The Kevin Sheehan Show - Remembering Jack Kent Cooke

Episode Date: April 6, 2022

Kevin opened the show with thoughts on Jack Kent Cooke who passed away 25 years ago. Why didn't his sonJohn Kent Cooke keep the team? Why did the team sell for much more than Cooke thought? Also, lots of Commanders' football talk along with Michael Ortman, author of "Opening Day/50 For 50" on the show to discuss his best selling book.  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.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. 25 years ago today, Jack Kent Cook passed away at the age of 84 years old. This was the obituary written by R.H. Melton and Richard Justice in the Washington Post the following day, Monday, April 7th. Washington Redskins owner Jack Kent Cook, who built the NFL franchise into the Washington.

a three-time Super Bowl champion and was nearing completion of a monumental new stadium in suburban Maryland died yesterday after suffering a heart attack at his home in northwest Washington. He was 84. Cook, who had a long history of heart and respiratory problems, was pronounced dead at George Washington University Hospital at 12.09 p.m. after collapsing in his library yesterday morning, said Robert Chesser, the chief of the hospital's emergency room, who was on duty. at the time. And then there's a description of him not responding to medical treatment, etc. And then a paragraph about Cook being at the hospital where he passed away being attended to by his wife at the time, Marlene Romalo Cook, his son John Kent Cook, his daughter-in-law,

and his grandson. Then I pick it up a little bit further down in the article. Redskins officials and Cook aides said they expected little disruption in overall management of the team or the final phases of the $175 million, 78,600 seat stadium in Landover just inside the Capitol Beltway in PG County. John Kent Cook, the team president, has told associates that he intends to keep the Redskins in the family and assume control of day-to-day operations. The younger cook, who has held wide-ranging authority over the team for the past several years, declined to comment yesterday and instructed his staff and all coaches to refrain from publicly discussing his father's death. In a region whose public figures often tend toward the bland, the elder cook was

anything but, a natty, silver-haired business mogul who suffered fools and uncooperative politicos badly. He was a contradictory figure, a big ego in a dominion. diminutive body, a dealmaker who got his way by bullying, cajoling, and caressing sometimes all at once. As word of Cook's death spread, there was an outpouring of testimonials from the White House and elected leaders across the Washington area, including local jurisdictions where Cook had tried unsuccessfully for 10 years to find a new home for his beloved team. That search which ended two years ago with an agreement on the land oversight was emblematic of Cook. His exchanges with local leaders were oversized and dramatic. In public with then Virginia governor Doug Wilder, he was at his courtly best.

In private with then D.C. Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly, he could be overbearing and at his chauvinistic worst. So long as I agreed with him, he was very pleasant, recalled former Maryland Governor William Donald Schaefer. There is no negotiating. It's his way only. I'm Jack Kent Cook. This is the way it's going to be closed quote. quote, Maryland Senate President Thomas v. Mike Miller Jr., who also negotiated with Cook, recalled the owner's sizable ego. Miller said he once declined an invitation to sit in Cook's exclusive box in RFK Stadium,

but promised to look up at Cook from his own end zone seats. There's probably 40,000 people who look up to you, Miller recalled, telling Cook. Cook replied, no, all 58,000 look up. I'm part of the show, closed quote. Wilder, the governor of Virginia said back in the late 80s, early 90s, said yesterday it was sad that Cook did not live long enough to see his dream come to fruition in Landover. He used to kid with me a lot and say, look, I'm not interested in a memorial stadium. I want to see something, Wilder said. Virginia Governor George Allen, whose father once coached the Redskins, described Cook yesterday as an extraordinary lion in the world of business and professional sports, an unequaled competitor. Joe Gibbs, who coached all three of Cook's Super Bowl champion teams yesterday credited Cook with making him a professional head coach for the first time 16 years ago.

Quote, I was 40 years old and no one took a chance on me. Gibbs said yesterday from Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, where the racing team he owns was competing in the interstate batteries 500. That showed the kind of guts he had. He gambled and went with me a nobody. Before his health began to fail, Cook was a regular at Redskin Park, the team's practice facility in Ashburn.

He frequently drove his black BMW into his reserved spot, then accompanied his spaniel Coco, drove a golf cart down to the field area to watch the team practice. He would sit through bitterly cold days and sweat, filtering heat commenting on virtually every play and every player. He would chide GM Charlie Casserly for draft choices that displeased him and compliment him on high-performance players. Once when a coach asked, what are your dreams, Mr. Cook, the owner snapped, I don't dream, I do. And then it goes on to talk about him as a businessman, him as a local businessman, him as a local

socialite, et cetera. And then there is this final part of the obituary. During a 1992 interview, after announcing plans to build his new stadium in Alexandria, Cook touched briefly on his own mortality, a subject he customarily avoided. I want to be buried in a burgundy and gold coffin, he said, and when I'm gone, someone named Cook is going to own the team. And when he's gone, someone else named Cook is going to run the team. Also that day, he had telephoned Gibbs and told him, Joe, be honest with me. What are our prospects for this season? Gibbs said he felt good about the Redskins' chances of winning a second straight Super Bowl.

Well, Joe, Cook said, you know what I want, three in a row. Well, they never did get three in a row. and in 1992 they made the playoffs and they lost in the divisional round to the 49ers. I thought that last part in particular of the O bit, I want to be buried in a burgundy and gold coffin. And when I'm gone, someone named Cook is going to own the team. And when he's gone, someone else named Cook is going to run the team. I'm sure you meant to say own the team.

So Jack Ken Cook left this earth 25. years ago today. You could say for fans of the team, it was the day the music died. Even though we didn't know it on that day, we didn't know that his son wouldn't be left with an easy way to keep the team. We didn't know that the team would be purchased by Dan Snyder, leading to a 22-year run of losing and embarrassment that if Mr. Cook has been watching all along from above, I'm sure he has said many a time, Daniel, my boy, you've ruined a good thing. Please, Daniel, get on your boat, sail away, and sell the team. But anyway, so many of you have no clue what this was like back then.

