Episode 9: Third place in MVP but first place in our hearts (2005 throwback)

Time to reopen the case. Was Derrek Lee robbed of an MVP? (Yes.) Did Vladimir Guerrero deserve third place? (…let’s talk about it.) We break down the stats, the context, and the chaos of one unforgettable MVP ballot.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Hey, bibs.

SPEAKER_04 0:22

Hello.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Hello, Dogadow.

SPEAKER_04 0:26

I feel like I did this exact thing last time where you said something ridiculous. And then all I could get out.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Last time was hey lovers.

SPEAKER_04 0:34

And I went, hello.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

So there's more of a pause though. Uh yeah, it's a Sunday. Sunday, March 22nd.

SPEAKER_04 0:43

Sunday morning.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Sunday morning.

SPEAKER_04 0:45

March 22nd.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Feeling good.

SPEAKER_04 0:47

Feeling great. We're both sipping on some coffees.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Yeah, made by I'm sipping on a little left's coffee honey latte. Decaf.

SPEAKER_04 0:57

Decaf. Oh yeah. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. What about you?

SPEAKER_04 1:01

Mine is, it's, it's uh, I actually don't really know, but it's like black coffee. It's like ground. But there was like some flavor to it. It was like cinnamon something.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

You made it at home?

SPEAKER_04 1:12

Yeah, but there's not no additives. It's just the ground. Yeah, right, right, right, right. Just a black cabin joe with like some cinnamon. Nice. Swirl. Um.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Okay, cool. Cool. Love that for you.

SPEAKER_04 1:25

Happy belated birthday, Katie. Oh my gosh, thanks. Want to get that out of the way for all our fans who didn't know Katie's birthday was on St. Patrick's Day.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Yes, it is. Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_04 1:36

So happy belated to Katie. Got a little celebration in yesterday.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Yeah, we did. Got some gifts.

SPEAKER_04 1:41

Ate some burritos.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Ate some burritos.

SPEAKER_04 1:44

Some cakes, some churro. Drank some beers. Drank some beers.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

One for a walk?

SPEAKER_04 1:49

Yeah, went for a nice little walk.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

A digestion walk.

SPEAKER_04 1:52

That was great.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:54

Yeah, it was a good time. And uh Uncle Mitch and Antichell got me a Fernando Alonzo toy car.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:01

Model car, I should call it.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Even though it's my birthday.

SPEAKER_04 2:05

Yeah. Celebrating me. So shout out Pass Episode Formula One.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Yeah. Except we've got to be a good one. Go back and listen to Alonso.

SPEAKER_04 2:14

Yeah, give that a listen. Give her a listen. So um, no corrections, apparently. We are perfect again.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Perfect, perfect, perfect.

SPEAKER_04 2:23

We always are.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

You know, I had a nice listener write-in recently.

SPEAKER_04 2:29

Yeah, what'd they say?

SPEAKER_01 2:30

So his name is Charles.

SPEAKER_04 2:32

Hi, Charles.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Uh, I think his name's Charles Backlett. Um he's a local Milwaukee listener, actually, and he loved when we were talking about our therapist. That's the second person that's like they were laughing so hard at our therapist discussion. I didn't even think that was that funny, but it was gay.

SPEAKER_04 2:52

It was kind of funny.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Yeah, I guess it was funny.

SPEAKER_04 2:53

Yeah, we're I think we're just like so naturally funny that sometimes we just like don't even so um I want to circle back on the WBC World Baseball Classic.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

Ah, yes.

SPEAKER_04 3:08

Before last episode. Wait, so is it over? It's over. It's over, yeah. So I want to say, first of all, I my said my I said my dark horse pick was Venezuela.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Who was your big pick? USA?

SPEAKER_04 3:20

USA.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 3:21

But Venezuela won, and I just want to take back the word dark horse because Yeah, it seems like they were like a stallion. Yeah, they're good. They're good. I mean, they're full of MLB players. Uh it was more so just like, hey, this is someone that maybe you're not thinking about.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Yeah, no, that's totally fair.

SPEAKER_04 3:38

Everyone goes to like Dominican Republic, Japan, US, maybe even Puerto Rico. I don't know if people think about Venezuela this way, and now they should.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Wait, so when did the US get out? Like what it was in the championship, yeah. Oh, okay. So it was US Venezuela.

SPEAKER_04 3:52

It was close. Also, our guy, Daniel Palencia from the Chicago Cubs, closed it out and it was electric. It was cool, man. These Venezuelans, like, just like look at the video. Like, look at the last inning. Just like Ronald Acunia Jr. is crying in the outfield in the last inning because of like just the chance of winning. Yeah. And Palencia had a tear strolling down his face.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

On the Venezuela team.

SPEAKER_04 4:16

On the Venezuela team. They really really like this is their world.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Is this their first win? Do you think?

SPEAKER_04 4:22

I don't know, but I maybe. Maybe. I don't know. Don't quote me on that.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 4:27

I don't think they've been in the championship in a bit, I can tell you that. Okay. Yeah. So that was cool.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Cool.

SPEAKER_04 4:33

Um it's gonna be a baseball episode.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

It is.

SPEAKER_04 4:36

Um, we got opening day coming up this weekend, or this week more so.

SPEAKER_02 4:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:42

Which is exciting. First game is the Giants against the Yanks, the Spanks, and then uh that's Wednesday, and then Thursday is um uh pretty much all the other teams playing.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

I had an opportunity to get opening day tickets at Brewer. I didn't do it.

SPEAKER_04 5:00

Hmm. Seems like something you should have done.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

I didn't, I know, but it's like in the middle of the day.

SPEAKER_04 5:05

Yeah, take the day off. A lot of people do that. It's like a national holiday for work for people around here.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Well work.

SPEAKER_04 5:11

Maybe you should work less.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 5:14

Um, so we're gonna we're gonna make some predictions, and let's just say that Katie's an expert, so I would put a lot of weight on what she's about to say.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 5:25

So we're gonna do our division winners, okay? That's our guess of who's gonna win the each division, and then three wildcard teams. Got it?

SPEAKER_01 5:35

By division you mean like ALS.

SPEAKER_04 5:38

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 5:39

So do you want to start in the ALS?

SPEAKER_01 5:41

No.

SPEAKER_04 5:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

I want to start in the ALEs.

SPEAKER_04 5:44

Okay, let's start in the ALEs. Who do you think's gonna win the ALEs this year, 2026?

SPEAKER_01 5:50

I've got a good feeling. Okay, you know what? Let's continue, let's call this like I'm feeling I go by vibes.

SPEAKER_04 5:58

Yeah, strictly vibes.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

I go vi I go by, you know, that psychic sense that I have.

SPEAKER_04 6:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

And I've got a good feeling about the Orioles this year.

SPEAKER_04 6:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

I do, you know?

SPEAKER_04 6:12

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

They're orange, right? Or black and orange.

SPEAKER_04 6:14

They got orange for sure.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Yeah, I'm feeling like an orange vibe in the alias.

SPEAKER_04 6:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

What about you?

SPEAKER_04 6:20

Um, I yeah, I think the Orioles are solid for sure. Really?

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Are they your pick?

SPEAKER_04 6:26

No. No, but they could be. Like they could easily be a playoff team. Oh but I think I'd be I'd kick myself a little bit if I didn't pick the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays were in the World Series last year, and they barely lost the Dodgers. So I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go Blue Jays.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Do you have mo do they have most of the same dudes?

SPEAKER_04 6:45

Uh it seems like they're running back mostly the same squad and added a couple guys.

SPEAKER_02 6:50

So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:52

But I mean that division's just stacked. Yankees, Red Sox, Oreos, like maybe even the Rays. Like a lot of lot of guys here. But I'm going Blue Jays. Going Blue Jays for my division winner. You're going Orios. What about the AL Central?

SPEAKER_01 7:05

AL Central, you know, I'm gonna go go with our Royals. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 7:11

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Yeah. And you just like the Royals?

SPEAKER_04 7:16

Uh he does like the Royals for sure.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Yeah, I'm gonna go with Royals then.

