Episode 165 — George Falkowski: From Yankee Fan to NESN Features Producer, Media Tales, & Ballpark Therapy

[00:00:00] George: if you’ve been to the beach and you know that when you finally settle in your chair and you’ve got your sunscreen on and you just put your head back, There’s that, the noise of the ocean and the, and the seagulls and the kids running.

[00:00:11] George: And to me, the ballpark is like that.  I actually had a moment like that at Fenway Park back in May, where I just, we got in early, we sat down and they weren’t blasting music. They were just playing organ and the guys were wrapping up BP. And I was sitting back in my chair and I’m like, It’s like baseball beach.

[00:00:29] George: This is pretty cool And I just I like to let it wash over me I really do and I do think there’s healing quality and going to the going to the ball game I really do 

[00:00:42] Anna: What’s up Bucketheads? Thanks for tuning in and welcome to episode number 165 of the baseball bucket list podcast. I’m your host Anna DiTommaso and each week on the show, I speak with a different baseball fan about their favorite memories, what’s left on their baseball bucket list and what the game of baseball means to them. . This week, I sat down with George Falkowski. from New Jersey. George is a lifelong Yankee fan who spent the better part of his career working as a sports anchor, including a 10-year run with the New England Sports Network, otherwise known as NESN, the cable network that covers Boston area sports teams, including the Red Sox. We touch on his career in media and how broadcasting rights and conflict are nothing new to baseball. We also hear some fun stories about his time at NESN and a bit about the personal cost of a job in sports media. George is also the author of the book, Meet Me at The Bat in which he chronicles several decades of Yankee games with personal stories. 

[00:01:34] Anna: In a similar vein, George is currently working on a new book titled Ballpark Therapy, which will highlight why fans love the game and being at the ballpark and is meant to make you think a little bit about your own answer to that question. 

[00:01:46] Anna: This interview is a bit longer than normal and we covered a lot, but I really enjoyed it and I know you will too. Now without further ado, sit back, relax and enjoy some baseball banter with George 

[00:01:58] Anna: George, thank you so much for joining us today on the Baseball Bucket List. How are things up there in Western New Jersey?

[00:02:05] George: Well, you know, I’m, uh, in a perfect spot. I’m centrally located to about a thousand baseball stadiums and ballparks. We’ve got the Phillies are 90 minutes to my south. Uh, Yankees and Mets are like a little over an hour, an hour and a half to the east. I’ve got the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs 25 minutes to the west.

[00:02:24] George: I’ve got the Somerset Patriots 40 minutes to the east. If I want to go an hour north, I got the Sussex County Miners of the Frontier League, um, hour and 15, hour and 20 to Reading, um, hour and a half to Scranton. This is a good place to be. If you love baseball, we’re in a good spot.

[00:02:41] Anna: Man, living the dream. It sounds like, you know, you kind of got to one of every flavor. Just pick what you’re up for that day and kind of head to the ballpark. It’s a good place to be. It sounds like.

[00:02:51] George: it’s pretty good. 

[00:02:53] Anna: I know we’re going to dive into your love for minor league baseball here in a second, but you know, the first question I’m going to ask you is, How is it that you fell in love with the game of baseball?

[00:03:02] George: Well, it’s weird because my dad was not a big baseball fan when I was a little kid. As it turns out, he was, he grew up a fan of the New York Giants. Yeah. And for the young people in the audience, of course, the Giants played in Harlem, the Dodgers played, played in Brooklyn, and they both took off, um, after, I guess, the 57 season, they split.

[00:03:22] George: And, and a lot of people thought those fans would automatically gravitate to Yankee games, but that wasn’t the case. They were National League fans and screw the Yankees. They were done with that. So, I don’t know how it happened. I do remember at the age of eight or so, my parents were visiting some friends in New Jersey, we were still living in Long Island city at the time.

[00:03:42] George: And I was down in their basement, like rolling balls on the pool table and the Yankee game was on. And I remember seeing Bobby Mercer and Joe Pepitone hit home runs. And I was like, Oh my goodness. So I asked my mother and there was this kid in our, in our apartment house back in the day, who was a Met fan.

[00:03:57] George: And I said, well, mom, you know, who did you root for? She goes, well, I was a Yankee fan. They won so much it got boring. And if you know anything about the Yankees of the late sixties and early seventies, they did not win a lot. And I was like, what was that like? Uh, but I got to go to, um, my first game in 1970.

[00:04:17] George: my mother saved the back page of the Daily News. It’s actually, I can show you when we’re done. I’ve actually got it copied and framed at my desk where they beat the Oakland A’s. Uh, the headline says the Yankees wallop A’s 8 3. And as it turns out, Bobby Mercer hit a home run. And it was cap day and it, and that was it.

[00:04:36] George: I was in and that was baseball cards and Yankees, Yankees. And then, uh, you know, it was Yankees Mets all the time as a kid and Mets are good. So we took a lot of abuses, Yankee fans as kids. And then in the late seventies, like I was in high school, 77, 78, the Mets went down the toilet and the Yankees were winning and all my Mets fans and friends going, well, you’re just so immature.

[00:04:59] George: What do you even care? You’re like, what are you? I’m like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, guess what? I don’t forget that kind of stuff. And then of course they were back in my face in 86 when the Mets won again. So, but that’s kind of where it started. And, and as I’m sure we’ll get into it, as you know, I, um, visited my Met fan friend in Boston in 1980.

[00:05:17] George: He was in college and I walked around and I’m like, I can go to school here. And I tried to transfer. I was accepted at Northeastern parents. Couldn’t afford it. I was the angry kid, like shaking his fist. but long story short, because I didn’t go, um, I didn’t go to the I got my, my entry into TV, sports TV here, uh, with hockey.

[00:05:37] George: The Devils were brand new in 82. And then I decided I can go to graduate school up there. And I did, I got accepted to Emerson and I moved up, uh, in the winter of 84, 85. And within a couple of months, I landed a part time job at New England sports network, NESN. So the Yankee fan from Jersey ended up working for the Red Sox network for 10 years.

[00:05:57] George: So. And I loved it. I’m going to confess right. It’s true.

[00:06:01] Anna: I love that story there’s so much to it, you know, first of all, I thank you for for designating the the New York Giants versus the New York football Giants Which is something that you know, a lot of younger people are like, well, of course, they’re the football Giants Why do we have to specify but?

[00:06:17] Anna: You know, I

[00:06:18] George: They still call them that too, which

[00:06:19] Anna: I know it’s hilarious. I know

[00:06:21] George: I’m a Giants fan. That was, that was DNA from my dad. So there you go.

[00:06:25] Anna: Very cool. So, I mean, it makes sense. You’re in Jersey. A lot of folks I talk to from Jersey are Yankee fans, as you mentioned, but, you know, you kind of throw a wrench in it there when you mention you, you head up to Boston, you get this internship at the, uh, Basically, Boston Red Sox cable affiliate, right, or it’s their entire cable

[00:06:45] George: Red Sox actually own NESN. got, they own a chunk of it and they were brand new at the time. Uh, they were all, they were only in their first year. So I came in right there in the first season. Everybody in Boston hated Nesson. They hated it. And I’ll give you a little cable TV history.

[00:07:03] George: Boston was not cable till the early 80s. It was a really big deal when it happened. And Cablevision, the company, won the bidding, and they were going to put cables like, Down the back alleys and they weren’t going to touch the streets or the, or the, the, the, the beauty of the down back Bay. If you’ve been to Boston, you know how beautiful it is and cable vision.

[00:07:23] George: And I’ve worked on both sides of cable vision for and against, and, uh, they had sports channel, New England. Okay, and they had the Celtics, whereas NESN had the Red Sox and the Boston Bruins. Well, Cablevision figured if we just freeze them out, they’ll fold and by default we’ll get the Red Sox and Bruins games.

[00:07:43] George: Well, a funny thing happened on the way to that plan. It was 1986, and the Red Sox, for the first time in 11 years, were having this crazy season. That was my first full year as feature producer with those guys. It was, and you couldn’t believe it. I mean, the Red Sox are in first place and I’m here and I’m working the games and I’m interviewing players, you know, for features.

[00:08:02] George: And, uh, I remember, um, people used to refer to NESN as the nobody ever sees network. I mean, they hated, I made fun of us in comedy clubs. It was, they crushed us. Well, you turn the pressure on a Red Sox nation. And you, you put that on mayor Ray Flynn at the time, and he called Charles Dolan, who was the king of cable vision, invented HBO and all that stuff.

[00:08:25] George: And he, he got out the pliers and put the squeeze on them. If you get what I’m saying. And I remember walking to work. It was late August and we, our studios at the time were in Fenway park. And I come up the steps and I walk in the studio and there’s this podium set up and an American flag and the Massachusetts state flag and the big state seal on the podium.

[00:08:44] George: I’m like, what’s going on? I go, Oh, Mayor Flynn’s coming. We have an agreement and Cablevision caves. They gave NESN free to Boston for the month of September. And because it was then a paid service monthly, if you wanted to keep it, you had to start paying October 1st, but they were going to make NESN available free.

[00:09:04] George: For the entire month of September in the pennant race. I remember going to games there before I got hired and they put NESN 90 games and everybody would boo. But now we were free and then we were 10 a month and then you hope the Bruins had a good year because that would cut, that would move over to the next Red Sox year and the next Bruins year and I ended up spending 10 years there.

[00:09:24] George: So 86 saved NESN and, and probably some ways saved my career.

[00:09:28] Anna: I mean, it’s, it’s interesting to hear that story because obviously the broadcasting setup for Major League Baseball right now is kind of a disaster. You know, I think anybody you talk to kind of has their, their theories and thoughts behind the blackouts and Bally and this, you know, catastrophic mess that we’re finding ourselves in but to hear that it goes back, decades and Yeah, 

[00:09:53] George: if you think about it, in my opinion, and I’m not the expert cause I’m kind of out of it now, is that the regional sports networks, RSNs, if you want to like use the lingo, the ones that are owned by individual teams are still very healthy. NESN is very healthy. The yes network is very healthy.

[00:10:10] George: I I’m assuming Sportsnet New York SNY for the Mets is very healthy because the teams have a big slice of the action. Okay, Bally’s this big company that said, what a great idea. Let’s get in here and buy up all these TV rights. And then what happened is, and this is again, this gets me fired up in baseball and hockey, is that now you have the leagues pushing all the streaming services.