It just, it's been so long now. Generations, plural, have missed out on the one thing more than anything else that for such a long period of time unified this city more than anything else. I'm sure if Mr. Cook, and I will refer to him as Mr. Cook, much the elder back then than any of us, Mr. Cook knew, if he knew how much this would unravel after his death, he would have changed the way that he had things set up to make it easier for his son to buy the team. because it wasn't easy. You know, whether he didn't want John to own the team, although the obituary, you know,

and that line says that he did, or maybe he just didn't know how much the team would be worth on the open market. And there is some information that's been written over the years about that. But the bottom line is he messed it up. You know, Cook's major goal upon his death had little to do with the football team. You know, he created the Jack Kent Cook Foundation

with 90% of the team's eventual sale targeted to go to that foundation, which would fund academic college things like research and scholarships. Maybe he thought John would have enough money himself to buy the team or enough to buy a majority of the team and raise the rest of the money through investors. But I read this story from the New York Times from the 10 year anniversary of Cook's death. Cook thought that the team would sell in his last years of life. He thought the team would be worth between $200 and $300 million, a price that he thought John could have made work and could have afforded,

whether it was with his own money or with his own money and other money borrowed from minority investors. But the league was really on this meteoric rise at the time. There were new TV deals in the offing. And there were new stadiums like the new stadium in Landover. And the team sold for $800 million in 1999. Reports were on the 10-year anniversary of Cook's death in the New York Times story that I read, that the reports were that Cook was willing to go as high as $500 million, but once it started going north of $500 million, it was out of his range.

So it was Cook's Foundation where the bulk of the $800 million sale to Dan Snyder & Company, most of that money went to the Jack Kent Cook Foundation, which has benefited students in need of financial help to go to college for years. They have been the big winners in the sale of the day. team back in 1999. Education was the real winner. John Ken Cook and the rest of us were the losers in all of this. He didn't see it coming, I don't think, and perhaps would have created an easier path for his son to own the team, for the team to stay in the family if he had known how expensive his team was going to sell for. We didn't know it 25 years ago when he breathed his last

breath that the franchise was doing the same in so many ways. Before we get to our next segment on the show, which will include some football talk, including a very impressive performance by a corner at LSU's Pro Day. I want you to listen to something that I found on YouTube. This is following Super Bowl 22, the Doug Williams' 35 point second quarter, 42 to 10 win over Denver. This is the post game with Keith Jackson. for ABC and Pete Roselle, the commissioner at the time, presenting the Lombardi Trophy to Jack Kent Cook.

I think you'll enjoy this. Commissioner Pete Roselle holding the object of the Washington Redskins affection, the Vince Lombardi trophy. Well, here we have the leader of our new America's team, owner Jack Kent Cook, and Jack obviously was a similar performance by the Redskins. That second quarter incidentally, most valuable player Doug Williams, scored more points. He was the main driving force,

of course, the second quarter than we ever scored in one quarter in a 68-year full-season history for the National Football League. Dale the Redskins. I tell you paid it the tribute not only to a black quarterback, but to a very great quarterback.

And we mustn't forget the Ricky Sanders and all the rest of the great performances that Jimmy Smiths and so on. All I can say is I'm terribly proud to have won two of the three Super Bowls, and the entire credit goes to Joe Gibbs, to Bobby Bethard, the assistant coaching staff, and a magnificent band of football players. I hope to be the Super Bowl next year. Well, I know the commissioner doesn't really fall in love of that word dynasty, Jack,

but you guys ain't doing bad two out of three in the 80s. I hope that there is the beginning of a dynasty here, and I have every reason to believe that perhaps we may suspect one. Thank you, Keith. Well, you have had your NBA champion? you've had your NFL champions. I mean, my gosh, how long can this go on? Well, it depends on how long I'm going to live, I think. I've got another 25 years, perhaps, than me, and I hope that we have many more champions for Washington.

There's one thing before we bring in Joe Gibbs that I want you to have some mention of, and that is the man who owns a ball club who had the courage to go to his checkbook and pay $475,000 for a backup quarterback. It was very easy to do because it was that the essence of wanting to win so badly had it been 875,000 or a million 875,000. I would have said the same thing to Joe, but I would have said it quite a little bit reluctantly,

but nevertheless I would have said it. Go ahead, Joe, and get him. It's the greatest thing that's happened to us to have Doug here. He's coming over here. He's a good friend of mine. He's a good friend of everybody on the club, and he's a real leader. but the best leader on the club is my dear friend Joe Kemp, our head coach. Thank you, Jack. Congratulations to you.

Joe? Keep those reviews and ratings coming, especially on Apple Spotify. Subscribe if you don't mind if the podcast doesn't cost you a thing. But definitely if you haven't rated or reviewed us on Apple or Spotify, take 30 seconds and do it. The reviews have been great to read. This one from Galubo, huge fan of Kevin and Tom since they had the rest. radio show, having the opportunity of having them in podcast form is priceless. I'm deployed in Pakistan for the last two years, and I don't miss an episode. Thank you so much. It's really

amazing to me. I've mentioned this before, I believe, but more than 50% of our podcast audience is from outside the DMV, and many from outside the U.S. Always interesting to go to the list of countries where some of the downloads and listens are coming from. We have a lot of listeners in the UK in particular, and it's great because I do know that the UK has a lot of Washington football team fans because they were one of the first games that the Brits in particular were able to watch. I think Super Bowl 17 was the first live NFL game televised. in London. I think that's true.

