High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - A High Hopes AMA!

Episode Date: April 3, 2020

The guys are back as they do an AMA and get people ready for a new thing they're going to be doing without baseball. See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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to push your run further and help you run your way. Find yours at newbalance.ca slash running. New Balance, run your way. This is the High Hopes Podcast. High Hopes. It's a bunch of baseball nerds talking about the philadelphia phillies on radio.com and sports radio 94 wip yo it is another edition of the high hopes podcast we're still here jack how you doing we're not going anywhere we're not going anywhere uh how you doing you all right

let's do it i think we need to do a check-in at the beginning of every pot here just to make sure we're both doing okay and getting through this. Yeah. Well, the saddest part about today is that the Philly, like we'd be doing this podcast coming off of an eight. Oh no, we would have been at Citizens Bank Park today, Jack. Eight, no. And the Phillies would have been eight, no. And we would have been at Citizens Bank Park today, Jack. 8-0, and the Phillies would have been 8-0.

And we would be there. Like, it's one thing to say we would have been watching games. Like, today, you and I would have been at Citizens Bank Park watching baseball in person. Right, and well on their way to 162-0, the Phillies. There is no doubt in my mind they would have been eight no at this point so uh it's sad you know i miss the phillies a lot uh i've been watching a video yearbook a day uh to kind of keep myself sane uh this is i can confirm this by the way i was texting with jack

the other night and he's like yeah i'm just watching the 2011 phillies yearbook and i'm like of course you are yeah i've really tried to block out 2011 i don't like to think about it a lot um because it just brings up a lot of dark memories um but i i figured you know it's time it's time to finally do it finally give in and and watch 2011 and try to remember what was like the magic of 2011 was that every night at 705 you there was a chance you were going to witness history. I mean, they had four legit guys that could do something special every time they took the mound. And just being able to relive that and then obviously the heartbreak at the end. It frustrates me that the Phillies did not put out a video yearbook

from 2012 to 2016. I wish they had so I could relive some of those teams. But why? But why? Listen, it's all part of the journey. You might be the only person who wants to relive that. No, come on, James. One day you'll appreciate the journey as much as I appreciate the journey.

You would think that as you are raising a daughter that you would appreciate things like the journey. Basically, Zoe is the 2014-2015 Phillies. I don't even know what to say to that. How am I supposed to respond to that? What's my response? I don't know if that's a compliment. I don't think it can be.

I tried to make it a compliment, but those are some horrible Phillies teams. The problem with the 2015-2016 phillies baseball jack and and but now the bigger issue as they have seen three years later which could be you is that they weren't raised right so this is a bad analogy let's just bail on this analogy what do you think all right you are right. You are the 2012 Theo Epstein of dads, okay? How about that? You don't like Theo Epstein. I feel like you're taking shots and I don't even know it. Well, I would compare you to Jeff Lew now, but I don't think that's a good idea.

No, buddy. No, buddy. All right. Coming up, we're going to do a little AMA action. We've never done that on this podcast. We've done mailbags and stuff, but an AMA. So thank you to everyone who helped us out here. We're going to need some help.

I mean, sadly, it's going to be a little while without baseball. So get ready for more of these types of things. We'll be calling upon High Ops Nation to help us out. Yeah, but hang with us because we promise we'll make it fun. If there's a Phileas podcast that is geared towards getting through these times where I feel like we're going towards, I feel like it's our podcast. So hang with us. We're going to have some fun stuff. And, yeah, let's just let's ride this thing out together as, as one big family.

Yeah. It's a great point, Jack. I mean, right now we should be doing two a week. That is absolutely not happening. I mean, we'll be here every week. The thing that's most sad is that I'm, I'm drinking a high hops IPA right now. Oh, what a kick in the junk it is for literally everyone else listening, including me. Cause I'm not drinking Iops right now.

It's really good. I'm impressed with Pops. He did a good job with it. I'm excited for when this thing gets over and we play a 100-game schedule or a 40-game schedule like Corey Seidman was talking about. I saw that. Can you imagine? Dude, I mean, talk about getting some excitement back in baseball. I mean, every game would count.

That's for damn sure. I mean, I made the little remark. I mean, when's the first time they bring out rally towels? It has to be like a week into the season. It's like week one. Yeah. It's like the September stretch one starts a week into the season. Yeah.

Well, at least the Phillies can't blow it in September if that happens. Hey! Good work. Well, Gabe's gone, so we don't have to worry about that anyway. Oh! Gaber is using MLB The Show to focus in on his managerial growth. Why does he even say these? Do you think he's self-aware?

Do you think he says that and knows how it's going to be received or do you think he really is just saying it and having no idea how people are going to react to it i think he's saying it and doesn't care i think he's just he's just so gabe he is so gabe the gabe-iest gabe of all the Gabes. All right. We're going to get to the AMA in a sec. Two bits of news. One real piece of news and then another just lamenting. But really the only news since we last talked,

and we talked about the injury happening, but officially Tommy John surgery recommended for Sir Anthony Dominguez. Jack, who could have possibly seen this coming? I mean. Ah. Well. I'm floored. I just can't believe that frickin' Dr. James Andrews, his, like, never wrong. Of course got the Phillies reliever wrong.

Of course. Like, what are we doing here, Doc? I mean, is he a Mets fan? Like, I just. I mean, he was the redskins team doctor wasn't he for a while like maybe he's got something against philly i think he was a red doctor definitive proof that james dr james anchors hates philadelphia is that he lied about sir anthony's tommy john but it's uh it's very frustrating. It's very sad. And, like, this is going to affect almost, like, three seasons for Sir Anthony.

