The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 1: The Self-Inflicted Wound

Episode Date: April 7, 2025

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This is the Dan Leventor Show with the StuGuts Podcast. I've done a lot of things wrong, and I know it. Self-inflicted wounds are the worst. The Pittsburgh Pirates this weekend had a Self-inflicted wounds are the worst. The Pittsburgh Pirates this weekend had a self-inflicted wound, the likes of which you don't see happen in sports very often. We're talking about Roberto Clemente.

We're talking about the nightmare of having to do two statements, not one. Two statements to explain the idiocy of honoring Roberto Clemente with an outfield wall plaque, removing it, putting a sponsor instead, and not telling the Clemente family. So many layers to this. Let me start with the most interesting one to me. The Clemente family is high maintenance. You know that going in. They need communication. They need understanding. They want to be front and center.

They deserve to be because of Roberto Clemente, but you gotta know your customer. If you're the pirates, you can't do something regarding Roberto Clemente without telling Roberto Clemente's family, and they violate it right off the top. So it was moved. It was moved, right?

It wasn't completely replaced. It was moved. Taken down. That's the dumbest thing. That's terrible. They still have a statue. They have other ways that they've honored him. They have a ton of ways, but that doesn't change.

And what the president of the team tried to say was, hey, listen, totally sorry, but we have a 21 foot wall. We've got so many things that we've done for Roberto. A bridge. A bridge. It's a really cool bridge. But the numbers retired. The number needs to be there straight up.

Well, there's different places the 21 is. This was an extra thing that was put because there was an available space, but they forgot to just be honest with the family and say, hey, we're giving you a little extra. We're just putting it right there, but we're trying to sell it. And once we do, we're removing it.

They didn't communicate. And then they sent out their PR head to do a statement Saturday, doubling down. And then they sent out their president Sunday, saying, sorry, our bad, my mistake. He wore it. I had to wear so much as team president, so much that I had nothing to do with

that I would just wear. What was the worst one that was akin to something like this? Because this is about as bad as it gets, right? Like you're disrespecting not only a legend of the Pirates, but a legend of baseball that is celebrated across the league and you're coming off the heels of what just happened with the government website and Jackie Robinson

and so everyone is feeling the effects of history of our great players of color being erased. There's all of it. Is there anything that you ever dealt with that was even close to what this type of ire that you're sort of going out in front and taking the heat on? I certainly got ire, Jeremy.

I would say that what we did with Carl Barger and on retiring his number, we didn't do that probably the way we should have. And I had to take that even though I had nothing to do with it, but I had to wear that one. Even though it wasn't your decision to make? No, it was not. Listen, that's your job.

When you run a company for an owner or for a founder, you're the meat shield. You have to take stuff that you don't deserve to take, but you do it, you smile, and you say it's your fault. Trevor Williams, the president of the Pirates, he had to take this, but to me, what bothers me about what happened is that he was in that position to start with.

When you're president of a team, you know exactly what your inventory is, your sales inventory. You know exactly what you're doing. When you're president of a team, you know exactly what your inventory is, your sales inventory. You know exactly what you're doing. When you're doing a deal with Surfside, that deal doesn't get done without the president signing the deal. And so what upsets you is that he made that decision

and didn't communicate it to the Clementes, right? I'm perfectly fine with the decision to sell because everyone wants the power to raise revenue. So long as you communicate with the family that you worked with. Just communicate. It's one call. And by the way, the Clemente family, easy to reach. It's not like reaching someone who's disappeared

into the Netherlands without cell service. And that was part of the Clemente's statement, by the way, was that basically their frustration wasn't even the decision, which I think we should be frustrated by the decision. You know, you make a decision to honor a player, even if there are other ways that you've honored the player around a ballpark,

you've honored him in this public way that everyone can see when a ball is hit down that right field line, and now you're removing it to sell and make more money when you're, you know, a franchise and the Pirates that we know their fans are frustrated with them to begin with, but the statement from the Clemente's included the specific nature of the Pirates continue

to do these things not only without consulting us, but without sort of consulting their fan base at large. Well, a couple things. The statement is on the screen if you're watching this live on YouTube, if you're listening, we have a statement from the Clemente family. So I don't agree. The fan base at large is not a factor for me.