[00:10:32] George: So if you’re getting ESPN plus, or you’re getting, uh, Peacock or whatever the hell’s they got going on. What are you not buying? You’re not getting cable and you’re not getting satellite. And so those services. That we’ve been used to are dying on the vine. So Major League Baseball, of course, had to step in last year to try to save these things.

[00:10:51] George: For me, it’s really about the people that work at all these places and the jobs that they’re trying to save because. It’s a lot of good people. We just had a, uh, an all news radio station in New York, classic WCBS 880, uh, just stopped operating because the Odyssey people shut it down. And they were like a top 10 revenue station, but Odyssey wants to put ESPN radio on their signal on AM.

[00:11:14] George: So they just shot down legendary news station. So the media business is crazy. It’s all about money. And I think their own greed is what’s catching up with them now.

[00:11:23] Anna: Yeah, it’s hard. It’s not necessarily a topic I had planned on you know chatting about with you But I mean it seems to be something that that you’re pretty passionate about and you know as I think more and more about it more of these They’re kind of like secondary broadcasts, I call them, you know, like an Apple TV gets a game every Friday and, and, uh, It’s very similar to me, like, in the postseason, when you’ve spent 162 games with your broadcast team And then you’re listening to Joe Buck who is, you know, a great announcer, a great broadcaster, but he doesn’t know your team the same way that the guys who’ve been with you all year do. And so you see 

[00:12:01] George: it’s, it’s rights 

[00:12:02] Anna: Yeah, 

[00:12:03] George: paying the rights fees. You know, and it’s funny because when I was a kid, a kid, teenager, when the Yankees got into the playoffs, you could watch the home games or the, the, the Yankee games on WPIX and, and have Phil Rizzuto, Bill White, Frank Messer. You could do that. And then World Series was national.

[00:12:20] Anna: hmm.

[00:12:21] George: Now all the cable companies, now you’ve got Fox, TBS, blah, blah, blah, whether it’s ABC, whatever they’re buying up the rights. And I remember this is going to be a hockey reference, but. We were allowed to cover the Bruins right through the Stanley Cup finals in 88 and 1990, but the rights holders were up at the top of the pecking order, so there could be seven feeds coming outta Boston Garden, and you can guess who was number seven. So we couldn’t get like players live during the game. You can’t set eight guys out between periods, right? So we would find a player who wasn’t dressed. We’d have to find a writer and your broadcast sufferers because the rights holders are killing you because they, and again, you spend the money, you get what you get.

[00:13:03] George: A

[00:13:05] Anna: Well, I want to pivot a little bit because, you know, The majority of your career has kind of been on the media broadcasting side and I want to know like what the best part about that was, you know, like what is it that as you look back over that career you’ve had, you kind of go, man, that was worth everything.

[00:13:22] George: lot about everything. I’ll be very honest is that I teach now I teach media. And one of the things I teach my students is about the personal cost of being in a career like this. So I got one divorce down. And I can’t say it’s all because of the career, but it didn’t help. She loves sports, but she was also a little insecure and preferred to have her hubby home nights and weekends.

[00:13:46] George: And when do they play games? nights and week. So that wasn’t everything, but it was a good starting point for disaster. the really great part is, is that, you know, I grew up, many of us grew up wanting to be a pro athlete, a baseball player. And I kind of knew by the age of a 10 or 11, 12, that wasn’t happening yet.

[00:14:05] George: Somehow. I’ve played baseball at Yankee Stadium, both of them Fenway Park. Okay. I have a home run at Fenway Park. It’s on YouTube. You can look it up, uh, in a media game, baseball, not softball.

[00:14:17] Anna: Nice.

[00:14:18] George: I’ve been to Colorado. I’ve been to California for, for the NBA and for the Stanley cup. Uh, I’ve been to Dallas. I was in, I was in Dallas when the Devils won the Stanley cup.

[00:14:26] George: I’m going hockey on you here, but you understand. I’ve got this picture on my website of all my press passes like in a collage. I have it actually framed here and you look at it you’re like damn I did a lot of stuff and the people I got to know and the friends I still Have and the experiences that Never would have happened had I not got it in the TV.

[00:14:46] George: And thankfully, uh, Mrs. F the second met her in TV. She’s not on airtime. She was behind the scenes, but she, she totally understands or understood during when I was still working full time and the commitment it takes and, and, and the travel. So, If you’re not an athlete, the closest you can get is to be part of the media covering the event, right?

[00:15:08] George: You’re not the kid in the back of the upper deck anymore. All right. You’re actually on the field talking to these people, getting to know these people. And you don’t think about it when it’s happening, but when you go home, you’re like, well, I just, you know, interviewed Reggie Jackson, or I just, you know, I just covered Shaq and Kobe at the, at the, at the NBA finals.

[00:15:27] George: And that’s, The greatest part of it that, you know, that a kid from Scotch Plains who literally failed his major in college first semester of art I failed basic drawing, which is funny because I’ve illustrated some books and done Christmas cards for the Bruins. I failed my major my first semester, you know, I’ve done all this stuff and I can brag.

[00:15:46] George: I won a couple of Emmy Awards. So, yeah. You live the dream and fortunately I think the layoff, the full time layoff, actually coincided with both of my kids getting heavily into travel hockey so I was actually able to do that and see them play. Sucked not having the money for a couple of years, but I Yeah, I mean and you know this because you’re you’re around it with what you do and the people you get to meet It opens the door of just so much stuff.

[00:16:11] George: There’s a cost you have to be ready for it uh, but and now i’m kind of transitioning into fan land again, like we talked about like I get to go to games and Run around and kind of I can chirp from the stands and that kind of stuff, but I can still do some media stuff. I can write my book. I can do some feature stuff.

[00:16:28] George: I can, I can cut news type video for a real estate guy that I know. So I’m still doing everything and I still feel that I can still use my skills. But you know, if, if, if the official full time media guy is over, I had a lot of fun doing it.

[00:16:42] Anna: I know what exactly what you’re talking about. You have these moments where you’re kind of, in the moment you’re doing a job, you’re trying to get something accomplished, so you’re 100 percent focused on getting done what needs to be done, but then you take a step back and you’re a day or two removed from it and you’re like, Oh, wow, that was.

[00:16:58] Anna: Pretty

[00:16:59] George: that’s one of my theories. I think I made a post recently about that is that is that we’re so used to Waiting till we read about it to realize we just were part of something special but I tell my kids if we go to a ball game or like we went out to a yankee game and i’m like Judge and Soto. This is like Mantle and Maris.

[00:17:15] George: This is Gehrig and Ruth. And you gotta see it now. Don’t wait till you’re 50 and go, Oh, I read a book about how great. No, no, we’re seeing it now. And I’ve never lost sight of what I’m, I mean, there are times when you’re, you know, you’re wrapped up in the 18 hour days and the, you know, working 28 days out of 31 days because the Bruins are playing and the Red Sox are playing in spring training and you’re doing both.

[00:17:38] George: Um, sometimes it gets overwhelming, but I think that, uh, we need. Those of us that are in this in any way, you have to appreciate what you’re doing. And I, of course, I’m kind of, you know, I’m kind of a smart ass and people would say, what do you do? And I’m like, Oh, I’m a sportscaster. And they go, well, you’re living the dream.

[00:17:56] George: I’m like, yeah, nights, weekends, anniversaries, Christmas, holiday, big dream. You know, they, they, but they, they look at this as what I’ve done in my, a lot of my career as it’s like the apex of what you can achieve in life. And it really isn’t, but it is pretty cool. I’ll leave it at that. How’s that

[00:18:12] Anna: that’s great. Yeah. Well said well said so I want to pivot now a little bit because you know You mentioned you have this plethora of baseball to choose from really like a buffet of different teams various levels All within a relatively short distance from from where you’re at right now But I I mean, I know you to just be A purist kind of is how I see you, you know, like you’re always posting these, uh, I forget what you call them, but during the off season, you know, no, not the cap rescue.

[00:18:44] Anna: That’s 

[00:18:45] George: But those are pretty good 

[00:18:46] Anna: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love the cap rescue. Uh, but the, uh, uh, In the off season, you’ll just like pull up a video from a ballpark that you took earlier in the year and you’re just, you know, kind of a nice reminder to everybody on Twitter that, you know, baseball’s coming back and here’s a little bit of a

[00:19:04] George: Oh, I’ve got some fresh ones this year, so more to come.

[00:19:07] Anna: Yeah, yeah,

[00:19:07] George: I try, I try to do like 30 seconds of the ballpark.

[00:19:11] Anna: Yes, that’s it.

[00:19:12] George: And just the noise of the park without the bells and whistles and stuff. And occasionally I catch, I’ve caught a couple of home runs that way, not literally caught it, but on video. I mean, this, this winter, you will see Ben Rice, his first major league home 

[00:19:24] George: run quite accidentally, you know, in the middle of this panoramic shot of the stadium, a guy hits a home run.

[00:19:30] George: It’s Ben Rice’s first home run. It was on the 4th of July. So I like to save those because if it’s making you happy and other people happy, imagine what it’s doing for me. Especially with the year I’ve had, because I, I’ve, I’ve seen a lot of major league games this year, more than I haven’t in a couple of decades.

[00:19:46] George: I’ve seen 10 and I got two more on the schedule. I’m up to 34 games now, including the minor leagues. Um, I try to, to me, honestly, like in Jersey, we don’t say we’re going to the beach. We say we’re going to the shore, down the shore. That’s what we say. We’re going down the shore. And if you’ve been to the beach and you know that when you finally settle in your chair and you’ve got your sunscreen on and you just put your head back, There’s that, the noise of the ocean and the, and the seagulls and the kids running.

[00:20:15] George: And to me, the ballpark is like that. I actually had a moment like that at Fenway Park back in May, where I just, we got in early, we sat down and they weren’t blasting music. They were just playing organ and the guys were wrapping up BP. And I was sitting back in my chair and I’m like, It’s like baseball beach.

[00:20:30] George: This is pretty cool And I just I like to let it wash over me I really do and I do think there’s healing quality and going to the going to the ball game I really do

[00:20:40] Anna: Man, that’s such an interesting topic. It’s so well said because I think about it, you know, like I obviously spent a lot of time in Florida as a kid my wife’s favorite thing in the world is the beach and like my favorite place to be in the world is the ballpark and you just You know, you put them both together, and I think we probably love those things for very similar reasons.

