Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Mike Wilner Returns: Toronto Mike'd #425

Episode Date: January 28, 2019

Mike catches up with Mike Wilner as they talk Vladdy, Jr., Roy Halladay, Richard Griffin, JaysTalk, the broadcast booth, and Domer.

Welcome to episode 425 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Propertyinthe6.com, ATM Canada, Palma Pasta, Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair, and our newest sponsor, Buckle, that's b-u-k-l i'm mike from toronto mike.com and joining me is blue jays radio play-by-play broadcaster and i have a big question mark on this we're going to talk about it and host of blue jays talk mike wilner Jay's talk, Mike Wilner. How you doing, Mike? It's always lovely to be here. Do you want the fine or do you want the honest answer? I want the truth.

How are you feeling? I've been better. I've been dealing with a herniated disc in my neck for the last six weeks, so it's been very difficult to do almost the most basic things. But the last week and a half, I've decided I'm going to get out. I'm going to do more things, whether I can feel my left index finger or not. And off we go. Well, I'm sorry to hear that.

Are you on some kind of pain maintenance management pill? I have been on everything. Over the course of this, I was on Oxy for a while, and I decided I did not want to keep doing that. I was on hydromorphone for a while. They've given me the very best of the best of the painkillers, and I still don't think in the last six weeks I've slept more than like three hours in a stretch.

Oh, wow. Yeah, it's tough. Yeah, that sounds terrible. Like this Oxy they gave you, is this Percocets? Is that O wow. Yeah, it's tough. Yeah, that sounds terrible. Like this Oxy they gave you, is this Percocet? No, it's Oxycodone. Percocet's a whole other. It's a different thing completely. But they're the same like crazy, scary narcotic.

I think Percocet, I say this, I'm not 100% sure because I don't want to get sued out here in the internet sphere. I think Percocet was the pill that Rush Limbaugh was taking 48 of a day at one point. It's a slippery slope. This is how it begins. And next thing we know, you're at the methadone clinic. So yeah, you got to be careful with those things. That's why I got off the oxy within a week and a half.

It was still scaring the crap out of me. Well, thanks for coming in this storm. As we speak, it's just gone nuts out there. Snowing, winds blowing, and here you are. So that's amazing. You could have cancelled. I would have forgiven you. I'd be understanding. First of all, you're right around the corner from me.

So I'm not going to cancel. But yeah, this is a major snow event we're going through. And I expect that when we're done, you know, within an hour and a half, my car will be absolutely covered. You know what? I'll help you. So we'll do our photo afterwards,

and I'll help you clear things out. I've got to get out this shoveling too, but thanks for coming. And while I'm thanking you for, you know, appearing in places, I want to thank you for coming to TMLX2, the Toronto Mike Listener Experience at Great Lakes Brewery. I mean, despite the fact that Gary Joyce took a real shot at me,

that was not very nice. But no, it was fun. And it just happened to coincide with a point in time where I wasn't working. I think it was the night before Rosh Hashanah, which is one of the high holidays. So I wasn't on the trip it was um the night before russia shana uh was one of the high holidays so i wasn't on the trip for the blue jays because i was back home for the holiday and and uh yeah it was it was a good time and i saw um a few of the you know i met a few of your listeners there one of whom was my next door neighbor from when i was eight years old to when i was about 21 which was

my next-door neighbor from when I was eight years old to when I was about 21, which was crazy. I don't think I'd seen him in at least 25 years. Do you remember who that was? Jody Sokoloff. Amazing. Yeah, that's amazing. He lived at 156 Cactus Avenue number four, and I was at number three.

Well, you never know who's going to show up at these events. It's a small world. It was great to see you there. It was a little bizarre that you're there, and there's a Jays game going on at the same time. It's a small world. But yeah, it was great to see you there. That was fun. And it was even, yeah, it was a little bizarre that you're there and there's a Jays game going on at the same time. It was like, it felt weird, but it was just great to see you there. So thank you so much. Now, the big news today is it's basketball related because Anthony Davis wants to be traded, but we're not here to talk raps unless you're in the mood. And soccer news breaking too, like Giovinco apparently is, i don't know how it works in

soccer but you get like sold or something yeah like a commodity it's really weird in soccer like and i'm not a thousand percent sure how it works but i think it's just basically a cash transaction and they call it a transfer but the team gets all the dough yeah so that's happening so a lot's going on but we're gonna find some jay's to talk about. Let me tell listeners that if they want to like, I don't know if they want to do the A to Z, the ongoing history of Mike Wilner. Start with episode 96. Look at you. You got in when we are at double digits. That's good for you. So in episode 96, Mike chats with Blue Jays broadcaster Mike Wilner about his career in radio, the CETO controversy. That's right. We covered the CETO controversy. Whether he's, I should put this in quotes, but condescending and arrogant to Blue Jays talk callers and when and why he'll block you on Twitter. So we did all that in episode 96. And then that sounds exciting. I feel like going back and listening.

And then in episode 136, Mike Chatz of Blue Jays Radio, play-by-play broadcaster and host of Blue Jays Talk, Mike Wilner, about the playoff-bound Toronto Blue Jays. I remember those days. about the playoff bound Toronto Blue Jays. I remember those days. I remember my appetite was insatiable. Like I was just like gobbling up anything Blue Jays. Like it was unbelievable. And then-

That was when you played, I think, those old 1980s songs that they recorded about the Jays. Oh yeah. So then I said, whether they care about winning the AL regular season crown and how things have changed in the city and the fun to come. They also spin some retro Blue Jays songs and Tom Cheek calls. So we did a whole bunch of Tom Cheek calls, which was amazing. It was.

And then in episode 243, I guess this is your last appearance, we played and discussed your 10 favorite songs of all time. So that's kicking out the jams. I could not be prouder to have been a part of your inspiration to start the jam kicking. You were the catalyst. So you tweeted something about Pearl Jam's 10, is how this went down. I don't remember what it was.

I don't know either. Well, because I'm talking about it, I have it queued up here. One of the great jams from Pearl Jam's 10, but you tweeted something about Pearl Jam's 10. Now, that happens to be

one of my favorite albums of all time and I had this moment of like, okay, I go to Wilner for like Jay's analysis and Jay's talk,

but he's like a human being. He's a regular guy, you know? I hope. He likes music. Like, what other songs does Wilner love?

What jams does he dig? That's where it all came. I was on a bike ride or something and I was like, what if he came over and we played his 10 favorite songs of all time and he just told us why he loves the song. I was crazy about this idea. I loved it.

It has gone wonderfully for you. It's been amazing. I think the tweet was, I was answering someone about something and saying that there hasn't been any good music made since 10. That's right. Okay, well, then it was like, I think I was so excited that we had some common ground with 10.

I'm like, not that that's an obscure album or anything. There's probably a lot of guys our age that are like 10. But just last week, not last week. Yeah, last Monday, Biff Naked was here kicking out the jam. So it's, yeah. And she's, by the way, a Southwest Toronto person now herself. Awesome. Yeah.

Awesome. Yeah, being a Southwest Toronto person now, I mean, I grew up Bathurst and Steeles, but I've lived in this area 20 years now. I was kind of hoping that I might make it on episode 427, just for the highway. It would have been a beautiful symbiosis there. You're so close. I feel like you'll have to come back.

Actually, you know who it is? I think he went to school with you, speaking of small world. But 427 is going to be the return of Mark Weisblatt from 1236. We went to high school together, yep. Well, that's crazy too. It is crazy. And all these little school things. I'm sure I told you in one of the earlier episodes about Dan Schulman

that he and I went to the same primary school. about Dan Shulman, that he and I went to the same primary school. So, you know, there are a lot of sports broadcasters in the world. Almost all of them are the best ones to come out of their primary school. I'm not. That's funny. That is funny. Now, since you were last here, Shulman's been here too. Oh, awesome. You fit. Well, you made him fit.ulman's been here too. He came here too. Oh, awesome. You're fit. Well, you made him fit.

Barker's been down here. So, I mean, he didn't talk on mic, but he made it into this spot. When Maisel was here? Yeah. Barker's awesome. And they're Southwest Toronto people too.

Yes, that's right. So maybe this podcast should just be Southwest Toronto people. I don't know. But the reason I, this song is North Central Toronto to me,

not Southwest Toronto. Right, right. Well, me too. I'm actually, for me, I was, I would say York is the, not York region, but the old York. City of York? Right.

City of York. Alan Tonk's land, as you will. That's where I was kind of growing up when I was rocking 10. I remember not having listened to the album, so I only knew the two singles, Jeremy and Alive. No, you're forgetting Evenflow.