Like, what should have been two years by now of dominant relief work by Sir Anthony Dominguez, like, he's going to be, like, 27 by the time he gets back. And, like, who knows how his arm's going to be. So, I mean, just, I mean the phillies bullpen was being held together by sir anthony dominguez i mean he was ultra important god again and and of all the things you can rip them for not getting more starters you can rip them for this that like the number one reason to rip this phillies front office from this past offseason was their belief in Sir Anthony Dominguez and him being set. Like, that is so careless.

It is so, I mean, it's careless. Like, how could you possibly go into the season relying on that guy? Everyone in the world knew it wasn't going to work. Everybody. Oh, I know. And honestly, how I'm looking at it right now, and given where the Eagles are, I know we don't really like to mention a football team because there's barely a football team in Philadelphia that people care about.

But the way the Eagles are attacking the receivers is how I felt about the Phillies in the bullpen. It's like they'll get a guy. No, they'll get a guy. They can't possibly be this way. They're not going to really do this. And then, boom, spring training opens, and they sign Francisco Liriano and all these Bud Norris and all these old guys.

Drew Storen. Yeah. Yeah. The guys are going to be taking down the high leverage innings for the Phillies this year. While the Mets are signing Delon Batancesances and the Braves are re-signing Chris Martin and the Nationals are signing Will Harris. We sign nobody.

It's great. It's awesome. Oh, it's nothing's better right now. It's terrific. Have you looked at the Braves bullpen by the way? It's so much better than the Phillies bullpen. It's light years better than the Phillies bullpen. The Mets bullpen, light years better than the Phillies bullpen. It's light years better than the Phillies bullpen.

The Mets bullpen, light years better than the Phillies bullpen. The Nationals bullpen isn't great either, but man, it is a hole, Jack. You think? I mean. Oh, man. I love that we realize that, but they don't. It's just, again, we've ripped matt klintak for a lot and deservedly so i legitimately think the number one biggest mistake they did this front office made

going into this season was relying on sir anthony dominguez the way they did i mean again it's malpractice everyone in the world knew that they're even if you thought oh maybe the rehab will work like which clearly they did because they went along with it and stuff but like even if you thought that to to not account for the fact that it might not because it never does is is malpractice man wow that was a big yell i know i actually i actually leaned back from the mic like this and i i cut my hands like my own megaphone i'm sure my wife is yeah shout out to emily i don't but here's the thing is i don't think you need it i think you're fine the way you are i don't i don't know if you need a louder i think that's a very fair point jack it's a good yeah um all right so sir anthony it's been real. Get better soon.

See you in 2022. Yeah. The other piece of not really news, just like what the F type of stuff is, is the fact that J.J. Amito is about to be a free agent, Jack. That's what it feels like. What happened? I love how last week on the podcast we were like oh this would be bad right and then all of a sudden in the last week it's like oh this is this is probably gonna happen now see here's the thing is that you know i tweeted about this earlier in the week um

about real muto and how like if they just didn't care about the luxury tax then that he would have been signed long ago, and this wouldn't have been a problem. And people were like, well, they couldn't have seen a global pandemic coming. And I get it. But at the same time, if you didn't care about the freaking luxury tax,

you could have just paid them earlier and taken the whole pandemic thing out of here. Yeah, it wouldn't even be an issue. We wouldn't be worried about this right now. If you weren't so freaking concerned about keeping your money down and being able to bring in some scrub ass relievers then we wouldn't be sweating out a jt real muto extension and everyone's like well you know he said he loves philly it's like yeah i get he loves philly but he's whenever the game whenever the season, it's going to be either 80 to 100 games where JT Romito just has to stay healthy and then hit free agency. And he's kind of he

could be entering the market at kind of a weak point. Like, you know, I feel like these teams are going to be trying to recoup a lot of money in in 2021 because of the reduced revenue they're going to be experiencing. So they're not going to get as much money as they thought. But still, the Phillies are fine financially. It's just, if it didn't worry so much about where they were from a luxury tax standpoint, none of this would have been a problem. And since they spent a lot of season concerned about it, and they wanted to wait until after JT's arbitration case, so they knew exactly how much money he was going to make this year to where they can kind of work in the rest of the extension,

like it's going to end up biting them in the ass. And even if they signed JT or Lomito, I think they could have signed him for like $120, $130 million. And now I think when they do re-sign him, because I don't think they want to lose him, it's going to be like $150. It might cost them more money, which, sure, I like players making money, but then it does hurt the rest of your team building aspects. And having an extra $20 million could go a long way from that standpoint.

So it's unfortunate. Obviously, they didn't see a global pandemic coming, but just this could have all been avoided if they weren't so concerned about the luxury tax. Yeah, man, I'm so bummed about them in the stupid law. I've been not like I didn't see this coming, but it still sucks. All right, let's get to rma because i'm too bummed about the luxury tax rate and we got a lot to get into we got a bunch on twitter uh we also have a uh a gmail account how about that if you're not on twitter and you want to reach out to us the high hopes pod at gmail.com um reach out to us there i know not everyone is on twitter and

to be blatantly honest uh if you see me tweeting a lot less these days, it's because I can't even handle Twitter right now. I've been trying to stay off it because everything is just so frustrating and upsetting. But let's start out with the emails and then we'll get to the tweets. We got a lot to get to at this AMA stuff, Jack. So let's start out with the baseball one and then we'll get to some non-baseball ones from the emails. And then we got a lot of baseball, non-baseball kinds of good stuff. But our first one is an email from fellow diseased Phillies fan, Sam. Sam, thank you for emailing. Shout out for being a diseased Phillies fan. This podcast is for you. That's what we do here. Dear Jack and James, who has the better likelihood of making the baseball Fame, Chase Utley or Jimmy Rollins?