[00:21:02] Anna: It’s that, that ambiance that just, you know, you’re in the middle of all of this energy. You’re hearing the, the background noise and everything like that. It’s, uh, I think you might have just solved an age old question and, you know, why 

[00:21:16] George: was in a game actually it was it was early in the year a bunch of guys I know I believe I have been to Red Sox fantasy camp twice even as a lifelong yankee fan because I knew a lot of the coaches from when I worked. Uh, we won the championship in 13. I got a ring. It’s awesome. Um, but so a bunch of us met up early in the season because the Worcester, uh, Red Sox, the Wu Sox were in Allentown playing the iron pigs going to see Rich Gedman, our old buddy.

[00:21:41] George: I’ve known Richie since 86. And I’m sitting there with my two kids in, in three seats. And then a couple of the guys from camp are behind me. And one of them says, why are you so quiet? I’m like, I’m just, I don’t know. Enjoying the park, man. I don’t have to be George 24 7. I can just believe it or not. I can shut up It’s I know it’s going to be kind of breaking news to a lot of the people who see this or hear this But I was just like just watching the park by man this listening and and I know there’s one video You’ve probably seen it.

[00:22:12] George: I shot it like eight nine years ago at Citi Field with the vendors coming up the row And one guy’s going hot dogs. The other guy’s going

[00:22:19] Anna: Yeah.

[00:22:20] George: know soda and i’m like That’s what I grew up around,

[00:22:23] Anna: Yeah.

[00:22:24] George: know, going to Yankee games and the occasional Mets game with friends and, you know, that’s, that’s, that’s music, man.

[00:22:30] George: That’s, that’s the best.

[00:22:32] Anna: It definitely is. It just puts you in that environment. You close your eyes and you’re just sitting there. You’re in that seat and you can, you can feel it and you can smell it and uh, it’s very visceral. So that’s a really cool analogy you just threw my

[00:22:44] George: I’ve found a new soulmate here. This is pretty good.

[00:22:46] Anna: know. It’s good.

[00:22:47] George: Apologize to your loved ones. I’m up.

[00:22:51] Anna: Oh man. So I mean, You grew up a Yankees fan. You know, we talked about the timeline of that, of course, watching the Yankees go from not being very good to this powerhouse of a team over the course of several decades there. But, uh, a book you wrote, Meet Me at the Bat, is basically a chronicle of several decades of those Yankee games.

[00:23:14] Anna: But one of my favorite things that you do there is you focus so much on. What it is about who you were there with, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s like wrapped around these personal stories of being at the ballpark. And um, I just wish, you know, you could give listeners an idea as to why you decided to write that book and kind of wrap it around your personal story over those decades in the Bronx.

[00:23:43] George: Well, a couple of things. Uh, one is I’d been pestered for a long time about writing a book because of my career. I was in regional sports for 11, well, 13 years. Um, Red Sox, uh, Ruins, Devils, Islanders. I did one year with the Mets network and then I got into local news. And, but that’s everything from like Todd Frazier at the, at the Little League World Series in 98.

[00:24:05] George: I covered that stuff through to Watching the Giants go to the Superbowl or watching the Devils win three Stanley Cups. So, but I’m like, what am I going to write about? Oh, I went to the game and I went to the world series. Okay. My friends will care, but who else? I got to find something that’s more, um, appealing to the bigger audience.

[00:24:25] George: And we were in the middle of a move and, you know, going through stuff 

[00:24:28] George: When I find this padded envelope and of all the things my mom threw out. When I was in grad school and moved out, she stuffed all my old ticket stubs in this big puffy brown envelope.

[00:24:40] George: And I started putting Yankee stubs on Facebook on, I remember this game, man. I took my first girlfriend on this game and I thought it was a disaster. And then I remember this game where I went to the playoffs and my car didn’t start after the game. I had to call my father to come get me in the Bronx at one in the morning.

[00:24:55] George: I’m like, that’s the book. That’s the book. And I’m, uh, you could probably tell him I’m a, if you’re a fan of Gene Shepherd, The great writer and humorist, most people who’ve seen A Christmas Story, right, it’s on every year, 24 hours. He was a great influence on me. And he had this kind of sarcastic observation power.

[00:25:16] George: And I really hooked into that as like a teenager. And maybe there’s a little bit of that in what I’m trying to do. So I realized the tickets didn’t just represent great games. I may have, or, or, or nothing games. And I was at the pine tar game. I was at the opening day game in 78, when everybody threw Reggie bars on the field, when Reggie Jackson at the home run.

[00:25:34] George: But I was also at meaningless, like date double headers on a Thursday in July. But the ticket stub. Brought back all these memories and of course associated with the memories of the people you went to the games with And some have suggested it was a dating log and in some ways it was I think it was a good vetting service um If you read the chapter the chapter entitled izzy And you hear about my dear friend bernadette and I tell her all the time that was that was a miss the boat Moment right there, but we’re still friends, which is good.

[00:26:05] George: She loves Greg Nettles. Um, but those are the stories that the people you were with or the things you want. There’s a chapter that a lot of people commented on where I found out that when you could literally walk up and buy a ticket at the game and the Yankees had these big red booths out in front of the stadium where they were blue at the time, whatever.

[00:26:22] George: But there was one booth in particular. I was told if you go up to that booth and you look in and you say to the guy, uh, Hey, Jim, what do you got for me? You’re going to get better tickets and you got to tip them like five bucks. And I did a whole chapter about the first time I tried that and what happened when I walked up and he didn’t know who the hell I was.

[00:26:41] George: And, you know, I could have been anybody, but I was like, Hey, Jim, what do you got for him? And he’s looking at me. I’m not going to give it away. Um, but, and then meet me at the bat for those who aren’t from this, the Northeast. The bat is still there at Yankee stadium. It’s in front of the, uh, Metro North train station outside the park, which is the footprint of the old stadium.

[00:27:00] George: The new stadium is, is, you know, a couple of blocks north, but that was the, this, this was this big steam stack that they painted like a Louisville slugger and put tape on it. And if you’re meeting people at the game, you’d say, Hey, Anna, you know, I’ll see in the Bronx where you want to meet. And you would say. Meet me at the bat. And we can still meet at the bat, by the way, because I met someone at the bat a couple of weeks ago. In fact, I was giving somebody a ride home. I said, meet me at the bat and there she was. So there you go. I

[00:27:28] Anna: it. I think, uh, you know, it’s, it’s so simpatico with kind of how I feel about baseball in general is, you know, as a kid, I never fully understood why I love the game as much as I did. And I still didn’t until I got a little older and I started playing baseball. When I started thinking about what games mattered the most to me and what experiences are just ingrained in my memory, it was always something really cool that had happened on the field, but it was wrapped around my reaction or me and my dad’s reaction together or something like that.

[00:28:00] Anna: And so, I just think that perhaps that is why there are so many people out there who love baseball as deeply and as passionately as they do even if they can’t necessarily, you know, verbalize why it is. I think, uh, I think that’s probably the secret sauce to a lot of fans passion. Mm

[00:28:19] George: agree. It’s, it’s, uh, it’s hard to explain. Um, either you get it or you don’t. Uh, what I do enjoy is if I can get somebody new to the ballpark. I, I had a new friend come out to a Yankee game. This summer, and it was really cool to see the experience through somebody’s eyes other than mine, like we’re going to Monument Park, you’re going to see the monuments.

[00:28:40] George: Let me explain a little bit of this. Let me explain a little, a couple of nuances. If you’re a brand new fan, that kind of thing, and it never goes away. It never goes away. And I know my kids, they’re, they’re, they’re great companions at ballparks. They get, they get the whole ballpark therapy thing. They’re both hockey players as it turns out, which is good because I’ve worked in hockey a lot of my life too.

[00:29:02] George: Both goalies, God help me, uh, both in college, but they’ve been really good about it and they’ll, they’ll go to the game. We, I took them down to Baltimore a couple of weeks ago. We’ll go take them, excuse me, to the Babe Ruth Museum, um, which was, they’re great over there. They gave me a book signing a couple of years ago and then we head over to the ballpark and you show them the statues and the little, little brass baseballs where they mark the home runs, you know, on Utah street.

[00:29:26] George: And it’s just, you know, it’s just, And every park has got something cool. I went to Cincinnati for the first time this year, loved it. I mean, it drove, it was crazy, but I stayed two days, two games. If I’m going to go that far, but the Red’s museum totally underrated. I don’t care what anybody says about how great it’s it’s better.

[00:29:44] George: And I got the Red’s museum and I saw two games and I tried some brats and I bought my father’s day Red’s hat at the authentic store. And my thing is go to every park. And if I don’t have skin in the game, so to speak, like if I was going to a Yankees game in Tampa, I would probably root for the Yankees quietly.

[00:30:01] George: But if I’m just going to a game, give me a hat, give me a shirt or a Jersey. I want to experience the park with, with the locals, even though I’m not totally one or even partially one. And that started the first time I did that, I think was ’07 in Chicago. We were going out there just for a couple of days, got Cubs tickets.

[00:30:18] George: And I’m like, we’re going as Cubs fans. Why do you want to stand out like a sore thumb.

[00:30:22] Anna: Yeah.

[00:30:23] George: Give me a jersey, give me a cap, let’s go, take me out to the ball game, and since then, if I go to the park, and you’ve seen some of my posts. And I got some Yankee fans on Facebook. Well, how could you put on a Reds hat?

[00:30:34] George: Sparky Anderson said bad things about Thurman Munson 46 years ago. So what?

[00:30:41] Anna: Yeah.

[00:30:41] George: I’m at the Reds

[00:30:42] George: game. So I just think you need to enjoy the game and kind of try to blend in as best you can and really sort of see it from the home. Crowd

[00:30:52] Anna: That’s, that’s something important, you know, that I’ve kind of discovered when I took this, uh, my first baseball trip was 08 with my dad and we went up to the Northeast. We did, uh, five parks up there and, um, you know, we were, of course, Rays season ticket holders at the time.

[00:31:08] Anna: And so we went to every ballpark in our Rays gear, even though the Rays were not in town. And, uh, Man, my perspective on it is, is different now. It’s uh, it’s much like you said. Because I think I am, I enjoy the ballpark for such different reasons now, I do want to be on the same like energy wavelength as, as most everybody else in the ballpark.