Right, and Evenflow, the three singles. And I was working at Lime Ricky's at Young and Steels, and we were talking about this album and one of the waitresses a friend of mine said to me Black is the best song on that album and she was 100% right. Yeah, I think

that's what I would go with too and I'm a big fan of Porch. I like Porch because it rocks out but I think this might be the best song on the album. You're right, I think so. So the Lime Rickies intelligence was on the nose album. You're right. I think so. So the Lime Ricky's intelligence was on the nose there. Perfect. Perfect. I want to just give a

shout out to, I don't think he listens, but I'm going to shout him out anyways, but Daryl Dahmer because I don't know about you, but I grew up listening to 680 CFTR. This was like all hits radio. I was a chum guy. You're a chum guy. I was a 1050 chum guy at the time. But I worked at 680 News with Daryl Dahmer. So, okay, great. Now, I bring it up only because he just like retired last week and he was on that station since the late 70s. So I don't, that's not particularly common. Like, you know, there's Roger Ashby aside, although he changed stations

because he did 104.5. He came from 1050 to 104, so it's like crossing the hall or whatever. Right. He was a DJ. When they were hit music, I was listening to him,

for sure. Yeah, for sure. And fellow sports broadcaster Jim Van Horn was a shock jock, not shock jock, but just a rock jock on 1050 Chum. I did not know that.

Wow, before my time. You got to tune in to his deep dive there. But Daryl Dahmer is 45 years and out. So I just thought that's like an interesting link that I was listening to him in early 80s on 680 CFTR. I hear Daryl Dahmer and Russ Holden. And then Holden, I guess, retired a couple of years ago I hear Daryl Dahmer and Russ Holden and then Holden, I guess, retired a couple years ago. So Daryl Dahmer

has retired. So did you ever, like, I know he's out of Buddenville or something. Did you ever see him or meet him? I think maybe once or twice. Like, I saw Russ Holden a lot more often because he was at the radio station and generally when I was coming in for a Jays game he was leaving. So we would meet in the hallway

a whole bunch of times. But yeah, the couple of times that you get to meet Daryl Dahmer, you just stop and you're in awe of this guy who's been doing this forever. It's weird to say the voice of traffic, but people tune in just to hear the traffic. Absolutely. And Dahmer was up in the chopper and then later in the plane. And, yeah, he's like synonymous with Toronto traffic reports, and he's been doing it forever.

And I remember when I worked on the morning show on 680, Paul Cook would always say, what do you see, double D? And to be able to do that that well for that long, it really is an amazing thing. Were you with Stephanie Smythe at 680 when you were there? I was with Stephanie Smythe at the fan and at 680. When I interned at the fan in 1993 for like a month and a half,

taking calls for Norm Rumack, Stephanie Smythe was there. When I got back, hired again in 2001, she was there. And then in between at 680, she was there for a little bit. She's amazing. I could not love Stephanie Smythe more. And we bring her up because she's married to Paul Cook. So there it all comes together. And yeah, she's at CP24 now. And yeah, she's married to Paul Cook. So there it all comes together. And yeah, she's at CP24 now.

And yeah, she's great. Normally, I'd like to warm me up a bit before we go hard here. But I'm actually going to just dive in and ask you about who I believe to be the greatest starting pitcher in Blue Jays history. That is my... Wow.

I know, my subjective opinion. All right. Roy Halladay. Yep right. Roy Halladay. Yep. So Roy Halladay, of course, will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. But just recently we learned, I guess, Roy's wife and children, sons were by her side. But he's going to go into the hall with no logo on the cap. Is that the bottom line?

Yeah. I guess to start with, I'm curious about what are your thoughts about him going in the hall without a Blue Jay logo on the cap? It's disappointing. You know, and that's all that it is.

It's disappointing, but he's not, as much as we felt like he was ours, he's first and foremost Brandy's and the boys Brayden and Ryan and they sort of loaned him to us for those 12 years that he was a Blue Jay it's

I fully expected there to be a Blue Jay on the cap in the Hall of Fame for Roy I'm not sure I understand why Brandy made the decision that she did but it is absolutely her decision and it takes nothing away from Roy Halliday's

dozen years as a Blue Jay that there won't be a Blue Jay on the cap in the Hall of Fame I don't think anybody is going to watch the ceremony I don't think anybody is going to go to the hall and have their experience horribly diminished by the fact that there's no Blue Jay there. The plaque will begin with

it'll say Harry Leroy Halliday III. Underneath it, there will be a line that just says Doc in quotation marks, which will be awesome because Tom Cheek gave him that nickname and that's special. And then the next thing on the plaque is going to be Toronto, 1998 to 2009,

and that's not going anywhere. I also am disappointed, and I'm with you, of course. The family's made the decision. I respect their decision, of course, but it is disappointing, because until I, I think it was Arash Madani who tweeted it that I saw first,

but until I read that tweet, I was convinced 100% that he's going in as a Blue Jay. Me too. And he said it, and, you know, and he said stuff like, even when I was starting out my career after the trade, I felt like a Blue Jay in a Phillies uniform. And he just, you know, felt like a Blue Jay in a Phillies uniform. He was a Blue Jay. He took the trade

to get a shot at the postseason because he knew that the Blue Jays weren't going to be in that position for a while. He came back and he signed that one-day contract as a Blue Jay. So yeah, I was floored. So that's August 2016, and that's when you get all these quotes. I know he told the Star.

I'm sure he told other journalists too, but he said... We were all there. Yeah, you're in the background of the picture. Is that right? Yeah, that's right. I did see you there. So August 2016, he said you wanted to go into the hall as a Blue Jay. Of course, reasonably at this point, I mean, that point is hard.

He still wants to go in as a Blue Jay, I believe. Well, he said so. And he did want to retire as a Blue Jay. Like, why bother doing that? Like, because you're retiring as a Philly. Like, so he's doing it. It's clear at that point he wants to go in the halls of Blue Jay. So I'm just going to read a quote from Bob Elliott's article that he wrote after Roy

passed away. Now, this is a great article Bob Elliott wrote about Roy Halliday, but it includes this quote, which I think I've written about a few times because I find it very interesting, but it right. This is what Bob Elliott wrote. This offseason, he wanted to work with Blue Jays minor leaguers. He applied. Yes, Roy Halladay was made to apply for a job with the Blue Jays, with the high performance committee, and then the decision whether to hire him was kicked upstairs. The Jays did not hire him. Instead, he was rehired then the decision whether to hire him was kicked upstairs. The Jays did not hire him.

Instead, he was rehired by the Phillies to work with their young pitchers. So that little, like that little, some that's post, obviously that's well after August, 2016 and potentially, and of course you and I,

I'm not going to ask you to read any minds or guests. We don't know, but potentially maybe that's the impetus for the decision that was made. Possibly. Am I reaching too hard? Am I, uh. We don't know. But potentially, maybe that's the impetus for the decision that was made? Possibly. Am I reaching too hard? Am I... I don't know, because like you said, we can't get into their heads.

You know, first of all, I'll say this. I don't know Brandy Halliday well, but I know her as well or better than any other Blue Jays wife that has ever come around. I absolutely love her.

I think she's wonderful. And she expressed to me on several occasions how much they love Toronto, how much they felt at home here. I remember when the trade talk was starting to happen in that summer of 2009 that Brandy came up to do a Lady Jays thing and she was in the booth and I said, look, you know what? Best thing that happens is he goes, he wins a World Series somewhere and then in four or five years, the Blue Jays are good again and he comes back. And she said, that's the dream come true.

That would be the absolute best way to do this because of their ties to Toronto and how much they love the city. And it's hard for me to imagine that because they may have been upset with a decision that Mark Shapiro or Ross Atkins or Angus Mugford, who runs the high performance department, made that they would say, screw this. You know what? We're not going. We're upset with the Blue Jays. And if they were that angry at the Blue Jays, then they might have said he's going in as a Philly. So his number is on a flag hanging or flying over center field at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

They didn't do that. I really think that they wanted to honor both. And I think that the way the Phillies appeared to have stepped up after Roy died in a way that the Blue Jays took a little bit longer to do might have had something to do with that decision too. So again, it doesn't take anything away from his tremendous career here.

But Alomar's the only guy in there with the Jays cap, right? So it just was kind of exciting to have. Yeah, and the next Blue Jay that goes in is probably going to go in with a Braves cap when Fred McGriff goes in. Oh, I was going to say Vlad Guerrero Jr. That's a while.

I was thinking, why is he wearing a Braves cap? All right, we'll get to him so uh let me ask you about uh richard griffin so this is big news too that i mean i mean forever he did pr for the expos but then he's been a fantastic writer with the star but now he's leaving the star to become head of pr for the blue jays yes what do you think of this news? I'm not surprised. When the Blue Jays fired Jay Stenhouse at the end of last year, Jay had been there running the communications department since, I think, well, I can't remember exactly when Howie Starkman retired, but it had been Howie Starkman from day one and Jay was his protege. And Jay, I think, started working with Howie in like 1984, 85, somewhere around there.