I don't need to go to the fan base when I'm doing things like this. I need to go to the family and I don't need to do it publicly. I can do it privately because then I've got the ability to say publicly, hey, I did that. It's a very much check the box thing. The Clemente family is a very big check the box family.

If you were wanting to make this decision though, right? And the Clemente family had an issue with it, then what? How does that conversation go for you in that spot as the president of the team, right? Like, are you actually going for a conversation where you're actually caring what they have to say, or is it just checking the box? It's just checking the box.

Why don't you give the Clementes the opportunity to match what Surfside was gonna pay to continue to honor their father in that one spot. Because they wouldn't, they couldn't, totally. That's very nice, that's nice. We'd like to give you the right to match. We've sold the behind the plate. We would do this, if you have open inventory

and you don't wanna make it look like there's open inventory. So let's today behind plate signage. There are approximately 18 units to be sold each baseball game. Half an inning, you buy half an inning behind the plate, you have a rate card, you sell it. But what if you have three half innings that aren't sold? You go to your existing partners and you say,

hey, we're gonna throw you an extra half inning. We love you, we're not gonna charge you more. But once we sell it, we're taking back that half inning. Thank you for your business type deal. That's it, thanks for being here. We appreciate you. So this Clemente thing, this one area on the wall was just a, hey, we got nothing else there.

We're trying to have something there. But the problem is they chose to do it with a family that is very, very much a keep score family. But even if they weren't a keep score family, like this would be a problem, I would think, for any franchise given the value of the, the specifics of the player. If someone's pointing it out on social media

and there's a conversation that happens, you think that essentially this goes totally unnoticed if you don't have a family that's actively participating in that legacy? Let's face it, what brought this to a bubble was the Clemente statement, but then the pirates dealt with it so badly, so badly. The Clementes do this. It's known around baseball, like there's certain families, there's certain people from the history of the game who are higher maintenance than others. Roberto Clemente

is one of the second, arguably the second greatest story of any baseball player ever behind Jackie Robinson. I would say that's one too. And I think that's a fair assessment of it. And the Clemente's are, they're, they're are celebrated. The family is brought to events. Baseball pays for them to go to events. They, I mean, there's a whole level of support that is deserving, but the family of other superstars do not necessarily get that support, but you gotta know your customer.

And that's what the Pirates to me did the most wrong, is they forgot. It's a simple phone call. It's Williams calling the family and you never, with the Clemente's, you don't have an account executive do it. You go, it's the top. You have to know there's certain people

who can be contacted by lower level people and certain people where they have to hear from the owner and you just have to know it. And so it just bothered me what the pirates did because the pirates are getting a bunch of crap over their payroll, over their lack of revenue and the fact that they don't win. And now it just makes it worse.

Who was the highest maintenance family that you've had to deal with? The highest maintenance family that I personally had to deal with. The Ali's were actually great. There was a lot to do. When you say high maintenance, I think pejorative. Don't you?

Like you've said they're kind of annoying to deal with, basically. So who I guess is the most annoying? Because like, this sounds terrible, but the more I'm looking at this, the more I'm kind of like, there's still a lot of ways for Beruto Clemente is honored in this stadium.

In fact, there's a number 21 about five feet away from the ad that replaced the other 21. Like there's 21s everywhere here. It's everywhere. If you've been to PNC Park, you can't turn around without having Roberto Clemente as part of the conversation. It's not like they erased his legacy.

They sold an ad on one of the many places that they put his name and number. You're very right, and I think that is important to sort of distinguish from the conversation we were having a couple of weeks ago, and this one when I just brought up the Jackie Robinson thing, because those are two very, very, very different conversations that we're having.

This is not completely erasing Roberto Clemente's legacy at behest of some governmental intervention. This is a totally different thing. At the same time, I do think people have a right completely erasing Roberto Clemente's legacy at behest of some governmental intervention. This is a totally different thing. At the same time, I do think people have a right to be frustrated by, hey, here's this thing, we're already a franchise and a fan base that's frustrated, right, in a general sense.

Then we've got this history, this pillar of not just a player but a person that we all admire that's celebrated in this specific way, and now so that the owner who we're already frustrated with for not spending money can make an extra quick buck, we're gonna eliminate this thing that is a very public display of our love for our franchise's most beloved person?

