World War Two. His dad, Chuck pitched in minor league Cleveland organization. His brother CJ is first base for the athletic for, yeah, the athletics. So I guess it's a generational thing as far as the mound, but Uncle Dan is the big name. Dan, please act pitch from 1986 to 2003 for six organizations, mainly Milwaukee, three time all star, current MLB Network Analyst. So that's a lot of baseball in the blood. He signed right at high school in June. 2018, giving up his scholarship to University of South Carolina, and he raked in the rookie leagues that summer. 329, average, 955, ops and 55 games, and was ranked ninth in prospects. All looked good for him, and then he was diagnosed with Wolf Parkinson white syndrome, and that's a heart issue that that presents itself within a regular heartbeat, and he had to have heart surgery. He's 19 years old. He did this on his own. He didn't go home for this, which just blows my mind. He said they had to have two incisions down to the heart. They were asking me about a will and stuff. I was like, I don't think I'm gonna die. And he pulled through and resumed training pretty quickly that same season, and then got hit in the wrist. Had wrist surgery in January 2019 and he then had this really bad pattern of getting hit by pitches on the wrist or near the wrist. 2022 he was out a month from being hit on the wrist twice in 2023 broke his thumb, broke a bone in one hand, and finally realized that he had to tweak his. Batting stance. Something's going on. He's got to protect his hands. So in the giving back part, he was a celebrity coach in the D back superstar baseball camp, June 2024 with young kids, ages seven to 12. So you got to love the players. Going back and working with a youth. He debuted opening day 2024 after a spring training, average of 400 with a 1086 ops. And like you said before, nothing's guaranteed after spring training, you're you're fighting for your spot. So Tory luvulo made a point to bring him in and say, make sure your parents have good seats, because you're going to be a big leaguer tomorrow. He went two for five with an RBI single during a record setting, 14 run third inning, 14 runs in the third inning that the D backs got against the Rockies, he said. And he he importantly, got that RBI single, but it was after a very much of a rookie slip. So he thought he had ball four and started walking, and it was ball three, but then he ended up with a single so everything was okay. He said, quote, I thought it was ball four, and kind of embarrassed myself a little bit, but made up for it with the RBI hit up the middle. So he hasn't played a lot. He only played 61 games in 24 there were some hamstring issues, some just sent down. But in 24 he played shortstop, second base, third base, and DH. Last year, he only ended up with 74 games. A little bit was obliques, oblique strain, a little bit just getting sent down, but the versatility here, second, third, center field, left field, and DH and he ended early doing due to getting a hit by pitch on his elbow. So I'm hoping that the wrist thing hasn't like spread out to the elbow, and that he's looking at his stance, and that Blaise Alexander has a fighting chance for opening day of 2026,

Patti 27:01
very nice, very nice. I've got Jordan Lawler also listed as a shortstop, but that also can change. 23 years old, another, another Texas boy. He was born in Carrollton, Texas. He went to high school at just Jesuit prep in Dallas, and he also played basketball and baseball. So got another multi sport kid, and that was in school. He played a lot of other sports before school, before before hitting high school as well. But as a senior in 2021 he hit 412 with six home runs, 37 RBI and 32 stolen bases, which made him the Texas Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year among high school players. As a junior in high school, he committed to Vanderbilt, and a story that I read at that time when he committed to Vanderbilt, he was asked so again, he was in high school junior, and at the time of this interview, he was asked what five things he needed to survive the day. He said, baseball snacks. And then he come back, he makes a lot of snacks, some free time, sure, my phone and my mom,