One of the very few people who's been around that place longer than I have. and when they fired Jay, you sort of knew that they had to come up with a department head, someone who knew his way around. Ryan Brown started last year and did a fantastic job, like a really quick learning curve, picked it up fast and he was great

and they have a couple of other younger guys, Adam and Rodney, helping out underneath. But I think they needed like a wizened sage, if you will. And I can't imagine a better one than Griff. You know, the newspaper business is tough. They're going through hard times right now. And a lot of newspaper writers, if they're not taking packages or getting blown up, they're looking for a way to get out. I don't know that Rich was specifically looking for a way to get out, but for however long he does this with the Jays, I think it'll be really, really good. And he gets to go back on

the road again because the Star cut their travel last year. They didn't send anybody on the road. And I know how much Rich enjoyed being on the road. It's going to be interesting because this will be the first time I'll get to see his superstition. He always has to be the last guy to get on the plane. Wow. He told me

that from back with the Expos. And he always has to tap it before he goes in. What happens if there's another person with the identical superstition? I guess maybe there's a fight to the death. They're going together? I was going to say, something's got to give.

Ryan Walstat was in, he covers the Raptors for The Sun, and he gave me a little tip. So Ryan's a huge hip-hop head. We played his 10 favorite hip-hop songs from 1994, I think, to 1997, like a very specific range. Yeah, very specific. It was amazing. And then he revealed to me that Richard Griffin was a hip-hop

head. Oh my God. So did you know that? Oh yeah. I had no idea. Absolutely. That's a well-kept secret, I'd say. Yeah, no. Rich, I remember years ago hearing him talk about um oh man i can't remember his name uh like what do we can you give me some clues this is kind of a fun game i think if you give me any clues at all a rapper you're talking about a rapper no it's um silo green that's okay there's

there's your hint that's my hopefully that's because that's a good hint. You could have said Narls Barkley. That's a good hint for you. But he was talking about CeeLo Green when nobody had heard of him yet except for the people who were like very, very deep in. Oh, because he was with O-Cast or something for a short bit back in Atlanta

way back in the day. I think there's a story there. Yeah, that's... So he... Yeah, before he became a known commodity before Narls Barkley and all that stuff. Yeah, Rich is probably... He's among the greatest

Jamaican-Canadian hip-hop aficionados that there is. So on that note, I need to get him in here because it sounds like we have a lot to talk about. Like, forget the J's and stuff. I want to talk about all that. But I will say, as a guy who's not in the media, not really, so unlike yourself, to me, this is a shame because I really think we'll be less off

because we don't get to read Griffin's pieces about the Jays. And I'll be better off because I get to read his notes, which in Montreal, they were like, that's what got him hired with the star, the quality of the game notes he did for the Expos

because they were so hilarious on a regular basis. I'm sure, I'm sure. Except now, of course, everything will be expected to have some degree of spin. I think that's in the job title, like PR person. Game notes aren't spinny. But cherry-picked, I suppose. Well, no, it's just for our reference.

And they're really not for public consumption, though. I think they're available on the website. But I don't think he's going to be a face for the organization. I don't think he's going to get in front of microphones and talk or anything like that. So I don't know.

He'll sort of mostly be in charge of media requests and availability and corralling players and all those sorts of things and information rather than like standing at a podium like Sarah Huckabee Sanders and putting spins on things. Okay, good. Since he worked at the Expos, this is an ideal segue to Brian Gerstein's question for you, Mike. Brian Gerstein is a real estate sales

representative with PSR Brokerage. Let's hear from, in fact, you missed him. He was at TMLX1, but then his slow pitch final was the night of TMLX2, so he didn't get to meet you. But hopefully I can, it depends when I schedule TMLX3, it's got to find an off day or something and make sure you can make it but let's listen to brian hi mike brian gerstein here sales representative with psr brokerage and proud sponsor of toronto mike call or text me at 416-873-0292 if you're looking at getting your home ready for the spring market the early listers will sell quicker and for more money so let's get started mike stephen brockman and his ownership group are waiting for the tap on the shoulder from mlb either through expansion or relocation

of an existing franchise and are open to either possibility is it a question of when and not if the expose will return and so, would you like to see them in the AL East as an obvious rivalry would be there instantly with the Jays? Second question on Larry Walker, who gained the most votes at 88 and increased his percentage to 54.6%. Will he in his last year of eligibility hit the 75% mark and make it into the Hall of Fame? in his last year of eligibility, hit the 75% mark and make it into the Hall of Fame. Two-part question.

If it's not obvious, Brian's from Montreal. On Jay's talk, I always tell people, don't ask me two-part questions because I'm dumb, I'll forget them. So let's go backwards first.

It's going to be very, very, very, very, very difficult for Larry Walker to get up to the 75%. The gains he's made are incredible. If the Hall of Fame had kept the 15-year ballot in instead of the 10-year ballot, I would say he will get in, but it's his last year. I know that I will be campaigning as hard as I possibly can. I've already reached out to a few voters who haven't had him on their ballot to say, you know, when I see you, give me five minutes just to talk about Larry Walker, because I think it's just too easy for a lot of voters to say, I played in Colorado,

so he's not a Hall of Famer. And I think if he gets to the Veterans Committee, that's what they're going to say, too. Oh, he played in Colorado. He's not a Hall of Famer, which is ridiculous. Larry Walker has a great case for the Hall. People say he was hurt too much. He averaged the same amount of games per season as Willie Stargell, who was a first ballot Hall of Famer. Colorado, sure, but he had an 865 road OPS, which is right there with Ken Griffey Jr.

And like Larry himself said at the baseball canada banquet a couple of weeks ago if it was that easy and called to hit in colorado well how come nobody else hit the way he hit in colorado that's right so i doubt it but um four spots three four spots opened on a lot of ballots this year with the rule of 10. Hopefully, Larry was 11th or 12th on a lot of people's ballots. There's only one slam dunk Hall of Famer going onto the ballot next year, so a lot of voters will have two or three open spots, and I and a lot of other people are going to do our very best

to make sure that Larry Walker gets one of those votes. As far as the other question. I think it was about AL East. Do you want to expose an AL East? If it's a matter of time, right? I don't know if it's a matter of when and not if for Montreal. I do believe that Major League Baseball wants to expand by two more teams. And if they do, that Montreal would likely be one of them.

If not, keep your eye on the Oakland Stadium project and on the Tampa Stadium project, because neither of those things are sure bets to succeed. And if they fall through, either one of those teams could be moved to Montreal. Will they be in the AL East? I'm going to say the AL East in a couple of years is not going to look like the AL East right now. I think that when Major League Baseball goes to 32 teams, there will be radical realignment, and they're probably going to go to eight divisions of four.

And so I would vote Montreal be in the AL North with the Blue Jays, with Detroit, and probably Boston. And I think that that would be really cool. You'd have a bunch of great rivalries because Montreal-Boston is a big one as well. And, yeah, that's what I'm hoping that within the next decade and change, that's what we see in

baseball. That's exciting. Yeah, it would be a lot of fun. Yeah, cool. You tweeted that Marco Estrada was, I know you wrote, might be the best post season pitcher in Blue Jays history. Yes. So at first I had this initial like,

that can't be true, can it? But it's hard to, it is difficult to argue against your assertion there. Look at the next tweet. Yeah, well. The next tweet had numbers in it. Oh, I see. Do you have it memorized?

I don't, but I will. Yeah, because I, again, off the top of my head, I didn't dive into any numbers or anything, but you'd think it'd be like a Jimmy Key or a Dwayne Ward. I have those two guys. Yeah, you wouldn't think it would be Estrada

because we didn't win the World Series, but the numbers don't lie. Okay, let me hear. Oh, no, take a look. You can tell the people. All right, I get to read the... All right, it wants to connect to my Wi-Fi. Okay, Estrada, 2.16 ERA, 0.744 whip,

7.4 strikeouts per nine innings. Let me just see here. So that's 2.16. Okay, 2.16. Key is 3.03. Stewart's 4.26. Guzman's 2.44. Ward, 4.74 for Dwayne Ward.

That surprises me. And Tom Henke, 1.83. But let me, so let me, 7.4. Okay, so the key here is, though, Estrada pitched 41 innings, where Henke only pitched 19 innings. Right. Estrada had, compared to Jimmy Key, Dave Stewart, Juan Guzman,

he had a better ERA, a better whip, more strikeouts per nine innings than any of those guys and pitched more innings than any of them except for Guzman. Henke had that 183 ERA, but

and this is insane, Marco Estrada had more strikeouts per nine innings than Tom Henke did for the Blue Jays in the playoffs. That is insane. Yeah, and he had a better whip in more than twice as many innings. So, look, I mean, yes, he didn't pitch in the World Series. That's not his fault.

He did everything he possibly could to help the Blue Jays to the World Series. And I said in that original tweet, might be, but then after those numbers, Marco Estrada is the greatest Blue Jays playoff pitcher ever. I'm glad you tweeted that. It didn't

even occur to me that that could be true. And yeah, the numbers don't lie. That most likely is true. So very cool. Very cool. You drive a car. I know it's in my driveway right now. Yes. Being covered with snow. I know it's in my driveway right now. Yes, being covered with snow. Well, the snow is covering the rust on my car, but my car is really old and it always needs work.

But if anyone listening... Is it older than mine? Mine's a 99. What's yours? 05, you win. I win by quite a good six years. Yeah, so yeah. You know what's going to kill my car? The guts are still strong.

