Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Joe Carter, Joey Bats, Josh Donaldson and more: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1509

Episode Date: June 19, 2024

In this 1509th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike records live from the Joe Carter Classic at Glen Abbey Golf Course with Joe Carter, José Bautista, Josh Donaldson, Wendel Clark, Tom Cochrane, Rick Vaive, Bernie Nicholls, and Jack Armstrong. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, The Advantaged Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada, The Yes, We Are Open podcast from Moneris, The Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball Team and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

Here's the pitch on the way a swing and a belt! A field! Way back! Blue Jays win it! The Blue Jays are World Series champions as Joe Carter hits a three-rub home run in the ninth inning and the Blue Jays have repeated as World Series champions. Touch them all Joe, you'll never hit a bigger home run in your life! Welcome to episode 1509 of Toronto Mic'd! Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta, enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees. Palma pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. The

Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team. The best baseball in the city outside the dome. Join me July 7th. I'm live from Christy Pitts recording at 2 p.m. RecycleMyElectronics.ca, committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. Season 6 of Yes We Are Open, an award winning Monaris podcast hosted by FOTML Grego and Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Today we're recording live from Glen Abbey. It's the Joe Carter classic and let's start things off with an FOTM, the first Toronto Maple Leaf to score 50 goals in a season. It's my friend Rick Vive. Welcome

Rick. Well thank you and I don't know how the heck you remember is show 1509 but anyway, well, here's the question Rick. Do you remember being on this show before? This is now your third appearance on Toronto Mike. Yes. Okay good Yeah, looking in the eyes you look like you're telling me police baseballs May 12th. Yeah, you Wendell Clark That was a great day Rod Black. I think we're gonna see some Wendell and Rod later today So tell me what what brings you to the Joe Carter classic? You got the invite and you said I like to golf. Well I like to golf but I think the main thing is probably one of the best tournaments in Canada.

The swag you get and everything. What kind of swag do you get? Do you think the podcasters get the swag? Do you think I could score some? Yeah, I'm not so sure, but I think if you ask, you'll probably let you know. I don't know, but I'm going to show Tim Heron right now. He drove me to this gentleman here, this wonderful man,

heard on Toronto Mike, he heard Rod Black invite me to this event and I'm like, that's amazing. You know, Joe Carter is going to be be there? Wow and Tim heard that episode and he reached out and said hey do you need a driver and I said okay he picked me up 6 a.m. 630 in the morning he delivered me here and he's gonna help wrangle great guests like you I couldn't think of a better way to kick things off but I want to shout out Tim, Tim Heron we'll hear from him later but it's great to see you Rick I'm gonna play a clip you got your headphones on I want to shout out Tim, Tim Herron. We'll hear from him later but it's great to see you Rick. I'm gonna play a clip. You got your headphones on.

I want you to react to this and he's going to get the standing ovation. Goal number 50, they get him the puck. What a setup by Billy Gerlego, just beautiful. Oh, actually it's just a big relief is what it is. When I scored that one tonight a big piano fell off my back that I've been carrying around for a while but it's a great thrill and I'm just glad it's over with. No Maple Leaf ever scored 50 goals until this man Rick Vive did it last night.

In the process the Maple Leaf captain kept the Maple Leaf playoff hopes flickering. Well that's your job Rick. Rick do you remember that moment? Oh yeah like it was yesterday. It's one of the things that I remember Billy making a great pass. He did a couple of stick handles through guys and made a nice backhand pass across. Basically, my job was easy. I just had to put it in the net, and that was the easiest part,

because it was a wide open net. I remember the goalie, Mike LeUte, St. Louis Blues. Those are great moments in your career. And I remember my first goal. And Billy was playing with me in Vancouver before we got traded at Toronto together. And I remember I was going down the right side, the defensive was kind of squeezing me off, not going to allow me to get the shot off the wing. So I cut it in the middle and put a backh or over Rogi Vashon's love at top corner. And I go,

wait a minute, I don't score on the backhand. And I don't think I ever scored another backhand goal like that in my career. That's funny. Okay, so you know, I'm of an age where Rick Vibe scoring 50 goals. It sounded like we had the great one here Wayne Gretzky scoring 92 or something like that. What a big moment for Leaf fans. You did it three times and this record stood for a long time until Auston Matthews set

the new mark and he scored 69. How many can Auston score? What do you think the ceiling is here? Can he hit 70 next season? Oh, I think so. I don't think there's any question I was

Telling the story I saw him at the least alleged his golf tournament in September and we had a Good shot and we were talking about his summer Said he had a great summer trained hard and said I'm ready to go and I said well, okay Well, then you may as well get 65 or 70 because that'll be around for a hundred years, not 40. So this was your idea. Like he was thinking I'll score about 55, maybe 60 goals. And you're like, you go aim higher.

Yeah, I did. And he goes, all right, okay. And then then I saw him in February at the blue and white at the Royal York. Yeah. And I went up to him and I said, you weren't kidding were you? That's amazing you know.

I was with Joe Bowen at an event, a Great Lakes brewery event because they had a beer, a Holy Mackinac lager for him and this was when Austin was sitting at 69 for a couple of games. And man did Joe Bowen want to call that number 70? He had it all set. He couldn't wait to call 70. Never happened, but maybe it'll happen next season. You know a little bit about being captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs. When you made your first appearance on Toronto Mike, we talked about the way Harold Ballard

and losing the sea. John Tavares wears the sea right now and now there's like conversations happening that maybe they're going to ask him to wave his no movement clause or go somewhere else or I'm just wondering what your thoughts are on the value of the C, the importance of the C when you play for the blue and white. What does that mean? Well I think it's very important. I mean first of all you know first you got to show it on the ice for starters. You got to lead on the ice. You got to be in the room. You got to

you got to know the players know, you know, sometimes you got to take a guy out for lunch and have a little conversation with him about how we take out for lunch. Who did you have to pull aside several guys, you know, but you do it in the room sometimes or you walk outside the room and have a little conversation. It depends on what's going on and what's happening. How's a certain player playing? Is he playing to his potential? And sometimes you got to pull them aside and kind of talk to them about it. It's not, you don't berate them or anything. It's just one of those things where you have to have a little chat with them. So you know, John Tavar is a great veteran hometown boy. You know, we all love Johnny T here.

But at some point with the salary cap structure and when you're heavily weighted, four guys making all that money, something's got to give. Like it hasn't been working. So to keep trying again and running it back sounds a little insane to me. But should, I don't know what your thoughts are, but would you trade a Marner? Like would a Mitch Marner, if Mitch Marner agreed to wave his no movement clause to go to a certain team, would you do that just to, you know, spread the money around? Yeah, I think I'd be open to something like that.

I mean, I think first of all, I think their priority, the fence and a great goalie. And I mean, if they could get, you know, like, say what's his name in Calgary? I forget. I can't remember. That's okay. That's okay. But we need some blue line help, right? And we need blue line help. And hopefully they can sign Edmondson and Lbuskin and keep them in the fold because they both played very well last year. As far as the captaincy, I mean, you know, Johnny's a great guy and I know my son played with him on the Marlies

in the GCHL for three years. Wow. So I know Johnny very well, know his parents and everything. Stand up guy, right? Yeah, great guy. And yeah, perfect guy to have as your captain. But at the end of the day, I mean, this is awesome Matthew's team. Yeah. He's the leader of this team and I think you got to build a team around him. So I don't know if you can convince Johnny to move on or anything. His contract is over at the end of this year.

Right. So the likelihood of him being back in Toronto might not be that strong. And then I think Johnny's got to be out of the picture before you decide to give Austin Matthews the captaincy. For sure. Okay. I'm always curious of your thoughts on this one of the great Maple leaf captains. So now I'm gonna ask you some questions about this event real quick here So when do you get the swag bag? Like when do you get that afterwards? When do they let you have it? Oh No, there's where you already got it. There's a big suite at the ritz where we stay and You walk it's unbelievable. Okay, cuz I'm just to paint paint a picture here, we're in like, I've never been to Glen Abbey,

first of all, that tells you who you're talking to here, but luckily my driver, Tim, has been here many, many times. But we're at Glen Abbey. I hope you're paying, Tim. Tim, I owe you a lasagna from Palma Post and some Great Lakes beer, okay? Alright. And you got to come back. More than just two books. I did just give him a Toronto Maple Leafs history book and then I gave you the deal

with it, the Bruce Dobegin book on the big trades. But I'm looking over my right, so I'm in the lobby of the Glen Abbey and I see here there's a table and there's backpacks, knapsacks, I call them knapsacks, apparently they're called backpacks. What do I know, right, Rick? But I'm dying to know what's inside there. Like, are there laptops in there? Like, how big does this get? Try to get us a couple of bags here. Pretty big. Wow. But

these are for the people who were not here yesterday. Okay. Everybody was here yesterday probably went to the Ritz. They got theirs already. But some of these guys are gonna double dip Rick. I'm gonna keep my eye on these guys who's carrying two swag bags. So there's some big names here today. Like I saw the list and I'm like Rick vibes here. That's amazing. FOTM Rick vibe, but there's some big names like Roger Clemens is going to be here. I, uh, Jim McMahon's going to be here.

