Crime in Sports - #278 - Cocaine Is My Only Friend - The Loneliness of Rod Scurry

Episode Date: November 2, 2021

This week, we head back to the cocaine hazed 1980s, to talk about a guy who could have been the next Sandy Koufax, but his extra curricular activities ruined it all. He was a quiet kid, with major league dreams, but the loneliness of being on the road led him down a path of booze, cocaine, and invisible snakes. He had a few chances, but just couldn't get it together, in his career, or personal life. Things all come to a head on one crazy evening, just before Halloween, when his own demons & goblins finally got the best of him! Have one of the best curveballs that has ever existed, try your hardest to get a good coke habit going, and fight off the snakes with Rod Scurry!! Check us out, every Tuesday! !We will continue to bring you the biggest idiots in sports history!!  Hosted by James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman  Donate at... patreon.com/crimeinsports or with paypal.com using our email: [e-mail]  Get all the CIS & STM merch at crimeinsports.threadless.com  Go to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things CIS & STM!!  Contact us on... twitter.com/crimeinsports [e-mail] facebook.com/Crimeinsports instagram.com/smalltownmurder See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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So that's going to there's a giant parrot mascot involved. The whole thing's crazy. A cocaine snorting parrot mascot. It's awesome. So, V12 up your nose. I like it. Oh, you know it.

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There we go. Let's get into this, Jimmy, right away. We have a lot of 80s crazy cocaine lunacy to get into. We're in baseball this week, so we're going away from brain damage, but still, you would think when you hear his story, you go, oh, did he play football or was he a boxer in his youth? Where did he get brain damage from? Because something's wrong here. Rodney Grant Scurry. Rod Scurry.

Rod Scurry. Do you know who that is? Expos. No, not at all. Pitcher in the 80s he is part of the the whole pittsburgh pirates cocaine scandal of the 80s oh is that right he was the cokiest of the coke heads of that whole team and that's saying something on that squad because that they were like you know it was like utah in the winter they're just buried in snow that place was wild so he's kind of the the cokiest of them all

of this whole group and some of this information by the way of certain things comes from the pittsburgh seven which is a really good book that i recommend for anybody out there there's an audio version it's good shit that's the whole pittsburgh cocaine thing that happened here we'll touch on it here but we're gonna have to do a whole episode on the on the pittsburgh cocaine trials because it's it involves all the sports oh it's a huge thing involving tons of players and a whole whole deal we'll get into the the parrots involved it's crazy it's fucking crazy pirate parrot is involved here but rod scurry born on saint patrick's day march yeah march 17th 1956 um he was born in sacramento california but he grows up in reno nevada oh boy sheriff's department reno and sparks so it's just uh it's a beaut of a town oh it's a beaut of a town and imagine what it was

like in the 60s and 70s because it feels oh god it feels like it's the 70s now so yeah i don't know what the hell it felt like back then but it must have been interesting man it had james that town's probably grown since then yeah you would imagine in terms of like building and population such it had to be just a rancid piece of shit in the 60s i bet it was nicer though because there's no meth yeah yeah yeah meth has just destroyed these you know rural mountain cities so i'm telling you i mean probably it was a lot nicer uh his parents here preston and betty so he's got a mom named Betty. That's a very 50s. Sounds very 50s.

Mad men. So he right away, always an athletic kid. And he's got brothers and sisters. He's got a brother, a sister named Lisa Brothers, Randy, Rick and Richard and Rod and Rod, which isn't Rick short for Richard. It is. So how the fuck are you, Rick and Richard? And why would you do that to your kids those two and then why would you have randy and rodney no randy rodney rick and richard you can't do that that's tough yeah that's it's a tough one but it's a lot of

kids and the boys all four r's here all four of the boys are very shy as we'll talk about not shy to like not do things but they're not big talkers and big like they're very introverted people i don't know what a personality yeah i don't know what was going on with the family but they're very very quiet these tiny place in in reno i i can't imagine the yeahpically, you imagine that's just a lot of beating of the children. They're running to Reno because they're wanted elsewhere. Well, we figured Reno's the last lawless town. There it is. So we came here.

They've outlawed child beating everywhere else. Oh, man. That was my bread and butter. They don't know how to raise kids down there in the big city. My bread and butter. Sacramento wasn't having it, but Reno, red carpet. Red carpet Reno, we call it. Rolled it out for us now.

Yeah, he's, that's so funny. Likely not a great childhood, right? I mean, I don't know. It seems like it. They seem very happy from what I understand. They're just quiet. I think that's also cultural. I don't know where the family's from.

I was just watching on the bonus episode of Scott Peterson. We were talking about body language and things like that. And I was watching the Stephen Avery interview where the body language guys were talking about him. And the one guy is a European guy and he didn't know anything about Stephen Avery, really. Like he didn't really, you know, whatever. And he's just like one thing I'm noticing in this interview is like he's got his hands tight to his sides like he's really holding himself in trying to keep himself together blah blah blah the one guy interjects and he goes i gotta interject one thing here he goes that's a cultural thing he's from wisconsin germanic background you don't use your hands

when you talk the hands to your side when you talk or else you're considered like oh man he's crazy what are you italian get the hell out of here what's wrong with you so that's a good point then and i know a lot of people a lot of i knew a lot of families growing up that were very reserved and i just assumed that there was like some awful shit going on in their house but sometimes just like that just good people just keep to themselves and it's where you're from because like when i watched the movie napoleon dynam, which I despise with every fiber of my being. I love it. When I watch that movie, I'm like, is it on like, you know, on your podcast app, you can put it at like three quarters speed and you're like, it's almost right.

But it's that's what that movie is. It's like, is this a three quarters speed? Why are these people moving so fucking slowly? They're talking slowly. They're moving slowly. I can't take it anymore. And that's what it is. It's it's just.

And then I knew people who are from Idaho or wherever the hell that's for North Dakota or whatever it was. that's what it is it's it's they're just and then i knew people who are from idaho or wherever the hell that's for north dakota or whatever it was and they're like that's exactly how people are like there i'm like how do you not blow your brains out percent like that's fucking crazy i can't you know me i would be losing my mind can we hurry the fuck up up there yeah jesus christ people do just sit on a stoop and look at the grass. Oh, my God. I can't take it. It would drive me crazy to live like that. I can't do it.

I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do it with zero talent to doodle. I'm going to doodle anyway. They just do it. How are you going to get better, James, if you don't doodle?

That's true. You should try. I guess try to improve. Yeah. I'm the type of person, too, where I can like tell if I'm going to be decent at something when I try it. And if it's not, if I I'm not going to be very good at it, I'm not going to do it. Like, what am I doing this for? I don't want to suck at something.

That's that's not fun. I've got a mangled left hand. I know that there are people that do things uh that like play guitar and stuff and they're missing digits and shit it's not for me i can't do that and i'm never gonna learn because i know that i'm i'm incapable i don't know what i don't understand it i don't know how that does that i just i'll be impressed that you can that then that i did the same thing with music any type of music i'm like i i could i'm terrible at it i can't get it so i don't have whatever that is i haven't picked up a musical instrument since i was 12 because of that because

there's no fucking point i love the drums and i can play them but i can't play things like like pianos i'd love to learn to play that i don't know i don't know why there's too many keys that do the same thing i don't get it that's so this one's so close to this one though right that's so close how do i know which one to hit why do i have that one if that one exists give me like five keys can we do is there a child's casio around somewhere you give like a toddler so rod as a child he is always into baseball and uh he's a lefty by the way which is a big reason why he keeps getting chances as well because he's a lefty if you're a left-handed relief pitcher you know a lot of those you can just pitch forever i mean jesse or osco and terry

mulhall and those guys pitched till they were literally in their late 40s because they're lefties if you can throw strikes, you can do it. There's not a lot of lefties in general. And then if you're talented enough to throw hard with that to a very small target, you are an anomaly and we will use you forever. Yeah, left-handed pitchers are worth something. So he would stack mattresses against a backyard fence, stack them up to throw pitches against it so he wouldn't destroy the fence and that like square on it and pitch for hours which i fucking did that too with a you know ball on a wall or a thing you know everybody did that there was a post office in

the village of wappingers i used to throw the ball against the wall for fucking hours and you know hours um he would work on his curveball big time his you know he was trying to be sandy koufax as a young child obby if you're a left-handed pitcher in the 60s you want to be you know sandy koufax one of the top three lefties of all time probably so not too shabby um he would and this is something he would do at home and at school teachers would think and and his family too would think he was like hard studying like head in the books i mean really like wow look at him he's focused you know he's really into that book then after a while they noticed that he doesn't turn the page ever or you know on that first word he's really but he's he's looking all

up and down and around he's moving his hands around but the page itself stays open then they all realize he's not reading anything or doing homework he's in fact studying index cards that he'd organized in his own scouting report on opposing batters that he was going to face for at school for school school weeks where he was dedicating yourself that much to baseball you're going to be successful yeah the goddamn major league teams didn't put together scouting reports like that back then right literally in the 60s they'd go they'd they'd have a meeting and they'd talk about you know this guy or that guy what about that guy anybody have any experience he doesn't like the inside stuff all right yeah throw that guy inside that

that was a fucking that was a scouting meeting with that wow i mean now it's all computerized and they can show you to the you know percentage where this guy hits the ball better keep it from here but back then you know you had to do that shit on your own and he was doing it as a child so fascinating it's impressive actually um and uh he said that his brother rick said that quote he was the best he would always get mad at us uh because we wouldn't catch we wouldn't catch for him yeah so because he's throwing really hard and his older brother uh that's his older brother randy talking and he said he could throw a pitch that would curve between a batter's legs his curveballs what his curve yeah like it would start

over the plate and end up between your legs that's how fucking vicious this thing is and i've seen him throw this curveball his curveball is one of the best curveballs in the history of baseball period wow period when it was right it was the 82 season you can put it up there with sandy koufax as that type of curveball. Guys compare it to Steve Carlton's slider, which is considered the most devastating pitch in the history of baseball, Steve Carlton's slider. Giant lefty hard slider like that, like Randy Johnson's was the same way. So, yeah, they said that, quote, he would never let me forget that.

He said about the pitch that he could do that to him and fuck him up like that. And his father said he was also a really skilled marksman with a rifle as well you would think so yeah so he's just good at any projectile thing and putting it where he wants it whether it's arm speed or or bouter he can do it his father said quote he was one of the best shooters i've ever known that boy sure could shoot. He was the greatest. So, I mean, wow, that's pretty impressive. He went to Reno's.

I went to high school in Reno at Hug High School. H-U-G. Hug. Hug. Need a hug. And he did very, very well all the way to the state AAA baseball final series. So, the state championships for the 3A. Was the mascot the Bears? Fucking better the bears it fucking better or better that would have been amazing that would have been perfect perfect you can't you can't get any better than that how do you blow it like that

maybe they didn't want to encourage dumb people to hug bears possibly people in this area they might not be bright and they might just say we should hug bears now uh i mean mike tyson wanted to fight a gorilla so you never know what what people's inklings are toward animals really um a friend of his called named bob oliphant who was a high school teammate he said he was a couple years older than me we played together he was very quiet he had an enormous amount of talent he had uh the talent that all of us wish we had the major league scouts were at every one of our baseball practices and at all the games how cool that's cool that's also stressful when you're 16 sure but cool though if they're not

there to see you take advantage of that shit oh yeah are sitting and watching the game because oh listen man serendipity is a thing everybody's gonna love that yeah that's there's a lot of guys that got found while people were looking at somebody else that happens absolutely all the fucking time from what i understand that's uh the the first scout that really noticed jerry rice they were looking at somebody on the other team and they're like who the fuck is that guy that keeps scoring touchdowns i want that guy so yeah were, you know, a lot of pressure at Hug High School. There's an article I found by a guy named Steve Martorano, who was a high school teammate of his who then became a journalist later on. And he lost touch with Rod.

They didn't really keep in touch or anything, but he's going to kind of touch on his life a little bit here. anything but he's going to kind of touch on his life a little bit here he recalls that during the summer of 1971 so rod's 15 it was the 15 year old reno optimist all-star team reached the state championship game in elko oh exciting we get to go we get to go to elko all the way to oh man all the way to elko i was gonna be good man i hope grandma can make it i'm proud which i shit i had state championship for anything as impressive as fuck sounds horrible what a trip i don't want to go to elko for it um he said that uh at this point rod was probably the team's third best pitcher he was 15 so and he took a one to nothing lead a no-hitter into the top of the last inning. Wow.

So he had a no-hitter going in this game and a one-to-nothing lead. And he had two outs with a no-hitter going. And he hit a guy. Oh. Hit a batter. So now he's got a guy on base. And then eventually, after a tough at bat, a guy hit a two-run home run off him. God damn it.

And, you know, a two run lead there and they had to stop the game for several minutes because rod started crying on the mound he lost it i would too man he lost it yeah he was like a no high school kid doing great and blows it fuck it's one thing if the whole game sucked or you got bombed on or you know you got hit up in the fourth inning but to have a no hitter going with two outs and then get it ruined, not only ruined by a home run, but then the lead's gone too. It sucks. He races everything.

He also was an amazing hitter. That's the other thing. Really? He was crushing. As a lot of high school, they're just great athletes, a lot of high school pitchers. Rod Beck, my friend that you know. And there's going to be this.

There's a lot of parallels here with Rod. I'm not even kidding. And so if I am a little bit, I don't know. Biased? Sensitive? Not biased. Not even sensitive. But if I throw in a defensive Rod Scurry once in a while, you have to understand that this hits very close to home.

This is a place of love. I'm not kidding. A mustachioed relief pitcher named Rod that had, you know, some drug issues and all this stuff. There was a real nice. I mean, it just it's even we'll talk about it at the end. But there's another parallel that is disturbingly close. So it's just it's a this one was like really like a punch in the gut doing the research on this one i'd rather just do the episode i wish i didn't have to do the research for this episode so um he hit one he hit a home

run over 500 feet in high school wow which yeah guys in the majors there's a select group bonds level shit yeah select group that hit 500 footers that's not everybody there's a select group. It's the bonds level shit, yeah. Select group that hit 500 footers. That's not everybody. That's incredible. That's long, and his coach measured it out and everything else. Also, you'd think that, I mean, granted, in high school, being able to hit that because the pitch is coming slower, so you've got a better way of seeing it. You've got to provide the power. Right.

When it's coming fast in the majors and you do that yeah the speed coming at it helps it go too you know what i mean absolutely it's i think it's more impressive as a high schooler to hit that oh yeah that's all your but it's also with an aluminum bat probably actually back then i don't know back then in the early 70s they probably everybody was probably using wood i don't even think was aluminum invented yet i think it was invented, but I'm not sure if gloves were. They still played with milk cartons on their hands back then, so it's a very different game. I just don't know what the manufacturing was of aluminum back then, if they had that many bats. It may have been just wood.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was just wood. Yeah, I'm not sure. I'm really not sure. So they said that he used to strike out 14 guys on an average day when he pitched in high school. He had a lot of games of 18 or 19 strikeouts, which is a lot of strikeouts. He always knew that he was going to be in the majors at some point, but he didn't know if he'd be a pitcher or a hitter because he was a good hitter. Oh, I was saying the parallels rod when he was younger obviously a great pitcher he went on to be you know 287 saves is pretty fucking good but he went on to still today have

his face on the side of the giant yeah it is it's awesome too i went and got a picture with it when i was there so he uh he was also an amazing offensive player he and todd zeal were los angeles county's top offensive players of the year in his senior year of high school so and todd zeal was a what 15 year major league hitter you know a position player so pitchers can hit usually in high school they're just really good at baseball uh he would run to school at 5 a.m wow 5 a.m or 5 30 a.m he'd run to school so he could get his exercise in and do all the hours to go yep he would run to school so he could throw in the gym before school started he wanted to get a couple hours of throwing in before the school day started he was voted shyest boy in his high school yearbook oh and

also his brothers were also voted shyest boy when they were all in school too not weird oh god yeah not at the same time don't do that yeah it's very very very weird here that's wild so 1974 this that article from his ex-teammate, he said he can remember scouts who came out in huge clusters of 1974, 10 or 15 of them behind the backstop every time Rod was pitching. So just it was like a zoo. It turned into a crazy place. And every time all this shit, they said they would measure. Back in the day, the scouts that went to high school didn't have radar guns. They were, you know, you get them from like the highway department.

So they didn't really have those. So they would do it with stopwatches, which is insanely inaccurate. How would you? An insanely inaccurate. Press it when he releases it and then touch it again? Yeah, there's no way. What the? No.

If you could do that, then you could hit it probably, too, because then you could react to it at the same speed it's coming in. You could probably be a major league hitter at that point. So what are you doing doing this for? It's ridiculous. So that's how they did it, though. Everybody loved him, and they all talked to him, and, oh, you're going to be great, you're going to be wonderful,

and all this shit. So he knew he was going somewhere. In May of 74, he's the nevada 3a player of the year and on the all-state team as well so um not too bad here and takes hug high to the 3a state final series and uh has a one no hitter and three one hit games get out there and hug them. Jesus Christ. He is killing it, man.