[00:31:31] Anna: And if you’re not, it can get, uh, it can get a little awkward, a little contentious, a little 

[00:31:36] George: little bit, but we’re evolving. I think as fans too, I have a few laps on you so you can see where I’ve kind of, you know, I have more rings on the, on the, on the, on the tree stump. Um, like right now I’ve got the Red Sox game on, you know, and I’m looking at Fenway Park and I try to get up there every year and I try to go to Worcester cause all my friends from Pawtucket made the move over there.

[00:31:56] George: And, uh, you know, it’s just a chance to just really enjoy. You know, these games and just enjoy each place for its own uniqueness. Some minor league parks, I’ll admit, kind of blend together after a while, especially lower level. But Reading, unbelievable. It’s the oldest park in the Eastern League. They’ve done a beautiful job modifying it, and you still feel like you’re in an old ballpark.

[00:32:19] George: So it’s great. Love that Lehigh Valley is 16 years old. They have a beautiful park, great food, great staff. Everything’s cool up there. The Yankees totally did a tear down at Scranton. I guess 10, 15 years ago and rebuilt the place into a Yankee minor league park. It’s gorgeous. Somerset’s right down the road.

[00:32:38] George: I was with them, you know, covering them for years when they were in the Atlantic League independent. When Sparky Lyle was the manager, he’s still hanging around doing some sparky stuff and he’s been great. Trenton’s now dream league. I thought they got kind of screwed by the Yankees when they pulled the affiliation away, but you know what we went down there opening night and they had about 8000 people down there and they’re just there to watch the game because I can tell you the baseball wasn’t free. But the locals who went to all the games when they were the Yankees affiliate or the Red Sox and originally Tigers. They’re just going to the park and Steve Califor was the longtime owner of the Somerset Patriots. He passed away a couple of years ago. Great guy owns all these car dealerships. Now his sons are kind of running the show, but I interviewed him once and I said, you know, people saying that, you know, you’re, you’re like trying to say that you’re the same as affiliated baseball of the major leagues.

[00:33:28] George: And he shook his head and he said, George, he said, I’m not competing with the major leagues. I’m competing with the movies. And really, that’s what minor league baseball is 80%. Like we said, don’t care who wins or loses. And I do care if the Iron Pigs lose. I don’t go home angry about it. Like you would after a big playoff game with the Yankees with the Mets or the Red Sox.

[00:33:47] George: You don’t. It’s not the same thing. And that’s good.

[00:33:51] George: That’s good. And that’s what makes it great. And it’s and it’s right. I’m going Wednesday night. Gonna go Saturday night. Got my tickets put aside. Buddy’s got season tickets. He shoots me a couple of tickets. We’re sitting right by the visitor’s dugout.

[00:34:08] George: It’s wonderful.

[00:34:09] Anna: I love it. I love it. So many reasons to love minor league baseball and, uh, you know, those, those are some really good ones.

[00:34:16] Anna: let’s see. So, you, you used the term, uh, Uh, a few minutes ago you were talking about, you know, going to these various ballparks with your family. You, you threw out this term, ballpark therapy, and I know based on our, our conversation before we hit record here that you’ve got this new project in the works, give listeners some insight as to, to what you’re currently working on and why they might find it so special.

[00:34:41] George: Well, we’ve been talking about what makes the park so special and how we all have our own special reasons to go. Could be you’re a crazy Mets fan or a Phillies fan or a Pirates fan or a Rays fan. Or you have a local team nearby and that’s something for you to do. And you know, there’s always these kind of really unique, colorful characters at every minor league park.

[00:35:03] George: They’ve all got them.

[00:35:04] George: And the park is like their lifeline sometimes. And for me, I’ve been through a couple of rough stretches in life, but who hasn’t? But I think you know it. And many of your listeners know that when you go to the ball game, everything else is gone. Three or four hours. I got some, we can talk about life.

[00:35:22] George: The pace of the game allows that talk about relationships. Talk about your job, talk about, you know, what’s going on with your kids. Oh, there’s the fastball on two one. Okay. We’re watching that. my one rule, I got one buddy. I’m like, no politics. I, I, I agree. I’m not talking about it. I’m not here to get aggravated about this or that or the border or whatever.

[00:35:41] George: I’m not, I don’t want to talk about it. I’m here to enjoy the ball and I’ll shut him down if he starts. I’m like, yo, no politics. So the whole point is that I started using that term. I had a friend from Red Sox fantasy camp named Mike Dixon. Uh, and so we kind of had it, we, we, we, we kind of bounced it off each other.

[00:35:59] George: We believe in, and a Mike was battling colon cancer and he was amazing. This guy’s big, strong dude. He would do chemo in the morning and go hit bombs and softball in the evening. This guy was great, but eventually it got him. You know, about five or six year journey. And we always talked about ballpark therapy.

[00:36:19] George: And I mentioned it a little, a little blurb in the first book. But I was working on a book about all my Boston experiences in hockey and baseball. And then, you know how you get great ideas for your clock in the morning? Like ballpark therapy. That’s, that’s the book for now. And literally, I just changed gears completely.

[00:36:37] George: And as we spoke, you know, before we started recording, I, I spoke to the general manager of the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs about why I go to games, and I want to know what he’s like, because all the things he has to do to oversee the team and the, and the promotions and defense. And he said, well, George, that’s why you go. But if you ask a hundred people why they go, you’ll get a hundred different answers. And that. totally set the course. So over the course of the last year, as time and the creative burst allows, and you know that if you, if you’re not in a creative mode, you can’t force it. But when the mood hits, you start writing and you start interviewing people.

[00:37:13] George: And I’ve interviewed all kinds of people. Uh, I, I, I’d say I’m about two thirds through, maybe almost three quarters. I got to get 30 chapters out of this. Uh, so I have some very colorful people from the, of course, the Twitter baseball community, um, Neil Solondz. So you may be familiar with, uh, Tampa Bay Rays.

[00:37:33] George: He’s a buddy going way back to the nineties. I interviewed him about his journey. To the major leagues and also interviewed the play by play guy for the Iron Pigs, who’s still in his journey. I mean, he’s one step away, but that last step may be 10 years.

[00:37:48] Anna: hmm.

[00:37:49] George: All right of doing games in Allentown. Waiting for that call that may never come and why they do it.

[00:37:55] George: Um, I actually got major leaguers for this one. Ex major leaguers from my years working in the business. So, uh, I got Wade Boggs, um, who talks in depth about his relationship with his mom and how she, some of you, you may know this as a Tampa fan, that his mom was killed by a drunk driver in the middle of the 86 season when he was on his way to a batting title and what that, what that was like for him and what the ballpark meant for him.

[00:38:19] George: Uh, Rick Cerrone, Jersey boy. Um, so many funny stories. I mean, he’s a guy that literally told George Steinbrenner to shut the F up after a playoff game in 81, got away with it. Um, but he was an owner. He owned part owner of the Wilmington Blue Rocks, the Newark Bears. Uh, his, he’s such a Jersey guy. It was awesome.

[00:38:39] George: I got Spike Owen, uh, who’s been a friend since the Red Sox days, 87, when he came in 86, when he was traded over. Uh, Rich Gedman got him. Who else? Sparky Lyle, uh, best known for, uh, Cy Young Award, two World Series with the Yankees and sitting on birthday cakes with his pants down around his ankles. Um, but you know, but everybody’s got a reason they love the ballpark.

[00:39:02] George: And so I wanted to try to find really interesting stories. But to tell the story, to find a way to share what makes the game great, in a sense, it’s for the greater masses of people who go, but at the same time, you’re taking one story, one individual story of one person and applying it to everybody.

[00:39:25] George: And then maybe, and so like, when I did Meet Me at the Bat, it was like, Okay, maybe you weren’t a Yankee fan, but you can remember going to see a Rays game with your dad and something funny happened or something weird happened and you’re like, I remember that happening and I remember this happened and that’s what I wasn’t about the Yankees and it was, but the whole idea was to trigger

[00:39:43] Anna: Yeah.

[00:39:44] George: you into remembering Those days and the people and like your dad or your grandpa or your mom or your best friend or the girl you dated.

[00:39:52] George: And that’s what I think that’s what you’re doing with your with your podcast. That’s what I’m trying to do is is, uh, and let everybody know they have their stories.

[00:40:01] George: And if I can, if I can, you know, kind of set off their memory bank, I’m pretty happy about that.

[00:40:05] Anna: Yeah, I, uh, I really, really look forward to it, uh, for, for so many reasons, but I think, you know, I, I feel like we’re both kind of after the same thing here, and I didn’t even, again, it’s one of these things that you, you start intrinsically, you don’t really understand it until you get halfway through it.

[00:40:23] Anna: Maybe you’re even done with it, and then you, you step back and you look, and for me, I think, You know, when you ask people to tell their baseball story, you ask people to explain why they love the game as much as they do. You’re also kind of giving them this permission to look at the game from a different perspective, right?

[00:40:42] Anna: Like when I started doing that all of the sudden the result of every single game that I was living and breathing on started to matter a lot less, right? So now When the Rays lose a big game, it doesn’t impact me nearly as much as it used to because I understand, like, yeah, I want them to win the World Series as much as anybody wants their team to win the World Series, but at the end of the day, that’s not why I love the game and that’s not why I love the Rays.

[00:41:09] Anna: And, uh, I think the more we can talk about those components of the game that aren’t, my team won the World Series and it was awesome. You know, the more good you kind of inject back into giving people a different, a permission to love the game differently, I guess.

[00:41:27] George: I don’t even think it’s permission. I think I think maybe a better word is, is, uh, I’m letting you know that you can do this.

[00:41:36] Anna: Right.

[00:41:37] George: No, um, that. We need to appreciate stuff while it’s happening. We had that talk too, is that, you know, here we’re watching Aaron Judge and Juan Soto have this historic year. And if you look at it statistically, it’s, it’s Ruth and Gehrig, it’s Mantle and Maris.

[00:41:52] George: And I, and I tell my kids, they’re not big baseball fans, but I’m like, you got to realize what’s happening right in front of you while it’s happening. This is amazing stuff. They’re going to talk about this forever. And, and I’ve always had that, whether it’s the journalism sense or this, the creative thing, or just sort of the artist’s eye of seeing things that maybe not everybody sees because, you know, there are creative people.

[00:42:14] George: And then there are people that I keep employed like plumbers and electricians because they can do stuff that I can’t do. All right, they have their own gifts. So my gift hopefully is to tell stories and entertain and, and make people think, uh, or feel. And, and if I can do that through my work or my, or with my little social media stuff, um, it’s great.