I think people have a right to be frustrated by that. I understand your perspective, David, which is your frustration stems most from how could the president have handled this differently and in a way that wouldn't have caused such a stink for baseball, for his team. It's embarrassing. But for a fan perspective, for someone who is a fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates, their frustration is a different one, which is really like, that's how we're going to go ahead and erase something that matters to all of us, even if it's one of several different public displays. One of the public displays of our love of our hero

is now going away so that we could sell it for some sell. Are you sure about that, Jeremy? Because if the Pirates right now were nine and two and the Dodgers with a high payroll, would this have happened? Or is it the fact that the Pirates are the fan? It's a matter of all of it. The fans hate this ownership group.

Right. Separate from this thing. So they are never gonna give them the benefit of the doubt. 100 the fan. It's a matter of all of it. The fans hate this ownership group. Right. Separate from this thing. So they are never gonna give them the benefit of the doubt. 100%. If you walk around in Pittsburgh, you will see shirts that say, sell the team Bob Nutting. So that's the whole thing,

that you can't give a fan base a reason. They're gonna find their own reasons if the team doesn't perform, if you're not signing players who fans want you to sign. But that's why I called it a self-inflicted injury. And this, and you have to avoid those if you're in a position the way the Marlins are and were, the way the Pirates are,

you've got to avoid self-inflicted injuries. Well, I wonder if for the Pirates and sort of sticking within that theme, we saw some contract extensions in Major League Baseball, like over the last week that I found really interesting. Not just Vlad Guerrero, who signs this mammoth deal that we could get into, but it's some of the other guys. Right, it's, and I forget the name of the player

who just signed with the Red Sox. Campbell? Yes, Campbell, who signed an eight year, 60 million dollar deal. You see Jackson Merrill. With that much experience that you have. Right, I mean he's barely played at the Major League level. There's Jackson Merrill, who just signed a massive deal

in San Diego, a different conversation than you're having because he at least had a full year of Major League Baseball, but I'm really intrigued by those types of deals for markets like Pittsburgh, like theoretically Miami in the future. We saw Tampa do a little bit of this at different points in their run. Which is-

Started with Evan Longoria. Right, he's the first one I can ever remember as one of these contracts. John Singleton was first. Wow. Okay, that's a throwback of a name. Well, by the way, he stunk. Yeah.

It was a complete waste of money. So that's the question I guess I have, which is we've seen a few franchises here recently in the Padres and the Red Sox, two teams that think they're good and should be for the foreseeable future, but teams locking up young stars and buying them out of arbitration, do you think that that's like a trend

that you're gonna see more of or is this just sort of a conglomeration of circumstances that led to all of these individual guys being signed at this time? I wanna educate everyone on this because it is one of the biggest mistakes that people in media make, and Jeremy, you are now never gonna make it again. Those players are all signed players. Correct.

So when you read that Campbell. Sorry, extended. So, so interesting. What it's guaranteed costs certainty. When you sign a player through arbitration, that's all you're doing is you are taking arbitration out of the zeitgeist of that player's career and that player is getting money, but he's signed.

Every time you have a player who's a rookie, you have them on a six-year contract. You just don't know what it's worth, but you have them on six years. When you give money upfront and guarantee it, you ask for free agent years. And it used to be that you would get free agent years at a discount when you signed these contracts to young players. That's now gone away. Players don't give the discount anymore.

They want the guarantee of arbitration years and they want free agency at a number where they have to perform at a high level all the way through pre-free agency and then be in the open market healthy. It's insane. So I guess my question would be, for example with Campbell, right?

He's come up, he's performed, he signs his eight year 60 million- Enough for two weeks. But the eight year 60 million dollar deal, what you're saying is the eight years, he was already supposed to be under contract for six, you're now guaranteeing exactly what the money is going to be in that stretch for a player

who otherwise, if they didn't perform, might not reach the salary level that they're gonna reach in those six years. And so it's six plus an extra two seasons on top of that, then he could be a free agent. That's exactly right. Right. So what the player is trading is the,

those two years of free agency to lock up what they have now. And I can go down the list of players who have signed these deals and it's been a disaster for the team. We can go all the way to Kingery of Philadelphia. We can go to Jimenez and Robert of the White Sox. We can go to starting way back with Singleton,

going to some of the players who are in them now, who just end up disappearing, but you don't realize it, but they're being paid the major league rate in the minor leagues because they got guaranteed money. And why are teams doing this? Why do they feel the need? Because they want cost certainty in an era when revenue certainty is so uncertain,

it doesn't make smart business sense. When you're in a market where you're worried about what is going to happen with expenses with your money, the key is to have no fixed expenses. And this in your life is what you should do. Only have variable expenses that you can get out of. A fixed expense is something that no matter what happens in your life, you have to pay that money each month or each year. And a mortgage is a fixed expense, not variable.