Uh, they ended up losing though. Two of the games to, uh, Rancho high, which, uh, Marty Barrett played for. He used to play for the Red Sox for years and years and years.

And he was on that team. Yeah. Playing against them. And, uh, uh, one of the guys, a third baseman for the team for hug said for us to go to state it

opened doors to show kids they had an opportunity it showed us maybe there was a way out of here maybe it was athletics or academics a way out of here sounds like a great place you know you're in a great place when kids are like there's got to be a way out of here if it takes baseball i'll do it i don't give a fuck or academic something i just need to get out of here um so there's a i found an article in the paper from 74 from the reno nevada paper here rod scurry gets another honor and uh it starts out rod scurry does it all that didn't go unnoticed by the coaches and sports writers who named him State 3A Baseball Player of the Year. So he threw a no-hitter against Reno High and three one-hitters,

including one against Rancho when he dropped a 2-0 decision in the opening game of the 3A tournament. So he was killing it. He's crushing shit. He apparently went 6-4 with a 1.13 era that's not bad that's pretty fucking nasty stuff there so uh he's doing really well player of the year his coach was named coach of the year which that's bullshit it's easy to be coach of the year when you're like it's not fair go out there and throw that curveball that breaks between people's legs and strike out 16 year olds who have homework to do when they're done with this shit

keep doing keep doing that shit that nobody else on this team can do yeah do that can you do it again tomorrow great back then there was a year there was no like innings limits back then either the kids if you had a great kid he pitched every game that's it period and he pitched all the time hilarious coach of the year oh my god that's i love when like the even like the super bowl winning coach uh gets coach of the year and it's like well yeah i get that he achieved at the highest level but let's let's look at that team let's look at the team yeah it's even not him it's even better when it's manager of the year in baseball because coach football your scheme is important how you react to how they're playing defense in baseball it's well i think that pitcher is going to be

better you can't adjust you know bring that guy in a little bit we'll pinch hit in the seventh but generally it's just well this is our team hopefully our team's better than their team today there's not a real lot of adjusting. Your arms crossed, too. Yeah, that's it. That's why I did it. That's their management move. That's management.

See that? All right, then. Arms crossed. That's all you can do. I got leaned on a fucking chain link fence. There's an art to it, I get it. There's managing personalities and things like that. Yes.

But you have to do that in all the other sports, and you have to manage minute to minute in the game a lot more in basketball and football than you do in fucking hockey, too, I would imagine. I just don't know that much about it. I just think that anybody that gets coach or management, anything that's in the overseement of the team, they should have a fucking personality. I don't want a drip winning because it just encourages drips.

It's boring. Dusty Baker's a a great coach but he's fucking boring he is well you know what though well as we'll discuss in this episode because his name's going to come up quite a bit oh is that right yeah dusty baker might be boring now that's just because he did a lot earlier he used to be he's all tired now he used to love his cocaine and everything else so he's better off being boring we'll put it that way let's just be happy for the coke is that what you're telling me yeah he's he picked that nickname up later in life so uh terrific the guy who played with him that wrote that article it talks talks about the night of their senior prom. And he said they were leaning against a car outside of someone's house. It was some after prom party going on inside.

They didn't even go to the prom. They had to skip it because they had a baseball game. So they played for the city championship that night. So they were there. And they said they were just feeling good, drinking beer. His life couldn't be better at this moment in time. He's got the whole world in front of him. The draft is coming up in a couple weeks in baseball.

He's expected to be a high draft pick. And he said, quote, this is Rod's quote, I just don't think it will ever feel better than this, is what he said. You're probably right, Rod. You're probably right. You're about to have bills and shit. Yeah, yeah. yeah i mean it'll get a little bit better because it's not you know uh he also said they worked at this guy worked with him at the prima donna casino where rod was a sandwich maker so he was also doing that in high school he had it made in the

shade james and if i had known everything i free sandwiches too like yeah working at a pizza shop or a pizza place that's great granted it was shit pizza but it was awesome i'd make them like not put a topping on something that called for a topping so when the pizza comes out it's fucked up and we can't sell it oh well that's our that whoops a daisy you said sausage sausage fuck okay my bad i thought you said pepperoni. I apologize. We'll eat it. Don't worry. It won't go to waste.

I thought you meant half pepperoni and half. No? Okay, well, fuck it. That's okay. I heard pepperoni and jalapenos because that's what I was craving. That's my mistake. Don't worry. We'll take care of it.

Internal voice. I worked at a really good pizza place in high school. It was amazing. What a dream. It was the best. It was so good. The food was amazing. It was amazing. What a dream. It was the best. It was so good. The food was amazing. I never thought to shit pizza on a fucking Triscuit.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where you worked is not great. So there's an article about him before the draft in the paper there. Reno was monitoring his every move. He is Reno's number one son at this moment in time. He is Jim Dangle walking proud and tall. Junior, babe. Yeah, he really is.

The hubris of the juniors. The hubris of the juniors. The article says Scurry will be sitting by the phone, and it talks about how he'll be sitting by the phone, ready to take the draft call. In fact, then you'd have to sit by the phone, you know, ready to take the draft call. In fact, then you'd have to sit by the phone on draft day because if the team called you, you had to be there to say, yeah, thanks, you know, all that bullshit. He said that he's waiting to find out what team has drafted him.

He says, quote, everybody says they want to draft me. All the scouts come. We're looking at you, son, and all that shit. He was saying it's you know he's very excited he said he would definitely turn down scholarship offers from college to turn pro he said i'm not going to turn down what they're talking about paying me so yeah yeah if you're 18 years old and you know you don't come from tons of money and you know you take the money you don't go to college and risk hurting yourself and all that shit.

See, aforementioned, there's got to be a way out of here. There's got to be a way out of here. And here it is. Especially if you're going to be a first round pick. If you're drafted in the 12th round, maybe go to college. But if you're first round pick, you're getting guaranteed money. You're getting a bonus. You're getting stuff like that.

You take it. And that ring ring is the best way out of here.'s it i'm out of here fuckers answer the phone that's all i gotta do fuck yes i'm in so 1974 major league baseball amateur draft jimmy number one pick overall 74 sweet christ you could put together just letter combinations until you die you'll never get seven years I was negative seven years old. Yeah, I wasn't born anywhere near there. Is the guy's name Marv? Nope.

It's Bill Allman. There you go. It's close enough. And he played at Brown University, which is like Ivy League, so that's very odd that he would play there. Bill what? Bill Allman. Like almonds without the D. Like the Allman Brothers.

No, no. Like almond, like an almond. A-L-M-O-N? Yeah, like a nut. Tommy Boggs, number two. I don't know if that's Wade's brother or what. Wade's dad. Wade's dad. Lonnie Smith is number three overall.

He actually played Lonnie Smith. I remember Lonnie Smith. He played for a long time. He's an outfielder. Number four, Tom Brennan. Number five, Dale Murphy. Dale Murphy was a great player for the a's forever remember or not the a's the braves forever i was gonna say phillies

remember he had he had the upper deck card where he had like the reverse image in 1989 it was like a big had the one of the big errors it was that and the billy ripken fuck that remember that yeah so that one no i want that one that that one was cool uh ron sorry number 11 overall the pittsburgh pirates take rod scurry is that right number 11 overall yeah his name is very close to a disease that pirates catch that is fantastic and it's going to the pie we've got scurry incredible got the scurry scurry who else gary templeton lance parish those guys willie wilson there's a lot of play rick rick sutcliffe uh a lot of ball players in that first round a lot of guys who you know had long major league careers so um he said that he was uh

you know obviously over the moon to be drafted um yeah A friend of his or one of the scouts said, quote, I remember in 1974, he was head and shoulders beyond the other kids baseball wise. He had an aura, a flair. To me, he had that Bo Balinski kind of confidence, the swagger. He's an old pitcher, Bo Balinski. I remember looking at him knowing he would be a player, a major leaguer. Who said this? A scout that saw him.

So horny for him. He sounds like Vince McMahon calling the WBF events. Oh, yeah. Look at that. Oh, baby. Just a whole bunch of oh, yeah. At one point he just goes, it's getting hot. That's my favorite one.

It's getting hot. As a man poses it's amazing you got i'm not even saying this to like push the patreon make to make money i just want people to hear it because it's amazing but it's so it's so fucking hilarious and ridiculous so um anyway he uh uh he's that good like where people are looking at him and knowing who he's going to be. Another guy said that, quote, I think Rob Ritchie benefited from it, who's a guy who ended up being drafted later on. He was at a school that had a major leaguer. I was an assistant coach at Hug when Rob played. I told Robbie, this happens.

A guy can go from hug high school to the major leagues and robbie made it too so he's now just like this icon he's getting junior got one of the junior brothers got out oh yeah these are the junior brothers because i picture them on the couch outside watching nascar falling asleep so it has gotten fucking horrible gotten it's i'm just telling you stop turning to now watchable is it just absolutely unwatchable is it just a 500 mile straight away now is that no there's there's they're doing playoffs james and they had it this weekend and so i watched a little bit of that and i was just like i can't believe people honest to fuck reserve a day for this this is horrible fucking hillbilly

i can't believe this i tried so hard it's like i'm trying to be a hillbilly and they won't let me i have like just ingrained in that culture that that is in me and i tried so maybe it's not maybe i'm rinsing it out i'm diluting it somebody make a a fucking something a photoshop jimmy into the junior brothers on the couch make him right over maybe right over travis there right in the middle one of those or a face in the sea in the stands of nascar saying this is terrible this is terrible but i'm here anyway for some reason perhaps it's all the like not american beer i've been drinking i've rinsed all that out of me now you're done with it yeah you're done with it so he didn't want to go at first because he didn't

like he didn't want to be away from home he liked being home way far away he liked being home uh his father also this is this hell happened very fast his father preston says quote he was drafted on a tuesday graduated on thursday and had to go to florida that sunday night wow that's a lot that's a big week you yeah you have on tuesday you don't even you're graduating high school and you know you're gonna have to move in the next week but you don't know where yeah you know you're gonna have to pack up and go somewhere no idea where that team single a could be anywhere you know right i mean you don't know um so he said i'll never forget that expression on his face when he turned around and looked at his brother, Rick.

It was a feeling of family devotion. He just hated to leave home. And he said his mother, Betty, said, quote, It was horrible. He wanted to play ball, but he did not want to leave home. After he signed, he said, I'm not going. I can't leave home. I said, Rod, Pittsburgh owns you now. You have to go.

You're theirs. I don't know what to tell you. They bought you. They bought you. And you said, cool, and signed a fucking thing. Yeah, they paid the dowry. You can't be here anymore. Yeah, absolutely.

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It's an all-new season. It's streaming. You can say anything. Judy Justice, only on Freebie. For years, it would be like this. He'd come home, and every spring, he didn't want to go back, and then, you know, he'd go back. He's a very, like, lonely guy. He's a guy who likes to have people he's comfortable with around him, which was another reason why it was hard with the Rod parallels of the two Rods because that was like Rod's thing.

He hated to be fucking alone, man. I'd be at his house hanging out, and we'd be having a good time, and then I'd have to wake up with the kids in the morning and shit and it seems like 2 30 in the morning and i'd be like all right i'm gonna get going i didn't even realize it was 2 30 it was like a casino in there we're having a ball make you another daiquiri and he's like oh man you're leaving that's what he'd say oh you're taking off oh man all right cool man that's cool no i understand like he'd be like like dude he just was lonely and you know it's one of those people. So I totally get that. So, yeah. A lesser man would have killed his family and stayed with him, James.

Yeah, that's true. That's a credit to you, bud. I'm a good guy. I didn't abandon my family and stay at this. Just to hang out with the MLB or that'd be great. Just hanging. We had a good time. Good times, man.

He says, his brother Rick says, this is his younger brother Rick, he says, it was just as hard on us as it was on him. Every time he went to the airport or when he was driving, everybody cried. That never changed. So he would call his family in the first couple years as many as three times a day from wherever he was because that's how lonely he was and homesick and he made friends on the team it wasn't like he wasn't talking to people but he just missed his support system yeah it's not the same it really isn't yeah it really it was um his self-confidence, too, was not that great when it came to that kind of shit, too.

He would kind of, even after the games here, he would retreat to his room. Really? Rather than go out and hang out with the guys, he'd go call his parents. You know what I mean? So it wasn't the same. One of his friends here said, quote, that's a lonely life when you live on the i'm sorry this is his dad i apologize that's a lonely life when you live on the road out of a suitcase a week or two at a time and you get back to home to a lonely apartment he said um you know it's it's it was hard

on him you know and he gets it because his dad used to go on the road to sell wholesale stereo equipment when he so he said you know i know what it's like to do that, and it sucks. And he said also about, you know, they're comparing him to Sandy Koufax, which is a lot for a kid. It's heavy. He said, so this is his dad, quote, so you've got two things to do. Sit there by yourself or go out and raise cane, and you're in the public spotlight being compared

to guys like kofax it's a fast-paced life and tough on a boy just out of high school put in with grown men who know he's looking to take their job and you've got guys there who uh who he looked up to that were doing things and giving him a bad influence which is true he got an 18 year old kid he wants to be a ball player like the other ball players. So what they're doing, they'll do. It's not necessarily trying to steer the kid wrong. It's just they're going to run with you. That's the lifestyle. Yeah.

It's like when you have a kid in the ninth grade, you don't really want them hanging out with seniors because you're like, they have a different life than you. They're in the car. You don't. They are adults and you're not. That's a big difference. Yeah. They are almost adults anyway. a lot of them are 18 so chuck tanner who will be his manager later on and was a manager forever in the league of multiple teams he said quote when i first saw him i said nobody

can hit that curveball he uh he's better than this league because he saw him in the minors he's like he's better than this he then said his curveball reminded him of Sandy Koufax. Again, he said the scurry curve was sharp and quick and went down at the end. When he had that thing going, that's why I thought he'd be one of the best in relief I ever managed. So everybody had him pegged as a fucking future monster. So another guy here, the Egan guy the scout he remembers the curveball

he said quote it was a curveball comparable to steve carlton slider carlton slider was unhittable scurry's curveball was unhittable it was too big for umpires to handle once the hitters learned to lay off it because they it was such such a big curve they wouldn't even call it a strike even though it landed in the perfect spot they're like let's start it over his head i don't know how the fuck that happens i can't call it a strike this guy said it was so big it would go from 12 inches on one side of the plate cross home plate and go to 12 inches of the other side of the plate wow which is that's a sick curve a lot of guys curveballs are straight up and down yeah that's you know the guys who have that crazy straight up and down and then it's got that dip off to this that's nasty i don't that's really

that's i don't know how you make that happen that's so no that's how sandy koufax made a fucking living and it's also why he quit when he was like 31 because his arm was destroyed because you got to put a lot of torque in your arm to make that shit happen that's a because it's your it's an overturn you're putting on it you know you uh over the top of it uh so he said it would cross the home plate but umpires refused to call the strike they would say the catcher used uh catch they would say that the catcher caught it a foot outside you're like yeah but it crossed over the plate when it was over the plate it just has great late action he said said, unfortunately, a lot of his off-the-field stuff affected his on-the-field play, and he couldn't achieve his full potential. Summer of 74, his first season in baseball, he's doing great.

He's pitching well, and he hits.295 with five homers also. Wow. So, yeah, they don't know what to do. They're like, holy shit, this guy's awesome. He's hitting almost.300 with five homers he's not even he's not hitting every day he's pitching and then having a day off after pitching and it's pretty impressive uh he became also their top pitcher and was named to the league's all-star game as well down there so um he said it was good he said quote i felt i feel really good about my first season i'm

dedicating everything to baseball i haven't had time to worry about college or any other things so he's into it um uh so he's sent back to florida to play in a winter league there that year and he gets invited to big league training camp the next year which is just come in and we'll cut you in two weeks but you get an idea of how this works the next year, which is just come in and we'll cut you in two weeks. But you get an idea of how this works for next year. This works. We see what you're capable of. Yeah, that's it.

So he went there. He said, and this is a pretty big schedule. He said, we only had one day off all summer except for the games that were rained out. But baseball is all I've ever wanted to do. That's what I'm happy doing. So he said, but the change in environment, he said, I have a lot more freedom and I've met a lot of people, but it hasn't been that big of a change. This is what he told the newspaper.

He's not going to say, I'm lonely. I call my mom three times a day. This is a nightmare. I'm not prepared for this. Yeah. I don't have the social skills to handle this yet. Like I'm only 18. Fucking crazy. And I was shyest boy in school last year. I got problems here, you know, but he it came off as the way his coaches described him as cool and reserved. They were like, you know, he's cool. He's laid back. They said his confidence in his pitching was pretty obvious and then off the field, he didn't have that much. He said, I'm not worried about making it right now.