[00:42:35] George: And, and, and that’s really what it’s all about. I want everybody, and maybe you’re not a baseball fan, maybe you’re a hockey fan or a football fan, do the same thing.

[00:42:42] Anna: Yeah. Right.

[00:42:43] George: Why do you go, why do you care? What, what makes it special? What are some of the great moments? You know, uh, I can think of a million things ’cause I’ve been around long enough now where we’ve had these great moments with friends or family where you were freezing at a Giants game against the Cowboys and the Giants had to win to get in the playoffs and you thought the kick was good and it wasn’t.

[00:43:02] George: And oh my God, now we’re and over and didn’t know my God over and over and, and then they finally kicked the, and you couldn’t believe it and your freaking hot chocolate was freezing ’cause it was so cold. But see, those are the stories. And you know, when we tell the story, we keep the stories alive. And I think by telling stories of people, like I’m going to do with the new book or, or, or recounting the stories from meet me at the bat.

[00:43:22] George: And every one of those people is real, by the way, every, every Mr. Can’t sell is real. Carol is real. Cheryl was real Bernadette Izzy. God bless Izzy. Oh my God. Um, read the chapter. You’ll see, um, they’re all real. It all happens. And I, I feel good that I had this kind of crazy memory that I can remember. I can’t remember what I had for lunch, but I can remember going to the game with Izzy in 1984 and how mad he was at me for making him sit through an entire twine.

[00:43:52] George: I double header long story. It’s in the book. You can, but you get it. And if we can do that, then we appreciate what we’ve had and we appreciate every time we walk through the gates at the park. I’m going back. I said twice this week. Um, I may, I may even go see a Mets game in a couple of weeks with a buddy who’s a Mets fan.

[00:44:10] George: Um, I bought tickets for the last weekend of the season just because I’m like, oh, I could just go see the Yankees play the Pirates and relax. And my buddy charlie says, unless Judge is going for the record, I’m like, I’ll take two right now before the prices go up. Uh, So you see, you gotta, you gotta see it, you gotta appreciate it.

[00:44:29] George: And when you go, I always tell people this, if it’s a wedding, if it was Jeff Fegels, the punter for the Giants, going to the Super Bowl for the first time, but he and I were kind of buds when I was covering the team. Um, if you’re going to, you know, your first all star game or your first world series game, I tell people, take them, take a 60 seconds and just step back and look around because, you know, wedding days, I’ve had two of them.

[00:44:54] George: They fly, opening day comes and goes your first world series game. Like he gets so you forget you were there because it was happened so fast. Take that 30 to 60 seconds to step back and just look around And kind of suck it all in and and just absorb it. So you remember what it felt like later And it’s funny because if you look at the end of the giant super bowl video when they beat the patriots the first time Jeff feagles is in the video with his family.

[00:45:22] George: He’s telling his family Look around take it all in I go. I hope that was my influence, but he says that i’m like Whatever. I’m an old soul, and now I’m just old too, so that’s good.

[00:45:32] Anna: No, I mean, that’s great. Great advice for any point in life. I think. Definitely. Definitely. Definitely. George, I know it’s a, an unfair question, but. If you got to pick one favorite baseball memory, where, where are we at?

[00:45:46] George: Oh, wow. See, now this is, this is also actually, it’s, it’s in Meet Me at the Bat. And it’s not a favorite because it made me so happy. It’s a memory that still makes me cry. And it was the night after Thurman Munson died. I’ve been to the Pine Tar game. I saw Greg Nettles. Do pirouettes against the Dodgers in the World Series.

[00:46:09] George: I went to the playoffs on my 18th birthday, to the book. Um, Thurman Munson hit a bomb to win the game in the eighth. Brett hit three homers for the Royals, Reggie homered. I got my girlfriend Carol and her two brothers and I’m like, we have to go tomorrow night. And everybody talks about the Bobby Mercer game, which was the Monday, the Monday, the fourth game of the series.

[00:46:28] George: When he hit the home run the day, the funeral drove in the five runs going to the Munson game. And it was misty and you know those hot Sticky august days or it’s cloudy and it’s just mist is just coming down. So the game was delayed Um, the organist was playing very somber music and it’s actually I I had never seen the tv coverage of it until about three summers Ago, I found it on youtube Of the pre game ceremony where the yankees came out.

[00:46:57] George: Nobody went behind home plate Uh cardinal cook who was the Big heeble of the Catholic Church in New York City at the time. Uh, he did a prayer. Robert Merrill, the great opera singer, sang. Uh, I believe he sang America the Beautiful. And then Bob Shepard, the great public address announcer, said, And now let’s play ball.

[00:47:17] George: And the fans had none of it. They just started chanting and clapping. Thurman went on for nine minutes. And I’m trying not to cry in front of my girlfriend and her brothers. And Munson was a rookie my first year as a fan, 1970. So I’m thinking any minute he’s going to come out of the dugout, he’s going to wave his hat and say, no, it’s all a mistake.

[00:47:37] George: And he was never coming back. And Luis Tian of all people was starting for the Yankees that night. He’s crying on the mound, Reggie Jackson, Lou Piniella crying in the outfield. Oh,

[00:47:48] George: it was, it’s completely the most memorable. baseball event I’ve ever been, and I’ve been part of a lot of them. Uh, but that one goes right to the soul.

[00:47:56] George: A lot of people don’t understand how you can care about somebody that you never met. You’re not in your family, but you know it. Your players become part, especially when you’re a kid. And I know where I was when we got the news. I knew we had to go to the game. We got tickets from Jim. We went up, sat in the upper deck over the first base dugout, and it was the most emotional, crazy.

[00:48:20] George: night of my life as a fan to be part of that. And I’ve seen a lot of good stuff and fun stuff and crazy stuff. But if I got to pick one, it’s the night after Thurman Munson was killed in the plane crash. And that was, that was like being at a wake with 51, 000 of your closest friends. That’s really what it was like.

[00:48:37] Anna: can just imagine how powerful and how much emotion must have been coursing through that place that day.

[00:48:43] George: There’s a, there’s a, an account on YouTube called Davenport Sports and they’ve got the pregame. I would recommend anybody look it up. It’s about 25 minutes long, but it’s, it’s totally worth it. And make sure you’ve got a box of tissues when you see it. Even if you weren’t a Yankee fan and you weren’t alive and you didn’t care about Thurman Munson, watch what that ceremony was like before the game.

[00:49:03] George: It’s amazing.

[00:49:06] George: Fooled you with that one, didn’t I? I didn’t expect to get that from you, did you?

[00:49:10] Anna: no, that was a, that was out of left field a little bit, but, uh, you know, it’s a powerful story. And, you know, unfortunately every few years, it seems like we have something similar, but man, when these young Kids, their lives just end unexpectedly in the middle of what seems to be a normal season or something like that.

[00:49:27] George: We just,

[00:49:28] George: had a, we just had a tragic story at the Jersey shore, um, over the weekend. 

[00:49:32] George: Same thing. It’s just, it, you know, real life gets in the way let me quote the author, Robert Parker, Jr., who I believe Robert was the guy that wrote all the Spencer for Hire detective novels, uh, and did the TV show with Robert Urich in the 80s. And, uh, his famous line is, um, baseball is the most important thing in life that doesn’t matter. And if that’s not perfect, because when, when life is good and your kids are healthy and your job’s going well and sun’s out and life, the car’s running good, the Yankees blow a game or Tampa blows the game or the Red Sox lose a heart where you’re pissed, angry, and then something real life intercedes someone, you know, gets sick, someone passes away, job loss, you know, anything, you name it, there’s enough to go around.

[00:50:20] George: Right? Then you know what it means? Nothing. And I think that’s also the beauty of it. That it can be so much and in the end means so little, but that’s, you know, what, when baseball starts in, in like March or late February, I’ve got a friend every night for the next seven, eight months, man. And that’s, that’s a great thing too.

[00:50:40] George: So baseball is, uh, like we said at the beginning, I think baseball truly has healing qualities. And, uh, if I can bring that out and you’re certainly doing that with your bucket list and the podcast, it’s great stuff. And, and, uh, it’s a connection we have. I’ve never met you face to face, but if I did, I know we would be instant.

[00:51:00] George: It’d be like, we’ve been friends for 30 years because we have the bond.

[00:51:04] Anna: Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

[00:51:06] George: We have the baseball chromosome. There you go.

[00:51:09] Anna: ha ha. Exactly. 

[00:51:10] George: Okay. 

[00:51:11] Anna: Oh, man. All right, George, last question. What’s at the top of the baseball bucket list? What’s that number one thing you gotta see, place you wanna go, person you wanna meet, something like that?

[00:51:21] George: Well, I’ve met a lot of them obviously through, through, through the, through the, my work and stuff. The bucket list. Well, I like to think, you know, I’m at the age now, early sixties, where a lot of my friends are like, well, we’ve had a good run. Yeah. I’m like, stop it. We’re not, look, if God decides it’s over, it’s over. I got that, but I am not done more to do. So my whole thing is find something.

[00:51:45] George: Go out, do it as best you can. And then what’s next. So like what’s next now is the book this year. It was finally committing to go to Cincinnati because Pittsburgh’s five hours and my boy, Rodney’s like, you got to come down to Cincinnati. I’m like, dude, you know, but I did it. And I was like, as long as I’m going, I’m doing two games, Saturday night, Sunday, and I’ll drive home after the game.

[00:52:05] George: And I did. Um, I think the next thing on the list, because I love watching it on TV all the time, I want to go see games at Wrigley Field next summer and using the new George theory, if I’m going for one, I’m staying for two. Like show up the day of the first game, go to the game the next day and then split, but you know, what’s about three hours West of Chicago. It’s a little town called Dyersville

[00:52:33] Anna: Oh.

[00:52:35] George: and the field of dreams. And you know, I was actually, when I was working with the Red Sox, they were filming at Fenway while the Red Sox were on the road, we had to have special passes to get in because all the trucks were there and Costner and James Earl Jones were in the ballpark doing their thing.

[00:52:51] Anna: cool.

[00:52:53] George: That’s a movie, you know, uh, it’s about second chances. It’s about forgiveness. Uh, of course, that the father son dynamic is there too. It’s the only movie generally where men cry on the way out and their wives ask them, why are you crying? And they go, well, he played catch with his dad and they’re like, yes.

[00:53:08] George: So I’m like, Oh, he played catch with his dad. So, you know, they don’t get it. Not all of them, but some of them get, but you get it. And I want to, I want to get out there before they build it up before Frank Thomas and his boys turn it into Disney land. I want to go in the corn. I want to play catch. I don’t care if there’s a game or not.