Also, in general, who do you think will be the next Philly to make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame? Fritz, I'll let you go first. It's a great question. It's a terrific question. I personally think Utley is a Hall of Famer because I think think that I I like I like Jaws more than more than like overall career stuff for for those who don't know Jaws is Jay Jaffe's hall of fame system that he's put together and it is a very very interesting and I agree with you I like it more as well it's a really good system for trying to you know evaluate who's a hall of famer based on who's in there what

their career numbers are what their peak is what their longevity is so if you've never checked it out it's a really good resource yeah and when you look at at least jaw is that he's a he's a top 10 second baseman of all time if not higher so uh i think utley if like at least at his peak was a hall of fame player that unfortunately the knees kind of caught up to him and all that stuff and when I watched Chase Utley play baseball I always thought I'm watching a Hall of Famer so when I combine the Jaws score and just remembering Chase Utley I always felt like that's what a Hall of Famer looked like. So not that Jimmy Rollins doesn't. It's just that there's been better players that are in the Hall of Fame than Jimmy Rollins,

whereas there's only a few second basemen that were better than Chase Utley for a seven-year run. So I think Utley's a better Hall of Fame candidate. A lot of people don't say that. A lot of people say Rollins is. But personally, I think Utley has a better case.'m literally you couldn't have said it better for me I I I think we are in the minority but I think Chase Utley was more of a hall of famer than Jimmy Rollins and I actually think both have cases I think they're both neither is a definitive one Utley for me I think is a hall of famer and Jaws certainly makes a very strong case

that he is and to your point like his peak Chase Utley was the best second in basement in baseball for a period of time he was among the best players in baseball for a period of time Rollins comparative to the rest of the people playing you know he had a few years where he was there but just he played longer um he played more games. He has more career stats. But for me, Utley, a much better Hall of Fame candidate. Also, if John Lennon doesn't break Utley's hand in 2007, he wins the MVP. It's a great point, Jack.

It's a great point. I agree with you on that. So freaking John Lennon. All right. Former Philly. Yeah, I know. Truly great Philly. Yeah, I know. Truly great Philly. All right.

Another one. We've got to finish the second part of the question. Who do we think is the next Philly to get in? Do you think either of those guys gets in? I don't think Rollins does. I think Utley hangs around. And I don't think he gets in, but I think he gets close there for a little bit.

Next Philly to make the Baseball Hall of Fame, I'm going to go with Harper. Yeah, well, Harper, I think if it's not one of those two, I think it's Harper. I actually disagree with you. I think Utley is going to get in eventually. I agree. I think he hangs around.

I don't think it will be in the first five, six, seven years of the ballot, but I think when he's starting to come up towards the end, he's going to be a Tim Raines, Edgar Martinez-like guy, someone where the stat community will get behind him. I think there are enough smart people who believe Chase Utley is an all-famer, and Jaws is a perfect example of that. I think Chase Utley will be the next Philly to get in. But I agree with you. I don't think it's a locker room run. But I will say Chase Utley. I think he gets in.

All right. Good question from Ian on the email. He asks, I would be interested to know what each of your professional journeys is on how you got to WIP. I'm surprised we haven't talked about this more. You want me to go first or you want to go first? Mine's shorter, I feel like. It is. You're much younger than I am. Mine's shorter.

So my journey is all because of seltzers. So Brian Seltzer helped me get an internship at uh at another station and uh i was an intern a summer intern during the summer of 2015 which is a horrible uh time to talk about sports it was the worst yeah i mean because as the uh chip is the end of because it was the end of CHIP. It was the Phillies lost 99 games. The Sixers were the third-worst team in basketball or second-worst team in basketball, and the Flyers were whatever the Flyers, doing what they did in the middle 2000s.

So I got an internship there. That's where I met James, and that's where I met John Marks, and I was an intern there and then I went back to college and kept talking to James because honestly he liked baseball baseball we just used to talk baseball yeah I mean like there was there's not many people that were talking baseball in 2015 and uh James is one of those people so I always always liked being able to communicate with him and talk to him. And then I graduated and pestered James for about a year when I was out of school to help get me a job. Got on a street team eventually and then worked my way up from there.

When I was part-time producing, I was on the morning show at WIP. And those are some long times when I was trying totime producing. I was on the morning show at WIP. And those are some long times when I was trying to get the evening show job. I was working the evening show, which was 6 to midnight, and then sleeping at the station, getting up at 3.30 to do the morning show, then going home, sleeping, coming back.

