Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 187 | Brewers Owner Mark Attanasio

Episode Date: August 13, 2020

Mark Attanasio, owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, came on the show to talk with Jomboy, Jake, and Trevor Plouffe about baseball's return, his love for baseball, trends he wants to see continue in the game, potential new rules, the slide and sausage races at MillerPark, CC Sabathia's tenure in Milwaukee, and growing up in New York. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What's going on? Welcome back to talking baseball. We have our first ever interview with an MLB owner. Let's do it. What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to talking to baseball. My name is Jimmy sitting next to me is Jake. Trevor's coming to us from California, and producer BBD is behind the plate.

We are in the Roosevelt Studios. That's RSVLTS. And as I said, we have another interview for you guys. It's not a player. It's not an umpire. It's not a ex-player. It's not a baseball scientist. It's not a reporter.

Director. It's not a director. It's not an A-list actor. 1 of 30. MLB owner. Owner of the Brewers, we just wrapped up the interview. We'll get it to you quick. But first, Trev, how you doing?

Doing great. I was, you know, we've had a lot of talks about owners and players. throughout the whole negotiation thing. And one thing that we always said was like, look, individually, these guys are, every guy that I've run into is a good guy. And Mark Atenacio is no exception. He's, I mean, he,

from every interaction that we've had has just been a solid guy. And I think the way that he runs the team, it kind of comes off that way. I know I asked, it was funny because we did this. And then yesterday I had someone, one from Milwaukee at my house. I was like, hey, guess what?

We're going to interview the brewer's owner. Like, what do you guys think about him in Milwaukee? And he's like, everybody loves the brewers. Everybody loves the adanasia. So it's cool to be able to dig in on that a little bit and kind of get like, hey, man, this is a guy that not a lot of people get to hear from. Like, what's your perspective on baseball in the game? And what do you think about it?

And I think that he did a really good job of kind of showing how much he cares about baseball. Yeah, yeah. Jake? He's great. It's just such a weird, again, I said the one of 30 thing. Like when you really take that into perspective, it's pretty wild. And it's good, he's a baseball guy. I mean, we had him talking about some of his players, some of his old trades. I think some, you know, his calls he made after he became the brewer's owner. That's, that's really cool if you're a brewer's fan, or I guess if you're thinking about getting a team. But no, that was awesome. You know, we're a little connected to California Strong Foundation.

We started off there. And then we just got into it and talked some baseball. Some new stuff, growth of the game, players. So, yeah. And if pizza in New York, I mean, yeah. Yeah, I mean, he went everywhere. He even asked us our thoughts on seventh inning. Yeah, that was cool on second.

It was cool that he was asking us our opinion on things. If you're looking for a hard hitting, podcast about the negotiations and COVID and negotiations. It's not what this is. That's not what we wanted it to be. We've moved past it. I think the owners have moved past it. We're on to baseball.

We're talking about how good things have been. And that's what this interview is. And without further ado, here you go. All right. We are joined by a very special guest today. We are coming live from the Bronx. And we have a guy who was born in the Bronx. Brewer's owner, Mark Adonacio.

How you doing? Hey guys. Yeah, Pelham Parkway South. Wow, that's right in my mom's neighborhood. She grew up in Pelham Parkway. That's same time as you, I think, as well. We're actually right by the stadium two blocks away. So Bronx living. We're new, though.

We don't have the Bronx toughness that I'm sure you guys got. And my mom has. Yeah, it's a little different. I tell my sons that, you know, my son, Mike and a little different growing up in Sunny, California. and thinking it's it's tough when you're out with the surfers trying to find a flat in a wave. This is what we've seen Bronx. The last time that we saw you and Mikey was in California, in Sunny Malibu at the California Strong charity, which is something I wanted to ask about because we got to see it once.

Trev's been a couple times. The event is awesome. How we saw you there and you get to just enjoy it, your son and some of your employees put this on and started this charity. Is that cool to see that happen underneath you, kind of underneath umbrella and see them take off and do fun stuff like that? So, yeah, it's always fun to see the energy that I'll call young people have. Ryan, I don't know, Trevor, you call Ryan Braun a young guy anymore, maybe not. I know Christian Tees is on baseball years.

But and also, by the way, I think Christian and Ryan have kind of, contract commitments, well over $300 million. I'm not sure, a classic employee. I think of them as business partners. Yeah, no, it's very energizing to see young people come together and to pull something off like that, which is really hard to do from a standing, I think Christian had the idea right around Thanksgiving with the first set of fires we had out here, to say, we should do something.