What's killing my car is it's literally falling apart. It's rusting away, and chunks of it are falling off. That's not good. No, and the last few winters have been really rough, but this winter's been the worst. I guess that's going to happen. It's like 20 years old. But yeah, that's kind of a shame.

I love driving this car, but at some point, it's going to... Does your car have a name? Some people name their cars. You should call it the Gardner. It's rusting and chunks are falling off. That's right. And it needs to be destroyed. Is that what you're saying?

Now, I bring up, you know, servicing our automobiles because I want to tell everybody about Buckle, new sponsor of Toronto Mic. Buckle is B-U-K-L dot C-O. So if you go to B-U-K-L dot C-O. So if you go to B-U-K-L dot C-O, you enter your car make and model and year, what service it needs, and then you get instant quotes from shops in your area. And then through this service, online service, Buckle, you can book your appointment. Then all you have to do is bring your car in, get it serviced, drive away. You don't even have to pay because it's all done automatically through this online service.

So it's seamless, super convenient. You got to give it a try. Buckle.co. That's B-U-K-L dot C-O. So next time you need some work done on that. So are you the original owner of your car? No. No, it was passed down to me from

my great aunt. And I'm going to give it to my oldest daughter as soon as she gets her license, and then I'll be in the market for a new one. I think my son would kill me if I gave him this car. He's getting his license right now. He's doing some lessons and he's got his permit or whatever that first... The G1. The G1, right. Because you and I were 365 guys, right? We sure were. My daughter's getting her... having her first in-car lesson in a couple of weeks, I think. So is she 16?

17. Okay, my boy's 17 too. Look at that. Lots more in common. Not just Pearl Gems 10. Lots more in common. Time for me to fix what's wrong with my audio player there, but remember the time. On this day, Mike Wilner, on this day 30 years ago, the number one song on the Billboard Hot 100 was this. Really?

Billboard Top 100 number one on this day in, what's 30 years ago, 1989? Yeah. You could have given me a thousand guesses. I never would have given you two hearts. Could you guess what movie this is from? What soundtrack this is from? Is it Buster? Yes, it is Buster.

Really? Yeah. Wow. Bill Collins. And have you seen Bohemian Rhapsody? I have. Twice, in fact. Okay.

I've seen it once. It's a fun movie. And they talk about Live Aid, in fact. Okay. I've seen it once. Fun movie. And they talk about Live Aid, of course, is a big part of the movie. And they talk about how Phil Collins is performing when Led Zeppelin's performing on this Live Aid, okay, in Wembley Stadium in London. The fact is, I only learned this afterwards, but Phil Collins was playing drums for Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin was, like, reuniting for Live Aid. And Phil Collins was the drums for Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin was like reuniting for Live Aid and Phil Collins was the drummer. I did not know that.

I know that Phil Collins played at both venues at Live Aid. I remember that. Right, because he went to Philadelphia, is that right? He played in London and he took a Concord to Philadelphia. I remember Concord. Man. Yeah, Phil Collins had the number one hit 30 years ago today with Two Hearts. And since I brought up Remember the Time, actually, first let me tell you, everybody listening, that Remember the Time is brought to you by Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair.

They've been doing quality watch and jewelry repairs for over 30 years. Mike, do you remember going into a Sears to get your watch repaired or get a new battery put in your watch? A Sears would have a watch repair. You might not recall, but it's true. I recall, but I never went to Sears to get my watch repaired. But that was these guys because Sears took off, but these guys started opening their own locations.

That was Fast Time. So go to FastTimeWatchRepair.com for a location near you. Their newest location is open in Richmond Hill. And here's a special treat. Because you're a sports media personality, he only wants to do this with sports media personalities. But because you are, Milan, who

his family owns Fast Time, he actually recorded a question for you too. I think he's... Go ahead. Milan for a year played in my Baseball Geek League. So we go back. I do recall him telling me this. He saw you at TMLS, too. Yeah, he was there.

With his buddy, Connor McCreary, who is now a big, fancy comic book artist. You can find him at killshakespeare.com. Yeah, so Milan was in there for just, he could only hack it for one year and then he handed it over to Connor. It's a lot of work, right? Yeah, it's a lot of work. Now it's all coming back to me. He said he's been in your home, right? Because I guess

did you ever do a craft in your home or whatever? Okay, well this is Milan. He's got a question for you. Let's hear him. Hello Toronto Mike. It's Milan from Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair. Hi, Mr. Wilner. I'm a big fan of your work and hope that you continue as host of Jay's Talk or in the Play-by-Play booth. I find you destination listening whenever you're on the air.

It was a pleasure meeting you again at the Toronto Mike listener experience this past summer. My question for you, other than the Adam Dunn, J.P. Ricciardi episode of Jay's Talk, which stands out as an all-time great, is there another episode of Jay's Talk that stands out to you? And second, in honor of your brother Norm, who's a big movie buff, and with yourself, Mike, and I

growing up in the 80s, if you had a choice to go out for a Great Lakes beer with Ferris Bueller, Gordon Gekko, or Marty McFly, who would it be and why? Thanks, Toronto Mike. Wow, first of all, super formal Milan there for someone who's been in my living room.

Oh, don't mind me. Destination Listening was really nice. It was very nice of him to say that. It's true, it's true. But I would concur. I'm just not as eloquent as Malone. Do the second question first. Yeah, that's the hardest one. Gordon Gekko.

First of all, I'm going to lose a lot of respect for you if you pick Gordon Gekko. Not Gordon Gekko. First of all, eliminate Gordon Gekko immediately. Okay, good. So it's Ferris Bueller or Marty McFly. Right. Ferris Bueller or Marty McFly. Right.

I feel like I feel like Marty McFly might be a little more relatable than Ferris Bueller. I think Ferris sort of exists on this plane all by himself. And I was never that cool. So I think I relate more to Marty McFly. Okay, because Ferris Bueller's a righteous dude, as you know.

Marty McFly. Now, do you know why I'm singing? Why am I singing? Why am I playing Twisted Show by the Beatles? Because Ferris Bueller sang in the parade. That is correct. Obviously, yeah. You should have played Johnny B. Goode

knowing I would pick Marty McFly. For some reason, I had you pegged as a Ferris guy. I was wrong. I love the movie. And I watched a documentary a couple of months ago about the making of it. And I mean, it was great. It was just really sad that they couldn't have John Hughes in it.

But it was outstanding. And it was a great movie. But again, Ferris is like... I was never the super cool kid. I could never be in that stratosphere. Do you know who recorded the original Twist and Shout? It's not a Beatles original. Yeah, no. I, uh, oh. The first name that came into my head was Chuck Berry,

but it's not Chuck Berry. I'll smack myself on the forehead when you tell me, but tell me. The Isley Brothers. Oh, yes. Also recorded Shout. Yes, which is, of course, in Animal House. All these great movie songs that the other people do for the movies but um yeah it's one of those songs i am of the opinion that many people

think it's a beatles song like think it's a i think so i think you're right and it's a phenomenal song regardless of whether it's the isaac brothers or the beatles I've always, you know, I think maybe in the Kick Out the Jams episode, we talked about how I tried really hard to get my daughters into the Beatles and I played them the music a whole bunch of times. And they did one of the covers of a Chuck Berry song, Roll Over Beethoven. of a Chuck Berry song, a roll over Beethoven, I continue to believe that, George Harrison was on the lead vocals of that song,

that they did not get some of the colloquialisms that Chuck Berry used in the song. And I can't prove it, but it sounds to me like George says, travel further, move on up, travel further, when Chuck Berry's saying move on up a trifle further, because that's really deep south colloquialism. And there was another one. Yeah, the last line of the song is, dig these rhythm and blues. And George says, dig to these rhythm and blues.

I love that. I don't know why I love that kind of stuff, but I love that kind of stuff. What was the other question, Milana? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. His real one. Oh, yeah. Your favorite episode of Jason.

Oh, yeah. That's a slam dunk. I mean, sure, the Adam Dunn was great, but it's not a lie if we know the truth. That is the greatest Blue Jays talk minute ever. When B.J. Ryan came to the Jays. They gave him the five-year $55 million contract. He was unbelievable in his first year.

And then in the second year, didn't pitch much in spring training because we were told by the Blue Jays that he had a back injury. Right. And a month and a half later, he's having Tommy John surgery. And so somebody called Wednesdays with JP and said, why did you lie to us about BJ Ryan? Why did you say it was his back when it was his elbow? And JP said, it's not a lie if we know the truth.

Wow. Which was awesome. Very Trumpian of him, right? He's ahead of the game, I'd say. He was a trendsetter, I think. Maybe, maybe. I love JP, but that's the absolute definition of a lie. Yeah. Yes, I do recall all this now, but that's great. So great questions, Milan.

Thank you for that. I was watching, I got two little ones. So I got these teenagers, they don't care about Kid CBC stuff. They're way beyond it, way beyond it. You saw the Thrillusionists. So I'm watching Kid CBC with the four-year-old and the two-year-old. They dig it. They dig it, man. You got Daniel Tiger on there. You got all this stuff they're digging.

