Crime in Sports - #363 - Public Housing Superstar - Vida Blue

Episode Date: July 11, 2023

This week, we look at a legendary baseball player, who had skill, style, a really nasty fastball, and an appetite for cocaine, and driving drunk. He was plagued by playing for one of the cheapest owners in history, even qualifying for public housing, while having an MVP & Cy Young Award winning season, while this owner tried to get him to change his name to something more marketable. Life looked bright, but he couldn't get out of his own way. Did he ever turn it around? A crazy tale of 1970s living, even when it's the not the 1970s!!Get paid in Cadillacs, be in the middle of a federal drug investigation, and have a very strange middle name with Vida Blue!!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/smalltownmurderSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey Prime members, you can listen to Crime and Sports early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. Discover all the best in audiobooks, podcasts, and originals featuring authentic Canadian voices and celebrity talent, like Brendan Fraser and Luke Kirby's latest sci-fi adventure, The Downloaded. A first listen is waiting for you when you start your free trial at audible.ca. on the Mr. Ballin Podcast, now available wherever you get your podcasts, you'll hear strange, dark, and mysterious stories about inexplicable encounters, shocking disappearances, true crime cases, and everything in between. So go listen to Mr. Ballin Podcast, Strange, Dark, and Mysterious Stories on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello everybody and welcome back to Crime and Sports! Yay! Ha ha ha. Yay, indeed, Jimmy. Yay, indeed.

My name is James Petrigallo. I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wissman. Thank you, folks, so much for joining us on another edition of Crime and Sports. It's crazy and wild, as always, and we always have a good time here. And we're coming out of the brain damage sports. We've had a run of brain damage sports, and today we're going back into a rash. A rash is the best way to describe it because Conor McGregor is a rash. He really is.

That man's a rash on the taint of society. My taint is just, man, it's uncomfortable. That's him right there with his beard. Orange and bumpy. Orange and bumpy, Orange and bumpy. And we're getting into baseball this week. And we have a very, very famous, very good old-time ball player here. So some good stuff here.

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And wow. Let's see here. We had a fun episode. Let's get right to it. you do that. And wow, let's see here. We had a fun episode. Let's get right to it. What do you say, Jimmy? All right, let's get into this. Okay, like I said, a famous baseball player. I guess if you're not like a baseball fan, you probably don't know who this person is. But if you know anything about baseball, you go, oh yeah, that guy was a fucking legend.

So it's Vida Blue. Yeah. Everybody's heard the name. Yeah. Vida Blue. Yeah. Everybody's heard the name, yeah. Yeah, Vida Blue. Vida Rochelle is his middle name. Is that right? Rochelle, like a chick from Jersey with big hair. Rochelle.

What? We're going to the bar. All right, I'll be there. Hold on. I'm teasing my hair more. Hold on. I'll be right there. All right, Rochelle.

That's it. It's also a very southern my hair more. Hold on. I'll be right there. All right, Rochelle. That's it. It's also a very Southern girl's name. It is. It's Vida Rochelle Blue Junior, of course. Is there? Of course. Of course. Of course.

There's two people with that name. There absolutely is two people in the world with that name, because senior is there. Unbelievable, though. The amount of the run of juniors. It's it started a long time wow we started noticing about what like episode 25 we were like a lot of these guys are junior right haha statistical anomaly just happened to be the guys we covered then then by like episode 50 we're like no this is real this is real we're gonna really keep an eye on this by episode 150 we're like don't ever name your kid junior just don't do it if you're a junior yeah and now it's just like involved now

it's just hilarious because it's constant by the rochelle blue junior senior well let's talk about senior in a minute here there is a senior so i don't know if they named him after his grandma or what the hell happened but it's weird it's gotta be a family thing right i would assume so i mean because his dad's born we'll talk about it his dad is born in the you know in the 20s in alabama i don't know what the deal is so he's born vita himself here vita jr july 28th 1949 in mansfield louisiana oh yeah um he's uh his family they come from some southern roots and had some hard times down there as you can imagine and we'll we'll talk about here he really what a career this fucking guy had so this is a fun story so who did he play for a bunch of people but the a's he was part of the early A's dynasty.

Was he part of the Mets, too? The Giants for a long time, because the Giants hired him afterwards, and that was kind of his post-baseball career also. Like, Rod knew Vita Blue. I have a couple of things from Rod that Vita would say, there's like, at the end, we'll talk about it, but he has on his his uniform instead of his last name, he had Vita on his jersey. Really? For a long time. Yeah. First name.

Reporters asked him why, and we'll talk about it. But I have the real reason why, because this is what he told the players. So I assume that's more real than what he told the press. You know what I mean? So it's fucking hilarious. I can't wait for that one. So his parents, Vita Blue Sr., and his mom is Sally Blue. Sally Blue sounds like somebody that Chuck Berry would write a song about in the you know old sally blue with a guitar riff after it sally

sounds like the brand name of some butter yeah oh get that sally blue butter pass the sally blue hey fuck that land of legs shit get Sally Blue. That shit's way better. It's creamier. So Vita Blue Sr. was born in 1920 in Alabama. It had a real rough... His mother, Vita Blue Sr.'s mother's name was Sally. Her name was Sally, and he married a woman named Sally, which sounds very confusing.

That is extremely... Because they were both alive at the same time. That's extremely confusing. That would be very confusing that isn't extremely because they were both alive at the same time that's extremely confusing that would be very confusing i would imagine so they were married september 14th 1949 vita blue senior and vita blue's mother sally were born so they got married a couple months after vita was born oh so yeah which in the night in the 40s that was like oh god unmarried holy shit that's wild that's it's too much sally mom worked as a farmer this is well this is oh actually we'll talk about here uh yeah this is okay vita and vita senior we'll talk about here vita senior was the fifth Fifth child of eight, which is in Alabama in 1920. They were farmers.

Rough life. Rough life. All sorts of, he had all these brothers and sisters, and they all had a hard life. In 1942, Vita, as crazy as this sounds, if you were like a sharecropping guy in Alabamaabama in 1942 the world war ii is the greatest thing to happen to you because it was somewhere to go you know what i mean obviously somewhere dangerous and whatever it's not ideal but they looked at a lot of these people as a way to get out of where they are yeah and farming ain't necessarily safe no that's the other thing you're not you're not taking strays over your head every day, but it's still dangerous.

If you're not wealthy and you're getting by barely working outside all day, that's going to break your body down. And steal tools, not machines. You're really working. At least this, when you come home, you get the GI Bill and you can do whatever you want at that point, or at least have a lot more options than chair cropping. So, yeah, he enlisted in the army, Vita Senior, in October 42. And he only finished grammar school, Vita Senior. And then he worked as a farmhand after that. So from the time he was about 12, he was a farmhand.

And so he was happy to go into the army. He couldn't wait to sign up for it. So he was a private, obviously. They got married here and he ends up Vita senior and his mom. They have six children altogether. So Vita's Vita Junior's one of six. And he was working as a laborer at a foundry. Vita senior to support the family and ends up suffering from black lung disease.

Holy shit. Jesus, what a fucking life, man. That's just life kicking you in the balls every day, trying so hard. It sucks to be born in Alabama in 1920 when you're black, number one. That sucks. And then number two, you go to a war. World War II wasn't easy. And then you come home and quickly get black lung disease in 20 years and die.

He's dead by 1966. Is that? Oh, fuck. 46 years old, this man lived to. That's it. From the black lung. That's how hard he worked. Oh, my God.

Dunn got the black lung. That's not good. Life killed him at 46. Wore his body out at 46 to just throw it to the side of the road. That's crazy. Yoga people will be like, your body's resilient. It can take a lot. No, it fucking can't.

Can't take the black lung. It can take a lot of working in a cubicle and like from home on fridays and then like going to yoga and going to the gym in the morning yeah it can probably take a lot of gluten but it sure can't take the black lung that's a different level of of everything. Not a lot of people now going, well, got the black lung and going down at 46. 46 years old. 46. Jesus Christ.

Now, Vita Jr. here, our guy, he said Mansfield was still segregated growing up for him. So there was a white high school and a black high school and obviously he attended the black high school. DeSoto High. He played baseball and football. And he's a really good athlete as we'll find out. He could throw a baseball really hard and also

a football really well too. He's a lefty. Right out of the gate. Awesome. He's got a cannon for an arm. I mean he's an athletic guy with a cannon for an arm. So when he went to high school, the school did not have a baseball team because it's a segregated school. They didn't have any money for a baseball team. They didn't have a baseball team. But the principal saw what a great player Vita Blue was and said, we have to figure out a way to form a team around this kid. We've got to use whatever he's got. That's awesome.

Yeah. We can't let this kid not be able to play baseball and go, wow, this is crazy. You know what I mean? It would be like somebody great at physics. You don't have a physics department. We need to figure something out. Sorry about it, kid.

Get someone in here who knows physics to talk to this kid because this is crazy. So they built a team around him strictly for him. That's how good he is. Wow. We've got to get uniforms. This kid can really throw. He gets attention. How much are bats?

Yeah. We can get a couple of them, right? We're sharing bats, everybody. Be careful. Don't swing too hard. So he does all of this. He gets the attention of scouts from this, obviously, which back then there was hundreds and thousands of scouts crawling around because they had to look at all of the high schools. They had to find guys in these little leagues, you know what I mean?

These little weird leagues that they played in back in the day, and all these scouts looked everywhere back then. And a lot of these towns just had a tiny little school of so many people. But, I mean, to have a a baseball team it's got to be fairly big i guess but even still you got you got to find the little schools with the with the little is that sometimes hidden talents there that's it and they would scour like newspapers from small towns looking for write-ups on some kid who throws real hard and then they i'm gonna go take a drink take a ride out there and take a look at him and sometimes he's great sometimes he's garbage and who the hell knows so he's really good uh anyway the scouts are looking at him. And sometimes he's great, and sometimes he's garbage, and who the hell knows. So he's really good.

Anyway, the scouts are looking at him. The Kansas City A's are very interested in him. At the time, Kansas City, obviously, then will be Oakland, and then who the fuck knows from now on. We don't know where they're going to go. Who knows? So he's a really good quarterback

and defensive back on the football team as well. Okay. Quarterback and safety, free safety, shit like that? Cornerback? Cornerback, and defensive back on the football team as well okay okay and like safety free safety shit like that a cornerback or defensive back yeah it could be a safety or corner or whatever so what his coach said quote blue was one of those quarterbacks who lived dangerously meaning i guess he ran around and scrambled yep his coach coach baldwin said most of the time he wouldn't see the touchdown because he'd be flat on his back. He'd throw the ball but get hit after he threw it, so he wouldn't even know what happened.

They said he ran the ball the whole second half one game. Every play we had the ball except when we punted, he ran. So he was just running after a while because they couldn't catch him. He won a game. He was talking about winning 13 to nothing, just blew running constantly. They said he was hurt a couple times during high school. Once his right arm was stepped on, which that sounds painful with cleats on, and the other time he had a back strain playing football,

but otherwise he was very healthy. He kicked ass in his senior year. In his senior year, he uh 3,400 passing yards and scored 35 touchdowns wow passing and rushed for 1,600 yards and was the hardest pitching lefty you know around to throw incredible he threw a 21 strikeout no hitter in seven innings as a senior. But he lost the game. Who cares? Well, he had 10 walks. That's the problem.

So he's wild. If you've ever seen Bull Durham, he's Tim Robbins. You know what I mean? He's Charlie Sheen. He's in Major League. Holy shit, that's terrifying. Hope it doesn't hit me. I'm going to take it.

In football, you don't have to be laser focused within a two-foot square box. An inch. You know what I mean? Shit, yeah. Yeah, in football, you can lead the player, and if it's within a couple of feet, you're fine. Yeah, you can take somebody's head off in baseball, though. Right. Kill somebody.

Shit. That's really scary. So he was recruited by a ton of major colleges for his football actually uh notre dame purdue houston wow big schools houston really recruited him hard and they were the ones that wanted to let him play quarterback the other ones were recruiting him as a defensive back so there wasn't really a lot of black quarterbacks back then at all and Probably any. Yeah. In certain schools, but not at Notre Dame or schools like that.

So he, you know, Houston was going to let him play college, or let him play college, let him play quarterback. His father died during his senior year of high school, and he decided, though, that he needed to support his family because his father died, so college wasn't in the plans. Oh, that is so fucked. So he signed a contract with the A's instead. Baseball, you sign, they give you money right now, whereas college, you've got to play for four years.

