Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard - Flightless Bird: Baseball

Episode Date: September 6, 2022

This week on Flightless Bird, David heads to San Francisco to meet the San Francisco Giants. Joined by Wobby Wob, David attempts to learn how to catch a baseball, before becoming distracted by some loud screams coming from the field. It's there he meets the Chicago White Sox's Liam Hendriks, an outspoken Australian with a good arm and lots of opinions. David learns why 16 million Americans play baseball in some kind of organized fashion and talks to bench coach Kai Correa about how to win a game. Farrier then interrogates Giants pitcher Logan Webb about pre-game rituals, before watching his first-ever baseball game... trying to figure out what he likes more: the game, the drinks, or the food? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Flightless Bird is brought to you by BetterHelp. Now I think often in life you can get caught focusing on problems instead of solutions. I totally agree. I think we ruminate on the issue and it kind of takes over and you spiral out instead of focusing on like, what can I do about it? Yeah, and it can be tough to train your brain to stay in problem-solving mode when you're faced with a massive challenge in your life. But when you learn how to find your own solutions, it's a really good feeling. We talk about ad nauseum. We are both in therapy. We love it. I have a couple of friends who just

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better h-e-l-p dot com slash bird. Hi, I'm David Farrier, a New Zealander who accidentally got stuck in America, and I want to find out what makes this country tick. Now back home in New Zealand, we're obsessed with cricket. Saudi, three to tie, four to win, Sharma on strike, he hits back, he hits too back, he's done it! You don't really have cricket in America, there are no wickets and stumps, innings or overs. No, the closest thing you have to a real sport is baseball. A confusing game involving fastballs

and fly balls, bunting and home runs. Baseball is the third biggest sport here in America, following basketball and football which sits comfortably at number one. Around 16 million Americans play baseball in some kind of organized fashion. And worldwide it has about 500 million fans. Now 500 million fans sounds like a lot until you consider cricket which has 2.5 billion fans globally. But I have to stop thinking like this. I'm in America, land of the free, home of the brave, and I'm surrounded by 16 million baseball fans. I live here now. I need to fit in. I need to love baseball, or at least understand it. So grab those gloves, or mitts I think you'd call them, maybe get a bat, and head out onto that pitch, I mean field, because this is the baseball episode.

Flightless, flightless, flightless bird touchdown in America. I'm a flightless bird touchdown in America. Okay, well, my dad will be very happy to hear those stats on cricket because he played cricket as a young boy. Well, he thinks he played cricket. That was just part of the sim. You know, like he's been implanted with that memory, but he hasn't really played.

Yeah, but he believes he did. Did you absorb any of that in your childhood? Did you ever watch cricket or anything like that? No, is it even on American TV? I don't think so. You have so many channels or I don't know, channels still a thing? So many internet sites. There must be cricket somewhere.

But I'm yet to walk into an American house and see anyone watching cricket ever. It's kind of true. I wonder why we swayed away from it. I guess we were like, look, maybe we're not that good at this. So we're going to invent at this. So we're gonna invent a sport. We're just going to do this thing. That is, it's invented here, right? Baseball? It was a kind of, I mean, it had its origins in the UK, but it became baseball, baseball here. I always like to claim that things came from the UK, but origins are all there, but we'll get to

that. We'll get to that in the documentary. Okay. Just out of curiosity, where do you sit in your enthusiasm of baseball? I love going to baseball games. How many games would you say you've been to ballpark? In my life? It's a good pun. 20? 20? Maybe more.

I used to go in Atlanta a lot. Braves. Go Braves. They won the World Series. So, just saying. That's it's cool so I won the world of course you did um no yeah I oh god is it bad what the sound it's fine what is that is that a leaf blower I think so okay so I was actually going to raise this with you I've got a list of episodes for this podcast that I'm not sure are worth diving into. Okay. And I've been doing some recording and this came up and I want to know if this plagues

all of us. This is outside my window. Okay. It just goes on and on and on and on. I've been recording these leaf blowers for the last couple of months because sometimes I'll go to write these episodes or I'll be recording the voiceover

at my little apartment. Yeah. And all I hear is that. And so what I'm thinking like, this could be an episode, I think, because I feel like it's not all across America, but definitely L.A. and New York have a problem with leaf blowers. Well, OK, no, I think all of them. By the way, why don't they have leaf blowers in New Zealand? Don't you guys have leaves? You probably have more leaves than us.

You know what leaves are meant to do? They're meant to fall to the ground. Sometimes wind comes along and blows them away and they decompose for some reason in america you see a leaf and you have this obsession with blowing it somewhere else a lot of the time i've been watching these leaf blowers and sometimes they're not even putting them into a bin or anything they just blow them somewhere else and walk away it's so people don't slip and fall and get sued we have so many on leaves. We have so many trees. No one in New Zealand has ever slipped on a leaf. They slip on banana peels. Oh my God, cartoon characters you are.

You're slipping on leaves. That's even worse. Okay. Okay. I actually then, you've raised enough questions that this would be a good episode. Okay, great. So leaf blows is going to be one. Okay.

Just quickly, because these are things I haven't settled on. Paper towels. And New Zealand will generally use a bit of cloth to maybe wipe something down. Here it's endless rolls of paper towels. That's just our obsession with convenience. That will include

paper plates, which is another topic I've got. I love eating off paper plates. I do love it. It's so easy. It's bad though. It's really bad. Okay, electric kettles. You hate eating off paper plates. I do love it. It's so easy. It's bad though. It's really bad. Okay. Electric kettles. You hate electric kettles here. Every house I'm in, I'm turning on a flame. I'm boiling it like I'm an old druid in some sort of medieval times or Lord of the Rings. I'm so glad you brought this up because I tend to overspend, but I refuse. And I drink tea every morning. You refuse to get an electric kettle?