[00:53:27] George: I just want to see it. I want to see it. I want to wear my old New York Giants Willie Mays jersey because my dad was the Giants fan and I don’t care if I meet somebody there or I’ll say hi to somebody. So, ideally, if I could save enough money, it would be two Cubs games, jump in the car, shoot out to Dyersville, see the field of dreams, play catch, touch the corn, buy a t shirt, and then think, what’s next?

[00:53:53] George: What’s the next stop? I don’t know, but you gotta, you always gotta have something at hand. My theory is you always got to have something like a guidepost ahead of you. Always have something to look forward to. So the next one, that would be ideal, but you know, life has its own plan. They always say if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.

[00:54:11] Anna: Exactly. Oh, man. George, I can’t thank you enough for taking time to do this. I’ve so enjoyed our conversation. Before I 

[00:54:18] Anna: let you go, you gotta tell folks, uh, where do we send them online to, to go find you?

[00:54:23] George: Well, uh, Twitter easy at George Falkowski, if you can spell that George common spelling and then just there’s no dash or anything. It’s just F like Frank ALK OWSKI. My handle fittingly is 363 DP. Which is the double play I always wanted to turn but never did. Uh, I came close once at Fenway in a media game, but the throw to second hit the shortstop apparently in the heel of his glove and he dropped it because he was hungover. So, yeah, I would have had him. I had him. It was right there. One hopper, threw it to second. I’m at turn around. Where’s the ball? Oh, it’s rolling around

[00:54:56] George: over there. 

[00:54:57] Anna: man.

[00:54:58] George: But anyway, so 363 DP at George Falkowski. I’m on LinkedIn. Um, same name, also, uh, Instagram. So a lot of the stuff I put on my Facebook feed goes to Instagram as well.

[00:55:10] George: Um, and I think the really cool thing is if you can avoid the dark corners of social media, Twitter and Instagram and these places become really great places where you can meet people like you and, and friends that we have, we share in common. And, uh, so I try to keep it to fun stuff. A lot of baseball, a lot of hockey, a lot of cap rescues where I think everybody should have a, a, uh, the bill of their cap should be curved.

[00:55:33] George: I’m going to, I’m going to send the strike team to Patrick Larson’s house when he’s on the road, we’re going to hit all. 15, 000 hats he’s got. And when he comes home, he’s going to be in for a big surprise. But I do have a trained stealth helicopter cap rescue unit ready to deploy at a moment’s notice to rescue your cap.

[00:55:51] George: So get ready. And if you want to have fun, yeah, hashtag cap rescue one word cap rescue on Twitter. And you can see a lot of my, uh, my cap rescues. One cap at a time. You got to save the world.

[00:56:01] Anna: That’s right. That’s right. It’s an important job. Somebody’s got to do it. Why not you? George, I’ve really enjoyed this. I can’t thank you enough for the time and look forward to seeing what’s next.

[00:56:12] George: Well, thank you. 

[00:56:13] Anna: And that will wrap up this episode at the baseball bucket list podcast. Special. Thanks to George Falkowski for joining us today and sharing those stories and memories. If this sounds like something you’d like to do, if you think you might like to be a guest on the show head to baseball bucket list.com/podcast and fill out an application. I’d absolutely love to hear from you. 

[00:56:31] Anna: While you’re there and make sure to spend some time on the site, sign up for a free membership. Build your own baseball bucket list. Track your ballpark visits and connect with other fans. If you find yourself enjoying the show each week, please take a moment to rate and review it in the podcast app of your choice. It goes such a long way in helping new listeners find the show. And I would really, really appreciate it.

[00:56:50] Anna: That’s it for this week. Thanks so much for listening. We’ll see a next episode

[00:00:00] Spencer: Well, I worded out a message that me and my daughter recorded.

[00:00:04] Spencer: and post it onto Twitter. And the response was phenomenal. I mean, it got, like 000 views.

[00:00:12] Spencer: And I was overcome, uh, by the response because at that point, it really wasn’t about getting to the game. It was really about how these people wanted this for me more than I wanted it for myself.

[00:00:27] Spencer: And in between at the game, I had put out on social media.

[00:00:31] Spencer: You know, letting people know what section I was going to be at. you know, to just come by and to, to say hello. And we must’ve gotten about, uh, you know, 30 or 40 people. Uh, at least that’s how I like to remember it. You

[00:00:43] Spencer: But that day is the day I’ll, I’ll always remember.

[00:00:47] Anna: What’s up Bucketheads. Thanks for tuning in and welcome to another episode of the extra innings on the baseball bucket list podcast. I’m your host Anna DiTommaso. And in the extra innings series, I catch up with former podcast guests to discuss bucket-list events and other important topics. On this episode, I’m joined by a good friend of the show, Spencer Schwartz from New Jersey.

[00:01:07] Anna: You may remember Spencer from two previous episodes, episode number 87, where he shared his baseball story and episode number 100, where he interviewed me about my baseball story and the origin of baseball bucket list.

[00:01:20] Anna: Now I know many of our listeners are connected with Spencer on the website and across other social media platforms and are aware of the most recent challenges he’s facing. But for those of you who don’t know, I’ll share a little bit of it here in the intro. Around the start of spring training this year, Spencer begin experiencing blurriness and one of his eyes. Over the next several days, he was examined by some of the leading eye doctors in the Northeast and was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder that would eventually cause him to lose his eyesight entirely.

[00:01:49] Anna: In this episode, Spencer shares his story of how all of this happened. How the Twitter baseball community has really rallied behind him and how his blindness has impacted his baseball fandom. This is obviously a heavy topic,, but I think you’ll find inspiration and some feel-good stories woven throughout our conversation, including a great story of how several Yankees fans rallied around Spencer this spring to help him continue his yearly tradition of attending opening day at Yankee Stadium.

[00:02:17] Anna: Now some good news to share is that since Spencer and I recorded this. He started to regain a bit of his vision. he was quick to point out that it’s not to the point where he can see a ball field. Because of course that’s what all baseball fans would use as the measuring stick. But I’m hopeful. It’s a sign of good things to come. This interview was a good one. I hope you’ll enjoy it now without further ado, sit back, relax and enjoy some extra baseball banter with Spencer Schwartz.

[00:02:43] Anna: Spencer thank you so much for joining us again on the Baseball Bucket List You are actually the first person to be on the show three separate times, so I’m glad to hear your voice and have you back on. How are things up north there?

[00:03:00] Spencer: thank you Anna. We are in the middle of a, uh, the start of a heat wave. Uh, the weather forecast shows that it’s going to be in the 90s for the next week. In particular, it’s going to be about 96 degrees in this part of New Jersey. So we’ve got a hot week coming. It’s a truly weather for the boys of summer, but looking forward to it.

[00:03:21] Spencer: These are the days that we may have wished for, uh, when people were complaining how cold it was in December and January and February. So I myself do not mind these heat waves. But, uh, this is also the kind of weather I report, or I rather remind people about when they’re complaining about that cold weather in the, uh, the December months.

[00:03:44] Anna: Yeah, it sounds like y’all have a little bit of Texas weather for the summer and, you know, occasionally we get some of that northern coldness during our winters, but I know, I know the feeling where it’s, uh, just totally opposite of, of what you’re kind of expecting. You feel a little bit like a fish out of water.

[00:04:02] Spencer: Yeah, I much rather wear t shirts and shorts, you know, than wearing a long clothes and having to worry about a jacket and pull over and a hat and, you know, keep your hands covered with gloves. So it’s okay by me.

[00:04:15] Anna: definitely, definitely. Well, I’m glad you’re back. I know a lot of listeners on the show are connected with you on social media, and, um, a lot of folks will have some insight already as to kind of this, this new challenge you’re in the midst of dealing with right now. Um, And, and you were gracious enough to, to offer to come back on the show and talk about how this has affected, you know, your love of baseball and your ability to kind of consume the game.

[00:04:45] Anna: But for folks who don’t know your story, would you mind kind of catching them up to speed?

[00:04:52] Spencer: Yeah, I’d be happy to. On February 29th, I went into my office I practiced, uh, I had a dental practice and I noticed a little bit of blurring in my left eye. I went and I checked it and, um, I wear contacts, so the blurring wasn’t anything that I hadn’t experienced before. I decided to just, uh, let it rest, uh, hoping that a good night’s sleep would improve the problem. And if it didn’t, then I would take action. Well, I woke up the next day, and my left eye Uh, had gotten even worse.

[00:05:28] Spencer: So I told my wife, and we went into action. We called up our primary doctor, primarily for the purpose of getting a referral to an ophthalmologist, which they gave us. Uh, but we ended up using the ophthalmologist that we take my daughter to, who is very, very good. this was on a Friday.

[00:05:48] Spencer: Um, I was expecting in calling that office for them to say they didn’t have any appointments available. Uh, but to my surprise, they got me in right away. I went, I got examined by, uh, by Dr. Wasserman. He, uh, informed me that my condition was such that it was beyond what he, could help me out with.

[00:06:08] Spencer: Which was a little telling for me, because he has a very good reputation. but he referred me to, uh, another doctor, another ophthalmologist named Dr. Friedman. And my condition was such that he personally Got on the phone, called up Dr. Friedman and persuaded his office to see me right away. And they weren’t too far from his office, so it wasn’t a long drive to get there.

[00:06:32] Spencer: But after the examination with Dr. Friedman, Um, he looked at me very seriously and said, you have to get to Will’s Eye emergency room in Philadelphia for the problem that you have.

[00:06:45] Spencer: And this was pretty startling to me. And after that appointment and after, you know, some final discussion with him, uh, it left me very distressed. I even, uh, I cried actually, after we went out of the office, I told my wife, you know, I’ve, I’ve got a serious problem and it really shook me. So we went home, uh, it was spring training.

[00:07:08] Spencer: This was now, uh, March 1st. And, uh, I sat down to watch a Yankees game. But as the night went further along, I noticed that my right eye started to blur and I told this to my wife and I started getting really worried.

[00:07:24] Spencer: We had planned to go to the Will’s Eye emergency room in Philadelphia the next morning. But now I felt I was facing the prospect. of waking up the next day without any eyesight and that really shook me. So my mother doesn’t live too far from us. We called my mother and asked her to come over to keep an eye on the girls, uh, my two daughters, and we drove to Philadelphia in the middle of the night to the Will’s Eye Emergency Room.