And Washington, you know, then went over a few years later to play a preseason game in London against the 49ers. So anyway, thank you. Also, this from Elaine in Fairfax. Elaine writes, Kevin and Tom are a great team. They make me laugh out loud, which frequently happens when I'm working out at the gym. When you made your list of girls next door, though, boys, you left out Meg Ryan. Yeah, that's a great call. Meg Ryan, total girl next door looks. I had a lot of you that reached out via Twitter that just were blown away that I couldn't immediately come up with Alicia Cuthbert's name in the movie, a girl next door. I came up with it. It took me about 30 seconds. My good friend Cowboy Clay immediately called me after that podcast and said, how could that not just roll off your tongue,

Alicia Cuthbert's name. She is, you know, iconic for her role in girl next door. Well, I, you know, I got the Canadian part. I knew she was married to a hockey player, and then eventually it came to me. Yeah, that was fun last week. Tommy, by the way, oh, I probably, well, I'm going to mention this.

Follow him on Twitter, because apparently this Disney trip is a disaster for him. I did text him the other day, I just said, how's Disney going? And he said, this is how it's going. And he sent me the room trashing scene from Citizen Kane. So he's not doing very well. I told him to get the fast passes, so he didn't have to wait in line. You know, you can't be a rookie at Disney and really enjoy it that first time.

If you go there unprepared, especially during spring break, it can be a nightmare. I have a feeling he's having a nightmare of a time right now. All right. 26 Catch rights. Must listen for commanders fans. Really enjoy the show since I'm not

living in the DMV. My favorite shows are usually with Tom and Cooley. Great insight on my beloved dysfunctional franchise. Love how Duke lives rent-free in Terps fans' heads to this day, despite Maryland running from the ACC.

to play lower competition. Trust me, as Duke fans, us Duke fans don't even think about the Terps. Let's go Duke. Okay, whatever. So, I wanted to start the show with this email that I got from Wren.

Wren emailed me through our website. And he wrote an email that essentially said, thank you for your thoughts on the Warren sharp ranking of Washington's schedule being so easy, it makes a lot of sense that if Washington's got an easy schedule, we'll then so do the other teams in the division. And I went through that the other day pointing out that, you know, you basically play the same schedule with the exception of three games. And the Eagles have the third easiest schedule. The Cowboys have the sixth easiest schedule.

And the Giants have the eighth easiest schedule. So while, you know, the schedule, the way he determines schedule strength, I actually liked versus the way many people do it, which is last year's records, he did it based off of the odds makers over under win totals for the upcoming season. I still think the schedule game is dangerous. But again, if your schedule's easy, it pretty much means the other teams in your division. have an easy schedule as well. And then he wrote the following to me.

He said, last year you warned us that the defense might not be as great as everybody thinks it's going to be because of the quarterbacks that are lining up on the schedule, the schedule that you have typically in the past diminished in importance. Yes, but we just went through that. And I went through that last year where I said, look, I'm not a big schedule guy. However, the positions that typically are least affected by, you know, mass injuries, quarterback. And so if you assume that you're going to play every single starting quarterback as it appears now on your schedule, that's a brutal schedule, you know, versus the one you played the year before, which was against a lot of backups, a lot of third stringers, a lot of teams. kind of fiddling around with the quarterback position because they didn't really have one.

Obviously, Washington in 2020 benefited from Dak Prescott being injured in the division. I still contend that if Prescott doesn't get injured in 2020, Dallas wins that division. Burrow got hurt, you know, in the first half of that game against Washington, or maybe it was early in the third quarter. I kind of forget now. So they got Ryan Finley in that game. You got a diminished Rothlisberger at that. point with Pittsburgh on the verge of falling apart. You got Nick Mullins. You got, you know,

whoever was starting for Carolina that day. I can't even remember. And then Philadelphia basically bench their starter to tank the game in the finale. So you had a lot of luck with respect to the quarterbacks that you played. Then last year, obviously, and we pointed this out, as Ren did, you know, it was going to be Herbert. It was going to be Josh Allen, Matt Ryan, you know, Mahomes, Rogers, Brady, Wilson, Carr, DAC twice, and it was just going to be very difficult. So, Wren, you know, points out that last year you correctly, you know, said that the defense wasn't going to be, you know, it might be a good defense, which is what I said. He didn't say this. I'm inserting this.

I did say I thought it would be a good defense, just that the results wouldn't be what they were the year before because of the teams they were facing. Well, Ren writes, well, this year, this is an easy quarterback lineup that they have. So what do you think about the defense coming up this year? Well, that's the thing that I think is, you know, right now the biggest question mark. And, you know, I had John Kime on the podcast yesterday. If you missed it, I had John on. It was all football talk, no, you know, scandal talk, no defamation law. lawsuit talk. And there's been no news actually today, which is a shocker, not yet anyway.

And, you know, John had interviewed Rivera, and Rivera had talked about this season being the season where they need to ascend and they should ascend. And he's really built up the expectations for year three. And I just look at this year as different than I looked at last year. I look at this year as a year without expectations, even though they added a better quarterback, a bigger upside quarterback. I understand that, even though I was not a big fan of the trade. But they're better at quarterback. They've got more upside at quarterback. And, you know, if they're healthy on offense, they've got a chance to be better than they were last year on offense. But to me, the big question mark is, what are they going to be defensively? Well, that's what Ren is pointing out.

You know, maybe last year it wasn't just, you know, that the defense was awful. It was the teams they were playing. Well, some of that is true, but some of it is also that their best players didn't play well defensively. And then they got hurt. But in terms of the quarterbacks they face this year, you know, you get DAC twice, you get Jones twice, you know, if it is Jones, they also signed Tyrod Taylor, and you get Jalen Hertz twice. And then you get, you know, the best quarterbacks on your schedule are Aaron Rogers, Deshawn Watson, maybe, depending on whether or not he's suspended when Cleveland shows up on the schedule. You get Kirk Cousins for the first time back at FedEx Field, and you get Matt Ryan on the road. But yeah, after that, it's right now,

whomever the starting quarterback will be in Atlanta. We think it's Marcus Marriota. Trevor Lawrence, we don't know what that means at this point. Ryan Tannahill, not exactly spectacular in their playoff loss, but Tannahill's a decent quarterback. It could be with Cleveland that you're facing Baker, Mayfield, or somebody other than Deshawn Watson. Trey Lance or Jimmy G. in San Francisco. Davis Mills in Houston. Jared Gough, Justin Fields, in Detroit and Chicago. Yeah, it is a much different quarterback landscape competitively that they are scheduled to face this year than they did last year. It's still not like an easy quarterback lineup.