A variable expense is your entertainment money or money if you take your vacation fund or if you put away money for different types of food. All of that can be variable. So this is all about budgeting. It's all about budgeting. And what baseball teams do is they want these expenses fixed All of that can be variable. So this is all about budgeting. It's all about budgeting. And what baseball teams do is they want these expenses fixed

so they know exactly what they will pay Campbell because they view that as smarter than keeping it variable where if he has a great year, you could have to pay him more. If he has a bad year, you'd be able to pay him less. Their view is screw it, we're gonna make it a fixed expense. My view always was, I disagree with that, I'm okay with variable because then I'm paying for performance.

Well and then you're just getting rid of them by the time you need to pay them, right? Because that often seems to be the thing, right? When I'm talking about teams like the Pirates or the Marlins or whoever in the future, theoretically this would be the way that a smaller market team could hold on to their stars in the long run.

We just saw. Why, there's no discount, Jeremy. Well no, that's my question, right? Yeah, there's no discount. So for example, signing Sandy Alcantara, when the Marlins did, to the contract they did, which I believe was like five years, around $55 million.

Are you saying that didn't save them any sort of money? So it's a great question. How much time did he miss? Well, he missed a year, and a pitcher is a different conversation, obviously. He was paid as though he didn't miss a year. People are talking about this contract of how great it is, he's only at 17.

Go look at what he would be in the system. Sure, but the pitcher part of it, I guess, is a different conversation, because we end up having guys who miss full seasons in that respect at a far higher rate than what you see for position players. But there's Kyle Raleigh, there's Jackson Churio signed one of these a couple years ago.

The famous example is Ozzy Albies, who signed for way cheaper than anyone would have anticipated. And to me, I guess what I've always viewed this as is something that is team friendly that allows a player to guarantee themselves some money before they would hit the giant contract in their prime. Is that not the reality of how teams look at it?

When we get lucky, we got lucky with Yellich had a team friendly deal, and then teams feel badly when it's team friendly, and then they give raises and increases and extensions to players because they feel like they took advantage. When players don't give you money back when they stink, when they're hurt, they keep the guaranteed money.

So how would you say you handled Giancarlo Stanton? That's actually a different story. The Giancarlo Stanton story is that we were trying to change the narrative of you, the fans, in Miami. Oh, it was our fault? It was your fault, totally. Oh, great.

Totally your fault. As a matter of fact, it was more Billy and Mike, but Roy, you were right in there. Oh, it was our fault? It was your fault, totally. Totally your fault. As a matter of fact, it was more Billy and Mike, but Roy, you were right in there. Hold on a second. Yeah, Billy, it was your fault. I'm blamed for you trying to change the narrative you created.

Exactly. I would have been very happy to keep my narrative going. You could have. Yeah, but you made me crazy. I did? You were making me crazy year after year, saying, hey, are you congratulating him him Jessica? I did just say congrats When the mic was on that's every fan's dream is to actually get under the skin of the ownership that they maybe don't support

In their city so well Congrats Billy did it Congrats. I don't know if we have a noise that I could hit that's a congratulations noise I don't know where it is. Let me just see. That's a, isn't it more of a top five noise? It's a congratulations noise as well. It's kind of dual purpose. You didn't let me go unscathed though. You went and you told Donnie Tebow, hey, you're starting each year of that day.

He's getting 3000 in Colorado. Come hell or high water. We knew he would get that hit. I was so, I've never been so upset about a hit in my life. I was so upset because it was almost a fly ball. It was almost an out at the wall. It just got over. It was almost a home run.