[00:07:52] Spencer: It is an emergency room that is exclusively for patients that have eye problems. Uh, it’s been around for over a hundred years. So this was all, this was all new to me. But, um, when I went into the, uh, emergency room, my eyesight had just about completely, completely disappeared, completely gone.

[00:08:15] Spencer: And, uh, I was blinded.

[00:08:17] Spencer: Um, for your listeners in case they’re, they’re interested in knowing what, what ultimately was diagnosed is that I had an autoimmune condition, an autoimmune condition that led to a vasculitis.

[00:08:29] Spencer: The vasculitis resulted in my blindness. Um, the thing that made me, made my case very, very unusual is that in general when patients get vasculitis. There are other organs associated with it. So mine exclusively, my vasculitis exclusively targeted my eyesight and, uh, the, the, the doctors, you know, they, they, they, Found my case to be very puzzling to them and, uh, rare.

[00:08:59]

[00:08:59] Spencer: And it’s, uh, as you can imagine, it was very, uh, very traumatic. Um, my composure that you hear on the phone today, I would attribute that to just, you know, having acclimated to my situation. But in those early days when I was in the hospital, uh, it was, it was very traumatic. I had, um, uh, panic attacks, uh, especially feeling like claustrophobic.

[00:09:24] Spencer: Uh, but other panic attacks as well, just associated with the, the reality of, you know, being blind and the thought of not being able to see my daughters again, not being able to see my wife again, my mother and my sisters as well. It was, it was very, it was very heavy and it was a very traumatic time.

[00:09:42] Anna: I’m not, I’m not sure where to start with that. I think,

[00:09:49] Spencer: Yeah. I don’t mean

[00:09:50] Spencer: to get you.

[00:09:51] Anna: no, no, I mean, it’s just, it’s the reality of the situation, you know, and I can remember kind of keeping tabs on this whole situation as it was unfolding on, on Twitter, you and your wife. and then your daughter, eventually, like, were doing such a great job knowing that there would be so many people in the Twitterverse that, uh, you and I met in, originally, who were super, super concerned about you, you know?

[00:10:18] Anna: and so, kind of, kind of having to look on as a outsider and see how all of this was unfolding, It was pretty concerning. And you know, one of the things that I’ve always known about you is that you, you’ve tended to be a fairly positive guy throughout, most things I would say. So I, I’m sure that that has served you well.

[00:10:40] Anna: And I know that you also have an incredible family, which is just another blessing. Um, man, it’s a, it’s a tough scenario and you know, I know that everybody listening is wishing you well, that’s for sure.

[00:10:54] Spencer: Um, first of all, uh, Twitter was. More of a lifeline for me than I could have imagined. Uh, I was so appreciative of everybody, uh, writing me comments or even just giving me a, a like by pressing the heart buttons for my videos, I did not expect them to get the response they did.

[00:11:15] Spencer: I did not expect them to get the reach that they did. Um, and I felt that and I felt that energy and I’m very thankful to everyone that reached out to me. It was not really possible for me to give a personal response. Which I had always preferred to do to everyone that, uh, that wrote to me. Um, but I always wanted to make sure that, uh, whether they followed me or not, that people knew that I got their message, that I saw their message and that it meant something to me.

[00:11:46] Spencer: I never looked at it with any type of a trivial point of view. All the messages were, were very important to me. Um, it was such that I wish I could have gone to. each person you included. and just, you know, personally, you know, thank them and told them how much their, their kindness meant to me.

[00:12:06] Spencer: It really did. And to that, what I would say is, if you, you know, to any of your listeners out there, if you’re ever faced with any type of crisis, hopefully you won’t go through something that I’m going through with. But if you’re ever faced with any type of crisis, um, social media is your friend. Reach out to social media.

[00:12:25] Spencer: Don’t regress. Don’t let yourself, uh, uh, drift away from it. Uh, because I found that, um, uh, there were some people, you know, who went through some Uh, challenges in their lives, and then they re, they did recede from Twitter, or they receded from Instagram, or whether, whatever their preferred social media outlet was.

[00:12:45] Spencer: Um, I found it to be just the opposite. I’m also a big believer that In general, if we live in a world where you can have virtual money like Bitcoin, you can have virtual friends like on Twitter. That is to say, I don’t look at people on Twitter as just, you know, computers and, and, and, and computer language.

[00:13:07] Spencer: These are real people. And some people you can tell that there is a real connection that you have with them. And. I’ve met with, uh, some people from Twitter, and for the most part, everybody that I’ve met on Twitter, I get along with terrifically in, in real life. You know, you’re gonna have a couple bad apples here and there, but for the most part, if you feel like a connection, you know, with someone on Twitter, you’re probably gonna get along with them in real life, and I would gather that you’ve You’ve experienced that as well.

[00:13:36] Spencer: And forgive me, I don’t mean to get long winded, Anna, but you know, as it relates to your show, when I was in the hospital, one of the things that helped me get through that was, uh, it was spring training. So I listened to as many, uh, baseball games. As I possibly could, I have the MLB app.

[00:13:54] Spencer: Now I wasn’t able to operate my phone on my own. So I have the doctors and the nurses and anybody that would come into my room, you know, put on a game for me, uh, or put on a sports station for me. So I could, uh, so I could listen to it. It was also the NBA season. I’m a Brooklyn Nets fan, so I made sure to tune into my Brooklyn Nets games.

[00:14:15] Spencer: But these baseball games and these sporting events, they really were the highlight of my day.

[00:14:21] Anna: it’s a really good example of, of the way that sports and baseball in particular can be there for you when you really need it in ways that you, you know, never really, you necessarily would have fathomed before or even thought about, but, um, to anyone who is listening, to Spencer’s point, if you are a baseball fan, and you’re not on Twitter, and you’re not involved in this brilliant community of baseball fans throughout Twitter.

[00:14:52] Anna: I’d suggest that you register for an account today because he’s absolutely right. I mean, some of my, my best friends in the game have come from just Twitter connections, which, you know, you wouldn’t necessarily think. Anything of, or you wouldn’t even expect that, but, um, The, the community is just, it’s, it’s full of Loving, caring, um, Intelligent, funny, incredible People, and, you know, our, our little niche is Primarily baseball fans who are Good people to start with, is what I always say.

[00:15:25] Anna: Sure.

[00:15:27] Spencer: Yeah, you’ll, again, to repeat, you’ll always find some bad apples here and there. Most of the time, and for the most part, you’re gonna have good experiences, and the people that you get along with on Twitter, you’re gonna get along with in real life. And they’re real people and that’s real positive energy that they’re sending out to you

[00:15:45] Anna: It’s definitely true. Definitely true. All right. I want to pivot now, you know, you have been a longtime Yankees season ticket holder, longtime Yankees fan, you know, you live in Jersey. So it’s not easy to get to the Bronx often, but, um, you, you did hold onto your tickets. And, I’d like to discuss, I know that you’ve been to a handful of games this year, and, Again, the outpouring of support, the people who would come through your section to just say hello and, you know, give you a hug and stuff, it was, it was pretty powerful to see, but um, can you share a little bit about what that game day experience has kind of transitioned to for you?

[00:16:32] Spencer: That was another, that was another thing where I had to be very thankful to social media, Twitter in particular, while I was in the hospital, of course, with so much time on my hands. One thing that occurred to me is that I did have tickets for opening day. And one of the things that I immediately, you know, reconciled was, you know, because of my illness.

[00:16:54] Spencer: I’m probably not going to get to opening day. In fact, let’s take out that. Probably I am not going to opening day. That’s just not happening. Let’s not put any energy towards, will I make it? Will I not make it? You’re not going to make it. Uh, so just forget about it. And it’s not the worst thing in the world either.

[00:17:12] Spencer: You can watch it from your TV. You can listen to it on the radio. By the way, when I say watch TV, I mean, having the TV on and listening to the commentator, certainly not watching anything at this point. Um, when I got out of the hospital about a day or two later, my daughter, Victoria, whom I’ve taken to opening day, uh, the past three years.

[00:17:33] Spencer: Very innocently asked are we still going to opening day and you know the question You know it got to me and I failed to say no as I had told myself in the hospital I failed to say no and with that I started thinking well, let’s not dismiss the idea immediately And in the back of my mind, you know, something I could no longer ignore was the possibility of maybe going on to Twitter and maybe sending out some kind of message and maybe getting some help from the people in Yankee’s Twitter in particular to be able to still get to opening day.

[00:18:12] Spencer: Well, I worded out a message that me and my daughter recorded.

[00:18:17] Spencer: and post it onto Twitter. And the response was phenomenal. The response really blew me away. People saw the message. They tagged people related to the Yankees, like broadcasters, uh, or the, the Yes Network, which is the primary network that the Yankees are broadcast on. And they retweeted it. I mean, it got, you know, like 50, 000, 50, 000 views.

[00:18:43] Spencer: And so many likes as well. And I was overcome, uh, by the response because at that point, it really wasn’t about getting to the game. It was really about how these people wanted this for me more than I wanted it for myself.

[00:18:59] Spencer: And so they set into motion, um, you know, getting the word out and the word did get out, uh, some people really high up in the Yankee ranks, they saw my message and they, uh, uh, they, they set things into motion to help, uh, get me to the stadium. So ultimately what happened was One of their season ticket holders who has, he’s got a very high plan.

[00:19:22] Spencer: Like he works in the, um, the suites or his seats, I should say, are in the suites. So he knows like, you know, uh, a lot of people high up on the Yankee chain. And, um, he’s sort of an ambassador for the, uh, for the Yankees as well. In other words, if they need something, you know, they’ll ask him, you know, it’s like volunteer.

[00:19:40] Spencer: Uh, for these kinds of things. So we got somebody to take us, uh, take us up to the stadium. Uh, they stayed with me at the game because I couldn’t be there, uh, by myself, uh, with my daughter. And that was also a requirement of my wife and they took us home. And in between at the game, I had put out on social media.

[00:20:01] Spencer: You know, letting people know what section I was going to be at. And if they came by, you know, to just come by and to, to say hello. And we must’ve gotten about, uh, you know, 30 or 40 people. Uh, at least that’s how I like to remember it. You know, that came by and I wore an all white Yankee cap and I brought a Sharpie marker and everybody that came by to say hello, I had them sign the hat.