You're still going to get Prescott twice and, you know, Hurts a year later. And he played well at times last year, guys. I mean, that team was not supposed to be a playoff team. And Hertz played well enough and was influential. played terrible in the playoff game against Tampa. I'll give you that. But you have Rogers and Cousins and Ryan and Watson and Tannahill, you know, all on the schedule.

We don't know what Trey Lance is going to be. We'll see. But yes, on paper going in certainly would appear to be easier than last year's incredible lineup of quarterbacks, at least when the season began. You ended up playing last year, if you recall, Russell Wilson was compromised when you played Seattle. He played, but he still wasn't back to 100% at that point.

You got, but you did get Brady. You did get Rogers. You did get Mahomes. Rogers was a little bit banged up for that game. You did get Mahomes. You did have to face James Winston with New Orleans. He actually probably, well, he did. He had probably his best game of the year before he tore his ACL against Washington.

You got a great performance from Josh Allen and Justin Herbert when you faced those quarterbacks as well. I wanted to mention that Washington is, you know, attending workout days, pro days. And one of the pro days today is at LSU, and Washington has a contingent down there at LSU's pro day. And cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. unofficial pro-day numbers at LSU today. 43740, 38.5 vertical, 10-foot-2-inch broad, all 32 teams in attendance for Derek Stingley and all the LSU players on Pro Day.

Washington, to me, has a need for Corner. I'm still not sure about the Jackson acquisition from last year. I like Fuller. I thought St. Juice looked like a guy that has a chance. to be a good player. But Washington needs a big-time corner. They do not have a great corner. Fuller's good. Jackson was good, had a good year at one, you know, had a really good year in Cincinnati,

two years ago now. But if Stingley Jr. or if, you know, Gardner from Cincinnati are there at 11, Washington would have to seriously consider that. You know, even if, let's just say, Garrett Wilson or Chris Ilave, the two receivers that they love, are there. It would be amazing, but I've seen, I've seen Derek Stingley, Jr. available at 11 and a lot of mocks.

I've seen him gone before 11. I've seen him go, you know, the pick after Washington. But Stingley is, you know, he had some injuries at LSU, no doubt. You know, it made kind of the performance at times. a little bit inconsistent. But Derek Stingley Jr. has, you know, has the speed, has the length, has the size at, you know, somewhere around 6'1 as a corner. They've got to consider Stingley Jr. if he's there. That leads me to this, too.

And I think we've talked about this already. But if we haven't, I'm just going to mention it real quickly. I think the draft for Washington is so interesting right now. because on one hand, it would be great if the quarterbacks are gone by the time Washington's on the clock at 11, because that pushes down receivers and potentially corners. Could even push down, as John Kime was hopeful of yesterday, a guy like Kyle Hamilton, safety at an under dame. I doubt that'll happen. But if Pickett and Willis were to go, let's just say two to Detroit and six to Carolina,

It's going to push some players down and give Washington a better chance at Drake London or Garrett Wilson or Chris Olivae or potentially Gardner or or Stingley Jr. as mentioned if they're looking for a corner. And then at the same time, if the quarterbacks don't go, then all of a sudden the teams below them in need of a quarterback, New Orleans, Pittsburgh would really be the first two, potentially jump up to a lot. Pittsburgh in particular may want to jump a jump in front of New Orleans, who's got number 16 right now in that trade with Philadelphia, and they may want to try to get in front of New Orleans, and then all of a sudden maybe 11 becomes a very valuable spot to move back and pick up a first next year and maybe replace the third that they gave up for Wentz this year.

It's really, we're three weeks away tomorrow night from the, the first round of the draft. A real interesting draft in so many ways because of the major question marks surrounding the quarterbacks. And yet still several teams probably looking for one. When you go through the first round, you know, you could easily see Detroit wanting a quarterback. You could easily see Carolina wanting a quarterback.

You know, the Giants are interesting with their two picks, you know, in the first seven. we're going to find out what the new group thinks really of Daniel Jones. Atlanta at 8 now is in the market for a quarterback. Seattle's in the market for a quarterback. And those are all the teams before you get to Washington. And then after Washington, you've got potentially New Orleans at 16 and Pittsburgh at 20. So Pittsburgh and New Orleans could have another trade partner after. Washington, in many ways I think Washington really has to, you know, play up the fact that they could

still go quarterback so that there is a chance somebody wants to trade up in, you know, in front of them to take a quarterback, which pushes maybe a good player to them, or is willing to trade into their spot for him. Derek Stingley Jr., though, pretty impressive pro day based on what I've seen tweeted out today. Tomorrow is opening day, the Nats and Mets weather permitting, the first of a four-game set at Nats Park. We will talk more about the Nats season tomorrow on the show. But today, I welcome on to the podcast, Michael Ortman. Michael has a book out called Opening Day, 50 for 50.

You can get it anywhere you get a book. And it's about his 50-year run of going to opening day games from 1970 through the 2019 season opener. Of course, 2020, we had a pandemic. And it took him from his hometown, which is here, Washington, D.C. and R.F.K. Stadium with the senators, to Baltimore, to Chicago, back to Baltimore, and then ultimately back to our fair town of Washington, D.C. Three cities, six ballparks, five home teams, 50 opening days. So I'm going to, I'm going to guess that when you went to your first opening day in 1970,

you didn't think it would be a run of 50 in a row that would end in a book. That's for sure. It was a cold and miserable day at RFK Stadium, but dad pulled me out of school early to go watch the senators play the Tigers. and I guess now we look back. The rest is history. So I'm from here, and I'm just barely old enough to remember, Mike, my father taking me to Senators games at RFK Stadium. In fact, I've got two memories.