Pottymouth 28:02
oh, it's kindergarten, except for the phone,

Patti 28:04
yeah, there you go. Or me, except, yeah, okay, there are a lot of it's actually me. So the mom part is actually really, really, very important. He was raised by a single mom. Her name is Hope, and she basically gave him opportunities to play all the sports, like anything he wanted to try, like there were, you know, soccer goals in the yard and basketball hoops, and she would go out every night with the five gallon, you know, buckets full of balls to do batting practice with him and all of that. And here's what she said. Said, I told him, if we're going to go play sport, we're going to play it with intent and purpose. We're going to go out there and do our best, and we're going to have a good attitude whether we won or we lost. And she said, I've encountered the high of the highs and the low, the lows, and we fought through it. When those moments come in and he walks through the door and he goes, Mom, we did it. We made it. It's always a we even though he's playing the sport or he's got the test. It's always, Mom, we did it, which I think is really cool and really sweet. They were very much a team, and they continued to be a team. So I think if, by extension, you know, if hope could also be, you know, a boyfriend, I would very much like to have a beer and have a long talk. That's pretty cool. So first round draft pick out of high school in 2021 for the Diamondbacks, he got a $6.7 million signing bonus, which was the largest bonus given to any position player drafted that year. So after a little bit of soul searching, soul searching, sorry, Vanderbilt, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go

Pottymouth 29:34
to the bigs, not a Bandy boy. So I

Patti 29:37
don't know if that was the right decision, because he might have benefited from some more seasoning. He actually also had some some injuries and things happen, but he made pretty steady progress through the minors. In 2023 he played 16 games in triple a hit, six home runs, 358, and so they said, Okay, it's time to call you up, right? So in September of 2023 they called him. Up answer the phone in the Panera Hey, you're going to the bigs. He's singled in his debut game versus the Cubs at, you know, at Wrigley Field, not a bad place to have your debut. His manager Tory Lavalle said, I want him to get all the nervous jujus out of there. He's going to be jumping out of his skin for a little while. I want to capitalize on the momentum of how he's been doing and the energy of how he's feeling. So he was the youngest Diamondback to make his MLB debut at shortstop. He basically just sort of edged out her out of prodoma by a couple of days, right? Because he was 21 years old in 52 days, and Perdomo was 21 years old and 163 days. Wow. And then he had a terrible, terrible 14 games. So maybe, maybe those Juju should have been worked out in the minors. I don't know, they still kept him on the postseason roster, which when he was 21 years old. In 106 days, he became the youngest person in Diamondbacks history to draw a walk in the World Series. All right, he's famous for the lot on base he got, well, yeah, he got on base. And so that, that was the whole thing.

Pottymouth 31:06
Minor ball, 2024

Patti 31:08
he started in triple A. Was gonna start triple A, but then he missed the beginning of the season because he had thumb surgery. This sounds familiar from the other guy, too, right? Yeah, he only played 23 total games in the minors in 2024 and then went off to winter ball for the tea. Great. Still they say, Oh

Pottymouth 31:24
wow, Dominican Republic, great. Thank you.

Patti 31:27
Started 2025 in triple A and the beginning of the season, he was hitting for historic numbers. He was blazing hot. He was having an amazing beginning of the season. So they called him up on May 10, and then he promptly went hit list in eight games. So they sent him back down. And August 3, he got his third call up right? And he said, anytime you can be with this group of guys, it's exactly where I want to be. This game is a great teacher, if you're willing to put the time in and listen to it. Sure. So he was struggling again. He had a terrible hit list streak, but it ended on September 3 with a double versus Texas, which that game then turned into his first multi hit game of his career. And then, like later, later on in the month, he had a walk off single versus San Francisco, which was part of their playoff chase in September. So it was a really important win for them. So like coming around, it's coming around. So again, he's been great in the minors, but his stays in the Major League haven't been great, although this kind of ended pretty well. So he went back to the tea grace this winter, and interestingly, they're having him play center field for the first time ever. He's always been an infielder, but that's because they're packed, right? They are packed at shortstop. They're packed in the infield all together. So this looks like they want to try to expand his skill set, to see if they can get him up and going. So the general manager, Mike Hazen said, I told Jordan that we signed Perdomo because of him. It wasn't to block him off. I want them to be together. This will be a very good team with both of those guys on the same team. I'm not necessarily worried about who the shortstop is. So basically saying this is a good problem

Pottymouth 33:07
to have. It's so interesting that he had like, the same record as Perdomo, and now they're like, at the same Yeah, position, yep.