And for that to, you know, within two months. months be able to raise more than $2 million and then give it all out. So a lot of charities, the money gets trapped. Here they've given the money out in many cases directly. I know Mike and Trevor and Jared Gough flew up to Northern California to give money out there. It's really very special. And especially, you know, these days, you think we're all mindful with all the challenges we have in the country, the fact that California's strong is still strong, I believe giving out money for COVID-19

families suffering and so forth. Not only have a successful event, but now turn it to a successful enterprise. Very hard to do. Someone who started his own company is very hard to do. Yeah, I can imagine. Well, yeah. We hope to come back again next year because it was a blast. Now, we talk about baseball all day. Every day, all we just talk about baseball. And the conversation that we had today is that baseball's back and it feels pretty normal right now. Like we have almost a full slate. There's still some hesitations with some teams and stuff, stuff. But the game, the quality, the product to me has been awesome.

The competitiveness seems to be there. Players seem to be giving out their best effort and best product. And I think we're going to have some fun races. How relieving was it to have this finally happen after the, you know, the pandemic? in the offseason. And just to put it simply, baseball's back. That's how we feel. We're excited about it.

Well, in the eighth inning last night, I think it was the eighth inning. Freddie Peralta went to a three and O count on one of the White Sox hitters, and the ball came within inches. I mean, inches of playing the game. And I think a few choice words were dropped in our house here, beginning with an S. and you know it's great to be able to have that passion again understanding when the game's over we'll go back to you know the challenges we are family friends and others face but you know I've been very well you know being involved with the sport you know proud and otherwise just it's just fun to

see that these games are as competitive and good as they are I mean we did watch baseball to malign other games that were out there. But there's nothing like Major League Baseball, some of the games that were otherwise broadcast. And, you know, I was talking to a prominent columnist today would go nameless, but real traditionalist who, you know, this isn't a traditional season. I said to him, well, how would it feel just with no baseball?

Wouldn't that be worse? Oh, yeah, that would be worse. So, you know, we've been dealt the hand we've been dealt with the pandemic. And, you know, and by the way, I don't know what you all think. I think it shows pretty well on television. I'm surprised that fake crowds isn't so fake. I think the crowd noise, the cardboard cutouts actually help because you lose, you lose them and they just become background.

And they do kind of set it. I think the production has been really good at keeping tighter shots, just the field and keeping the seats out of it. I'm fine. Like it's not even a distraction. it all for me. I'm just lost in the sport. I hope the players feel the same way, because they actually have to deal with the big difference. But the TV product, to me, I'm fine with it. I think it's great. Yeah, I think the players,

when the game starts, for everybody, you know, it's game on. I think, and Trevor, I know you talked a lot of, well, you probably do, but, you know, the most challenges come when you're traveling. And listen, it's no fun to go to sit on a plane with a mask and go to a hotel and sit in a room. And, you know, there's an article today and I was in the athletic or wherever that talked about how the Yankees and the Cubs have a, do I think baseball may be going to as a

suggested protocol of a room where you pick up food and all that. But, you know, that's not exactly what we're all used to. It is, unfortunately, really what, you know, that is the, I have not gone, at least for me, I haven't been to a restaurant. than to pick up food, you know, since, you know, these are a lot of adjustments we all have to make in our everyday lives, even if you're not playing, you know, because the, the virus doesn't discriminate. And it's going to be with us for a while. So, you know, at a minimum this year, I think, which nobody wants to talk about, is a great road to, we want to, we want to, we want to, we want to, we're all

committed to playing this year, finishing this year, playing next year. We're going to learn a lot this year that's going to allow us to play next year. And that's, I think, critical. And, you know, the players, what they're doing is the fact that they can perform at this level is really extraordinary. It just shows, you know, I always, and obviously I'm, well, I'm competitive because it's involved with sports. And I think that, you know, I know, obviously there's extraordinary athletes in all sports. We see what baseball players have to do with the refinement of skills. They have to have, it's, you know,

this center field for the White Sox, Louise Robert, is that his name? Oh, yeah. Yeah. He threw a rope last night. He Christian was going to cruise in a home. He made it by like the left. You know, and he can, you know, throw, run, hit. You know, he

just his swing with two strikes. I called Jerry Reimsor. I said, God, you've got some players over there. Jerry, all the ball players and all owner, everybody around the sport is very superstitious, right? We want to talk about it too much. Let's see how the season goes. Even owner to get that way. That's awesome. Oh, yeah. Oh, we're all. Oh, yeah. He's a really fun one to watch, Robert out there in Chicago. They have a bunch of young guys, and they struggled for a while to get those

young guys, and now it's kind of cool to see them back in contentioning with the team they've done. They made some splashes, but definitely, I mean, Luis Robert is like, he's the guy right now, the young guy. And he's one of those guys that comes up and you're like, he just looks the part already. He's not scared. He's not, you know, he's ready to go. He's just add water, you know. So he's, he's definitely someone we talk about a lot on our show. Just add water. That's a good line, trap. Yeah, I like that. I'm a good prospect. I'll mention that he's a keeper on the Mikey Atonazio fantasy team. Oh. Oh. It's called out of Hira. I was just about to, I was told in his head in my sitting room here.