One is watching Denny McLean pitch his first game as a Washington senator after trade brought him to D.C. The other one was walking out of RFK on one summer night and not being able to find my father's car, our family car, which had been stolen. So those are the two memories of Senators' games. So I'd ask you, in 1970, when you started this, how old were you? I was nine. You were nine.

The previous summer, the previous summer, the Senators had a winning record under Ted Williams. And my parents took me and some friends to my ninth birthday party, August 9th, 1969. I'll never forget it. There's even a picture on our website. It was Autograph Day. and Frank Howard hit a baseball further than this little boy could have imagined. And the senators played the Seattle pilots that day. And I was hooked.

My dad wasn't much of a baseball fan. He was a big event fan. But taking me the opening day in his mind opened me with a big event, the president would be there, et cetera. That would be fun. And we had a big age gap between us. But that was kind of his way of connecting with me. We do tell a pretty funny story about my dad, the very first chapter of the book to kind of introduce everyone to him. but that's how it all got started, 69, 70.

And then that opening day in 71, you just talked about Danny McLean. He pitched, I guess, the second or third year to the season. Dick Bosman was the opening day starter in 71. But Kurt Flood was the opening day center fielder. Right. And we used that year to kind of start the story of the journey to free agency that Kurt Flood really was the spark that lit the fuse. It ultimately turned into what we now have since these big contracts.

Yeah, he was. and a very controversial figure of the day because of it. So back to the first game. So opening days back then at RFK, which, by the way, there were only two of them because they moved after the 71 season. But I'm interested in those first two, and I will get a copy of the book and certainly read through it. And I'll be very interested to see about those first two days. So was Nixon there for both of those opening days? He was there for the first one, but he didn't show up until the fifth inning.

Of the first one? He was busy at the office, shall we say. Okay. That was a procedural vote in the Senate that day, and he needed to stay back for it. I think some of his political colleagues warned him, says, Mr. President, we need the vice president available case. There's a tie. Not you, but okay.

So Agnew was there. He didn't get the job either, because he literally needed to be on standby to break a tie vote if he needed. It had to do with the procedural vote to have. fill of vacancy on the Supreme Court. So Nixon delegates the first pitch ceremony to his son-in-law, David Eisenhower. Oh, sure. And Pat was there and, et cetera. And so Nixon shows up late, but he did make it to the game. What were opening day crowds like for the senators? You know, the 69 season is a very memorable season with Ted Williams managing and the senators having a winning season for the first time in forever.

Was opening day at a stadium that, you know, when you go back, and I've done this before, and you look for the, you know, reasons that short moved the team to Texas, you know, attendance was certainly one of them. And we were coming off the 68 riots, and there were a lot of reasons for why attendance was bad, including the team wasn't very good. But it was good in 69. But what were the crowds like for opening day? Were they sold out?

Yes, opening day was a different event. It wasn't just another regular season game, and it still is to this day. There are many cities with the largest crowd of the year, or close to it anyway, is opening day. And Washington senators in those two, it was no different. Fans camped out overnight to buy the last 4,000 tickets for that first opening day of my streak. I don't know how my day I got tickets, I just don't remember. But that's how popular opening day was. And remember, since 1910, the President of the United States was,

usually a throwing in a pitch. And we weren't as partisan a nation at the time as we are now. And so just being there for the president, it didn't matter what side of the aisle he was on was just a big deal. And that's part of what made it so special. Were we still at a time where people dressed for sporting events? I mean, 1970, I don't think so. But just refresh my memory.

Like, were people, you know, jerseys weren't a big thing. There were hat days. bat days, the whole thing. But what was the dress for opening day in 1970? Do you remember? That day I bundled up, I know, because it was just darn cold. I remember we sat on the, we sat on the third base that was raining, and sat on the third base side way up high and the fifth level of RFK Stadium. But your point's correct. I, jerseys and so forth weren't a thing, but it was more like bring a pennant if you had one. I have a picture on the website of me and my dad at Super Bowl 7.

I didn't have one of the two of us at a Senators game, but he did take me to the Redskins Dolphin, the Super Bowl 7 game. Wow. I saved up all my newspaper. I was delivering newspapers, but Washington Evening Star, and I saved my money, and in those days, the Super Bowl wasn't the thing it is today. There were scalpers outside getting two bucks a ticket. But I bring that up because there's a picture on the website of the two of us at the Super Bowl,

and he is wearing a coat and tie. And I'm wearing a turtleneck and a jacket. I just pulled it up. You've got a pair of sunglasses on as well as you sat in the L.A. Coliseum that day. That's pretty cool. I mean, being that young, so you were, you know, 12 years old at that point, and you're at the first ever Washington Redskins Super Bowl. And I certainly remember that day. That was a disappointing day.

Yeah, Gary, you're a premier, great quarterback for the Dolphin. Yeah. But your dad is dressed up for that one. Was your dad more of a football fan? Dad was a big event fan. I think he always felt you had to dress up to go to a big event, whether it was a football game or a baseball game or a presidential inaugural parade or whatever it may be.

That was what he floated his boat. Wow. He dressed out. So, you know, again, so I'm just picturing, you know, RFK Stadium, and I can kind of vaguely remember what it looked like is a baseball stadium. In fact, you know, at the end of baseball stadium season back then, you know, the baseball diamond would actually cross over the football field. We were much more of a football family, and my father and my uncles took me to those games, you know, starting in the early 70s, really.

But, you know, for whatever reason, I still have a memory, like even with the senators gone, the baseball diamond was still there as part of the field until baseball was, season was over and then they would cover it up. And that was the case with a lot of, you know, multi-purpose stadiums throughout sports. So before we move on through the rest of your journey, what are some of the memories of those two games at RFK with the senators? The weather was a lot better in 71 than it was in 70. Okay. It was sunny, beautiful day. Vida Blue was starting that day for the Oakland Athletics. It was his break-out season. He started the All-Star game for the American League that year.