Yep. It's crazy. Who are you? Like, I'm curious, a star like you, like, do you get starstruck? You're like, Oh, I'm going to hang out with, uh, I don't know, right, Roger Clemens for an afternoon. who are you excited to talk to at this event? All of them. All of them. You get to talk to all of them and we were at the Blue J game last night we did a big suite and sat with Josh Donaldson for quite a

while he was one of my teammates yesterday in our the skins thing. Tell me about Josh I have a clip I don't even know if Josh will sit down. I reckon playing it all by ear here, but I did pull. I'll play it now just in case I never get him on the show, but let me just play this. Three run walk off home run, made 26 against the White Sox in the ninth. And he's going for the game!

Jenner over here, holy! Oh my gosh! What kind of guy is Josh Donaldson? I got to know. Real talk. Well, I got to sit down and talk with him for quite some time yesterday at the game in the suite and his wife was with him and it was awesome. I mean, he seems like a real nice guy and the one thing I liked the most was he loves hockey.

That's for an, yeah, that's great. And he lives down in Florida and he went to some of the Everblade games in the ECHL. My son plays in Cincinnati in the ECHL. I coached against the well the Everblades weren't there when I was coaching in Charleston, South Carolina in the ECHL but he loves hockey and I thought that was great I mean we talked a lot about hockey and... Does he does he understand the the value of scoring 50

goals in a season like Like that's the marker. That always was, it always will be to me. 50 goals in a season. Not many players can do it and you did it three times. Does he realize he's sitting with a guy who scored 50 goals three times? I don't think we ever got into that conversation to be quite honest with you, but.

You don't wear a t-shirt? Like I scored 50 goals three times? No, it's not something that, you know you know, uh, we just had a good conversation about hockey. Amazing. He, the fact I was kind of surprised that he loves the game of hockey. He said, I love watching it. And he said the ECHL in particular, because they don't make a whole lot of money.

And he said, in the third period, period if one teams down a few goals or whatever He said you can count on some scraps And I guess he loves he loves that kind of hockey You know, he's got a copy of Slapshot and DHS and he's been watching it over and over and over again And it's funny because yesterday morning. I remember the skies opened up and it started to storm So the man does bring the rain right he's the bringer of rain and we had a lot of rain yesterday but Rick amazing I will tell you this as a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team I don't feel you get the respect

you deserve I'm just gonna look in the eyes and tell you this without a doubt you deserve far more praise respect and glory from this franchise you were the first player in Toronto Maple Leaf's history to score 50 goals. You did it three times and let's face it, this was an era, the Harold Ballard years, this was an era where the team wasn't particularly very good. Am I being gentle with that Tim? You're looking over. Yeah, the team wasn't very good but we always had Rick Vibe scoring and we could rely on that and I think that I just think

you deserve your flowers. Well I mean you know what there's not much I can do about it I don't think about it. I'm gonna do something about it Rick I'm on the case okay. You know there are some things I'd like to see happen but can I can you tell me that on your way out here I'm gonna set you free in a second they got a breakfast coming up for you there. But what would you like to see happen? Well, first of all, I'd like to see my sweater get retired Yes Before I get too old where I don't know what the heck's going on or who's on the ice or anything like that

I saw the Was it the Redheaded guy and he played in Detroit in Toronto Red Kelly and I saw them do his in Detroit. Yes, and I mean I Don't know how old he was at the time But you could tell that he kind of really didn't know what was going on waited too long They waited too long I mean and that that's one of the things that I would hope might happen before and I could have my family there, my grandkids.

All of Prince Edward Island will be there. Yeah, some of them might fly out, but maybe my brothers and my sister. Right now you look fantastic. Who's your grouping today? Do you know who's in your group? Is that how it works? I think Brian Aremorth is playing with me. So, yeah. Okay. That's exciting. So framework. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Tim's here to tell me who everybody is. Cause sometimes I'm like, I know Rick

vibe and that's it. Okay. If Wendell Clark and Rick vibe show up, I'm like, I know who that is. And then I'm done. It's like, who else, who are you? I'm that's my fear today. Just before we say goodbye, my fear today, cause you're the first guest, we're just setting this up. I can see in the distance, the fan 590 is setting up there by way Tim find out who this gentleman is in the white Shirt there. Oh my goodness gracious Tim's my Wrangler I'm just gonna park orders at him But do you recognize that guy in the white shirt Rick is this is this a guy I should know there's that's my fear So my fear is somebody is gonna sit down on the mic

It's gonna be a you know a celebrity and I'm gonna look at them and say what would you say you do for like, who are you exactly? How would you introduce yourself? I can't see from this angle. No, Tim's going to find out. This is how so Wendell actually, I don't know if it is or not, but this guy Wendell has that's not Wendell. Okay. Maybe it is. You know what, Rick? Another may believes captain ifendell. I think it is Wendell, yeah. Okay, it feels like May 12th at Christie Pitts all over again. Is Rick Emmett here? Rick, Rick, you here? Rick V.

It's funny, because Darryl and Wendell and I, who did the bike ride for Brain Health for Baycrest, and we have an appearance tomorrow on the bridle path, some guys having a big event. Oh, Drake. And no, it's not. But so we're going to be there tomorrow. What time should I be there? I'll bring my gear. Yeah, I think it's around five o'clock or something for a few hours.

You got about a hundred hundred people coming. Wow. And I'm sure it's a pretty big mansion more than likely. Well, the bridal path they don't have too many shacks on that. Listen, you're amazing for doing this, you're starting this off. I want to thank you for that and you're a great FOTM, our third chat and we're gonna have a fourth chat and I'm a big fan. And you did, I just say you did sign my the VPS sales at TMDS. Tyler Campbell brought his Number 22 Rick vibe Jersey to the Christie pits

Okay, and he had that I'm trying to remember when he was like 10 years old or something He had that he loved it and you signed it for him at that event and he came on the mic to show your you Signed his Jersey and I'm telling you that Tyler who's just turned 50 years old. He was 10 years old again That's a miracle. that's a miracle Rick. You took this 50 year old man and you made him a 10 year old boy again and I never saw anyone smile so big. Well, I mean that's something that's important to,

I wouldn't say all of us, but it's very important to me to sign autographs for people, get pictures taken, whatever the case might be. These are die-hard fans and they want an autograph for a picture. You've got to do it. And I don't think, correct me if I'm wrong, but there's not many assholes coming out of Prince Edward Island, right? I feel like there are not a lot of dinks coming out of that. Maybe one or two.

No, I don't think there's, there's none that I can remember anyway. I mean, I played against a lot of guys that came out of PEI. Gerard Gallant, great person. Al McAdam, you know, fabulous. Errol Thompson, like all those guys were incredible it it's funny because you look back and you and You look at the guys that came out of PEI to play in the NHL. Yeah per capita It's probably one of the biggest promises in Canada. Yeah as far as per capita Daniel Cleary came out of there if I remember call he's from Newfoundland. He's a new for that, you know Pardon my John awakens Brad Richards Brad Richards, right? And evenfoundland. He's from Newfoundland. You know, pardon my Toronto ignorance, Brad Richards. Brad Richards. Right. And even Dion Fanouf, not from there, I think he's like from Alberta or something, but he his family's from there. He lived there with his, with his... Well, he,

he has a summer place there and he spends his summers there. And well, now I guess he probably, well, he probably goes to Florida in the winter, I would imagine. Did you say hi to him? Was he here yesterday? I heard Dion. No, he wasn't here yesterday but last year he wasn't there the first day but he came the second day so yeah whenever he's here. Do all you captains get together? Oh yeah we always have a good chat. All the captains okay amazing. Rick I'll let you go because I know the the breakfast room is waiting for you but awesome to start things off with you big fan let me grab a picture with you but thanks for doing this yeah no problem my pleasure welcome back to Toronto Mike Wendell Clark how you doing Wendell I'm good it's good oh sorry that's okay what brings you to the Joe Carter classic

well Joe I was out here yesterday the first part of it I was part of his team and I let him down big. But you look like you can golf. I know. Yeah, no. Yeah, but I just don't know where it's going. This thing with golf, you have to know. You have to know the end game after you've hit the ball.

And I have trouble with that. I and wide all day. Amazing. What are the swag bags like at this event? Like, what do they give you here? I see people. I haven't I haven't picked any of my stuff up yet, but I had to walk by a long line of goodies. So it's one of the best grab bags for sure.

Okay, any chance podcasters get a grab bag? I would stay, just go out and steal it. That's it, run out there, pretend. You know what? I'm gonna get Tim to steal a couple because if someone's gonna get arrested for that, it's better him than me, I think. But Wendell, I'm gonna play a little clip here.

And by the way, thanks for doing this. I noticed you and Rick Vive are the first two guests to jump on my mic, and you did the Fan 590 first. So your job is to give me all the exclusives you kept from the Fan 590, okay? I want all the good Wendell Clark stuff. But let me play a little clip before we get going here. Here we go, let's play a bit of this.

