The Josh Innes Show - JIS Classic: Jim Deshaies

Episode Date: June 27, 2025

Yesterday we posted our classic interview with Bill Brown. Today, I've got a classic interview with longtime Astros color analyst Jim Deshaies. This is from 2017. He had already left Houston to work for the Cubs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Very good, and I'm sure a lot of people are glad to hear from you. You're still sorely missed here, but glad things are going well in Chicago. And I think you and Lynn Casper sound fantastic on the Cubs broadcast, by the way. Well, thanks very much. I appreciate that and we've had fun. Absolutely we had Brownie in here last week and he said I got to tell you the shade story, I'm sure he'll he'll share it with you when you have them on but when you played in

the Metro dome. Did you guys lock the PA announcer in the locker room or haha that was that was a, that was a, I believe a Puckett Herbeck story. And it was before I got there, but they related to me. Yeah, Bob Casey was the PA guy there and he, he worked on field level behind home plate. So, you know, it was a loose punch. And so there, and the World Series in 91, playing Atlanta. And Casey leaves his little perch to go use the bathroom and they lock him in. And so the hitters do to start the inning and there's no announcement because Casey's

in the bathroom banging on the door screaming and cussing, now let me out of here. That's great. That's great. We're talking with Brownie about that I'm sure you know this but like when talking with Bill Brown the told a story about himself. I never knew I had no idea that Brownie was on the radio in Vietnam. That's amazing that he followed good morning, Vietnam that we like. Yeah, I believe he knew I don't think the fun but new

Adrian Cronauer. Yeah, that's amazing. You guys had such a I believe he knew I don't know if it's a friend but new Adrian Cronauer yeah, that's amazing you guys had such a great County is an international man of mystery. Let me tell you. All over the place. Oh that I know and that's what we learn we hung out with him for an hour up here and you guys had such a great report and such a great broadcast and one of the things that he talked about was really it was when the game would get into a blowout where you guys could really shine because you'd kind of start telling stories and

it would become loose and fun and you guys had such a great broadcast of course, but when it started and I wasn't here for it. But when you guys first got together, what did that broadcast sound like. Well, I think it took a while, you know, when I first got started. I was doing radio and television. I was doing radio mostly with Milo. Then Brownie would come over and do play-by-play in the middle three.

Then on the road, Brownie and I were partners. He was such a good partner because I was brand new to it. Frankly, I think I stunk early on because I didn't know what to say, when to say it. It seems like it should be an easy job, but until you actually get in that seat, you're just trying to find your way. And Brownie provided great cover because he was so knowledgeable. He was on top of everything. And even at the end, I used to, just for fun, I throw some name out there and go, yeah,

I heard they're thinking about calling up Joe Jones. And Brownie would be, oh, he's a double A and he's hitting 297. I was like, you know, this guy's like the savant. But you know, it just took a while for me to get comfortable. And then once I, you know, once I was doing TV only and working pretty much exclusively with Brownie, I think that's when we hit our stride. What was the initial reaction from the fans like when you got to the broadcast?

I don't remember. I would imagine it probably wasn't good. I think that's the nature of all new guys when you're new to that chair. And I'm coming in behind Larry Durker, who I think Durker's one of the best ever and so and people get used to sound they used to a style so even if you're you know experienced and have worked in another market when you're new it takes a while and so I would imagine there was some pushback.

You know, thank God there wasn't a lot of social media going on back then, because I wasn't exposed to, the people probably hated me. And had I heard it, I might have curled up in the fetal position and stopped doing it. So I think it was easier to break in, you know, in the new market then than it would be now, because you're gonna hear all the naysayers now when you start somewhere fresh. Breaking news news a brand new game is now live at

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If you or someone you know has concerns about gambling, visit connexontario.ca, TZ and Z-Supply. Jim Deshaies with us. And speaking of social media, do you think it's tougher for players now because there's so much immediate backlash to things you do that you know it's hard if it's for anybody that goes say they wear the collar one

night you're over for you go to your phone you pick it up you look at social media blank players the worst ever I can't believe we traded for him do you think it's tougher for guys mentally to play the game now than it was say 30 years ago well yeah I think yeah it used be, if you're having a bad stretch and you didn't want to, you know, get feedback from the public, you turned off the radio and you didn't read the newspaper. Now you have to look away from your phone and your iPad and your computer and everything else. Or you just start blocking people, which I guess, if I were a player, that's what I would

be inclined to do or just not participate at all. Do you block people on Twitter? Yeah, heck yeah. I haven't done it in a while, but yeah, I have no tolerance for somebody who wants to rip me on social media. I get it. Everybody has a different taste. But if somebody wants to bury me, I just don't want to read it. I mute them because see then if you mute them, people don't know that you decided that you

don't want to hear from them anymore. You look a little less, I don't know what the word I'm looking for is, but they don't know that you didn't want to deal with it. Right, right, right. OK, yes. Mute, mute, over block. I think I've done a little of both. Well, fair enough. We're talking with Jim Deshaies. How tough of a decision was it for you to leave Houston to go to Chicago?

It wasn't easy in that I loved my time in Houston. Houston's my baseball home, it always will be. It's in my DNA, kind of. But I knew Brownie was getting close to stepping away. Some other colleagues had been either let go or changed directions. I was closing in on 55 years of age, and you're at a point in your life where the thinking becomes okay I'm either going to do this for the rest of my career or I'm going to go do something different which might be really exciting and that kind of helped drive

that decision and plus it was flattering when the people from Chicago called and expressed interest and they made a run at me. You know I wasn't thinking about leaving until I heard from them. And then I started, the more I started to think about it, you know, I guess it was kind of a, you know, the whole, I know it's a cliche, but life is a journey, you know, let's try something different. If we don't do it now, it'll never happen. And that would have been fine.