I think it's just a matter of time before I get on to the major league club. So he said that then. He goes all around, meets a guy named Don Robinson, a fellow pitcher who will be on the Pirates with him later, and plays a big part in his life, as we'll talk about here. Did he play elsewhere after that? yeah he played all over and I think he was a coach too for a while that's probably why yeah now Robinson

was drafted the year after him and so when this guy ends up going to the majors first which makes Rod go what the fuck did I do you know what I mean matter of fact he got mad because they had they had they let robinson hit they let him they were letting him take batting

practice and they say they only let you take batting practice when they're preparing you to go up to the majors because you're gonna have to hit in the majors so they let you take bp so he was pissed off of why don't you let me hit too i want to prepare so he said that uh you know it was bullshit and he went to the team and got very fucking mad and uh he said that they said that it actually came down to the fact that robinson is slightly faster a foot than you it's nothing to do with your pitch oh like running like major league teams take fucking relief pitchers based on their base running abilities no that's they tried to bullshit him okay so he said that's bullshit i'm faster than him i demand a race i demand a race i'm showing you i want a race uh so they said okay i guess we have to let

him have a race so they had a race and and he ended up winning. So there you go. He was like, see, I fucking told you I was faster than him. So poor Don's like, no, I just you're fucking this up, man. I just want to go. I just want to go up there, man. So 70 70 at a 330 ERA 388 and 76 does pretty well. Those 78 these 78 is not too great. What is it? Five 71 one place for 66 and 76. Does pretty well, though. 78. 78's not too great.

What is it? 571, one place, 466 in another. So he's trying to do well, though. In 77, in front of a bunch of scouts, including Hank Aaron was there, who was working for the Braves at this point. Yeah, in player personnel. And also the Pirates pitching coach, so his major league team's pitching coach, larry sherry scurry through a no-hitter in his triple-a debut so that's a that's something that's announcing your presence with authority yeah so um he said that he a paper in nevada

said he was just a hair away from the big leagues and uh you know didn't want to hurt anything to do his chances to hurt anything to hurt his chances. He's doing wonderfully. He's on the cusp of Sandy Koufax esque greatness. Grace. As fuck. That's grace. My friends.

Oh, the poor bastard. He was on the way, my friend, on the way. Yeah. But James, this is what happens to when you compare somebody to the greatest ever. Yeah. Or one of. You know what I mean? This is why LeBron looks like shit a lot of times.

But I was just going to say, the only guy who's ever handled that pressure and been what they said he was going to be from 18 years old, from less than that. You can say what you want. I know some people don't like LeBron. When he was 14. Yeah. From 18 years old, from less than that. You can say what you want. I know some people don't like LeBron. When he was 14, yeah. But LeBron James has been having his games on national television since he was a fucking sophomore in high school. That kind of pressure, you can't even calculate what that is. And in high school, I didn't want to. I was, imagine yourself at 15 having the pressure to perform on ESPN.

You know Dick Vitale's gonna talk about it afterwards like that's a lot and I guess all that pressure is why you know that one time when uh you know he got busted for beating up the strippers and then when the cops caught up to him after the high-speed chase they found all that coke and in his car remember that one time with LeBron no no because that never fucking happened that's what i mean he's never oh but then there's that time remember he got sued by like four of his old four of his baby mamas for child support because he didn't pay it for his 12 kids that he has with nine different women remember that all the oh no wait no he's been married to the same fucking woman and has a fucking nice family this is what i mean people yeah people who can't live up to that

pressure usually it's so hard and for it's so funny because he's become a big lightning rod for whatever reason you want pick it people say oh he doesn't win as much as jordan and he doesn't they don't like his politics and he should shut up or whatever the fuck they say all that shit team with all these big stars whatever you say tell me anybody who's had that pressure from that age and fucking fulfilled every drop of it with all the way through with never being fucking off the rails is what i'm getting at you know like i'm sorry but it just doesn't exist it doesn't exist michael jordan had the gambling scandals and all the cheating and all the women and all the paternity suits and all that shit

he had all that stuff going on and he you know what i mean guy james i think may compare to it in terms of uh being at a at a high scrutiny level for a long time but nobody talks about it larry fitzgerald was larry fitzgerald for for years and years and years but he's not that he's not the face of the league he's not he's a he's a he never was he's a possession receiver for the car for the fucking cardinals so that's not you know what i mean retired that's what i mean silently retired the fucking Cardinals. So that's not, you know what I mean? He's now retired. That's what I mean. Silently retired. He was so quiet.

And that's not anything against Larry Fitzgerald. He's a great player and a nice guy and everything you could want. Best Cardinal ever. Everything that you could want in a human being and a football player, apparently. But, you know, he didn't have that kind of pressure. His games weren't on national television when he was 15. He didn't have any pressure until he was on the Cardinals. He never had any fucking pressure.

What are we talking about? On the Cardinals. Went to a shit organization. Who cares? Yeah. He showed up to an organization that hadn't won a fucking playoff game since the 40s. Literally. There's not a lot of pressure on him.

There really wasn't. So anyway, 1979 in portland he's a triple a up there yeah he starts hanging out here he uh starts being a little more social starts hanging out with the fellas a little more and i mean he's in his early 20s now he's not 18 he's starting to get more comfortable a little less impressionable a little less shy shy. Exactly. A guy named Craig Kasich and a guy named Gary Hargis, they start hanging out, and every night they're drinking a bunch of Henry Winehart's, pounding them back.

The fuck is that? Northwest beer. Okay. Northwest beer, Henry Winehart. They're pounding them back. They drink 12-pack each night after the games, and like minor league ballplayers do, if you've ever seen a movie about

minor league baseball watch bull durham it's half it's more in a bar than on the field it's that's what they do it's more scenes and bars they're competing more over women than they are the fucking championship yeah they're shit-faced and all the time here so um but he rod still wasn't happy he missed his family and he's trying to drink to kind of just dull it at night you know what i mean a lot of people do that but he just it wasn't quite catching him not enough it wasn't enough he started saying i need something a little stronger maybe a little more something i need to feel it and uh later on he will tell sports illustrated quote i remember the first time oh boy here it comes i went fishing at 5 a.m and i had one gram of cocaine with me i just wanted to try it this is something i've never heard before

we've heard a lot of stories of people starting Coke use. And I've known, can't even tell you, countless people who've done Coke. All of them start with my friend had some Coke and he put it out and I said, I guess I'll try it. And then I liked it. And then I did it a couple more times. And then like two weeks later, I bought some for a Friday night or something. That's how it always works. This guy was like, I think I want to try some Coke. Let me buy some.

That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard. Like somebody offered him to buy some, like, you looking for any shit? And he was like, you know what? I'll give it a look-see. Yeah, what do you got there? Pass it over. I've heard good things. Well, that all depends.

Have you got Coke? I've heard good things, you know? This is the weirdest shit I've ever heard. Yeah, the PR for that shit is really working. Yeah, he was shopping for it. Like, give that a shot. Like, I've ever heard. Yeah, the PR for that shit is really working. Yeah, he was shopping for it. Like, give that a shot. Like, I've seen the shampoo. That girl's hair looks real shiny on that commercial.

I'm going to give this a look. Why not? Yeah, that herbal essence, that chick's coming in the shower. I'll give it a run. I guess fruit in it is the key, I guess, or whatever. I'm going to put this all together. So he had one gram. He said, I just wanted to try it.

It was kind of like having your first beer not really nope nope no a little different the stuff i had that day wasn't that good i wanted to try something better so he had a gram this is the other thing you he had a gram and he said it just didn't really do much for him it wasn't that good me shit my pants not good enough i had that drip in my throat. Yeah. So rather than him going, I guess I don't like Coke, he's like, let me give that a shot and get better Coke next time, which is like, I'm really going to, I've never heard of someone really trying to get into drugs.

That's the weird thing. It happens by accident. I've never seen a person try. He's forcing himself to love it. Yeah. It's like back in the day i heard i read this one book and they were saying this woman was talking about she was like in the 40s and she said you know this was happening and that was happening so my doctor advised me to take up smoking which i did

and i was just like that's hilarious i've never heard somebody like actively try to take up smoking this is like he's trying to take up cocaine too from like when we were kids smoking weed and being like i loved it and then they try it now and they didn't like smoke it a lot in the meantime like me for instance then you get to like what it is today and it's so much better 20 times stronger i don't like so much better. That's funny. I like shitty weed. You seem to like it sometimes. I do. I sure do.

Yeah, you do, fucker. It depends, though. I don't like incredibly high. I don't like that. I know not to make a salad when you're around. There you go. You don't know what that is. I'll try your Caprese, but don't want like the fucking club i pack i pack a bowl and if it's party time i'll pack a bowl and there'll be several different

concentrates in with the weed in there there'll be some of this some of that there'll be like four different and i call it a salad because it's just uh you know it's like a salad bar like this it's vicious and you could get the neighborhood stone with it yeah so i know not to that's like it's for pros only that those salads so i know not to yeah that's for guys hitting triple doubles man i can't do this you're just getting in off the bus from reno and you need to be eased into this give you a gram of the shitty stuff for some morning fishing yeah made me giggly and eating hot dogs at 3 a.m. I'm into that weed.

That's what we did. That was fun. Subrettes at 3 a.m. I can do that. What do you got? Sauerkraut? Yeah, put some of that on here. That sounds good.

Let's play a little. Let's get it on. That was a ball. You're drinking beer, too? That was fun. We were a mess that night. It was insane. We had two in the morning

now you're living my life jimmy welcome to my world so uh he wanted something better he said that he started slowly you know a little here a little there but as the season progressed he started up and up the coke. He did it. He did it. He got into it. Good for him. Made himself an addict. That's awesome. One thing I'll say for Rod Scurry, when he puts his mind to something, he achieves it.

Whether it be baseball or cocaine or something, he achieves it. What's the limit? He started hanging out with Dale Barra, who is Yogi Barra's son, if you don't know that. Yeah. And he's a, in baseball, he's just a disappointment. Yeah. Well, lesser known Barra. Lesser known Barra.

Yeah. Obviously, if your dad's Yogi, it's kind of hard. He's got 10 rings. I don't know how you're really going to live up to that. There's that. And not just the rings, but he's mad quotable. He's won MVPs, for Christ's sake, too. Right.

He was a great player. Hall of Famer. He's an adorable, tiny man. There's nothing about him that's horrible. He's just an amazing young, amazing little old man. Yeah, everyone loves Yogi. He's just one of those guys who's just like everybody's grandpa. The grandpa you want, you wish you had.

So Dale Barrow, though, is a disappointment and a pretty shitty baseball player. And I'm finding out why. It's because he really liked Coke a lot is the problem, maybe. So they became really tight, Scurry and Barra. Dave Parker, who is a legend. I love the fucking Cobra, man. The picture of him in the Pirates dugout in the 79 series, smoking a fucking cigarette in full uniform on the dug in the dugout is my

favorite picture in the history of baseball dave with that mask that he wore after he got hit in the face oh i don't know that i saw oh my god he wore a fucking like a defensive lineman's face mask at one point on his fucking batting helmet like a girl's softball helmet bro he's huge he's got a black fucking helmet that with this face mask he looked like with a baseball bat he was so scary looking like you'd be like holy shit this guy looks like he's here to kill me he looks like he's a mad max character what the fuck is going on here so he said quote you see dale you see scurry they were were real tight. So always there. That's what Dave said, huh? That's Dave's thing. And in Portland, Scurry and Yogi's son here, Dale, began purchasing Coke from either the clubhouse attendant.

Clubhouse attendant's always the guy who facilitates this shit. Because it's the guy who's supposed to do whatever the players want. Right. He's the doorman at the bar. Go get me a sandwich. Go to the here. Bring this note to my girlfriend in the stands go to the store and pick up tape whatever it is he's got to do it so uh

also a teammate's brother-in-law who was a long-distance truck driver as well who you know as we all know who has it seemed to yeah yeah in the 70s who has more access to cocaine than a long-distance truck driver that's what it was and if he doesn't tonight tomorrow he will so he will get it then so according to Craig Kasich who was the guy he was hanging out with drinking Henry Winehart's he said he was also Portland's first baseman he said a handful of guys on the club were using coke at that point he said that same handful and a few others were also the ones always popping greenies. And we're going to talk about greenies slightly because we brought them up a lot in the past. Greenies recently outlawed our amphetamines that players took.

And it was considered like you're not trying if you're not taking greenies. It came from the days where they played all these afternoon games. That's what it was, where they'd go out the night before. They'd get shit hammered until 2 in the morning, and then they'd have to be at the ballpark in the sun at 9.30 a.m. So it was like to then play a 1 o'clock game or a 12.30 game. So they'd need some amphetamines to get going to do all this shit. And people that want to like – if your dream would be to play baseball and such,

it sounds amazing that you get to do this incredible thing for money. But that schedule is fucking brutal. It's rough. It will kick the shit out of you to live your dream. Fuck yeah. And when there were day games, it was even worse when you were doing it every day and playing in the afternoon. At least now the guys can sleep in. They don't have to be at the ballpark until noon, one o'clock or some shit, you know, two o'clock in the afternoon. They can roll in they don't have to be to the ballpark till noon one o'clock or some shit you know two o'clock in the afternoon they can roll in there but you go to your day job and sell whatever you

sell or type whatever you have to type or do whatever the normal job is that nine to five by seven o'clock you're at home and ready to sleep but if you play a baseball game it ends at seven o'clock you think you're gonna fall asleep at nine there's no fucking way we know that from stand-up and even live shows at the podcast we go do a show you can't just go go to sleep now no fucking possible jack to hear your adrenaline is you've been around a thousand people for us or tens of thousands for baseball players and you're you're you got adrenaline to go home and close my eyes and find another land it's not happening and your brain has been working at a fucking rate that when you're on a stage your brain is fucking going man you're staggering right it's yeah more than you know it works five times more than i usually use it so

it's like it's a big deal when you get out you can't just shut that the fuck off no so the the running joke always was hey clubby the club, the clubhouse attendant, get the coffee on. And that meant to break out the greenies. Yeah. Yep. The greenies started, I guess, in the 40s. These amphetamines really started to come in. And like I said, it made sense then.

Travel was harder in the 40s, too. It wasn't like it is now. Travel, day games, buses, shitty fucking shitty fucking planes not jets shitty planes that bounce around and take fucking twice as long to get places where you have to stop to refuel and shit it's it was bad it was really fucking bad and then it was you know passed down from the majors to the minors because this is what the major leaguers are doing so that must be what you do to get to the major leagues so uh one guy put it if mickey mannell could put up 500 home runs while hitting the town every night every youngster who came

along after him would give it a try as well like if mickey mannell can be fucking mickey mannell and he's carousing every night till four in the morning and this lets him hit home runs the next day well i'll take some too thanks why the fuck not um and everybody was a man everybody knows would have been so much more if he took a little bit better care of himself just a little bit every one take take one night a week off and he would have been a different guy um but sparky anderson who we all know here the manager ex-manager and he's around forever he said in the old days 24 of the 25 guys on every team were drunks so is that right yeah just everybody was drinking you were out that was it you're on the road all the time hanging out with the guys everybody just drank um everybody all heard though that uh like

carly estremski famously kept a bottle of greenies in his locker and he put a label on it that labeled it superman so oh yeah let's turn them into superman oh yeah uh willie mays is famous among the players for his red juice which was a liquid amphetamine that he had a pharmacist whip up for him oh willie and he would uh one player from back then said quote uh, there was this one thing called red juice. I tasted it one time during his last year. Willie Mays is last year. And it was really slept since I'm still awake. I haven't had a hard on since.

It's crazy. My dick just doesn't work. Also haven't pooped. So I'm a little worried about that. So I tasted it one time during his last year, and it was really nasty. Willie had this red juice. I guess the pharmacist made it for him. I don't know what kind of speed it was, but it definitely kept your eyes open.

Oh, I love that. So that's what I mean. That's Willie Mays, you know? And Willie Mays is the face of the league. You can't not love Willie fucking May fucking maze you know what i mean jesus he's not even thought of as a like a scumbag you know everybody loves him he's just a happy cheery guy now we know why yeah the one guy asked him after that willie who and he said willie maze i went into his locker and got it and the guy said willie maze and he said the great one yes

like everyone fucking did that shit um so you mean like maze right we've never heard of this we've never heard of willie corn he was just a jesus willie like he farms make he like makes corn willie corn willie corn maze from the Iowa league yeah I know him yeah not that guy this guy's amazing him fucking that's amazing so on september 1st 1979 rod scurry finally is called up to the major leagues it's been a while people have passed by him he started to like think that he was they weren't gonna want him and uh he's finally called he makes it up to pittsburgh september 1st for the september call-ups they do not pitch him that whole rest of that year

they just bring him up to show him what it's like to be there because they expect him to be on the team next year he's lucky enough to sit on the venture in the bullpen and watch the pirates go through the playoffs and then win the world Series, which is awesome. That was the We Are Family Pirates team. That'll get you a ring, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it does. Well, a guy like that, they'd vote on it, whether you get a ring.