And that was kind of a vicious cycle that I don't think I've totally recovered from. And then, yeah, then i worked my way from there to evening show to eventually being the afternoon show and then we started high hopes and everything's all gravy after that yeah you were still in the evening show we started um yeah uh yeah so my story's longer i'll get rid of most of the stuff but i was in sales i hated my life um hated hated sales i sold mortgages i sold real estate i sold energy safety equipment and services i used to spend days at refineries like going in and talking to people about like selling like breathing air monitors and

like gas detection stuff it was awful i hated it hated it. And my wife, uh, shout out to Emily, was like, this sucks. You need to be happy. You're super depressed every day. Follow your dream. And I decided to go back to grad school and I got a master's degree. And while getting the master's degree, I got an internship at that other station. Actually got hired by Joe DiCamera, who is the assistant programming director there, for my internship. The person I interviewed with there was Joe DiCamera. That's how things come back around on you. Got an internship there, worked my butt off, got a producing job,

and then just kind of grinded from there and after a few years there i felt like i wasn't getting the opportunities i had earned there and there was an opening for me to come over to wip i met spike askin and i said i want to work for this dude and i went to wip and uh i did i worked on the morning show at WIP as well. I think Jack and I both did Joe Conklin's bits for a while. We both spent months with Joe Conklin. And then I got the opportunity when DeCamera came over and started the Midday Show to be his producer.

Obviously, we knew each other from the other station and all that. And then the rest is history. But I think it's one of those things where you just kind of, sometimes you just got to go for it and kind of put it all out there and you need to have, honestly, I think you need to have supportive people in your life. You need to have people who are willing to support you through tough times. I mean, I deliver pizzas. I, I was unemployed for a bit. I delivered pizzas while I was interning. I went to grad school. I was like, it was tough for a bit I delivered pizzas while I was interning I went to grad school it was tough for a while

but you just gotta push and you gotta believe and get lucky to be honest and you gotta find the right podcast partner to do a baseball podcast with to make life just that much better

I didn't do as much weird stuff as you did but no but you're also way younger so yeah yeah well as we've talked about shout out to spike asking i uh i went to went with jack i went to spike and i said hey and this was after i felt comfortable enough at wip to be able to do this. I was like, hey, I think I got someone who'd be good as a part-time producer. And Spike was like, all right, give me his name. And then Jack just took it and freaking ran with it. So it's awesome. And that's why we're here today right now.

So shout out to that beautiful thing happening. The James Seltzer stamp of approval. Hey! There's nothing better. I mean, let's be real. All right. One more from the emails, then we'll get to some Twitter ones. This is from Matt Apter, who is my second little brother.

Well, really my third little brother. Jack being my third little brother as well. But Matt Apter, my brother's best friend and an awesome guy. And that makes this question make a lot more sense. He asked for james what have you done to turn jack into a fish head and why hasn't it worked yet clearly nothing and it has not worked and this is all a failure jack will you ever listen to fish no here's here's i know this i know this is gonna sound. I'm just saying that when everyone tells me to do something,

my initial reaction is to say no. I actually bullied you into watching When Harry Met Sally. I was actually a little aggressive with it because I knew that Emily kept saying, you know he's not going to do it if you keep pushing him. I'm like, no, I'm bullying him into it. I can't believe it worked because you are more turned off when people tell you to do things listen i this is why i want this is why i want the 2012 to 2016 video yearbooks i want to know as much as i can about the 2012 to 2016 philadelphia phillies man this is this is what I do. I just, I like the, here's the thing.

Here's my ultimate thing is that when I go in, I go all in, and I want to know everything about that. And, like, I don't know. I like discovering stuff of myself and then going in. So maybe I'll get into fish one day. All right, I got it. How about this? Don't listen to fish.

I mean, it's not your thing. Don't worry about it. It's not your thing. Well, I just, you know, the fish head and the dead head I find annoying. You're like John Mayer, though. I mean, he grew up the biggest dead head you'll ever meet. He's playing with them now. John Bayer?

Oh, man. All right. Let's get to some of the Twitter questions because we've got a bunch. Let's start out with our good friend Otter Hooligan at Allerhood. Yes. We had the chance to meet Otter Hooligan the night of IOP's night. Check out Philly's Reddit. She runs it there.

She is an awesome, awesome person. She asked, and Jack, this is like such an up your alley questionnaire uh if you could make a non-phillies fans watch one game to try and convince them to jump aboard the bandwagon what would it be well the the struggle with this one is that obviously there's so many that you want to say yeah but i i want them to fall in love with this team um so it's got to be the harper grand slam if you're doing that right but here's the thing is that is that i think what has fueled my phillies fandom and my like obsession with getting back to the playoffs is the run um so i think if i think if we showed a non-phhillies fan one of the games from the run,

it'll get them to kind of be like, oh, my God, look what a full-size bank. Like, there's a difference between most stadiums and the CBP Roar. Like, the CBP Roar is like a different level of loud. So I would actually tell them to watch the rollins walk-off game against broxton um in in 2009 because even when they won the world series even the victory no grand slam i don't think there was a louder moment in citizens bank park history than than the rollins walk off yeah look it's it's franski's best call to this day and franski has had some great calls with la in the back yeah like it is just it is an alt i agree i can't argue that i mean obviously i would say if you don't have them for a long period of time show them the last three innings of game five and oh eight just because you

can it's a condensed thing you can show and it was the most tense thing i've ever seen in my life but i'm not gonna argue with the rollins walk off i think that's as good a call as you're gonna find i mean it's just like i love that game and uh it is francie's best call although although i heard the the how Howard double in Colorado. I heard it before, but I heard it again the other day. And that's a great one. The Gabby the Flay Boys. And the Rollins triple to get the cycle was an unbelievable frantic call

that unfortunately is not connected to a YouTube video. But I would say the Rollins walk off off Broxton. but I would say the Rollins walk off off Broxton. He could explain to them how the Phillies just owned Jonathan Broxton for a little period there. Back when he was actually Jonathan Broxton.