It was almost a home run, but it got just over the glove of the outfielder jumping, ends up being a triple off the wall. But God, I've never been so upset by something good happening to my team, I think, except that. Why? Why that visceral response? Because I was going the next day because I bought one of those stupid plans that you guys were selling. It's like, oh, buy a flexible except that. Why? Why that visceral response? Because I was going the next day because I bought one of those stupid plans

that you guys were selling. It's like, oh, buy a flexible plan that you can do this and you can see it in here. We're just gonna sell you 40 vouchers for $400 or whatever. Good flexibility. You can choose whatever games you want. Yeah, it was good flexibility, except I was going every day to see him get a hit

and then he wasn't getting a hit and then I had to eat the stadium food and God knows what it did to my health on top of the stress. That 3,000th hit stretch, David, you took probably seven years off of my life. That you're not gonna give back to me. But they're the worst seven. They're the diapers seven.

I mean, when those are the seven you have left, you cherish those seven. I'm not gonna have those seven anymore. The Dan LeBattard Show with Stu Gotz is sponsored by BetterHelp. Life gets busy, and your mind carries it all, but just like your body needs care, so does your mental health. This is an investment in clarity, in peace, in you. Let's talk numbers. Traditional in-person therapy can cost anywhere from $100 to $250 per

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5G speeds not available in all areas. Don Lebatard. Go pee pee. Stugats. Go pee pee. This is the Don Lebatard Show with the Stugats. ["The Stugats Theme Song"] Do you think Capital's fans are pissed off today? Probably.

They were spending 1,500 bucks a seat That was- to go to the game. That was a little different, just because he needed to score three goals in that game. The fact that he even got close was crazy and he was in there at the end. I mean, he was holding himself out. He did two and then one.

So he scored two in the first game and then one to break it. Yeah, I'm saying, but for him to do it at home that day, he would have had to score three goals. I want to talk about the home game that's coming up tomorrow. Oh yeah, no, he should have. It's like the Otani 50-50. I could not believe that happened here.

Oh, I was so happy. It was like one of the greatest single individual feats of athleticism I've ever seen on a field. And it happened here instead of in LA when they were going the next day and he had already hit a home run to get within 50. And they were up by like 10 runs. Dave Roberts easily could have pulled him out.

I mean, I imagine David, that would have frustrated you in a way. Would you have fired, if you were running in a way, would you have fired, if you were running the Dodgers, would you have fired Dave Roberts for not pulling Otani in that game? Would you have fired him? They talked about it first.

So the answer is no. If he went against what our plan was, then I would have fired him. So if it would have been, hey, if he gets there, take him out, and then he left him in anyway. Well, we would have had that planned. Okay. Right.

We would have had that planned before the game. Hey, listen, there's a chance, just with Ovechkin, you know, he could get one goal away and they could stop putting them shifts. He's only playing like 18 minutes a game anyway, but you could just leave them and let them play at home this week. And, but they made the decision.

It's not like Ovechkin didn't know that he was gonna play against the Islanders. Ohtani knew he was getting every at bat. Each row had asked to be in that game someday. And we start, by the way, he started that game. Oh, I know. I'm well aware, David. Was it one at bat, a pinch hit,

which is all he was doing at home? He got a full four at bats in that game. I'm well aware of what happened. I had a fly out to Denver. Oh. I had no intention of being in Denver. And we flew there to, because because hey, he was one hit away We're gonna start him. He's gonna get it in Denver. I looked into it wasn't at that point in my life

Yes, pick up and fly to Denver on a day's notice. You could have called and said what hey Do you want to fly me to Denver? You guys seem happy to ask for flights now? Oh, no, I'm very Unbiased down the middle. I'm not taking handouts. If anyone wants to send me anything though, I'm not gonna say no, it's just rude. Come on, get out of here. I don't want you to be rude.

I don't want to be rude either. I think it's important to say yes to things like that. Not because you're pressured because of work, because you want to go to Denver. You know what I was thinking? We should invite the Clementas to your bowling tournament. They would do it if we played 21 games. Oh.

And did it in Pittsburgh. How about 21 hours instead of 24? Wouldn't we want to do it with a player who has Parkinson's? Well, no, like with the actual player. Well, no, like a Kirk. Don't make them bowl. No, but Kirk Gibson.