SPEAKER_04 7:19

Okay, nice. Shout out T Mac. One of the only Royal fans we know. Uh I could see the Royals, but I'm gonna go Tigers. Tigers have like the best pitcher, plus they got another good pitcher, Frambert. And they have Javi Bias. He's on the bench. Yeah, our boy Javi.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

Baby Havelina.

SPEAKER_04 7:41

So I'm going Tigers. You're going Royals, okay? Ale West.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Ale West, AL West. Hmm. Uh maybe a little bit of Astros action.

SPEAKER_04 7:56

Okay. Yeah? Purely off of vibes?

SPEAKER_01 8:00

Yeah. I like the I like the letter A.

SPEAKER_04 8:03

Okay. I like the letter A and the A Well, there's two other teams with the letter A in that division.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

So I'm I think that I like the A and I I Houston, you know. Houston.

SPEAKER_04 8:19

Houston, we have a bro.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

We're ready to go.

SPEAKER_04 8:22

Alright. You're going Astros. I'm gonna go Rangers. Rangers got a big thing. Okay, so another Texas. Another Texas team. It seemed like they just slightly underperformed last year. Some good additions. I think people might be like, what about the Mariners? And I definitely think the Mariners are gonna make the playoffs, but you know what? Gotta switch it up. It's baseball, baseball.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

So the Mariners are supposed to be good.

SPEAKER_04 8:45

Mariners, yeah, are supposed to be good. Mariners is gonna be one of my wildcard teams. Okay, so now you pick three wildcard teams, okay? So can we?

SPEAKER_01 8:52

In the in the American League?

SPEAKER_04 8:54

In the American League. You pick three other teams that you think are gonna make the playoffs. Off of vibes.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 9:00

Go.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Um wait, can I pick some of the same ones you said? Sure. Because I do like the vibe of the blue jays. Okay. I'm I'm liking that vibe. Okay. And I'm really into Canada right now.

SPEAKER_04 9:12

Nice. That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Yeah, Blue Jays. But they don't have our guy anymore, right? Danny Jansen. Where is he?

SPEAKER_04 9:21

Uh he's a Ranger now, I think. Yeah. He got signed by the Rangers. Yeah. You got two more wildcard teams if you want to go.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Well, maybe I will, but I don't want to pick all the same ones you did. You can.

SPEAKER_04 9:32

I mean, those are all good teams.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Okay. Okay. Uh no, I think I might do Mariners.

SPEAKER_04 9:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

I'm liking this the nautical theme there.

SPEAKER_04 9:42

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Uh, so mariners for the AL West.

SPEAKER_04 9:46

It doesn't have to be in a particular division. Oh, yeah, oh yeah. It doesn't have to be one from each. It can be.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Okay, then I'll go Rangers, Mariners, Blue Jays.

SPEAKER_04 9:54

Okay. Beautiful. We're locking those in.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

Mm-hmm. Is somebody writing this down?

SPEAKER_04 9:59

Um, I'll write it down after. I'll re-listen to this part. This is just a little wonky, but.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

Okay. Okay. Who are your walkers?

SPEAKER_04 10:06

I'm going to go with. I'm going to go with the the Royals. I agree with you there. I'm going to go with the Mariners. And I'm also going to go. Oh, God. Just the AL East is just stacked.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

They're totally stacked.

SPEAKER_04 10:22

Ah, Yankees, Red Sox, Yankees, Red Sox. Yankees are just like always good. You know what? I'm going to go Red Sox. Caleb Durbin. Shout out Caleb Durbin. Oh, little Caleb Durbin. Or Lake Force. He's from our hometown. Yeah, he is. Yep. Taught him everything he knows. That's not true. You actually might have. He doesn't know I exist. Alright. Switch over to the National League.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

Okay, National League. National League. Division winners.

SPEAKER_04 10:45

NL East. Who you got?

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Hi. Marlins, nautical.

SPEAKER_04 10:52

Love it. Love it. Okay. I'm going to go with the Mets. Mets are going to be my division winner.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

I'm feeling for the central, I'm going Cubs.

SPEAKER_04 11:01

Nice. I'm going Cubs too.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 11:03

Believe it or not. I am. Yeah. NL West.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Uh NL West.

SPEAKER_04 11:10

I think there's an easy pick here.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

You know, I'm going Rockies. Oh my God.

SPEAKER_04 11:17

Why?

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Dark Horse.

SPEAKER_04 11:19

That is truly the biggest Dark Horse. I think they have like the worst odds to make the playoffs. Okay, well then. No, that's fine. That's fine.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

They need somebody in the world to pick them, and it might as well be me.

SPEAKER_04 11:30

You know who's on the Rockies?

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Who?

SPEAKER_04 11:32

Chris Bryant.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

That's why. He's on the room. Oh, I can totally picture him in that sexy little purple.

SPEAKER_04 11:39

Oh my god. Get him room. He's like chronically injured though. Oh. Like, I don't know if he'll play. But yes. Okay, so you're on Rockies. I'm gonna go with the Dodgers. Because they have everybody.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 11:56

Okay, now we need three wildcard teams.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Diamondbacks, D-Backs.

SPEAKER_04 12:02

Love it.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

You know, I'll throw the brewers in there.

SPEAKER_04 12:05

Yeah, gotta. T-Pane.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Uh Philly Fanatic.

SPEAKER_04 12:15

Nice. Yeah, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go Braves. Oh, Mike's gonna be so mad. I'm not going Phillies. Sorry. I'm gonna go Braves. I'm gonna go Brewers. And you know what? I'm gonna go with the Rats. Dark Horse Pirates.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

Oh, is that what people call them? The rats?

SPEAKER_04 12:33

I don't think anyone calls them that, but I am now. Alright. Those are our picks.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

I feel like we just named like half the freaking.

SPEAKER_04 12:42

I mean, I think 12 teams make the playoffs. Three division winners plus three wild cards. And then this.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

Come on, Rockies.

SPEAKER_04 12:50

Alright. Rock it up, rock it down. We did that. Check. Now let's get into the episode.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

Okay. Matt, what are we doing?

SPEAKER_04 12:59

Yeah, so this week um we are talking about we're talking about two dogs for sure, but we're talking about two dogs in a particular year in time. So I think this might be some sort of series throughout our time on this pod. Um like an underrated specific season is what's gonna what it's gonna be. I would say one of these guys is a dog, and then one of these guys is actually like a true legend.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 13:26

So let's just say that, but enough teasing. So we're gonna talk about two third place MVP players back in 2005. Okay. So let's get in your little time machine.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Yeah, I was just uh I was trying to like set the scene.

SPEAKER_04 13:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

In 2005, oh my gosh. The song charts were dominated by Mariah Carey's We Belong Together and Gwen Stefani's Hollabat Girl.

SPEAKER_04 13:58

Ain't no holla background.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Ain't no holla background. Other massive hits included Since You've Been Gone. Since you've been gone again. 50 Cents Candy Shop.

SPEAKER_04 14:11

I'll take a candy.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

And and this and these girls are coming to Milwaukee soon. Yeah. The pussy cat dolls.

SPEAKER_04 14:21

Oh, very cool.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

Don't you wish your girlfriend was a hot like a man. Don't you wish your girlfriend was a freak like a man?

SPEAKER_04 14:29

Whoa, don't you?

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 14:32

I think we can get in trouble for singing songs. Oh, really? Isn't that a thing?

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Well, I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 14:38

I mean, I don't think it's a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

We're singing it. I mean, we're not like playing. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 14:43

It doesn't matter. It's too late now.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

In 2005, other major global events included Hurricane Katrina. That wasn't too that seems like a really long time ago. Um I don't think so. The death of Pope John Paul II.

SPEAKER_04 14:58

Okay, who's continuously bringing it down?

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Brangelina was headline news.

SPEAKER_04 15:04

Was that Brad Pitt and Angel? Angelina Jolie, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Yeah. Wow, that was a wild time. YouTube was launched.

SPEAKER_04 15:14

In 05. In 05.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

Charlie bit me. Charlie? Charlie bit me. And Prince Charles married Camilla. I don't know who those people are, which is embarrassing. Oh my god, man. Well, I mean, I guess he's not a good thing.