Back when he was nasty. Next question another person who was at High Hopes Night at Brandon Goughton on Twitter. Good buddy. Never heard of him. Yeah, who's that? He asked, which rom-com featuring Will Smith and Kevin James is the best to watch during quarantine?

Tough one here, Jack. I literally asked this question so you could stand for Hitch for a second. I just love Hitch. I would encourage every single person to watch Hitch during the quarantine. It's on Netflix. It is a feel-good movie.

Will Smith is dynamite. Kevin James is Kevin James. And just a good feel-good movie. And oh, and Eva Mendes is in it. I will co-sign. Hitch is a great guy. I've probably seen Hitch 10 times. It's a great movie.

I don't re-watch movies, but I've seen Hitch like six times. So that for you is a lot is the point. it's a great i don't re-watch movies but i've seen hitch like six times so that for you is a lot is the point that's a lot that's because like it was during that time where i get home from school i get home from school you know high school was three o'clock middle school was four o'clock whatever and before like pti at five or around the horn at five there i had to like flip around and like tnt sometimes come on and always be hitch and uh i i love hitch i'm with you hitch is a great movie cosign um very on board with that any other recommendations while we're here any uh quarantine wrecks uh i'm re-watching seinfeld right now and and it it's been one of the proudest moments of of my relationship with jill which eclipsed 11 years this week um it's only two years less than me and emily but granted we're a lot older

yeah you're so old and think about this my so emily's birthday is on saturday it is also the birthday of my dog millie millie is turning 12 years old on saturday it's crazy yeah well she looks it um but but jill jill loves seinfeld which is i think if i jill loving seinfeld is a big moment for me and i'm very happy i feel like seinfeld sometimes hit or miss and uh the camera didn't like it it's weak sauce yeah well the camera also i agreed with him because up until the episode where kramer's putting uh concrete into um the washing machines it wasn't that funny but he didn't give it enough of a chance. He bailed too early. He did bail too early. I mean, season four is just tremendous.

Four through eight is just like pure gold. Pure gold. What's your favorite Seinfeld episode? I've always loved the, I don't know the name of it, but I think it's the Absonation or whatever they call it. The one where they stop having sex and George becomes a genius. Just always stuck with me. I just, is it the contest? where they stop having sex and george becomes a genius just always stuck with me i just uh is it the contest whatever that one's called i always thought it was so funny

where like george just becomes a genius all of a sudden that one just always stuck with me it's an amazing one although i watched the contest this week and that the contest is my favorite contest a great one that's the one where they all decide not to yeah yeah it's a great one all right good question kirk bailey on twitter at kirkland bailey he says um who or what made you fall in love with the phillies uh i would say for me my granddad um because i was my granddad was a big baseball fan. Like Ted Williams was this guy. And it's funny, none of my cousins played baseball. It was just me.

And so in like 2002, 2003 is when I started playing. And that was right, I used to be a big Flyers guy. And then the strike happened and I kind of, like the strike happened and I kind of just fell out and the Phillies started being better but um yeah my granddad i was i got put in the farm league thing or whatever and he came to see me pitch for the first time ever and like i was throwing really hard and he didn't like after the game he didn't think it was me or whatever so so we uh we started talking about baseball really bonded over baseball he took me down to the vet a couple times uh you know i threw i threw on the fast pitch machine at the vet which was

awesome so it really just first i started playing baseball, and then I started following the Phillies. So we're talking about like Omar Dahl, Randy Wolfe, like those Phillies. I just loved – I loved baseball, and I just – it wasn't really a specific Philly. It was just the sport of baseball and the Phillies being my team. Yeah. Shout out to my dad, David Seltzer, huge Phillies fan, got me in the Phillies. Not much more to say than that but i was obsessed with baseball from the like it was it's i as long as i can remember since i was like seven years old six years old and have a cognizant memory of watching sports baseball's just been my

sport like it was never there's never been another question as to what sport i love more like it was just always my favorite sport so it was pretty simple shout out to david miss you all right uh i love this question with a passion this is from uh b underscore rot cod i just our guy is it oh i love him he's out he lives out in ohio okay he supports supports high hopes from ohio shout out to Ohio. Shout out to B. This question is so clever, so fun. I love it. What are some of your favorite plays? For example, an inside the park home run, stealing home, robbing a home run,

players getting deked, or whatever you want to come up with. Something that is your favorite type of play. I love this question. I love this question. Jack, you want to go first yeah uh brett i love what my favorite play in baseball is a six four three double play like just a well executed double play i don't think there's a more beautiful beautiful play in the sport you know you have quick hands from shortstop you know get in the second base like i i love a good six four three there i think second base. I love a good 6-4-3. I think my favorite visual

in baseball... I love a good 3-5-3 or 3-6-3 double play type of thing, too. It's always fun, but God. Yeah, or a 5-4-3 around the horn. But I'm talking like a well-executed ground ball to shortstop, flips a second onto first. Double play, he got him.

And individual play, he got him. Individual play, though, I love when a pitcher gets a guy looking. Just whatever pitch it is. It could be a fastball, curveball, changeup. Getting a guy to swing and miss on a changeup is hilarious.