He was kind of like this. Oh, no. I was just about to say, when you say just that water, there's a young guy on the brewers. You just mentioned him. Hira, who we also saw him at the California Strong event. Big-time prospect. He came up and he showed how special he can be. I don't know.

Can you give us more on him? Because he's a guy that, you know, luckily the baseball audience now knows that Yelich guy because he went out and won the MVP. But more people need to know about Kestin Hira. Yeah. There's another one like Louise that, you know, from the moment he came up, you know, acted like he belonged, acted like he should be there. And just a phenomenal hitter. When they were when they were drafting him, in fact, I talked to some inside baseball for you guys who love baseball.

I actually was briefed on it in the clubhouse at City Field. And the guys are a little concerned because they really were hoping to get him. And look, I don't know in 15 seasons that I've done anything other than say yes. But there was some nervousness because, you know, he, he's, you know, when you meet him in person and Trevor, he looks like a ball player. He's got what our old GM, Doug Melvin, would call like a hitter's hands. He got a really strong grip. But, you know, when you watch a video of him, he's smaller. But, you know, when you look at a lot of the athletes coming at, the guy, Garrett Mitchell,

we drafted this year is just a beast. And Trevor, I think you've hit with him. You know, Keston didn't profile that way. And they said, so I heard all these things, you know, you may have heard his arm. They said, but he's the best hitter in college. I said, are you sure he's the best college hitter? Oh, yeah, he's flat out the best college. I said, oh, we don't have anything to talk about them. They said, really? That's an easy one. You know, the draft is so hard in general. to pick a guy and have him become, you know, a major league caliber player is tough. And then you're saying right there, it's like you want to pick a guy that looks the part. You know, that kind of helps the process a little bit.

But that's what's so cool about baseball is, you know, all shapes, color, sizes can be successful. And then you heard, hey, he's got the hit tool. He's the best hitter in college. Who cares what he looks like, what he profiles, whatever? Like, this guy can hit. I love that. That's the best part about baseball. me is how accessible it is you don't have to be boring to play baseball like you do some other

sports like football and basketball I mean you kind of have to be a physical specimen to be in those sports but baseball it's a skilled sport and Keston and a lot of other guys you know obviously Altuvae have approved that for for decades right and and around that though you know like Christian Yellich has bragged to me that he can dunk a basketball behind his head easily just stand under the basket. Haven't tested them on it because we don't need any injuries. You know, guys can throw a ball, you know, 350 feet on a line. There's things they can do that are quite, you know, dramatic physically.

But for those who otherwise just have refined skills. I want to lead into the next question because we're talking about baseball and skills and all this. And one of the things we wanted to ask you, it's kind of a funnier one. but of all the owners, if we put you guys together and put two teams, say AL versus NL, where is Mark Adonacio playing on the field? Where are you hitting in the lineup?

Give us your profile, your baseball profile. Scouting report. We need it. All right. Well, I'm mindful. You know, it's funny how almost everybody remembers their past athletic achievements and in greater magnitude than was reality.

Me too. You're talking to the right. Right crew. I was talking to one of my colleagues at my investment firm today, who said, well, guess where my daughter plays on our softball team? And I know he's ready to brag. He said, go shortstop. Because it's short stuff, usually the best player, right?

By the way, Ryan Brown says he can still play shortstop. He could never play shortstop. And Ryan, we hope you're watching this. We may, you know, we may before the season is over, you know, if it proves to be his last year, we may have to put him out there. see what he's got. Oh, I like that. Yeah. That'll be Craig's call. By the way, Craig counsel still looks like he could play shortstop. But anyway, I noticed in high school, you know, I went from shortstop to second base to center field because I had a pretty good arm to right field. And,

you know, the progression wasn't great. And, you know, what I would do on, he's hit lazy fly balls on curveballs and that was a problem and not great now I have to think about who can you know we got a bunch of owners who played college baseball so they actually so we'd have to we like that we'd have to look at that and get jeter out of there it's not fair he's he doesn't yeah well that's right I think Derek could beat any any nine guys by himself right You got me beat. My progression was shortstop to second base to right field to cut from the team. And the lazy fly ball balls on curve balls were just swinging misses. Yeah. You got me beat there. I wanted to go even further back, talk about playing baseball in high school.