They vote on rings and shares, too, whether you get a full playoff share or how much you get. It's a big thing with that there. So 79 also his, he's ramping up his Coke use as well because you know, it's the big leagues got to be big. Mainly because after that,

the season 79 season, he goes down to play in the Dominican in the winter league, which is very common with young players. And he's joined by his buddies from Portland, the Kasich Gary Hargis, and Dale Barra, of course, too. They're all down in the Dominican. There's no powder down there, as we all know. None of the islands there, you can't get Coke at all in the Dominican Republic. Nothing illicit by any stretch.

Everything from the up and up. Kasich said he liked to explore the the island and try to you know get into the culture a little bit he said scurry though the way he put it his interests were solely confined to baseball and partying that's all he cared about he said quote rod was doing blow every day in the dominican he said that uh and his performance sucked too that year he wasn't good in the Winter League, probably because he was partying a little bit too much. He said he was wild. His pitching was wild, along with his after-pitching life.

He said, apart from going to the ballpark, Scurry and Barrett hardly ever left the house. They just sat in just doing coke. He said, instead, they called in some local girls for company and snorted cocaine well i mean but given a choice between the two yeah if you're that age and you can have coke food and women brought to you really where do you need to go the only reason to leave when you're that age is to try to get women to bring back and you know get some food and then bring women back there and then you can do coke and they have it coming to them why why skipping the middleman here sounds like an la

comic in a pandemic to me yeah why buy the cow when it's already in your living room you know what i mean it's right there it's right here so anyway he said quote scurry and barrow ran around like a couple of 12 year olds he said uh barrow was out of his gourd is what he said he said barrow was apparently the only guy who can even come close to matching scurry's wildness and coke fucking frenzy is dale barrow is the only guy for fun is dale barrow it is him um no didn't care about the consequences of their actions and this was everybody this was baseball becoming a huge deal baseball all the sports football basketball all the fucking steelers were doing it at this point in time i mean this was everyone was doing coke this was still this was still coke is fun and it's not addictive time 79 80 this is literally now it's fucking deadly forget fun now

it's not even coke that's why don't fucking do coke it's because it's not coke now it's right poisonous shit it's fentanyl so it's murder is what it is it's crazy it's disgusting back then not like that back then it was and people would say hey this is great to keep you up you can drink you can party you can do all this you're funnier you're sharper and it's not even addictive it's great you're gonna love it and so people liked it oh the lies of big cocaine you know big cocaine big cocaine's your buddy at the bar going dude i've been doing it every day for two years it's not even addictive i'm telling you i would know i've been doing it every day for two years. It's not even addictive. I'm telling you. I would know.

I've been doing it every day. I do it when I wake up. I do it a little bit more. I kind of keep a level over the course of the day, and then I do a bunch and then crash and go to sleep. I do that every day, but it's not addictive. I would know as much as I do it. Since I've been doing it, I start to feel like shit when I start coming off of it. I think I'm allergic to normal life, so's what it is. So I'm taking more and it's making all that go away.

It is. It made me understand, is the thing. It made me understand how much this Coke is really helpful to be off of it. You're like, wow, this is awful. I don't feel good at all.

Yeah. Not even addictive. Try some. Taylor Swift is soaring high. Her every move captured in the news cycle and devoured by her devoted fans. She's broken billboard records and made Grammys history, not to mention becoming a billionaire in the process. But along the way, Taylor has had to wage war, first by taking on a very powerful, very famous manager, Scooter Braun, and then by going up against the biggest live events company, Ticketmaster. Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wondery's show, Business Wars.

We go deep into some of the biggest corporate rivalries of all time. And in our latest season, Taylor Swift will shake up not only the music business, but Hollywood and the NFL. Follow Business Wars wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. So here's the famous Tim Raines quote just to give you an idea of how prevalent this is in the major leagues and this is a famous thing here. Quote, I had it in little gram bottles that I kept in my pocket. You know, the little glass ones, little vials. Actually, a lot of times i would put it in my batting glove and then in my pocket i was trying

to find ways of not getting caught usually when i carried it in my pocket i'd slide head first so that's the old famous thing of tim raines slid head first because he had coke vials in his back pocket and he didn't want to fucking break them that's can't go down on my thigh can't do that so 1980 pittsburgh season scurry is out of major league options which is a the option system is a very complicated deal but you can only be in the league it you can they can have you so long and send you up and down for so long without whether they either have to keep you or release you at that point so So it's one of those deals. You can't keep sending a guy up and down. So, um,

he had to either make the club or they would lose him basically. So, uh, he said that one of the writers at the Pittsburgh post Gazette said he is at once the, that most envied and lamented of major league hopefuls, a player without options. If happiness is having alternatives as more than one post poet suggested scurry is in trouble jesus christ that is flowery for baseball

scurry matched his poeticness with quote yeah this might be a do or die situation for me decide to keep me or get rid of me whatever that's what he said so yikes not quite as poetic but he's accepting it uh yeah when they do that if they release you obviously another team can pick you up and then they start the the options all over again but well then yeah yeah but when you're when you're out of options like that though that that's gotta feel shitty man it's like i either make baseball or i have to take my chances elsewhere or uh i get a real fucking job nobody wants me yeah right all right go to elko and find some yeah then i'm back to elko where at least i'm a champion still right shit uh team doesn't win

the world series this year they go 83 and 79 third in their division so not quite this is a team though man they got some they uh what jesus christ phil garner later on a manager uh bill madlock omar moreno dave parker dale barra bill robinson willie stargill still on this fucking team manny sanguine kurt bavacqua tony pena a lot of guys here bernie carbo uh jim bibby wins that's very impressive yeah jim bibby mike's dad there he was a pitcher no it is it's his dad it's actually his dad jim bibby oh you're right you're right jim bibby yeah yes he played for the 76ers yes you're right i'm sorry i is this might be his brother though i think i think it's mike bibby's uncle because i remember reading a book about the with jim bibby came up and he does have a relation to mike bibby but it's not his

dad his dad was a basketball player john candelaria burt blileven rick road this is a squad man this is a squad he uh only pitches in 20 games this year in the 80 season uh 37.2 innings pitched 23 hits 17 walks 215 era so wow has a damn good year but they don't really put that 37 innings isn't shit for a pitcher no it's really not a lot i mean that's the six months he pitched 37 innings think about that yeah that's fucked dude that's four games all together total total yeah um but they said uh rod scurry has worked hard to get where he is today he can only hope he gets other chances to show he deserves to stay so 81 season he says quote last year was frustrating i understood the situation they were world champions and they had to go with the pitchers who won i wasn't thrilled too much with sitting around but i didn't get too

down on myself so he said he's ready to go. Everybody says he's really good. Joe Necro, famous pitcher, he says, this kid has an outstanding curveball. Sometimes a pitcher has to wait a long time to get his chance. I know how it feels. So there you go. That's brutal, man. God, Jesus, what torture.

To be that good at one specific thing and it be in demand and then you can't even get on a team yeah because they're champions they're good yeah they're they're loaded up they that's tough that's really tough that's why it's like in football like when you get drafted if you get drafted like 29th overall that's great it's a team that went deep into the playoffs but they also probably have a good roster that you're gonna have a hard time making got a good chance of doing some some winning this year but also that's only if you can beat somebody out you say you got a good chance of doing some some winning this year but also that's only if you can beat somebody out you'll say you got a good chance of doing some cheering from the sidelines this year because your team wins you got a lot of smiles happening but yeah that's only if you make it fuck man he uh he gets his first start he's a relief pitcher but they start him at first

here and uh he said the night before he was too excited to sleep he said that uh too excited to sleep but in actuality he didn't really sleep for two days before that because he's been on a lot of coke and i'm not even kidding about that his pitching coach harvey haddock said quote you don't need to sleep when you pitch i did it many times in the days when we rode trains between the cities so that's a little different He's been doing coke for two days. Yeah, you can't sleep because you can't sleep on a fucking train. Who can sleep on uncomfortable shit? No shit.

So it's by this time that Rod Scurry and the pirate parrot become friends. The guy that plays the pirate, obviously. Yeah. It's not a real bird, right? No, it's not a six-foot-tall bird that they let go near children. He's not dangerous. Don't worry. No, he won't peck his soft spot.

It's okay. Right. Giant parrot with coke all over its face. It could fucking crush your skull with one chomp of his beak operating a razor blade yeah it's fucking wing coked up to the fucking gills or to the wings in this particular case his name is kevin koch or coke or k-o-c-h it could be i want it to be coke more than any that's me too so kevin coke that's what i was gonna say too same thing um they they uh apparently randy brant and rod scurry met in the minors in 74 um brant married coke's

sister got it that's how they he kind of gets into the deal here he's this one guy's brother-in-law and in 79 he gets the mascot position and uh we'll get into that he said quote it was like scurry was my brother-in-law too he said they were always hanging out and uh soon another guy one of coke's high school buddies started hanging out with them too a guy named dale schiffman uh dale schiffman was apparently an athlete or anything like that but he he loved baseball. But he was more of like a kind of a drugs guy and a big fan. And he was like, cool, we get to hang around with the players. This is pretty, pretty neat, you know. And this is before the days like baseball players were still a status above your regular person socially and stuff like that, but not to the extent they are now where it's like a you know no baseball player then a good player made 100 grand you know what i mean 120 grand which is a lot of money still for then but you know the the guy he's hanging out with made 45

grand you know like with a decent job too and they it could be on the same level now you can't hang out with a guy who's got a 400 million dollar contract he's not going to go hang out with regular dudes no some guys high school right i can't show up at a restaurant with that guy in my forerunner while he pulls up in a fucking lamborghini i can't do that and yeah i feeling the things he's going to want to do on his days off are probably different than the things you can afford it's just a different deal also the restaurant we're going to i can't buy my dinner sir no i'm gonna have to work here to get it comped fuck so schiffman and coke were getting into coke at this point in the early 80s here and uh kind of everybody was everybody was hanging out coke said everyone we hung out with at the bar was from our end of town everyone was into cocaine so

that's just how it was they'd go out to the nightclubs coke and schiffman after the pirates games and they'd run into the players out there because they were hanging out and uh you know there was different vip spots they'd be hanging out in this this place and pittsburgh uh what is it sophie saloon the sunken cork i don't know if you're an old person from pittsburgh maybe you know what those are um that you know they were get into it uh coke said quote barra or somebody would say hey do you guys party then one thing led to another and the players found out that dale shiffman could get stuff and that's kind of how of how it snowballed from there that's how the pittsburgh 7k snowballs and like i said we'll do a whole

episode on it but then starts it all starts it all here um you know and his pitching is it's good and it's bad it's spotty through it through this time for uh 82 is his best year but still he has one where he gave up a home run and he says i just gave up a better pitch than i wanted he said i gave him a fastball over the plate it was a nice pitch to hit when he gave up a home run. So he's got a good attitude. So Koch said that the players, but most of the time, Scurry and Berra began to call him before games to ask if he could grab some Coke from Schiffman

and bring it to the ballpark with him when he comes to do his parroting duties. If they don't call him Sniffman, they are blowing it. Sniffy the parrot? Sniffy the pirate coke parrot? Call that guy Sniffman. No shit. So Schiffman would kind of purchase the coke.

He would cut the coke and, you know, that sort of shit and get it out to the players. And he said he wasn't really making a lot of money off the guys at the time. He wasn't doing it for that. He was doing personal use. He just knew where to get it, and he could get it for them as a favor. It's fun to be getting that for that status. That's awesome to him. It made him feel like a big shot.

So he was into it. He said that also he would get free Coke when he did that. That's all. He wouldn't do it for profit. He would do it for a little free Coke, you know? So fun. Which is great. He said that he would get free Coke, expand his social circles, hang out with baseball players.

He thought it was great. And he gets to go out and do Coke. It's awesome. go out and do coke it's awesome so it started with like a gram or two maybe an eight ball and coke would swing by and pick it up on his way into the ballpark you know and uh you know they'd go into like the toilets in the bathroom or in some hallway somewhere next to a furnace or some shit to do it and uh sometimes the runway outside the clubhouse. A lot of times in the cars, out in the parking lot. No one ever noticed, like the Pirates officials, no one ever noticed that everybody on their team was doing a bunch of coke.

Or that was by design. We did not see a thing. Yeah, Cokie the Parrot even suggested that people in charge knew what was happening. Yeah, they have to. He said, quote, It seemed like no one really cared. I mean, I think Major League Baseball even knew itself that it had problems like years before when they had alcohol problems with a lot of guys. And so after a while, Koch realized that Schiffman kept coming to the games to hang out. So he was like, you know, what the fuck?

I don't need to be the middleman here. So, you know, what am I being the middleman? Schiffman, you just got man coming through with the Coke. Eventually, they just the Cokey, the parrot just said, why don't you call this guy direct? That way, I don't have to do this. And he comes here anyway. So call him and tell him to bring it here. What do I need to drive around with this shit for?

So, which is smart. So, uh, he does. He tells the guys, he gives them each other's phone numbers, tells them to set the shit up themselves.

Uh, 81 Dale has a, or a rod has a three 77 ERA. He goes four and five, which record doesn't really matter for a reliever. Uh, 27 games. And,

uh, yeah, 74 hits and 40 walks. So not bad. 74 hits and 74 innings pitched. So 1-1 on that is good. We'll take that from a reliever. 82 is when he really has a good year. Koke the mascot, too.

A little bit, by the way, inside cokie the mascot here he said he would lose six pounds usually for every game in sweat from this thing wow you're running around on a humid night in the northeast that'll do it uh one time they put a thermometer in on a really hot night and it was 135 degrees inside the suit. Inside that fucking suit. Cooking in there. Holy shit. He lost 13 pounds that day and had to be revived twice from passing out. Twice.

From being dehydrated. Twice. They revived him and said, get back out there and shake those wings. How do you get to number two? Shake those tail feathers. Let's go. Maybe some Coke.

I guess if you're all coked up, you're going to pop up like, hey, like the Undertaker coming out of it you know boom straight up so you know he said that he was always running around and uh he said he loved it they the team told him if kevin the cokie cokie the parrot continues to work as hard as he's working now he could could make $30,000 to $40,000 next year. Upwards of $40,000, huh? Yeah, and in 82, that's good money, though. It's good money. In 82, that's like $300,000 a year.

That's fucking great. That's amazing money. He's got a coke habit, James. Well, he's going to need that money. But he was getting $25 a game before that. Wow. So that's a big raise. But he's also doing shit loads of appearances this guy he's

got like anytime there's a mall opening they get cokie the parrot to come and they give him dealerships get some sales yeah they cut him 500 bucks and he goes on his way so yeah uh scurry he's a quiet guy like we said he's introverted he's the shyest guy in high school. And they said when he's using Coke, he's even quieter. He's even less talkative. He gets really, which is very strange. That's the opposite of what that usually does. Yeah. Maybe he's hyperactive and this is like Ritalin for him and it makes him takes him down.

I don't know what the fuck it is, but said he gets very quiet. He said that he would on purpose be quiet because he was afraid that he would like say something stupid because he was on coke. So he was very aware of what he was thinking and saying. And, you know, you're all paranoid and hyper aware of yourself. He he said, though, he started trying to he was living his life in secret. He was living a double a double life. Nobody else knew about this except his friends. He said he started to be become a con artist because he you know to get away to do coke you'd have to get out of

things and some lying yeah he said that he quote got to be pretty good at it um he said he couldn't let the outside world know that you know his life was controlled by coke so he just became more introverted that was the way to get around it he uh was going out with a woman at this point that he'll marry later on named laura and uh she said that he had a really hard time dealing with stress and the pressure of everything she said quote he had a hard time with pressure i think that's why he started doing what he was doing it was the pressure of waiting and not knowing the drugs made him quiet shy and scared when he wasn't on them he was normal fun and happy which sounds like the the opposite like you said this is if you're a

quiet shy scared person you do coke to come out of your shell and party and have the guts to talk to people that's why people used to do coke in social settings in the 70s right if you're at a bar or party in a you know fucking studio 54 you do a little coke you can dance more you're at a bar or party in fucking Studio 54, you do a little coke, you can dance more, you're going to be more sociable. Not him. He'd go sit in the corner and be like, oh, man. Now I've done it. Now I've done it to myself. I don't know if it's guilt.

He's having the reaction to coke that people have to heroin. This is weird. Yeah, totally. I'll hold up. 82, he pitches in 76 games, 103.2 in innings so he becomes a big part of the club 1.74 era wow think about if you're him what do you think right now coke's the best thing that's ever happened to this game whatever i'm doing it's working and i know anything to do yeah i'm i'm brilliant because i know how to get myself ready.

I know what I'm doing, obviously. I can do drugs. Super legitimate as this. Yeah. I can party and have a 174 ERA. That's amazing. So it's great. It's 103 innings pitched and only 79 hits.