Yeah, he could have been the first Michael Vick, though. We don't know. Yeah, but in the 70s, you didn't get much of a chance for that until Doug Williams, really. Doug Williams was the first guy. There was a couple guys, the Broncos guy, the Norris guy, but they let him play like two games and a couple other guys. It was the first guy really was like, you're the starter was Doug Williams, and that was in 79.

Yeah, the Michael Vick quarterback in the 70s with the Steelers the way they were, with the Raiders. You would have gotten murdered. You would have gotten fucking murdered. Yeah, you couldn't run like that. We would have had a death on were with the Raiders you would have gotten murdered fucking murder yeah you couldn't run like that we would have had a death on the field yeah you would have gotten killed you were allowed to really pop guys and late and everything else internal bleeding yeah you were asking for trouble if you were doing that that that wasn't a thing that existed back then I mean like he made the right move I think for him I mean Christ he had a great career too screw it football back then was not what it is now you know what i mean got

paid like shit too so he ends up being selected by the kansas city a's in the second round of the 67 draft oh so that's not bad at all he's offered a two-year contract at here are the terms jimmy this is gonna it's gonna cash in now baby baby. Big money. $12,500 per year. $12,500, baby. $25,000 for two years. Two years. Yep. Holy.

He said he had a stronger desire to play football. He wanted to play football. He liked football better than baseball, but he liked money and eating better than starving and playing football. So, which makes sense. So he signs with the A's. Um, he said, this is a quote from Vita quote. They did not have a baseball team at DeSoto high school,

believe it or not. The principal heard I was good. So they formed a team. The scouts started showing up at my games pretty quick. And that's when I heard about Ray swallow a scout for the Kansas city A's. I was wild in one game I threw a no hitter but lost because I had 10 walks okay some people said I was better at football I played QB and a bunch of big colleges wanted me I wanted to go to Houston University to

play football but my dad died during my senior year so I decided to go for the money like I picked by the Kansasansas city a's and signed a two-year contract for 12.5 a year shit man that's that's crazy for back then when do you hear how cheap the a's are with him it's insane so fuck he's they're so cheap charlie finley's known to be the cheapest fuck ever the owner of the a's he's the guy i don't know if everybody knows who charlie finley is but charlie o finley he's the owner of the a's he was the owner of the A's. He's the guy, I don't know if everybody knows who Charlie Finley is, but Charlie O. Finley, he's the owner of the A's. He was the owner of a lot of things. He owned an ABA team.

Yeah. He owned all these different sports ventures and just a cheap weirdo. He was the guy, the A's have those bright yellow and green uniforms because he wanted them to stand out. He just wanted them to be brightly colored, so he gave them those uniforms. That's all he cared about. He was the guy who had yellow baseballs, glow-in-the-dark yellow baseballs for night games. He had the little thing pop up out of the ground to hand the umpire. All these weird gimmicks he would do, basically like a guy who owned a single-A baseball team,

but he owned a Major League baseball team and wanted to be cheap about it. He didn't pay his players. He had a dynasty and just dismantled it so he didn't have to pay anybody just that kind of guy savannah bananas cheap yeah well yeah there's just he's just a cheap fuck he uh in the when he owned the aba there's a story of players would go in to talk about contracts with him and he would sit him down in the office and he'd go yeah come by for lunch come to my office so they go okay and they're thinking they're going to go out to lunch with the owner yeah he goes they'd say and then he'd get out a hot plate and put it on his desk and go get a can of soup out of a drawer and open it up and heat up a can of soup on a hot plate and then

pour a little bit for each of them because that's all he could afford because he was so poor meanwhile he owned all this shit and he wasn't poor at all but that's he he could afford because he was so poor. Meanwhile, he owned all this shit, and he wasn't poor at all, but he wanted to make the player think he was so poor he couldn't afford to give him a raise. So what are you here for? I wanted to talk about my salary, but this Campbell's Soup has me thinking I'm living better than you. He got, like, dented off-brand soup cans,

and he's like, this is all I can afford. I'm sorry, you know. It's ridiculous. I'm paying you so well. Holy shit. Fuck,. You know, ridiculous. I'm paying you so well. Holy shit. That's hilarious, man. I just wanted to check on how the fam's doing. I'm going to go back and play.

Take it easy, man. So he heads to Arizona to begin the winter instructional league in 67. He pitched in nine games, struck out 26 batters and walked 22 batters. So he's a little wild still here. He reports to spring training with the A's for the 68th season. He ends up in Class A, so he's an A ball after that in the Midwest League and the Burlington Bees he's playing for. But on the opening day against the Quad City Angels,

he strikes out 17 while giving up only three hits over eight innings. That's great. Yeah, not too bad. And on June 19th, the first game of a double header he pitched a no hitter okay that'll get your attention that kid we just drafted that's gonna get you some attention here he developed a curveball this season as well to go along with this fastball which is gonna completely screw people into the ground if they're waiting on that fastball so he he ends up going 8-11 in his first season in the minors there in 24 games. He struck out 231 in 152 innings, though. That's awesome.

That is very good, just to put it that way. Extremely, extremely good. So he leads the league, obviously, with that. Then in 69, he led the Southern League in strikeouts while he's playing for Birmingham as well. So 69, they end up bringing him up to the majors here. But before that, he gets arrested for jaywalking. What? Yes.

Arrested. He's with the Quad City minor league team, which is right by Omaha there. He's with the Quad City minor league team, which is right by Omaha there. So somehow he ends up in Omaha. And later on he talks about getting arrested for jaywalking. That's ridiculous. Yep, yep. He said the time that she said, let's see.

Vita Blue talked about his brush with the law when he was arrested in Omaha for jaywalking. Jane Kennedy recalled the time she and a hitchhiker. Okay, somebody else. Okay, yeah, for that. I wish i i want to know the story he had to have had a great story to go with it right it's not just stupid i got arrested for jaywalking right who the fuck knows in 1969 in omaha he could probably get arrested for having the wrong pants on back then in that town possible those are some non-christian pants you got on there son something who the fuck knows those are dragon yeah i don't know i don't like that at all get a hem on those boy let's uh let's

hem him up what do you say we're gonna take you down to the pokey and while we'll put you in a uniform and hem up your pants while you wait it's a one hour in and out so charlie finley wanted to bring him up even though it was very early to bring him up but he said he wanted to bring him up, even though it was very early to bring him up. But he said he wanted to bring him up because he would be a draw, basically. He's this young phenom kid who throws hard. People want to watch that. So why the fuck not? Bring him on up to the A's. And, you know, they said that when he first was arrested in Omaha, by the way, more on the Omaha arrest, he said, quote, they didn't believe anyone could have the name Vita Blue.

The cops didn't believe him when he said his name was Vita fucking Blue, which is funny. Wait till you hear my middle name. Yeah, Chuck. Yeah. How about this? Buckle up, son. Wait till you hear about this last part on the end. Yeah, well, you knew that, though.

Two of us. You could tell that right away. There's two of us. Yeah, interesting, right? 1920 Rochelleelle so at least he wasn't rochelle vita that would have been yeah harder on him so he's called up in july of that year makes his major league debut july 20th starts against the angels and he gives up a couple home runs and you know does okay but he gets sent to the bullpen for the rest of the season okay he was one and one you know that year nothing crazy but that's okay now joe dimaggio was a coach with the a's at that point

wow yeah fucking joe d was around and he said a bite of blue it was a shame to bring up a kid like that when he hasn't pitched two pro years he throws as hard as anybody but he hasn't learned to pitch yet so yeah you're hurting the kid by bringing him up too early is what they that happens all the time with owners they get to destroy his confidence just to get sell tickets to two games maybe sell a few extra tickets to two games will destroy this kid so the 69 a's they are 88 and 74 that year hank bauer was one of the managers by the way he got fired but he's one of the managers uh char the way. He got fired, but he's one of the managers. Charlie Finley obviously owned that piece of shit team. Sal Bando on that team.

Reggie Jackson on that team. Oh, wow. This turned into a, I mean, they won a couple World Series in the early 70s. This was a big hot shit team here. So we've got Burt Campanaris, all that whole team. Rick Munday, Catfish Hunter pitching. Blue Moon Odom, who's got obviously one of the greatest names in the history of baseball that's a real name that's a real name blue moon odom raleigh fingers pre fucking mustaches on this team oh it's wild so this is a very very good team we'll say here and uh they do very well this team they end up uh they go to the playoffs this year no they're 88

and 74 no playoffs but that's okay. They're doing quite well. So he ends up making this year, by the way, in 69 for a shortened season, $4,200 by the blue. Oh, my God. Bring it in the cash. Get out there and survive on this. No shit, man. Holy fuck.

He 1970 sent a triple a to iowa are that and uh that's where he i think the jaywalking thing happened and he he ends up he said a fellow pitcher named juan pizarro who he ended up talking to was on the team and he said he learned a lot from the guy he was a veteran guy and he said pizarro helped me more than any single person in my career helped to make a bunch of adjustments in his delivery that helped his control and helped his you know everything about it so he had an injury in the middle of the season but he came back and did really well finishes the season at 12 and 3 so does well again called up during the September call-ups in in September obviously and against a doubleheader.

He hit a three-run home run, but then got knocked out of the game after giving up four runs in less than five innings. So came up, kind of had a tough time, and right away got kind of knocked around a little bit. One night he threw a no-hitter and walked only one batter, though. So that's not bad.

Finley called the locker room and told him he's going to get a $2,000 bonus for that. Two grand. Which is a lot. That's a shitload of your salary. If you're making 12, that's awesome. You're like, fuck yeah. That's a sixth of, yeah. That's score.

So he was excited. Yeah, they said there are those rare starts. This is Vida. There are those rare starts when you know you're dialed in, and that's exactly how I felt when I was warming up for this game we were facing the twins a strong hitting team led by Harmon Killebrew fuck every no-hitter includes a great defensive play and when Campanaris made an amazing stop in the fifth inning I figured maybe this is my day and it was so shit not too

shabby he said in 1970 they called me up in September and I realized this was my shot so I better take advantage of it I pitched in the first game of a double header against the White Sox hit a three run home run but ended up losing my next next time out I was much better and threw a one hit complete game my next start was a lousy outing against Milwaukee but then we played the twins and I threw the best game of my life, a no-hitter. Right after that, the owner called me in the locker room and said I was going to get a $2,000 bonus. Man, that seemed like a lot of money to me back then. After that season, I knew I was going to be on the pitching staff with a great bunch of pitchers. I had made it. So. The wait is over. So far, you're not losing. The only thing you're losing is my patience.

Quickly, I see that. Ding! The queen of the courtroom is back. I didn't do anything. You wouldn't know the truth if it came up and slapped you in the face. I see he's not intimidated by anything. I can fix that. New cases.

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You can listen to WikiHole ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Very excited. The team went 89-73 that year. Pretty fucking decent, but nope. back then there was no like wild cards or playoffs right any of that shit no none of that shit vita that year teams six on each side make it four it was four it was they had back then they had an alcs and an nlcs that was it period well fuck before that 20 years it was just just the top two teams in each league went in the World Series.

That was that. Wow. There was no playoffs at all. It was just World Series games. That makes the regular season so important. Well, yeah, that's everything. There's nothing else to it. So Vita that year, 2-0 in 1970 with a 2-0-9 ERA.

So damn fine. 71 is the, here it is. This is their time here yeah this is their real uh when it really comes together for them in 71 and a really fucking one of those teams that kind of starts to come together they go uh all the way to the alcs and they are going to lose that year to baltimore in the alcs i believe yes bal Baltimore. They get swept in the ALCS 3-0. But they finished 101-60 that year. 101-60 isn't too shabby.

And it's only out of five games. Yeah, it's a five-game series back then, too. It was quick. So Blue pitched in the 71-season opener. So not only is he on the staff, he's the top guy. He's the opener. He only made it to the second inning and then got knocked out of the game. But then he won 10 straight games after that, including 9 out of the 10 complete games.