Yes. Okay. Just quickly, and this is a baseball episode, but why? Do you know the hours of your life you're wasting for this thing to boil? Because it's like, it's doing the same thing. I can't muster up the 80 bucks for the kettle. I'm buying you a nice kettle. The temperature is important, though.

Certain teas should be brewed at certain temperatures. That's because, Rob, you're a tea connoisseur. I can't get into that. I drink a nice English breakfast. Is it part of the ritual of doing it, or is it purely? It is part of the ritual, but i mean i will be honest when i put the water on i have this cute little enamel pot well because i did have a little teapot but it burnt up so i have a enamel pot when i'm waiting for it to get hot i am annoyed okay

well electric kettle will solve all that in about 20 seconds that water is boiling i just can't do it nice looking ones now i know i'm gonna sort you out i was staying with a friend when i first got here and i bought an electric kettle when i left they threw it in the bin they hated it they hated it okay shower curtains americans are obsessed with shower curtains any hotel i've stayed in or a house the house i'm in at the moment, the shower curtain is there. It's always getting stuck to me. Oh, my God.

David, what are you talking about? Why do you not have shower doors? Oh, a lot of, you're so bougie. A lot of like fancy places have shower doors. But if you can't afford. Okay, I'm showing my privilege. So all I'm saying is in New Zealand, where I come from, I would argue, and I may still be showing my privilege for sure. But I definitely think most homes, whether they're a mansion or whether they're like a dingy flat, tend to have a door.

On every single bathroom, though. I've never encountered a shower curtain in New Zealand. What? I came to America. They're getting stuck to me. They're getting moldy. I don't know what's going on. That's because you got to replace them.

Those are liners. In a hotel, I'm like, how many bodies have been stuck on this thing? I will. Oh, my God. I don't love it in a hotel. But yeah, you got to replace the liner and also let it dry out. And why is it getting stuck to you? I have a squeegee in my shower.

I'm obsessed with cleanliness. So I squeegee down the walls of? I have a squeegee in my shower. I'm obsessed with cleanliness. So I squeegee down the walls of the shower and I squeegee down the shower curtain because I just cannot gather moisture. Okay. I have a shower curtain that I love very, I love it. It's never getting stuck to me. But I would say, Rob, in your primary bath, do you have a shower curtain or a door? We have a curtain. Americans love the curtain. I think it's because you love the pretty patterns you put on them.

Oh, I mean, I do love the pretty pattern on mine. Shout out Nikki Kehoe if you want a good shower curtain. But it's not that. It's a cost thing. Okay. I really am showing my. If you want a bath, that can then be a shower. You can't put a door on a bath like that.

Exactly. I have an issue when I'm surrounded by a shower curtain and I can't see who's coming. Like in Psycho, there's a reason she gets murdered because she's got a shower curtain. Don't say that to me. If I have a clear door, I can see who's approaching. And then what are you going to do?

I can get ready to fight. So shower curtain's going to be an episode. Energy drinks, any service station I walk into. That's a great one. Okay, energy drinks station I walk into. That's a great one. Okay. Energy drinks. Great. Bang. What's the other one? There's some big ones. And there's no paid parental leave in America. I'm curious about that. And I still need to sort out an episode I think about specifically about medical insurance because I still don't understand it. Whenever I try and go to a doctor, because I've got the type of insurance that you can't pick where you go. PPO. I can never go. So I end up going to Hollywood urgent Care because it's $100 and they just see you straight away. Wait, didn't we do an episode on healthcare?

Yeah, but I want to delve more into the actual like… Oh, the insurance details? The insurance, because it's so confusing. Yeah, I'm starting to panic because now at month eight and I haven't worked in SAG yet this year. So there's a good chance. You need to sort that out. I know I'm going to have to get a different entrance. I got a weird rash on my lower leg on the weekend and I was like, what is this? It just popped up.

Did you shave? I'm not going to show you. Did you shave? Not shaving. No, that's the thing. It just appeared. That's what I thought. So I'm like, I have to look at this.

So instantly went on to my little insurance thing. I pay about $400 a month for this thing. Couldn't find any GP on a Saturday that would see me under that insurance care. So off to Hollywood Urgent Care, which is where I went when I had strep throat. Right. So I went back there. I'm back. And it's always surrounded by all sorts of people in there.

So I went in. That woman came in in like a full big mask and rubber gloves Because she was worried about the pox And she looked a bit worried Another doctor came in and looked in full gear 10 minute consultation It's not monkey pox, it's fine What is it?

They looked at it, they did all the things It's no eczema, it's not syphilis It's just a heat rash because it's so hot And you've been walking a lot And probably your shorts are doing it. Shorts are probably rubbing away. Okay, this is why you need to get back into your Viore. Exactly.

Yeah. I've got to get into those shorts. They're not going to rub. All right. Okay, back to baseball. But that was a really fun detour. On to baseball. So I went with Rob on this little boys trip to San Francisco to see a game.

It was the Chicago White Sox versus the San Francisco Giants. Oh, this is exciting because Rob had somebody to root for. Oh, Rob was so excited. And before the game started, I wandered around the arena and talked to people about what they were doing there and how I could survive. And this is what people had to say. It's a stadium. What did I say? Arena. Oh, it's a stadium. Oh, shit, I didn't even catch that. Oh, I love that. This is great.