The Leafs coasting home to victory here in game one Gilmore was hit inside the line. He's still down. He is a move He's back, Gilmore was hit, inside the line, he's still down. He has a move, Gilmore trying to get up. McSorley was grabbed by Clark, who threw that hit on Gilmore. And Clark and McSorley are flailing away each other, two of the heavyweights of the league. And no nonsense here, they're going at it. McSorley has the sweater off,

and Clark nails with another uppercut. Now Clark gets hit, ducks away from one. McSorley now pounding away and the two linesmen just scared to take a chance on getting in there I guess. Finally they get in, but Clark came back to McSorley and they went at him. He wants to take everybody on. Boy, this is nasty feelings now. With 2.34 left in the third period, there's another scrap on in case you're interested. Wendell, what do you remember about this moment? No, that was game one and Marty went out and tried to change, let his team know that they weren't done

because the game was going to be, we were going to win the game. And so he took a shot at our best player. It wasn't until about 10 years after I was done playing, I was smart then as I was now. I actually just went to the bench and hit Gretzky. If I had just went straight there, then he's the one that killed us in game six and seven. So maybe I should have went there instead of Marty. But Marty was doing his job, letting his team know that we're not out of this,

even though that's game one. And I was coming in to stick up because Dougie is the guy that stirs the drink, was our best player. So we can't have him getting hit. And you were our captain and captain step up and you were doing your job as captain. One of the great captains in Toronto Maple Leaf history.

And what a moment. Now, I mean, revisiting that series is a little tough for me as a die-hard Leaf fan here but you played you played your ass off and we went seven games and I'm wondering now looking back I mean we talked about the high stick that wasn't called right and what are your thoughts now looking back at that seven game series at this with the Los Angeles Kings? I really don't really know. The best team, you know the better team won. I'm not gonna say the best team but the better team wins it. That's it's a seven game series and we're good enough we to beat them. It doesn't matter what happens in between all the

the stuff that's that's the bounces of a sport that you play and we're good enough we to win on. Do you think this series right now the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers is that going seven? As say Edmonton sure hopes is going seven and they've now put a chink in Florida's little armor there and that's that's just to start they're playing the Edmonton got to the point where they were down to okay let's just win the first period of game four that was their goal and then okay now let's try to win the game and then last night okay we got to win this game or we're done so then you let's just win the period and and so they just

took it to micro levels and disc and now they're going okay now Florida's thinking the other way going okay now I didn't think we were coming back and we are right now we played that clip there it brings me back 93 great voice of Bob Cole we lost we actually spoke about that. You and I met at on May 12th, which was the season opener for the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team. You were at Christie Pitts and that's the first time we had the pleasure of talking. It's funny to start this recording off with Rick Vibe and yourself because you were both at that game, but one thing I noticed watching the Sanica players, moments like that don't happen anymore. Like the hit on Gilmore you

stepping up and I hear Bob Cole saying you know you want to take on the whole team you take on their tough guy and That that's completely seems completely removed from the game in 2024 No, the styles have changed, but you you watch the battles out there these guys and come around three and four there They're grinding they're playing hard don't ever say that there's no oh they're playing hard all right there's no physicality going right now they're they're playing hard both these teams just to get to where they've got they've had to battle they're just more graceful at it now you were of course multi-dimensional you could score my friend that wrist shot we all emulated it in the schoolyard but I'm

just wondering if you how you feel about the fact that you just came short but with scoring 50 goals was that ever like a an important milestone for you or a target that you wanted to have it no I obviously you don't it my thing you're just playing if it gets there it gets there it's it's another thing where Rick scored three in a row so once he got his first one I want to get another one that's that's what he would have been thinking and for me I was just okay just you know every year you see how well you can play that that's really where I started Well, I told you last time I watched this compilation on YouTube called all heart set to hero of the day by Metallica

And it's basically your greatest hits and that's what I do and when I brush my teeth I watch all heart and then I'm ready to take on the challenges of the day So thank you for that and thank you for being the greatest captain in Toronto Maple Leafs history you and Gilmore and the great Rick Vibe as well shout out to him but here before we say goodbye are there any people participating in this Joe Carter classic that you're personally excited to to meet and chat up? No I'm pretty quiet guys so I walk around it's just great to see the the faces yesterday all the guys are gonna be here again today that Joe knows and brings in and

he was such a great guy in the city and the team how well the Jays played to win and it's fun to watch guys that have won it and fun to watch them talk about their teams because Every team that wins whatever the sport is It's a team sport and it takes all the guys and Joe was one of the leaders on that team that won it all. And of course, when you went to back to back conference finals here at the Maple East, and we just played that clip from the King Series in 93, that's the same calendar year in which Joe Carter

will touch them all with a walk off homer to win the second World Series. So what a time for Toronto sports, you were a big part of it. Wendell, thanks again for popping on a Toronto mic to microphone and chatting it up and I appreciate this. All great thank you. Good to be here. Welcome to Toronto Miked Bernie Nichols how you doing buddy? I'm doing great thanks. What brings you out here today to

the Joe Carter classic? Well play a little golf have a little fun raise a little money. Raise a little hell maybe and hopefully yeah I got a pretty good team so looking forward to that. Okay, who you're golfing with today? Do you know I honestly do not know okay? Joe said I got some good players though. Okay Would you know what's in the swag bag? I'm trying to find out what people are getting and if you just get a little Don't miss a word, but do you have any clue? I just watched the celebrities line up here and they get this net they

get a backpack and there's golf clubs do you know what's in that swag bag we got ours yesterday did you go through all yeah golf clubs there's sweaters vests there's shoes what kind of shoes Adida golf. There's flip-flops. There's a stereo. I got this here yesterday. Oh, like a Bluetooth speaker. Yeah. Yeah. They give you an iPad. They give you everything. This is ridiculous. Could you go say you lost yours and get a second one? Yeah. Give it to me. Well, they got a couple of them. They got a big one. They got a little one. I've got this for golf course, so it's good. Do you remember your first NHL goal? I absolutely do I have a picture of it at home

I had a breakaway against the great Chico Rush Wow, I deeked them and I scored we won two nothing Amazing. Do you remember your last NHL goal? I do I remember It's funny. I can of remember every goal I ever scored at times. Wow. That's a lot of goals, buddy. Well, it's a few. How many? Since you remember them, how many goals in your NHL career?

Well, I got over 500 total playoffs in regular season. That's a lot of goals, my friend. A lot of goals here. We just chatted with Rick Vibe, first 50 goal scorer in Toronto Maple Leaf's history and I was telling Rick and I really sincerely believe this, I believe he has been underappreciated in this market for what he brought to this team at a time when we were you know we didn't have much depth as that's delicate way to say it but I feel Rick deserves his flowers. Well you know what he scored 50 goals

three times with the Leafs. That's a great accomplishment if you think about all the teams that are all the players that have played for Toronto to have only you know there's only a couple of them that have scored 50 goals so that's that's amazing in itself. And you know Zach Hyman just scored 50 with the Oilers but he had McDavid serving him up the greatest playmaker in the game today. I think for Rick to score 50 that would be like if he were on I don't know let's say he were on the Edmonton Oilers at that time he would have scored 90. Well you know what it's not bad when you have Connor passing the puck.

But you know what? When Rick played, I'm pretty sure he had a pretty good centerman passing him the puck too. You know, as a centerman, you look for the goal scores, and when you got one as good as Rick, he gets the puck a lot. Right. Most of those goals were Builder-Lego, I think. I don't know. That's right. Yeah. Or Dan Daou played with him too. Dan Daou, he played, I think we had a roller league, like a roller skate hockey league,

and I think Dan Dayou was participating in that back in the day. He can pass the puck. Who was the toughest player you ever played against? Marc Messier. Okay, I saw him last night on the ESPN telecast of the hockey game. Marc Messier, the moose. The moose. Moose was loose. The moose was loose, my friend.

What kind of golfer are you? I'm pretty good. I'm alright. Pretty good. Okay. I see. I'll take your word for it. I'll take your word for it. And then just before I let you go, thanks for doing this, my friend. I'm curious about your favorite music, okay? When you're just going to just chill out with your jams, what are your jams? Dine and O. It's all country. Anywhere from you know George Strait, Tim McGraw. Like George Jones? Would you go back that far? You know what that was my mom's favorite singer George Jones so I still love George. Merle Haggard was my dad's favorite. Luke Bryan's awesome. Luke Combs is awesome.

I like all the new guys. There's so many great entertainers now. But those ones you just named were my mom and dad's two favorite. Yeah, I just saw a bio thing on George Jones and Tammy Wynette. I'm all up to speed now. This is cool. I never dug country.

My mom raised me on Kenny Rogers, though. Well, that's country, too. Kenny was good. Kenny was good. What's your favorite song of all time if I made you pick one right now? Yeah, I don't know. It's too tough right? You know probably one of Garth Brooks songs or Yeah, it's like Garth's a legend yeah, but Yeah. But you know what the best work you ever did? The wonderful Chris Gaines side project. Okay, where's Chris Gaines when you need him?