Like, doesn't he have a number that we would associate and do it instead of tying it to Clemente Well, we tie it to someone with Parkinson's a number Well, we did 21 hours for Roberto Clemente 21 Maybe Kirk Gibson what we could do what 23 hours didn't he wear 23 with the Dodgers Yeah, 23 hours an hour going out to LA to do this. He hit the homer in 88. You could do 88 hours It's too long. We called the bowling alley trying to figure out

what they would charge us. And we said, hey, what's charity just charges for the cost of incremental electricity and to have two people staffed. Cause you need a tech guy always cause it always breaks down. And then you need someone behind the bar. That's all we needed.

Otani doubled to right in the first inning of that game. Off the top of the wall. Then singled to right in the top of the second. Then doubled to center, try, and then, oh, was thrown out stretching it to third in the third inning. That was when we all went, oh no, all right. But he was trying for a cycle. He was trying to go for the cycle,

and we were all like, oh man, he didn't get the triple. There's no way they're gonna pull him after this. Then he came up again in the top of the sixth, Shirley, they're up seven to three at this point, and he homers to right center. Now it's nine to three, and Shirley, I mean obviously Otani's gonna get pulled, nope, he hits again in the top of the seventh, homers again, now it's 14 to three, that's homerun number 50, but don't worry, he's gonna come up again in the top of the ninth, and he homers again, and that's home run 51.

So he hit three home runs in that game, I think it was what, three home runs, two doubles, thrown out at third, it could've been the cycle, I think there were 10 ribbies in there. God, what a moment. They're calling it actually the greatest offensive game in baseball history. What's crazy is that that's the greatest offensive game

we've ever seen, and he has another game with a higher war accumulated in that game because he started and threw, I think, five shutout innings with 12 strikeouts or something like that. What was Tatisse's war for hitting two grand slams in one inning? Do you get a war for that?

That's another record. Don't we have a top five list of records that can't be broken? Do I have that anywhere? Can we do it right now? I wanna do it right now. Top five records that will never be broken. Are you ready? Yeah. Do I have it written anywhere? No. Yes I do. Yes I do. Ready? Yeah. I have two OLIs. Ready? Yeah.

UConn women's basketball 111 game winning streak. That's an O.L.I. That'll never get broken. That's an O.L.I. Two, another O.L.I. Wayne Gretzky, 1963 assists. He has more assists than any other player has points in their career. It's incredible. Absolutely incredible.

Why is that? I was not looking in. Because wait till you see number five. OK. Boston Celticsics eight straight titles. Tell me in any sport other than wrestling and track and field where there's a chance for a straight title. I have to amend the whole thing.

It's totally breakable. There's a guy currently doing it, Billy. Is it an active streak for that track and field dude? It's totally breakable. There's a guy currently doing it, Billy. Is it an active streak for that track and field, dude? The one with 40, the pictures were in black and white, so I assume no. I'll get back to you on the other one. I need to change the top five.

OK. Number four, Cy Young with 316 losses. As a starting pitcher, there is no one who will ever break that record. You just won't get the chance. Good luck. Number three. Cy Young with 511 wins. Nobody.

Who's the active leader? He's the lady world kinds of pitchers. He did it all. Who's the active leader and wins right now? Kershaw? Verlander. Verlander with 270, 280, 310. Verlander at 262. That's the active leader. Verlander's not going to win 38 more games. He's hanging on by a thread. He's old. There's no more 300 game winners. Forget 511. But that's not even number one. We're not even up to that. Number two. Ready? Yeah. Will Chamberlain, a hundred points in a game. Who's going to do that? I think that's the most possible of any of the ones you've named thus far. Just given where scoring is right now,

that there could be one night where it ends up being, whether it's like a Devin Booker or someone, late in the season playing in an uncompetitive game that hits like 15 or 16 threes along with, right, but along with getting to the foul line and things. I think that gives you 68. I think that's more possible than anything you've named. That's all I'm saying. I don't think it's, I don't think it's going to happen,

but I think it's the most possible of anything you've named thus far. I could have gone with the Will Chamberlain average points per game for a season over 50. Like I think there's a chance, I think there's a chance that you never see another pitcher get to half of Cy Young's wins. Right, 511 career wins. Well, Verlander's there. Right, but another, like after Verlander. There's a chance you never see another pitcher

get to half of the all-time leaders' wins. That's how much the game has changed there. So maybe, I'm just saying, maybe, maybe someone can get to 100. Number one, this is it the most unbreakable record in the history of sports. Cal Ripken consecutive games played 2632. The dude did not miss a game from May 30th, 1982 to September 20th, 1998. I'd like you all to just marinate with that for one second. 1982 to 1998. You showed up to work.