It's going to be through this whole episode. Is baseball the best American sport, would you say? It's opinion based. I like baseball. I've been born and raised to love baseball. This is a beautiful stadium. I love the atmosphere and I love to be here. I love baseball, but my nieces and nephews, they hate baseball. It's too long. It's too long is what it is. The main thing is there's no clock compared, let's say, like basketball or football. I would say it's my favorite, probably because it's my wife's favorite too. So we get to go to do it together.

We've probably been at least 15 games just this year. Any advice for first game? Like what should I eat? What should I drink? Well, you're talking to the big guy right right here so let me tell you about food. My favorite is the San Francisco cheesesteak sandwich A plus. It will put a smile on your face when you see it. It'll put a smile on your face when you complete it. You sort of appear to be selling autographed balls and bats here. Yeah so basically just set up and sell autographed memorabilia, which is really cool. Is it kind of like a bidding system? Do I come in here and put down a bid? We have an auction until the end of the 4th, and after the end of the 4th,

we have a storefront after that. And we just sell everything on the table, basically. What's the highest an autograph has gone for in your experience? I've sold, so that jersey back there, it's a Shohei Otani signed jersey. We sell that for $2,100. Yeah, and we sell it all the time too, which is pretty crazy. Like, I just sold a glove that was $1,300.

Any advice for enjoying my first baseball game? I hear it's their quite long games. Have garlic fries. Do you agree on the garlic fries, sir? And beer. So what have you got in there? In New Zealand, we'd call this a chili bin, but I think you'd call it a coolie here. We've got a bobblehead.

We have a fruit bowl. Two deli-style sandwiches. This is a small glove with two oranges in it, just in case there's a home run coming my way and need to catch it. This is really lush, what you've got in here. It is very nice. You're going to have a great time. It'll fly by.

Don't worry. A beer and a hot dog, you'll be all good. The nuts. Get the candy nuts. Those are the best. My takeaway was that eating is just as important as the game. It is. It's kind of like ding, ding, ding, the Super Bowl.

Same thing. Like food is as important. It's so funny to me because sport, in my mind, is equated with health and well-being. You're out there running. You love sport. But the other side to sport is you're just sitting and eating and drinking and celebrating that side of things. And I'm not judging that. They're just very different worlds. It's like there's fit people on the field and then everyone watching. Baseball is a little more that's an interesting

thing and i get into this because it's the one sport where you don't necessarily have to be fully in shape yeah there are these all sorts of body types out there on the field so i was just on my way back from new york and on my way home ways which I don't normally take. Oh, maybe that could be an episode. Waze. What's that? It's a maps app. Oh, okay. And you use that instead of Google Maps?

A lot of people do. I don't use it, but most people do. They think it's the fastest one, but it sometimes takes you like really, really weird places. Anyway. Okay, I'm writing that down. That's another episode. So it took us by Dodger Stadium to come home. The first thing my friend Callie said was they have a gluten-free Dodger dog. Yeah.

I know. She has celiac. So it was like the first thing when you drive past the stadium is about the food. Wow. That's the first thing that jumps out. Yeah. I mean, there was a lot of food there. I ate a lot of food and I think Rob and I, we both ate a lot, didn't we? Yeah, we did. What'd you get? We got garlic fries or Rob got them and I stole them. Okay. I really liked the hot dogs. I got one horrible one that was like pre-wrapped awful. Then I found another one which was freshly cooked and that was a complete

delight. Interesting. Just a different stand was serving a different type. You got to look around. You got to walk around. Oh my gosh. And I did get a bit bored of some of the games. And so I did do a lot of walking, but maybe we should just crack into a little documentary because I like to think that I learned something and maybe can teach you something about baseball. I'd love to hear it. I'm about to watch my first ever baseball game and I've already messed it up. I was struggling so much with a foot-long hot dog in this recording gear, I temporarily forgot I had to stand up when the anthem started. Realising my mistake, I stood up before making mistake number two. My hand's still full, I forgot to take my hat off for about the first 20 seconds of the anthem.

Remove my passport and put me back on the boat. I'm a bad American. Earlier that day, I'd arrived in San Francisco's Oracle Park with my producer Rob. The stadium's right by the ocean and seats just over 42,000 people. Rob is a giant baseball fan, so unlike me, knows this game inside out we'd come to the home of the san francisco giants as they prepared to take on the chicago white socks i was here to get schooled in baseball how are you feeling right now david i just don't like it when i don't know what's about to happen and it feels like things are about to happen that i don't know about yeah it's like going to the dentist and seeing like all those utensils on the tray.

I see a bat. I see just a lot of gear, which is concerning. I meet the man who's about to be my teacher. My name's Kai Correa and I'm the bench coach here for the San Francisco Giants. What does it mean to be a bench coach? Are there different sorts of coaches? Yeah, so every staff in the major leagues has a variety of assistant coaches that assist the manager. You can have hitting coaches, you can have pitching coaches, you can have a bullpen coach. The bench coach just kind of assists the manager in game with strategy, does some day-to-day scheduling, and then my area of expertise or what I coach primarily is defense.

All right, so head over there. Kai gestures to the field and hands me a glove before firing up what I think is a ball machine. He says he's going to shoot me some ground balls. Whatever the heck ground balls are. I feel worried. This machine's whirring up. Oh, fuck! It's so fast!

I'm standing about 20 metres away. It's about 65 feet. And these very hard baseballs are hurtling towards me. I thought having them rolling along the ground would make it easier. But I'm still scared of them. Alright, get lower, get lower. Yeah, I'm ready. Here we go.