That's great. That's terrific. So good season. He also had 14 saves as well, which saves were just different back then. So he had a great fucking season. Just amazing. It was the lowest of anyone in the major leagues without with at least 20 appearances. His ERA was that year. So his 103 innings pitched weren't enough to qualify for the ERA title, obviously. qualify for the era title obviously so uh he's doing really well he's making money at this point he's now becoming like people know who he is in pittsburgh he's on you know uh his dad said quote he didn't flaunt his social status or ability the public may have well may have thought he was cocky or arrogant but that wasn't the case at all so that's what he said and he's like 28 years old and yeah he's 27 at this point he's just a kid

he's still young yeah and he uh he even says like if he had a bad game quote i didn't know where to turn so i turned to cocaine that would make it better yeah man let me have a really great game coke coke um it's fucking funny um also the the san diego chicken they this was a big mascot thing like they said they had to give this guy a raise because the san diego chicken went to arbitration with the padres and ended up getting like a hundred thousand dollars a year good for them yeah because they were selling a shitload of merch of this guy and i guess it was his idea or whatever so he's like hey fuck you people so your mascot is the personality of the team and if it's if it's recognizable fucking pay that man because the fuck the the suit didn't make

it recognizable it's the bullshit that they did in it yeah it's it's dancing homer you know what i mean from the simpsons you gotta apart from that phillies thing i don't know what the fuck that is the fuck that fanatic is either i hate mascots in baseball i don't think you should have mascots and but there's no room on the field for a mascot it just doesn't work football's fields got sidelines they can run around and fuck off behind the end zone what do you have in baseball you hang out in the dugout stop the game for that thing to do anything yeah get the hell out of here i have no no no need for you if you run your fucking golf cart down the... What are you doing? Yeah.

In the outfield, there has to be no players out there for you to do that. And basketball mascots are the most ridiculous because there's the least amount of room. You ever seen a college game where they're like, show the bench and there's like a bunch of these players like all into the game and then there's the mascot standing like next to him like clapping. You're like, get the fuck out of here. You're not on the team. You're not on the team you're not on the team i do like the football ones in the nfl slamming their face on the goal post when the when the opposing kicker yeah they kick a field goal it's so funny that is fucking

funny so uh jesus 83 not a good season for 83 yeah he appears in 61 games 68 innings 556 era yikes from 174 to 556 is a blow the fuck up that is bad it's not good and part of it is that he is just rip roaring into his coke use at this point now it's now it's a problem yeah dale shiffman who was supplying him at the time he said quote i guess he would do six seven eight nine grams a night holy shit anywhere from 500 to a thousand dollars a night he said uh i just saw him get so sloppy sometimes where he was actually snorting coke in bars and restaurants and coming out of the bathroom. I told him, hey, man, you've really got to cool it. You have Coke all over your mustache just sitting in the booth.

Like everyone's going to bare hand pushing it up your nostrils at this point. You got to calm down. Yeah. He's not even taking it out of the bag. He's just kind of just burying a face. Yeah. Doing one of these. Flicking it back a little. Whatever falls into his nostrils.

And he goes, like, it's a shot a shot yeah just taking a shot of coke he said i it got to the point where rod used to call me and i would end up lying to him or avoiding his phone calls because i knew he had a big problem if your coke dealer doesn't want to sell you coke you're doing too much coke that's a lot of coke when your dealer tells you the guy that's profiting from your problem tells you I can't do it for you, man. Yeah. Shuffle your 400 pound self up to McDonald's and see if they say we're sorry. We're just it's for your own good. They're not going to know.

They're going to give you your food. They don't fucking care, man. He said the media portrayed me as a major dealer, which was a bunch of nonsense. I just got a couple of the ball players some cocaine. That seemed to be the extent of it. He wasn't selling it really to anybody else, but he was just like hooking the players up, and he liked to be the guy that would bring it to them

because then he would hang out with them and he'd get free coke. He said, quote, I don't really feel responsible for what happened to them. A lot of the players said these drug dealers twisted our arms and made us do it. That's bunk. These were big boys. The real story is they would just hound you, call you three, four, five o'clock in the morning, and I'd see them out until six o'clock in the morning before a one o'clock day game. Yikes.

So, yeah, nobody. If this guy didn't get it for him, they would have their base. They're baseball players. They have access to finding it. They would have found it from somebody else and they would have got it. So you're just the easiest guy have access to finding it. They would have found it from somebody else, and they would have got it. You're just the easiest guy for them to get it from, and they trust you because you're a guy that doesn't do this a lot. Exactly. That's huge.

And they're a guy that you apparently don't go tell the newspaper that you're doing coke with the baseball players until later. Trust is a big deal when you're in the spotlight. Until later, because all those quotes were from a newspaper. So that's the difference. Later on, it becomes different. Scurry says, quote, no one ever told me you can't do that. I've always just done what I want. And that's the problem with a lot of people.

He's never been told he can't do something. Everybody's just trying to facilitate this amazing thing that you're doing so you're never told no as an athlete so after the 83 season he went back to sparks for a while there in nevada to hang out with his family and all that kind of shit because you know he likes being around his family and uh his father said that uh you know it's the same uh he every year he feels like it's like that first time when he left he can see the look on his face and all that sort of shit um so yeah he said uh it just became different but this time when scurry got home he was a different guy from the year before he ended up staying in a motel room most of the time rather

than with his family so he could get high you know and hang out all night because that's what he wanted to do just do coke all night his family would have noticed that so um yeah he would get high about four or five times a week uh he never slept there he would just stay up watching tv and doing coke and then go home in the morning when he knew everybody went to work and then he would crash out there uh he said he would do everything in his power to keep from talking to people including avoiding telephone calls he'd just be like now i get to do coke with the whole off season right so february of 84 this is his first real big breakdown here he's in a motel or a hotel room he is in bad shape he's crying and sobbing yeah and high as fuck yeah and apparently hoping that just somebody would save him the way he was putting it just like i don't

know so i needed somebody to save me and he finally said okay this is what i'm gonna do i'm gonna quit drinking he said that's how i'll quit Coke. The drinking leads to Coke. You know what I mean? If I quit drinking, I can quit Coke. So he said he went home the next morning where he told his parents that he's quitting drinking and he's quitting baseball because he can't, he can't quit drinking if he's going to be a baseball player. Cause that just doesn't work for him. He's got a, and you guys don't know that I do Coke. So I can't tell you that I'm quitting that too. Yeah. I can't tell you the other thing I'm quitting, but it's even harder. Um, four days later, that that lasted three days and the fourth day he drank again and he didn't quit baseball either so he just kept going and uh the 84 season better year

not a lot of innings only 46 innings and 43 appearances but he had a 253 era only only 28 hits and 46 appearances 22 walks so doing much better uh that year than he was in 84 but there's a lot of problems in 84 that's when things kind of really fall apart wheels come off this bitch um at the ballpark people started to notice that scurry and barra especially were something was wrong with them uh one Pittsburgh Press sports writer here, Bob Herzl, he said, quote, the signs were there. Dale Berra couldn't perform the simplest task. He was picked off first base with a 3-0 count on the batter. I don't know.

If you're not a baseball fan, you don't understand. That's inconceivable. Yeah. You do not. You're not going to steal on three and oh you're just not because if it's ball four you can walk there right and then if it's not ball four then you can fucking deal with it from there but three and oh you're standing around seeing if it's going to be ball four and three and oh is a take sign that you're not yeah you're letting that ball go

by yeah there's a there's a ball thing it's a ball like there's about five hitters there's about five hitters in the league with a green light on 3-0, and those are the guys that are your MVP guys that know better. Otherwise, you're just going to pop it up probably and fuck it up for everybody, so take the goddamn pitch. So that's just a dumb thing, not paying attention and not getting back and wandering too far off the base. Now, for nothing else, Dale Barra's not a fucking base dealer so

it's not like he's ricky henderson and he was trying to pull something off he just was lazy and got caught out there um it's just complete lack of concentration other times scurry was would fall asleep in the bullpen he'd be passed out in the bullpen just lean back hat over his eyes like an old cowboy he's fucking he tell Sports Illustrated that he fell asleep in the bullpen between 20 and 25 times between the 83 season and 84 season. Shit. Just falling asleep all the time. He'd have to be woken up when he had to start warming up.

Rod, you're up. Oh, shit, my bad. It's your turn. Your turn. Christ. He said that he was just so run down from doing coke all night that he would do all that shit he once fell asleep while standing up in the outfield during pre-game batting practice when they're supposed to be shagging fly balls

that's a guy that doesn't love baseball anymore he loves coke he loves coke a lot yeah if you're sleeping like a horse that's an issue that means you're doing too much coke. That's one of the side effects. You'll sleep like a horse. It's bad. I'm going to lock my knees and just stand right here. Stand right here. That's it, babe. Hopefully I don't have a bad dream about falling.

No, his teammate, Don Robinson, who I told you would come back, he says he didn't notice anything. He said, quote, i didn't think there was a problem he said that scurry never really talked much to begin with so he'd never really noticed anything with the social interactions it's just he was like that he said it amounted to some brief small talk that's all they would do anyway a little small talk he's not a real talkative guy um at spring training scurry lived at the beach alone. And off the field, he only hung out with Dale Barra. So we knew what they were doing there. He's just facilitating his co-cues all day, every day.

That's it. And the Robinson guy said that we would have, it was only those two hanging out. So unless you were in there, nobody had any idea. We didn't know what the hell they were doing. You know, maybe they were in a weird sex shit with women and who the hell knows. We didn't know. We didn't know what the fuck they were doing. So he finally, though, decides to confide in don robinson he actually does because he's known him for so long he uh don robinson started to try to be friends

with him and uh scurry said quote it's nice to have a guy you can sit down and talk to and tell him things you don't want anybody else to know and i know it won't go go any farther than that so robinson was the one this is the by the way this is the story they put out in the paper right this is not real yes now robinson he did tell robinson about it robinson did tell him you got to chill out maybe you should try to get help and all this kind of shit but the paper says quote it was robinson who convinced him to seek help it was robinson who understood the the private devil that stalked him when he returned and how hard it was to pitch again so scurry said i was worried about other people's feelings toward me about whether they had accepted me i couldn't concentrate on baseball before i'd even get to the ballpark i'd want to turn around and go home yeah so the real problem is this uh start of the 84 season rod calls home from his hotel room in

san diego um preston his dad says quote he was talking to us and he just blacked out so he just passed out in mid-conversation that's not good which is something that you do when you're on drugs mostly so it's a drug generally are the cause of that yeah unless you're uh 65 70 years old sometimes dementia oh yeah sometimes you're just tired if you're that old shit i mean christ almighty yeah so you ever see an old man at thanksgiving he's done that's it it's half time of the lion's game he's got no more no matter if it's drugs or age if you pass out in a conversation you've just had enough you've had enough maybe it's maybe you should look into that someone passes out on you maybe your conversation sucks maybe it's not them maybe you're just boring my friend yeah look within

so preston said quote i called don robinson and had him go check on rod's room that's why he didn't go to ron and go right you know don i got a problem man yeah don found the problem the problem presented itself robinson went and got del barra too because he knew he was tight with rod and they went in there he's like maybe you can talk to him since i know you know you two kind of party together they found rod in his room hallucinating about invisible snakes crawling on him and in his hotel room he was freaking out grabbing shit trying to kick he was kicking the floor at snakes that were everywhere yeah you know how much coke you have to do to hallucinate snakes that's bad coke that's a lot of coke it's just a lot of coke bad good it's fucking gallons of it and you're just

gal i know it's not measured in gallons but it's gallons you can put that in milk jugs that's what i was gonna say just fill a gallon of milk with it and that's how much coke you have to use so he was doing that uh they didn't know what to do. Apparently, he was really free. He had a lifelong fear of snakes, too. He had a real weird snake thing. So the snakes freaked him out, and he was, like, losing his mind and tearing his clothes and shit. He was nuts. So they didn't know what to do.

So they said, we have to tell fucking Chuck Tanner, I guess. What else do we do about this? Yeah, this is bad. Like, we can't cover this up. So they went to the chuck tanner and they were like hey chuck sorry to wake you up um yeah no tomorrow's game 412 we're all uh pumped for the game tomorrow uh might want to get the front desk bit of a snake problem in this hotel either that or your left-handed reliever is fucking gacked out of his mind. One of the two. We're not sure which one yet. So Scurry was immediately put on the disabled list, I would say,

and sent off to Gateway Rehabilitation near Pittsburgh for 30 days. And as we know from these early 80s coke stories, that was the cure-all. They send you somewhere for 30 days. You come back and they go, he's good now. You have a press conference and you get right back into everything. And you go, oof, that Coke problem was something else, wasn't it, boys? All right.

30 days in rehab cures you. Cures you. Done. You're good now. you're good now so um yeah the the real whole story was that um uh the team traveled to la after the game uh they were going to take on the dodgers the next day scurry went to his room at the biltmore and he had pitched like shit and he wanted to do a bunch of coke and forget about it he had a coke connection in town by the way uh, this was later on when he came back. I'm sorry, because later on he'll come back, and this is what he did. He had a Coke connection in town, but he needed to be careful because people had begun to keep an eye on him

and making sure that people weren't coming and going from his room. He had a teammate that would keep his door open across from him to make sure no one was coming and going out of Rod's room to try to help him. That's our catch-all? That's our catch-all.'s our catch-all yeah like people were watching him so they're regularly checking up on him people are stopping by hey how you doing rod everything good yeah he's not all coked out all right good but this is how far if you want coke you're getting coke that's the thing if you have money you're gonna get coke period um so he had his blow delivered to him as shit brought in he would have there's a lot of people coming in and out team guys and stuff bringing in equipment for guys new gloves that they had made this glove just got restitched up he sent it to this guy

he had a guy come in delivering him a new baseball glove and some new whatever the fuck and put the Coke inside one of the fingers of the baseball glove to give to him. So nobody looked twice at a guy bringing equipment into him. That's just normal. So they're always people are always bringing it for them to try out to see if they can sponsor them and get them to do ads for him and shit. So this is really fucking normal. sponsor them and get them to do ads for him and shit so this is really fucking normal and um he went in and uh apparently scurry went to party and uh that's what ended up happening he the thing they left out of the newspaper was that he was mad that people were spying on him so he because when don robinson and del barra and chuck tanner came in he was pissed off

at that so he locked himself into the room and tore the fucking room apart tore it apart looking for listening devices and things like that uh criminal took apart the tv disassembled it completely took it apart um yeah they said they were like holy shit um this hotel security ended up going because people were coming and going from the room freaking out and all this type of shit um but the pirates staff quickly told the security guards to get the fuck out of here it's none of your business right and um when they went in the room they found not only shit taken apart the TV taken apart and all this, but a big old fucking pile of Coke was on the table too,

in the room on the nightstand. So he was just scar facing it, just going to town. Um, so they didn't, they didn't want the hotel security to call the cops or anything like that. So, uh,

you know, they fucking got them out of there. Scurry would later say that in a two and a half day binge, he did about 20 grams of coke in that period. That was the end of it. You know, seeing snakes and taking TVs apart and shit. So, yeah, he ends up going to San Diego. And the the headline in the newspaper was, quote, Scurry asks for help admitted to drug center for rehabilitation. Which is a little different.

I can't believe it wasn't so simple as Scurry Scurries. You know what I mean? Yeah, Scurry Scurries to rehab. Seems obvious to me, fellas. Now, the GM, this guy is silver as fuck right here. When it benefits him, you know, players have a problem. And then when he's mad at them, we'll tell you what he has to say later on. This is Harding Pete Peterson.

No wonder why he goes by Harding, because Pete is a little much for Peterson. He said in the paper, I'm proud that he came to us seeking help. It takes a big man to step forward in the way he did. Not quite. Not quite. It takes a big man to do that that's our story and we're sticking to it he's he knocked on the door hat in hand and said i got a problem and i need help that's what they acted like he said nope there was a dismantled tv yeah he dismantled the zenith that's the problem that's the issue we have with this whole thing

he would be so impressed james that you did not murder your family to hang out with an MLB or that thing. Very. He would give you the Hall of Fame Best Friend Award. Takes a big man to not murder them. It's pretty awesome that you didn't do that. It's great. I'm impressed. Holy hell.

Now, this was it though this kind of slammed the door on the whole free-for-all coke party in pittsburgh because now they were aware there was a problem and now they're like who else is doing it now they're looking into it um kevin coke the cokie parrot he said when the scurry thing happened it was over it was over um he said that dale barra told him stay away from rod he's lost his mind he was taking apart the tv so don't give rod any more fucking coke please yeah you can't handle whatever it is that you've got man that's uh no no so april 8th 84 which i believe was the next day after this whole thing happened, the Washoe County High School alumni, which is him, was honored by the Washoe County Teachers Association as an outstanding example to the community during a banquet.