If I ever got Garth Brooks on this podcast, I would just talk to him like he was Chris Gaines. There you go. Just to see what happens. Yeah. Is there anyone at this event today that you're like super jazzed about meeting or talking to or when you're Bernie Nichols, nothing fazes you? Well, you know what? It's always great to see the celebrities. We drove over and you

hear stories of the baseball players or the football players. Were you in the bus? I was. Okay. So Joey Bats was in that bus. Yeah. So everybody, all they do is tell stories. So for me, just listening to some stories is pretty cool. Oh yeah. Joe Carter was on that bus too, right? Yeah.

My goodness, those guys. When I think about, are you a baseball fan? I am. Okay, when I think about like great moments in Blue Jays history, a couple that jump out at me, obviously the walk-off homer in 93 by Joe. And then I think more recently, 2015, Joey Bats in the seventh inning hitting that shot, and then with the Texas Rain and flipping the bat. He was sitting right beside me so I was listening to those stories are they hockey fans Joe is a little bit do they

know who they're sitting beside yeah I don't know if Jose what did but Joe did and then we had a couple other guys to just Josh Donaldson maybe was on Josh was there they were talking Rick five tells me that Josh Donaldson is a hockey uh... we a couple other guys to just just outside maybe was on the house was there they were talking to the five tells me that josh donelson is a hockey fan and uh... can you often they were talking to chin and hit yesterday uh...

and steward uh... he still was on this bus and they were telling me stories about him hitting guys that was pretty cool yeah you know what you're not the first burning to be an FOTM, but you're one of my favorite Bernie. Amazing. I got to see, here's the question that's been floating around here on your way out. So apparently Roger Clemens is coming here today. Roger was here yesterday. Okay. Do you think, this is a question, yes or no, will Roger Clemens

chat with me on my mics here? Yeah, I'm thinking no. Roger's the best. Joe's tried to get him at this event 10 times. The organizer told me no. I actually had him at my event one year, which was awesome. What's your event for? I do it different. I did the Deborah Canada for a few years. This year I do one for Ronald McDonald House and

In Vegas, I do it for st. Jude's so it's great all kids But I've had Roger at my event one time So that was pretty good. So you may have to get him ask him four or five times Yeah, you may have to give him a little. Okay, here's here. Do you think that like, let's say he accidentally thinks this is, let's say he thinks he's on the fan or something when he sits and then he gets on my show. Is it okay if I only ask him about his episode of the Simpsons? Remember the softball team

that Mr. Burns put together? Yeah. Would he be like, would he storm out? Maybe that's a moment. Yeah. What would it take for me to get you to storm off angry right now? What would, what can I bring? Oh, I wouldn't, uh, I'm free game for anything, so it wouldn't bother me. But I'm not sure about the rocket.

There's our boy right there. Oh my goodness. There's, there's Joe Carter walking by everybody. Touch them all, Joe. Bernie Nichols. What a pleasure, man. I was always jealous. I said, I want Bernie Nichols on the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Yeah, I would like to play in Toronto. I got Edmonton, so that was pretty good. Yeah. But you couldn't make that happen. You couldn't find your way here. No. Center of the hockey universe. That's right. That would have been pretty cool. Well, this is cool, man. Meeting you. Thanks for doing this, Bernie. A so long Bernie is a great lowest of the low song not a country song but I should

thank you for doing this buddy. Thank you. Hello! No you do it better than me Jack let me hear a hello here. It's a little early in the morning but here we go. Hello! Oh my goodness Jack Armstrong good to see you again buddy. Mike how are you buddy? Toronto Mike. Toronto Mike is here. I wish I had brought you some Great Lakes beer. Nobody loves their Great Lakes beer the way Jack Armstrong loves his Great Lakes beer.

I enjoy a beverage now and then. So the last time I was on with you, you were very generous with a good supply. Yeah, and I think I made a return trip to your hotel. You did. And you hooked me up even further with more. So it's always good. I take care of FOTM like you, friends of Toronto Mike. So it's good to see you again, my friend.

Great to see you, Mike. Loving your voice. So who do you know who you're golfing with today? I don't. I just know the group number I'm in. But I just got here. so I just got off the as they say Who was on that bus? I was quite a bus. It was Joe Carter on that bus? There were a lot of baseball players a lot of Joey Batts

Joey Batts there's a lot of celebrities there Okay I'm like they're They're like Mickey Mantle I'm like Mickey Mouse So world famous Mickey Mouse is more famous than Well I know but I'm using it as a joke you know I'm like a D list guy here I'm the pedantic guy calling you out on your I'm just filling in the blanks here you know I'm

saying so how did you get involved I'm gonna gonna let me try to connect some dots here I think they're running out of celebrities so you know they were desperate so they just needed somebody to fill in. So when I saw the list. Rodney Black is my hook. Yeah. Jonesy is Paul Jones here today. I haven't seen. I don't think he is but Paul Jones. Okay. But Rod Black is my guy. Really? And they're Canada's guests. Those guys. Yeah. Tell Tim from now on when he wants to talk on the show, tell him, this mic is open. That's the Tim mic if he wants to say hi.

How are things going, man? Good, I've been busy. Monday night I worked the NBA finals for TSN. And then last night I did an event for the Raptors with Bobby Webster, the GM, like a Q&A, like a cocktail party, like getting season ticket holders fired up for the NBA draft and then next week at the draft and Hopefully a little downtime after that any predictions this draft any predictions one guy I'm curious about only because and you know, you're the expert

I just watch you know I watch March Madness for example got to see my Jack Armstrong, watch March Madness, and I see a local guy, Zack Eadie, and I watch what he does and I think, why wouldn't the Raptors draft? Then guys who know better than me, they kinda laugh it off, like oh he's not a, whatever, not a lottery pick, he's whatever. I need to know from you right now, Jack Armstrong,

Zack Eadie, where will he be drafted in this? I think he'll be a first round pick. Where, what number, I don't have the slightest idea. I want him on the Raptors, am I nuts? Am I, tell me I'm nuts. No, you're not nuts at all. No, you're not nuts at all. I mean, I think he'll be a good pro, you know, again.

And I said this during the tournament, and I'll say it again, there has to be a commitment to coaching a guy like that. Yeah. When he's on the floor, stylistically, you have to play a certain way. You have to make sure you don't play a certain way. Schematically, from a defensive standpoint, you have to play a certain way. Right. You got to make sure you stay away from things you know so this is a very uh... major positives he brings

and they're also challenges he's gonna have because the league is different if you look at the mavericks and celtics in the finals it's uh... it's a different style of nba than maybe you saw in the 70s and 80s, where Zach Eady back then would have more of a seat at the table in that style of play. So a lot of it comes down to truly, if you have a coach, if you have a franchise that says,

okay, we are committed on the minutes that he's on the floor to play a way that plays to his strengths and hides his weaknesses. And if you don't want to play that way, where you don't think that style is going to work, then there'll be some teams that pass on it. But one team is going to get lucky when they take them. Yeah. You mentioned, you know, he's got some positives. He's got one positive you can't teach, you know? I know you're a great coach.

You can't teach one of his positives, man. How tall is Zach Edea? I know off the top of your head you remember. He's at least 7'2". Wild. But you know, here's the thing. Some people don't value size anymore. They value the three point shot and all that, which has become a major weapon.

Yeah. And it's a big part of our game. Rightfully so. Uh, but there's a lot of ways to skin a cat. And if you're, there's a lot of, not every team can be the Mavericks and Celtics because there's not enough talent to go around. So if you have a guy that has a different talent, maybe you coach and play a different way to try to win.

You know, and I think not every team could be the Golden State Warriors. If you don't have Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, then guess what? If you don't have guys as good as them, maybe you need to play a different way. So my point is, I think Zach Eady can be a good pro. I'm excited about him and he's only been playing a few years. I've noticed and I'm no analyst like you Jack. His best days are ahead of him. He's got better and better every single year. Correct and he's gonna continue to get better. And my point is if he has people that know how to coach a big man and that's something too. There's not a lot of coaches right now

that know how to handle a guy like that because the game's different now. So different. That's a big part of it. Do you miss the old, I mean, when I look back and I was watching the 80s and 90s, and you're right, it was a completely different game. Nowadays, it is all about the three point shot.

It's all from the outside game. Do you miss it when it was like a tough and rumble, like a Patrick Ewing style inside game? Do you miss that when it was like a tough and rumble, like a Patrick Ewing style inside game? Do you miss that at all? There's parts of it I really liked. There's parts of it I didn't like. I think our game has evolved into a really good place. It's amazingly popular.

Oh yeah. I think it's brought a lot of guys that were smaller. I look at a guy like Fred Van Vliet, Kyle Lowry is an example, small guards guards and yet they both shoot the three well. They've had great careers and maybe years ago they don't their careers aren't as good because the value that people put on what they do was different. So the game always evolves. I love the game of basketball period. I think our players today are amazing,

but the players were great 40 years ago as well. So when people try to compare eras, I think that's a lazy narrative because- I'm a lazy guy. But I think it's impossible to do it. You know, like even now, like, you know, obviously Joe Carter's a, you know, a legend and you have all these great baseball players here. I'm a huge baseball fan.