Spread your feet out. Spread your feet out wide. Yeah, they're wide. Here we go. Oh Jesus. the reaction times are very slow as you may have noticed i'm terrible and flummoxed if it does hit you like what's the worst thing a ball that can do to you it could like break your body yeah you could break a bone or have a severe bruise it's at this point kai reveals he's just been hitting me foam balls. I want to sink into the ground. Bury me right here now under that pitching mound. Make it quick. Producer Rob steps in. He actually manages to catch some balls. Well, all of the balls to be precise. What do you think

of Rob's skill level from the short amount of time you've spent with him? Well, I think it's all about perspective and relative to you, he's quite the fielder. If you could describe your coaching style, what's your vibe? My vibe is pretty attention to detail and preparation driven, so it's a lot about consuming information and film ahead of time, and then giving it to the players in the form of a resource. The fun thing about professional baseball, unlike other professional sports, is there are 162 games spread out over the course of 180 nights. And so each one

is important and each one feels like there's some substantive gravity to them. But in actuality, good baseball teams are about performing over time in a larger sample size. I feel like when you compare it with football, which is barely any games a year in comparison, you guys are much less lazy than football. Like you're busy. Yeah, I'm not sure if I would use the word lazy, but they play 16 games over the course of their season, right? So we play 10 times more games. And so 10 games are equivalent to one game in regard to the impact on the total winning percentage. I suppose football involves a lot more collisions, so it's probably important football players aren't playing 162 games a year. That's not to say there aren't injuries in baseball as well.

What's the most horrific thing you've seen out there on the field? The toughest thing is when you're standing in the dugout and you watch two players collide running full speed because they can't see each other, they're focused on the ball, and it's like a car accident and you know what's going to happen. Right from afar, you can see their trajectories lining up and then bingo. So that's the worst thing that can happen for me out here. I type horrific baseball collisions into Google

and find that, yeah, there are a lot of horrific baseball collisions. When your eyes are focused on the sky while you sprint your heart out, disasters are bound to happen. Something I find sort of amazing about baseball is how players are always getting better. That's partly down to training, but it's also down to data. So the physical movements, right, the new technology tracks the way the ball flies through the air when a pitcher throws it. It tracks the bat. It tracks the center of mass of each of the defenders as they hope to complete a play. And in addition to that, there's data now that informs us about matchups

and what pitcher or what pitch would be good against a specific batter. And so all of those things kind of get boiled down to each decision that is made in a game. And so I think if you imagine baseball as continuous movement in regard to strategy, it becomes more exciting. And then I think baseball is an amazing social sport. It allows for discussion and argument and second guessing between action. That is also what makes it great to be consumed by a fan. The other thing I associate baseball with is drama. I feel like baseball is the sport where entire teams get furious, all storming the field at once to scream and punch and shout.

I've seen videos of coaches yelling at each other on the field, so close it's like they're about to kiss. And we have chaos. Because you have the element of martial arts, one man versus another, a man with a stick versus a man with a ball, right? The collision, the head-to-head, the crescendo of the music and the crowd, the time in between.

So that drama makes it really theatrical. The other thing, like speaking of drama, I feel like of any sports I've watched, people lose it. If they get angry and stuff, people are down here, I feel like they're throwing things under the field. It gets chaotic. Without question, because when you think about basketball or football, you can say, hey, you dropped that one.

Throw it to me again. Throw it to me next time. Hey, I missed that shot, but I'm going to have an opportunity of redemption. That redemption is within my control. A mistake in baseball, a bad call, a missed catch, a strikeout, a poor pitch doesn't automatically have immediate redemption, right? You might wait for the ball to come to you again. You have to wait eight batters for your spot to come. So the gravity of each of those moments seems so much more severe because you can't

guarantee you're going to have an opportunity to redeem yourself. Before Kai leaves me to coach some actual baseball players who'll play tonight, he makes me stand with a bat while he pitches to me. I'm not wearing any protective gear, so he pitches the ball, kindly, a few meters to my right. It's still terrifying. I truly hate it. What's the fastest someone would, I was about to say ball, but what's the fastest someone would pitch? Well, we've got a guy on our team named Camilo Devor closer, and he's throwing the ball as high as 103 miles per hour. So I was probably throwing it to you right there, 75 miles per hour. So you're talking about 28 miles per hour harder than that. So over 25% harder than I just threw at you. I guess in cricket bowling speeds are sort of similar to baseball speeds. A cricket ball can get up to 100 miles

per hour easily enough. And I suppose that makes sense when you remember cricket and baseball all kind of came from the same place. All modern bat and ball games evolving out of early folk games in the UK. As the games developed, cricket ended up being a much longer game than baseball. Cricket games can range from six hours to multiple days. By the mid-18th century, a game popped up in the south of England that involved pitching a ball and then running a circuit of bases. This used to be called goalball, round ball, and my favourite, fetch catch. Eventually, as things were refined, fetch catch became baseball. But yeah, cricket came first, the word first appearing in the year 1550.

The word baseball was first recorded 150 years later, in the year 1700. Do you think cricket will ever take off in the United States, or is it just destined to fail? I never say never, but I think the similarities to baseball are one of the limiting factors. In the same way that countries that are dominated by cricket, baseball hasn't taken off. Before I leave, Kai, there's one final humiliation. I'd put my microphone down, but alas, it picked things up anyway. What's your favorite baseball film?

Yeah. Favorite baseball? Well, I watched Friday Night Lights. It's like a series. Oh, that's football. Yeah. Oh, yeah, fuck. Ugh, you fetch the coffin.