Stop it. Show me the next time that will happen in the history of baseball when a guy will throw. 9 out of 10 games, 9 innings all day. All day. Show me a guy who wins 10 straight and 9 of those 10 are complete games. I would bet you could come and remove my nutsack

from my body and spike it on the ground and stomp on it in front of me if that ever happens again. That's an open offer and invitation. It will never, ever, ever happen again. And that's all because they have so much money invested in them, right? I mean, who? Vita mean who vita no no no all the money that they have invested in these pitchers today oh yeah yeah they're not you're not gonna wear a guy's arm out over nine innings well also nothing yeah

but also that's i don't understand it you know what this is one of those things where i don't get it anymore because the guy has a fucking pitch count of 80 nolan ryan used to throw 240 i i get it that it's like different and they were hurting their arms and stuff but at some point pitching less but then pitching super hard for a less amount of time does that actually hurt your arm more than if you you know what i'm saying if it was a little more tired and you're not so fucking cranking on your elbow with the torque of everything i don't know anymore i have no idea i don't know but one too many tommy john surgeries they had to pay for it's i guess when you got a guy with now they have guys with you know pitchers with seven year 300 million dollar contracts i guess you're gonna be a little more careful air on the side of caution fuck yeah but then what's the point

of paying a guy that much if he can't dominate yeah if you can't crush the entire team for the nine innings then why have him if you let him dominate then he'll get hurt and you can't have him at all so let's let's let him 300 like okay then just get somebody else then who's not as expensive till he's uncomfortable what i got $300 million in this motherfucker. Pitch, bitch. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. I don't get it.

Throw the fucking ball. I don't know how it works, man. So he's killing it. He appears on the cover of Sports Illustrated and Time that year. Time. What? Not just Sports Illustrated. Fucking Time.

Has that happened too? Yeah, that's happened but he has another record that you'll we'll talk about that okay hasn't happened in a long time he is compared favorably to sandy kofax in the press they're saying he's better than kofax was which is wow saying something because kofax was considered about the best lefty that ever lived at that point so yeah he said that blue was and kofag or blue thought that kofax was the best lefty that ever lived at that point so yeah he said that blue was and kofak or blue thought that kofax was the best pitcher and he was like i'm not as good as that fucking guy he said that they hung out there he's hanging out with tommy davis who tommy davis is kind of a tommy davis is like a cool cat back then yeah he's like a cool like uh he dressed cool like

had cool cars and shit like that like He was a cool dude back then. And he did yoga and shit in 1970. He was way ahead of his time in terms of all. He was into all kind of hippie. Holistic. Yeah. Yeah. He was one of his best friends and his roommates there. And Tommy Davis helped him, he said, along the way as he came in.

Tommy Davis had been around a while. So he was helping him. Had some weird shit that he would do um he pitched this is very odd it became a known thing that he always carried two dimes in his pocket when he pitched not dime bags dimes i mean we don't know he just says dimes it could be anything so yeah i'm assuming coins but yeah you never know so for some reason he did that i don't know why but he he had a giant amount yeah he had a big giant cadillac too that he had a big cadillac with v blue as his license plate okay which is another thing i think the team bought it for him in 71 because they weren't paying him shit so they were trying to like

just give him things i guess so he wouldn't ask for more money here's the thing walk away no shit here's a game on july 9th against the angels here he didn't gets a no decision here but he was uh he went 11 innings gave up seven hits no walks no runs and struck out 17 extra extra innings, gave up seven hits, no walks, no runs, and struck out 17. Extra innings, too. Yeah, just throwing extras and shit. The A's eventually won the game in 20 innings, one to nothing. Oh, my God. What a torturous day.

Holy shit. Wow. That's got to be so frustrating. I don't want to watch that game. Dude, by inning 14, you're just going somebody fucking score you're just screaming at people i don't hit the ball you pussy hit it harder i'm so sick of peanuts and cracker jacks i want to go the fuck home you start you just make an agreement after a while to just start throwing batting practice pitches right just lob it over the middle someone's gotta we gotta end this fucking thing this is ridiculous here so he he he kicks

ass this year this is his big year he pitches this year 312 innings in 1971 oh my god they don't let guys go 200 now 312 innings he used 24 and 8 and had a 1.82 era incredible that is incredible that's after they raised the mound because bob gibson of the had the 112 and 69 but that was before they lowered the or they they lowered the mound the mound was higher so 71 the mound's lower and he's still a 182 which is crazy and allowed the fewest runners per inning in the American League as well. So the fewest whip as well. Lowest whip, best ERA, crushing. Crushing. Absolutely crushing. I guess Baltimore here, he gave up a run in the ALCS.

He ended up blowing one of the games, kind of. He went deep into it, but then in the eighth inning, he gave up four runs and they lost the game. They were swept in three games. It wasn't going to happen. Baltimore had a damn good year. But he ends up having—he's up for the Cy Young, obviously. And one guy, Mickey Lulich, has 25 wins, and he has seven more strikeouts.

But Lulich also pitched 376 innings a shitload more innings so so blue ends up getting the cy young award that year so his first full year baseball best pitcher not only that he wins the american league most valuable player award as well mvp cy Cy Young. Brand new kid. Unbelievable. Fucking 22. MVP Cy Young. The future. The future. By the way, here's a little trivia for you. Who's the last switch hitter to win the American League MVP? Deion Sanders.

Vita Blue. Is that right? Vita fucking Blue, because that was two years, I believe, before the DH was instituted, so pitchers were still hitting. He is, no one will ever get that trivia question unless they know it. They'll say, oh, it was an old guy on Mickey Mantle, I guess. Nope. Vita Blue, 71, last American League switch hitter to win the MVP. Unbelievable.

So stump any of your baseball fan fucking friends with that one. They'll be shocked. He's got a piece of knowledge that nobody has. Absolutely. Like, especially like if any, like ladies listening. Yeah. Next time you see your husband, just be like, Hey, who was the last switch hitter to win the American league MVP?

They'll be like, I'll name people. And you go fucking fight a blue and just be like an idiot and walk away. Yeah. Dummy. Hey, your boyfriend in his fucking blue Jays hat. Yeah. Ask him a question. They stupid what about this so he said about that season vita said in 1971 i lost my first start then won 10 in a row with nine complete games and things got crazier and crazier every week when the media gets a hold

of a story they won't let it go and this one kept building with each win i got on the cover of every magazine including time newsweek sport sports illustrated i can't even remember them all and it happened to him so young forgive the pun out of the blue it was very it was it it was just a flash that he didn't know he was gonna be this good nobody knew he was gonna be this good nobody knows in baseball you never fucking know you could be great in the minors they bring you up you suck chance yeah who knows that's why there's every team has so many minor league teams all those guys aren't going to play in the majors right we go to the minor league games here the renegades game you go what two of these guys are going to play in the majors maybe i mean

honestly yeah yeah and they could be really good you don't know you never fucking know yeah a couple years ago we had the we were at and we were watching the one kid who was really good and then he's starting shortstop for the little little anthony so and he's doing great too i think he was he's not hitting so well no no he's having a hard time hitting here he needs to i think it seems like they've decided to let him kind of ride out his bumps and bruises. It's like, well, we suck anyway. Aaron Judge is hurt. Just whatever.

But Aaron Judge, he's suiting up, right? Yeah, he's hurt. Yeah, but he's showing up to the games and everything still, right? I mean, he hasn't ditched the team. He didn't run away and move to France or anything. I'll holler at you when I rehab this. He's hanging out. They're paying.

After what they fucking signed him for? Yeah, he better be there. Bro, if he gets decapitated, they better bring his head in a jar to every fucking game. You're sitting on the bench, Jaren. I don't give a fuck. We got you for three hours a day, chief. For that kind of deal? Your parents are still showing up, too.

Sorry, yeah. Your whole family has to come. Your kid has to be the bat boy like it's it's on that's the story's too important to telling you man it's something so he says something new every day is what he says it was crazy and something new every day i started the all-star game for the american league that year and gave up home runs to Henry Aaron and Johnny Bench. Oh, that guy Hank? Yeah, Hank Aaron and Johnny Bench he gave up, which is, that's okay to give up home runs to those guys. Yeah, they're kind of the best.

He said, but I got the win, the youngest in All-Star game history. I won my 20th game in early August and then leveled off a little. He said, I was tired, man. I threw over 300 innings that season and started to slow down a little during the summer 20 wins is incredible well the fucking grind of the season not to mention it starts to get hot at that point yeah that's when you start going places and it's fucking steamy and you're going miserable it's tough yeah it's tough you're going to you know somewhere hot anywhere everywhere's hot in the summer fuck it doesn't even matter even milwaukee steamy in fact that but you've got

to go to houston granted that was that always indoors always yeah well after the first couple years they had that shit stadium and then they moved to the dome in like 68 or whatever 67 some shit but still you got to walk to it it's hot there yeah arlington a couple years later yeah that was hot as fucking texas man still is it's brutal down there so in 71 here comes the controversy though yeah fighting with charlie finley the owner which is not surprising finley offers vita two thousand dollars to do what you might ask to pitch more to maybe to do some advertising for the team or to be a spokesperson no no to change his middle name legally to to true so he would be vita true blue so i'm gonna make you a gimmick yes no but that's what these – Ted Turner once offered the one guy on his team a shitload of money to change his last name to Channel because he wore the – it was Channel 17 or whatever that they were on.

Yeah. And that was his number on the Braves. What? So he offered – so his jersey would say Channel 17 or whatever the fuck it was. So he offered the money to do that. And the guy was like, I'm not changing my last name to Channel. That's ridiculous. My mom and him money to do that. And the guy was like, I'm not changing my last name to Channel. That's ridiculous. My mom and dad will be so mad.

Yeah, especially this guy. He's a junior. That's his dad's name. You're asking him to change it legally? Yeah. So yeah, Finley wanted to do that. He thought it would be a cool nickname if everyone called him True Blue. He thought that would be neat.

Isn't it okay just to call him that? How about it doesn't matter because he struck out 300 people. So his name could be fucking Farty McFloppy Balls and it would fucking – that's great marketing. Watch Floppy McFloppy Balls pitch. Who cares? Doesn't matter. Wow. He said, quote, one day in 71 he offered me $2,000 to change my middle name to True.

At first, I thought he might be joking. I told him, and I smacked him. He said, I told Charlie, no, I like my name the way it is. He did not like that and started telling everyone to call me True Blue anyway. Just told the press that's what his name is now, even though he didn't change it he told him that he did change it or he just told him just called everyone to call him that he made the pa announcer announce him as that even though he didn't want to be now at that yeah but true blue he said i was pissed and i let him know yeah he was fucking pissed um he said though that he would not let

it go finley kept fucking kept asking him to kept doing it so he said when he would pitched his name would appear on the scoreboard as true blue oh my god yeah he told the radio and tv announcers finley did to refer to him by true blue as well so as far as anyone watching a game was concerned he was true blue unless you heard from him directly and what is that what do you need to get two grand what does that matter there's not even blue in our team colors marketing gives a shit yep it's fucking interesting and at one point too uh finley had the scoreboard list the A's colors as follows. Kelly Green, Fort Knox Gold, Wedding Gown White, and Vita Blue. He had on the fucking stadium. So he just really liked this last name and thought it would be cool.

Blue said, please stop. He asked the fucking television announcers, please stop calling me this. It's not my name and I don't like it. He asked the team's public relations people not to refer to him as true blue and press releases anymore please and then asked the scoreboard guy for the love of god could you not put my name in giant lit up letters that say true fucking blue please i beg of you just please and so this got worse over the course of the season and of course it'll blow up into a huge you know thing at the end of the season why is that a fight dude he he said no and he's like well i'm gonna call you that anyway didn't force the two grand on him i bet though i just like it

that's why and i'm not gonna stop i charlie finley said i own you and so i'll call you whatever i want that's what i feel like it is to me that's what it is it's for sure i pay your salary on your my property and i'll call you whatever the fuck i want to the to the press wow quite a rotation that year vita blue catfish a catfish hunter Chuck Dobson, Diego Segui, Blue Moon Odom. That's a nasty, pretty nasty little rotation. Not bad. So he says, Vita, the American League Championship Series was a bigger deal back then because now so many teams get into the postseason, it's kind of diluted it. You could tell when you ran out on the field, these games were a lot more important than you could feel the energy.

So he said that was pretty cool, but they got swept that year. and you could feel the energy. So he said that was pretty cool, but they got swept that year. He does make $14,750. Oh? Plus, they said, roughly $13,100 in, quote, gifts from the owner. Very nice. Which is the Cadillac. After his season, by the way, he wanted a pay raise.

He goes, I'm the MVP and Cy Young Award winner. Wait till you hear this. He actually qualified for public housing. Oh, that's terrible. He lived in public housing while being the Cy Young and MVP Award winner. And on the cover of Time. Yes. Come visit me next to my neighbor who used to be a janitor but got hurt on the

job and now he lives next door so this is we live here together yeah come and come interview me while a shirtless man batters his family that's right next door you can see it he has a couple of show times it's like four and six usually but sometimes there's an eight if it's there's a lot of demand for it might Might get a late show. You never know. He might be up for a late show tonight. We'll see what time it starts. He might catch the mat.