And I'm watching, you know, kind of casually while I'm also on my laptop doing some other things. But then I, yeah, Mike Wilner's on the screen and your daughter, right? Yeah. Is it both or just one? No, just the one. So tell me uh why was i seeing you on cbc kids do you have a new show i don't know about like a new kid show no i don't um the this is it's a show called the thrillusionists and when i did it i mean they

were still trying to to get it picked up and i and i was under the impression it was going to be a half hour kids show it turned out to be like a five and a half minute little interstitial thing but the director of the show is a guy named Stu Stone who you've had on here who is a wonderful guy I didn't know Stu directed that he's amazing because you're in that doc

of his, you're in his documentary and that's how it happened, like he reached out to me for the documentary which was about sluggers which was like around the corner from where I grew up. And he said, oh, I'm doing this kid's show. Do you want to do an episode? And I'm like, sure, why not? So it's basically three young magicians competing for,

I think usually they work together, but this time they work separately. And he wanted me to do play-by-play of them sort of picking up the materials that they were going to use for their tricks. And then he wanted me to judge who did the best trick. And it was just an absolute blast. We did it at a hardware store on Adelaide and Spadina

one Sunday afternoon last winter. And it was so much fun. So you're only in that one episode. Just the one. Because that's the only Thrillusionist I've seen was you. So as far as I know, you're the host of that show. Apparently there were 12. Okay.

I'm like, that's good luck then, I feel, on my part. Like, oh, there's Wilner. Did you enjoy it? Yeah. I enjoyed seeing you and your daughter there. Did you enjoy it? Yeah. I enjoyed seeing you and your daughter there and you did a great job. You know, it just was kind of exciting to see that. You know what I mean?

Forget Daniel Tiger. This is Wilner's here. Now, Stewstone, I don't know if there's an episode of Toronto Mic'd where I knew less about a guest and had that much fun. Like, I don't know what the term for that would be, but the biggest gap between knowing what to expect

and then being kind of blown away. But Stu, I didn't know anything about Stu. Yeah, and I listened to that episode. I listened to that episode in Chicago when we were there with the White Sox, against the White Sox last year, and I listened to it on the Jays team bus a whole bunch of times.

And I didn't know, like like 80% of the stuff. I knew he was an actor when he was younger and I knew he had gone into directing, but the wrestling stuff I didn't know. And I mean, it was just so, I couldn't believe you found him to have him on. Well, you know how that happened. I had the director of communications

for Twitter Canada is a guy named Cam Gordon. And he came on and he talked about growing up with his childhood friend, Stu Stone, who was a voice on My Pet Monster. Okay. And so I'm like, at some point, I kind of learned he exists at that point. And then I got an email from somebody saying, hey, I'm doing some PR stuff for Stu. Would you have Stu on? And I'm like, yeah, like I told him the Cam Gordon story. Anyway, so Stu, then I started to do my homework because, you know, I do my homework. And that's when I learned, okay, this guy's like rapping with Jamie Kennedy

and he's doing the voice work on this and he's a wrestling guy here and he's doing the documentary on sluggers, which isn't about, like I watched the doc. It's not about sluggers at all, right? It's one of those bait sluggers, which isn't about, like I watched the doc, it's not about sluggers at all. It's one of those bait and switch documentaries, which is great. You're probably in this doc,

you think it's all about baseball cards and then it takes a turn. That's what he told me. Yeah, sure. That's how you market it or whatever, but then it takes a complete turn. But yeah, so Stu Stone is a cool mofo, man. He really is.

And it turns out he went to high school with a really, really good friend of mine. And when I listened to it, I texted him from Chicago and we were talking a little bit and I was like, I can't believe that you did all this stuff. And we went back and forth.

And then a couple of weeks later, he texts me and he says, I've got a girl for you. And I said, is it Lunette? Tell me it's Lunette. Come on. Oh, yeah, yeah. The clock girl? The time, I've got a girl for you. And I said, is it Lunette? Tell me it's Lunette. Come on. Oh, yeah, yeah. The clock girl?

The time? Of course. The big comfy couch. Of course, big comfy couch. And he says, well, it's not, but maybe. And then he texts me back a week later. Oh, she's engaged. Sorry about that.

Oh. So could have had a date with Lunette. I was this close. Honestly, I would be so impressed if you could get a date with Lunette. I was this close. Honestly, I would be so impressed if you could get a date with Lunette. So would I. That's amazing. Yeah, big comfy couch.

I remember that. Man, speaking of this nostalgia stuff, I just recently had the voice of Muffy Mouse from today's special on the show. I'm sitting here, I'm listening, and it's so bizarre to have Muffy Mouse. I'm sure. It's like, what's going on here? Anyway, thank you. So yes, so bizarre to have Muffy Mouse. I'm sure. What's going on here?

Anyway, thank you. So, yes, you're on the kids' show Thrillusionist. This is kind of an awkward question because of your back situation. I wasn't aware of how severe it was, but I was going to ask you about your sleep-ins. You're a big fan of sleeping in. I'm a big fan of sleep-ins. Like, you're a big fan of sleeping in. I'm a big fan of sleep in general. I have had, in the last seven weeks,

three nights where I've had more than three hours of sleep at a stretch. The sleeping has been absolutely brutal. But this must be weighing on your, like, psychological well-being, right? Like, I would think that can't be good for your mental health. I'm surprisingly not, like, in a terrible mood and not um you know i i don't know quite why but i i uh i have not gotten quality sleep in a very long time and i miss it terribly oh man uh because i was gonna ask you how long you sleep in to like what time do you typically awake when you can but with this back situation it sounds like you you wish you could go back to those days yeah but usually I think in the off season if I don't have the kids

I'll generally won't get out of bed till about 11 unless I have something to do I'm envious that sounds amazing okay now I want to tell everybody how they can get $10 right now and also this totally makes your life easier. So there's an app called Paytm. I use it to manage all of my bills. I literally pay all of my bills with this app called Paytm. You go to paytm.ca to download this app. If you use the promo code Toronto Mike when you make your first bill payment,

they give you $10 in Paytm cash right away. And you could spend that in a reward section, like getting a gift card or something, or you can apply that $10 to another bill that you have to pay. Any way you slice it, you're getting $10 just for trying it out. So go to Paytm.ca and use the promo code Toronto Mike

when you make your first bill payment because we could all use $10, right? You can't say no to that. Sure, who could not use $10? And you could use more gifts. Mike, this is the gift part of the show. I always love this part. I'm going to give you a couple of things here, first of all.

We saw each other at Great Lakes Brewery. So I know you've been there. They're proud sponsors of the program. They would like you to take home a six-pack of their fresh craft beer. It's lovely. Look at all these beers. There's a tank.

There are two tank tins. There's over my dad body, which I'm trying to get rid of. How's that going? You look good. I mean, that Gear Joyce joke was offside, but I think he went harder at Dave Hodge. And when I put it, I actually put the recording of the Gear Joy stand-up from TMLX2 into an episode of Toronto Mike. And the note I

got from Gear was, does Dave Hodge subscribe? Because he went at Dave Hodge pretty hard. But you look good. I think you've lost weight. 20-something. One of my off-season goals was to drop 30 pounds, and I was down 20 before I hurt my neck,

so I've sort of been in a plateau since then. Another one of my off-season goals was to get my 2017 income taxes done, and I did succeed in that, so there you go. Okay, good. So you got that done. But yeah, you look much better. Thank you. And I don't know if it'll help you with the weight loss,

but everything in moderation. Enjoy the six-pack from Great Lakes Beer. They're a fiercely independent craft brewery located here in Etobicoke. 99.9% of all Great Lakes beer remains here in Ontario. And as they say,

GLB, brewed for you, Ontario. I also have... This is the key one for today, given the weather, the lake effect. Yeah, we're getting some serious lake effect right outside the Toronto Mike Studios. Maybe you'll have to spend the night.

I might have to pull out the couch and make it up for you. There's also a frozen veggie lasagna for you from Palma Pasta. This is what's going to help less with the weight loss than the beard. Yeah, don't eat it all in one sitting. Oh my gosh.

And also you have to let that thaw in the fridge for 24 hours before you cook that up. This is serious. You're not eating that tonight. Yeah. Five pound lasagna. So did you try to lift it?

No. I know that's good for your back. I might not be able to. Palmapasta.com is where you go to find locations of Palma Pasta. They're in Mississauga and Oakville. They're actually Mississauga's best fresh pasta in Italian food. Yeah, and I actually am glad I could get you the veggie lasagna. I used to give everybody meat lasagna by default,

and I quickly realized this is a bad idea. Like too many vegetarians hanging around. A lot of vegetarians. I'm not a vegetarian but I don't do milk and meat together. Some kosher-ish. So this is perfect to get a thank you very much for all of this. And I got to say

my ex-mother-in-law used to, we live down here, Palma Pasta is up at like the 403 and Aaron Mills Parkway I think. Yes indeed. And she used to, we live down here, Palma Pasta is up at like the 403 and Aaron Mills Parkway, I think. Yes, indeed. Yeah.