I'll start digging. David. Yeah. That's so coffin. I'll start digging. David. Yeah. That's so embarrassing. I was really embarrassed. I'd kind of, they knew that I didn't know a lot, obviously, and I'd already embarrassed myself with no skill. But then to also not even know what a TV show is.

You barely even knew Friday Night Lights was about football. I'm surprised that's now your, like, go-to show. I think anyone mentions, like, your favorite sports show, I'm like, Friday Night Lights. about football. I'm surprised that's now your go-to show. I think anyone mentions your favorite sports show, I'm like, Friday Night Lights. Wait a minute. I can't believe it's taken me this long to even bring this up and I'm so disappointed. Why didn't you say Moneyball?

I haven't seen Moneyball. You cut it out but you went on about how cinematic baseball was for a little while and then you gave Friday Night Lights your example. Oh my my god i try and fit in that's the trouble with the show i don't know anything that's the problem i'm throwing in i'm flummoxed i don't know what's happening i'm trying to redeem myself in a small way okay do yourself a huge favor and watch moneyball okay it has brad pitt chris pratt i would have

loved if you would have interviewed one of those two people for this because they have a lot of insight. I saw on the home edit Chris Pratt still has his baseball bat from that movie. It's about the statistics, isn't it? And the analysis. And the math of it. It is such a good movie. I watched it like 42 times in the last two months. I promise I'm going to watch that film. I should have watched it before i did this you really should have it would have given you a

flittery feeling about baseball i mean i felt lucky going because even though i struggle to get enthusiastic i had rob by my side the whole time oh but rob's a rascal i'm surprised you didn't whisper in your ear friday night lights no he's always out to embarrass me all the time that's all he does also i don't like that you keep reiterating that it's a British sport. It's not. The only sport that's British is Quidditch. Look, all I'm going to say is the first sport

where they sort of start running around bases was in the UK. Whatever. And it was called Fetch Catch, which I wish they had kept. Also, I sang the national anthem at a Braves game three times with my chorus. On the field? Yeah.

Wow. Can you just talk me through that experience? Were you nervous? How was it looking out and seeing all those people? It was incredible. I mean, I was with my whole middle school chorus. Which is great. So you can sort of hide in the group a little bit.

I lip synced a lot in that chorus because I would get embarrassed and scared. I was in alto, which is the deepest sound. Right. And that is embarrassing for a little girl. Oh, you're meant to be angelic high pitches and stuff. No, you would have owned it. You would have been great. Well, I didn't.

I just mouthed it. Anyway, it was really exciting. I remember on our way there, I did it sixth grade, seventh grade, and eighth grade. We were running late, and I was screaming at my dad. I was just screaming. Yeah, we're going to be late. I'm going to miss it. Oh, my God, I was so panicked.

But I made it, and it was a really exciting thing. It felt special. It felt like I was really American, you know? Because the whole stadium's silent just listening, aren't they? It was a really exciting thing. It felt special. It felt like I was really American, you know? Because the whole stadium's silent just listening, aren't they? And then that huge eruption of clapping at the end. Yeah. Wow.

Cracker Jacks. That's so cool. Stay tuned for more Flightless Bird. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsors. Flightless Bird is brought to you by Helix Sleep, who actually saved me when I got marooned here in America because they sent me a mattress. It turned up in the post. I unfurled it and I've been sleeping on it and sleeping well ever since.

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I've got so much more to learn. Okay. Players are starting to arrive. I meet up with Logan Webb, who claims he's a pitcher for the San Francisco Giants. I'm a pitcher for the San Francisco Giants. I look to Rob for confirmation. He nods.

This is my man. Logan is only 25, a spring chicken. I always assume any athlete is at least in their 30s. But of course, they're always way younger than me. Are the Giants a good team? Yes, they are. Yeah, we're a good team. Logan got drafted eight years ago and made his major league debut in 2019. He's now a starting pitcher for the Giants. What's it like to get drafted? Is that like, oh, yes, finally, this is it. This is the moment. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

For me, it was my high school graduation. That's insane. Yeah, it was a great day, and I was just super excited. Yeah, it was like, fuck yeah, you know what I mean? No, I don't know what you mean, but I kind of feel like I sort of grasp it slightly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's exactly what fuck yeah means, you know what I mean? How did you know that you were a good, is it throwing or pitching?

What do you call it? Pitching, pitching. How did you know you were a good pitcher? When I was young, just played baseball and my arm was always pretty good. And so usually when you're younger and the coaches see that a kid has a good arm, they'll just kind of say, hey, try out pitching. When I was at school, I never had a coach tell me anything. I guess mostly I was trying to avoid doing physical education at all or whatever you call it here in America, gym class or something. I always found it quite shocking.

One second you're in school uniform sitting at a desk writing notes, then for one hour a day you're thrown into these tiny shorts and a t-shirt and sent out to engage in physical battle with your fellow students. Then after that you cover up all your body odor with some foul deodorant, change back into your uniform and go back to maths class or maybe take some history. Logan says that part of the reason baseball players are pitching harder and hitting faster is that kids are getting into sport way earlier now. Kids at younger ages are learning the right mechanics to throw and also I think kids are getting into weight rooms now at the age of 12 whereas I don't think people were doing that back then. I wasn't doing that at 12.

I can assure you of that. I wasn't even doing that at 12. I think I started lifting weights when I was like 15, and I know where I work out now, I got like 12-year-olds in there, and they're talking shit to me and like calling me out, you know, throwing as hard as me. I'm like, what the fuck?