It's a, it's a different era in terms of, uh, you know, you have a pitcher that'll go through, you know, two rounds of the batting order and you know, pitch count gets up to 90, 95 and now in the middle of the fifth or sixth inning, right? Now you're bringing five different relievers into the game. It's a different,, you're getting the guy's best stuff. He's coming in, he's throwing 98 up and in, out and away. It's a different game. How long can the... And I'm curious your answer on this. So 2019 NBA champs, flags fly forever. I personally, as a Raptors fan, I'm still sort of living off that high.

Like we're in 2024 now, we're five years removed. I'm still living off the high from 2019. How long does this high last? Do you know? I need to know. Well, you know, it was a tough season this year. And so it changed, you know know you look at the Jays 92 93 I mean how long that high lasted lasted for a while but it's yeah at some point in time people like okay what's going on so right it's a very impatient

society yeah I'll say this so you look at the fact that the last six years we've had a different NBA champion every year that is interesting so what does that tell you I think there's parity and I think the way the salary cap has been created in the NBA and the new salary cap, I think it's going to make it even harder for the great team to stay on top. So therefore if you're the Raptors and you're coming off a 27 and what is it, 55, 24, 7 and 55 season last year. In my opinion, there's hope that you can turn it quicker because the system is set up that the really good

can't stay really good forever, and the really bad, if you're managed properly, you should be able to get better quicker. Now there's a warm breakfast waiting for you, so I'm gonna set you free after this last question. Is there a cold beer as well as a warm breakfast? I don't see any cold beer here for me. You wink, wink, tell me where you're staying.

I know a guy who bikes all over the city with a cold GLB in his knapsack, so let me know. But last question, number 15, retired to the rafters at Scotiabank Arena. It's time, right? Number 15. Oh boy. That's a long- Is that a weighted one? No, no it's not weighted. I think it'll happen eventually. I do think in my personal opinion the first guy's number that should be retired would be Kyle Lowrys. I do think

that Vince Carter based upon the impact he made on here we are now next season going into the 30th year of the Raptors in existence, he put basketball on the map in Canada he's a transformative figure and did he handle his departure from Toronto well? No. But you know what? A lot of us make mistakes when we're young. And you tried playing in the Babcock era. Well no, and hey look, there was things going on when he played that I think he looked at.

Bernie Nichols says hi to Jack Armstrong. You know, when he got, I think he just got to a point where he looked around and said, this isn't going well. Again, there's a right way to go about departing there's a not a right way. So I don't so there's a lot of fans literally I was at this event for the Raptors last night I had a few fans corner me about it yeah and they were adamant that no way should he ever have his number. I get that too and I don't agree with that I think eventually he should have his number retired he's gonna be inducted in the Hall of Fame

he's gonna go in as a Raptor as he should. If he, you know, so if he's gonna be in the Hall of Fame as a Raptor, at some point his numbers got to be retired. And at some point we need to forgive him for an immature exit. Can we call it that? An immature exit. Yeah. Remember he stopped dunking and yeah. So I think, I think at some point it'll work itself out look the the the guy who made the most impact on basketball canada after the raptors is vince carter the greatest guy for one season was kawaii lennard yet

and then obviously you know the guy who had sustained winning and who had an incredible impact in my opinion should have the first number the first statue should be kyle lowery look you've had other hall of fameers, you've had Tracy McGrady and Chris Bosh, a Hall of Famers as well, that played here. They didn't handle their departures great either, you know, but people really got on Vince and probably Vince didn't handle it the best of the three. But bottom line, life goes on. The Raptors have a title now.

And you know, you gotta let that go a little bit. So I do think that Vince will be honored. And whatever they decide as a franchise, how they wanna honor him, I'm gonna support it. Cause I personally, I like Vince Carter a lot. He's a good man. Well, you know who knows how to handle his departure eloquently. It's you Jack!

You were awesome. Am I fired? That's it? You're telling me something I don't know. Well Mike always a pleasure to come on and really enjoyed the glass of water I had sitting here with you. But Jack look me in the eyes you do know there's an open invitation to visit me in South Etobicoke where you will leave with fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewing.

That's an open invitation. Well thank you. That's a good day. That's what I call a good day. Thank you Jack Armstrong. Love it buddy. Joe Carter is my guest. Joe, this is all for you buddy. Joe Carter Classic. What a pleasure to meet you. Well, it's my pleasure too. excuse the voice but it gets kinda... What happened to your voice? You were having a good night last night. No, well I have to talk a lot.

Everybody wants to talk about the home run. Everyone wants a piece of you, including me. And I said five minutes Joe and then I had two people come up to me and go can you do it in four? Yes, yes, no. You know what, it's a great time here in Toronto and to be here for the 15th annual Joe Carter Classic, this is awesome. You know, as an athlete, we're put on the platform. We have that platform, so why not use it to our advantage and to raise money for a great cause. Now I'm told I have three minutes left.

I'm actually going to play like a 20-second clip. I wonder what it is. Because if I only, yeah, well, you know what, if you only get two minutes of Joe Carter, you're going to end up playing this. So here we go. Here's the pitch on the way, a swing and a belt. Well, field, way back. Blue Jays win it. The Blue Jays are World Series champions as Joe Carter hits a three rub home run in the ninth inning and the Blue Jays have repeated as World Series champions. Touch them all Joe, you'll never hit a bigger home run in your life.

So you're lip syncing that. Is that your ringtone? Like if somebody phones you, you hear Tom Cheek making that call? You know what? I never thought about that. It's using the ringtone. No, no, I don't want the ringtone because I don't want to answer the phone. So okay, so where do I go? So I really do need a deep dive with you, I don't want the ring to him because I don't want to answer the phone. So okay, so where do I go? So I really do need a deep dive with you. I only got a minute here, but the two World Series, the Blue Jays have won, both end with you.

Yes. So you're at first base filling in John Allerud typically at first. You're at first base. You make the catch from Mike Timlin. That's the first one and you're jumping up and down. I always wonder what would have happened if John AllerRoot were at first he just would have had like a just tap his glove a little bit like no jump from John. You would be surprised about John OlaRoot you really would now I'm going I'm going deep now because

after we win that World Series we go back to the hotel yeah okay we are down in the in the in the bottom of the hotel. We have this huge room. We got live music. Everybody's dancing. We're doing the Soul Train Line. John Olarud is going down the Soul Train Line. I never would have guessed that. Yes. And then if you play golf with Olarud on the golf course, he is, I mean, he is a funny guy. And so when I first got here in 91, it was gonna, it was my intention. I said I'm gonna make John Olarud speak to me first. You know that was my job. Yeah. So I come in, I look at my say, Oli, how you doing? And then, hi Joe.

Hi. Yeah. Sweetest swing I ever saw by the way, John Olarud. And you my friend, I know we had, I got an evil look from a guy guy He's like, oh my god, you said four minutes I think I have a minute left But if you want a guy on your team who's gonna get you 30 home runs and 100 RBI you phone Joe Carter You were like the post office man. You always That I knew my lane. That was my job I I hit 300 once in my career. So I know I was not gonna be that right under hitter, but Gary Templeton said it best when I played with Gary Templeton in San Diego. He said, Joe, with nobody on bass, you suck.

Yeah, honest to goodness words. And he said, but when guys get on bass, it's a different attitude and it's a different focus and mindset because I knew that was my job. Joe, what a pleasure it was to finally meet you. I was at Sam the Record Man downtown or was at HMV and you came in and quickly grabbed a CD and I saw your World Series ring and I wouldn't shut up about that story. Like the time I saw Joe Carter picking up a CD at Sam the Record Man. I've been there before, yes. Amazing. Thanks for this. They're coming at me now. You've got many things to do.

I'm going to get a quick selfie with you just to prove this happened. All right. Sounds good. Congratulations and thanks for everything. All right. Thank you guys for being here too. Well, it's about time, Mike. It's about time.