SPEAKER_04 15:37

The whole scene over there. So it's 2005. It's 2005. It's 2005. I'm eight years old. You're 26 years old.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

I'm in fifth grade. Oh my god. I'm in fifth grade.

SPEAKER_04 15:49

Fifth grade. Nice. So this I would say 05 is when I got into baseball. Like, yeah, no, that makes sense. Because I didn't yeah. Like, really into baseball then. Okay. So before we get into these like third place MVP finishers, right? I did want to like kind of educate our listeners about the MVP voting process and shout out to the Baseball Writers Association of America, which is where I learned most of the following information. So you might be curious. So it's a voting process, Katie. Just so you know.

SPEAKER_01 16:24

It's a voting process for the MVP.

SPEAKER_04 16:27

For the MVP and for a lot of the major awards. But so for the BBWAA members, like who, which which of these BBWAA members vote for the annual awards? So two writers from each MLB city are recommended by the local chapter chairman and approved by the national secretary treasurer to vote for each award.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

Two writers?

SPEAKER_04 16:49

Correct. These are all writers.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

Like journalists.

SPEAKER_04 16:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

So writer, I love that.

SPEAKER_04 16:55

I love that journey for them. Yeah. So writers from NL Cities vote for NL Awards, and writers from AL Cities vote for AL awards, making 30 voters for each award. Okay. So most traveling beat writers will vote for at least one annual award each year. In some chapters, columnists or backup writers may also vote. Any active members of the BBWAA is eligible to vote for annual awards, regardless of his or her number of years in the organization. Some honorary members may also vote. So I'm saying that because it's like we're putting this weight on a bunch of writers. No, I'm not saying writers don't know what they're doing because they do.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

I mean, if they're writing about that's their lot, that's their yeah, that's their own. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 17:36

No, I'm just saying this is a lot of weight on this number of people, you know, to pick these awards. So how many names are on the ballot, Katie? 10. For MVP, there's 10 spots on the ballot. And how is the voting counted?

SPEAKER_01 17:50

Well, Matt, for all awards, there's a point system weighted by the spot on the ballot. For the MVP, a first place vote is worth 14 points. From second to 10th place, the ballot spots are worth 987654321. So okay, so first place is 14.

SPEAKER_04 18:10

Yeah, a lot of a lot of weight to to getting that first place.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

Okay, because then the next one you're five points left.

SPEAKER_04 18:17

Exactly. Okay. So kind of interesting. Yeah, very interesting. Keep that in mind too before we get into this, too.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Very interesting.

SPEAKER_04 18:24

So the voters get this letter, actually.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

Um this is a letter.

SPEAKER_04 18:32

This is a letter to each voter. Uh do you want to I this would be a good thing for you to read.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

Dear voter, there is no clear-cut definition for what most valuable means. It is up to the individual voter to decide who was the most valuable player in each league to his team. The MVP need not come from a division winner or other playoff qualifier. The rules of the voting remain the same as they were written on the first ballot in 1931. One, actual value of a player to his team, that is, strength of offense of and defense. Two, number of games played. Three, general character, disposition, loyalty, and effort. Four, former winners are eligible. Five members of the committee may vote for more than one member of a team. You are also urged to give serious consideration to all your selections, from one to ten. A tenth place vote can influence the outcome of an election. You must fill in all ten places on your ballot. Only regular season performances are to be taken into consideration. Keep in mind that all players are eligible for MVP, including pitches and designated hitters. Sincerely, yours Princess Kate Middleton.

SPEAKER_04 20:00

I was trying so hard not to laugh during that. I had to look away a couple times.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

That was that was way longer than I thought I was gonna be. I think it's so interesting though that general character, loyalty, and effort.

SPEAKER_04 20:13

So there's some there's some ambiguity to this process.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

A value, strength of so there's like no data behind this.

SPEAKER_04 20:23

So yes and no. Yeah, I mean, I mean I'm they're probably looking at that offense. I think they're looking at stats for sure. Um I mean, strength of offense and defense, they're looking at a lot of stats. They're that number one thing. Number of games played, I think, is fair too. It's like if you played 50 really good games, but someone else played 142 really good games, like probably gonna go with that guy. So, anyways, I think this is an interesting thing.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

Very interesting. So and the rules have remained the same since 1931.

SPEAKER_04 20:52

Yeah, that's kind of crazy. It's kind of crazy.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

I love the history.

SPEAKER_04 20:55

I love the history to it as well. So now that we have that laid out, our first story is a first baseman that most Cubs fans should recognize. He was my favorite player growing up, and he was the reason why I wore number 25. I'm sure everyone was kind of curious. Like, Matt, why'd you wear number 25 when you were on Lake Bluff? And why'd you wear 25 and Lake 4 Scouts? And that's because of Derek Lee. So he had a solid career, just to give you a little high-level overview before we dive into 05.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

Did you have a fat head of him on your wall?

SPEAKER_04 21:29

Oh man, I think so, right? Didn't I? I definitely had Derek Rose. I had Brian Urlacher. I don't know if I had a I don't know if I had a I might have one. I don't know. I had to have Bucky Badger above my bed. Yeah. Fat head. Derek Rose.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

Yeah, behind your bed.

SPEAKER_04 21:44

And then Brian Urlacher.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

Yeah, okay. So no.

SPEAKER_04 21:47

And then we had Walter Payton in uh and then we had a giant Cubs logo.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

Uh huh.

SPEAKER_04 21:51

Those were the fads we had. Wow, you just unlocked a memory.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

Yeah, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 21:55

That was probably the two or three closest times our family broke up. As a unit was putting those up.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:02

Those were insane, dude. I also think we're the reason why Derek Rose got injured. I because when we were putting up Bear Gross's fat head, his knee like slit.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 22:14

Many tour as ICL. Yeah. So that is witchcraft. So that's on us.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Okay. Sorry, no.

SPEAKER_04 22:20

So Derek Lee. So he had a sound career. He played for 15 years, mostly for the Chicago Cubs, some time with the Florida Marlins. He also bounced around a little bit towards the end, right? He was a brave, he was a pirate. He was an Oriole. Shout out Orioles. Yep. He was a two-time All-Star. Should have been like four or five if you're asking me. And he was recently inducted into the Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame, which is super fun to see. He may not quite make the MLB's Hall of Fame, but I feel like Cubs fans will remember him fondly. Marlins fans probably too. He won a World Series with the Marlins as well.

SPEAKER_02 22:53

So D.

SPEAKER_04 22:54

Lee, man. What Cubs fans might not quite remember in the detail that I'm about to share is just how freaking good his 2005 season really was. It was his second year wearing the blue pinstripes and playing in the field with the Ivy Walls. Very cheesy way to say for the Chicago Cubs. Let's talk about some of the players that Lee was up against for that 2005 MBP uh voting. Okay. Some of these guys are soon to be Hall of Famers or already Hall of Famers, right? So the winner that year in the NL is a very well-known player. A Cardinal legend.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

Albert Pooh.

SPEAKER_04 23:33

He just snu Pooh. Pooh's.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

I know. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_04 23:38

Pooh. That's crazy. Pooh. Sorry. He just snubbed out.

SPEAKER_01 23:43

Andrew Jones.

SPEAKER_04 23:44

In a very cool way to spell Andrew. Of the Atlanta Braves. So Albert Pooh's got 378 vote points to Andrew Jones' 351s. 51s, 51. So how far behind was our guy, Derek Lee? He came in third with 263 vote points, followed by Morgan Ensberg. He was an Astro, Miguel Cabrera of Derek Lee's former team, the Florida Marlins, and Carlos Delgado, who was also on the Florida Marlins. So I'm also going to shout out Pat Burrell of the Phillies. So my Philly friends aren't quite as mad as me for not picking their team. And uh he came in seventh. I didn't I didn't know Pat Burrell was that good.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

So 260 63 votes, that's quite a ways behind.

SPEAKER_04 24:30

It's pretty significant. That means my guess is since the 14 points are super weighted, is Andrew Jones and Albert Pools got most of those first place. So Lee found himself in third place. Um but I feel like some of the stats you might hear may have y'all like, hmm, should he have been in third?

SPEAKER_01 24:51

Or should he have been first is what you're saying.