It's like bullying you at the gym. Yeah, they're like, you know, you're 25 as me. I'm like, what the fuck? It's like bullying you at the gym. Yeah, they're like, you're 25 years old, I'm 12, and I throw as hard as you do. This is bullshit. It strikes me that Logan's life is all about pitching. It's his one big thing. He tells me that even if he wanted to bat, it's no longer even allowed.

Not just him. Apparently in professional baseball, pitchers can't bat anymore. Unfortunately, no. We got the hit last year, but this year we're not. They took it out. They took it out of the rules or something? Yeah. So there's a, it's called a designated hitter. He hits for the pitchers now, instead of the pitchers hitting for themselves. Why did they change the rule?

Because pitchers were not good at hitting. I thought it was just a disaster up there. Yes, but that was the most fun, though. If a pitcher went up there and they got a base hit or a home run, it was like, holy shit. The crowd would go crazy, but they took that away, unfortunately. So the day I pitch, I do the exact same thing at the exact same time every single time.

I have three Red Bulls the day I pitch. So like right when I get to the field, I have a Red Bull. Two hours before the game, I have another Red Bull. And an hour before the game, I have another Red Bull. That's a lot of caffeine in the body. Yeah, it's terrible for me, but it makes me feel better. What else are you doing? So my warm-ups. I do the exact same thing in the exact same order. I have to put my right shoe on first before I have my left shoe. It's really stupid, honestly, but I'm not OCD,

but I have certain OCD tendencies. I totally get the idea of like doing things in a certain way. It's all psychological for your own brain. Yeah, and it's only one day a week that I do it. It's the day I pitch. Every other day, I'm a total slob. Looking at him, he's not a total slob. He seems pretty fit. But I get to thinking about other players I've seen, and I realize baseball is a sport where you can sort of be any shape and size. It doesn't really seem to matter. You could be any size, and you could be a great baseball player. You could be five foot six. You could be six foot ten. You could be 300 pounds. You could be 150 pounds. I don't know if you caught that just then.

It was a very loud, angry swear word drifting in from the fields where some White Sox players had been warming up. I've heard about this guy. What's his name? Liam Hendricks. Actually, he's from Australia and he cusses a lot. We like to swear in New Zealand and Australia. There's a lot of C words. Which is a word you can't use here in America like you do back home. I wasn't saying it.

So a quick deviation here. I've discovered that in America there aren't many words more offensive than the C word. See, it's beeped. Point proven. This is a confusing transition to make because back in New Zealand and next door in Australia where Liam Hendricks is from, it's a lot less offensive. I mean, sure, it can be an insult. It all depends on the pronunciation. But to call someone a good is a term of endearment and honor. That phrase just doesn't work the same here.

Okay, back to the interview. The screams on the field are too distracting. I say a big thanks to Logan and follow the screaming. The screams have actually now stopped by the time I get there, but I finally am Hendrix leaning on a fence next to the field. Weirdly, the man who was screaming f***ing c*** earlier seems very, very calm. You seem very relaxed and very chilled out. It's good to see. Yeah, I mean, there's no point in stressing about it. You can't change anything. You're not going to be able to change a damn thing if you're stressed. So you may as well just hang out and do what you can. As a New Zealander, I don't think I've ever said this before,

but hearing this Australian accent while in America is like finding a beautiful watering hole in the middle of a desert. It's wonderful. It's music to my ears, chapstickstick to my dry lips a cold beer after a hard day do you have like any like motions you go through before a game uh rage generally i mean if anyone has seen me pitch i just scream a lot the best thing when i was sitting over here doing an interview before it was so wonderful to hear the c word just rolling across yeah i can whip that out because it's not normal it's the worst word you can say in america but as you know it's also like one of the terms of a wonderful endearment it's determined it all ends up as the pronunciation of the t soft t good hard t bad that's how

anyone who's australian or new zealand or british or anything like that will understand that one liam retreats off the field and into the bowels of the stadium. Me and Rob follow him. I think this is genuinely the first time I've really enjoyed talking to a sports player before. I feel like you are kind of an outsider in this deeply American sport. Yeah, it's a different vibe. I got into this pretty much the same way that most kids from where we come from get into it and uh cricket's too long t-ball on saturdays was 30 minutes and cricket was about six hours so that was not the reason because i keep getting yelled at by my mom for saying that reason but no we followed a friend group into t-ball and we kind of just stuck with it i mean at the end of the day i still bring my own little vibe to it my own little uh not necessarily agenda per se but just my different way of thinking than

your gen pop and this really holds true especially when it comes to pro sports players he says what's on his mind flicking through his instagram i see a t-shirt he's in that says stars and stripes and reproductive rights and when liam signed up to a three-year deal with the white socks just last year for 5454 million. He insisted that the White Sox had a pride night. He wouldn't sign it until he made sure they were gay-friendly. He's not gay himself. He just wants things to even out a little bit more in society.