Tom Cochran, everybody. Finally, I can tell the world Tom Cochran is an FOTM. That's friend of Toronto Mike. How the hell are you doing? I'm doing great, buddy. It's good to finally sit down with you. Yeah, this is a wonderful tournament. Joe just does incredible things for children's charities, for Children's Aid Foundation,

and it's always a pleasure playing here and it's just such a class event and the way they handle it and everybody's, it's great. I love being here and yeah, so. Gonna let a little music brew in the background. I was hoping I'd bump into you at this event but because at some point we're gonna have to do a deep dive you know a longer form. Yeah I gotta I gotta watch you. Exploratory. If you ever have a spare 90 minutes in the in Toronto I'll come to you

we'll make it happen I just need you on the mic for long this will be a quick hit today. Yeah I mean like I said I said, I'm living out in Cologne currently, but I still have my place in Toronto that I hang my hat when I'm coming through and stuff. And yeah, it's, so yeah, we'll have to do that deep dive. There's been a few TV shows recently, and I say recently, the last five years, where this song, I would hear it,

like Mindhunter I feel, used Lunatic Fringe, and I hear it and I'm like, that's Tom Cochran and he sounds amazing. Whoo! So again, this is not the deep dive, but hearing this in the headphones, what are you thinking of here? The glory days of AOR radio, right? Album orientated rock. And it was an incredible time when that song was out because everybody said, you know, that's not going to be a hit. You know? Right. But it's always the songs like, I was talking to Barry Keene

who played drums with Gordon Lightfoot. Way back in the day, they sat down with Mo Austin he told me that the Gordon and him were trying to talk Mo Austin out of releasing Edmund Fitzgerald. They said it's a song about dead people and a sink ship sinking and there's too long and there's no choruses and there's no choruses in Lunatic Fringe. So there is a market for no chorus songs and also you know what it says is a pretty heavy message is it's an anti-racist racism song and speaks out against that and so I'm kind of proud of the fact that you know being able to make make music that that reaches a lot of people and every once in a while you can say something

that has some you know importance other than being a pop song or whatever which which are fine too and I've done my share of those. Sure. How much money have you made from Life as a Highway? Give me an exact dollar figure, Mr. Cochran. Well, it's... It's up there. Yeah, it's up there. That's the trick, right? Because you've got a vast catalog of amazing songs. Yeah, I've been very blessed that way. But then you get the one,

because I sometimes see these quizzes, like one hit wonder quizzes and stuff, but they're US based. And I'll see you on the list and I'll be like, okay, that's an American list because in Toronto where I was born and raised, it was all Tom Cochran all the time, with Victory Day or Mad Mad, whatever. So many great songs, but in the USA they- It does include Red Rychran all the time, you know, with a Victory Day or Mad Mad, well, whatever.

So many great songs. But in the USA they... It doesn't include Red Ryder. On the mic. Red Ryder. It does not include Red Ryder. There you go. Yeah.

Right. Which was, you know, that was my not so... We're all humble beginnings and then blossomed into something else that... Yeah, we just had a great run and then is Tom Cogren a Red Ryder and then Tom Cogren it's been it's been a pretty great ride and you know put a lot of tanks of gas in the old tour bus with with as you say with the residuals so it's been it's great and still be out playing which I'm doing you know it's spaced out so we play a lot of festivals in the summer yeah and

then we'll be doing a soft-seater run Bill and I just as a duo in this song translates really well by the way it's I never thought it would until I started playing it but it actually when Bill and I do it on acoustic it's pretty cool and yeah so we're doing that in October and shows in the summer here. So you'll be at GTA or any GTA shows in the fall? Close by, Port Colborne, I think there's one. Yeah, and then, and Picton. So those two festivals were playing and I don't think anything closer than that. Yeah.

So when you see, and it must come across your path, it comes across my mind, the one hit wonder lists and you see yourself on it. Do you think, what's wrong with Americans? They tapped into the one, there's more there, man. There's more hits. Yeah, because they don't cross reference. So to them, they don't realize that I did Lunatic Fringe, that I wrote it and sung on it and co-produced it kind of thing.

So that's two hits. So forget about the but in Canada there's I've got about 15 or 20 yeah a bunch great and you're a hell of a all over the world different ones like in Australia I think thinking like a sunset was absolutely made a pretty big splash down there so this is a kind of Tom this is the teaser for your eventual deep dive we're gonna do it proper but I got to ask you about. Yeah, let's get into this subject to some of the songs and then I'll have more. I'll have more content for, for my social media as well.

Well, I listen, we're going to make this happen. I've been sliding into your DMS for like a decade now and say, Tom, let's do this because I'm a big fan, so we're going to definitely do it, but you're a good golfer, right? I know humble Howard Glassman, I produce his podcast, Humble and Fred, and he talks about what a great golfer you are, so I'm not surprised to see at this event. Howard to say that, that's high praise

because he's pretty reluctant. I'll tell you, he's got one of the nicest swings you're going to see from an amateur. And he was a champ at the much-vaunted National Golf Course. I think he was two-time champ up there. So that diminishes my Perry Sound championships in Overnberg. But yeah, the National is pretty... But yeah, I love Howard.

We've been friends for a long, long time. LBJ. Quickly, on your way out here, can you name-check other great Canadian musicians who are also fantastic golfers? Well, Gilmore is is one of the great students of the game. I've learned a lot from him. He works on the game incessantly, still at 70 plus years and as I do a bit, you know, I got a simulator in the basement out in Kelowna and Wow. It's that yeah, it's just a a passion I mean the game to us the ones

of us that get serious with it it's like meditation and it's one thing that takes me away from all your troubles in the world and some of the things that are maybe weighing you down and you get to hang with a lot of really great people and you don't you're not pressured to talk about anything it can just be golf or you might talk about aspects of your life and share that with your buddies but it's it's you share a good laugh out there and yeah afterwards and stuff yeah what about Alex Lifeson he's a hell of a go Alex Lifeson is great he's he's he started later than Gill and I Gill and I started as jun. I think Al started when he was pretty close to 40 or 35 or something like that.

So I picked it up again. So I really stopped cold turkey when I was 15 and I said I'm never playing that game for old fogies. And my brother-in-law at the time came down from Fort St. John and he said, we gotta play golf. We gotta play golf. I said, no, never do it. Bored some clubs from my mom. They were aluminum shafted clubs and I went out and I shot 40 on the front and 41 on the back. I promptly bought a used set of clubs from the Pro and that was the Lake View Club which has a long tradition in history and I was hooked. I hit balls every day the rest of the summer and it was very therapeutic. So I was hooked on the game again. So as we talk, I just saw Dave Stewart walk by, okay?

And I wonder, is there anybody at this event that you're super excited to meet and chat with? All these guys. Kenny Lofton's such a guest. So where's Kenny Lofton? He was having breakfast in the other room. You're going to become my new producer. You're going to find Kenny Lofton and say, the guy in the corner wants to talk to you. Yeah, I love Kenny Lofton. He's one of the all-time top stolen bass guys. I know and that's a lost art. I want to talk about that because no one steals anymore. Like it feels like it's a... Amazing. Yeah and I love that part of the game.

And he's such a... You know why it went away. If you're here the whole day and you hear him afterwards he's such a character. I gotta get this guy on. But you know why I went away if you're here the whole day and you hear him afterwards. He's such a character I gotta get this guy on but you know what happens on bases is the analytics guys got in the way and they did some math Okay, the eggheads did a little math and they said he is not worth the risk get the three-run homer so stolen bases disappeared Yeah, McMahon's walking around here that was a pleasure meeting him and and The great Roger Clemens is here. You know I told you yesterday but I'm gonna try to see if I can try to get him on. I'm gonna tell him that this is ESPN. Yeah. You think he'll believe it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I might.

Congratulations. You should have a t-shirt that you flip on for that. It says ESPN? I know I'll tell him. Hey, you got a moment for ESPN? Yeah sure buddy, that'll get through. But I'm also I see the distance the fan 590 is here. Josh Donaldson and Joe Jose De Fista are sitting there. So Josh, that's the first time I met Josh, even though I've sort of had a connection with the Jays. Being the second guy to ever sing the World Series, the second to the great late Michael Burges,

the night after in Atlanta. I sung the... and I got skewered for it. I messed up the lyrics. I still don't know the lyrics. I messed up. I sung the lyrics. This is Canada. You know, we change stuff. We waffle on certain things. It's one of our charming little quirks, picadilloes. So anyways, and that was the Upside Down Flag episode and I got skewed. I swore I'd never sing the anthem again then I did for Ty Domi to the thousandth game I said Ty I don't want to do this I can't I can't

that was such a fiasco last time he says no please we got to do it and so I well I sang it for him at his thousandth game. I was about to ask you to sing the anthem at TMLX 15 on June 27th but now I'm not gonna do it. Okay Tom. And Wendell Clark is here. Rick Clive, Wendell Clark. Great Paul Henderson who I golf with. See Tim. Wonderful golfer. We gotta get Paul Henderson on this program. Anyways I got I gotta hit balls. Tim just gave me this. Okay thank you Tom I'll set you free now but let me get a selfie with you. Again, I'll keep coming to this event as long as they want me and keep asking and Joe just does such a wonderful job and so does Raul and so many of the sponsors, you know. Yeah,

so it's a great cause and it's a great event. Thank you Tom Cocker. Okay, great charity. Bringer of Reign, Josh Donaldson, MVP. How are you doing, buddy? Good, how are you? Good. What brings you to the Joe Carter Classic today? You know, Joe and I have developed a relationship over the years now.

Whenever I was in playing for the Blue Jays and we played in a lot of golf tournaments and stuff together now. And he asked me to come here and it was for a good cause, helping children out. Great cause. Yeah, great cause. And we're here to help raise some money for him. And he made sure to ask you not to bring any rain today. Yeah, it was a little bit yesterday morning so hopefully it's a little cloudy but hopefully it stays away.