And she used to make specific trips up to there because their stuff is so good. Smart woman. Yeah. Yeah. It's worth the drive, as they say.

So go to palmapasta.com. They actually, that box says Palma's Kitchen because their location at Mavis and Burnhamthorpe, they bought a new building next to the old building and they completely remodeled it and it's this fantastic Kitchen because their location at Mavis and Burnham Thorpe, they bought a new building next

to the old building and they completely remodeled it. And it's this fantastic retail space. And there's a hot plate there and you can get pizza and you can get a cappuccino and espresso. And it's just, there's a lot of seating seats there. It's amazing. So that's called Palma's Kitchen. That's at Mavis and Burnham, near Mavis Burnhamthorpe. But go to palmapasta.com to get the specifics. Now, Mike, let's talk about what's going on here with Scott MacArthur. And I gig at TSN Radio 1050. Like, that's happened. Done. What I'm hearing is that Scott MacArthur is waiting for a non-compete to expire, and then he's going to be the new host of Jay's Talk on 590.

You do Jay's Talk on 590, so what can you say about this? Nothing. Nothing. You can't say anything about this. And I'm really sorry because I know that I, you know... You must have known this was going to come up today. Oh, of course. I knew this was going to come up. I've heard the same rumors that everybody else has heard and seen the same stuff.

All I can say is I can't say anything. And I respect that. I don't want to get you in trouble at work or anything of that nature. But here, I'll just do a little talking, and you don't have to comment because keep you in trouble. But what I've been told, in fact, I think I first, maybe I'll give, I think it's Jonah at the Toronto Sports Media tweeted this, that Scott MacArthur was taking over Jay's talk.

So knowing that that's happening, here's what I'm, I'll do a little rambling here, which is that I think you were, I don't know that you can say knowing that that's happening. Okay. Jonah seems to know what's happening. I don't know.

He's usually, usually right about these things. But if Scott MacArthur takes over Jay's talk, that would free you up to do, I hope, do more broadcast work on the games. I think that would be cool. I hope they wink if that's going to happen. Just wink.

Any comment would be a really, really bad idea for me. Nothing is... Nothing's been announced yet. I'm expecting... Well, you have a leak at Rogers. I want you to find out who the leak is. Yeah, that's what I'm going to go through for leakers.

I know that generally before the start of spring training, Sportsnet PR will put out a big release saying, hey, we're doing Blue Jays broadcast this year, and this is this, and this is that, and this is how many games this is happening, and this is how many games that's happening. So I expect that that will happen. We'll see that release come out in the next couple of weeks. But, yeah, I can't.

I apologize for not being able to say anything, but I can't say anything. No, I can totally appreciate that. What I'll do is I'll play. You worked for, I don't know if you directly reported to him or anything. You probably had a few guys between you, but Scott Moore was in charge of your land. A few guys between us, yeah. But I knew Scott well, and we

talked a lot. I'm a big fan. Okay, let me... He came on the show. He came on a couple of times, but the first time he came on, I wanted to ask him about you. I heard it. So let me just play it, and the first time he came on, I wanted to ask him about you. I heard it. So let me just play it, and then maybe you can respond to that, and we can hear from you.

I have a question about Mike Wilner, who would fill in for a couple of innings here and there, and I thought it sounded pretty good doing play-by-play. Was Mike Wilner given a fair shot at the play-by-play gig when Jerry announced his retirement? Absolutely. And he's now along with Ben Wagner

doing play-by-play, which I think is the right decision. Mike's an excellent broadcaster. And I've told him many times that he what he ended up doing really, really well was hosting Jay's talk.

And what he was really good at was what a good radio host should do, and that's create a little controversy. Yes, he does. He can tell listeners in no uncertain terms that they're asking a stupid question. And that makes you a certain type of guy. I call it being a little bit of sandpaper. And doing play-by-play is a very different skill. And Jerry Howarth probably is the best example of it in this market, of someone who is beloved because of their style,

because he's just easy to listen to. And baseball, particularly, you are with that play-by-play person 162 times a year on radio. And you need to be loved. Mike needed to transition from that talk show host, which is one thing, to a play-by-play guy. Now, I listened to a play-by-play guy. Now, I listened to his play-by-play when he was doing The Odd Fill-In, and I think he's a very, very good play-by-play guy. I think he'll become great. But he needed to change his on-air personality,

which is not as easy to do, by the way. And I think he's doing a terrific job. And I think the combination of he and Ben is turning out really, really good. Are you able to comment on that? Sure. I mean, it's very kind of Scott, and I think it's very true, and that's what they

told me many times, is that you know, they referred to it as when they asked listeners for their opinion of me, the graph that came back looked like a bathtub. It was really high on the like end. It was nothing in the middle. Right.

And it was really high on the don't like end. Polarizing, we call that. And I get it because people, especially sports fans, although I think in the last few years this is starting to become more common in politics as well, people don't want to hear that what they think is true is the facts don't back it up. Because sports, and again, sadly, now politics,

is a facts be damned sort of thing. I feel the way I feel. It's a feelings over facts. And on Blue Jays talk, since the beginning, I've always been a facts over feelings guy. Because, I mean, that's truth and truth matters. Still, it does. Honestly, even though it's 2019, truth still matters. Um, so I was told many times that exactly what Scott Moore just said there, play-by-play broadcasters need to be universally loved. And I was not universally loved. Um, I don't know that I necessarily believe that to be true. I know that there are a lot of polarizing play-by-play broadcasters, but I also know that, um, and I don't, I don't think it's an active attempt to change my persona or anything. I know that when I'm doing play-by-play, I'm not like, first of all, I'm not getting angry, rude people yelling at me when I'm doing a play-by-play of a broadcast. So it makes it a lot easier and lighter, and I'm

having fun, and I have fun on Blue Jays Talk, too, and I think that comes across, and I think I would dispute what, when Scott said that he thought I needed to change my persona, I think we just needed to change the perception of me. You know, and I think this has helped too. A couple of times I've heard from a few people that being on your show with you has helped people understand that, you know, I'm not rude and I'm not arrogant and I'm not condescending. I'm none of those things. If you call me up and tell me the sky is green,

I'm going to tell you, no, the sky is blue. I'm not going to sort of say, why do you think that? Because it's not. And unfortunately, that comes across as condescension to the people who think the sky is green. But I had a lot of fun doing play-by-play with Ben Wagner. It was pretty much, except for the Dan Shulman games, it was pretty much exclusively us from the end of April on.

We have great chemistry together. We genuinely like each other. And that makes it a lot easier. And it was just an absolute blast and I hope I get to keep doing it. Let me promote the fact that Jerry

is going to, Jerry Haworth is going to appear on Toronto Mic'd. He's got a new book. As you know, he's got a new book coming out. Hello, friends. It's funny. He was very kind. He's a kind man. You might know that about him. He's got a new book coming out. Hello, friends. It's funny. He was very kind. He's a kind man. You might know that about him. But he's got a tier one media appearances he has to do first. For the book.

Right. So apparently, yeah, I understand. Toronto Mike is in tier two. But then so once the tier one. So I guess we're going to see a lot of Jerry in March and April or whatever, whenever the tier one. If there are tiers, yeah. I mean, I'm

surprised. I didn't think he was going to do a big publicity thing, but I guess it's part of writing a book. But yeah, but Scott Moore was right about that, too. I don't know any other broadcaster in the last 30 years who has been

as universally loved by the listeners as Jerry. And, you know, when you love somebody so much for so long and then they are no longer part of the crew, the people who replace that person, some people will have issues with the fact, oh, that's not Jerry.

I did not hear that once about Ben Wagner. I thought that would happen. I really did. Because it is tough. When I started way back, forever ago, people would ask me, do you want to replace Tom Cheek? And I would say, no.

I don't want to replace Tom Cheek. I want to replace the guy who replaces Tom Cheek. Right, right, right. Because they're impossible shoes to fill. oh, I don't want to replace Tom Cheek. I want to replace the guy who replaces Tom Cheek. Right, right, right, right, right. Right? So because they're impossible shoes to fill. But I think Ben was very well accepted by the fan base last year. And I think that Ben and I together, I think people really enjoyed that. So once the muzzle's removed, we'll have to have a catch-up again to find out what's different next year.

Sure. Just reach out. Once I know things. Right. Okay, so you're not told not to say anything. You just don't know what to say because you don't know. You haven't been formally advised

or should you just quit while you're ahead and stop talking about it before you slip up? Although you're pretty good. I think you're pretty... I've had a lot of guests I've tricked into slipping up. I don't think you're one of those guys. I'm sure you've got me to slip up about some things.

But I refer you to an official spokesperson for Rogers and Sportsnet. Right, right, right. For the answers to those questions. Would that be Richard Griffin? No, he's the Blue Jays guy. Okay, sorry. Get them all confused now.