That one's a little cleaner. Oh, I love it. So he made $6,365.58 were his share of the postseason money, and he got a Cadillac as a bonus. So Finley offered a raise, but not as much as he wanted. He parked a Cadillac in front of a Section 8 housing. Yeah, that's it. This is my Cadillac. No one's going to fuck with it.

It's white as Cadillac. Wow. That's true blues Cadillac right there. Yeah. Surprised he wasn't beating people in the streets for that it's like seeing a lifted Escalade parked in a fucking single wide uh in front of a single wide trailer it's like you're living how you're living life backward but that might just be I see that remember driving to Massachusetts to go to the dispensary we passed a terrible

and there's like you'll see that and you go live in the car it's nicer literally than some of these just live in the car it's way nicer than that the ac feels better in the car yeah i bet there's less animals and insects and shit in the car just live in there wow so his attorney now bob gerst was representing him, and he presents an opening offer to Charlie Finley, the owner, of Vita with like $115,000. Well, that's a start. That's a start. He later says to Finley that Vita will accept $85,000. Fine.

If you're going to be cheap about it, he will take $85,000, which was still less than the average salary paid to the top 10 highest paid pitchers. What the fuck, man? That still doesn't even put him in the top 10 of the pitchers. It's not even a competitive salary still. Yeah, it's decent, though, and Vidal will take it because you're dealing with Charlie Finley and he likes playing for Oakland. So he says that Finley says, well, that sounds reasonable, but I won't pay him more than 50 000 50 000 is all he's gonna get for me like at a yard sale yeah this is not a yard it's not a broken toaster it's a fucking cy young award winner mvp award winner not a lamp with a ripped shade what the fuck are we talking about here

this isn't a set of four glasses missing one that's fucking pay the man this is a weight set with three 50 pound things and you're like well that's not enough four would be over not three four would be helpful you know because this is good one arm's gonna go back and forth. Never mind. Fine. So he says, quote, I asked for $85,000 and he offered me $50,000 and he wasn't going to budge. All I wanted was to be paid like a top ten pitcher, but Charlie was always crying poor. He was saying the team was going to go bankrupt or move to Denver. He gave me a Cadillac as a bonus after the 71 season, hoping that I would go easy on him. Wow.

Finley made the negotiations public, declaring that Vita Blue would not be seeking so much if he hadn't hired a lawyer to represent him. Because back then, this is the beginning of players having agents and lawyers, and it was very rare. So yeah, this was a matter of usually it was one-on-one. And the owners took real excited. How dare you bring someone in here and call me on my bullshit with a legal background, not just some kid who played fucking baseball in high school who we drafted and has no legal knowledge whatsoever.

How dare you? It's like when two podcasters go talk to a big network and they give them what money feels like a lot. Yeah, back in the day. And they're like, what are you, out of your fucking mind? Yeah, that was... We needed to eat, sir. That was six years ago that happened, and we were like, I don't know, we didn't know any better.

Felt like a lot. Felt like a lot, and they were like, that's nothing. And it wasn't a lot at all, but it was like, I can eek out a survivable, barely eating food living out of this, sure. Thank you, sir. That's what we were doing. One more, please. But we also weren't the American League MVPs, young award winners is the difference.

He seems to have some negotiating power here. Yeah. But they are going back and forth, and then this ends up being known as a holdout situation, is what they're calling it in the paper here. So I can't believe that he was qualified to live in West Oakland's publicly subsidized housing during his MVP season. Holy shit, because you can't pay your rent with a Cadillac. Based on his salary. It's amazing. That is un-fucking-real. This situation, by the way, actually helped all the rest of the players

because this became a famous thing that the MVP Cy Young Award winner can live in public fucking housing. That's why we need a union that's stronger to actually make these owners pay us what we're owed and open the book and all that kind of shit. And that's what ended up happening. So that's, like I said, very interesting. 1971, USO Tour, he goes on. What?

Apparently, yeah. I guess it's Bob Hope's USO Tours here. Does he tell dick jokes? I guess he is, yeah. He's going to, wow. Oakland Athletics pitcher Vita Blue, the singing group Sunday's Child, and the Hollywood Debs Stars. They're going to travel to Hawaii, Okinawa, Thailand, South Vietnam, Iran, Italy, Spain, Guantanamo Bay, all these places. For what?

I have no fucking idea. I don't know what he does. Shakes hands, throws the ball back and forth. I don't know. Have a catch? He also worked for the Safeway All-Stars Challenge Sports, which is a charitable cause. Automobile donations. He does this forever.

There was commercials always of Vita Blue going, I want your car. Really? It would be if you have a shit car to donate to charity or whatever. It was one of those. Cars for kids. Cars going to sale at 1-800-CARS-FOR-KIDS type of thing. But it was, I want your car. It was Vita Blue fucking.

Okay, sorry. Audio version carjackings people here. So he did celebrity golf tournaments and charities for kids. A lot of charity shit here. Big time. So his holdout in 72 extends into spring training. Oh. On March 16th, Vita and his lawyer hold a televised press conference to announce that Vita is withdrawing from baseball.

Oh. Quitting. Retiring. To take a position with, guess who, Jimmy? Cars for Kids. The Dura Steel Products Company. What? That's my options. It could be the Cy Young Award winner or do, you know,

fucking acquisitions for a steel company. Is that what it is? Is it a steel company? Yeah, it is the steel company yeah dura steel products company they make steel products so he actually did work for the company because he needed money in the off season they didn't get paid enough and it was obviously you know saying i don't need it fuck it i'll just do this he said quote i hired a lawyer and we told charlie we wanted 115 000 knowing we had no shot the negotiations got a little nasty and i was ready to quit man so vita says i took a job at this company called dura steel products company

i was ready to sit out and just get away from finley i did sit out until early may but i was never treated the same by charlie after that there was a lot of resentment there that never went away. Unbelievable. Yep. He ends up, you know, it's a it's a big fucking thing. They finally reach an agreement on sixty three thousand dollars. So he still gets fucked, still gets totally fucked. Yeah. And they couldn't agree on the wording or the announcement of the agreement, though. And Finley didn't want to appear like he was conceding anything so he insisted that he was

paying blue 50 000 which was what he said he would never pay more than but then he was going to pay him a five thousand dollar signing bonus okay and eight thousand dollars for blues quote college fund as well so that's the 63 but it's really only 50 so i didn't give in at all what that's what's important that's him not wanting to have to budge on on later players obviously yeah because reggie jackson's contract's gonna call all these guys yeah because he's got famous guys that play for catfish that's why they all ended up on the yankees because steinbrenner did the opposite steinbrenner paid a guy extra and told everybody, if he paid him a million, he'd be like, I'm giving him $4 million just to be grandiose

so players wanted to fucking play there. Who wants to play for this guy? I would never. Yeah, the only guys you could ever, guys you draft and have the control over. Otherwise, no one wants to play for this guy. He's also got Blue Moon. Did he fucking pressure that son of a bitch to throw some shit in front of his name?

Be true Blue Moon Odom. Why not? I guess he's already Blue Moon Odom. Yeah. Like, listen, motherfucker, I already got a cool nickname. They're going to name beer after me. Leave me the fuck alone, okay? I'm cool.

Yeah. This is a song, for God's sake. Yeah, it's awesome. So, 72 Oakland Athletics here. They're 93-62, first in the AL West. They beat the Tigers in five games in the ALCS and go all the way to the World Series against Cincinnati, kind of the early part of their dynasty, and they beat them in seven games, Oakland does, and they are the World Series champions that year.

So not too goddamn shabby. Vida Blue's a World Series champ. Oh, absolutely. A couple times, yeah. He's real good. And, I mean, this team has one, two, three, four Hall of Famers on it, so that helps. That doesn't hurt at all.

And he's a baby still. Yeah, he's still a kid. He's 22. This year he only goes 6-10, but with a.280 ERA. So the record really doesn't mean as much as that sort of thing. ERA. His whip is really low. His whip's right around 1, which is pretty goddamn good.

A lot of strikeouts. 111 strikeouts. Only 48 walks. He makes his $63,000. And they move on to 73, where they finish 94-68. They beat Baltimore in the ALCS in five, get their revenge, and then go to the World Series against the Mets that year in 73 and beat them in seven games.

Look at this. Each series goes right to the end, but they're clutch and they win it. So two years in a row. There's a storyline. That's gorgeous. Vita is another world series fucking champion here so he's killing it he's 20 and 9 with a 328 era he's doesn't seem to have the same fastball as he did maybe throwing 312 innings will do that to your fastball but yeah over two

seasons you got over fucking 600 innings it's a lot it's a lot yeah he struck out um 158 batters and 263 innings that this year so it's not quite the same but everybody says he's a smarter pitcher everybody says he knows how to pitch now so that's the other thing he might not need that pitch at this point in time to be all like that all the time his His teammate Sal Bando said, in the first part of 1971, Vita was overpowering everyone, and now he's overmatching them. He says he jogs out to his position and works with quick efficiency,

throwing his left-handed darts out of a fluid high-kicking motion. Wow, that sounds pretty goddamn cool. So not bad that year. He's seventh in Cy Young voting that year as well, so he's in kind of the top tier so does very well he makes fifty one thousand dollars that year okay cheap fuck man it's cheap son of a bitch truly just so insulting it really is taylor swift is soaring high her every move captured in the news cycle and devoured by her devoted fans.

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You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. 74 A's go 90 and 72. They beat Baltimore in the ALCS, go to the World Series against the Dodgers in 74, and beat them 4-1. They got three in a row? Three in a row.

Cheap fuck Finley got three in a row and then still claimed poverty after that. Unbelievable. And he was, this was, uh, then he decided after this, he kind of starts shipping guys all over the place.

Anybody who wants any kind of money, he's like, Nope, you're gone. You're gone. You're gone. The team definitely changes its makeup a lot. He was 17 and 15 that year.

Vita was with a three 25 ERA. So still pretty good. Not bad not bad at all and doesn't matter because he's got a ring good shit Vita says when the A's came to Oakland they had to play second fiddle to San Francisco because they had all the big names like Mays, McCovey, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry and Orlando Cepeda everything changed when we won five divisional titles in those three championships in a row. Yeah. That makes sense. The Bay Area loves a winner and the Giants were not winning

so we kind of stole their thunder. Plus going to Candlestick was always an adventure with the cold and the wind. Something we never encountered on the other side of the Bay. Yeah. It's a different experience. Yeah. Candlestick is certainly a storied place. That windy shit you can tell. They always said, Rod said you could tell you just looked where the wrappers were blowing.

Look where, like, the hot dog wrappers and shit that are blown down in the field. You could tell where the wind was blowing because you could look and see where they were. What corner it's in. What corner, what wall it was pushed up against, basically. That was how you could tell. So 1975, they go 98-64. So still killing it. They lose, though, to the Red Sox, they go 98 and 64. So still killing it. They lose, though, to the Red Sox that year, 3-0.

They get swept by the Red Sox, and that was when they went to play the Reds there in 75, and the Reds beat them. That was Carlton Fisk with the whole, you know, with the waving the ball to fair. So anyway, this year, Vita is an all-star again. to fair so anyway this year vita is an all-star again he's 22 and 11 301 era 278 innings pitched listen to his innings pitched 312 151 263 282 278 oh my elbow hurts that's a guy's whole career now yeah literally his whole career he'll throw that many innings maybe and they'll be like we need to rest him we need to rest him 75 he makes 80 grand jesus christ so i mean it's something 1976 87 and 74 they finished second in the al west so no playoffs for them this year uh vita5,000 in 76, though. Great. $135,000 on June 15, 1976. He's purchased by the New York Yankees from the Oakland A's.

Really? But the previous purchase, three days later, it's voided and he's returned to the A's. What happened? Somehow the league didn't approve the deal. I don't know what it was. Check didn't clear? With Charlie Finley. No, the Yankees bought him, so it would have cleared.

Yeah, Steinbrenner's checks. He's an asshole, but his check's clear, at least, you know? Yeah. That's one thing. So this was Catfish Hunter left and went to the Yankees. They traded Reggie Jackson to the Orioles, and then he ended up going to the Yankees after that, signing the free agent deal there.

And the whole team is kind of falling apart here. He said this was right before the trade deadline. Finley announced that he was selling Vita Blue for $1.5 million and Joe Rudy and Raleigh Fingers to the Red Sox for $2 million. But the transactions were held up, and Kuhn and Finley fought over a bunch of shit based on this. And basically Charlie Finley fought with him forever after that until he sold the team. It was a fucking mess. They said the issue is whether the assignment of the contracts is appropriate or not under the circumstances. That's the issue I have to wrestle with.