Now I only have a couple minutes with you but Rick Vibe was on the program earlier and Rick tells me he had a great chat with you yesterday at the Jays game and that you are a hockey fan. I do I watch some hockey for sure. I'm not like but east coast hockey right like yeah I used to you know when I was with the Jays I met a lot of uh hockey guys over the course of the year and uh Stephen Stamcoast was a guy that sure uh being him kind of gravitated towards a little bit and so I started following him whenever I lived in Tampa as well for the Lightning and obviously I know all the Leafs guys and they were great and so following them as well. Okay so since you've got to get out on the course here so what is your what are your jams like what is the music that you listen to and you just want to hear your music?

It's pretty eclectic yeah, I go from 90s rap R&B You know I could go Alanis Morissette You know it's can con yeah, you know I could go I could go to Adele Then I could go to you know some The only thing that I'm really not a big fan of is like hardcore like rock so heavy like heavy metal that's the only thing that I'm not a fan of okay man but I'm a big fan of yours bring her rain by the

way only two blue J's in the history of MLB of one at the MVP award can you name them George Bell George Bell and George Bell. And I think myself. And yourself, Josh Donaldson. So thanks for this, Josh. Thanks for carving out a couple of minutes. I know you're a busy guy. I appreciate this. Thank you.

I appreciate it. Take care. Yep. No, I believe you. Oh, thank you. But a lot of people don't lead with honesty. That voice you hear. Isn't that, there was like 200,000 people in the stadium at the time.

200,000, at least. Exactly. Jose Batista, welcome to Toronto Mic'd. What an absolute pleasure it is to meet you. Thank you guys. It's a great day and happy to be on with you. I only have you for a couple minutes so I'm gonna cut right to the chase but after your MLB career there was an attempt to become a pitcher so there's some curiosity. How legit was this attempt to become a pitcher? It's some curiosity how legit was this attempt to become a pitcher? It's not legit I was simply helping a buddy Marcus Strowman getting ready for the season just playing catch with him okay and he was throwing a bullpen one day hopped on and threw a couple pitches he's like I'm gonna stir up social media

and then that's all that's all he had to do a lot of people took it and ran with it and try to try to create some story so it is what it is. Okay you're on here to tell the truth you're on Toronto Mike we need the right here now I just saw Rahul my good friend here say he needs you now so here's yeah like one minute warning one minute here's my thing so there's a statue outside the dome right now of Edward Rogers okay who started it started Rogers okay who owns the Toronto Blue Jays Ted okay yeah yeah so what do you think we need a statue of you flipping the bat what do you think I mean that would be amazing that'd be a

huge honor I don't think I should be the number one advocate or the person trying to get that move up. No, I'm doing that. But we got a mural. Listen, it's super humbling to know that people love that moment, that follow my career, that they treat me like a king every time I'm in town. I get a big smile when I arrive at the airport.

So I enjoy every single moment in Canada and in Toronto. So I love the fans right back just as much as they love me so this is gonna hopefully be a thing forever. Okay so Joe Carter classic you're here awesome that you're here. Joe Carter's home run won the World Series in 93. To me personally a big die hard Blue J fan the next great moment in Blue J's history was you and the bad flip. I'm just throwing that out there and telling you what a pleasure it is to meet you. Thank you, I appreciate it.

Yeah, we had some good homers in this organization and the history, so Joe's, mine, Edwin's, I think Alomar had a big one in Oakland. Alomar had a big one and Ed Sprague had a big one in Atlanta. That's right, so some big home run moments. You're a top five though, my friend. Thanks so much for doing this. I believe that is a wrap.

Everybody has hit the golf course. There's nobody left in the Glen Abbey, what do we call this, Tim? Clubhouse. Clubhouse, you know what? I am golf illiterate. Okay, so I'm with Tim Heron. I have a bunch of questions for you, Tim.

The first question is, what sparked you to volunteer your services to not only pick me up at my home at 630 to drive me to Glen Abbey, but also to wrangle guests. I mean, we'll talk about some of the guests who said no, and we'll talk about a few that got away. We're going to recap this great morning of recording at where are we again? Glen Abbey? Where are we?

Glen Abbey Golf Course. Glen Abbey Golf Course in Oakville. But what caused you to volunteer your services to be my personal driver? Is it because you are the personal driver of Paul Burford and you wanted to extend your services? Absolutely. Absolutely. And the other thing is I enjoy many of the guests that you've had on, many of the people that you've interviewed. And I think at some point in time you and I are gonna do a deep dive. You're gonna kick out the jams. Exactly.

And we're gonna learn more about you. So were you listening? I know you listened to many episodes of Toronto Mike. Were you listening when Rod Black came over and then I think I just said hey can you get Joe Carter on the show and he said hey mark this date you can record live from the Joe Carter Classic Golf Tournament. You were listening and then you just wrote an email and said, Hey, I will be your driver. Did you know I'd also employer services as a Wrangler of sorts, a an assistant producer? Did you know you'd be put to work

today? Well, when I left first thing this morning from Thorn Hill, I didn't know what today was. And I'm a very curious individual. Well, you and me both, byornhill, I didn't know what today was and I'm a very curious individual. Well you and me both by the way, I didn't know what today was either. Which begs the question. But that's the best part of it Mike. Well what was today? Now you know I'm in the mix of it all doing this and we grabbed over an hour of content from numerous people, but from your perspective tell me about what you witnessed here today. Well, I witnessed a number of people who came out for a celebrity event and a great fundraiser, but also an opportunity for some of these people to get together with some of their boyhood or female friends or female people that they would not necessarily meet.

How often do you meet the Holman curling team and how come we didn't get them on the mic well next year next year is it because I didn't recognize them well there was a few you didn't recognize okay so let's just break it down here okay so and we should just point out we just wolfed down some breakfast I had a bunch of scrambled eggs you had had scrambled eggs. Did you get sausages as well? You had some protein? Okay. So we just ate.

Now we just, I'm going to talk about some of the celebs that we kind of missed. Some who said no, some who got away. I will tell you, I did pull audio for some people. So let's start with this person. What about Clemens? Sir, he's in no condition to play. Bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk. That damn hypnotist. person. Good job. Oh, well, I guess it's not your fault. You did a good job.

So I you and I saw Roger Clemens. We got within 10 feet of Roger Clemens, but Roger Clemens, as predicted, never popped on the Toronto Mike microphones. Well, I think we were more afraid that somebody would tackle us if we got any closer than 10 feet. So, right, that would be as Bruce Smith was there. So he you know, there's another one. But Roger Clemens never did make his way to Toronto Mike. He never became an FOTM. But I did have

that Simpsons clip loaded up because I was going to ask him about his Simpsons appearance. And that would have been a moment. Like does he is he okay with this? Like I'm not asking about his 20 strikeouts. I'm not asking about this, that I'm talking about the Simpsons, but we never got a chance to find out. No, but but you had opportunity whether it was Rick Vibe or Wendell Clark and and mine if I can say what my favorite one was of course was Tom Cochran you know. Tom Cochran was great long time coming he's gonna come back for a deep dive here's a guy I saw because we heard the announcements Rod Black was announcing who's going, and

I'm like, how do we not get him? But this guy... against the Blue Jays by the way. His teams like to know hit the Blue Jays. Dave Stewart has thrown a no hitter allowing only three base runners at one point retired 25 in a row. He was just in complete control and dominated Toronto. He dominated all night, picking up his tenth win and even a little messing around with the mound that John Stewart he did to try to pack up the rubber area didn't affect

Dave Stewart tonight. A no-hitter for Stewart. We will be back. Did we affect Dave Stewart tonight. A no-hitter for Stewart, we will be back. Did we approach Dave Stewart? I think we missed him. We missed Dave Stewart. Okay, here's a guy I need to ask you about. Listen to this clip I pulled just in case we got him here. Here at the end of 27 astounding days, there's time for one more moment to define the heart and character of Canadian hockey. Canadian team went into a huddle there, which seemed to be a little unusual. 102 left in the game. They took a shot, the defenseman fell over, early after the game.

Y.A. has it all that way here, there's shots! Henderson made a wild, bad, warped spell. Here's another shot, strikes by the score! Henderson! And scores to Canada! Henderson, right hand side of the net! And the fans of the team are going wild! Henderson, right hand side of the goal,

and so, with 34 a realization at the moment. Did you watch this game? Grade 10, Arillia, Ontario, geography class. Wow. With one of those great big television sets on top of a stand. Wow. Now, did you approach Paul Henderson and ask him to jump on the mics and make his Toronto mic debut? I did and unfortunately he declined.