Now, James G. on Twitter wants me to ask you if you have a favorite call. But before you tell us what your favorite, your personal, not favorite call, like Tom Cheek's call or whatever, but Mike Wilner call. Right. But before you answer, he wants you to know that his favorite call, Mike Wilner call, was Tulo's three-run homer in the 2015 Game 3. In Texas. Yeah. I mean, that was awesome. And getting to call the three homer inning in Texas

was fantastic, too, especially since I couldn't believe Kevin Pillar hit the ball out that was at his eyes. And there was a man. See, now Blue Jays fans are going to be really angry with me. But again, please, I've had 14 concussions,

so it's tough. Is that right? Yeah. I can't remember who hit one of the other home runs, but it was so unexpected that I almost laughed when it went out. I can't remember. Yeah. I don't think it was Ryan Goins.

But it was someone who you wouldn't expect to do that. Yeah, like a Ryan Goins type, if not Ryan Goins. But I almost laughed, which I regret, unfortunately, that he hit a home run off of you, Darvish. I loved the call of Tulewitzki's three-run double in game five against Kansas City, that great pitcher's duel that was 2-0 and Estrada was pitching great and were they ever going to open it up? And then Tulewitzki hit the three-run homer. Triple, right?

Sorry, double. It was a double into the gap and left center. I've called like three or four walk-offs. Those have been awesome. Colabello had one. Edwin had one. Edwin won was a big one. I remember that call.

I played it a couple times ago, I guess, when you were on. And Goins had that magic year where he hit like 800 with runners in scoring position. Yeah, those were all awesome. But I think the Tulo one stands out the most in my mind because it was, you know, the bases were loaded. It was a playoff game. The Jays were fighting to avoid elimination.

And I think I put it together really well. So I enjoyed that. And if you go with non exhibition game calls, the Vlad Jr. Homer. Absolutely the Vlad Jr. Homer, which might have been the best moment of the Blue Jays season last year. That's right. It was all downhill from there.

So Jason says, some of the best Blue Jays seasons are the ones with low expectations. This is according to Jason. I'm not sure that's true, but this is Jason's premise here. Okay. So what was your favorite non-playoff Blue Jays seasons? And then he wants to know, in recent memory, in recent history, he looks at 2003, the Halladay Delgado, and 2008 Halladay Burnett and Cito, and 2010, the Batista offensive year and the young pitching and stuff

as highlights in seasons where the expectations were low. Is that premise? I'm not sure, man. From 83 to 93, the expectations were sky high, and we delivered. We had a bunch of pennants. We won two World Series. I'm not so sure that—maybe it's because as I get older, I have less time for one of my favorite sports. But I'm not so sure that's true. I don't mean to disagree with Jason here,

but that some of the best Blue Jays seasons are ones with low expectations. I'm not so sure. I don't think some of the best. But I do think that when you go in, you know, if you go in with low expectations and you do well, fans and everybody feels a lot better about it than when you go in with good expectations, high expectations and do poorly. Oh, that's for sure.

But I'll get old school on you. 1982. 1982, the Blue Jays went into that season having never not finished last in their existence. And, you know, this was sort of the beginning. You could see it with Mosby and Barfield and Upshaw taking over from John Mayberry. Dave Steeb was into his third year. You still had, you know, Jim Clancy and I think Luis Leal was just sort of starting up. In 1982 was the first time the Blue Jays did not finish alone

in last place in the AL East. They tied Cleveland for last. There you go. And for me, that was, you know, it was huge because it was the beginning of something. We started to see that all this stuff that they've been telling us about how good these young players were and how good this team was going to be, and that was it.

And then, you know, 83, I think we all still went in with pretty low expectations, and they were in first place in August, and then Joey McLaughlin happened. So it became a disappointing year because we felt like we were there. But, yeah, for me, 82 was the beginning of it all, and I enjoyed it, which is not to say that 2003 was it, where they were really, really good, but just not as good as the Yankees and Red Sox. Those good but not good enough seasons,

those are frustrating too, because you know, and I remember saying this on Jay's talk so many times from like 2002 to 2009, that the Jays were in the AL Central, they'd have been in the playoffs five times in that decade. And so it was more frustrating than I think being excited over a team, overachieving with low expectations,

because even though they did, and even though they were a lot of fun, they were still never in a playoff race. Because you have to pick up your kids, I'm sensitive to that. There's a major snowstorm going on. I have to cut to the Vlad Jr. chase here. Sure.

I actually was reading some numbers. I guess they've been ranking prospects in baseball since 1990 or something like that and then this this is the highest ranked prospect in blue jays history vlad grower jr this question comes from fabio uh he wants me to ask you if you've ever seen anything like the hype surrounding vlad. with any other Blue Jays prospect. That's the first part of the question. The second part is how good... I love this part. How good is Vlad going to be? Just slowly tell us how good Vlad's going to be. Hall of Fame, you know. No, there's never been this kind of hype with any other Blue Jays prospect because there's never been a Blue Jays prospect this good in the age of social media. And that makes things go like bananas.

I remember anticipating the arrival of Tony Fernandez for a long time. And I remember we were told how good this kid was. And they were going to trade Alfredo Griffin to make room for him and all this stuff. So he was a pretty well-hyped prospect for sure. Nothing like this because now we have all the social media and, you know, the... It's completely different.

Yeah. Back then we had a newspaper once a day. You read a newspaper and you could hear like after the Jays game, Scott Ferguson would do some out-of-town stuff or whatever. Back then. Well, who was doing it back then? In the 80s.

It was, I don't even remember. When did Scott Ferguson show up? Fergie started probably in the early 90s, but then he was still. I say no, I say, why would I say? You would know, you would know. Bob McCowan did Jays talk in 1989.

Okay. But I think Fergie was still doing the Major League Report on the pregame show and stuff. Shulman did it in the World Series years. Hogan did it a little bit.

Rumak did it a little bit. Storm and Norman. And Fergie was in that mix. Okay. And then sort of took it over for good in the mid to late 90s before I started doing it.

Right, before he went to the team. Yep, the team. Opened the door for Wilmer. Thank you very much. Best thing that ever happened to me. Right. So I don't know who or if

anyone was doing anything like that in depth back then. You know, you read Baseball America or the Sporting News. You heard Tom and Jerry talk about them. You heard Pat Gillick talk about... But was Blue Jays banter on? I used to watch Blue Jays banter.

Yeah, that was on TV. CFTO. With Fergie. Yeah. Fergie Oliver, not Scott Ferguson. Right, it's Fergie Oliver. Yeah. Just like mom's Fergie Oliver.

Yeah. How about those Blue Jays? Is that his thing? That was his thing. Yeah, I remember that. But yeah, Blue Jays banter. It wasn't that good. Twib came on shortly after I'd watched Twib and think Twib was way better than Blue Jays, is that his thing? That was his thing. Yeah, I remember that. But yeah, Blue Jays bantered. It wasn't that good. Twib came on shortly after I'd watched Twib

and think Twib was way better than Blue Jays banter. Yeah, it was just a weird half hour is what it was. But it was a half an hour devoted to Blue Jays on TV that wasn't the game, which is unique, I guess. Right, and it was once a week. And back then, the games were only on twice a week. We only saw Wednesday nights and Sunday afternoons. That's right.

But no, there has not been. Global Village, you know, global village, social media, everybody's opinion comes out like that. There's never been a Blue Jays prospect as hyped as Vladdy. But look, there's never been a prospect that baseball America has ever given an 80 hit grade

to before Vladdy Guerrero either. And, you know, now they're starting to say first Dominican ever to be our number one prospect. They should be saying first Canadian ever to be our first number one prospect. He was born in Montreal. He is going to be, like barring injury, and

obviously that's a thing, he's going to be amazing. I've only seen him play three times play four times, two games in Montreal. And the fact, you know, to be able to do that, to hit a walk-off home run with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning to end a nothing-nothing game at the time, wearing your dad's number in the city your dad became a star in, with all this pressure and all these expectations,

to be able to do that is incredible on its own. I saw him get four hits in a game against Baltimore, the first major league, great for league game he'd ever played, and a couple of hits in the next game. Look, they do projections for what hitters are going to do, and I don't buy into these projections as gospel, and I think a lot of people pay way too much attention to them. But Fangraphs, which is an excellent site,

has projected that in 2019, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will be the 10th best hitter in the major leagues. So, you know, hit the 80% of that and you're still a rookie of the year in a cakewalk. It's going to be so much fun to watch him play every day. It's kind of amazing that he won't make the team out of camp. Look, blame the CBA.

He should have been in the major leagues last year. And hopefully things will change because it's, you know, I think a lot of pro sports are forgetting about the entertainment aspect of it. You want butts in seats. And I know that tearing down, rebuilding, and whatever will eventually get butts in seats if you win. But there should be some sort of incentive for teams to be forced to try to win every year. Try to win every year. I don't think that, you know, right now there are so many free agents out there on the market that you could put together a team of them, just the free agents, that would be a competitive team.