Was baseball always your number one? In the Northeast, baseball kind of dominates fanhood-hood-wise. And you grew up in the Northeast. There was a sports fanatic across the board. Is baseball always been the number one sport for you? Oh, yeah, by a lot. and, you know, I, by the way, Joe Pepitone, just to show where he used to live in the neighborhood. And on my way to PS108, I'd pass by, you know, his place.

And on off day, sometimes you'd see him playing with kids in the street. And I never was able to time it right to get in one of those things. Seems like the game was already set when I'd be walking by. But, you know, in those days, yeah, baseball, I think, was the number one, among kids and nothing else with the trading cards and all that. And you know, that's evolved. We're trying to get to a younger demographic as everyone is. By the way, for, you know, one of the good things in this,

the early data, baseball doesn't want to go through it. Talk about it now because it's not enough data points, but our demographic for these games now is trending much younger than it had been, which is very positive. And we'll see if it, you know, if it continues. Well, you got a lot of young talent in the league. And the media and the marketing is picked up. And I think, well, I'll pat ourselves on the back.

I think, you know, you got a lot of podcasts and you got new media. We're trying our best. Helping as well as the card industry is booming again. Yeah. That's really taking off. Is there anything else that's going on in baseball right now that you love, that you're seeing, that you want to baseball to keep doing and keep projecting that way? Well, you know, I think in a, you know, out of circumstance, victim of circumstance,

some of the changes, rules changes we put in this year are things we've talked about for a while, starting the runner on second base in the 10th inning, in the extra innings. Having seven inning game, now started runner on second base in the eighth inning of a double header. Like I'm somewhat of a purist and wasn't sure about it, although, you know, some of these, we had a game in Washington last year where it went, and Yale, he hit a home running like the ninth inning and then the twilight. It went forever. It went to like two or three in the morning.

Guys had to be back in a clubhouse next day at eight. That's not great. But I found the strategy. You know, what you will think of guys starting at second base is kind of fun now. They're going to bunt what are they going to do? The pressure on the pitcher is different now for sure. I like it. I've come around on it, but my only request, and I'm sure you'll vote.

voice this one. You guys make the grandest signal. You say, John Boy wants this. Just give me two innings of the 10th and the 11th of no runner on second because I think the numbers say 80% of extra inning games end before the 13th starts anyway. But then you could throw the runner on second. Because I agree those 16 inning games when you have pitchers pitching and everyone just tired and wants to get out of there. No one needs those anymore. But I have like two innings of clean extra innings before we go to the runner on second. So that's my official vote. What do you think? What do you think, share. I agree with it. I mean, obviously we talk about baseball every day all day. So they've,

Jimmy has actually turned me on this a little bit. Originally, I thought, no, I don't want any runner on second base, but when you look at the statistics and he's saying, yeah, 80% of the games end before the 12th when you go to extra innings. And then when you do implement that rule with the run on second, they, those games end. Like statistically, they end quickly. So I, I've come around and I agree with Jim now. I think, I think guys will be on board with that. Two, endings of regular baseball to get the 10th and the 11th because you're still going to have relievers fresh for the most part. And then, yeah, once that happens, let's not have the position players pitching. Let's go to the 12th, put the guy on second base.

I think that is you could start there and then see where it goes. We've talked a lot on our show about how other sports, when games and crunch time, basketball, best player has a ball in his hands, football, a two-minute drill the quarterback has a ball in his hands. it'd be cool to do something where you could pick where you started in the lineup. I think fans might enjoy that. I know that's really far out there, but I like the two endings of regular baseball, and then we'll figure out what happens after that.

I had not heard the idea of starting in the lineup. Listen, we just have to do things to make it more entertaining. We have to do things to make the pace of the game greater. And, you know, I've focused more on pace than time. although, you know, I wish we could just have two and a half hour games. I think it would help a lot. And it's hard to keep attention on anything anymore for that long. And what do you think about the seven-inning double-headed?

The players seem to love it. So like I, we just had a bunch of them. The Yankees had one. Every player stepped out and said they love it. And something I said on the show was, as a fan, I haven't been conditioned for that. I spent my whole life condition for nine innings. So it's my first time ever doing it. These players do this in the minor leagues.

They've done seven innings before. They've done seven innings in college and baseball. So for them, they like it. Now, what one of the Yankees players said was make every Sunday a seven-eaning double header and then have Monday off. And that's what the seem to the players would be like, they would love that. You'll get me to love anything eventually. I wasn't conditioned for seven innings.