Patti 33:13
I'm gonna give the last word about him to his mom. Of course. She says, I used to tell him your name is all you have. So make sure that when someone says Lawler, that what they say after that is what you want to be remembered for. And the mantra is, go make a difference today. Leave a footprint. Make it better than when you went there. Be friends to all and be mindful. I love his mom, yeah, and it appears that those lessons have absolutely stuck. So I have my fingers crossed, and I hope for the best. Next week, we have Kansas City and we have San Francisco, so we look forward to your recommendations. Exciting.

Pottymouth 33:49
I'm going to do a very quick international update this week, because we have better things coming. And I don't know if you remember, but about a week ago, the crisis of the news was Venezuela. We've been through very many crises since then, but there was the US, basically invasion. We kidnapped the president and brought him back here. And there were a lot of resulting, I hate the word casualties. There were deaths in Venezuela because of this procedure. And now, if you include all the bomb the boats that were bombed before we actually went in and took the President and his wife out, we're talking about about 200 lives, which is insane. These are people, and we need to remember that. And understandably, people started realizing when all this was going on. Oh, we have MLB players down there in Venezuela. And like you said last week, both people who are just there because they're from there and they're hanging out with their families and people who are playing in the Venezuelan winter league. And and I was shocked and dismayed that MLB didn't have a plan. Just didn't have a plan. For how to keep track of who is there. Pretty much left it up to the teams, is what it seems like for dealing with their own players. So the question now, a week later, Venezuela and ball did start again. It started again in the round robin, there in the semifinals this past Wednesday, and who has been allowed to continue playing? I think there's a bigger question about who's still there, so I don't know that question, but I do know that the chorio brothers, so Jackson chorio, of the Brewers, and his younger brother, Jason, who's in the Cleveland system, that January 2 was their last game. So I don't know if they're still in the country, or if the brewers in Cleveland have gotten them out of the country, but there was a lot of talk around those guys. There are six current players who are either in MLB or at minor league system, who are still in one of the four remaining round robin teams and who are still playing. Only two of them have MLB contracts. Both of them are pre arbitration, which I think is kind of an interesting detail if you're talking about teams worrying about their money and their investment. One is Andres Chaparro, previous baseball boyfriend, pick of mine of the Nationals, he's playing for the Aguilas de Sully and Luis angelicunia of the Mets is still down there playing. Not only is he playing, but last night. So we're recording on Sunday, January 11, yesterday, he set a set a record for the Venezuelan League of most home runs in a game. He had four home runs yesterday in one game for the Cardinals de Lara. Let me just point out my last year's message, yes. Thank you. Yes. This is a patty pick. This is a paddy pick. He went four for six with seven RBI in a 21 to nine win. This is the semi finals, semi finals against the Bravos. So beyond just those two players, there are four players down there who are currently on minor league contracts, but three of the four have had time in the majors. They've all been around since at least 2018 and il de Mario Vargas has been around a lot longer, I think 2008 he's with the D backs. He's on a minor league contract this year. However, his performance with the Cardinals, a lot of has been amazing, and that might help him a little bit. Ali Sanchez, in the Yankee system. Jose Herrera, the one of the Rangers. There are two. Jose Herreras, this is the Rangers one, and Carlos Rodriguez, also there are two of those in the minor league system. This is the Padres one. He is the only one of the four without any MLB experience at this point. And I just want to add. How did I miss that? Estruba Cabrera World Series nationals champion, 2019 estruba Cabrera is managing the caribes down swatagi. So I am blown away by this, and shame on me for not mentioning this sooner. Estruba Cabrera was on seven different MLB teams between 2007 2021 he got the swatigi there to the round robin for the first time since 2021 and so right now, he and yaria Malina are basically neck and neck for Manager of the Year for the Venezuelan League. Funny, if you look them both up. They were both suspended on the same day, November 19, 2022 in Venezuela, same article, different games, different positions. This is when Yari Molina was down, the first time to manage the navagantes as Drupal. It was a pretty ugly situation for him. He was actually playing for the caribes at that time, and he literally decked a guy who had just hit a home run and showboated it, went up to him and smashed him in the face. So I do not condone that kind of behavior. However, very much appreciate his work in the World Series, winning for the Washington Nationals, and we'll see who gets Manager of the Year last winter league lead on to be continued. Junior commonero has promised to be in the finals next week. I will tell you about the promise and whether he kept it up. Hey, this week on no crying in baseball, we have an incredibly special interview. We're going to be interviewing Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, and he's been President since 2011 and we're going to hear a lot of great stories, because he's also known as the CSO that would be the chief storytelling officer. And before I welcome Bob completely, I just want to put in a little quotation that we got from one of our listeners who was super excited for this interview, who said quote, no living baseball spokesperson has more gravitas. So that's you, Mr. Kendrick, thank you so much for joining us on no crying in baseball this week.