I remember as a kid, it was always never quite a positive. I don't understand how everything has to be, oh, well, that's not normal. Well, who's to say what normal is? Why don't we just change that tone? It makes it a hell of a lot easier. I have always wanted to make sure that I was never that guy. I was never that guy that was like, oh, no, I'm going to put you down because you're different or anything like that. Don't get me wrong, I've never been perfect,

but in saying that, I've always wanted to make sure that everyone is included in things. It's inclusive. It's a lifestyle that we make sure everything is taken care of. And I think in, especially in baseball, there's been other sports plays have come out and no one in baseball and baseball is a, I don't mean this any way negatively, but it is a very white Christian sport. And a lot of people are moving towards that different way of viewing it where it's not condemned and all this sort of stuff. But I wanted someone to put a face to it because at the end of the day people click on the face and

then they read the story and i'm not the only one it's encouraging to see a mainstream sports star one who's really good at what they do actively speaking out about this stuff there's nothing to be gained for him but he seems to be breaking some of the old rules. Baseball was always known as a very stoic game. You give the same cliched answers, you give the same like drab responses to things. And then it coincided with me starting to play better that I got a bit of a voice. Liam says he started to really play better just a few years before that big deal with the White Sox, thanks to a dramatic attitude shift. Out with an injury, sidelined with not much to do, he basically learned to relax. Why don't you just sit back and not let

everything come to you, but like you set no expectations. And when there's no expectations, you can't get annoyed when something that you're expecting doesn't happen. So if you go out there with no expectations, everything you get is a blessing. It keeps you hungry. It keeps you driven. It keeps you moving forward. And that's one thing that has been fantastic also moving to the bullpen because i have what they call them i don't have a dugout personality what is the dugout personality um well in the dugout it's all the hitters hitting is a game of failure so like the best hitters in the league are getting on base maybe three to four out of ten times so that means six times they're mad as hell so me i, I'm in the bullpen.

I joke around at all times. So they have to put me 450 feet away to make sure I don't disturb the guys who are grumpy for getting out. How have you found your attitude fits in with Americans? Because I feel like you do stand out and I feel like some Americans would look at you and not quite know how to take you,

especially when you're just kind of entered the sphere. Yeah, that's the best reaction ever, isn't it? I thank Liam for his time and head up into the main stadium. In time, it fills with tens of thousands of fans. We're in San Francisco, so it's mostly Giants fans. But me and Rob go off and sit with a bunch of White Sox fans. Rob's from Chicago, so it makes sense. For me, I guess I've just been won over by the

Australian. I look at the group in front of us. They're kitted out in all the gear. They've got branded blankets and jumpers and hats. And Maria is clutching a giant box of garlic fries. And what do you think about the seats we've got right now? Oh, they're the best. You got a nice view. I brought my husband, my daughter, my granddaughter and my grandson. So, yes. Yes, indeed. I don't have a husband or a daughter, a granddaughter or a grandson, but I look next to me and I have Rob. And around us, we have 32,000 baseball fans. And it feels pretty good. And it feels pretty good I really enjoyed watching your face

The second Liam Hendricks came on And started talking in his accent And I was talking in my accent It was jarring Because I think Totally He sounds not all Australian That's pure Australian

It is? Yeah, that's a really intense Australian accent. And saying that, look, maybe I'm talking out my ass. Maybe there's a bit of American in there. What do you think, Rob? It sounded like almost Southern. It was pretty Australian. Yeah, it's like, in my mind, that's pure Australian.

Wow. It's like pure, unadulterated Aussie. That's really interesting. I was like, oh, he's picked up a Southern accent, an American Southern accent, but then the Australian's like peeping in. Yeah. It's just like in America, different parts of Australia have more intense Australian accents than others. And he was just so, so on. Well, I really liked him. Yeah. You were tickled by him. I could tell. I was really starstruck. Rob was teasing me because I got quite starstruck.

But he was so kind to me. He'd do things to make me feel at home. He got a baseball out and was like, can you sign this for me? And stuff like that. So he sort of treated me like a big baby and sort of adopted me, which is my favorite thing. You better have signed it cinnamon. He was lovely. I love all the social awareness.

He speaks out on any kind of political issue that comes up. Just gives us two cents. And I feel like so often in sport, press conferences are so boring because, and they are in New Zealand as well, players are just like, oh, we did the best we could on the day and whatever. Whereas he's actually talking about stuff that he's passionate about that isn't sport yeah it's funny because when you first hear him and he's screaming the c word i was not expecting him to then just be really kind and care about the world and i've gotten into huge fights about the c word as well because and i know it's a deeply problematic word especially when it's being said by a guy that's a whole other topic but just honestly hearing it yelled from my personal perspective it was just so funny because it was just so over the

top so unexpected yeah even new zealand that would be unexpected even at that volume sure in america while i was interviewing this um this giants player i was like what is happening yes that's another entire topic, I suppose. Okay, I'll write that down. Yeah, we'll do another episode of that. I actually do kind of want you to do an episode because I want to know where the negative element came from. Yeah, absolutely.

And it's so interesting with any swear word, but also who's using it, why they're using it, who they're using it to. I mean, obviously with the N-word, we do know why it's problematic we know absolutely yeah but how does how does that become sexualized and in a certain way and negative as opposed to positive right or something it's interesting i do want to do another episode this reminds me about ratings over here because i went to see showgirls on the weekend on a big screen

the very controversial film the director that made robocop and starship troopers made it a lot of nudity sure it was nc-17 which i didn't realize was different to ah yes and as a young person i guess a teenager you're not allowed to go even if you have an adult with you you've got to be 17 and up to see it. That blew my mind. Yeah, I know. I mean, maybe people don't go to the movies anymore so people aren't sneaking into theaters and stuff.

I don't know how the rating system kind of works here, but I want to learn. I mean, I wonder how many movies are still getting that rating. I feel like it's dropped off like crazy. I also feel it's funny because films would get such intense ratings and then you just you're

watching netflix now exactly this is ridiculous what i'm watching anyone could be watching this oh my god speaking of i was on the plane and i watched worst person in the world worst person in the world an incredible film oh my god it was good but also there is a lot of nudity who was next to you and who was behind you looking through the cracks? Who I didn't know was going to be that intense. And all of a sudden, I mean, full nudity. Also, there's one point where she takes her tampon out. And I was like, oh, my God, oh, my God.