SPEAKER_04 24:53

Yeah. Okay. That's what I'm saying. I'm not saying he definitely should have been in first.

SPEAKER_01 24:57

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 24:58

I don't want like I want to be very clear that, like, yeah, it's a little bit of an ambiguous process. Um, and I'm super biased. Uh Derek Lee is like my idol. So, but it is how I feel. So here we go. Derek Lee had a 7.7 war that season. And if you ask me what war means, I'm gonna go. I know.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

I feel like we've talked about this before.

SPEAKER_04 25:19

Yeah, wins above replacement, no idea how it's got to go. I know, I know. Essentially, how many more wins would the team have with this player than without? Um anything above like a 3.4 is like you're pretty solid. So our guy's at 7.7, okay? Um, yeah, and the higher the number, the better that player is, right? So he not only had the second highest war in the NL that season, but it was the third highest. Sorry, yeah, third highest in the entire MLB, right? So remember that there's an NL MVP and an AL MVP. Got that?

SPEAKER_01 25:56

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 25:56

Okay, he played 158 games, right? How many games are in a season, Katie?

SPEAKER_01 26:01

174.

SPEAKER_04 26:04

162.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

Okay, I was freaking close, but he played all except four games.

SPEAKER_04 26:10

Exactly, which is a lot. He hit 46 ding dongs, aka home runs. He had 107 RBIs and 120 runs. Okay. So what stats did Derek Lee lead the NL in? Oh, just hits with 199, just doubles with 50, batting average at an eye popping 335, slugging at 662, OPS at 1.080, an OPS plus of 174. Okay. He was an all-star. He was a gold glove winner and a silver slugger. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 26:41

I don't know why.

SPEAKER_04 26:42

So what the heck, MLB? Third place? Really? Alright? You don't really need to know what I just said, but just know that all those are electric. Those are all huge stats to own on base percentage, uh plus slugging.

SPEAKER_02 27:00

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 27:01

Yeah. So it's like slugging. Slugging is like you hit doubles, triples, homers. There's more weight to it.

SPEAKER_02 27:08

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 27:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 27:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 27:10

Okay. Here we go. So third place, really. So what made those two guys above him so special? Albert Pujols, uh, who was the winner, he did lead the NL in war. Okay, so he's 8.4, and he led uh runs in 129, but that's it. The only stats he led the league in. Okay. Do you remember all those stats that I just said for Derek Lee leading the NL? Okay. So Andrew Jones, who got second place, he did lead the league in home runs at 51 and RBIs at 128. But that's it.

SPEAKER_01 27:45

That's it. Well, maybe he just had better character.

SPEAKER_04 27:48

Exactly. So that's kind of the point that I'm that I'm gonna get to. Not no, because Derek Lee's a freaking angel boy, but we're gonna get into this. We're gonna get into this, okay? Angel boy. He is, he is. So Lee's 2005 season brought several accolades, right? He was the NL batting champion, he was an all-star starter, and he was the NL's top vote getter in the all-star game, right? That's also a voting process. Silver Slugger Award for first base, gold glove award for first base at Albert Pools, beats you in both of those. Triple crown chase as well. So this is a really cool thing in the MLB. Like getting the triple crown is like almost impossible, okay? Not that many people have done it. Um, and for much of the season, he was in contention for the NL Triple Crown, which is average, home home runs and RBIs.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

So was that he being first in all those three stats?

SPEAKER_04 28:41

Correct, leading all those three stats. He ultimately won the batting title, but he finished second in home runs um and outside the top spot in RBIs as well. So um, but it's it's definitely one of the best seasons by a first baseman in recent uh history. Just to kind of like name a couple other ones, if anyone wants to like go look into this on their own time, right? So Deley in 2005, Albert Poole has actually had an electric year in 2009, Jeff Bagwell back in 1994, Paul Goldschmidt, 20 uh 2022, should look into that one as well, and Miguel Cabrera in 2012, um, who I actually think he did win the triple crown that yeah was Miguel Cabrera. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

Can I ask a question?

SPEAKER_04 29:19

Nope, no questions. On to the next.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 29:25

What's your question, Katie?

SPEAKER_01 29:26

I wait, I forgot. I don't remember what it was. Circle back. Oh, wait, okay. So what um what position did Albert Poohs play?

SPEAKER_04 29:34

First base.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

Okay, so they both played first base.

SPEAKER_04 29:37

But the same position, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:39

What about the other guy?

SPEAKER_04 29:40

Uh Andrew Jones is an outfielder.

SPEAKER_01 29:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 29:44

Yeah. So Derek Lee was a really good player, okay. Probably for like nine of his 15 years that he played. He dealt with some injuries at the end, kind of took him out of commission um for some of his seasons, right? But um, comparing Lee's 2005 season to the rest of his career, right? So kind of just like looking at the highest. So in 2005, he hit 46 home runs. His next highest in his career was 35. It was the second most RBIs he had hit. Um, his highest was 111 in 2009. It was his highest batting average by 20 points, his highest on base percentage by 18 points, highest slugging by almost 100, his highest war at 7.7, his next highest was 5.4 in 2009. Okay. So here's the kicker. Okay. And I think nowadays this part has changed a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

Yeah, I was I was this was gonna be my next question.

SPEAKER_04 30:38

MVP voting. The Cubs were nothing special in 2005. They underperformed to say the least. They missed the playoffs, they finished fourth in the NL Central at 79 and 83. Um, this team did have some other Cub greats, though. Like, I feel like you'll recognize some of these names. Aramis Ramirez.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

Yeah, I know that.

SPEAKER_04 30:58

I got a cameo of him once.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:01

Michael Barrett, catcher. Okay, Corey Patterson, Big Z. Remember Big Z? No. Carl Sembrano?

SPEAKER_01 31:07

Oh, yeah, I know him. I know him.

SPEAKER_04 31:08

Nomar Garcia Para. You remember Nomar?

SPEAKER_01 31:11

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:13

No Mark Garcia Para. That was me and uh Alex straight up's song about Nomar Garcia Para. Greg Maddox, legend, Ryan Terriel, that's my ESPN account name. The Riot. The Riot, baby, and Mark Pryor. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:28

Okay, I remember him.

SPEAKER_04 31:29

There's some good dogs on that team, right?

SPEAKER_01 31:31

Yeah, that was a dog, a dog of a team.

SPEAKER_04 31:33

Yeah. So Lee led the team in war by over four points. The next highest was Aramis Ramirez. Um, also, he led the team in hits, doubles, home runs, even stolen bases.

SPEAKER_01 31:44

Jeez, Louise, he was all over the place.

SPEAKER_04 31:47

He was not known for his speed. He was a big guy. Remember? All right. How big Derek Lee? I remember him being still as big, but like fat? No, like big. He's just a big guy. Okay. He's like 6'5, I think. Okay. So he really carried this team on the back. Okay. On his back, on the back. Albert Pools, going back to Pools, right? He was a three-time MVP throughout his career. He didn't need this one.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

No, just give it to Derek.

SPEAKER_04 32:15

And you know what? Andrew Jones, he did hit a lot of ding-dongs that season, and I do have his jersey card. I have a relic card of him. When did you get that?

SPEAKER_01 32:22

Did you get that in your recent box?

SPEAKER_04 32:24

No, no, it was an old one. And I ruined it as a kid. I like scratched the crap out of it. So that was stupid. But and he's a Hall of Famer now. He just got inducted this last season. Um, but so my point is come on now. You know?

SPEAKER_01 32:36

Yeah, they should just give it to him.

SPEAKER_04 32:38

Like, I'm not all about once again, I feel like it sounds like I'm trying to convince people, but there's a lot of things that point to maybe Lee like winning this thing.

SPEAKER_01 32:48

But so I mean, it seems like he didn't get it because maybe his team wasn't as good.

SPEAKER_04 32:55

Can you look up 2005 Cardinals? Like, was did they win the World Series there? And what didn't the Red Sox win the World Series?

SPEAKER_01 33:03

They won uh Cardinals won NL Central game by no so they won the NL Central. Uh it was their final play in Bush Memorial Stadium.

SPEAKER_04 33:20

That's not what I care about. Did they make the playoffs I mean they made the playoffs? Did they did they go to the World Series? Was that the year that the Red Sox beat the Cardinals?