I looked up who the active MLB player was with the most consecutive games played. Current? Current. Current streak, can I guess? Yeah. It used to be Paul Goldsch streak, can I guess? Yeah. It used to be Paul Goldschmidt, but I think he sat and the number was like 300. I'm going to say the number is under 320.

Not according to Wikipedia. There's an active player with 627 consecutive games played. Who? Matt Olson. Wow. Matt Olson of the Braves, he did play 162 last year, but that means he's been doing it for five years or so. It says May 2nd, 2021 was the start. That's pretty good. But guess how much now do the math for what he has to do.

So he's about 2000 games short. Right. So he's got a little ways to go. He's gotta do it for about 15 more years. Yeah, I was gonna say like a couple decades, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, cause what? It was a 16 year streak for Calabcan Jr. 82 to 98.

And this is, he played 156 games in 2021. So that was when it started, was a few games into 2021. And now just three straight seasons after that of 162. So he's still got basically a decade of that to go, which is insane. How old is Matt Olson? Does he have a three handle yet? 31, 31, he's got no shot.

So that's it? Yeah, no shot. That's done. That's a great stat of the day though. I wouldn't have had Matt Olson as that. Cause I know that he and a bunch of Braves played 162. Freddie Freeman used to play 162 when he was with the Braves, but then he fell in the shower. Freddie Freeman goes to the, not the top,

but he's sort of near the top of crazy injuries. Did you see what happened to him that he slipped in the shower? Who was it that stepped in like a pot hole in their backyard? Well, Cespedes, remember? Ah, that's what I was thinking of. Tetis hurt himself doing a weird thing. We had players who pretended they hurt themselves doing, I'm not buying the whole,

there's a current player right now, he says he was opening gifts with his child and the cardboard got between his nail and the skin. Hate when that happens. Cardboard cut, oh man. What? And now he's injured. Poor guy.

I'm not buying it But what would that injury have been otherwise it just feels so specific That's what but that's what we always say. We have to be super specific like like I tripped carrying my suitcase upstairs That sounds specific, but it's horse hockey Freeman played 162 twice, but has played 159 159 161 The three previous years before last year we played 147 that's still a very good streak but he's also 158 and 157 somewhere in there it's crazy he's not young either he's got a three oh he's 35 yeah so people don't realize the cow ripken streak the reason why it's so impressive a people generally don't go to work every day which they should and

b he didn't get hurt so just think about what he does for a living. He played through injuries, played through paper cuts, played through shower mishaps for 16 years. In 16 years, he had like eight more batting stances than missed games. It's also the subject of a conspiracy theory because of how absurd it is. Well, you're talking about when there was a rain out?

Kevin Costner? Yeah, is that the Kevin Costner story? Correct, yes. It was a rain out? Kevin Costner? Yeah, there's the whole- Is that the Kevin Costner story? Correct, yes. It was a blackout, right, at the Orioles Stadium? Electrical failure? It was a very specific area for the blackout. Right.

And of course, the theory that you're proffering is that it had nothing to do with injury, though, other than to the psyche. Yeah, that's the conspiracy theory that I think has been debunked several times. The psyche. I don't know how you debunk an affair like that. I mean, it seems like if it's that outlandish,

there should be evidence that it actually happened. Like you don't need evidence that it didn't happen. There needs to be some sort of proof that it did happen and there isn't any. So it seems made up. You don't mean the affair, you mean the physical altercation that would have led him to miss a game. The whole entire thing,

and then that led to someone pulling the plug on the power at the stadium. That's an absurd sequence of events. I love it. I happen to love this one, because within the world of baseball, there is a feeling that that one is true. So for those who are not familiar with this theory.