I have to consider these transactions in the best interest of baseball, is what Bowie Kuh the commissioner said i don't know what that means i don't know what the details were and frankly i don't really care so what it sounds like is this guy only owes these people this much money and he's selling them for so much more you know what i mean yeah but there's also the matter of there's a technical roster situations and things like that i don't know if that has something to do i have no fucking clue what the sub rules of... Looks kind of shitty if a player's worth 80 grand left on their contract and you're selling him for $2 million. Yeah, you sound like an asshole.

Shit. What happens now, like for years, when like a big Japanese player would want to come over, all the teams bid on him for the right to sign him. Right. Because they have to pay the other team that he plays for $200 million to be able to sign this guy for more money. It's fucking insane.

So there you go. 1976, 18, and 13 for Vita. 235 ERA. 298 innings pitched. Oh, my God. Fucking A. That's a lot of innings pitched man that is so and you had to stay with the a's for that stay with the a's yeah 77 the a's are 63 and 98 so they flip

flop their record just getting rid of everybody on their team now their lineup instead of being sal bando joe rudy reggie jackson you know all these guys it's manny sanguine dick allen who is 35 he was a great player when he was in his prime but he's fucking 35 now marty perez rob piccolo wayne gross mitchell page young tony armis who was really good later but not now uh jim tyrone and earl williams that's your lineup now that sound like a fucking World Series lineup or not? Ever hear of most of those guys? Didn't think so. Very different rotation, too.

No more catfish hunters or anybody like that. Not great. So, catfish, though, 77. He leads the AL in losses that year, 14 and 19. Oh, no. But only a 383 ERA. You're on a bad team you can't help you know if you give up two runs and your team scores none you really can't you're gonna lose it's kind of sucks so he's an all-star in 77 so that's pretty good 279.2 innings great holy shit

that's a lot really getting after it fuck he gives up 284 hits to makes 145 000 jesus christ that's that i hate that it he makes money to stink that blows that really sucks yeah that hurts when they're winning he's making no money yeah it really saw this what he's made in his whole career reggie jackson makes twice as much as that in one season at that point in time that's kind of shitty to think about you know what i mean like and they're winning yeah so name on the back of the jersey now let's talk about that he the a's a lot of times the a's were the first team to you know get some some people talking shit, they put their first names on the backs of the jerseys if the guys wanted.

They had that going on. But he wore blue on the back of his for a long time, but then he switched to Vita toward the end of his Oakland tenure, and then he ended up wearing Vita on the back of his jersey the whole time he was with the Giants later on, which was, nobody else was doing that on the Giants,

but he had his. And I knew that because in rod's house he had tons of jerseys up on walls of all the people he played with and guys he knew from old guys he respected and everything and vita blue had a job with the giants so he knew vita blue he was always around so he had a sign vita blue and he said and it had vita on the back and i was like why did it say vita and not blue and we'll talk about it here blue said he switched it to vita in order to honor his father vita blue senior sure now that might have been true yeah that might have been true as part of it but what he told the players is something completely different because rod asked him why do you have why'd you why'd you use vita instead of blue just curious and he said vita said this is what rod told me the quote was i'm tired i got tired all

these cracker motherfuckers calling me blue black i got sick of that shit i would go nuts yeah he said that's why he said all these motherfuckers would yell blue black blue black at me all the time and talk about i'm blue and black and so black, I'm blue and all that kind of shit. He said, I got fucking tired of it. So I put Vita on the back and I could suck my dick. Next to the racist shit, Vita. That's what he told. That's what he told guys around the state.

I don't know if that's true. I don't know if he was just saying that shit then, talking shit, or that seems more realistic than to the press. You'd go, i wanted to honor my father right you know which and then also you get to honor your father so his name was also blue though so it doesn't really yeah your father had both those names doesn't matter shell back there who gives a shit now that's honoring your father you throw rochelle back there, we know you mean business, motherfucker. I fucking love that man. Holy shit.

So 78, he's traded from the A's to the Giants. So he doesn't even have to move. That's easy. No. That's an easy one. He fits to stay in the Section 8. Yep. Stay right there. Hopefully he's out of it by now.

He's traded for like one, two, three, four, five, six guys that you've never heard of and $300,000. So it's just the A's dumping an expensive guy for six cheap ones. For six cheap guys and a bunch of money. That's a cheap man move right there. That's what that is. That's what that is. That's why they suck through that period. 1978 Giants, they're 89 and 73.

Not bad. Not terrible. Third in the NL West. Nothing crazy. On that team, nobody really. Just one of the better Bob Shepard names you could have out there. John Montefiusco,

which is a very good the old Yankee announcer. John Montefiusco would be a wonderful Bob Shepard name. And he repeats it. Montefiusco. Montefiusco. Number 26. Montefiusco would be a wonderful Bob Shepard name. And he repeats it. Montefiusco. Yeah, Montefiusco. Number 26. Montefiusco.

Very good shit. I love that guy. Too bad he's dead. So otherwise, not a real star-studded team here. Daryl Evans is on the team. Willie McCovey's still there, but I think he's about 146 years old at this point. Yeah, they have like wake him up before games willie come on he's like what what happened now oh hold on a minute all right let me take my

slippers off i'll be right there hold on a minute like he was born in yeah christ he's old as fuck jesus christ he's he's 40 at this point still playing that's 40 oh my god 40 still hit the ball i guess so why not i don't know nolan ryan was what 46 when he quit 45 i mean whatever it was but holy i can't imagine and obviously franco played till he was 50 yeah i mean not satchel page was pitching when he was like 53 or some shit body's just broken oh ow every time you throw some weird sound comes out and you're like oh god that's scary that doesn't sound right everything i do now makes a noise oh yeah yeah right out of my face click or a pop or a fucking no my mouth i go oh oh yeah yeah well i think that's because something just cracked and popped or grinded. My body forces sound out of my face for nothing. For a lot.

To stand up. Man. So 78, the Giants. He's an all-star. He's 18 and 10, 279 ERA, 258 innings. He's third in the Cy Young voting also that year. So really killing it. Makes $ thousand dollars now baby wow and that by the way is in 2023 money 956 227 thousand dollars and 53 cents not even a million dollars still less than a million yeah unbelievable still i'm gonna say

now this is grace right here for him we'll say this is kind of this is kind of grace yeah he's almost won the cy young again he kind of came back he's got some rings he's rising from the ashes of that shit oakland team so it's really really nice he's got his rings 1979 san francisco 71 and 91 they're pretty lousy um vita is not very good either he's 14 and 14 with a 501 era that year oh boy that leads the majors and earn runs not in like a good way like he gives up the least all majors gives up the most or at least the american league. Not wonderful at all, really. 111 walks to 138 strikeouts, which is way worse than he's been since he was in the minors. So it's kind of definitely going downhill for him, I would say.

1980, San Francisco, 75-86 that year. He, again, this year, back to decent. He's an all-star again, 14- 297 era so not bad 1981 the giants this is a strike shortened season they're 56 and 55 and uh let's see where vita is in this one he is eight and six with a 245 era again yeah so he's trying to uh's doing better. He gets the win in the All-Star game, becoming the only pitcher at that time to win the All-Star game in each league for each league. Oh, yeah. He's done it twice. Yeah, it's pretty interesting. So, yeah, 81. He's an All-Star 245 ERA 1982. He is traded by the Giants with Bob Tufts.

You know him, right? Poster on your wall. Yeah, poster on your wall, Bob Tufts all the time. Jersey, yeah. To the Royals. To the Royals. He's going to go to the Royals. Kansas City to the, no, Jimmy, the Winnipeg Royals. Did they start in Kansas City?

The Royals, yeah, they were an expansion team in the late 60s. So good for them. Good for them. Good for them. For Craig Chamberlain, Adelaide Hammacher, Rennie Martin, and Brad Wellman. A bunch of shit. Kansas City's 90 and 72 that year. Those mid-80s Royals were pretty fucking good.

They weren't bad. They had Wally Joyner and shit, too, at the end there. He was on the Angels when he first came up in the late 80s. Was he on the Royals when they were good? Maybe at the end of his career possibly uh this is willie mays akins frank white ul washington george brett willie wilson how mccray george brett this whole crew here yeah good good squad actually uh so this year he goes 13 and 12 with a.378 ERA. At least this is his first year in a while he's thrown under 200 innings, so that's a little bit of a break.

And he throws 181 innings, which is still a lot. So 83 with the Royals, they're 79-83. Again, not terrific. He that year is 0-5 with a.601 ERA. Not great. Problem is he doesn't finish the season because it comes out in August that Vita Blue is under a big, giant cocaine investigation. Oh, Vita. This is in 83.

There was a shitload of guys that got busted. The Pittsburgh drug trials, all that shit is all the same type of umbrella, basically. All the athletes. Willie Mays Aikens was on this team. This is a lot. We covered this when we covered Willie Mays Aikens. If you want to go back, if you want to hear the first how is it you've come to arrive here ever,

it is Willie Mays Aikens because it actually happened to Willie Mays Aikens. A Mexican pimp asked him that while he was coming to retrieve a woman that Willie Mays Aikens had stolen, essentially. And not paid for. And not paid for at all. So this was a big deal in Kansas City. There was a couple of businessmen who liked to hang out with the guys and would invite them over after the games to their big houses to come party. And they put out lots of Coke.

And it was just kind of a party environment. And a lot of the players got a little too far into it and that sort of thing. So they said here, this is from the August 9th, 1983 newspaper here. It says four members of the Kansas City Royals and recently released pitcher Vita Blue are being investigated by the FBI for alleged cocaine abuse. Cocaine abuse? I don't know why the FBI is looking into that. Are they selling it to anyone or just?

You could take the first two letters off that. It's cocaine use. It's fine for that. Yeah, it's none of their business how much of it he uses, I wouldn't assume. John Scherholtz, executive vice president and general manager of the baseball team, said Monday he was contacted by the FBI two weeks ago about the investigation. They said that we are aware that several of our players are being interviewed in relation to an investigation that's being conducted by the FBI. And they said the newspaper reported it was Vita Blue, Jerry Martin and Willie Mays Akins and somebody else.

So this was part of that. Willie Mays Akins did this to him. So this was part of the whole thing. Well, he was just hanging out with all the guys. It was all going on here. They named all these sources and everything like that. They said, Scherholtz said, quote, we didn't feel Vita was performing up to his capabilities for whatever reason. So now they're like, oh, this makes a lot of sense.

Yeah. for whatever reason. So now they're like, oh, this makes a lot of sense. Yeah. And they said that the team wanted to let everyone know that his release didn't have anything to do with the cocaine thing. He was just pitching like shit. And then also the FBI called and they were like, well, you know, we were going to release him anyway, so that's good.

Poor shit. This involved Overland Park businessman Mark Liebel and Johnson County attorney David Roselli. That's how these are the guys that were involved in giving players Coke and hanging out with Coke, I guess, allegedly at the time. So federal prosecutors are involved. And on December 13th, 1983, he is suspended for one year. A whole year. From baseball, first off.

For the Coke. And then, December 20th, 1983, he has to go to court. And this is the crazy thing. He's not arrested and being tried for drug sales or drug possession. It's drug use, which I don't know how you can even do that. That's wild. I realize it's illegal, but it's drug use which i don't know how that you can even do that that's wild so i realize it's illegal but it's uh once it's in my body it's really none of your business at that point like i mean it's inside me it's already gone you want to like what do you want to do here sift through

my intestines like for any any other thing you want to look for while it's in there it's in me you can't have it anymore so it's already done it's already done man he vita blue described in court using drugs as a monster he said quote it's a monster that has made midgets out of giants and cry babies out of very strong persons that's what he said they said quote mr blue this is the judge were it not for the fact that you have cooperated with the government in this case, your sentence would be much more severe. And he says, you, sir, may fuck off three months in prison and $5,000 fine for possession of cocaine, which was, I don't know if he ever had it or whatever the fucking deal was, but apparently so. He's pleading guilty to misdemeanor charge of possession of three grams of cocaine less than an eight ball here wow wow um fuck willie wilson jerry martin willie mays akins also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of attempting

to possess uh to possess cocaine that's what it was it was trying to get cocaine to use don't like that at all that's i mean there's bigger things to deal with yeah then a baseball player's doing coke in some dude's basement after a game i don't care about that yeah trying to don't care about it that seems like a lazy work day i saw you roll up a 20 bill sir get over here what the here. What the fuck? Leave me alone. So they're all sentenced to three months in a minimum security prison at Fort Worth, Texas. All these guys. Jesus Christ.