I would have been fine to stay have been I would find a stand use of my whole career. I actually love my time there there's just a chance to go do something different like being a free agent player. Let's go check something new out. Well of course and how tough is it and I think Lynn Casper came into a tough spot too because Chicago has the history with Harry Carey and he comes in there is the guy think he was in Miami before that and you come in

from Houston is it tougher do you have to go through a demo process to they bring you when you do like a mock-up 3 innings with Lynn Casper to see how you sound how did the process play out. No it was mostly I think it was you know the series of interviews getting to know me me getting to know them for different entities because I was originally, hired by WGN. So I was talking to WGN,

I was talking to Comcast Chicago, I was talking to the Cubs, getting comfortable with everybody there. They watched my games with Brownie, they had tapes, so they were aware of my work. So we didn't do any demo work, none of that, I didn't sit down together. I think what happened was when Bob Renley left Chicago and they knew they had to hire somebody,

they went to Len and he gave them a handful of names that he thought would be a good fit. And I was among them. And that's what started the ball rolling. Now talking with Jim Deshaies. So last night I'm watching the Astros television broadcast and they're pointing out the 86 team and they bring up your eight strikeouts in eight batters, which I think is still tied for a record to start a game. At what point in that do you realize you're striking out every batter? Do you know it in every at bat? Are you thinking about that in every at bat? Well, you're aware of that. I was aware I was striking people out and then I struck

them all out to that point. I had no idea it was a record until I got seven because actually earlier that year, Joe Cowley pitching for the White Sox had struck out seven and that established what was then, I think it was that year or the year before, the modern major league record. So after I got seven, there was kind of a prolonged response from the crowd. And I turned around, I peeked up at the scoreboard in the dome, and I just tied Cowley's record. So that's when I first became aware of the record. Then I got eight, and then number nine was a pinch hitter and he popped up. How good was that? You look at the top three really or top four

in that rotation in 86 and we were just talking with Larry Anderson actually he joined us earlier in the show and he was talking about that rotation but you get you you've got Nolan Ryan you've got Mike Scott who's the Cy Young Award winner. You could argue that's one of the best 123 rotations to not win at all that that, that rotation was outstanding. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I was just fun to be a part of it,

to go along for the ride. You know, Scotty, no one as good a one-two punch as it was in the league that year. Nepra, I think, was a 17-game winner. You know, I went to spring training, not guaranteed a job, and broke camp as the fourth-slash-fifth starter. We only had four to start because of off days. And then the fifth starter spot was kind of a revolving door for a while. Then we traded for Danny Darwin, and Darwin joined the club. He made starts towards the end of the year

starts towards the end of the year and was very effective. Yeah, so you know, it was just, you know, I remember my first full year in the big league. So to be part of that rotation, to be part of that ride was just incredible. And you know, we had Scottie Pede up to pitch game seven, obviously, if we win game six. So we all felt really good about that. And you know, we were in ready to go the World Series with that 3 nothing lead heading into the the 9th inning against the Mets. And it just it all kind of fell apart eventually in the 16th but before we let you go obviously you you're with the

Cubs they win the World Series last year and there's a lot of I love you call them natural comparisons but young team on the come last year and around this time last year the Cubs I think it lost about 1520 Cardinals and close the gap Astros kind of struggling now do you see any similarities between the 2 teams. Well, absolutely and remember this is the you know this is the year of the the Astros because just playing the World Series according to the sports illustrated story couple

years ago. But yeah, young, talented position players, you know, that's what we had going for us last year with the veteran pitching staff. The pitching situation is a little bit different. But it's similar in that once the Cubs last year hit their stride, they were gone. You know, there was no way anybody was going to catch us. We had very little drama in the second half of the season. Our league got to be so big. It wasn't a whole lot of excitement in terms of the pennant race.

The Astros have that kind of a team. I mean, they are loaded. Obviously, it will nicked up right now, but very similar stories. Do you think if they get another starter, and I don't know how close attention attention you pay but if they get a third guy, a third starter to go along with healthy McCullers and healthy Keichel, do you think they get out of the American League? I would, yeah I would, well, you get into the postseason and anything can happen, you know, let's start there. But absolutely they would be, you know, depending on who that third starter was, I would love their chances. I've heard a lot of talk about Kitana. There's going to be

other people in play at the trade deadline. I think if I'm Jeff, I'm starting to think in terms of not just getting better to make sure I win the division, but let's get as good as we can get so we can make that postseason run. I think they have that good of a team and that's kind of what the Cubs did last year when they acquired oldest Chapman. I think when we made that deal we were pretty comfortable we're going to win the division but okay so here's our window of opportunity to win the whole shooting match. What do we need to do to get incrementally better? They identify Chapman as that piece, and I'm sure that's what Jeff is trying to do for his rotation. One more before you, and we're talking with Jim Deshaies. So in Chicago, obviously you're

the Cubs, but White Sox, you see them, read about them in the paper and all that. Quintana is a name you brought up. What do you think has been his biggest problem this year? I haven't paid a whole lot of attention to him this year. I don't know. I, I, I haven't seen stuff wise if it's any different, if he's healthy, I would have no qualms, even if he's having an off year, if he's healthy, he's a good pitcher. Maybe just the notion that he's thinking about a possible trade, not sure what the, what the future holds for him might be Knocking him off his game a little bit

But if I'm sending scouts to watch him pitch and his velocity is where it normally is and the action on his break Balls where it normally is I would have no qualms acquiring him good stuff Jim Deshaies Yeah, and and they're gonna look to add a guy like that so JD great talking with you, sir Hi, hey, hello to everybody in Houston for me good to be with you. Thank you so much sir that is Jim Deshaies here on the Josh and the show.