But he was about to take a TV apart and enter drug rehabilitation instead. So that's a little different. Outstanding timing, ladies. Or men, gentlemen. I was going to say ladies and gentlemen and then I don't know what I was saying. Everybody out there. May 10th, 84 is the he did a month, so he's

good. And he does a He's Good Now press conference. Super cured. I'm good now. Thank you for everyone who's stuck by me yeah through all this tough times he says uh this article starts out a month ago rod scurry lay at the bottom of life's junk heap a shell of a man afraid to live and unable to die cocaine had taken control of his life his every thought was related to the drug. His every move dictated by it.

Then the quote from Curry, I was ashamed every time I went and pitched. Cocaine had a hold of me and I couldn't quit. I hated myself. So that's old Rod. Yeah. Next paragraph. Looking thin and fit, Scurry's hand shook nervously as he spoke. He often had to fight back tears.

A prepared text didn't really explain what he felt in his heart. Didn't tell of the way he almost died three times. And we'll talk about that. And the love of his teammate. And the love for his teammate, Dodd Robinson. Scurry crumpled the speech up and threw it to the ground. Yeah, he said that he hit bottom 28 days ago. And, yeah, he's been at a Gateway Re a gateway rehabilitation center near Aliquippa, Pennsylvania.

And he's restructuring his life that has fallen apart. He said, quote, for some time, I have had a dependency to drugs, which has had a harmful effect on my life and my performance on the baseball field. With the help of my family, my team, and the pirates. Isn't that your team? I don't know. I don't know what he's talking about. Maybe he meant like real pirates, the people bringing the coke in. Oh, yeah, yeah. And the pirates that come over from Cuba or wherever to Miami. I have recognized my problem and realized that it's time to get help. I will enter the drug program to get free from myself and this dependency. That's what he said before he went in.

I hope to return to a normal lifestyle in the future. So they said that six months ago he had told his parents about it. He said, I always thought I was strong enough to handle anything. I couldn't handle this. I quit and it only lasted a week. That was his I'm quitting drinking. I quitting coke i'm quitting baseball shit um he said that he went into spring training with his weight down 20 pounds problems got worse and finally uh he says that he called don robinson and asked for help which as we know isn't true the father called and said can you check on my kid

okay i can't i can't understand him i can't find him i can't find him he said i love him for what he did that's what scurry said about don robinson then he says quote three times i almost died rod says first time was in florida during spring training the second time was in nevada one you know one of those off-season hotel binges and the third time apparently was when uh he was in his hotel room freaking out yeah he's with the snakes that's snakes are dangerous he said fucking uh he said quote i don't care i didn't care about nobody cocaine was the number one priority in my life it came before my family before baseball in the winter i lived in a hotel room i had no control over what i was doing he said that he became a

con man and uh you know he just couldn't do anything. He said, I loved I love the life of baseball. I used to come to the clubhouse early, get there at one in the afternoon, but I stopped coming early because I had to try to get some sleep. That was staggering, James. We've heard these stories countless times. You know what I mean? And not just not just professional athletes, but people's daily life.

How the fuck is that a good advertisement for trying it it's that's what i mean yeah every story's awful i don't know if it's like well i mean you have to be successful to do it that much so is that the goal i don't know what the fuck it is i don't know how people do meth i don't know how people do this with with there's never been a good advertisement for any of that fuck no no never past 1978 there's never been a good advertisement for it it works out poorly every time every time he said it was so bad that he occasionally he would be pitching and he'd sneak back into the clubhouse between innings to snort a line wow That's wild. He said it started with beer, and he says now alcohol is just as dangerous as the others.

He said, for him, he said Coke was fun. He said he did it for the fun of it at first. He said, I never knew it would become this serious. He says, as I moved through the system, as my salary got higher, I continued to use more cocaine. Finally, it got to the point where i took out where i couldn't quit so yeah he said a year ago i hadn't hit bottom yet this time i had hit bottom if you were uh if you were close to dying you would understand so he said he went to the gateway center and revamped his entire life though 30. 30 days, he's good now. 28 days, actually, is what it was.

It's a four-week. Four weeks. He would run two to three miles in the morning, ride a stationary bike four miles at night, and he would throw in between. And that fixes it. That fixes it all. He said in between there was counseling also.

He said... You require that for the rest of your life, man, or at least until you've tackled this, because this is not a 28-day fix-all. Jimmy, Jimmy, you require this for 28 days. That's clearly what the evidence has shown, right? It's unbelievable. It worked for Hollywood Henderson.

Yeah. He got out and then fucking forcefully skull-fucked a paraplegic afterwards, right? That's normal. It happens. He fixed it. he fixed it all fixed up he does break a big rule here for athletes in my book as or the crime and sports rule book he starts talking about god a lot now which is as we've seen bad things come out of that and in sports uh quote but they do that in these rehab centers too is like yeah uh replace a vice with

a vice and yeah it's a lot to do like here this won't make you see snakes although in the story there's talking snakes so it's really imagine if he was like this is great i love it then he got to that part and he's like oh god jesus they're everywhere there's fucking snakes man see fucking they were on coke too man fucking fixing the snakes i got snakes eve was on fucking coke bro that's what happened i'm fixing snakes got more snakes yeah did she take her tv apart yeah perhaps that uh samuel jackson on the plane is just doing coke maybe that's all it is that's it all those people they got a bad batch he says um well you know what let's give them it in their own words on this what

do you say? Because this is a real I'm good now. So those are usually fun. Here we go. In their own words, quote, Now I pray every morning when I get up and every night when I go to bed. God comes first, then me, then my family. Baseball used to be the number one priority in my life,

but now it's fourth or fifth. If I don't take care of me, then I can lose my family, baseball, and everything. I almost did. Jesus. So now it's God first, then family. So there we go. He also said in his press conference, quote, I still love baseball, but I hate the environment. And he said it's just a hard environment for him.

And loneliness was the big issue is what he says loneliness i know that feeling he says when people idolize you you're supposed to be almost perfect they don't want to hear about your weaknesses which back then they didn't now they love it now it's a yeah shows you're human you know people people like that shit it's a big thing he said that uh you know he said drugs and alcohol weren't really the problem. They were an attempted solution. He said it made you forget about all the feelings of loneliness. It made you forget about wanting to be somewhere else.

And that was his main problem was he always wanted to be home, and that's how it started. And then it just was great after a while. He forgot about being home he just wanted to do coke he said uh you know hotels were he called it like a prison cell to him he said that's the you know coke and booze that's what helped him escape he said and this is the same for comics quote the game is over and you're still wound up if you have a good game you go out drinking to celebrate if you go have a bad game you go out drinking to forget absolutely that's it man that's what nails it that's if you have to be that up for something for that limited amount of time it's just different i know everybody has

to be up for their jobs but no one's asking anyone to be that up for 40 straight hours for the most part unless it's air traffic control or something i mean honestly otherwise there's lulls and everybody's work and you know that sort of shit anything out on a field or where you're being judged and every and there's a thousand people plus staring at you performance fucking matters it's a lot it's a lot of pressure and you need something to get over that and uh you know some people it's coke i guess so most people it's some sort of substance there are very few that have nothing it is and then the other thing is you're done late at night so everybody goes home and then you're you know what what are you doing it's the same as if you work at a restaurant if you sucks right yeah you're gonna do something you're gonna break

into the mini bar you're gonna fucking do whatever take a part of tv motherfucker take a part of tv get do make some value of your time. He said, I never really drank that much in the wintertime around the people I love. It doesn't happen. But this is my 12th year in organized baseball. I've been home a month to three months at most

in any of these years. He says he still likes baseball, though. It's fun coming to the clubhouse and acting like a kid all the time there's nothing i trade it for and yet i think with sports people don't take your feelings into consideration at all they're all tied up in their own egos yeah um now harding pete peterson like we said the gm he said he's proud of scurry said i'm proud of rod for admitting to the problem so he can get his life straightened away and get back to pitching the way we know he all can.

That's the other thing that they would say back then that was funny. Our number one concern at this point is to help Rod get his life back in order. And Chuck Tanner, the manager, said, I feel sorry for him. Think of the misery he's been through. It hurts me, but I'm happy for him. Happy he's going to get this thing straightened out. You don't know what you have happened if you don't know what would have happened. Sorry, it was the newspaper.

It was foggy. It's like a cloudy newspaper. If he hadn't come for help. So everybody would have this thing like he's getting it straightened out like you could get like a like a cyst removed or something like getting it all taken care of no worries yeah but that requirement is like on somebody else's responsibility this is him take their this is them giving him all the ownership of it no matter win or lose it's it's on him and that they're distant taking credit for uh helping but also distancing

distancing themselves and putting all the onus on him for for succeeding so fuck yeah you got it um the pirates also decide that they are going to start testing all their minor leaguers for drugs now oh boy they can't test the major leaguers without a union agreement so they're going to test the minor leaguers and they did and they said they were telling everyone an adequate time to stop using drugs and they said that you know in case you're doing it and they said the first test was just to get a baseline of how many people are using it and then after the second test if you come up positive they'll start being penalties as a team peterson said we had some players turn up positive he did say that quote no hard drugs were found no hard drugs so they can't afford hard drugs in the minors they can afford

crappy dirt weed that somebody at a bar gave them he said there were uh there were a number of players who tested positive for cocaine and marijuana though but she didn't consider cocaine a hard drug at that point that's the other point what are though, which he didn't consider cocaine a hard drug at that point. Right, that's the other point. What are you doing where you don't consider cocaine a hard drug? Yeah, no shit. Peterson also said, what does that tell you? It tells you that I didn't care about anybody.

Cocaine is my number one priority. So he said that was it. They had enough time to stop, and they still didn't stop. They knew the test was coming they did it anyway this is what peterson says at this later on point this is this is how a lot of the country turned it went from he'll be fine in 30 days and they saw that didn't work and they're like well i guess uh jail forever then right it's either cushy 30-day rehab or life in a dank cell those are the only two options for a drug addict he says

wow quote this country can get rid of its drug problem if it wanted to no it can't no it's simple you're gonna if you're found guilty of pushing drugs you go to jail for the rest of your life would anyone push drugs with that being the penalty if they will uh if they will stop it why not do it well we tried your thing out and they did that they had life sentences and guess what happened not a fucking spec less drug fucking dealing the problem is life is expensive and that's easy to sell it's well you're selling a product yeah it's demand if people want it someone's gonna supply it and people fucking want it because it works so that's the deal no matter what it is so well that people

will chance dying today yeah they don't care they love it they don't give a fuck because that what's the if i don't die then i have the best time of my life. So make it not work. Yeah, please. So September of 84, he's back and he's pitching and he's doing great. So they Chuck Tanner said Rod Scurry is back. It makes me so happy to see him pitching this way. He's getting the chance to pitch every day. He's getting in shape.

So he had, I guess, an elbow problem a couple like last month when he tried to come back here. And he said, I haven't really pitched much this year, but I'm satisfied with what I've done. It's important to go out on a positive note. After all that's happened, I need a rest. I need time to forget. He said, I feel like I've lost a couple of years. In two years, I kind of went from being one of the best to the worst. And now I'm getting it back.

He said that it's probably going to be a tough year for me. I can't mess up again. Can't do it. He said there's something I'm missing I haven't found, I guess, and until I do, it's going to be hard, but I won't go back. He's not going to go back to it. Pete Peterson now feels that not only should drug pushers be put in jail forever, he fears that anyone involved in drugs is going to get involved with gamblers now. He said they're going to be in debt for drugs and then they're going to be throwing games out there to make up the money, which they're all the same guys, James. All of them.

It's all the same guy. He says that he says, Peterson, if even one player is discovered attempting to fix the game in public, the game will be ruined forever and the public will never believe in them again. And yeah, April 85, he agrees to draw does 10 random drug tests during the season for him. So to do that, what ends up happening, that goes fine until about June when this is the way the newspaper puts it. The pirates suspend him for failing to follow a rehab program. To put it a different way, Rod just decided he wasn't even going to a game. He just wasn't going to show up. No call, no show.

He office spaced it. In the majors. Yeah. So. I don't know. I don't like my job anymore. I'm just not going to go. Not going to go.

A friend of his said that he got a call from Rod and Rod was all upset and he said he was coming over and he said, yeah, I guess come over. I don't know what you're so upset about. Come over. So this guy said he, Rod came over and he said he had been doing like work and shit. So he went to take a shower quick and come back out. And he said he got dressed, came out and Rod was sitting had been doing like work and shit. So he went to take a shower quick and come back out. And he said he got dressed, came out, and Rod was sitting on his couch in the living room.

He had come over already. He was like, wow, you got in. Okay. There you are. So the guy just turned the TV on casually to have it on in the background. And the pirate game came on. And he's like looking at the screen. Looking back at Rod. Looking at the screen.

How are you in here places at once he said i was like oh my god and it was the end of the game too like when they would have called him um he and the announcer at one point said it's the ninth inning and there's a lefty in the on-deck circle i wonder why scurry isn't warming up where's rod well he's on my couch he said this guy connelly said he turned and looked at rod and he was like what the fuck man like what are you doing and rod was like fucking i want some coke that's why i'm here and he's like jesus christ he's in my fucking living room that's why he's not out there and he's like looking back like did you hear him and he said quote rod didn't care didn't care at

all rod they're literally calling you right now right now the announcer the announcer wants you out there fuck he also said about rod he was talkative one day withdrawn the next he lost concentration and his ability slipped um he also uh he thought that he hated it he hated baseball is what he thought rod did his friend kevinnolly. He said the only reason he was playing the game was for money. He didn't care about baseball. He said he didn't know him that long. He was just selling him some Coke. But he said that he couldn't fucking control himself.

He said he was a disaster. He was using drugs during the game. There's a line where it goes from partying, but this was way over partying. Yeah, that's way over partying uh kevin coke uh cokie the parrot here right he said quote i never saw something overtake somebody like it did scurry he was such a good guy such a quiet guy fun to be around he had that shy laugh he was just a super guy and then to see him just not be able to have any control at all he had no control so a fucking disaster um he gets suspended because the pirates suspend him for not showing up and

then they find out that he was you know they test him and they find out he was doing a bunch of fucking coke and uh yeah he's a goddamn disaster put it that way uh they're all like this is just they're getting sick of this at this moment in time and uh he said that you know he couldn't quit that's all it was he just couldn't quit and uh later on he ends up being called in because there's going to be a big grand jury investigation right and they call him in and uh he says i'm ready to tell you what the story is. There's a network of drug dealers servicing the National League. Rod spills it, and he testifies against that Schiffman guy. He testifies against him, and he ends up going to prison and shit. So, yeah, it's a fucking...

Oh, sniff man. All you wanted to do was hang out with guys and provide coke, and you're going to prison. That's the thing when you read this cocaine seven book and we'll do the uh the pittsburgh cocaine seven when we do the episode you'll notice too that like these guys most of the people busted weren't big coke dealers they were guys who knew a guy who had it and could get it for their friends and that's what they did they were just the guy who was like yeah i'll get it for you i can get it the best price and they

get it for their friends they weren't dealers they weren't people who were driving around porsches because they were selling coke they were doing they were working nine to five right yeah they were working nine to five and then going to the game afterwards hanging out with the guys and grabbing some coke for them along the way so they could all party together so um now so in the grand scheme things, cracking down on this does nothing for society. All it does. The only people that benefit are major major league baseball because they get that particular person that's providing drugs to these few people out of the sport. That's all it does.

It does nothing for society. Making a big deal out of this is stupid. All it's doing is putting a dude that has kids in jail. Well, yeah, he's not. It doesn't even fucking do that much. He's not a giant trafficker. This guy, he's doing is putting a dude that has kids in jail well yeah he's not doesn't even fucking do that much coke he's not a giant trafficker in this guy he's a guy with a i'd say you look at it of do you have a nine to five if someone has a nine to five then you know what they're this that's enough their life is tough and you know what they're doing this they're not

they're not living a luxury life of a trafficker here where you need to fucking he's not parked on the corner out front of your kid's school getting your kid fucked up and you know what i mean it's not that's the thing this is ridiculous now her his wife lisa says that um well betty says this and then uh his wife is laura his sister's lisa i'm sorry two l words his mother betty says that he was treated like a star in rehab and not like an addict, which was another thing that goes on now still. She says, my husband and I went to see him, and I was very disappointed in the rehab center because I felt like they were treating him as a big league star and not as a drug addict. She said that the place the daughter pointed out out lisa that they even had a mound for

him to practice they even put up a pitcher's mound so he could practice just like in 28 days with uh sandra bullock they got that for that guy too it's fucking crazy he says she says when my husband and i got there we were greeted like we were coming to a big party i cried all the way home because i felt like they weren't doing the job rick and i went back and we went to the sessions with him but i was very disappointed in it and uh rick the brother said i put these third uh i put these 30 days in and it's done is what rod thought and he knew that was the wrong attitude rick did and he said that he could see that this wasn't going to stick rick said drugs and alcohol were separating me and him we both knew that he wanted to get back to the path he'd been on we still loved each other but

neither of us knew how to get there so he's separating himself from his family and all this type of shit and uh it's fucking bad um it's just bad uh at one point in 1985 you want to hear about the worst thing about the shiffman mess. Schiffman cut him off. Really? He wasn't even selling him shit anymore because he was concerned about him. Really? He said, this guy's all fucked up. I'm not getting him any more Coke.