He was terrific, but not on that opening day. The Senator Sheldon, he was gone by the second or third inning, and Dick Bosn went to distance for the victory for the senators. So those would have been the Oakland A's 1971 just before they started their run. Was Reggie Jackson a part of that team? Some of the great players like Bert Camp and Aris and Sal Bando and Catfish. Hunter and all, you know, all, all the word, did they have the makings of a championship team in 71? I don't. I don't remember who was on the roster. That's why I put the link in the website for the

box, I go back and check. Okay. I go by the blue and starting pitcher. I will also tell you that I know that Randy Jackson's on a team. My dad's office was up above Rinaldi's cleaners at northwest, Washington, D.C., a couple blocks no way down. And one Saturday, dad took me down to Rinaldi's, because the senators and would always send the uniforms to Rinaldi's, the home team anyway team, and they would get laundered and then brush them back over to the stadium for that night's game. Oh, wow. I went down on Saturday morning. I'm 9, 10 years old, and Mr. Rinaldi, let me try on Frank Howard's jersey,

and Reggie Jackson's jersey. And if you remember, the A's jerseys in those days, the other jerseys were fast. And they were wild. They had more uniforms than any team in sports, you know. They had green, they had gold, they had white, they had white. a ton of them. By the way, I just looked it up. That was the first year of Oakland making the playoffs, and then their run of winning World Series would start a few years later. That makes sense. If it weren't for the fact that it was a vest, you would never know

I was in Reggie Jackson's shirt because it was bigger than I was, but my arms got to stick out on the side. It was also very much, very appreciated because the legendary Phil Wood is collects everything. She's a baseball guru has a 1969 Frank Howard jersey that he let me use to recreate that photo for myself. I don't have the Reggie piece, but I have the Frank Howard piece. And there's a picture on the website of me at the statue at Nats Park, kind of connecting the decades there for me.

It was very, very nice of Phil. All right. Let's talk about what came next. Obviously, the team moves, and now there are the Orioles. So I'm assuming that the next many years, you were at Memorial Stadium and then eventually Camden Yards. That's correct. The way I recall is, and I only can guess how it played out, because I truly don't remember the details. The opening day of 72 was delayed because of the first player strike.

It was delayed a couple of weeks from which the players secured binding arbitration. And it was moved because the weather was Sunday afternoon, which is odd, opening day on a Sunday afternoon. And I'm guessing we got home from church and Dad said, let's go to opening day. And I thought he was crazy. Like, what do you mean? My team went to Texas. And I'm now a Texas Rangers fan, Dad. Oh, in Baltimore.

I'm Baltimore. Where's that? We was Northwest Washington, D.C. And we probably got out a map and figured out how to get there. And went to opening day. It was a cold, miserable day. But I don't have any clear, vivid memories of that one. I had to do some online research to piece the details back together.

But I do know that Bernie Allen of the Washington senators was now at the Yankees. and he played in that game. Got it. So, yes, Baltimore for the next several years, had a great time in 1977 because the Texas Rangers, who I was still cheering for him, came to Baltimore to play the world on opening day.

Jim Palmer, Bert Bly, 11, 10-in, 10-in-in-complete game. I make a banner that says, go, senators, and I hang it off the mezzanine Memorial Stadium, hoping that Toby Harrow might see it or something, right? And it appears on the front, page of the evening star the next day.

Wow. There's my banner on the front page of the paper. Do you have that? Did somebody take a picture of that? Did you have that? On the website. I put that up there. It's just the clip from the paper right under David Israel's column on Jim Palmer.

Oh, wow. Let me put that in there, too. So then off to college. So now you're off to college. Okay, you went to Notre Dame, okay. And you're coming back for opening day? No, actually. I figured it's over.

I'm off in college. I know baseball team with 100 miles of the week, except he'd be a guy named Craig Chabal. And he says he likes the White Sox. They stink, too, just as much as the Washington Centers. And I said, well, and he had a car. So that's what he had a team. He had a car. Let's go.

So we went to Kamiski Park, and it was, coincident. Phil Wood had to remind me this. It was the 60th anniversary of the Black Sox scandal. And we went that year, 1979, and they played the, expansion Toronto Blue Jays. And they were so dreadful that Bill Vec apologized to the fans and said the White Sox were dreadful that if they come back the next day they can come for free. It was that bad a game.

So what about the Cubs instead? So when Harry Carey, who I idolized, that was my, well, Kamiski was a totally different experience in Memorial Stadium, RFK, in part, in large part, because Harry Carey was hanging out of the press box with a beer and one. hand in a microphone and the others. They can take me out to the ballgame. And Nancy South from the origin, it was great, great atmosphere. I loved it. When Harry defected from the south side to the north side in 1982, I said, Craig, let's go, we'll follow Harry. He said, I'm not going to Wrigley Field. I'm a White Sox fan. I can't go to the Cubs game.

So I found another friend who was a Cubs fan, and off we went to Wrigley Field for Harry's debut at at Regilly in 82. Oh, wow. I'm assuming that as a baseball opening day, 50-year run guy, you've been to a lot of parks. You know, the book is about opening day, but you've been to a lot of baseball games and a lot of parks during your life. I had in my life, not for open to open to eight, but I have been up and down East Coast. I've been a lot of all parks, yes. So where does Wrigley rank for you? Wrigley back then, not great, as I recall. It was iconic, the IV and so forth, but it's so cold and miserable. You won't do it.

The opening days usually in cold weather cities aren't the nicest of weather days. As we know, I mean, I can remember the Orioles. In fact, I want to say, well, no, they played the World Series games against the Pirates. There was a snow game. but I think also an opening day maybe in 78 or 79 because I went to one of those at Memorial Stadium. Snow was falling as well. So those things happen on opening day in Cold Weather Cities in early April. But so take me through Chicago and now you move back where? Like where are you living as you're continuing this as an adult, you know, after college? Washington, D.C.

and the privilege of after college working for the infamous Charlie Broughtman, the infamous sports PR guy and opening day announcer of the of baseball in Washington. Legend legendary Charlie Brotman, one of my all-time favorite people. Yes. And in fact, I spend all of chapter 1983 talking about Charlie. And I sent him his copy this week, and I had to highlight in the book exactly how often his name is in there. It's exactly what Jeff is in Charlie. So I was working for Charlie.