Like, you know, in the fifth inning when I was like, oh, my God, only two left. and were down bikes a couple runs. I was panicking. But, you know, the players seem to like it. And I think if the players like it, it's probably better for the product moving forward. For me, it's a lot coming together at the same time because with so much emphasis on bullpins nowadays,

you're seeing a lot of teams just, oh, seven innings. You know, we can go four guys. They'll never see the same hitter twice. Counts have a lot of fun with it. I think it's interesting. Oh, yeah. Craig would have blast with that. I mean, hey, you get to hate to hate it.

in the fifth inning, basically. So it's interesting. I mean, part of the traditionalists and me would have loved to see that start in like the 80s. So you just be like, hey, starting pitchers, go get it for seven innings and let's do it. The strategy is fun. And I think it is a really good fit for this year and necessary. And hey, if the players like it, kind of like Jim said, I mean, you get used to it. I actually am all, you know, obviously it's cooperative, but all for things like that. First of all, you can see at the end, you go into any clubhouse in September and you live this, Trevor. You see how beat up and banged up guys are by the end of the year. It's, it is a grind. So if you can have, and also mental breaks now when Monday's off,

Mondays typically aren't big ticket days for us. And if you knew you had, you know, let's say two seven inning games and 14 in baseball on a Sunday, at least in Wisconsin, we would we probably usually sell it anyway but that people listen people in Wisconsin by the way it could be you know a 10-1 game and it's we're losing 10-1 and you know they're there for the enjoyment so which is which is great sorry about the phone there you guys have great fans in that is by the way hard hard line so I think and I think other things you know we could do to engage the players.

I'd rather, I'd rather, it's much better to do things. And by the way, you players know, I keep thinking, Trevor, you guys, players know better than we're going to know, right? So, so great. You want to do this one? We should be all open to that.

And the more we can have guys as well exhibit their individuality, you know, I'm all for that. The sport is so steeped in this. One of the great things about your board, here in John Boy, right? You're getting outside, you know, the people can show the personality. You know, I can come on in my Brewer's sweatshirt and talk about the Bronx. You can see the personalities of players better and we have to do that.

And I think, by the way, if we start working with players and things like that, sometimes which is true in any, you know, negotiation, like I'll just tell you, like my money imagine from almost if you say you want something else say nah I don't think so right so you get into this back and forth and so you know I think some of the other rule changes that might make sense you know do you always have to step out of the box after in between every pitch I mean I know it just doesn't picture's rhythm but there's ways we could streamline a lot of things if we said hey we'll do this and let's make these other it's what they do in Washington right you tag a bunch of things you want to do on a bill that people want and so I'd be well I'd be all for the seven and

two double headers on Sunday, two seven inning games. By the way, that'll let us see. And, you know, the NFL, I talk about this, they are quicker, not being just saying the speed of which, they're quicker with rule changes, the rules don't work, they go back. We have so many steeped in our tradition, you know, traditionalists. In fact, I had a lot of questions when I first brought the team because I was curiosity in Wisconsin.

And it was like, well, are you a, you know, are you a traditionalist or are you a whatever, you know, probably a troublemaker? No traditionalist. But we've got to be open to doing things differently. And still what you're, you know, still what's going on is guys showing, it's speed, the speed of the game is is extraordinary, right? In terms of the actual, how fast pitchers are thrown and how hard balls are hit, it's, that's way different. different than it was in the 1960s. For sure. Yeah, I mean, the numbers on how many guys hit triple digits now compared to 10 years ago are crazy.

You mentioned that, you know, the fans in Wisconsin will come out whenever and always. That is something that you guys have put a lot of thought into. Like your fan experience in Milwaukee is really fun. I mean, the slide, the sausages, the tailgates, everything. Is that something that was there before you took over, when you took over? Did you want to really build that up? And has that been a priority from the start? Because even Trevor said, like, and we were talking about it,

I was just like, you guys do a lot to make it at a really enjoyable event for the fans. Yeah, it was a priority from the start for a number of reasons. You know, starting me, I felt like I was somewhat of an outsider growing up in the Bronx, working in Los Angeles coming in Wisconsin. So I wanted to embrace their traditions. So one of the traditions was tailgating. Most teams don't allow tailgating because either there's a public drinking law, there's an economic reason.

If you're drinking beer outside, you don't drink beer in the ballpark. I wanted to embrace the traditions. And, you know, we had a brand when I bought the team, first year was 05, ballpark was 01. So this brand new facility, and I felt we should cherish that. very, you know, I was in a mix or probably at that point, you know, you did a series of indications of interest or probably half a dozen bidders at that time. And I walked in the right field corner in Miller Park and looked up and just could not believe that I could, you know, own that. Yeah. I, and that moment, I walked in the right field corner, I said, I've got to do

everything I can, you know, to do this, everything. And God bless you. it worked out and you know so I've always cherished the ballpark and we put a lot of resources we've you know in what's otherwise a new ballpark I think the team's invested a team over a hundred million dollars in the ballpark these years we get money from the stadium district which has been it's been a really a model of a public-private partnership which at a we had a five or six County sales tax that got just got sunsetted. So that was successful. Sales tax got sunsetted. And a stadium if you come out is, it's still, we believe, state of the art. It's as good as it gets. And the Wisconsin traditions, whether it's, you know, you didn't mention the polka dance.