The people next to me are going to judge. For years, because living in New Zealand, whenever I went anywhere, I would usually be on a plane because we're a tiny little island. For years, I was always worried about the people to my left and right. And then I realized, oh, my goodness, it's even worse, the crack behind the seat. Because that's who's got direct vision of your screen. That's the ones I should have been worrying about. True. Could have been a baby.

Could have been a baby. Could have been. Oh, how many babies have I scarred? I have a few things we must address okay please how many times do i have to tell you it's math singular am i still saying it you said maths class again oh no yeah okay writing that down like the sports math class and since last time we were talking about things you say a little wrong one popped up oh my god um in america we would say debut not debut i heard that too i mean i worry about this stuff because chances are i'm also saying it

incorrectly in new zealand well i don't know i don't want to say that because we have to get another Kiwi on to corroborate. I'm going to say just so it's less embarrassing that it's just an American problem that I have. I'm going to go with that. Debut and singular math. Okay, I'm noting this down. It is the worst thing when you discover you've been saying a word wrong. I had a friend that always said vinyl as vinyl and they only found out about that like very late in life and they were probably mad at their friends for not correcting that i thank you yep that's where i'm getting on this

platform where other people can we all have holes in our knowledge and it's all good we're learning together isn't it all right well this was really fun i loved hearing you try to play baseball that was my favorite part yeah it was scary there's one other trivia i wanted to throw in and the hat i'm wearing today i've actually had this already and i got so worn out i just bought a new one okay this is a baseball team This is a baseball team called the Kansas Cats. So I've got some facts to read out about them. They were called the Kansas City Cats.

This company called Ebbets Field reprints the hats and sells them for absorbent fees, which I always spend money on them. But in 1914, two brothers named Ike and Mike, that's amazing, Ike and candy cats opened two drug stores in kansas city i've seen a photo of the pharmacy and it had a giant cat head on the roof this cat head did you feel like you were coming home did it feel visceral in your body i was like finally i can get behind a sports team yeah because they love cats so anyway this drug store sponsored a sports team because they love cats. So anyway, this drugstore sponsored a baseball team. And so basically the team, this wasn't their logo. Well, it was their logo, but it was the logo of the pharmacy. A couple of other facts about this place. At the start of World War I, cats drugstores became famous

because they're allowed to stay open until 6pm despite wartime curfews. They absorbed the new 10% tax on cigarettes instead of passing it on to the customer. Very pro-smoking. Not so great, but a kind thing to do. They also sold more than just drugs. They had a grocery store inside, a soda fountain, a lunch counter,

and they also sold live animals, including cats. Okay. This episode took a big turn. I don't know how all of a sudden we started talking about your favorite topic on earth cats well i just love that this is probably like the one baseball team it no longer exists but it's the one team whose logo i really really really it's a cute hat it's a really good hat right yeah it looks good um oh one final fact cat's drugstore was one of the first sit-ins during the civil rights movement.

Oh, okay. Okay. I'm on board now. It was sold in 71 to Skaggs Drug Company, which eventually merged with Osco Drugs, which eventually merged with CVS. Okay. I like CVS. Yeah. Do you want to tell people just really quickly your journey with your cat?

I found this little cat in the hallway in my building. I had it for a weekend because I couldn't find where it lived. I had it for two days and then I went and knocked on all the doors in my apartment block again. There's probably about 45 doors. Wow. I found the owner. Yeah. Sort of an old man. I say old, sort of 60s. I'll probably be 60 soon, not that old. Weirdly, didn't seem that grateful to me for returning his tiny kitten that had somehow escaped. He just said, that's my cat, took it, and sort of shut the door. Okay, it sounds like Mr. Heckles from Friends. It was so, so strange.

This reminds me, Friends, Rob, who was the player? His walk-in music onto the fields was the Friends theme song. It was Flores on the Jones. Right. Wilmer Flores. Wilmer Flores. So we'd be watching this game and just randomly this Friends theme song was playing. And eventually I said, why is this happening?

And Rob explained it to me. Well, I fucking love it and and rob sent me and dax a like video of it or something yeah acting like we were gonna be appalled i'm like do you even know me i love this and this is the best thing ever this is the best thing i love him he loves friends yeah there are so many funny little things some of the songs they'd sing like there'd be little catchphrases and catch songs and it was all a mystery to me but suddenly the whole crowd would be chanting or singing and it's a real crowd favorite isn't it baseball it really is oh my gosh on the jumbotron screen did they have the games at the brave stadium they have like games where there's like a picture of three cups and then you see that there's like a dice under one cup and then it like moves super, super, super quick and you're trying to figure out where the dice is.

Yeah, it's so fun. So it's like you're watching little magic tricks. Yes. If you don't want to watch the game. I love magic. I love that. Well, it's not instead of the game. It's in between.

In between. Imagine if they just put magic tricks up on the screen during the entire game. I would just be staring at that the entire time. Okay. Well, I think you got a little more American, but then you backtracked because you mainly made this episode about an Australian. I did. And I also mucked up, not on purpose, not taking my hat off at the anthem, which was a real muck up. So I think I might have actually gone backwards.

And you said Friday Night Lights. and you yeah and i was bad you said cricket a lot of times in this i think i've gone backwards yeah all right well we have a lot more to go thanks monica thanks for correcting my errors try it try saying it say it math Meth. Cinnamon's learning. He is.