When I was pitching and I got a guy to swing and miss on a changeup, I was like, wow, you're stupid. You thought that was a fastball. But I'll say 6-4-3 double play and getting a guy looking at the plate. Yeah, I've always been partial to a frozen rope dome like the Bryce Harper throw to third, like really at the plate, like preferably a right field frozen rope to home and the catcher, you know, swing tag,

something where it's fun at the plate. I've always been very partial to that. I'm also a big fan of a well-executed hit and run. Like, you don't really see that anymore. But when it's really in motion, when you feel like it's, you know, it's a dance almost, I love that. There are so many, like, I love a little dribbler, you know, like Chooch, to end the no-hitter, like a dribbler in front of the plate and the catcher throws the mask off

and comes out and just makes a really athletic laser throw to first. I love that. That's what I love about baseball so much is that there are so many of those little types of things how about a kenny lofton climbing the wall and you know uh making a getting over the wall to make a catch in center like there's so many plays like that where it's just it's a beautiful sport from that perspective so i thought i thought there was a fun question because it really it just made me think of how many things in baseball i love well yeah, yeah, and that's... A drag bunt? How about a perfect drag bunt? Come on. Great. Love a good drag bunt.

Me too. But also like a triple. I mean, just a triple. Yeah, I was initially thinking triple too, and I forgot. Just a great triple. The most exciting play in baseball, the triple. Yeah, for sure.

Yeah, that's kind of my frustration with where the game's gone is home run, strikeout, walk. I've been watching all these old phillies clips and and like those guys just moved up on balls and dirt you know they they just executed pure baseball and i uh i i appreciate that all right uh garrett at garrett 87215424 that's a mouthful It says, can you please never stop calling him Jackie O? Done. What up, Jackie O?

I will never stop that. My mom was talking about last week how she went to visit Jackie O's house in wherever in Massachusetts. It's like Martha's Vineyard. And I was like, oh, that's who that is. See, you knew you didn't look like a total idiot. That's good work. All right, Jake at HarperTazo on Twitter has a good question

that only you can answer, Jack. Yes. 20 to 80 scouting. Give us the grade on college fritz. So sad. Like a 25 or 22? To boost my spirits, a guy who's in AAA right now said I was nasty in high school on Twitter the other day. Oh, look at that!

Listen, it's not all dead yet, baby. What could have been, buddy? Listen, you're lucky I'm even doing this podcast right now uh i'll say i'll say i had a 50 fastball a 30 curveball uh like 40 change up and like the cutter became non-existent so i'll say 20 i'll say 20 on the cutter i was that good i always had good fastball control and i feel like i didn't throw that hard but i feel like i had good spin on my fastball because i feel like it always played up more than the 82 miles an hour i could throw it so i'll give myself a fair 50 i think it's a fair grade it wasn't uh i wasn't good in college i was bad in college it's a shame jack yeah i know i try to think about it uh eric turtle

golden i don't know who that is at eric s golden on twitter shout out to turtle he's not even gonna listen to this podcast why are we doing this question because this is actually a very fritzy question i'm not even gonna give an answer this is just such a jacked question what player we quote unquote we don't know will have the biggest impact on the team whenever the season begins? I mean, that's a fritzy question, man. I will say Damon Jones. Okay.

I think Damon Jones comes up through the season, and I think he turns into a legitimate weapon out of the bullpen. And we're going to be screaming that he should have been up here from day one, which he should have been. And he's probably going to be screaming that he should have been up here from day one, which he should have been. And he's probably going to be a better reliever than starter, but I think Damon Jones is going to come in and do some things for this team down the stretch. So of the players that most people don't know,

but everyone that listens to this podcast knows, I will say that Damon Jones makes the biggest impact. All right, a few more to get to. Let's go to a non-sports one real quick. You watch Tiger King, correct? Oh, yeah. All on Tiger King. Brian at Trizzolini asks,

and spoiler alert, and this is really only episode three, so if you're not through episode three of Tiger King, maybe do the skip ahead for 30 seconds or a minute. At Trizzolini asks, Jack and James, did Carol Baskkins feed her husband of the tigers what do you think jack oh my gosh it's lock of the century right like no question she

definitely killed her husband like i feel so confident she killed her husband i can like i don't even know what to say she killed her husband i just hope that i hope that her brother is no longer the sheriff or whatever down there so they can actually do this case well. And I hope that – I mean, it's all Twitter's fault. Like, this show going – like, hold on. If you're Carole Baskin and, like, how do you let – you're the one that's supposed to be doing the quote-unquote good here. How do you let it get out there that obvious that like you it looks like you killed your husband oh buddy i mean like he had a restraining order he said if if if i go missing it's her i know

and even putting his uh that she and also the thing with the will where it was like in case of death or disappearance what was, that, I think she had another boyfriend that also had a restraining order and thought she was going to kill him. Like, I, yeah. I mean, and OJ using his eye test. Wow, did you see that? Yeah, so OJ tweeted out,

a shout out to Philip Lewis, one of the great tweets in Twitter history. OJ Simpson tweets, I am convinced that Carole Baskin murdered her husband and philip lewis responds finally an expert is weighed in yeah i mean he's got the he he counts as an expert witness right i mean yeah he knows what he's doing when it comes to that so it's true yeah he saw he saw he didn't need the analytics he's an an eye test guy. All right, we need to move on immediately. Joe Kornick.

I like Joe Kornick. Shout out to Joe Kornick on Twitter. This is a really fun question. I love this question. Jack, if you could take any active player in Major League Baseball and put him on the fills right now, current contract included, who would it be? And he said the same question with any prospect.