So he said that during court, he said he regretted that his actions have quote, betrayed the trust and respect of my friends and family. I regret that it took something this tragic to make me realize there was something lying dormant in me that was so terrible.

Oh. Or I was just partying with my friends after the game in the early 80s doing a little coke like everybody fucking else who's out past 11 o'clock in 1983. I had no idea this monster existed until a businessman offered it to me in a giant punch bowl.

Oh, a giant wow oh giant punch ball while wearing a bib so he didn't get any odds so that's how hard he was going at it man wow um he says chemical dependent dependency can be just as deadly as cancer well okay i mean it depends on how you're doing it, but yeah, I'm sure can be anything can be. Yeah, absolutely. So they said that even a short jail term could seriously endanger his chances of getting a baseball job next season, especially since he might miss spring training. was twice delayed at the request of the government. So, come on, guys. You're fucking us up. He could have done this time pre-spring training. What are we doing?

You're waiting until it's inconvenient for us? Yeah. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. And his lawyer here also said, quote, this said that chemical dependency has kind of been a part of baseball for a long time. You can't start, you know, litigating it now. Like, if you want to start putting people in jail. He said, quote,

Babe Ruth and Walter Johnson, perhaps the greatest hitter and the greatest pitcher that ever lived, suffered from career-long bouts of alcoholism. He said, it's always been a problem and it's a problem in all sports.

His lawyer said, perhaps it's to relieve the pressure of the fear of failure or to relieve the loneliness or to stoke the competitive fires. He said, Vita to relieve the pressure of the fear of failure or to relieve the loneliness or to stoke the competitive fires he said vita has recognized the problem and he's trying to get something done about it there you go bruce family is like hey why do we got to bring our guy up

yeah what the fuck don't throw me under a fucking bus but true at the same time you know it's also true every tons of guys have been alcoholics. Baseball is like you're a pussy if you're not an alcoholic as a baseball player back in the day. That's what they did. So they talk about everybody else getting suspended. And they said his lawyer says sometimes the Players Association has been successful in challenging the commissioner and sometimes not. There is a substantial possibility that Akins, Martin, and Wilson will be eligible to play baseball when spring training begins,

but apparently not Blue. They said that these players all occupy a special place in society. He says Mr. Blue has occupied that special place for a very long time. He said his client was a high school star and a star in baseball. He said he's had a fantastic career, but obviously somewhere along the way, Vita fell off that pedestal. Oh boy, oh boy.

They asked Blue, are you embarrassed by this? Yeah. And he said, quote, it's not embarrassing, but it tarnished my image. Not that I was squeaky clean. I didn't have a halo and stuff, but I had a reputation of being a respectable, reputable person. I worked my tail off to polish that image back up and renew the name Vita Blue Jr. No.

No, sir. Don't. Don't fucking put extra stank on the junior, man. Come on. But it's a constant battle to do that every day. Jesus Christ. April 6th, 1985, when he missed the whole 84 season. So April 6th, 85, which is after spring training, by the way, April 6th.

He's signed as a free agent with the San Francisco Giants. Okay. Who stink that year. They're 62 and 100. They suck. So not wonderful. The whole pitching rotation is Adelaide Hammock or Mike Krukow, Dave LaPointe. A lot of guys with under 10 wins put it that way.

So he goes 8-8. He fits right in with a.447 ERA for Vita. Not great. Makes $250,000 there. Now, 1985 is the pittsburgh drug trials that we covered in a patreon episode with the whole with the mascot of the pirates with the the fucking the parrot thing or whatever the fuck it was the bird procuring drugs for people hiding it right in his beak. So they said this was kind of a big deal, and they actually used the testimony of Vita Blue,

Willie Mays Akins, Enos Campbell, Keith Hernandez, Jeffrey Leonard, Tim Raines, Lonnie Smith, Alan Wiggins. There's some alums in there. They used their testimony as part of this drug trial to talk about generally you know drugs and baseball and shit like that snitches yeah that's that's exactly what it is snitching fucking snitching so yeah they said that their publicity got kind of shitty after that because this was putting an airing all of baseball stink just opening the window and letting it out

so they said that blue was among the players ordered by Commissioner Peter Uber off to be subject to random drug testing for the rest of his career as well. Yep. By the way, just just if we ever feel like getting your piss, we're taking it from you anytime. You might have to piss at any moment.

Now, right under this, by the way, this article is an ad for possibly the worst auto service ever. It's crazy. The sales, Jimmy, is fucking insane. Okay, this is a place called Mr. Transmission. Yeah.

The professionals you trust is what it says. But when you look at the goddamn ad here, it is tune-up special. Okay, transmission tune-up. here it is tune up special okay transmission tune up this includes jimmy new pan gasket new fluid clean filter any necessary minor adjustments 998 10 bucks 988 you can't all that how awful are everything they're putting into your car ten dollars ten dollars fuck your car up fuck you that's all the materials are worth more than ten dollars the shittiest shit we can get fuck labor fluid is ten dollars oh my god and a new pan gasket new fluid clean filter that's not ten dollars filter fluid gasket that's 15 bucks wow what a load of shit. They're going to tell you everything's wrong with your car no matter what.

They're using silicone as a gasket. They're just coating the shit out of it. There's no way you'd get a gasket. It's ready. Here you go. Falling apart. You go to shift and the transmission, just third gear, falls out of your car. Okay, I guess that didn't work.

86, he's with the Giants again roger craig the manager now and this is the will clark is on this team now the jeffrey leonard some more guy chili davis candy maldonado more guys we kind of recognize from this area it's going to be uh you know matt williams later on and a bunch of guys i had cards of exactly these are all guys we recognize their names here. Mike LaCrosse, Kelly Downs, all these guys. So this year Vita is 10-10. He's a 500 pitcher now. He was 8-8 last year.

He's 10-10 with a .327 ERA. So not too shabby. Unfortunately for Vita, he doesn't want to retire, but this is going to be the end of his career. He's 36, so he's getting up there a little bit, but he ends up pitching.

He ends up with 209 wins, 161 losses, a.327 lifetime ERA. Not too shabby. Let's see, how many Ks did he have here? Let me see. For strikeouts, 2,175 strikeouts. That's not bad at all pretty

goddamn good career is what he had the money though real solid career his money because his last year he made 450 000 made the most ever in his last year that's just how season salaries were going his entire career and this is by the way with years missing because we don't have 79 80 81 82 83 all those years are gone we don't have what he made then so not including those years but we can assume he made somewhere between 200 000 and 250 000 because that's what he made in 85 without those years he made 1 million 397 950 bucks awful that is not great for being a major league star right you know what i mean it's it's not wonderful big everybody knows who you are fuck in january of 87 he signs as a free agent with the oakland a's again yeah signs up with them but he abruptly retires during spring training

okay and it's rumored we'd ever know what the route if this is true or not but it is kind of a quote known fact quote unquote fucking not we don't know if it's true that he had tested positive on a drug test when they tested him in spring training and basically they told him look either quit or we're going to suspend you and it's going to look terrible for you so we're going to shame you at the end of your career or you'll walk out of here magnanimous like your arm just is a rag now. Yep. And he said later on that he was struggling with the addiction at the time. And he said, I reached the point where I had to choose between baseball and life.

So sounds like he failed the drug test. That's what it sounds like. He said, over the last few years, I have been contemplating retirement. So with mixed emotions and slight remorse, the day has finally come when I will no longer be playing Major League Baseball. My physical condition is good. So while I'm still in good health, I've decided to retire. I'm going to miss my fans, the players, and all the people associated with baseball. I must reiterate to my fans that you will always hold a special place in my heart and he said all the glorious moments

i've shared with you and my fellow teammates will stay with me the rest of my life and oakland a's said that they're sorry vite is not going to be playing this season but we respect his decision and we wish him well that's 88 he would have at least went to the world series that year so all right there you go he said in an autobiography published in 2011 he said that he struggled with substance abuse for much of his career didn't start in fucking 83 like they acted like he said along with the glory i'd achieved there was a growing darkness reaching for me and the light began to dim as early as 1972. Oh, my.

When he had a couple of bucks and he was popular and, yeah, that'll do it. He was deep embedded in it by 79 then, right? Oh, yeah, big time. And then by 83, forget about it. So February 8th, 88 here is when he wants to. He's contacting people. He wants to come back, he said again, but not in the majors. He contacted.

Oh, yes. In the majors, he's contacted four teams and said Japan is also an option. He says, I feel strongly. I will pitch this season. I feel good. My arm feels good. I'm ready. Ready to fucking roll.

He said, they said, would you play in Japan? He said said not closing any doors that's all don't give a fuck man gonna play he said i do it they said what about this did you have a positive drug test and all that and he said quote i'd rather not get into that the past is behind me and i'm trying to stay positive and surround myself with positive people sir yes is what that means. Absolutely. I'd rather not get into that. Why wouldn't you want to get into it if it wasn't a positive test?

No shit. Oh, by the way, he only did 81 days out of his 90 in jail. They made him do 81. So that's tough. He said he's willing to include a drug clause in a contract with any prospective team. He said, I found that trying to get back into baseball can be a humbling experience. There's a lot of politics in this game, believe me.

The whole approach baseball has to drugs is kind of a double message. On one hand, baseball frowns on marijuana and cocaine use, but then you see all the endorsements for beer and you have to wonder. He says, it's almost like they're saying it's okay to drink as long as you don't do the other stuff. I they should start worrying a little more about alcohol alcohol is a

bigger problem than anything else which yeah there's more people doing it so yeah definitely it's and it's considered fine you know especially in baseball yeah that's getting shit-faced and having crazy antics that's considered just boys will be boys. Good fun. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, he was talking about he wants to write a book. He said, nobody should be afraid of signing me. In a way, I'm glad the things that have happened to me happened. You have to accept a problem before you can be treated. And that way I'm lucky because there are some guys in baseball who haven't accepted that they have a problem yet.

He said that he spent time in rehab in Orange County in a drug and alcohol unit. And he said the experience has made him interested in helping others who have drug problems. He's good now. Yeah. He said last year he worked with a friend who runs a chemical dependency center in Minneapolis. He said, I believe everything that happens to you happens for a reason. I've benefited from what's happened to me. He said, and I can still pitch too.

He said, one of the teams I've talked to said their sources reported I look good. I don't know what that means, but I don't know who their sources are, but I was optimistic. I really think I'll be playing baseball again this season. And he certainly doesn't at all. Very optimistic, though. Was he on bad or something he's feeling all sorts of he's getting these yeah grandeur you know visions of grandeur you know coke stuff what i can do it oh he does he did pitch during the dream game on sunday of this week the dream game is the 72 reds and the 72 A's playing each other.

Okay. Guys who weren't in the league anymore. They played to a 4-4 10-inning tie because the Reds ran out of pitchers. Okay. They used four pitchers. The A's used eight. Vita recorded the only strikeout for A's pitchers as well. Very anticlimactic day no shit jesus that sounds

boring as fuck watch these old guys play and then it's over and nobody won yay extra innings of this shit no shit he then played in the senior professional baseball association in 88 90 which we've talked about several times that was was pretty sad. A lot of just teams in Florida, basically. It was eight teams in Florida, just Jacksonville playing fucking West Palm over and over again. I've seen an old-timers game at the Surprise Stadium years ago.

Catfish Hunter was there. Yeah, they're fun if it's good players in an old-timey game. They're good shit. Yeah, they can be good. So he said he's become active in charity work, and he's talking to a lot of people about substance addiction. He's doing well.

He moved to the Twain Hart area of California, which is in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Him and his wife. Yeah, we'll talk about this. He gets married, by the way. He gets a job as a baseball analyst for NBC Sports Bay Area, which is the TV home of the San Francisco Giants. Local affiliate. And in September of 89, he gets married on the pitcher's mound at Candlestick Park.

Oh, that's great. He goes old school with his new wife, Peggy Shannon is her name, who sounds like she's from the 50s. Peggy Shannon. Wow. Sounds like she'd be marrying Blue Moon Odom. Sounds like two daughters in a show in the 80s, though. Peggy and Shannon. Willie McCovey's his best man.

Orlando Cepeda gave away Shannon there. Peggy Shannon. Peggy Shannon. Yep. They had twin girls and a son and two other daughters. So I think that's five kids altogether. Twin girls, a son, two more daughters. The son's name is Derek, though. So he does not go the third.

Yep. 92 to 95, he's eligible for the Hall of Fame in consideration for the Hall of Fame. 1995, he's eligible for the Hall of Fame in consideration for the Hall of Fame. His highest vote percentage he gets is 8.7% in 1993. No chance. That's it. No way. So he's removed from the ballot in 95 because he doesn't have a certain number of votes.