I thought everyone knew about this. Is this like a, Jeremy never heard of this? There could be non-baseball fans out there listening that don't know this conspiracy theory. Oh, okay. Tell them the story. I mean, if I know it, I thought other people would know it. It's just a conspiracy theory that Cal Ripken caught his wife, I guess, allegedly cheating

on him with Kevin Costner and they got in a fight he couldn't play so they delayed the game that they were supposed to play that night by I guess someone pulling the plug. And again, this is complete like, I'm not trying to defame Cal Ripken Jr. I've already said several times it seems like it's ridiculous but.

Or Mrs. Ripken Jr. Yeah, anyone or Kevin Costner. Or Kevin Costner. Who is probably the most litigious of the three. You don't mean litigious, you mean the most strain, A-Y-I-N-G, not A-I-N? What is the, there's no litigation involved. It was just a good old fashioned brawl.

No, I mean, he probably would be the most likely to sue someone about- Oh, for telling the story. Yeah. I think we're covered, because he's a public figure, I think you're good. Don't you worry. But you're a lawyer, so I guess you would know, right?

I like your chances on this one, Jessica. Do not panic, you can tell the story, you can tell it loudly. I already said it. Yeah, and you don't even have to do all the qualifying you did. Okay, but I like to cover my bases. I don't know if we have any like,

metal art, you know, indemnification clauses that we have to sign. What happens if one of us gets sued, David? Is metal art gonna cover it? So we have insurance for that. If it's done in the ordinary course of your job. Now, if you do something off air, off hours, off campus, you're sort of on your own.

So we never have to hit the reckless speculation sounder. We can just say whatever we want. I never understood why you do that. Is that because you want to be journalists? Well, we did that at ESPN. We did that at ESPN. Just because you want people to think that you're journalists?

All right. Sure. I think Dan wants that. Next hour, everyone come up with the wildest thing you want to say on air, and we'll all share it together. I think that it should be not only wild, but one that under all circumstances would lead to litigation. Oh Like I just want to go right to the edge because Dan's not here we can do anything we want

Let's go right to the edge and just see what happens Dan's always here You're talking about the player that hurt his hurt himself allegedly. Sorry with the Cardboard under the thumb. Yeah, we lost that sponsor. So it's fine. So What is the best lie that you have ever gotten away with that you're proudest of? No, I was not in Vegas. Oh. It's a good one.

It's happened a few times. When the team is on the West Coast, go to Vegas in between games and say, no, I wasn't there, don't be ridiculous. And you just don't call in front of the slot machines. Hey, audience. You know, it's that time of year where everyone is debating who the number one pick is going to be.

Well, let me tell you something that is undebatable. Who the world's number one vodka is. That is Smirnoff. And as fun as it is to debate whether or not the team with the number one pick goes pass rush or wide receiver quarterback, one thing that we all know is we're going with Smirnoff as our number one vodka pick. Isn't that right, Dano?

Smirnoff rules! Smirnoff rules! So while you're over there hosting your draft parties, you know one thing in particular you need, well, there's two things that you absolutely need. The draft on TV, that's a must. But number two, what is it, Dano? Smirnoff!

Do you like Dano? Support the people who support us. Smyrnof supports us. I like Smyrnof. I don't like Dano. And thanks to Smyrnof, God Bless Football is doing their first ever watch-along livestream in front of a live audience

in Nashville, Tennessee. Join God Bless Football during round one of the draft on the Levitard Show YouTube channel on April 24th. More details to come. Please drink responsibly. Smirnoff, number 21 vodka, distilled from grain, 40% alcohol by volume. The Smirnoff company, New York, New York. Please do not share with anyone under legal drinking age. Folks, it's Mike Ryan, and you know that Miller Lite has basically been a partner of this show for almost 20 years? And as we celebrate 50 years of Miller Lite, that means for a large chunk of it, and look,

I didn't go to school for math, but I'm pretty sure that's like 80% of the time that Miller Lite's been existing, they've been with our show. And I'm so grateful for it because we truly believe this. If you listen to us back in our radio days throughout our times in national radio, to the pirate face, to now, you know that Miller Lite has been a huge supporter of ours. And I've always been a huge supporter of Miller Lite. Why? Because it's got taste you know you can depend on. A great beer trusted by beer lovers for 50 years.

Miller Lite. Great taste. 96 calories. Go to MillerLite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time! Celebrate responsibly, Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.