We do at the 7th inning, roll out the barrel polka on top of the dugout. Yes. There you go. Big cities, you might feel it's a little corny. I think it's fun and charming. And everybody's, you know, had a few beers by then and it's it's a good time yeah that you know i'm thinking you give some people some time to pregame out there tailgate i make the most purchases on my amazon app when i've had a few drinks let them let them loop it up outside then they can come inside and and i think uh at least every time that we visited and the the twins versus the brewers is always a big weekend series i just loved coming uh to to your stadium to play the fans are always very engaged there's always a mix

of twins versus brewers and no matter what or where we were in the standings it was always such a fun fun atmosphere and i got to eat brots because you guys probably on purpose serve brots in the visiting clubhouse to slow us all down and it works there's yeah it's uh we also have these fried fried cheese curds oh i love fried cheese curds don't get me started but uh yeah we we do that now the yankees you know do it differently when you go there they've got this really, it looks like a major corporate dining room. They've got guys carving, you know, what kinds of fine beef and, you know. I was like a rat and the cheese was in the trap and I ate it every time.

Yeah, in New York, same way. I'd have this huge thing of pasta, pastrami sandwich, and then, you know, go into the game. I'm probably not at my peak physical, you know, wellness there. But now I get it. They say that the finest dining in New York. City is the Way Clubhouse and Yankee Stadium. Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous. It's nice, but let's not go that far.

The finest dining. Oh, it's really good. I've got a weird one. We had a few things prep for you. This one, something you just said before. I think it's funny. Everyone has that moment. You get a new apartment or you move into a new home,

and maybe you got your man cave in it, you know, I've got an old Bernie Williams picture that I'm going to hang up or something like that. You just mentioned you're in the Brewer Stadium and you look at it and you're like, hey, this is me now. Did you have like something you had to bring in? Did you have like your recliner that you had to bring in there?

Was there something that you brought in to make your house a home? Well, first thing I did when I bought the team, and I don't remember in which order I called Robin Yown and Bob Euker. Robin, you know, I still give him shit about he. He didn't realize that committed to winning I was. So he was telling me all about NASCAR racing. And he'd like to help out. But, you know, this NASCAR is great.

Really? And Yuk's like, I don't know, a guy from Los Angeles. I don't win them over. So the first thing I did is I took the 20 seats by the dugout. Because, I mean, you're in, okay, so you own the teams. I want to sit right next to the team's dugout, right? That's an easy one. I found there's a guy

his name is Bob Nobler and called him Baseball Bob and baseball Bob had not missed an inning, not missed a pitch 1980. I think he's opening

in the stadium. So he wouldn't even drink you if you, if you give him a bottle of water, he's sipping because you're not going to miss a pitch. God. You know,

legend has it that when he was married after seven years of this, it was a beautiful Wisconsin Day after a tough winter on a Sunday and his wife at the time said let's go have let's go have a picnic he's now I got to go there's a game well it's a beautiful day and we hit we've been inside he said you know the deal baseball comes first that was it for that marriage pretty much she thought it was just

okay he stays so we got 19 seats and and bob that's wow that's awesome The slide, I wanted to know, have you ever gone down the slide? Oh, yeah. So if you guys ever come out to Miller Park, you've got to sign a waiver. And it's pretty, it's pretty fast. It can, it's pretty fast. I've heard it's scary when you're up top because you see how high you are. Yeah.

And when you're going up the stairs, there's, you know, they're high steps. And when you look in between the steps, you don't want to fall through those steps. And, yeah, it's a fun experience. You guys can, you don't need notice to sign a waiver for us to do the slide. When it be in the sausage race, we put you in the sausage race, but we need a little notice on that because a big waiting list on that. There's a little betting pool on that, by the way. Is that, does that ever get predetermined? There's a lot of rumors about that.

Do you guys let the race go? Is there any funny business? I think if you, I think there's a little gaming of it. So like when Mike did it and he won, he was playing high school basketball then, he had some speed then. Figured out which was the lightest costume. Part of it is he wouldn't eat before it. He did win. He got like dehydrated.