Bob Kendrick 39:50
Yeah, I appreciate it. I can't say that, but I appreciate it and understand where they're coming from. So thank you.

Pottymouth 39:57
That is the reputation that you have out there.

It's under there you just look so to start things off, what we always do with our interviews on ncib is to ask about you personally in your very first beginning of your personal connection to baseball. So how did your personal connection to baseball start.

Bob Kendrick 40:22
Ooh, we grew up quite a while ago in Crawfordville, Georgia, that little country town that I was just referencing, a town of about 500 people east of Atlanta, west of Augusta. And really, my entire family were baseball fans. My father was a baseball fan. Henry, Aaron was my childhood idol, all time, favorite ball player, the player that I emulated every single day on the playground. You know, we all wanted to be Henry Aaron, but I think I wanted to be Henry Aaron more than the other kids wanted to be Henry Aaron. So I got to be Henry Aaron, but baseball has always been an important part of the Kendrick family's household. My brothers played. They didn't really even call it baseball. They called it hardball. And the local town teams would play each other, and I'm a kid hanging on their coattails watching them. And the people would literally sit around on their cars, and they bring picnic baskets and watch them play baseball, hardball, as they called it. And so it was something that I just gravitated and I think innately, my high school was too small to have a high school baseball team, so all we had was basketball and track. And as oftentimes say, anyone who knows me knows that I do not believe in running. So sock was out, and so I played basketball, which is what ultimately got me out here to the Midwest. I got a basketball scholarship to play for then Park College, now Park University. This goes back to 1980 when I graduated from high school, so I chased the basketball from Crawfordville, Georgia to Parkville, Missouri. And of course, now I make my living in baseball, albeit baseball history.

Pottymouth 42:13
I just gotta say there is a lot of running in basketball. Like a lot a lot of running

Bob Kendrick 42:17
the ball was involved. Somebody's passing you the ball. Try it. Y'all, you just right?

Patti 42:26
So tell us, okay, actually, before I go to the next question, I want to tell you we have our sort of low key campaign to get the Atlanta baseball team to change their name to the hammers, to like, honor Henry Aaron. I mean, can you like, help us with that in any way? Because we just think, you know, this would solve so many issues, and it would be like this terrific honor. And you know, you wouldn't have to change the logo all that much