SPEAKER_01 33:29

Or was that the year that the uh which is not it was that was when the the freaking White Sox won.

SPEAKER_04 33:46

Oh so it was yeah, that was the White Sox over the Ashos. I'm gonna be in the playoffs. 2005. I mean the Cardinals must have been good. Right?

SPEAKER_01 34:03

I I don't know, Matt. You're asking the wrong person.

SPEAKER_04 34:06

Here we go. Wait. Oh, that's 2025. Okay, we're gonna circle back on those. No, I'm here. I'm here.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

Chris Carpenter won the Cy Young Award that year.

SPEAKER_04 34:16

He was a Cardinal. Okay, so the Cardinals beat the Padres and the NLDS 3-0, and then the Cardinals got beat by the Astros in the NLCS. So I mean they were good. Alright, so whatever. We'll give it to them. It's fine. It's fine. Okay, I'm over it. Um, do you want to read some of these fun facts about Derek Lee?

SPEAKER_01 34:36

So Derek spent his first season with the San Diego Padres, similar to other Cubs first baseman legend Anthony Rizzo, another Matt Hall favorite.

SPEAKER_04 34:48

Yeah, that's probably my favorite.

SPEAKER_01 34:51

Uh they both hit one home run for the San Diego Padres.

SPEAKER_04 34:56

You're not gonna read San Diego Dads.

SPEAKER_01 34:58

No. Okay. He lived in Japan for a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 35:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:03

He played for the Orioles, Braves, and Pirates?

SPEAKER_02 35:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:08

Uh he won a World Series winner with the Marlins in 03.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

Yeah, he did.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

He's six foot five. And extremely handsome.

SPEAKER_04 35:20

Oh, write that down. Yeah, so is he? I think he's a good looking guy. Yeah, he's just kind of like yeah, for sure. So okay, so my biases are bleeding through and through here, but I think now you know about Derekles 2005 third place MVP MLB season, and I think that was kind of fun.

SPEAKER_01 35:41

Yeah, that was fun.

SPEAKER_04 35:43

So let's hop on over to Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

SPEAKER_01 35:46

I want to go back to something you said.

SPEAKER_04 35:48

Rewind.

SPEAKER_01 35:49

I want to go back to something you had said that I was like, well, maybe it's because the cards didn't do that, yeah, do that well.

SPEAKER_04 35:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:57

And you said, well, that might have changed recently.

SPEAKER_04 36:00

Yeah, I think what and I don't know this for sure, uh-huh, but from what I listened to on several MLB podcasts, it seems like they've put a little less weight on how good the actual team is, and and just like going based off of stats, like who is the best frickin' player? Who means the most to their team?

SPEAKER_01 36:21

So they're looking a little more at stats.

SPEAKER_04 36:23

Because the fear nowadays is that people are gonna get tired of voting for the same person over and over again because Aaron Judge and Shohei Otani are so clearly the best players. And people are like getting tired of them winning over and over again. But they should win over and over again because they're that good. I do think it was pretty close this year in the AL between Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh, because Cal Raleigh's a catcher, so like there was some weight to that, because like not a lot of really good hitting catchers, but um, yeah, so basically it doesn't matter as much. But both of I mean the Yankees and Dodgers are both good teams, so take it with a grain of salt.

SPEAKER_01 37:05

Cool. Yeah, that was interesting.

SPEAKER_04 37:08

Let's hop on over to the American League now. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:12

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 37:12

So we're gonna talk about another third place finisher finisher. Um so our third place finisher in the AL in 2005 was a right fielder and designated hitter throughout his career. He's hailing from the Dominican Republic. He spent most of his career with the Montreal Expos and Los Angeles Angels. Um, actually, weird thing, and I forget if I talk about this later, but this player actually played with Derek Lee on that Orioles team. Oh. Like both super random, like towards the end of their careers.

SPEAKER_01 37:43

That's cute.

SPEAKER_04 37:43

So this player was famous for not rocking any batting gloves. Um, he has a son in the MLB and a really good one. Oh and if you don't know by now, I'm talking about Vladimir Guerrero senior. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

Senior. So does anyone else not wear batting gloves?

SPEAKER_04 38:02

Uh there's gotta be someone, but it's definitely not a definitely not something you see very often.

SPEAKER_01 38:07

Yeah, interesting. Yeah, very interesting.

SPEAKER_04 38:08

Okay, yeah. So Vladdy, as we all call him.

SPEAKER_01 38:12

Just do people actually call him Vladimir.

SPEAKER_04 38:14

Yeah, people call him Vladdy. Okay. Yeah. He did actually win an MVP and he won it the year before this season, but that's not what we're here to talk about, right? We're not here to talk about like the crazy accolades, right? We're talking about the dog seasons.

SPEAKER_00 38:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:28

So in 2005 was his dog season, right? Um, this is the unsung year of 2005 for him. He was an all-star, he was a silver slugger that year, okay? And so who was Vladdy up against in 2005? Oh, just little Alex Rodriguez, right?

SPEAKER_01 38:48

Um is that A-Rod?

SPEAKER_04 38:50

That is A-rod, yep.

SPEAKER_01 38:51

Umpez.

SPEAKER_04 38:55

I think so. He was at least. I think that. Yeah, I know not anymore. Yeah, yeah. I think he was. Um, so A Rod, who had a 331 batting average and led uh the league in war or that season um at 9.4. Um, he was up against David Ortiz, right? Um, oh, and you know what? Correction. When I said 331, I meant that's how many points he got for MVP. So A-Rod won 331 points. David Ortiz second place at 307 points, third place was Vladdy, okay, at 196. So that's even more of a steep drop-off than our boy Dealy, if you remember that.

SPEAKER_01 39:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:37

He was followed by Manny Ramirez at 156, Travis Hafner of the then Cleveland Indians at uh 151, Paul Kanerko. Do you remember him?

SPEAKER_01 39:46

I kind of remember that little name.

SPEAKER_04 39:47

He was a White Sock, uh, 128, and then Mark Tishera of the Rangers. He has a really hard name to spell.

SPEAKER_01 39:54

Yeah, it's spelled as an X. There's an X in there.

SPEAKER_04 39:57

Yeah, Tishera. But there's like E's and I's all over the place, too.

SPEAKER_01 40:01

I have a correction to a statement I made earlier.

SPEAKER_04 40:04

Sure. I'm sure this one's gonna be.

SPEAKER_01 40:06

JLo and A-Rod never were never married. They dated from 2017 to 2021, so rather a time after this the season that we're talking about. They eventually became engaged, but then called off their wedding before it happened. Largely attributed to some trust issues and their demanding schedules. And they and at the end of the day, they were just better as friends, they decided.

SPEAKER_04 40:33

Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 40:34

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 40:35

Been there for sure. Thank you for that correction. Yeah, you're welcome. I feel like this episode's gonna have a lot of corrections. I'm not gonna lie. And I should, I probably should have prefaced this, but I wrote this episode over a year ago.

SPEAKER_01 40:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:48

This was my I should have mentioned this at the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 40:50

This was my oh yeah, this was like technically the pilot.

SPEAKER_04 40:53

Yeah, this was my idea for the podcast. But at the time, it was gonna be like me trying to convince people of things that went wrong. But then I got some pretty direct feedback that that was a bad idea. Which is fair. I mean, it was just like because it's like I like who cares what I have to say. I'm just a guy. So that was that was good. But and and I do want to, once again, that I'm not saying Vladdy should have won MVP this year. This is just me shouting out. Oh, yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 41:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:23

So back to Mark Teshera, who had 106 uh votes for MVP of the Rangers. So unlike Derek Lee, Vladdy's stats do make him sound like a third place finisher. Um I I think he was pretty deserving of third place. So of the MVP vote receivers, he was sixth in war, he was tenth in home runs, he was ninth in RBIs, he was third in batting average, fifth in on base percentage, sixth in slugging, and sixth in OPS, right? So he's up there in all of them, that but not really like a leader, right? Um, and now that I kind of like say all that, it sounds like maybe he should have been like fifth or sixth, but um Yeah, this guy's nothing compared to D'Aline. No, right. Well, that season was.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

Yeah, I think that's Vladdy's a Hall of Famer.