There's something to the way to the costume. There's something to where you stand. And I got a guy that guy is running track. at Amherstew, then he went pretty handily. So I don't, I mean, I haven't heard it that the fix is in ever, but, you know, if any of you three want to run, any of you want to lobby me and try to get some information report. Okay. Yeah, I'll get to do all the research I can there. That's fair. How about this one? New York slice or a Wisconsin brought? Oh, boy. That's, that's, you know, you actually, there's a pizza place out here called Mulberry Street

pizza that I just, that was lunch yesterday. And I'm, look, I really have tried to shift allegiances, like from the jets to the Packers or, and I've done a good job of that, you know, next to the box. But both those teams made it easy for you. Yeah. That's true. But I would say New York slice is going to have. Yeah, I'm with you too.

It's a right answer. Do you have a place? We're here. We'll go get it. We'll test it out tomorrow. Is there, if you're back in the city? Is there like, what's your go-to slice? It used to be Ray's pizza on 76 and third.

And there was a couple. There was one on six and 12. There's one at 76 and third. And then everybody, I guess if you're named Ray, you know, with trademark, you can't, you can, you know, have a place called race. And so it's hard. And I don't, I think that Ray Barry group sold. So that used to be, you know, and I tend to prefer that to the super thin crust.

Some people like the thin crust. I like a little. There are about a thousand rays in New York City because I would go to one as well. I think it is and it was in right near Times Square 77 and something. We might have been to the same one. But that was,

I would go there every single time we got to New York straight there, get a slice. There's nothing better than that. It's like the whole ambiance, the feeling you're in New York. Yeah, you're on the line. You get the, now it's, you guys, socially distant line. You kind of brought this to you can.

There we go. Mask on. We had one question, Trev, I'll ask for you. Okay. Trev wants to know. Good looking guy. How come you never traded for him? It's in Minnesota.

I'm going to say, you know, Mikey used to be pushing for you, by the way. Wow. I remember he told me that power was overrated at one point. And that's when I wasn't going to be a brewer because that was really my only yes. There was no such thing as the right-handed power. hitter Doug Melvin didn't like, but, you know, Miller Park, the ball, we do look for, I think Mike likes to, you know, jab a little bit, maybe. You know, we look for power hitters in Miller Park because both travels well. Another trade that you did make is the C.C. Sabathia trade, and he comes over and gets the ball every three days, hit some home runs.

Can you tell me just, I mean, that is like one of the cooler stories in recent basics. baseball history, a free agent that came over to the brewers and put it on the line, even for like, you know, that month stretch or whatever? Do you have any fond memories of C-C and that was at 08 stretch? Let's give the numbers first. It was 17 starts. He went 11 and 2 with a 165. He completed seven games and threw three shutouts.

I think he was taking them all every three days, too. Awesome. You know, he was at the end. And I feel that, you know, to this day, I'm so respectful of what he did. I actually went to his retirement dinner in New York in September. That was the turning point for our organization

was bringing him in because, you know, when I bought the team we had literally had 11 or 12 seasons of losing in a row, had not been to the playoffs in, I mean, 26 years or something back to like the 80s and early 80s. And it was, it was so negative that the very first year we were at 500 because we traded for Carlos Lee. This is a push the payroll from 22 million to 40 million.

Whoa. And and, and, uh, so we're 500 and you know, and then everybody's like, well, you still, you know, you still haven't won. You haven't lost for 12 years, but you still haven't won. And we kept getting put in the record of futility with other teams. Then we started, you know, we took a step back in 06 and 07. We actually finally got to 82 and 80 and 1, but we couldn't get that 26-year, you know, 1988-unkey up the back.

And our players, you know, bench sheets and all the guys who got so tired of seeing the 82 brewers and the, you know, so even things like, like the, you know, the great ball and glove logo went back to the guys wanted their own identity, their own logo. We really couldn't get it until we brought, you know, CCN. And, you know, I give Doug Melvin credit for that because what, what he did is he said, look, he's going to be a free agent. And by the way, they got Michael Brantley. So they did okay in that trade. Yeah. But he said, you know, if we trade early,

We won't not only won't get in the competition, but we might be able to have him for enough during the season that we can make a difference. And I believe the trade was done late June. And, you know, it was a brilliant idea and it was executed. And the Cici came in. And he just put the team on his back. He started pitching every third day. And, you know, his agent thought we were maybe taking advantage and, you know, would. calling Doug and we're like, hey, talk to Cici.

You guys all know, he's a big guy. I remember he put his head in like, you tell him he's not pitching every three days because we're not telling him that. And he just, you know, put the whole team on his back. And that's where that was the transformational point in our organization. And I think all this success we've had since, it all started with him. So I'll never forget it. And one of the reasons I went to his retirement,

besides being very fond of him and his family and went to his retirement dinner and, you know, I was hoping to get him back this year in our 50th, this is our 50th seasons. It won't be the year to do it, obviously. But, you know, and people in Wisconsin just love him. For a guy who was there for three months, it was like he was there his whole career

for how people feel about him. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, as Yankee fans, we were lucky enough to get CC. And, I mean, an incredible personality. You mentioned his family at the end. I mean, they got entrenched. I mean, Amber and the kids, like, they became part of the Yankees culture. Just the perfect family.