Charlie went to Open Day. He gave me the afternoon off so I could take my dad. Now I'm driving. I'm taking my dad open day to watch the Orioles and reconnect. The following year, I had the opportunity to go leave Charlie and work for a startup cable TV channel that we remember called Home Team Sports. Right. That had the Orioles games at the time.

Was Mel Proctor calling the games early on? Who was calling the games from the start? Mel Proctor was on play-by-play, and Rex Barney was doing the color. Yeah. and later John Lowenstein retired from playing and went straight into the booth Procter of Lollstein was just a combination

that was terrific so now I'm working for Humpkins Sports I am now an Oriel fan, I'm all in goodbye White Sox In fact, when I went to the ALCS, I guess it was when the White Sox played the Orioles in 83 Orioles eventually won the World Series I'm all in for the White Sox at that series

when I could say that when the Nationals won the World Series in 2019 I could truly say it was the first time my team won the World Series. So even though you were at that age where the senators were gone and a lot of people, and I would bet a lot of your friends because a lot of my friends did, and I didn't, but most of my friends became Orioles fans pretty quickly. And even though I went to a lot of baseball games at Memorial Stadium and then eventually Camden Yards, including some playoff games and World Series games, I was never,

an Orioles fan. I always wanted a team back in D.C. And it sounds to me like you felt the same way. I love the Texas Rangers. I followed him down. That's interesting. I didn't. But then again, I'm younger than you are because you remember some of those games. I mean, for me, the first year I remember is

really the year in which the senators moved. You know, their last year here. Well, I followed the Rangers for as long as I could, but then they started trickling away. It was like, death by a thousand cuts. Dick Bosman would go to Cleveland and Frank Howard would go to Detroit and one by one it was just kind of falling apart and then I got the White Sox and I kind of filled the void for me. But when, you know, the Orioles started quote unquote contributing to my

paycheck and I was a newlywed. It was easy to start liking the Uriels. That's why I really got interested in the Orioles. And it was an interesting opening day because in 1984, that week we're putting home team sports on the air, the Orioles are hoisting their 1983 World Series Championship banner, and it was only five days after the Baltimore Colts left town. Wow. Yeah. So Baltimore is not going through what I had gone

through years before. They lost their team. And I could really empathize with them. And we had a challenging situation at home team sports. We're supposed to go on here next week. And the set has this photo collage in the background, and the HTS with all pictures. And the top

of the T was this picture of the Baltimore Colts offensive line. A picture of helmets. And the program director comes to my desk, because I'm a guy with the picture. He says, you've got to fix this. You've got to fix it right away. And I can't be up there next week going to go in the air. So we swapped it out for a redskin picture. And no one ever knew. But that was a weird, weird opening day in 1984 because of what the city was going through in Baltimore. Yeah, it sounds like it. So how many presidents? Because you had all those opening days in Baltimore, you had the two in Washington. So we know Nixon showed up at one of them, but not until

the fifth inning. How many? presidents at Memorial Stadium and Camden Yards? Do you have them added up in your head? Over the next 30 years, I saw five different presidents throughout the first pitch nine times. And then I also thought Gerald Ford throughout the first pitch at the All-Star game in 76. He was an ambidextrous president. He threw right-handed and left-hand. Well, he was an athlete, right? Wasn't he a college football player? Football, football. Yeah. But in terms of opening day, Ronald Reagan kind of resurrected the tradition.

Because they've been gone for a while. In 1984, it came to Baltimore, did it again, 86. And then George H.W. Bush, as legend has it, had his glove and his desk at the Oval Office on opening day, ready to go, all oiled up. And he did it at Oriel Park, I'm sorry, at Memorial Stadium once, and it came in yards once. And then Bill Clinton, who John Steadman of the Baltimore son once said, he throws like he grew up playing the saxophone, which is true. But I got to give it. I got to give Bill Clinton some of it.

He certainly didn't have the baseball pedigree of Ronald Reagan or George H.W. Bush or George W. Bush. Right. But the courage it took to go out there, and he was the first president to put on the home team guard, the hat, and the royal jacket, and go out there and throw the first pitch. He also didn't come by chauffeur. He came on commuter rail. And two years later, he came on Marine One. So he kind of changed it up a bit and made it better for his successors.

George W. Bush, saw him throughout the first pitch of course. course the first Nationals game in 2005, and he christened Nationals Park in 08, and then Barack Obama, to his credit, knew that the truth, he wasn't much of a baseball guy or, you know, White Sox hat on a National's Park, which was offensive. But he at least, you know, wanted to keep the tradition going. And so he did it in 2010, which was the 100th anniversary of William Howard Taft doing it for the first time in 1910. So that's the continuum of president's south throughout the first pitch.

And Taft did it at Griffith Stadium? He certainly did. Yeah. You said five different presidents nine times, but it sounds like you saw more than five presidents, or am I not doing the math correctly? Reagan? You saw Reagan?

You saw Nixon. You saw Clinton. You saw Bush. Both Bushes, right? I didn't see, yeah, but I didn't see Nixon throw a first pitch because he showed up. Oh, right, right, right, because he didn't. Okay, got it. But you saw him on opening day.

Got it now. What about Carter in Baltimore? Carter did it never did it on opening day. He did it in the game during the World Series. Got it. In fact, famously, he came up and they won the game. And Rick Dempsey says to America's most famous Sunday school teacher, you know, next time get your ass up here sooner.