So he literally stopped getting him Coke. He stopped. Still went to prison. Yeah. Because he had done it. He had sold it a bunch of times. He said, this is Schiffman. Right before the whole mess came down, Rod warned me.

Hey, look, man, you better split because there's a lot of trouble coming your way. And by the way, do you have any Coke? He said literally that's what he was doing. You know that shit that you're in trouble for and I'm in trouble for, to be honest with you. Can you get me some of that? And then you should get the fuck out of town. He said, hey, Rod rod i'm at a businessman um he ended up getting two years in prison chefman for this whole thing and he ends up having a big religious conversion and

then he ends up he ends up not doing drugs and then getting married and having three kids and having a nice life after that so good for him that's a good deal so uh august 19th 85 that's when schiffman pleads guilty to 20 drug trafficking charges 20 because 20 times he sold him coke while uh 91 other counts were dismissed jesus they really hit him hard yeah yeah no shit that's a lot and this was from years ago this was from 82 and 83 so uh he became the first player named in the cocaine distribution trial of curtis strong there's another guy in this whole mess when we take too long to get into it he pirates teammates dale barrow lee mazilli lee lacey john milner and dave parker along with several other major league players were called to the grand jury for their involvement in this.

And they were all given immunity to testify against these guys. So as a result, Peter Uberoth, the commissioner of baseball, said that Scurry will undergo random drug testing for the rest of his career. Scurry was one of 10 players named on Friday to undergo such testing. And 11 players were given suspensions and all this type of shit. Keith Hernandez was one of the guys being tested. And Rod said the hardest thing to admit is that you have a

problem. I have a problem. I can't do anything in moderation, so I can't even drink. Keith Hernandez said, the devil is on this earth. That's what he said about cocaine. He said, what do you think about cocaine? He said, the devil is on this earth that's what he said about cocaine they said what do you think about cocaine he said the devil is on this earth that's a that's some words that the coke had to say no shit that is fucking wild uh the end of 85 he sold to the yankees okay he's got to get out of pittsburgh he's he's he's fucking testifying against drug dealers and

shit like he's it's over in pittsburgh so he sold him to new york fucking city where it's nice and quiet yeah nice and quiet you can really get your breath and there's never any drugs there either the other part you can't get drugs in new york city good god you can't get drugs in the south bronx there's no corners of drugs. The one city in two cities in America. If you told me if you have a major drug problem, where do you know? New York, L.A. Never.

Don't ever be there. Vegas to keep me away from there. Otherwise, and probably Phoenix would be the last one. Not good for it's the terrible for drugs. It's all the drugs from L.A. and the East Coast are all mingling. It's a stop drugs. It's all the drugs from L.A. and the East Coast. They're all mingling. It's a stopover. No shit. Scurry said it's a nice relief to get out of Pittsburgh after everything that's happened.

So, yeah, there you go. He ends up pitching there. He said it was tough. They couldn't forget what happened in the past. It hung over my shoulders every day. I was throwing good on the road, but when I pitched at home, it was tough. I was thinking about gaining acceptance, and you can't pitch effectively if you're not concentrating on what you're doing so yeah anyway uh september 5th 85 is the first day of the uh curtis strong trial

lonnie smith of the royals uh is has to testify he names Joaquin Andahar of the Cardinals and Keith Hernandez of the Mets as other players for whom he purchased cocaine for. He was the middleman for Lee Lacey of the Orioles, Dave Parker of the Reds. They're also subpoenaed. Suspended for one year, Lonnie Smith, Keith Hernandez, Enos Campbell, Dale Barra, Dave Parker, Jeff Leonard, Joaquin Andahar. They ended up commuting those sentences if they agreed to give a percentage of their salary to some shit and get tested all the time. That was the deal. Claude L. Washington, Larry Sorensen, Lee Lacey, and Al Holland were originally suspended for 60 days. And then ordered to submit to drug testing with no disciplinary action,

Tim Raines, who we know needs it, Rod Scurry, Dickie Knowles, Gary Matthews, the Sarge, Vita Blue, who's awesome, Daryl Sconears, Alan Wiggins, who there's an episode on, Dusty Baker, there you go, he's ordered, lifetime testing,

Manny Sarmenta, Sarmiento, and Daryl Thomas. I had no idea that Dusty was such a fun guy. Yeah, Dusty was a blast. No, yeah, he looks like this old grumpy man, but he was a party, apparently. He'd get it on. So that year, 85 totals here. He's had 35 games he pitches in, innings a 313 era not terrible less hits

than innings pitched pretty good uh 350 year uh 350 000 he made that year as well now we start to get his salary february of 1986 he and his wife laura welcome their first child wow they have a child name yeah rodney you betcha of course it is rodney james he seems like a good kid too we'll talk about him a little bit he developed a close relationship um we're talking about uh rod not rod jr with billy martin which would be weird if rod jr became billy martin's close friend um yeah the uh so he becomes close with him because billy knows about being a fuck up he knows that he said that after the team trips uh steinbrenner has hotels put midnight snacks and a bucket of like beers and shit in the hotel rooms for the players when they

get there if they come in from a long night so uh he said it's nice but for rod he said quote i had to pour them down the sink about the beer it's the main room nope i couldn't give them away it's the main reason why i take the drug test every day if i didn't have that i might have poured them into me and you can't leave any loopholes with me so he knows that he's fucking you know needs to be monitored he said i have a wife and baby now i almost always stay with my family now my wife and baby fill up my time before i think it was just too much free time when i went home it was just me and the walls sitting there yeah and he said it's everywhere the pressures of life in baseball for me it was just me and the walls sitting there yeah and he said it's everywhere the pressures of life in baseball for me it was all the all the free time drinking and drugs helped me forget a lot of the time they were almost my friends wow cocaine is my friend hello darkness my old friend

wow cocaine is my friend i think we just labeled the episode yeah i'm here i brought cocaine again he said hammer tonight again take apart a zine is my friend maybe an rca and to the end so he said this year scurry's wife scurry's wife last year traveled with him all the time which kept him from doing coke and drinking and shit this year newborn son she can't travel with him he's all alone he said just living baseball that's my hardest adjustment now you'd almost rather play two or three games a day and just stay at the ballpark just keep busy he said you're almost always left alone that That's what hurts.

A few drinks with the guys. That's all over now, I guess. It's just time to grow up. I have a wife, my baby, and a great Dane. It's responsibility and somebody I have to care about and I want to care about. So, 86, he pitches in 31 games, 39 innings, 366 ERA. Not terrible. Makes $450,000.

That's nice. January 1987. He is in Reno, just south of downtown Reno, and he is arrested for reckless driving. And when they get him out of the car, they can tell he's had a few. He's had a few, and he refused to submit to the blood alcohol test yeah refused so he's charged with drunken and reckless driving and uh yeah obviously he can't be drinking at all yankee spokesman said we have not talked to rod at this point any comment would be premature uh they do comment on March 27th, 87 when they release him.

So there's that. It's a hell of a statement. That's a statement. June 4th, 87. He signed as a free agent with the San Francisco Giants. He spends the season in Phoenix. See, this is why I wish again for a million reasons. I wish Rod was still alive because I'm 99% sure he was around.

He was in. He was playing for the Phoenix Firebirds at this point. It might have been the next season. They might have missed each other by a season. But he plays in Phoenix, and he has a.377 ERA. Not terrible. Makes $340,000 to play in the minors and to play at Muni, to play at phoenix muni i think they still they were still playing that ballpark so much to watch the firebirds it was a blast muni is a great little stadium it's like the the one by me except not as nice as that one the one in new york where i live

that duchess man that thing is great those hudson valley renegades games that's hard to say renegades games are fucking fun if they don't know how lucky they have it, that park is beautiful. It's gorgeous. I love it. We're going to get season tickets next year, I think. We'll see how much they cost, but I want to get that shit. So March 19th, 1988, he's traded by the Giants to the Seattle Mariners for a player to be named later.

So he goes from number 11th pick overall in the draft to a player to be named later. If you'll take him, we'll figure out the details on another day. We'll figure it out some other time. He ends up making it up to Seattle this year, actually. 39 games,

31 innings pitch, so he's coming in just pitching to a lefty sometimes and then getting pulled out. Has a 402 ERA, so he's coming in just pitching to a lefty sometimes and then getting pulled out. Has a.402 ERA, so not horrible. He only makes about $145,000 this year because he's only up for a little section of the season. December 21, 1988, he is released by the Mariners. And he'll never play Major League Baseball again.

Never again. So he's going to finish with a.324 ERA, which is pretty good. 39 saves in his career. Not bad. 460 innings pitched, 384 hits. That's really good. That's a lot, yeah. I think he's got more strikeouts than walks as well, too.

431 strikeouts, 274 walks. It's almost two to one. So that's not a bad career. It looks good on paper. Yeah, except for the time. It should have been more. It looks better on a mirror. A little bit.

So as he figured out, December 21st, 1988, that was. December 22nd, 1988. Oh, no. He's in Reno. And he is arrested at a crack house he's arrested after buying two rocks of crack cocaine at a crack house um he is held uh there this family posts a six thousand dollar bond it's like 12 hours after he's released this happens which is fucking insane um it's a mess

they said that the reno crack house it was under surveillance by undercover agents when um scurry walked up to one of these undercover agents at one point because he walked up to several people including an undercover agent and asked where he could buy some crack oh no and i don't think the agent could tell him because that would have been entrapment so i think the agent said i don't know but then someone else was like right there stupid jesus have you looked at this house so boarded up one that people scratching keep going into yep so now he's completely fucked yeah um i mean out of baseball the next day out of freedom looking bad sitting in a jail cell i mean just it's a mess and it's a it's we've seen the count reno sheriff's department

how that whole thing works we've seen what that looks like dangles in there it's gross i mean they at one point that it's so bad even as bad as it is they even say we gotta fix this place up a little and they call in a little outside help and it's paul calhoun shit pipe enthusiast and he says um how is it you come to arrive here what the fuck is wrong with you what are you doing guy jesus fucking christ you're friends with billy martin one fucking minute you're hanging out with george steinbrenner things are going fucking great for you next thing you know you're in a fuck that's you see junior out that that's junior that's fucking tra Travis Junior. You're below him now. You see how that goes? This is bad stuff, my friend. The deputy has her tits out, man.

I mean, I'm looking in your shit pipes, and I mean, Jesus Christ, I'd say I clean your shit pipes to smack your wife, but she's been through enough. You know what I mean? You put her through enough. Your shit pipes are too clogged. There's little tiny baggies in there, and I don't know, like a big block of hardened powder I can't get out i don't know i'm gonna have to call in reinforcements i gotta get out of here and poof in a poof of toilet plungers and shit pipes he's gone rod is like okay first i saw snakes right this time i saw a man and i'm very confused he was holding a plunger to snake my pipes but i hate snakes no shit um so uh the the some minor league team says that they'd like to sign him the next year

they say i'm trying to talk to him if he doesn't go to jail i'll see if he wants to play for our team wow it's not the bigs but it would keep him in the game uh he ends up pleading as we'll talk about here he's going to plead guilty to possession of cocaine and he is told you sir may fuck off he is given a one year suspended sentence and uh 18 months probation that that also requires treatment and rehabilitation and all that good stuff there. 1990, he's trying to get his shit back together. 1991, that again, that reporter who played with him in high school, he said that summer his father sent him an ad from Sparks in the one ad section of the newspaper where scurry was offering baseball instruction i'm rod scurry i'll teach your kids how to play baseball but he didn't like if you're baseball for an eight ball that's my slogan everybody go get your kids

so he says that they said it was just in the one ads like he didn't like have like a business and a page. He like said, come to my yard and I'll show your kid how to throw a curveball. Personals. This is. Yeah. It's not like I'm started. Rod scurries baseball camp or something, which would make sense at that point. But he didn't.

The guy said, too, he came close to calling him, but he never did because he didn't know what to say. He owned a car wash at one point here, which he liked. He liked to do auto detailing. He was interested in that. He just liked to do it. It felt good. He liked to go hunting and fishing, and he was trying to stay on the straight and narrow and work on his marriage also because Laura's still with him. She's a fucking saint, this woman.

That Schiffman guy tried to call him in a year before that and he wouldn't take the call and schiffman says i guess he was scared to death i had just hoped to have a chance to share with him what changed my life and help him if i could he was going to try to bring jesus on the new word yeah he's like i got it over here yeah I found him at a crack house, too. He said it just didn't work out that way. I heard he'd been in trouble with the crack cocaine a few years back. Wow, he really is out of the life. Like he's never even seen it before.

With the crack cocaine I've been hearing so much about. And then that he had a wife and kids kids but i assumed he was still pretty much involved with drugs i just wanted to let him know hey no hard feelings buddy it turned out for the best so he thought that rod thought that he was mad at him for testifying against him but he wanted to thank him for testifying against him because it helped turn his life around he said so i mean jesus christ this guy you feel bad for rod and then this guy was in prison, and I feel bad for the guy who went to prison for kind of facilitating some deals with his friends. Everybody was partying.

Who cares who made the phone call? You know, that's fucking stupid. I hate that his life was turned upside down, and now every Sunday he has to be somewhere. Yes, and change everything. Now, I feel bad for, I really do, I feel bad for all these people, Jimmy, especially Laura, but not nearly as bad as I feel for Rod Scurry, regional H.R. manager at the Chemours Company in Fayetteville, North Carolina. And I know it's not his son because it's Roderick, not Rodney. And he's black also. And Rod's definitely not.

So there's that Rodney Scurry, just Monument, Colorado. That might be his son. I don't know. It makes sense that it's his son, actually. And then I assume he's confused by it very often. Rob Scurry with a B. Poor bastard. He's a wine broker at Langton's in the greater Sydney area in Australia.

October 1992, his wife leaves him him rod's wife takes off laura splits up um yeah she said it was too much she left him and the two kids there with him a six-year-old boy rodney and then a two-year-old girl that they have now as well okay she said she needed a trial separation for a week okay that's what she said at this moment as well the irs is claiming nearly five hundred thousand dollars in back taxes against rod did he ever pay anything jesus um yeah uh the tax problem he said that wasn't it wasn't his fault and then he might not have to pay the money because it wasn't his fault an accounting firm in texas put scurry and numerous other ballplayers into millions of dollars of bogus tax shelters. It was a company that was scamming a bunch of people, so it wasn't his fault.

He thought he was doing the right thing. His money was going out, and they said it was for paying taxes, and it wasn't. So he had a hard time with pressure. This is what Laura says. He had a hard time with pressure, and I think that's why he started doing what he was doing it was the pressure of waiting and not knowing that was the quote from earlier so he she then says the drugs made him quiet when he wasn't on them he was normal fun and happy i couldn't live with him anymore while he was doing the drugs she says so october 29th. She's been gone less than a week.

He's home with the children alone. And it's 1230 a.m. on October 29th. He calls his mother and sparks to talk about his marital problems, which is, you know, yeah, he was upset, but coherent and lucid and fine. 40 minutes later, he called back. And this time it wasn't it wasn't rod it was no it wasn't rod at all it was the grandson it was six-year-old rodney asking betty to please come over and help oh no rod had gone outside it was chilly out too it gets cold you know at night in reno in late october he goes outside in sweat shorts and nothing else no shoes no shirt

begging neighbors in the middle of the night banging on their doors yelling and screaming in his front yard for help with the invisible snakes crawling on him with the snakes that are crawling on him and crawling all over the yard and biting him fuck he's flailing on the ground he's grabbing things that aren't there he's kicking he's yelling he's screaming help me these fucking snakes how can you not help me there's snakes everywhere somebody fucking help me snake snake snake snake snakes so the mom called the sheriff's office four deputies came first they tried to chill him out hey buddy it's all good you know no snakes whatever um you know, tried to quiet him down.

Then he got angry that they were fucking not listening to him and all that sort of shit. So in the, they had to end up, he started struggling with them and fighting them and shit like that. So they end up handcuffing him and binding, you know, bound his feet and all that shit. The Cordick thing, the same thing they did with Cordick.

And this isn't legal anymore to, to do this whole deal like this with someone who's just having a, they didn't do anything illegal. He's not like he just robbed a bank and now he doesn't want to go to jail. He's like a dude having a breakdown. Um, so once they get them all bound up, they find that he stopped breathing and he's become unconscious. Oh no.