Well, the answer is if it's prospect then i'm saying wander franco yes easily no questions asked it's wander franco yeah that's that's an easy one let's just get that out of the way now uh and then when he factored in the contract well you have to think about need, too. This is all about the team and need, right? Yeah. Well, I mean, Acuna is the obvious answer because of the contract. I mean, it's what, like $100 million to the next 10 years? It's a joke is what it is. Yeah, it's ridiculous.

So I'll say Acuna. I'll say Acuna. Yeah, so I thought of Acuna. I I thought of Acuna I honestly thought of Jacob deGrom as well I think deGrom makes a lot of sense I think you know best pitcher in baseball I think he's going to be the best pitcher in baseball for years to come and the contract is fair considering how great he is um I think Acuna is the correct answer especially because you can put him in center field he could play center you, and you're just kind of set. Fernando Tatis Jr., though, especially with Didi on a one-year deal,

that's appealing to me because that guy's on a six-year deal. And then you can hopefully sign him to something else. But for the next six years, he's super cheap, or five years. Yeah, I wrote him down as well. Those are the names that popped into my head immediately. Yeah, I wrote down him. I wrote down actually Walker Bueller. I didn't say DeGrom.

Yeah, I thought about Bueller. That was the name. And Flaherty. Flaherty has to be mentioned as well. Yeah. God, I love Jack Flaherty. Yellich, what the hell was that contract? How about that?

Well, he's a little bit older now. I know. He's still. Also, I would just like to shout out Matt Chapman. I mean, I would love to be able to watch Matt Chapman. Love that guy. But obviously, need-wise, not quite the same. But I'm with you.

All right. We have three more questions. So let's do them. Philly's Pitchers Union Local 27 at Philly's Pitchers asked, do you prefer baseball on TV and the radio also? Will you give a congrats shout out to my friend Jill and her husband Leo who are having a baby and expecting any day now? Congrats, Leo and Jill.

That's awesome. As someone who has had a baby, it is the best. It's the greatest thing ever. And I'm obsessed with my daughter. She is the coolest little it's the greatest thing ever and uh i'm obsessed with my daughter she is the coolest little kid in the world and i love her more than anything ever so you're gonna love it congrats yeah shout out to them uh and uh baseball on the radio or tv why not both yeah see that's the call so so inherently baseball on the radio is better. Like the sound, the announcers are generally better for the most part, like it seems.

There's just something to it on the radio. But, like, I also want to see it happen. I want to see the plays. So listen to the radio but have the TV on and find a way to sync them up is absolutely the correct answer. All right. Correct. Correct?

Yes, correct. Okay. One more Phillies question, absolutely the correct answer all right correct correct yes correct okay one more phillies question and then we will get to one last non-phillies question uh last question here uh this is from uh luke arcani on twitter uh luke asks uh hold on i just lost my place jack oh what are we doing here i got it i got it I got it alright if you could be this is such a Jack Fritz question Jesus if you could be able to throw one specific pitch just as

good as any Philly of all time what pitch would it be Jack I'll go first I'll just say any sort of curveball that I could actually make the ball move like that would be so freaking cool but I couldn't do it so So my answer is useless here. So go ahead. Oh, it's loaded. There's so many. There's so many. I know. And check out Jack's Twitter. He just put out his top 10 Phillies pitches of all time,

which somehow didn't include Robin Roberts. Way to go, Jack. Oh yeah. I didn't know there was so many Robin Roberts experts out there and seen him pitch in 1950. Nasty forkball, brother. Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah. Admittedly, I should have put Tom McGraw's screwball on there. That's true, actually. That's whatever.

Oh, one pitch. See, like, I mean, lefty's slider is like, I mean, lefty is one of the three best left-hand pitchers of all time. And being able to have that. But I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I don't know what I'm going to say. I'm going to say Nola's two-seamer. Honestly, I've always been jealous of guys who could do that, of guys that could make a two-seam run like that.

Like Maddox, I just don't get how they do that. Yeah, Maddox was the king of that. Right. Although being able to cut a ball like prime Sir Anthony would have been crazy. Having a splitter like Schilling. That's why there's a bad question for you is you just want to do them all. You're just like, I want that one and that one and that one and that one. All right, fine.

I'll take Doc's splitter. Okay. It's a great answer. All right, last question. This is from Ham Porter at BoomSauce24. What, at four, I guess, what four celebrities slash athletes, dead or alive, would you most like to drink a beer with before we clarify is this all together at once am i worried about chemistry or these four separate one-on-ones because that's important jack um uh i would say four separate one-on-ones

yeah i'll say one i agree all right you want to go first? You got to go first. I mean, we all know the, I don't care if people can make fun of me or whatever. Bill Simmons is absolutely one of my four. I love that guy. I think he's awesome. He changed sports media. The whole reason that we can be fans and don't have to be Big J journalists and all that is because of that, dude. So love Bill Simmons.

He would absolutely be one of my four. that is because of that dude so love bill simmons he would absolutely be one of my four um another nerd answer don't care trey anastasio uh guitarist for fish just because i love fish they're my favorite i've seen him like 140 times so trey would be um and he would be i think the most interesting to chat with of the four guys and fish um so i would go trey bill simmons all right now you give me a couple i think of my other two uh i the first two i wrote down were john mayer obviously of course just so we could talk listen i told you about my john mayer dream i had a dream that we became best friends and i still realistically think that we could be best friends. That's good. So I would say John Mayer.