So he's removed. He's one of these guys who's a really good pitcher, but not a Hall of Fame pitcher. There's plenty of guys like that. 1996, he and his wife divorce. Oh, no. Yeah, so it's not going great. He's not getting in the Hall of Fame. Him and Peggy are getting a divorce.

Peggy Shannon's had enough of his shit. Oh, man, yeah. Peggy Shannon's had plenty of his bullshit. She's not calling him True Blue for a fact here. So he's having some problems, obviously. And, you know, at this point, he kind of, his career in his mind ended a little early, not of his own volition. He feels like he kind of got forced out. So, you know, he's had some problems. Now he's divorced.

You kind of feel bad for the guy at this point. Certainly. Yeah. Sad guy. You do. You feel bad for him, but not nearly as bad as we feel for Vita Blue, IT specialist at Susquehanna Bank in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Vita Blue, academic counselor at San Jose University, Sunnyvale, California.

And finally, Vita Blue, a blonde chick named Vita Blue, who's a marketing campaign manager in San Diego, California. Every one of them named after him, though. Every one of them. Have to be, right? Yeah. I would think. Why wouldn't you? You don't land on that name.

You've never landed on that name. It's gotta be after him. It has to be. Especially two San Jose universities from California. That's Vita? Why wouldn't it be Vita? It's Vita. The girl, I don't know. But still, what the fuck?

So August 2nd, 1999, he's got some problems here because he doesn't drive well from now on, from here on out here. He's going to have to plead innocent to a misdemeanor drunk driving charge. from here on out here. He's going to have to plead innocent to a misdemeanor drunk driving charge. He's pulled over while speeding on Interstate 580 in his 1999 Lincoln Town car. So that's good.

It's brand new anyway. That's helpful. He's pulled over. He was, you know, he at this point is the community representative for the Giants. That's his job title.

He told officers he's returning from a golf tournament. He said he drank about two or three beers in two hours. Yeah. So you're basic there, which means about nine or ten beers, kind of lost count. I've been there all day. Oh, yeah. He failed five field sobriety tests and had a blood alcohol level of 0.11, which isn't too bad. A major league player, he could probably get by on that,

but still against the law. So, yeah, he gets arrested, taken in, obviously, and his lawyer said that he's embarrassed by the situation. Quote, he's a very busy guy who does a lot with the Giants and with kids. He's always running around. He has no time to sober up is what we're telling you. It's because he's busy. He wanted to sober up, but he just didn't.

That's the problem. So he ends up pleading no contest to that, and he'll end up going to a rehab. Yeah, he goes to a rehab for 30 days and does all that shit. And this will keep coming up, by the way. Definitely. There's a lawsuit here in February 2003 where a bunch of sports stars are named in a lawsuit for a drug called Znetix. Z-N-E-T-I-X.

Znetix, Inc. Inc. I guess their former sports stars Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Vita Blue and Eric Dickerson are among 41 defendants in a lawsuit stemming from the collapse of Zentex Inc., the biggest stock fraud case in Washington state history. Oh, shit. Yeah. According to the lawsuit, the company's court appointed receiver, the defendants did little to Zanetics co-founder Kevin Lawrence from misusing corporate funds. The directors and officers acted in bad faith in a way they knew or should have known they were not performing their duties in a manner that was in the best interest of Zanetics. Nonetheless, they continued to serve and accept compensation from Zanetics, all the while burying their heads in the sand and ignoring flagrant wrongful acts going on around them now you know what this is no in my

opinion this is no this is a drug company that's probably some supplement type of thing they got a bunch of athletes and hired them to sit on their board that's what they do with these companies will hire you to sit on your board what do i have they do with these companies. We'll hire you to sit on your board. What do I have to do? Nothing. Your name's on shit. The picture of you is on a prospectus. That's it. That's what you are. Help me get more money that I can run through. They have no, they don't go to meetings and look over the books. They don't know what the fuck that is. They get a salary for being, using your name on a board. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is not showing up to a board meeting. And talking, well, let me ask you this. What are you putting in this particular tablet? It's fucking ridiculous.

What are the side effects? I guess people have pleaded guilty. Four people have pleaded guilty in what investigators say was a scheme, wow, that bilked as much as $91 million for more than 5,000 investors. Holy. The lawyers said the investors were told that genetics and health maintenance centers developed proprietary medical and fitness software and equipment, essentially combining medical centers with fitness clubs. Instead, they were accused of squandering much of the money on dozens of luxury automobiles, boats, jewelry, and Hawaiian real estate. Jesus Christ.

Holy shit. That's wild. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dickerson, and Michael Johnson also involved in that. They were all representatives on the Zanetics board. Exactly what I said. Yes, the board. That's the shit. So April 2004, he's got another problem.

In 2003, he gets a DUI on Highway 101. So another DUI in California. He's going to be placed on two years probation after pleading no contest to the 2003 charge here. You've got to be fucked up to get a DUI on the 101. You are doing 12 mile an hour at best. At best. Or if it's the middle of the night, you're going 200, so you really gotta

be fucked up there, too. As part of this, he's supposed to report to a 20-day work program, but never showed up for it, by the way. And we'll get into some of the details of this in a second. July 15, 2004, bobblehead day.

It's bobblehead day here. They said get to the yard early and be one of the just 15,000 fans to get their very own Vita Blue bobblehead. It's a delightful diminutive likeness of this Bay Area icon. They talk about the 71 season. Then owner Charlie O'Finley tried to get Vita to change his name to true blue, but Vita thought it rang false. This bobblehead responds honestly to all true and false questions. Oh, nodding. It's a bobblehead.

That's a terrible joke, but that's fucking fine. So March 13th, 2005, he is arrested again for DUI. Uh, yes. It's, um, at this time it's in Scottsdale during spring training. And he's out, probably going to a titty bar or something afterwards or whatever. Got in a minor accident in Scottsdale. Really? I think it was Old Town because they said downtown Scottsdale, but I think they mean Old Town.

That's Old Town. So he's in Old Town at the bars and got in a fender bender, and he got arrested for it because he got a DUI. Bumped into somebody's fucking Mercedes. Yep, bumped into some dummy's shit, and that's what he got. Probably some blonde kid. Yeah. So May 17, 2005, they said that he could avoid prison time because this is like his fourth DUI in five years, I want to say. Oh, my.

They can avoid prison time with a treatment program uh-huh what year was this this was 2005 yeah they're taking duis and scott's still mad serious at that fuck yeah well this is in california this one i believe oh the one on the 101 because he's yeah this yeah this is from those because he's got in arizona he only has one he's got like four in californ three. So he's sentenced. He did not complete his probation in the last one. So he is sentenced to, you sir may fuck off, six months in jail for that. They said he can avoid the incarceration by spending time in a residential alcohol treatment program.

They said he needs to work out the terms of his treatment with the probation department or he has to go to jail. Those are his options here. His attorney said Mr. Blue takes full responsibility that he's in violation of his probation. Okay. Under the terms of his agreement, he was not allowed to go drink alcohol or go to liquor stores or bars. Yeah. Yeah, that's part of it. That's tough.

He's also subject to alcohol testing, and he has a fucking device fucking device in his car too that he has to blow into as well he's been a community representative for the giants for 15 years as well at this point yep the uh they said vita wants to take some time and tackle these personal issues this is the giants talking about it he would hope that the fans would stick by him and give him the opportunity to get through this. So, yeah, he's got a lot here. He's got a lot going on. So he's going to move to Tracy, California as well. Oh, no. I don't know what the fuck he's moving there for, but whatever. Middle of nowhere, right?

That's up near Sacramento, Bakersfield. Yeah, that's something like that. His lawyer, though, and he says not once has anyone heard Vita blame his problems on anyone other than himself. That's the thing. He always fights. He says, I did it, and I want to step up. He said, quote, if I want to be a man, I have to accept what I do. That means everything, the good and the bad.

We all know I'm not perfect, but who is? Good point. That's fair and hard to argue with here. Yeah. all know i'm not perfect but who is good point that's fair and hard to argue with here yeah so he ends up uh he ends up like i said not doing the 20 day thing and all that he does though end up being back in contact with his son derrick derrick and him did not have a good relationship and he doesn't talk to derrick for years really yes and then a little later on during this era when he's having problems, Derek comes back into his life and Derek

even said that, you know, the alcohol and the drugs and all that, he goes, that's kind of baseball. He goes, I don't really blame my dad. He said, when I was younger, I went down to a rehab facility in LA and I don't know if my dad took it real serious. People said afterward, it's over you can

have a beer now when he gets out of rehab he's got things too so no no this is derrick saying he went down to visit his dad down there and didn't think he was taking it too seriously people laughed at mickey manil and billy martin for hitting a home run drunk or getting in a bar room brawl it's just not accepted behavior. Now, Derek said that, you know, it was hard on him. He had to change high schools because when his dad was having problems, people would make fun of him and taunt him for it and shit.

Cause that was during the whole cocaine thing. He said, uh, at one point the friction between he and his father actually caused an end to his relationship with a woman. She couldn't take them always fighting and him always talking about it and she dumped him for it and everything. He and his father actually caused an end to his relationship with a woman. She couldn't take them always fighting and him always talking about it, and she dumped him for it and everything. So he also said that he's been depressed after his dad got another DUI during spring training. It depressed him.

He said he doesn't understand what it is, but he thinks he gets it. Derek said, quote, he's got great great people skills and i think that's been a downfall yeah he's very social and social yeah social abilities relate to social behavior well he also says people have let him get away with more because he's good with people people come to me and say he's a great guy he took us out drinking and partying great guy great guy derek says i cringe that's what's wrong with being professional athletes my dad included people are always telling them you're right you're right you're right it's a fantasy world let me get you a couple drinks it's on me or it's on the house it's true always

looking to have because they want you to sit there because then that draws attention to them he said uh when i was younger yeah he went down there and he was talking about the beer thing and he was like it was fucking crazy. He said, Derek, though, really wants his dad to get his shit together. He says they don't often speak, but he's hoping that, you know, he's hoping that it'll come around. Derek said about Vita, his legacy means a lot to people. People like him. They come up to me and tell me stories and say they never heard a negative word about him.

They come up to me and tell me stories and say they never heard a negative word about him. But he's in the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame and has left a pretty good impression. So, yeah. He said at one point one of his friends here, one of Vita's friends said when his son called him to wish him Happy Father's Day and they hadn't talked in a long time, he said he was the happiest he'd ever seen Vita in his life. They hadn't talked in a long time. He said he was the happiest he'd ever seen Vita in his life. Really? He said, Vita told me, quote, you won't believe it, but Derek called me and wished me a happy Father's Day.

He said Vita looked like he just threw a no-hitter. He looked so happy. He was so excited. So not too bad here for Vita, but now he's starting to have problems now, too, because even physical problems are starting to get to him a little bit. He's still got, he's okay, but, you know, he's starting to get a little sore. Yeah, older. And, yeah, that might make you want to have a couple of drinks at the end of the day, too. Yeah, yeah, it does.

It certainly does. It'll happen. So he ends up there. He ends up in Tracy, California. Yeah. Where is Tracy? It's up near Sacramento, I think. Okay, I thought it was like northern.

It's a drive. It's probably an hour and a half, two hours from San Fran. Is that one of those places where every guy you see looks like a wannabe MMA fighter? Probably. With like dumb facial hair and too many tattoos? Probably. Like a fucking, yeah, novelty facial hair, tattoos. It's what California is considered like backwoods California, right? it's it's what california is considered

like backwoods california right it's like desert it is it's like jared wyatt territory i think that's what it is yeah it's not good not a great area up there yeah a lot of because it's casino area of california that's the bad part if you're around a casino yeah that's probably bad it's not good yeah casinos don't put things houses, or casinos up usually in the best neighborhoods. Yeah. They're not like a casino. There's no Brentwood Casino for a reason. But there is one outside Tracy, I bet.

There is one in Morongo, California. Yes. As we know, we passed all these. As we pass, too, whenever we take these road trips, we pass and we go, who the fuck goes there? How? I know we're on a trip, but let's lose a bunch of money so we can then be fucking upset in the car for another two hours on the way. We're almost to L.A. Should we just stop?