So they begin CPR, call the paramedics. Paramedics come here, take him to a hospital via helicopter they get him going um lisa the sister said he had a faint heartbeat and faint breathing but the doctor said that even though we were doing cpr it doesn't mean there's oxygen going to his actual brain right even just because it's going in his body. So, oh my Christ. They take him to the hospital where he is in a coma in the hospital. The sheriff involved in the case said he arrived at the scene shortly after they took Scurry away. He said his son Scott played Little League for the team that Scurry sponsored. And his son had the Rod Scurryurries twins was the name of the team

and it was a red satin jacket that he had there and he said he came in the house and saw the jacket because rod had one too and it's the same one his kid had and he was like oh that's miserable you know this he's a nice guy the sheriff said when i saw betty and lisa at the house my heart sank he said it was a terrible feeling to see them under those circumstances because they'd i'd seen them in such happy times then when i went into the house doing the crime scene i saw that he had a red jacket exactly like my son's rod scurry's twins that kind of finished me for the night emotionally so he is kept on life support for a week uh his sister lisa said you can say goodbye so many times so often, but it's never enough.

His breathing was so shallow. Hearing him breathe was too painful. I couldn't go back after that night. So they said the doctor, you know, the doctor said that about a week that he'll never, even if he came out of it, he's never going to feel anything. His brain's dead the damage is crazy so lisa said the whole family talked about it and agreed with the recommendation we all went down there and took turns saying goodbye and then they pulled it oh boy that's the worst they pulled the plug on him and uh yep he was dead november 5th 1992 his dad said he was

a great son he'll never be forgotten so that's that is literally the worst thing i've ever witnessed uh and i don't ever want to do it again and i know i'm going to have to one day it's fucking horrible because it does not get they make it sound like pull the plug and it's over and it's fucking not because it takes a long time yeah it takes a long time and it's fucking sad. It's very sad. Yeah, it's like keeping a fish out of water. You're like, well, it'll die eventually. When's it going to die?

It's still flopping. I hope it stops. That flop is awful. Every time it slaps the table, I want to fucking end myself. Yeah. Oh, shit. It's awful. You feel guilty.

So he said that the coroner said the cocaine plus violent behavior plus being restrained all contributed to his death two-year-old daughter Dallas and a son Rodney at six he leaves behind his body was scraped badly from the the fighting but his family never believed he was the victim of any excessive force they accepted the judgment of the doctors and said that he lapsed in the cardiopulmonary arrest from the reaction to the cocaine, cut off his brain's oxygen supply. And that was the problem. They said that he said that Rod had been spending all his time with his kids. This is his brother, Rick. And he says that he was, quote, for the most part, clean.

But obviously, there was a few things going on in the last year that led to that night. He said that he'd been unsure what they were. He said that Rod hadn't told him about the IRS problems. But, you know, he wouldn't doubt it. That's a lot of pressure. He said whatever was going on there, he kept it to himself. So the family said they heard various theories and stories from what actually happened and causes of death and all the everything. But they said they nobody gave a shit.

Rick said nothing's going to bring him back. I don't blame anybody. It was just a 10 year old ordeal that ended badly. So that's it. Yeah. They said his name at the time was not hung in the hug high school gym hall of fame there and um the athletic director said he was one of our best athletes athletes but we didn't want to send a mixed message to kids that he was someone to be admired and should be placed in an exalted

position because of his drug use maybe people will feel differently now that he's dead jesus christ um but it's so silly we can can we separate the athlete from the crime you know when it's like that and i like the way the cop put it that sergeant means he said i think they're going i think they're doing a disservice to the high school by not putting him up there what other way can you tell kids that this isn't a good thing to do this guy was on top of the world and this is how he ended up right that's the way i look great that's a great lesson to learn give all the information first yeah the autopsy disclosed he died of a small hemorrhage within his brain after a cardio respiratory collapse a significant condition the autopsy report said was cocaine intoxication so um everybody talks about him and what a great guy he is.

His brother said Rod was down to earth. He was a good son, brother and friend. He treated everyone with respect. He treated people equally. He did a lot to help the kids. Hey, it's for the kids. He always made visits at batting practices, signed autographs and showed up every time he could. He loved his community.

Chuck Tanner said, it's so sad. Rod was a good guy. He never got a chance to enjoy himself. He got in with the wrong people. The drugs just got ahold of him. Uh, then,

uh, he says if Rod were born early earlier or later, he'd be in the hall of fame. It was just a matter of the time he came up. It was very lonely life on the road and professional baseball. he was very introverted he was a lovely human being he had a heart of gold um and then we'll let betty finish off that story the mother by saying quote i wish he'd never learned to throw that curveball that's what she said yeah but there's there's what are you gonna do it would have happened somewhere.

Yeah. Yeah. And Reno, the opportunity to get stuff like that is crazy. It's fucking insane. His son, Rod Jr., is selected by the Rockies in the 31st round of the 2008 draft. Great. Yeah, he's released by the Rockies in 2010. He pitched a couple years in the minor leagues, and that's about it. But still, he's signed by the Rockies in 2010. I pitched a couple of years in the minor leagues and, um, that's about it.

But still he's, uh, he's signed by the Padres in 2010, then released in 2011. So he did some minor league stuff. He just said that it was a little bit hard because people would put him in with his dad. Uh, he said, I'm not opposed to having a beer with the guys after the game, but you know, what if I go over to the bar after the game and a scout who was at the game goes over there, too? He might see me and go, oh, well, like father, like son. He said, if I were to get a DUI or something, my career would be over. No one would ever give me a chance after something like that with my family's background.

So he's right. He's right. That, everybody, is Rod Scurry. So he's right. He's right. That everybody is Rod Scurry. And yeah, like I said, if I got, you know, if I, if I maybe gave this guy a pass a little bit more than I give other people, it's only because it's just very familiar. By the way, he died at, he died at 36 years old and Rod was also 36 when he died.

That is horrific. So it's a lot of parallels for me. That was, there's a kind of a hard one but um crazy shit though man that's crazy that's that's what baseball was i mean if you can keep it together and get out there and have an era under three nobody really gave a fuck what you were doing right hold it together man that's it makes me feel bad because that guy probably i mean let's say he's a fucking uh an appliance mechanic if that guy has a bad day and tries Coke, the same shit happens to him. You know what I mean?

Same shit. He just has an ability to not an inability, I guess, to use. He uses it well. He just doesn't. He's not good at it. So, you know, he's gonna keep it together. It's like Bowfinger. Keep it together.

Keep it together. Fucking Eddie Murphy. It's the same shit. You and 11 other people know that reference because nobody going to keep it together. It's like Bowfinger. Keep it together. Keep it together. Fucking Eddie Murphy. It's the same shit. You and 11 other people know that reference because nobody wanted to watch that movie. It's a fucking great movie. You love that movie? It's great. Really?

Have you ever watched it? I think I watched a good portion of it and was like, this is not Eddie Murphy. Oh, no. It's fantastic. I mean, he's two people in it. He's great. Steve Martin. It's a fucking great movie. Very underrated movie. I maybe have to give it another try because I hated it, it's fantastic. I mean, he's two people in it. He's great. Steve Martin's, it's a fucking great movie.

Very underrated movie. I maybe have to give it another try because I hated it whenever I watched it. You really should give it another shot. Especially in hindsight, something about it now makes it better. Try it out. It's on, I don't remember, some fucking app. It's streaming. I know it's there, yeah.

Anyway, that said, hope you enjoyed that show. If you did, get on whatever goddamn app you can and give us however many stars that you feel we deserve. So thank you for doing that. Also, shut up and give me murder dot com right now for all of your merchandise, all of your tickets to live shows. Next couple of months, we got a few tickets left, a couple in Brea at the Brea Improv, a few in Seattle for the Thursday Seattle show. So there's a Friday one also. So get your tickets to all of that. That'll be a really good time.

Come see us. Thank you guys for buying these tickets two years in advance and hanging on. We appreciate it. It's really unbelievable. I don't know of much that I would do to hang on to whatever I was holding. And the fact that you guys did that for us is is staggering stunning and and mad humbling thank you i can't wait to be there definitely and there might be a few tickets because we the venue moved because the venue we were scheduled in brooklyn is now not a venue anymore

so that moved i think it might there might be a few tickets available there because i think it's a slightly larger venue so uh check on that it's the email that we got tonight says the uh brooklyn show is sold out based on prior sales even though it's a new location so who knows all right well it's sold out who knows so there you go check on it do that shut up and give me murder.com patreon.com slash crime and sports my god is it amazing this week really good stuff first of all it's everything you could want first of all uh anybody five dollars or above gets access to everything bonuses for small town murder and crime and sports anything we put out you're gonna get this week's episodes are uh for crime and sports

we did the world bodybuilding federation which is a lot of vince mcmahon going oh yeah and uh while men pose verbalize a male orgasm there it is that's the one and i know everybody out there seems to like us doing commentary on things and we watched about 10 minutes of this shit and talked about it and then just did a whole episode on the craziness that is trying to run a pay-per-view event to watch men pose and then for small town murders we did maybe our most requested thing so far we did the scott peterson case and uh joke or not whether his story held water that's what it was because a lot of people think he's innocent a lot of people think he's insanely guilty a lot of people think he's insanely innocent a lot of people think he's

guilty but shouldn't have been convicted so there's a lot of big range of this, and we go over it all, and it's really fucking cool. So check that out. If you've been wondering when you should do it, this is the week. Patreon.com slash Crime and Sports. And you'll get a shout-out as well, which we're going to do in just a moment. And if you just want to get a shout-out and have great karma, you can head over to PayPal and use our email address, CrimeandSports at gmail.commail.com matter of fact you want to follow us or get a hold of us you can do use that email address you could also use at crime and sports on twitter and facebook at small town murder on instagram that said jimmy god damn it i need to hear the names of the people who would never ever

ever take apart our television set because they thought there were snakes and listening devices in it. Jimmy, hit me with them now. This week's executive producers are Ashton Martell. Happy birthday, by the way, Ashton. Happy birthday. Hayley Howard. Yeah. And then also Jordan Bennett.

Again, every week she's- Thank you, Jordan. You're the best. You're in Simon. They're such nice people. Good stuff. They're going to come to live shows, they think. Can't wait. As long as Kanata figures it out.

I'm excited to see them, that's all. Definitely. Other producers are Heather Vogel. She likes my pup, is what she said. Emma Louise Smith and Jones had a birthday. Oh, it's her anniversary. Happy birthday. Happy anniversary, Emma.

Happy birthday to your wedding. Happy anniversary. And Stephanie Jones, Lauren Sullivan, Shelly Roberts had a birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday to your wedding. Happy anniversary. And Stephanie Jones, Lauren Sullivan, Shelley Roberts had a birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Montana Cavane, I think, broke up with somebody. Congratulations. We're helping Montana through it, so be choosy.

You're going to be better. Craig Ventura, Mary Greats, Ashley Powell, Dylan Harrison. Happy birthday, Dylan. Happy birthday. Ashley Long from Peru. Steve Schnell. Alex Pressler had a birthday. Happy birthday. Blue Gill and Justin love you, evidently.

Baron Miguel Cicluna and the Isle of Malta, James. Yeah, that's the wrestler from an old wrestler. Dylan. No, Douglas. Douglas C. Niedermeyeryer sergeant of arms i think that's animal house yes that is animal house yes it is alice moan uh happy hour in boca chica texas that's uh that's his uh uh cb handle so if you're out there looking for happy hour he's out there uh dances with vapes shitty blue tuxedo charles ingles uh James Marder, Corporal Carl Kirshner's daughter got a Cheer Up Bitch shirt, and she's jacked about it.

Alexander Costell, Lindsay Adams, Shauna Lawrence, Mandy, with no last name, Gabriel Gaines, Holly Evans, Abigail Harris, Nick Lasseter, Melissa Schweitzer, Karen Densler, Kelsey Spanhauer, Jeffrey Shrewsbury, Neil Baxter, Sarah Wickham, Emily Jones, Paul Dawson, Torch Crawler, McKenna Carter, Madison Meske, I think, Sharon with no last name. Also, Bethany with no last name. Kelsey Holbert, Megan, no last name. Jessica Lewinsky, Olsky, Yulsky, Yulsky, James. Olsky, Maria Weterker, Ashley Ranch, Jennifer Faisel, Ashley with no last name, Jenna Ferguson, Nicholas Gordon, Maura Pinter, Daylon, no last name, Uncut Varl, whatever that is, Tanji, no last name, James Walsh,aphne burginal burginal burginal uh alex perez alexa sage the swamp dweller lisa harris shane with no last name alex somerfelt uh darren wilson

laura cartwright bruce mcquarrie sue sharp thomas mickichi mickichi uh Vicky Curtis, friends. What is this? Franziska goats got Cody Watson, Tess, Tess Garcia, Mary Rump, Rio with no last name. Kelsey Harper, Jason Garcia, Teresa Krebs, Keanu Coffee, Sarah Range. Yes. Daniel Curtin, Samantha Olson, Dan. Oh, no, that's Keith Minty, Calvin Simmons. Shelly Anderson. Heidi Lundquist. Merle's girl. I hope so. What is this?

Levy Ander. Levander. Levander Bradshaw, I think. Maddie. Oh, boy. To Jackie. To Leckie. Kevin Gatto.

Natalie Rondel. Rondelay. Tough day today. This is brutal. Tanya. No last name. Renee Howerton. I hope that's Glenn's daughter.

You've given up like four runs through three and a third here. This isn't going well. My ERA is fucked. Brittany Hillsbury. Cassie Kitching. Marcus Cheroum. Derek with no last name. Mike Oxlong.

Brandon Boesler. Boiser. Oh, boy. Brittany Midori. Oh, Boiser. Tyler Story. Fabian Ange. Al with no last name.

He's the best, obviously, right? He's the best, Al. Miranda Woodall. Trout Mask. Eric Everett. Pamela Finger. Peter Stenland. Michelle Bollinger.

Frankie Lewis. Nope, that's Franklin Lewis Jr. Shane Peckham. Rebecca Kennedy. Zoe Worley. Cynthia McPherson. No, yes, Austin Atterbury, Thomas Rose, Don Sherman, Claire Raywood, Gibson Ben in the U.S. Army, The Midnight Train Podcast, Ty Oliver, S.H. Smolnick, Rachel D., Michael Billingsley, Chad Bennett,

Parker Thompson, Samantha Quigley. She donates both ways. Thank you, Samantha. Thank you. Ivy with no last name. Meredith McDonald, Laverne Hoover, Tanya McDowell, Ricky Shreve, Sydney Davies, Valika, Courtney, Zoe Ann Wilson, Can't Knock the Hustle. Hell yeah.

Kara Guaitia. Guitar. I don't know. Guitar, James. That's what that word is. Hey. I've what that word is Aaron Hurley Heather Costas, Reagan DeSilva Kimberly Wagner, Oliver Stroud

William Scott Cleary, Admiral Janeway Jacob Jolly, Austin Lee, Emily Day, Jugs and Dogs, Brittany Brie Kim, Julia We're Below, Brett Nelson Jennifer with no last name, Emily Pearson, Pearson Brittany Bree Kim. Julia Weirbelow. Brett Nelson.

Jennifer with no last name. Emily Pearson. William Streeter. Justin Autry. Catherine Brooks. Georgia Johansson. Ashley Rowland. Olivia Kaiser.

Keith with no last name. Tina Caggiano. Caggiano probably. Kimberly Sivananthan syvnanthan a tough night it's not it's a pitching coach just came out and talked to you and they're like we'll keep an eye on him keep an eye on him sander westerberg penny squad squadrino uh adam funk chris owens erica and uh mary birch, Crazy, Crazy Rollerson, Maria Radford, Maria Rye, Amy Walsh, Heather McCarthy, Nick Reed, Laura Whitmore, Whitworth, Rachel Vecchio, Ty, Tyga, Tyga, what, McKay, Adam Philp, Aaron Webb, Kristen Simmons, R. Bobbo uh autumn with no last name dean jackson john marshall uh megan stacy scott gassat cecil decoy dubois dubay dubay and cody with no last name and obviously all of our patrons you guys are incredible thank you so

much thank you everybody thank you thank you from the bottom of our cold, dead black hearts. We appreciate everything that you do for us. That is real. We can be shitheads on every other scale, but we really do appreciate everything you do for us and all the help you give us. And every damn dime is so appreciated. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And Jimmy, what if they wanted to find you and thank you from the bottom of their hearts. How could they find you? I'm on the internet, at Whisman Sucks. It's truly like a hot chick in a short dress. You guys are stunning. Thank you so much. Where can they find you, James? You can find me at Jimmy P is funny, or just copy and paste, or you know what you do, actually? Just look up the show.

Crime and Sports, we'll have our names on there. You can find us that way. And keep coming back every damn week for some crazy-ass stories, because we're never going to stop. We're never going to stop. You can't stop us, you son of a bitches. Don't even fucking try. That said, can only hope to contain us.

Live from the Crime and Sports Studios, we'll see you next week. Bye. Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Crime and Sports early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.