I'm obviously putting down Utley. I just want to hear. Utley would be such a boring man. I guess you could get him to open up with you maybe. I need drunk Utley. This is drinking. Drunk Utley is fair. Drunk Utley is fair. So I want some of the stories from back in the day.

I'm going to put Ruben Amaro Jr. on here. Wow. I know. Wow. I've become obsessed. I feel like I'd get drunk and just berate him. I just want to know what they could have gotten during the run. I want to know about the Lee trade. I want to know about getting could have gotten during like the run like like i want to

know about the lee trade i want to know about getting how like why like why why'd you do it that kind of thing i want to know about the hamill stuff i want to know i just want i just want to get i want to tell all i i'm using this to uh i like that kind of i can get down with that and i need you to go because i need to think of another one okay um so you've done three i've done two um all right so this isn't and i'm not a religious person at all i'm just not but i would want to have a beer with jesus just because i just want to know i want to know like what is it about that dude what was so special what did you really come back from the dead like how'd that all happen how'd you get all these people to follow you what did you really come back from the dead like how'd that all happen

how'd you get all these people to follow you how did you become the seminal figure in the history of our our lives and history of the world how'd you do it who are you so jesus would be on my list jack how about that all right good light conversation i love that it's pretty light i mean i just want to know what i want to know and i got my last one it's a duo though it's it's a two for one i'm cheating i want to have a beer with matt stone and trey parker creators of south park the two funniest people on the planet and i would laugh my ass off we talk about south park it would be awesome. We'd become best friends and that'd be great. Boom. How about that for a Motley crew? Bill Simmons, Trey Anastasio,

Matt Parker, Trey Stone, and Jesus. Come on, Jack. That's pretty good. It's absurd. It's absurd. I feel like I'm bored. I don't even know. I don't know who else I'd want to talk to. Like, I'm so – because I would use it as an experience to learn more about the inner workings of, like, teams and stuff.

Yeah. So, like, I want to put Henke in there. Oh, actually, Henke's a great answer. Henke's a – no fault for that answer. That's a great answer. I'll put Hinkie there. I want to know how that – I think that's an – Hinkie's a top-notch answer.

All right, thanks. Thanks. I felt bad. You made me feel better. I have so many questions I would want to ask Sam. That's a great one. All right, this is fun, man. We're definitely doing more AMAs.

Thank you to everyone who asked a question. Seriously, like, you all rule. We really appreciate well except turtle everyone except turtle um right thank you for asking questions we really appreciate it um and uh this was fun man you got any final thoughts uh i don't i don't i uh i miss the phillies a lot so much much. So bad. I hope they come back. And, yeah, I'm just so Phillies-ed out that I'm just putting out stuff late at night when I'm thinking about. I'm just always thinking about the Phillies. And I think people realize that when I just send out a tweet at like 11 o'clock at night talking about, hey, what about this? So we here at the Iowa's podcast are with you. We are the official podcast for disease Phillies fans, by disease Phillies fans.

And yeah. And oh, should we should we talk about next week? Are we going to start next week? So did we pick one yet? are we gonna start next week we so we did we pick one yet um should we pick one right now we can i mean my choice would be game five of 2008 i mean that just would be my choice you want to start right at the top why not i mean let's start with the bang all right so that's definitely got available right you can find on youtube or whatever yeah yeah okay i've seen it on YouTube or whatever? Yeah, yeah.

I've seen it on YouTube. Yeah. All right. We're going to do a thing. So moving forward, obviously, there's not a lot to talk about. We figured it would be a lot of fun to all watch some Phillies together and to go back and watch some of the classic games and do pods about it. So before next week's pod, we'll record on Thursday again. Try and find the time to watch Game 5 of 2008 against the Rays,

the World Series, both halves if possible, but if nothing else, try and get those last three innings in. And Jack and I are going to break it down in the next pod. Yeah, we're going to – I'll have a – I'm going to go buy a notebook and I'm going to just – I'm going to write down all the things that I remember, where I was, and it's going to be fun. I feel like we're all going to kind of relive the run there a little bit together.

I would personally, I've always wanted to watch Game 5 of 1980 against the Astros. Oh, we'll do that for sure. It's a great one. Because I think, I mean, people talk about that. It's like the best game of all time. Well, how about that's going to be be the second one we'll give people two for next week will be 08 game five and then the week after we'll do 80 so over the next couple weeks watch those games yeah and maybe we'll we'll sprinkle in hopefully try to find some guests related to the games and uh we'll uh we'll go from there but yeah we're gonna start breaking down all the great

games in in philly's history and kind of remember and what we're seeing for the first time and just gain more of an appreciation for our baseball team. When baseball rolls around, we are going to be salivating at the mouth for some actual baseball. I'm excited to go back and relive the run. I feel like it'll be a good mental refresher um for me and uh my future look at you i agree couldn't have said it better myself watch game 508 we'll talk about it next week we will definitely be doing more amas but thank you to everyone for sending in questions and if you have more questions always send them

away we'll try to get to them. And we love you. Seriously, everyone stay safe. Stay healthy. Wash your hands. Social distance. Don't touch your face. All the stuff that they're telling you to do, just do it. And we need you.

We love High Hopes listeners. We love High Hopes Nation. And watch 2008, Game 5. It's going to be awesome. We'll talk about it next week. Until then, he's Fritz. I'm Salzer. We'll talk to you later. All-Star Closer, Kenley Jansen.

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