Want to just stop in the middle of a trip for a few hours? Cool. Wilson Phillips is playing. Yeah cool either that or that's playing yeah either that or that's their destination that's the sad part either that or that's their destination because you know fucking sir mix-a-lots there that's the problem because bill ingvall's got a new hour wow this is impressive paul rodriguez is still doing comedy excellent very good about that holy shit so vitus stays pretty quiet after this after 2007 he kind of like yeah he works for the giants on and off because all that sort of thing but yeah don't no more duis

there is a scrap at some point i can't find much on it but there's and ian had a hard time with it too and i couldn't find anything so the two of us can't find it it's not there it's somewhere out there i'm sure but it was difficult only references to the fact that he had a like a physical altercation with a neighbor at some point in this time period some kind of fight with a neighbor where the police were called and there was some kind of something, but he didn't bash the guy's head in and jump on top of him and start slamming him into the road or anything.

It was just kind of a... What's up in there? I'd like to see Fyda get mad and kick somebody's ass, wouldn't you? Yeah. You call me true, motherfucker? Start taking swings at him and shit? That would be fun. And then May 6th, 2023.

So extremely recently, within the last two months here, he dies. Vida. Vida is dead at 73. That's early, right? I mean, it can be. I mean, it can be. Depends on how much booze and coke you've done. That too.

He died at a hospital in San Francisco's East Bay from medical complications stemming from cancer. So he's had a hard time lately, and he looked rough the last few years. They said that he looked real skinny, and he used a walking stick during the 50th anniversary of the A73 championship team. He came a month before he died using the walking stick. Reggie Jackson, who was there, he said, quote, he was engaging, he was personable, he was caring. He was uncomfortable with the crowd. Yeah, he said, quote, when he saw him at the 50th anniversary reunion, he said, I did not recognize him. I was shattered. I was shattered.

I was shaken. That will stick with me for the rest of my life. He looked terrible, apparently. And, yep, Jackson said, quote, we were very young kids. Vida from Louisiana and black and me being black. Being black in a white league and in a white world was very impactful as to how you handled yourself, how you acted, because you were always colored first. And so, yeah, there's Vita Blue.

Like I said, Bay Area Hall of Fame, but never the Baseball Hall of Fame. That's one of those guys, he's got a cool name. He was a cool pitcher, a lefty who threw hard and pitched for championship teams. And like I said, if you're a baseball fan you know his name and you know all of that but he never quite he didn't quite get the accolades yeah he was so that 71 season though really you could compare that to like when fernando valenzuela came up when they had fernando mania or when fucking otani's first year when they went nuts for him and fucking, you know, all these things. That was 71 for Vita.

He could have been drafted by the Expos or the, I guess the Royals weren't in existence yet. Is that what happened? The Expos, I think 60 say would have just started. The Royals just started. If they just called that blue Vita Blue, that'd be rad, right? Oh, that'd be cool. The Royal Blue? Yeah. Make a new color, slightly off, and call it Vita Blue. That'd be rad, right? Oh, that'd be cool. The Royal Blue?

Yeah. Make a new color, slightly off, and call it Vita Blue. That would be badass. That would have been cool as shit. It would have been a whole fucking legend there. But he had no idea he was going to be that good. Nobody knew he was going to be that good. No one knew. How do you fucking know you're going to be that good at baseball?

These guys, some of them are phenoms and they suck in the majors. Some of these guys they don't expect shit for in their hall of famers so finley maybe ruined the poor guy too oh yeah oh finley ruined him yeah he could have he could have been something so big and so spectacular anywhere else if he was supported by a team who gave a shit about their players and didn't treat them like fucking racehorses actually worse than racehorses yeah yeah treat. Treat them like they want to win and like winning matters and winning is important to them and they want to have a franchise. It feels like Finley used that place just to pay his mortgage and shit and have a bigger and bigger house.

And that's how great those fucking players were that they won three World Series regardless of being on the cheap. Yeah. They won three World Series regardless of being on the cheap. Because when they're cheap like that, the whole attitude just trickles down through the whole system, the whole entire organization. They all act fucking. Anything's inaffordable? What's the word? Inexpensive?

Inexpensive. When anything's cheap like that, it feels disposable. You can just throw it away. Nobody cares because I can buy another one for the same price. And the salaries are one thing, but he nickel and dimed shit too, and that drives them nuts. I remember Rod telling me teams he played for, you could tell the difference. And the players liked playing for certain teams because they put out good food before the games and after the games. Some teams were cheap. He said before the last ownership in the late 90s

that the cubs owned it yeah whoever owned the cubs he said they were cheap as fuck he said they would bring in a shitload of like in the you'd come in in the morning for a day game and they just put a pile of egg mcmuffins out for people gross like that's not we're giving a bunch of sodium and they're gonna run around and play like get a chef in there make some fucking eggs for these guys you know what i mean make this is your team these are your racehorses would you feed your racehorse shit or would you feed him something good that's what you get in me to play this game it's crazy he said boston at stake and fucking shrimp and lobster and shit san francisco was the same way but some of these teams are cheap as fuck and that's just the way it is well the lobster in boston to them was probably the same price as a mcmuffin because when it's plentiful it's cheap hopefully it wasn't from

legal seafood where gross guys would have fucking streaks running down their white uniform pants for the rest of the day nine innings so anyway there you go that's vita blue uh if you enjoyed vita blue or if you enjoy any goddamn one episode what if you've enjoyed a single episode we've ever done get on apple podcasts or whatever the fuck you're on i don't know what you people listen to shit on whatever you're listening to podcasts on there's always a way to review rate and review it helps a lot give us five stars by the way like we had to tell you that but do that it helps us also head over to shut up and give me murder.com. Get your tickets for live shows.

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this week for your money is yeah for crime and sports this is a fun one we're going to talk about theme park disasters and boy are they yeah disasters it's just crazy carnage and wild shit that goes on and just people being flippant with human life just put it that way just not it will be safety to the wind who gives a shit and then for small town murder very similar we're going to talk about prison riots oh there will be blood which is a just an amusement park crammed into a much smaller place, I guess, in terms of bloodiness. Less amusement, more blood. Less amusement, more blood. So that's what we're going to talk about.

That's patreon.com slash crime and sports. And you get a shout out, like we said. When the fuck is that shout out coming? I know. Right goddamn now. Jimmy, please, please, please hit me with the names of the people who would never, ever try to make us change our name to something stupid just because it would be fun for them. Hit me with them right now. This week's executive producers are Liz Vasquez, Peyton Meadows, Amelie Olson, Sharon Jones, and her daughter, who, James, has scarlet fever.

Did you know that still exists? It does. Is she going to get the rubella next? What year is this? I'm so sorry. Take care of your baby. Jesus Christ. I don't even know how to treat that.

Poor kid's got the cholera. Brandi Huntley, Carmen Brown, and Anna Marie, thank you all so much for being a part of this. You're fantastic. Other producers this week are Cassie Wade, Georgia Lipton, Janice Hill, Scott Atanasio. Thanks, Scott. That was very nice of you. Trav with no last name. Daniel Kuchta.

All right. Ben Cram. Sweet Trav. Sorry. Keal. Travis. Sweet Trav. Kayla.

Yeah, it's definitely Kayla. Maria Thompson. Jess Stevenson. JT, no last name. Henter Nashe Sowers, maybe Ray, Marissa Goss, not gross, Jenny Jean, Meg with no last name, Rachel O'Brien, Zoe Daverin, Deanna Pitcher, KJ Beck, Spencer Howard, TK Turner, Caitlin Cook, Kelly Moriarty, Moriardo, uh, Moriardo, Mori, Mori, John Wilkins, AMH, MAH, Brandy Padgham, Brandy Padgham, Michelle Shaw, Lisa Hodgkin, Bob Johnson, Beth Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell,

Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell, B Buley. Buey. All right. Gregory Riffle. Any of those close? Maybe. Maybe not. Hopefully. Possibly. TD. No last name. Maura Meck.

Maury Meck. Maury Mech. Megan Robbins. Robbins. Robbins. Robbins. It's one B, but it's still Robbins. Robert Huff.

Deidre Heritage. Summer Foxy. Amara. Amara. Amara Sagala. Oh, boy. Elise. Elise. Nope.

Ilse. Ilse Manor. Brandy with no last name. Johanna with no last name. Ashley McComiskey. Mick Comiskey. Lindsay with no last name. It's a McDonald's-owned Comiskey Park.

That's what it is. I was going to say, is that Irish-Polish? Super Irish-Polish. Are you Irish? I'm Irish and Polish. Take a pic, Ashley. What the fuck is that? I've never heard of a McSki before.

McSki, really? Wow. Haley Smith, Jennifer Russell, Alicia Woodworth, Edna Millay, Joe Hartwell, Tony Hunt, Her Grace Kate, Fish Bull, Carolyn with no last name, Joshua Muscat, Katie Zoni, Kimberly with no last name, Christian with no last name, Lou Wentz, David Gaudette, I think. George Miller, Mike Morris, Rebecca Moore, Doug Craig, Jordan Hellman, Alyssa Rector. You killed her, huh? Barely know her. Yeah. Corey Smith, Don Tomchick, Diana Plunkett, Constantinos, Sakonanos, suck on this.

Wow. Sakononos, Sakonis. Some Greek shit. Talk to McSki and find out what's up with him. Journeyann, what is this? Journeyne? Journeyne Cook. Lauren Forey.

Charity Hebert, Hebert. Derek Avery, Robin Fitzwater, Jada Potler, Steffi Delix, Eve Dixon, Anthony Parks, Rebecca Herring, Linda N., Kate LaNute LaLuna, Boy, these are getting tougher and tougher. James Patini, Ammon Parks, John Tom. Ammon. Ammon like Bundy. John Tomasik. Tomachik. Oh, that's not a C. Thomas Ick.

Eric Anderson. Mackenzie S. Denise McAfee. Jessica Clark. Lisa Frere. Fariri. Fariri. Fariri, I think, is probably what it is.

I bet you it's Fariri. G. Skalka. Cassie O'Brien, Tony Legg, Carol Abbas, Aaron Giel, Kyle, maybe Claude Cavallo, Chad, Chad Swift, Goldsmith, Kira Lynn, Kayla Ridge, Chuck, with no last name, Lindsay Weithrup, Eddie Drama Mama, Melissa Gibson, Robin Cook, Peter Slater, Joe Jacoby, B Mungo, Christine Snyder, Douglas Hilberger, Mandy McKinney, Becky Lou Forbes, Brooke Wright. Brooke Wright, Colby with no last name. Brandon McLeod, Samantha Chandler, Rachel Adams, Sarah Toste, Scott Caveman, Hannah Potachick, Potatochick, H&M, Sarah Nielsen. Listen, I'm sorry, Potato Lady.

I don't know what he's talking about. Potatochick. Potatochick. Potatochip lady i don't know what he's talking about potato chick potato potato chip i don't know sean hilton dixie shaw carrie hines uh cara baker sarah more moran moran moron what moran moran phil i don't know might be moron phil i don't know sabrina newberg it's a great place. Aaron Taylor. Rachel with no last name. I'm the smartest man there. Birdie 13.

Douglas Hare. We've already been to Tampa. We've already been to Tampa. Sorry. Aaron Mastrogiacomo. Aaron Mastrantonio. Upshift 26. Laurel Payden, Megs with no last name, Kathy Heaslip, Sarah Sutterfield, Sam Odomkian, Antonio Madrigal, Richard Sparks. That's a tough one. Chrissy Norton, Ricky B, Austin Schau, Sadie Mays, Justice with no last name, Amanda Desch, Matthew Shields, SRT Brian, Zanna Roth, Stevie Boyle, Lonnie Picard II, not a junior, Stacy Stevens, Michael Shanahan, Addison Jackie, Jack, Julie Fresh, Dunk Danker, Danker Sand, Garrett Burton, Jimmy G, Jimmy effing up names is my favorite part. There's a whole other show happening.

Austin Schrader, Kristen Gilliam, and Mastertonio james come on i'm digging deep you know i know you guys are comedians you tell a lot of jokes and everything like that but i like it to hear when a grown man struggles to read that's not insulting i like not your when your craft that you put together or anything like that yes yeah the most insulting compliment ever i hate that gilliam angie little oh liller lilleros liljeros em uh aaron dick adam kovnichek kovinovic all right uh kovinovich juan morehead amanda sack smacker uh zachary harrington samantha may Maynard, Janine Malbeck, Kyle with no last name, Jordan Mosier, Shaquille Richmond, Natasha Lynn, Anna Smock, Danon Jiskera, Caitlin Teague, Jessica Sylvia, Pam Jaspers, Bree Thomas, Daniel Faux, Zach, nope, that's Scott, Stoudemire Carter M Tears Baker, Jeremy with no last name, Kimberly Cochran, Riley Jones, Sue Zinger

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