SPEAKER_04 42:10

Yeah, so uh he's a legend, so let's give it to him. Um so how does 2005 stack up against Vladdy's other years, right? So Vladdy hit 32 home runs in 2005. He actually hit more home runs in seven of his other seasons, right? So he's hitting 32 plus in seven other uh seasons. His most being 44. Shout out, Rizzo, for Montreal back in 2000. Um I think Montreal would be such a cool place to have a team too. Uh let's bring that back. Let's circle back. If if the MOV does another expansion expansion, let's get a team back in Montreal. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 42:48

Wait, were they the stars?

SPEAKER_04 42:49

Yep, the Montreal Stars.

unknown 42:51

Wait, what?

SPEAKER_04 42:52

Montreal Expos.

SPEAKER_01 42:54

Oh, yeah, the Expos. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 42:55

And it was, I think that name. Maybe look into this while I keep reading. Was like because they had like a World's Fair and they were like literally like the Expo.

SPEAKER_01 43:05

Whoa.

SPEAKER_04 43:06

I think. So look into that, eh? Get it like Canada. Um, so he had 108 RBIs in 2005, which is awesome. But Vladdy had more RBIs than nine of his other seasons. His war was 5.7, which is amazing. But he had three higher seasons than that one. His batting average was 317, which was actually his eighth best season. So, I mean, I'm saying all that because like those are all good numbers, but man, he had like 10 other really solid seasons. So um sounds like Vladdy might have been some deserving of some MVPs in other seasons of his career. He was actually on the MVP voting list in 12 of his 16 seasons, um, but only taken home the cake one time, which was in 2004. And you know what I was thinking about? Oh, I'd say this later. I say this later. Okay, wait, can I go?

SPEAKER_01 43:56

So they you're right, they were named after the expo 67. World's Fair.

SPEAKER_04 44:02

That's sick.

SPEAKER_01 44:03

Um, and I also wanted to say, oh, it sounds like there's a new documentary on Netflix called Who Killed the Montreal Expos exploring their downfall as a team.

SPEAKER_04 44:17

Uh trivia question. Which team what did the Montreal Expos become? Which team? Current MLB team.

SPEAKER_01 44:30

I feel like it's gonna be like the Mariners.

SPEAKER_04 44:37

No.

SPEAKER_01 44:39

The uh what did you say?

SPEAKER_04 44:44

The Washington National.

SPEAKER_01 44:46

I was freaking gonna say the DCs. Oh I was gonna say the DC team.

SPEAKER_04 44:50

Okay, yeah, it's the DC team. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:53

Darn it.

SPEAKER_04 44:54

Also, I'm gonna give you a point because the Mariners uh were like an expansion team at one point too. But it wasn't because of the expos. It was earlier. It was earlier than that. Much earlier than that. But anyway, so back to Vladdy. Um he actually had a higher war in 2005 than in 2004, which is kind of interesting, right? 2004 was his MVP season. That being said, virtually every batting stat that I could find was a little worse in 2004 than it was in 2005. So I I I guess we can say he was pretty deserving in 2005. Um I also don't like to talk a ton about fielding statistics percentages, mostly because I don't fully understand them. But um I can say with full confidence that 2005 was one of Vladdy's best years in the field. He only committed three total errors all season. He had the his highest fielding percentage of uh 0.988. So I think those fielding statistics likely played into effect uh not only in his war, but also in his MVP votes, right? So in 2005, all signs pointed to a pretty deserving third place uh for Vladimir. Okay, Alex Rodriguez took the cake, led virtually every hitting statistic known to man other than RBIs, which David Ortiz, our second place MVP, led that season. So get ready, Katie, because we're about to tie in episode two.

SPEAKER_01 46:15

Yeah, Bartolo Cologne.

SPEAKER_04 46:17

With this episode. Get ready for your brain to explode, right? Chop a bound. Who did Vladdy play alongside that year?

SPEAKER_02 46:25

Who?

SPEAKER_04 46:25

In 2005. First of all, he led the team in most hitting statistics and uh had a war two points higher than anyone else, but he played with Sean Figgins, which I'll never forget because Sean is spelled C-H-O-N-E, which is electric.

SPEAKER_01 46:38

Yeah, I thought it was gonna be Sihone.

SPEAKER_04 46:41

Or Chone. But with Adam Kennedy, Benji Molina, who is brothers with Yadir Molina, um, Darren Erstad. There were some solid pitchers on that team too. John Lackey, remember Lackey?

SPEAKER_01 46:54

I know his name.

SPEAKER_04 46:55

Cubs Legend. Everyone's favorite Bartolo Cologne.

SPEAKER_01 46:59

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 47:00

Uh, who I wrote I wrote this at the time, which is funny. I said, who deserves one of these episodes of his own one day. But we actually did Bartolo before this. We did. Um, and he won Bartolo won Cy Young that year. So this season that Blady got third was the year that Bartolo won the Cy Young.

SPEAKER_01 47:19

Oh my gosh, full circle.

SPEAKER_04 47:21

Full circle was kind of waiting for your brain to explode.

SPEAKER_01 47:25

Um whoa.

SPEAKER_04 47:27

So kind of a fun thing. Only a few I was like kind of looking at this, like only a few teams have had the Cy Young and MVP at this at the same time, right? Um, since 2000, right? So 2013 was Miguel Cabrera and Max Scherzer. So MVP Miguel, Cy Young, Mac Scherzer. 2006, the twins had Justin Morneau. I don't know who that is. Johann Santana, Cy Young, okay. 2005, that same year that Derek Lee got snubbed in the NL, Albert Poolholes won MVP, right? And you mentioned this earlier, but Chris Carpenter brought home the Cy Young. Remember when you said that earlier? Remember when you said it? You said that. I also accidentally wrote down Christ Carpenter.

SPEAKER_01 48:11

And Christ was a carpenter, wasn't he?

SPEAKER_04 48:13

I think so. Yeah, maybe I wow.

SPEAKER_01 48:16

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 48:17

Hello. Makes you think, doesn't it? Uh okay, reel it in. 2002, Miguel Tejada won AL MVP and Barry Zido won the AL Cy Young. That was for the A's, I believe. Um, so they would have joined a pretty exclusive list together. So um Vladimir Guerrero, like, I feel like a lot of people would know him as a character teammate that people love him.

SPEAKER_01 48:47

So this is probably this is probably mattered. This probably mattered.

SPEAKER_04 48:50

Yeah, his character, baby.

SPEAKER_01 48:51

His character.

SPEAKER_04 48:52

He is a great quote, uh, because what everyone would kind of talk about with him is that he would literally swing at like anything, didn't matter if it was in the zone or the dirt or whatever. Um, so he said, I don't have to get a pitch down the middle. If I like a pitch, even if it's 15 inches off the plate.

SPEAKER_02 49:08

What?

SPEAKER_04 49:09

And that's the pitch I wanted, I'm swinging.

SPEAKER_01 49:13

So I love him. Yeah, just he sticks to his guns.

SPEAKER_04 49:17

He sticks to his guns. Um, and so how did the Angels end up that year when Vladdy was swinging at pitches that he liked? They ended the year first in the AL West at a record of 95 and 67. They won the ALDS 3-2 over the Yanks, and then got taken down by the champs that year, the Chicago White Sox, which we just relearned together.

SPEAKER_01 49:37

We did the White Sox won in 2005.

SPEAKER_04 49:39

I should have remembered that, dude. I should have remember that. I feel silly. I feel silly. So, some fun facts about Vladdy. Um, this is more in general, not from 2005, but he actually hit some pitches that bounced before the plate.

SPEAKER_03 49:53

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 49:54

Um, yeah. Uh he he once got a hit out of that too. It bounced before the plate. Um, yeah, and that and some pitchers joked that throwing it in the dirt didn't guarantee a ball against him because he might get a hit out of it. Um, his batting practice was legendary. Um, he would hit balls over the scoreboard. He would crush opposite field home runs without trying to hit almost any pitch location, which we've highlighted a couple times. But a lot of people said his BP was among the most impressive that they'd ever seen. He barely wore batting gloves, which we talked about a little bit earlier, too.