And everything, when you're a fan watching the game, it's everything you want. He's an intense competitor. He'll do anything to win. And he's left so many fond memories for us. I have my last question for you. I think the other guys might have one or two more. You mentioned you talked to, you know, some of the other owners. You mentioned you talked to Rhinstorff.

Do you ever text them just like L.O.L. Yelich or like, remember the Yelich trade or anything like that? Like we have him. What's the version of an owner flexing on another owner? Does that exist? Yeah. Okay. Well, before I do, I just want to mention C.C. is also taking a leadership role of the Players' Alliance. Yeah.

And a lot of the, you know, social justice issues, he, Curtis Granderson, Edwin Jackson. But that's really important initiative for baseball. And so typical of CC to jump in and take a leadership role and something like that, he can be impactful on. But now having said that, I think we're really intensely competitive with each other. But we don't really, surely not on trades. There's no, I think we have this superstition. So if you call somebody, like I call Rineser to tell them the other morning, executive council call, and I call them after because I know.

he just hung up. I said, hey, you know, you got some team this year. And by the way, relative to having a season this year, none of us would have gotten to see that. It's some major athletes over there. And he's like, no, no, he don't want to talk about it because then it's going to do it. So you don't want to jinx. If you are on the good side of a trade, you don't want to make fun because the next one, you don't want to be on the other side.

So we, you know, look, we, frankly, you want your trades to work out for both sides because you just, you just do. business. Right. Right. And I mean, I'm sure history will be rewritten. I don't, if I go back through the memos, I don't believe I read any memos and that, hey, Christian Yonich is going to be the MVP. I think Stern said that. But we did know, you know, his character, his determination. And he had, you know, he was just like, you know, whatever, the perfect ball player in terms of. And you I saw one of the graphics the other night. Besides, you know, being two-time batting champion and home run champion,

I think he was second in the National League in Steele's, you know, combined over two years. This guy does everything. You see his inside the park home run last night. He was, you know, trotting around first base. Nice. And then he just kicks it into this. And he's not even breathing heavily. Some guys, you know, they finished him.

That will not be us in the sausage race. Yeah, that's. Well, we'll see. I don't know. Guys, you guys, listen, here you go. What you got to do is just listen to what Trevor's saying here, right? Feed him some brats before the race. You guys take a page from Mike, you know, you know, maybe just a little sip of water. Figure out which costume is the better one. Oh, that's a good. We got to feel good about your cost. Yeah. You can't feel bad in the costume. And there is one, there is one key to it, but I, you know, it depends whoever comes up with the, uh, uh, incentive.

here. There is one on that race. All right. Well, that'll be the next time we reach out. We'll figure out who gets the best incentive to figure out who wins race. Jake looks like a sausage already. Don't even... Yeah, I don't need a costume. Just let him keep thinking that. That's just... Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I think I might bring a brawers in the costume with me. I think that might be the secret. I think that's the power of the bra. Yes, yes. Just don't choke. That'll be bad. All right. Well, thank you very much. for joining us. We appreciate it. We're very happy baseball is going on, and hopefully we run into you and see you. Anything else we need to pass along for you? Any other initiatives or anything that we can pass along to the fans? This is, I appreciate. You guys told me it would be fun. I've seen a couple of the broadcast, so I believe that.

And we'll hopefully have a chance to talk again. And I came with no agenda. I just wanted to. I mean, what's better than talking baseball, right? That's what worse. That's the life. All right. Well, thank you again. Thanks. And there you have it.

So huge shout out to Mark for joining us and coming on the show. Now we'll just get every other owner to come on the show. 29 to go. And we'll be golden. So I highly doubt it. I highly doubt we'll have other owners cool enough to sit down with us and chat and just talk baseball. So we'll see. But that was really cool.

So thank him very much for coming on. Thank you guys for tuning in and listening. We'll be back tomorrow with the recap. You guys have anything? Final thoughts? Trev? We confirmed what I've always kind of believed that the brewers do put the brots in the visiting clubhouse

to slow their opponent down. We confirm that rumor. It's fact. Watch out for those brots when you go visit Milwaukee. Okay, guys? No, it's funny. My mother executed a very similar game plan for about 21 years. Slow jick down

Just heavy pasta dishes Jake went home recently And his mom served him A light meatball lunch Yeah Fell asleep for two hours So All right

Thank you guys very much We'll see you tomorrow With the series recap episode Goodbye, good luck Farewell Love you Peace