So he, I'm just trying to understand this, I'm very hurt right now. Paul Henderson was given an opportunity to be on Toronto mic'd, he was literally in the same room as us and he just politely declined. Do we have any idea why? I think he, as much as he is a celebrity, as much as he has lived off that goal, I think he still is a very very shy person. He's had some health issues throughout his life in the last few years and you know it's it was a personal thing. Okay so I need to know this because I've been

watching the fan five ninety live to air with celebrities and I was trying to see who did they get that I didn't get. I only one name really jumps at me actually Dion for enough. Yeah, but he was at the end at the end. They were calling they were calling them to their golf carts and but he did so Paul Henderson did not appear on the fan this morning. No, he didn't. Okay, then I can't be too hurt here No, but I did pull this clip for Dion because I knew he was gonna be here. You know what? I'm I'm disappointed today The way the media treats

Dion Fanaf in this city is embarrassing. I think a lot of people should be ashamed of themselves I'm embarrassed for them, you know. I don't think anyone deserves to be treated like that. I think a lot of media here should be embarrassed what they said to them. So Phil Kessel was ripping Toronto sports media for how they treated Dion Fennouf when Dion was the captain of the city in the city of this team. Sorry, sorry sounds vacuuming over there but that's okay

we're not the fan 590 I guess they can start the vacuum what did you think do you think the fan 590 was treated better than us what do you think Tim? Hey we're first time here and I think we did extremely well as far as who was able to stop by you got Josh Donaldson you got Joey Batts. Okay hold on because you know we didn't as you know you can see the people wrapping up so the two guests that were like Joe Carter came on and that gentleman was like you got four minutes and he was counting the seconds and then he was wrapping me up because I wanted to go a little longer of Joe but Joey Bats only like less than a minute

they told me I think I took a little more than that but I wanted to play this clip because this is an FOTM All eyes on the mound in the bearded Sam Dyson I come set Kicks the one one pitch And Jerry lets the crowd noise take it for a while, which I absolutely adore, but I think I made the most of my time with Joey Bats. I would say so. I would say so.

Those were a lot of the questions. He obviously gets the question about specifically you know, specifically that one event. But there was other things that you asked him about. And I think those are the items. Oh, the pitching, right? Exactly. Yeah. Like that caught him off guard.

Yeah. And we got the truth on that, which was a gag because this was reported. Joey Bats is going to become a pitcher. Wow. Okay. So Joey Bats and forevermore, we can say Jose Batista, he okay so Joey bats and forevermore we can say Jose Bautista he'll come up in convo and we can say FOTM Jose Bautista because of that five minutes. One more gentleman that kind of so it was pretty cool to

have on some great Leafs like Wendell Clark and Rick Vibe and of course Bernie Nichols Not a great leaf, but a great NHL player kind of popped on that's exciting Bernie Nichols FOTM Bernie Nichols and then to get on Joe Carter Josh Donaldson Jose Batista, you know, you mentioned Tom Cochran. So he's from the world of music. That was wonderful But this guy I heard announced by Rod Black outside and I'm like, I wanted this guy. I loaded up a clip and everything. He would rather give up one run or a stolen base at this point than have a big inning. He knows he's right into the heart of a very powerful lineup.

He goes, the pitch is strike three and the throw is not in time. So Vizquel gone on strikes but Lofton picks up a stolen base and the Indians have a runner at second with one out. Lofton goes the pitch is low the throw is not in time. The throw is right there but Kenny Lofton steals third so Lofton who set the tone clearly the other night at the Kingdom is setting the tone in game one of the World Series in the first inning. Kenny Lofton's here. We missed out on Kenny Lofton.

We missed out on Kenny Lofton. We missed out on a few. Okay. Sorry. Now you did your best, Tim. You did your best here. I'm just clearing up my clips. I pulled, here's a guy that was wandering around and I kind of, I mean, Jeremy Roenick

was here. So he's a guy who went on the fan 590. We never got Jeremy Roenick. He would have been fantastic on this podcast, so he's a guy who went on the Fan 590. We never got Jeremy Roenick. He would have been fantastic on this podcast. But there's another guy, I'm just going to put this in the background. Jim McMahon is here. That's amazing. Jim McMahon is here.

We came this close to getting Jim McMahon on the microphone. I don't even know what I'd say. I think I would just talk about the Super Bowl shuffle for five minutes. Absolutely. It's all loaded up and everything. So another thing, if I had more time, I did want to speak to people like Dave Stewart and Joe Carter about the inspiration. Here, I'll play a better song actually.

Let's play it here. Say hey, say who? Swinging at the plate. Say hey, say who? Say, Willie, that gigantic hit is great. Oh, yeah. I wanted to talk about Willie Mays. So the news broke last night. Willie Mays passed away. Willie Mays, how many tools are there? Five? That guy could do it all, right? He could field, he could hit for power, he could hit for average.

He had 660 homers. He served in the military. Imagine how many homers he would hit if he didn't do that. Willie Mays always ranked in the top three players of all time. Every time you see a list, if you don't see Willie Mays in the top three, that list is bogus, okay? Sometimes Babe Ruth is ahead of him. You can make that argument, but Willie Mays passed away

I would have loved an opportunity to talk to people like Dave Stewart about What Willie Mays meant to him, but here all in all let's wrap this up Tim by saying a I'm so grateful that you stepped up out of nowhere and said let me drive you and I Did need somebody with me to help me corral guests and stuff and you did a great job So thank you Tim very much for doing that. We'll have to do it again Mike next year I want to make this our annual event Joe Carter classic. Yeah, I think we could I think we could and the breakfast was good enough That you'll be back Well, the price was right the price was right. So here we are. I think we

Everybody Rod black is a guy we didn't get on because he was busy, but Rod Black is a guy who's been on many times, so he wasn't high on my hit list, but I did pull the clip of him calling his son's hit. So maybe we'll play the Rod Black clip because if it wasn't for Rod Black, we would not be here. And I do think it's fascinating that the Rogers-owned sports radio station in Canada's largest city, which is the Fan 590. They have a spot, I'm looking at it now, they're long gone, of course, but they were here live

and they were talking to people like Josh Donaldson and Jose Batista and Wendell Clark, people we talked to, but they had a good spot, right. But the only other broadcast happening from Glen Abbey today with all these people is Toronto Mic'd. Like we're playing with the big boys. Rogers owned Fan 590 live to Terrestrial Radio and Toronto Mike. What do you think about that? When I said Jose Batista you got

five minutes he goes yeah what is this for? And I said Toronto Mike and that he didn't run away. You're a big man in this town Mike. Oh how yes that's right you have other people you need to to drive for here so on our way out here's the broad black clip I wanted to play for him. He's been a baseballer since he's been a kid and he's always done his hit hit hit hit I think hand eye from from hockey also helps. There's a base hit to right field for my boy Tyler Black. There you go. Oh there you go. Two for two. Happy birthday, Nancy. So thank you, Tim, for your help today and thank you FOTM Rod Black because without you

saying hey I can get you into the Glen Abbey Golf Club here so you can meet Joe Carter and great people like that, this never would have happened so thank you Rod. So we'll do it next year? Same time? If we're invited back. Same place. I don't think we embarrassed ourselves. I don't think so.

But what a great opportunity this was and what a great recording. And again thank you and thanks to everyone for listening and especially thanks to the partners who made this happen. Tim, I gave you a copy of the Toronto Maple Leaf's history of baseball book and I gave you the copy of Bruce Dobigan and Evan Dobigan's book on the great trades in NHL history. When you drop me off, because you drive me home, I don't know if you know that, I'll get you a wireless speaker from Minaris. I forgot to pack it but Minaris and you know what to do with that. You're gonna listen to Yes We Are Open. Shout out to Al Grego, who hosts that show for

Minaris. I also owe you a Palma Pasta lasagna, and I owe you some fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery. And you already know where to go. You go to recyclebyelectronics.ca if you have some know where to go. You go to RecycleByElectronics.ca if you have some old electronics to recycle. You're a great FOTM. Will I see you at TMLX15 on June 27th? Absolutely. Laura's coming and Andrew Bunton, my friend, is also coming. And that brings us to the end of our 1509th show live from Glen Abbey Golf Course in Oakville, home of the Joe Carter Classic. Touch them all, Joe.

You're now an FOTM. You can follow me all over the place as Toronto Mike. You can go to torontomike.com. Much love again to all who made this possible. That's Great Lakes Brewery. That's Palma Pasta. That's recyclemyelectronics.ca. That's the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team. That's Monaris. And shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. Tim, I'm going to get you a measuring tape from Ridley Funeral Home with your Monaris wireless speaker. See you all. My next guest

was Robert Fisher and he had to postpone because his car is inoperable and he needs to reschedule. But I have a singer named Kelly Lee Evans who's going to step in. Kelly Lee Evans, great singer, is going to visit me Friday. See you all then Maybe the one who doesn't realize there's a thousand shades of gray Cause I know that's true, yes I do I know it's true, yeah I know it's true, how much, yeah All them pickin' up trash and them puttin' down roads And their broker in stocks, the class struggle explodes

And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can Maybe I'm not and maybe I am But who gives a damn because Everything is coming up rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow warms me today And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine It won't go away, because everything is rosy and gray Everything is rolling green Well I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain

And I've kissed you in places I better not name And I've seen the sun go down on Chacla Court But I like it much better going down on you, yeah, you know that's true Because everything is coming up rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow warms us today And your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away Cause everything is rosy now, everything is rosy Everything is rosy and gray You