More competitive than over half the teams in Major League Baseball right now. And I think that's a big shame. Brent Cardy. By the way, I'm super excited. In a season where I don't know what you think is going to happen at the Jays this year, but I don't suspect we'll have

a great season, a great record. Do you want to make a prognosis? Look, I thought the Rays were going to lose 100 games last year. They won 90. I thought Oakland was going to lose 100 games last year. They made the playoffs. So I don't expect much. I expect excitement.

I expect this team to be fun. I expect a lot of entertainment from this Blue Jays team this year. I don't expect a ton of wins, but you never know. The talent is there. It's one of those years where if this, if this, if this happens all positive, they could be a contender because there are, again, only three good teams in the American League, but I'm not expecting it. But I certainly can see a situation in which, on like July 25th,

the Jays are a game or two out of a playoffs. Wow. It's going to be exciting to watch Vlad, and we have some other great prospects as well. So yeah, the future looks friendly, and it'll be fun to watch these guys evolve here. Brent Cardy says he wants you to do Southwestern Ontario a huge favor, he says. Or maybe he's asking that of me. I don't know. He says, Wilner's involved with two of my favorite

events, the St. Thomas Sports Spectacular and the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony. He thinks you sit on the board for the latter. Is that true? You're on the board? Yes, it is. Mike Wilner is nodding, yes. Get him to talk about it if you can. Hopefully we can get some of you Toronto folk down this way. So I guess that's Brent Cardy's from that way. I guess he is, yeah.

I'm on the board of directors of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, which is a real honour and a privilege. I have only been involved in one induction ceremony, obviously because of scheduling. I have only been involved in one induction ceremony, obviously because of scheduling. I'd love to do more, but again, it depends on the schedule. The one that I did do was the one that Roy Halladay and Vladimir Guerrero got inducted in,

so I'm very, very thrilled to have been there. That's the last time I talked to Doc. And there's a new museum opening. They've made an addition onto the old building and their renovations are underway right now. And it's going to open in late April, early May. And it's going to be fantastic. I've been there to tour the site and it's really cool. And'm, I'm very excited about what's going on up, uh, over there. It's not up. I guess St.

Mary's is, is more over than up. Um, and the St. Thomas Sports Spectacular was just this past Thursday. Um, and it's, uh, I've, I've hosted it five years in a row. It's in support of Special Olympics and community living.

And it's just, it, it's honestly, genuinely amazing to me that they can come through with the level of celebrity to this tiny town in St. Thomas. And they fill this hall, like 600 plus people. This year, who was there? people um this year who was there uh this year daniel nestor i rode up with daniel nestor the greatest canadian tennis player in the history of anything mike palmatier was there yeah that was hugely special for me um demolition was there from the old axe and smash yes axe and smash which was hilarious because um i they i walked up to them when I met them

and they're in like their full makeup and I'm like, Axe and Smash. And they were like, hi, I'm Bill. I'm Barry. Barry. Alex Kopaj was there, the Canadian gold medalist in bobsled in these last Olympics. Jaina Hefford in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Luke Wilson, who is a tight end, Super Bowl champ at the Seahawks.

He's not the actor. No, two Ls. Luke Wilson with two Ls. He's from Windsor. Sam Gaviglio, the Blue Jay. George Bell was there. He cut a promo for me. You keep talking.

I'll dig it up here. Jim Ralph, who's on the Leafs broadcast. It's just, I mean, it's really amazing to me. Darian Hatcher was there. And all these guys and men and women to go to St. Thomas, Ontario. And the event is so intimate. The tickets are $65 to get this level of celebrity. Again, Roberto Alomar was there last year.

Devin Travis and Daniel Norris were there on the first one I did. Anthony Alford last year. Sean Reid Foley, both of whom wound up falling asleep in the back of my car at some point in time. And for $65,

not only do you get a ticket for this dinner and you're helping the Special Olympics, you get the dinner for the $65 too. You get dinner. Get out of here. You get dinner. But there's also like an hour and a half before

where you just hang out with these celebrities. And they're on the floor talking to people. You walk up to them, get autographs. Amazing. It really is. So if you can't get them to come into your basement, this is a good alternative. Right. Come to St. Thomas and you'll get to talk to all of them.

Here's the George Bell promo. Hi, I'm George Bell. You listen to Toronto Mike. There you go. So thanks to Mark Hebger. He was at a golf tournament. He got George Bell promo. Hi, I'm George Bell. You listen to Toronto Mike. There you go. So thanks to Mark Hebger. He was at a golf tournament. You got George Bell. Well done.

Oh, yeah. So that's not my ringtone now. And you phone me, basically. A couple of quick hits, and then we'll get you out of here. I'll help you shovel out. Let's see here. Where will I go right now? Yeruj Islam says,

How much, in your opinion, did the Blue Jays hurt themselves by trying to compete in 2018 instead of selling high on tradable assets before the season started? There's a consensus. I shouldn't say consensus. There's a belief out there that we started the rebuild a year later

than we should have. Yeah, there is. Look, I was at the winter meetings last year when people were talking about trading Josh Donaldson. And I said that I didn't think that was the right thing to do. And I continue to not think that was the right thing to do. Of course, in hindsight, sure, it was. But a guy who'd been on the disabled list once in his entire career, one of the best players in baseball,

who figured that the Blue Jays would get him for fewer than 40 games last year. And you have to remember, too, that in 2018, the Oakland A's, as we mentioned, came out of nowhere, won the second wildcard with 97 wins. The year before, it only took 85 to win the second wildcard. So the Blue Jays, you know, with a healthy Marcus Stroman, which they didn't get, a healthy Aaron Sanchez, which they didn't get, a healthy Marco Estrada, which they didn't get, and a healthy Josh Donaldson, which they didn't get, absolutely should have been in the conversation to be an 85-win team. And don't forget either, losing your closer for three months, no one could have anticipated what was going to happen with Roberto Asuna. for three months. No one could have anticipated what was going to happen with Roberto Osuna. So, you know, to suggest that they should have known

that all that stuff was going to happen and they should have started the rebuild a year early for Jack Flaherty, who, by the way, gave up the homer to Vladdy Jr. in Montreal, but is a wonderful pitching prospect. I mean, in hindsight, absolutely, but you can only make your decisions with the information that you have at the time.

And the information that you had at the time said that the Blue Jays should be an above 500 team and should be able to compete for the second wild card, and they unfortunately didn't. And unfortunately, the second wild card really got away from everybody as opposed to the year before right right uh mike ragotsky uh he was at the first tmlx experience so he missed you but hopefully you're all you're all gonna be at number three in june what one thing mr wilner would would you change at Rogers Centre to improve the fan experience?

I can't answer that because I have not had the fan experience at Rogers Centre in almost 20 years. I don't know what it's like to be in the bowl for a game. The only thing that always stands out to me that I would do, but it's not Rogers Centre specific, it's every stadium in baseball, is explain things to the fan in the seats. The fans at home should not have more access to information than the fans in the stands. That's true. You don't know if people got ejected. You don't know if people are hurt. You don't know why people came out of

the game. You don't know what rulings are, if there's an interference call or something like that. The fans are sort of left to wonder. And I would change that for sure. And the same question but for players. Actually, before you even answer the second part to the Grigoski question, is it right? I've seen

the return of Domer. Domer's back? I have not seen Domer. Okay, I've seen photos on, I think, I don't know if there was some kind of a, there was a Winterfest or something. There was. I was out the first day of Winterfest, but I was out in the broadcast booth. You didn't see a big turtle running around or whatever? I would love to see Domer.

I think he's back. I think maybe he made a comeback. That would be very, very cool. That would improve the fan experience, bring out Domer. I think it's that easy. I mean, turtles always improve fan experience. Although I always felt he was too much like Franklin, because he's the same designer and everything.

And Franklin's like a Toronto thing. Yeah, anyway, too similar to Franklin, but Domer's great. We haven't seen him in a while, but I think he's back. Anything you would do to change the, what is it called, the player experience? I don't know what that means.

Maybe, I don't know. They're already treated pretty well. They have all that double bubble I see. Come on, that's a pretty good deal they got there. No, they live the life. That's for sure. I have no idea what that means. I think they just want to win.

How's that? Mike, that was fantastic. Once you're able to say more on what's going on, I might get you back. I would get you back in just to play like trivia with you. Like I would just... I'm happy to do that. You asked me before this for like 590 songs and we only heard one of them so i was kind of expecting a little more music

in this one too but you can ask me back for that too do you know i have them loaded up and i forgot to play them i only play black because you're right i've got uh i got collective soul don't give them away fastball just some teasers but for next time you're right i uh i have screwed up there they're all here waiting for it next time just make sure I'm on episode 590 you'll have to fight a few people for that but I think I can

help make that happen but thanks so much and you came on a snowy day so you've earned a warm place in my heart that's fantastic

had a blast and that brings us to the end of our 425th show you can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Mike is at Wilderness 590. Wilderness, very clever, 590.

Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Propertyinthe6.com is at Raptor's Devotee. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair is at Fast Time WJR. And Paytm is at Paytm Canada. See you all next week. And your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away. Cause everything is rosy and green. Well, you've been under my skin for more than eight years.

It's been eight years of laughter and...