Bob Kendrick 42:48
anytime it comes to Mr. Aaron. If there's a cause that is involved in him, count me in so. You know, one of the biggest thrills of my personal and professional life was walking him through the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in 1999 major league baseball was celebrating the 25th anniversary of Mr. Aaron's breaking of Babe Ruth's record, and as you both know, a record that many thought would never be broken, no less, by a black south and so my dear friend and the founder of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, the late great Buck O'Neil, was out of town. And so I draw the assignment of taking my childhood idol and my all time favorite ball player, Henry Aaron, through the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, and it is the first and only time that I've ever been starstruck home, guys, I'm at home and I'm laying out on my clothes, because everything got to be right. What's wrong with you? You don't understand. This is Henry Aaron. And so we get to the we get to the museum, and Mr. Aaron and his wife Billy, they get there, and there's a Throg of media. They got me miked up, and I'm taking him on a tour of the museum. And we get to a portion of the museum that is dedicated to the old Indianapolis clowns, which is, of course, where Mr. Aaron's career began. And there's a photograph of him standing at the train station in Mobile, Alabama. The year is 1952 he's about to leave home to go join the Indianapolis clowns. And of course, at that time, he was a skinny, cross handed hitting shortstop. So for those who might be hearing that term for the first time, Mr. Aaron was a right handed hitter who was hitting with his left hand on top. That is unorthodox, the fear is that you would break your wrist. Was hitting him, sure Henry Aaron was knocking the cover off the baseball in a highly unorthodox fashion. When he gets to the clowns, they reluctantly put the right hand on top because they didn't want to tinker with this kid's swing. And of course, as we know, the rest is history. He was shortly after, discovered by the Boston Braves, who would become the Milwaukee Braves, who would become the Atlanta Braves. But every time I was around Mr. Aaron, I was reduced to that almost 12 year old kid who when he hit home run 715 in Atlanta's Fulton County Stadium. I'm at home in my mother's living room in Crawfordville, Georgia, and as he's circling the bases in Atlanta's Fulton County Stadium, I'm circling the bases right alongside him in my mother's living room. She has out that was first base. The old TV was second base. Little couch was third base, and her recliner was on plate. And so as my childhood idol was touching them all, I'm touching them all too. And there we were, face to face, and we finished the tour. We go across the street from the museum to the gym Theater, where we have a fireside chat with Mr. Aaron, because it had taken him 25 years before he could actually exhale and celebrate this amazing sports accomplishment because of all the hate and vitriol that he received as he was making this move to break roof's record. We're talking about over a million pieces of hate mail. And guys, this is in 1974 this ain't 1947 when Jackie breaks the color barrier. This 27 years after Jackie breaks the color barrier, and he doesn't know if he's gonna make it around the bases. And so we've had American presidents tour that museum. We've had dignitaries like the late, great General Colin Powell tour the museum, First Ladies Laura Bush, First Lady Michelle Obama. Oh, plethora of athletes and entertainers, and as oftentimes say, with no disrespect to any of them, they are not Henry Aaron in the eyes, mind and heart of this kid from Crawfordville, Georgia, that is right.

Patti 47:28
Oh, that's an amazing moment in time. I mean, both of those moments, like watching him break that record, and then being with him as an adult in your professional life, yes,

Bob Kendrick 47:38
that's incredible. And my good friend Al downing gave up that home run who was on the mound at night is a dear friend of mine and the museum and one of the black aces, you know, one of the 15 African American pitches to win 20 games in a major league season. Of course, people remember him because he gave up the home run to Henry Aaron and Mr. Downing. You know, he has such a great spirit about it. He said I gave up home runs to a lot of players who were nowhere near as good as Henry Aaron. So you don't feel that bad about giving up a home run to Henry Aaron.

Patti 48:17
Yeah, you can't regret that one

Pottymouth 48:20
before your your question, Patty, I just want to point out and thank you for mentioning the intensity of the hate mail that he had to endure. Because I think what happens in history now is that we remember the happy points and so all these stories about Jackie Robinson and Henry Aaron that get told are told in a very positive way, but we have to also understand what came behind that. And, you know, just so much appreciation for you putting that out there and also keeping that as part of the museum reality.

Bob Kendrick 48:49
Yeah, no, it was a very unique moment in American history, because I can still hear Ben scully's call as Mr. Aaron is circling the bases and there's a standing ovation for a black man in the Deep South. And yet, when those two young white kids ran out on the field, there was a collective gasp because there were snipers in the ballpark that night because of all the death threats, and people thought maybe they were going out to try to do something to harm Mr. Aaron. They were just coming out to celebrate with Mr. Aaron, and he tells the story of his personal bodyguard, who used to carry a binocular case around his neck. And as this ordeal was playing out, inside, the binocular case was a 38 snub nose pistol. And when those kids ran out on the field, the bodyguard had started to open the binocular case, and fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, or it could have turned one of the most memorable moments in sports history to one of the most tragic moments in sports history, and even when you look at his mother greeting him at home. Right? And he said, I never knew my mother could hug so hard she put a big bear hug on him, because you can imagine how tumultuous this had to be for her as her baby was going through this entire ordeal. But also, guys, watch how she seemingly strategically turns him away from home plate, and she turned her back to home plate. She's prepared to take a bullet for her baby. Now, that is a mama's love, right there. That's a mama's love. Now, I'll tell you, as dad, as a daddy, we probably would like to believe that we would do that, but we might have some second thoughts about it.