SPEAKER_01 50:30

I wonder when he would if he barely wore them. What kind maybe it was like rainy.

unknown 50:36

I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 50:36

He liked the direct feel of the bat, though, which was unusual for power hitters. Um, his throwing arm was terrifying. He was a right fielder, one of the strongest arms in the game. He once threw a ball on the fly from the outfield warning track to home plate to get a runner out. That's a far throw. Runners eventually stopped trying to advance on him. He grew up extremely poor. Um he grew up in Don Gregorio.

SPEAKER_01 51:04

That seems right.

SPEAKER_04 51:05

In the DR. Um, his family had nine children.

SPEAKER_01 51:09

Cool.

SPEAKER_04 51:09

He often practiced baseball with uh makeshift equipment. Um, and Scouts originally doubted him because uh he swung at everything. So I feel like we've hammered that.

SPEAKER_02 51:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 51:21

Boy no. Um, obviously we highlighted this too, but I think uh it deserves a reension. His son became a superstar too. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., he's on the Blue Jays. That team that is he good? He's excellent. Yeah, both all-stars, both known for power. Um son is definitely more patient at the plate than his dad. Um, doesn't exactly swing at everything. Um, but he was Hall of Fame first ballot in 2018. He was elected to to the Hall of Fame. Um and he became the first player inducted wearing an LA Angels cap. It's kind of interesting. Wait, what? So I think first angel in the Hall of Fame.

SPEAKER_02 52:02

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:04

Um apparently he hated bat and cages too. Disliked batting cages. Um and then yeah, just overall career highlights, right? Nine time All-Star, 2004 AL MVP, which is not the season we just talked about. We talked about 2005. He had 449 career home runs and a career 318 batting average. Okay. And one more crazy stat, and I'll shut up about Vladdy. Vladimir Guerrero once hit 337 in a season while only striking out 44 times. That combo of contact power, extremely rare. Woo!

SPEAKER_00 52:41

Vlady!

SPEAKER_04 52:42

Vladdy and D Lee 2005 in the books. Now it's time to call to the pen.

SPEAKER_00 52:48

Call to the pen.

SPEAKER_01 52:49

Call to the pen.

SPEAKER_04 52:50

Katie, what'd you learn?

SPEAKER_01 52:53

You know, I thought I think the voting system is interesting. I like that it hasn't changed since 1931, although it seems like it's kind of changed since 1931.

SPEAKER_04 53:02

It seems like the mind mindset is shifting.

SPEAKER_01 53:06

Yeah, maybe a little bit. But I like how they include little journalists too.

SPEAKER_04 53:10

Yeah. They're all so little.

SPEAKER_01 53:13

Very small.

SPEAKER_04 53:13

Yeah, I'm glad that of all the things that I just talked about with the players, you learned about the voting process. No, that's cool. That's cool. That's why I highlighted that too.

SPEAKER_01 53:24

Yeah, I think that I think that's really interesting. Maybe I maybe it's like so in my mind because I read it in that accent.

SPEAKER_04 53:34

Yeah. Yeah. I don't think anyone's gonna forget that.

SPEAKER_01 53:41

So, listeners, we hope you learned something today, too.

SPEAKER_04 53:44

Yeah. Yeah. Oh five, two third place MVPs, two great guys.

SPEAKER_01 53:50

Two good little guys.

SPEAKER_04 53:52

So now it's time for everybody's favorite segment. The big dogs of the week. Do you want me to go first or do you want to go first?

SPEAKER_01 54:04

You go first. You go first. You continue the baseball.

SPEAKER_04 54:07

Okay, so I I have two maybe quicker ones. I'm not gonna dive into full stories here, but for those who watch the WBC, you'll know what I'm talking about. For those who didn't, which might be a lot of people, you'll have no idea what I'm talking about. But so let me just say this first of all. With the WBC is super cool because some of these teams just have normal guys on the team. Like some of the rosters, like Venezuela and the US, are all MLB players. And then there's teams like frickin' is it Czechia? Is that how you say it?

SPEAKER_01 54:40

Uh maybe. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 54:43

Yeah. So team like that, or even like Great Britain uh or Israel, like they just have like has like Joe the plumber. Like firefighters. And I love that. So I'm just gonna highlight his name is Andrez Satoria. Um, he was on uh he's Czech uh and he's an electrical engineer and project manager. And this guy, he had an electric showing. So I think this was this is his last time pitching in the world baseball classic. But if you look up a picture of him, he just looks like he looks like an electrical engineer.

SPEAKER_02 55:20

Let's just say that.

SPEAKER_04 55:21

He's a little bit shorter, he's got a nice little beard, and he freaking pitched four and two-thirds scoreless innings against Japan. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 55:32

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_04 55:33

He struck out three uh people, he only allowed six hits. Um, so scoreless ball. I mean, what a what a great way to say goodbye to the world baseball classic. He also previously, and I looked into this, he had struck out Shohei. Everyone was like, Oh, was Shohei in the lineup? He wasn't that day, but um, yeah, what a what a great way to say goodbye. He uh they, I mean, you should watch the video. Like everyone's pumped up, he's getting a stand in ovation. Um he said, I cried, I really cried. I have to say it's the most important artifact in my collection. Um the the ball from Shohei is always special, but he got he got a medal, I think, to be in you know world baseball classic, right? And he got it in Tokyo. Um, he said it's always with him, right?

SPEAKER_01 56:18

So how did this guy learn how to play freaking baseball? I don't know. It's apparently his fastball doesn't go over 80 miles an hour very often.

SPEAKER_04 56:29

Yeah, so he pitches a little bit slower, but yeah, he got he got them that medal um in the European championship. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 56:38

Okay, love him.

SPEAKER_04 56:40

Yeah, so that was beautiful. Um, definitely recommend you guys watching some videos on Andreas Storia because he was freaking awesome. He struck out Shohei in 2023, so not this last year, but he struck out Shohei, and that was a fun video.

SPEAKER_01 56:55

So he's a full-time electrician. I'm like, well, maybe he does that on the side. No, he's full-time electrician.

SPEAKER_04 57:02

Yeah, full-time electrician, and now he's here just like striking out like electric ball players in the WBC. Love him. Yeah, he said, I'm just a regular dude from Ostrava, but here they respect me and have me sign balls. It's really nice to be back here. Oh my god. Talking about the WBC.

SPEAKER_01 57:19

I can't handle it.

SPEAKER_04 57:20

So that's Andresh, and then I do want to do one other quick shout-out. This isn't a full story, but Nathan Martin, who's a 36-year-old substitute teacher and high school cross-country coach from Jackson, Michigan, won the 2026 LA Marathon uh just a couple weeks ago on March 8th, 2026, in a dramatic historic finish. I'm telling you, if you're not driving in the car right now, look up this video, man.

SPEAKER_01 57:45

Pull over.

SPEAKER_04 57:45

Pull over, pull over and look this up. Um, he overtook a Kenyan runner, which was uh Michael Camau, I think. Is that you say it?

SPEAKER_01 57:55

I don't know. I don't see it.

SPEAKER_04 57:57

K-A-M-A-U. Okay, Michael Camau. Uh in the final hundred meters to win by 0.01 seconds. It's the closest margin in the race's history. So shout out Nathan Martin, uh, just a sub-teacher, high school cross-country coach from Jackson, Michigan, who won the LA Marathon and won it in a crazy fashion.

SPEAKER_01 58:17

Yeah, the other guy fell down.

SPEAKER_04 58:19

Yeah, I mean, you you watch the video, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 58:22

Yeah, I just saw a picture.

SPEAKER_04 58:23

So Andres and Nathan, good work, guys. Just doing things at a very high level, but also just with your kind of like classic jobs, you know?

SPEAKER_01 58:35

Yeah, makes you think gotta make a living, gotta make a living.

SPEAKER_04 58:38

Gotta make a living somehow.

SPEAKER_01 58:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 58:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:41

My big dog of the week. So it's March Madness time.

unknown 58:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:46

And I I wanted to do a March Madness episode this week, but I didn't have my life together.