It was a pretty funny moment on national TV with Jimmy Carter. But, yeah, I never thought Jimmy Carter throughout the first pitch. He got lots of kudos. during his first pitch ceremonies during the 1996, 95 World Series in Atlanta. He went out there and threw some heat for an old guy. It was really good. Well, you know, my recollection is that, you know, he was a bit of a sports fan. He showed up for a Bullets NBA Game 7 against the Hawks in 1979.

And I remember because I was at that game and trying to get into the Capitol Center. and Landover for that game because of the security was one of the worst things I can ever remember and everybody's like, what's going on here? And Carter was at that game. Carter went to a couple of Redskin games, too. He went to a Redskin Cowboys Monday Night game. But you're saying he never threw out an opening pitch. So what about, so he didn't have, we didn't have, he was only,

the White House from 76 to 80. Yeah, that's right. Baseball in Washington. Right. It was Reagan who really said, let's go to Baltimore and do it. Got it. Yeah, got it. I just thought maybe Carter went to Memorial Stadium to do it. So you started with your father at RFK Stadium and then in Baltimore Memorial Stadium.

Do you have kids? And if so, did you continue the tradition with them? And when? We have six kids. Oh, my God. And I have eight grandchildren. And I have eight grandchildren. So all of them did their time at one time or another with baseball. our granddaddy. So in my Cal Ripkin chapter, which is 1993, I do talk about each of my four sons had very specific encounters with Cal Ripkin. And I thought that brought the chapter to life, not just his great career as a player, but how he was part of the community and how each of our kids kind of connected with him

in different ways. So, but, yeah, so I took my three baseball-loving sons all got to go. Brad, who's now just turned 37 yesterday. at the last game at Memorial Stadium with me, which is a wonderful closing of a stadium before they open camping yards. Patrick was with me at Cal Ripkin 2131. Great memory. Daniel, not much of a baseball fan got to present Cal Ripkin with a Lifetime Achievement Award for the Estrada Foundation. And Greg is the one who bleeds orange to this day.

I have a wonderful set of pictures in the basement of Greg and I at Oriole Games 17 years apart. But sitting in the same seats, just really interesting. Terrific. That's great. Yeah, they've all got to go. So, of the 50 games, what was the best game? The best game. Yeah, does it even matter? Because the way it looks like you've written this book, you've written each chapter

is each one of those games. So I'm assuming there are 50 chapters in the book. There's 50 chapters, but there's one page on the game, and then the rest of the chapter is on a story. This is really more of a storybook than a baseball play-by-playbook. Okay. The best game, though, I think, without a doubt, it's got to be 2008 when Mr. Walkoff hits the bottom of the night home run to win the game for the National. Yeah, right.

Ryan Zimmerman. I mean, that just had it. There were other walk-off wins. Heck, in 75, Tony Canigliero, attempting his second comeback, hits a home run for the Boston Red Sox. And then the 12 thing, Carl Ustrensky hits what turns out to be the game winner. but it was in Baltimore, it wasn't a walk-off. But those are some memorable things that happened on opening day in the game. But to stress, the book is less about the games and more about the stories

and telling a bit about not just my personal journey, which tied it all together, but baseball history over the last 50 years. Yeah. I just pulled up your website here, and you link very nicely to the actual BaseballReference.com box. scores of those games. And that game that you just referenced the 75 game was

a 12-inning game, which the Red Sox won in the top of the 12th over the Orioles. So what else? What are people going to love about this book? I mean, I think sports fans will love it, but it sounds like the stories that go with it,

you don't even have to necessarily be a baseball guy. What are people going to love about the book? What's your favorite part of the book? as Forrest Gump would have said, a block of chocolate, you know, you don't get. You keep jumping around, and some of them are the goofy personal things

about the racing presidents or the orange carpet in Baltimore or thank God I'm a country boy or how I got tickets or my son's peanut allergy to really heavy baseball stuff like strikes and lockouts that impacted the scheduling of opening day and the players that contributed to that journey along the way.

Sonia Sotomayor, who's ruling in 1995, got the players back on the field after that long, painful strike. So we're really all over the place, there are some that are just very emotional and powerful. The return of baseball in 2005 is just a tear-jurker for me personally. The loss of Harry Callas on the opening day in 2009 was just a really powerful story. and then the following year, I hooked up with my high school buddy, John McNamara, on opening day. Oh, wow.

Yeah. And some of your listeners will know, John McNamara was one of the victims of Minneapolis Gazette shooting. And there's a lot of... John and I met in 1975 in high school. It turned out his widow, Andrea, gave me his ticket stub from the last senator's game.

And he was sitting four sections away from me that night with his dead. And so the journey of connective tissue from 71 all the way up to when he was killed in 2018 and as some fans know it was in the Washington Post I'm not talking out of school here his ashes are in the flower box in Westfield in Matt's Park

those are the kind of stories that I can't I can't do them justice here on the podcast you just have to read and understand the whole context that they help make these stories special yeah I've got John's book and I reference it you know on

on the city's basketball prowess many times. Well, it sounds like a phenomenal book. I wish you the best of luck with it. I'm assuming that people can get it wherever they get a book. You will be able to. Right now, Amazon's not quite there yet. Okay. So I steer people to Barnes & Noble.

If they're anxious to get it now, Barnes & Noble.com. We became a Barnes & Noble bestseller on Monday, our first day out of the gate. Oh, that's awesome. I'm really excited about that. And when you see people like Ken Rosenfall tweeting about the book, you know that we're on to something. So the excitement of the week is beyond. Well, I mean, Phil Woods got nice things to say.

Tim Kirchen has nice things to say about the book. So you've gotten a lot of endorsements from some heavy hitters in this sport. It's called Opening Day, 50 for 50, one fan, one game, a half century of baseball stories written by Michael Orkman. again, Barnes & Noble.com right now. Michael, thank you so much. Really good luck with the book. Thanks very much for having me.

Appreciate it. All right, that's it. Thanks to Michael for sharing some of those stories. Back tomorrow.