Patti 50:45
Yeah, yeah. We're moms. We get that. Yep, we absolutely get that. Oh, my God. What? What a moment you can't just, you can't just have the joy you never

Pottymouth 50:53
want to just have the joy. I gotta protect your baby.

Bob Kendrick 50:56
You gotta protect your baby, and even the great dusty Baker who you might Oh, dusty on deck. He was on deck when Mr. Aaron hit the home run. And dusty Baker and Ralph gar were basically assigned to Mr. Aaron. They're young ball players, but they were assigned to Mr. Aaron to entertain him. He liked to laugh, just to take his mind off of the levity of the situation, and dusty recalls that mister Aaron looked at them both and said, I'm going to get this over tonight. He never had a chance to really celebrate. Yeah, it was just relief that it was now over with.

Patti 51:38
Wow, wow. God, dusty, spending a lot of those moments.

Speaker 1 51:43
We just had him here in Kansas City near the end of last year to induct him into what we call the Hall of game of game honors former major league greats who we believe played the game the way they played it in the Negro Leagues. So you so you played it with high skill. You played it with passion, but you also played it with a little swag. Yeah, you had to have that if you're going to play in the Negro Leagues. But we dedicated much of last year and even the first portion of this year to celebrating great black managers, the black managers of the Negro Leagues who really never got an opportunity to move into major league baseball. And of course, that handful that have had the opportunity and had great success as managers, so to have dusty Baker here, Ceto Gaston, Jerry Manuel, Willie Randolph, that was extraordinarily special for us here in Kansas City.

Patti 52:39
Wow. Let's back up a little bit how you got to the museum. So I, you know, I have friends who work in museums. They get there either because museum studies or they get there because of the subject matter.

Speaker 1 52:49
Yeah, it certainly wasn't the museum study part. And it really happened somewhat by happenstance. I was working for the daily newspaper, The Kansas City Star, where in its promotions department, which functioned as its in house advertising agency. And so we would provide print space for not for profit organizations to promote their events, programs, etc. And so my former boss, guy named Darryl Durham, stopped by my desk and said, I think I got something that you might enjoy. We're going to work and partner with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. They have a traveling exhibition that they want to promote. To be honest, guys, I didn't even know there was a Negro League baseball and it was literally just 16 blocks away from where the cat City Star operated, wow. And so I said, Well, I better go down and find this museum so that I can start to do a little bit of research background work, so I could help put this promotional campaign together. I pull up in front of the Lincoln building where the museum was housed, and I go to the third floor, and I walk into what was then a one room office, Negro League, Spaceball museum. And as I so often tell the story, I literally walked into what would become my passion. I fell in love with this museum. I fell in love with this mission, and even more so, I fell in love with the amazing athletes who made this story, and I had no idea that it was going to turn into a career. And truthfully, one of the most gratifying things that I think I could have ever done, either personally or professionally. It has just been an amazing journey, but it all started for me as a volunteer. I ended up volunteering for the museum after putting that campaign together, volunteering for the museum for five years, serving on his board, which was a volunteer board, then became the museum's first Director of Marketing in 1998 served in that role for. 12 years, stepped away at that time as VP of Marketing for all of 13 months, then came back, being introduced as the museum's president in 2011 and so I'm entering my 15th year as president of the museum, but we're talking about an affiliation that is now almost 33 years in the making, the exhibit that I promoted called discover greatness is still touring the country to this day, 33 years later, and it began this wonderful relationship for me with this organization, which has given me far more than I could ever give it, but it's been a labor of love since the moment I walked into that one room office.

Pottymouth 55:51
Well, I just have to say that the baseball world is better for it. You know, for our baseball watching experience and baseball loving experience is better. Thank you for your 33 years.