SPEAKER_04 58:53

Yeah, I think in hindsight, we probably but it's but it's opening day coming. It's opening day, so we're we're on basic. No, we're not like to push it.

SPEAKER_01 59:03

Okay, so me and this dude at work like like to talk about like the tallest and smallest like players in basketball.

SPEAKER_04 59:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:11

And we hit we hit a milestone recently.

SPEAKER_04 59:14

Congratulations.

SPEAKER_01 59:16

Um, not not like me.

SPEAKER_04 59:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:18

Like like basketball hit a milestone. Olivier Ryu, he's French Canadian, I think. Yeah. Um he he became the tallest college basketball player ever to play in March Madness. Um he's seven foot nine. Holy guacamole. Seven foot nine. Uh just eight weeks. Okay, okay, okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Listen to this.

SPEAKER_02 59:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:50

In 2024, the 20-year-old Canadian extended his own goodness world record as the tallest teenager in the world by measuring at 7 foot nine. Just eight weeks before that, he measured in at 7 foot seven, meaning that he'd grown two inches in two months. Oh my God. He's 305 pounds. Uh, he was six foot one when he was eight years old. Oh my god. Isn't that a little that's kind of concerning? He's taller than me at eight.

unknown 1:00:25

Jeez.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:26

Let's be nice.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:30

So it seems like this guy doesn't play a lot.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:33

Um, but he got to play uh in the Florida game. He's on Florida. He played against the Prairie View AM team. Uh and I think he like made a little dunk and he didn't even have to like jump at all. He just like lifted his arm. He lifted his arm. He said it feels amazing. Uh prior to Friday's first round game, he appeared in 10 matches this season, clocking up only 15 minutes of play. Um, over those 10 appearances, he scored five points and grabbed four boards over 14 minutes. What's a board? Uh rebound. Oh, okay. Okay, cool. Cool. Um, the Florida little coach, I think, said uh it's gonna be a tough one this year to play. It really will be because probably because their team's really good. But I do think he has some really good basketball ahead of him, whether it's here at Florida or somewhere else. Um, they said that he does have so we were talking about before this episode, listeners. Matt and I were talking about like, you know, there's a point extent to where you're like too tall, you're too big, and then you can't like move around and like pace of play. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:42

Pace of play, pace of play, pace of play.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:44

They're saying he does have some good hands and a touch on the offensive side of the ball, but will need to continue developing his coordination, especially in quick reaction circumstances. And fun fact, he also recently worked out with the Gators football team. Uh but I don't think it went well.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:08

What position would he play in football?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:10

I think he was like gonna block like block snaps or something, or like cakes, maybe.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:16

Yeah, I guess that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:17

But I don't think it worked out.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:19

Yeah, I mean, I gotta imagine he just got shoved over, but wow.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:25

Yeah, so I I'm I I hope he like I hope he keeps doing good. And there was a funny exchange that I think went a little viral where like one a guy on the other team like is staring at him and he's like the guy's like, Are you a freshman? And Olivia is like, yep. He's like, you big boy. Oh that's I was like trying, I was like looking this guy up and I'm like seeing pictures of him. I literally thought it was AI.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:53

Yeah, because he's so looks like AI, dude. I'm looking at insane. Just him like in the oh my god, look at him sitting even.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:01

Jeez. Actually, I wonder he might be taller than yeah, I wonder. Oh my god. Oh my god. It's yeah, it's kind of it's a little concerning.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:10

It is a little concerning.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:11

Uh but I yeah, it seems like he's very passionate and wants to be known for more than just his height.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:20

Yeah. So he wants yeah, I mean, this guy is massive, dude. Uh it kind of sounds like the coach thinks he might not play for the Gators, though. Doesn't it? It's kind of a weird statement. Whether it's here at Florida or somewhere else. Like, says he just already can't.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:38

It's kind of a weird statement to make.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:41

Yeah. I don't know. Maybe fair. It's like they're the best, you know. Florida's a one seed. Oh. So they're one of the four best teams in the country. So like maybe there's just not time for them, you know. It's not minutes. So maybe he's like, maybe. There's a lot of transferring going on in college sports these days.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:59

The shoe size is 20.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:01

Okay, so double mine. That's awesome. That's cool. That's a good one, Katie. That is literally a big dog. You took it quite literally.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:13

Oh, man.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:15

That's great.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:15

What a time.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:16

Yeah. Okay. I mean, we highlighted a lot this episode, right? Uh MVP, uh, Dealy, Vladimir Guerrero, Sr. Um, Andres, Nathan, and Olivier.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:31

Olivier.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:31

Olivier? Yeah, you say it. I can't say it. Olivier.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:34

Olivier.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:35

Oh, nice. Beautiful. Um, so that's fun.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:38

That was that was cool, Matt. Good job. Good episode. Good pilot episode.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:42

Great. Yeah. So I hope you guys like what I wrote over a year ago. Um outside of our big dogs of the week. And yeah, that was fun. Um, I think we're gonna have a week off here.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:55

Yeah. Oh, yeah, when we already took like a week off.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:58

I know. Yeah. Thanks for bearing with us. We got a lot of snow last weekend. We were actually gonna record last Sunday.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:03

Yeah, we were, and then we didn't.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:05

Uh so now we yeah, we'll have another week off, but then it'll be like we should have a good stretch of like three, four straight weeks of episodes. Yeah. So don't don't go anywhere.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:16

Don't go anywhere. Yeah. Seems like we've been typically Fridays or Sundays.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:20

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:20

So hope you've liked that.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:21

Yeah, hope you like that.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:23

Yeah. Keep letting us know what you think. We like hearing from you.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:27

We really do.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:28

We really like hearing from our listeners.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:29

It kind of feels like we're talking into a cave and it's echoing back at us.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:34

Hello. Hello. Hello.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:35

Hello. Hello.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:36

Hello.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:37

Huh. Anyone out there? Anybody out there? Yeah. Anybody out there?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:41

Uh, but yeah, have a great, great week, everyone. Yeah, watch some baseball. Yeah, watch some baseball. Watch some March Madness.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:47

A lot of March Madness going on this week. Madness today.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:50

No reason to watch anymore now that my badgers are out.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:53

Yeah, your badgers got.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:54

Wait, are is Duke is Duke out too now?

SPEAKER_04 1:05:56

No, Duke's still in it.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:57

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:57

Yeah, they had a close first game though. 16th scene. It was tight. Um, this is the worst my brackets ever been.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:04

Yeah, I don't even want mine's horrible.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:07

Mine's hor I don't know what happened. Like, I mean, I'm not saying it's ever like great, but it's just like, what am I doing, dude? Like, it's so bad. It's in like the 18th percentile. And I felt who mine is. I felt so good going into this.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:21

But sorry.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:21

I don't know. I had North Carolina in my final four for some stupid reason they lost in the first round. So that was dumb. That's on me. You can put the blame on me.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:30

We should be dropping merch soon.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:33

Because the next one's our tenth, I think.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:34

Next one's our tenth episode. So merch coming.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:36

Merch dropping.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:37

Maybe you get that together. I am. It's getting together. I know.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:41

Trying. Jesus.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:42

Well, geez. Uh yeah. We'll send a link out maybe after the 10th episode is posted. Yeah. And you can like put in an order. Maybe we'll send out like a Google form.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:53

No, no. People can order it directly from it.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:55

You can order directly from it. Stand correctly. Maybe we can put on our website.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:59

Yeah, I think we can.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:00

We have a website.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:01

We do, kind of, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:02

No, we do.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:03

We do have a website.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:04

Kind of.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:05

We pay for website.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:06

We do pay.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:07

We are in the red right now in terms of our funds, but it's only up to currently accepting donations.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:15

We did get our first donation.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:16

Really?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:17

Remember from uh our listener in in Pennsylvania? I think his name was like Mike.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:25

Oh, Michael?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:28

What?

SPEAKER_04 1:07:28

Mike? Yeah. Yeah, I know. Mike Al, like Michael.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:33

Mike.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:34

Vital.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:35

Like Michael, like is his full name. Let's wrap this up.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:45

Okay, yeah. Thanks for tuning in. Time to go.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:47

Have a good day, everybody.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:48

Love you. Love you so much. Love you. Watch baseball, watch March Man.