Bob Kendrick 56:04
Yeah, 33 years. And like I said, I had no idea was gonna turn into a career. I really didn't. I just wanted to assist the museum in any way that I possibly could. Because as a baseball fan, I was just blown away by how little I knew about the history of this game and its connections to the history of this country. In rier and I just mentioned was my favorite baseball player, but at that time, I had no idea that he had played in the Negro Leagues. And now I'm wondering, How in the world could I not know this? And the more I delved into this story, the more enamored I became in it, and I wanted to learn as much as I could. And y'all, I didn't want to keep it to myself. I wanted everybody else to feel the same way that I felt about it. Because, again, as a baseball fan in particular, I felt cheated. Yeah, felt cheated because I should have known about these legendary stars, uh huh, and what their contributions were. The beautiful thing about the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is that you don't have to be a baseball fan. Of course, we believe that is sacrilegious. Yes, you don't have to be a baseball fan, because if you're a fan of American history, then you're going to love this museum. If you're a fan of the underdog overcoming adversity to go on to greatness, you're going to love this museum. But if you are a baseball fan to boot, as we see in the country, you are in hog heaven, because it combines the best of all of those worlds. And as I was, you know, learning more and meeting these players and hearing the stories being introduced to more baseball heroes, understanding the complexities of this story as it related, not to just what transpired on the field, but perhaps even more important off the field, it was just fascinating. And here I am, 33 years later, and I find the history just as fascinating today as I did 33 years ago when I walked into that one room office.

Patti 58:20
Baseball is such a vehicle to talk about social justice issues, absolutely. I mean, like even, even on our podcast, you know, we talk about women in sports, we talk about immigration issues, we talk about labor issues, we talk about capitalism, we talk about all those things, all through the lens of baseball and and so we do have folks who listen to the show, not because they come in as baseball fans, but this kind of and so I'm absolutely getting what you're saying is, if you walk in the door with whatever piece of that matters to you, and then, like the rest of that world opens up to you when you're in there.

Bob Kendrick 58:48
There is no question about it. The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is one of this nation's most preeminent Social Justice Civil Rights Institutions, it's just seen through the lens of baseball, but as I remind our guest, it is triumph over that adversity, and so it is such an inspirational story. I do think a lot of times my guest coming. Expect to be introduced to a very sad, somber kind of story, because we know that this story is anchored against the backdrop of American segregation, an absolutely horrible chapter in this country's history. But the story here is what emerged out of segregation, this wonderful story of triumph and conquest, and it is all based on one small, simple principle, you won't let me play with you in the major leagues. Okay? I'll create a league of my own. And again, as I remind my guests, when you stop to think about it, that is. Is the American way. And so while America was trying to prevent them from sharing in the joys of his so called national pastime, it was the American spirit that allowed them to persevere and prevail. What's not to love about that kind of story.

Patti 1:00:18
All right, my friends, just so you know, we will be dropping the entire Bob Kendrick interview later this week. It's about an hour long, and we didn't want to let you miss a minute of it. We had such a good time talking with him, so I hope you enjoyed the excerpt that we had for you in today's show. So in the meantime, tell us what you think of what you've heard so far. Let us know about boyfriends for next week from San Francisco and from Kansas City. And, of course, anything else you want to share with us, you can find us on

Pottymouth 1:00:48
social media. Please, do please find us on social media that would be blue sky and CIB podcast, and if you must use Twitter, you can find us there too, Facebook and Instagram. Everything's kind of rough, but you know, we'll check it. No crying in B ball. The best place to find us is on Patreon, P, A, T, R, E, O, n.com/no, crying in B ball. We will give you heads up for our interviews, like we did with the Bob Kendrick interview. We will communicate with you, and we will give you shout outs if you join us at a certain level. So please check us out on Patreon and see all the levels. $1 a month is all it takes to keep this podcast going.

Patti 1:01:28
All right, have you gotten boosted? Get boosted. Everybody's getting the flu. Get all the boosts. Please. Get all the boosts. Fight the man, especially now it's the right thing to do. Send your game balls to Meredith and until next week, say goodnight. Potty mouth, good night. Potty mouth,

Pottymouth 1:01:58
and I'm going to have to squeeze the whiskey bottle.

Patti 1:02:03
Had I known I could have brought you a little doggie bag and filled up a little, you know, little thing for

Pottymouth 1:02:08
you, yeah, there's, there's more whiskey. I think I have Canadian whiskey, which is

Patti 1:02:13
in honor of Getty Lee.

Pottymouth 1:02:16
It's fanatic. There we go. All right.