[00:20:24] Spencer: That’s, uh, somewhere on Twitter too. That really just, it, it made my day. And again, feeling the warmth of human kindness in that manner, uh, it just, it made for such a memorable day. The Yankees lost that day as well. They lost three to nothing. so it wasn’t really such a great ga great day, you know, from a, a Yankees fan point of view.

[00:20:44] Spencer: But that day is the day I’ll, I’ll always remember.

[00:20:48] Anna: Yeah, that’s an incredible memory. I mean, and I love, I love to hear that humanity kind of stepped up for you. Obviously baseball fans, and then the subset of Yankee fans, and then, you know, even to to Narrowed down further to the folks who were at that game who took time to walk across the stadium to come say hello to you is It’s pretty special I’m glad that you were able to get that message out and that it was so well received and that you know You were just kind of surrounded with with some love that day, which you you definitely needed and deserved

[00:21:25] Spencer: I’ll always, I’ll always remember that day. A funny thing also, Anna, this is gonna sound kind of strange. Even though I’m blind, I do have memories of that game. Like, I don’t remember just darkness and hearing voices. I, for whatever reason, have images of meeting, you know, guys like, uh, John, you know, who’s a Canadian but is a Yankee fan.

[00:21:48] Spencer: And he came over and he sat by me and my daughter and he called the play by play for me so I knew what was going on. Or Keith, who’s the, uh, the, the radio host on, uh, one of the New York stations here. Uh, I knew him before he was on the, the radio. And, uh, he came by to say hello to me. And all my fellow Yankee fans who, a lot of them I’ve known from Twitter, they came by and, and said hello to me.

[00:22:10] Spencer: It was just an, an, an honor. Unimaginable experience, and I, I, I just remember them, you know, I don’t remember blackness and sound, I, I have this vision of seeing the people, and, um, you know, what they were dressed in, and smiles, and just really enjoying the, uh, really enjoying the day, and really enjoying the game, it’s, it’s a funny thing,

[00:22:33] Anna: Yeah, it makes me happy to hear that though. It really does. And you know, that’s what’s that’s what’s kind of unique about your situation Spencer is I have a friend Reggie Deal. He’s been on the podcast He was born blind and he’s been a baseball fan his whole life. But obviously you’re in a different circumstance here having memories centered around visual cues and and things like that, so It doesn’t really surprise me that you can kind of see that imagery in your mind’s eye You

[00:23:03] Anna: But what a, what a cool experience.

[00:23:06] Anna: I’m just so glad. And you know, the Yankees may have lost that day, but they’ve put together a pretty decent season so far, especially when you take into account all of the, the injuries and, um, you know, that sort of thing that they’ve, they’ve had to deal with lately. So, um, doing all right.

[00:23:23] Spencer: It’s a well, it’s a great season. but you know, it’s a little disheartening for me because, you know, I can’t see the players. I don’t see what’s going on. I think that brings me around also to what I really wanted to talk about with your, um, with your listeners, and I suppose Reggie may have talked about this as well.

[00:23:40] Spencer: And I kind of apologize to Reggie and to other members of the blind community too, because I don’t want to come off like I’m the only guy in the world, you know, that’s got this problem. I know that there are millions of people with blindness, so I don’t want to, I don’t want to project a woe is me kind of, uh, kind of attitude.

[00:23:57] Spencer: There are probably blind people who hear me talk and think, oh come on buddy, get, get over yourself already. I’ve been living with this for, for a long time. I’m new to the blind game, so, you know, unfortunately, it’s, it’s something that, uh, I talk about, uh, and, and probably, uh, uh, probably do it in a way where I, I make it sound like a, for lack of a better way of putting it, a bigger deal than it, than it really is, at least to people who have really overcome, uh, the challenges of blindness.

[00:24:23] Spencer: but, uh, you know, how, how does that affect you as a fan? I mean, the first thing is, Obviously, you can’t see the games, so you’re doing a lot of listening. Uh, the choice is, you know, do you listen on the television? Uh, why would I even watch the television, uh, the television broadcast? I watch the television broadcast because, first of all, that brings like an avenue of normalcy to me.

[00:24:48] Spencer: Uh, it’s the way that I used to watch most of the Yankee games, the way I used to get most of my information on the team, and so I may not be getting a hundred percent of what I got before. But it does give me an avenue of normalcy. I will say that when I tune into the radio broadcast, I distinctly hear the difference between listening to a game on the radio and what you get from television and on television, it’s definitely broadcast.

[00:25:16] Spencer: Uh, with the mindset that the viewers are watching everything that’s going on, and they don’t have to, uh, discuss every single play, uh, every strike, every ball. But on the radio, they are doing that. So I get a much better experience of the game when I hear it on the radio. Um, I think what, what discourages me from listening on the radio is that it feels more like even even something from the early 20th century.

[00:25:47] Spencer: In the early 20th century, my grandfather used to tell me about this. You know, the way you would sometimes watch a ball game is you would go down to a corner store, somebody would be listening on the radio and they would have like a map of the baseball diamond and they would just be moving parts that represented players to let you know, you know, if a player was on base, if a run was scored, And that’s what the radio feels like to me.

[00:26:09] Spencer: I feel like I’m getting it. I feel like I’m getting the game, uh, secondarily. Uh, whereas on, on, on television, you know, you feel like you’re with the, you’re, you feel like you’re with the announcers. You feel like you’re, at the game, uh, more so than, than you do with the radio announcers. But, you know, you get a better call from the, uh, from the radio, but that’s really been one big thing that’s, uh, that’s changed, uh, my love, uh, for baseball is how I get the games.

[00:26:36] Spencer: And how I watch the games.

[00:26:38] Anna: It’s a good point. You know, obviously to your point, the, the radio call is going to be so much more detailed about exactly what’s going on on the field, but you know, that’s not the reason that everybody loves baseball is the intricacies of the game like that. You know, a lot of it has to do with the overall environment and the TV Call does a much better job of capturing that you’ve got the the in game interviews, too you know you they get to talk to the manager at times during in between innings or fans or correspondants and things like that So it definitely makes sense that even though they’re not doing as good of a job Describing the game that you still feel more involved Yeah.

[00:27:22] Spencer: that’s a, that’s a point that you bring up too, that I, you know, for my situation, um, and that’s a reason why I, I, that’s something I don’t like about, um, the television broadcast is that sometimes. These in game interviews, you know, with the players or with the coaches, it loses sight of the game so you can’t follow with what’s happening with the game and it gets even more annoying.

[00:27:46] Spencer: Like when they get a sponsor, like I remember I was watching a game and they had somebody who would just open a brewery. I’m sitting there thinking, I want to hear about your brewery. Just, you know, let me, let me know what’s happening with the, uh, the game that happens more so in spring training. Um, but still it, for, for me as a blind person, it, uh, it took away, but I can see like, you know, if you’re, if you have your vision and you have your ears.

[00:28:12] Spencer: You know, then it’s, it’s no big deal. I can certainly understand that. I see it from that perspective.

[00:28:17] Anna: what’s next for you? You know, kind of, what are you thinking in terms of, of moving forward with your love of the game? Are you gonna be more of a consumer of audio or are you, do you think you’ll still get to a handful of games each year? Kind of, you know, what does that, what does that seem like to you?

[00:28:39] Spencer: I haven’t like written out any specific goals, but you know, I do want to get to the stadium as I went yesterday and I’ll discuss with you some of the challenges. Uh, in that, um, you know, I, I love the game. I want to follow the game. This, this problem that I have, it’s taken that away. Now, of course, you know, you know, my, my kids and my wife, my family, that’s the most.

[00:29:03] Spencer: The important thing, I want to be able to see them, but you know, my love of the game is one of the primary things, you know, that, uh, it’s, it’s taken away and I don’t want to lose that just the same way that I didn’t want to lose my followers and be forgotten on, on Twitter. So, the first thing is to just try to keep up with baseball as best as you can.

[00:29:27] Spencer: These days, I, I listen to games. Um, with the MLB app,

[00:29:31] Spencer: also with the games, uh, at least with the Yankee games, they only give you the games. So you can’t, uh, listen to the post game interviews or the post game productions, uh, unless you want to listen to the radio. So that becomes like another.

[00:29:46] Spencer: Another project that you have to, uh, that you have to contend with. Um, as far as, uh, you know, my season tickets, um, I obviously got my tickets before.

[00:29:57] Spencer: You know, this, uh, this happened. Um, but the, the question is, am I going to keep the tickets? and I want to keep my tickets. I, I haven’t thrown my hands in the air and said, well, I’m blind. I’m not going to be able to keep my season ticket account. Uh, I suppose that would be easier to let go of if I was, you know, like a five year or six year season ticket holder, but this is my 25th year.

[00:30:24] Spencer: And so when you reach 25 years, you really are going to look into every way that you can to be able to, uh, to keep your plan. And so right now my mindset is to be able to, uh, uh, to keep my plan. Um, one of the things I do is I do put. The majority of my tickets on the, uh, on the secondary ticket, uh, secondary ticket line, uh, stub hub in particular.

[00:30:51] Spencer: And, um, fortunately, you know, with the, the winning that the Yankees have done this year. Uh, that’s really made sales very brisk. So I project that the sales that I will have made with my season tickets will be able to, uh, help me renew my, um, my, my season account for, for next year. But even that’s a challenge in itself.

[00:31:13] Spencer: Now I need assistance with that. I can’t just go on to my. And, uh, you know, click, you know, purchase and, you know, put a credit card number in and buy the tickets. I just can’t do that. I need assistance with that. So now I’ve got to get in touch with my season ticket holder rep. If I don’t have a family member that might be able to help me out with that.

[00:31:33] Spencer: So it’s, it’s complicated. It’s very complicated. I think the lesson of that is make sure that if you, if you do have season tickets, make sure that, uh, you have a good relationship with your family. With your, uh, with your representative, they might also compliment, give you some complimentary tickets too, uh, every now and then.

[00:31:50] Spencer: So that’s definitely something to, uh, to consider. Um, but yeah, I, I, I, I do want to, uh, I do want to keep them, even if I don’t go to the, uh, majority of the games and on the issue of getting to games, um, that’s, that’s a challenge in itself. There’s so many avenues. To think about, you know, going to a game, especially if you live far from the stadium, which I do, I live in South Jersey.

[00:32:16] Spencer: Uh, I live a little over 60 miles from Yankee stadium and, uh, getting to Yankee stadium is not an easy thing to, uh, to be able to do. It’s, it’s quite challenging.

[00:32:28] Spencer: I think it’s important to point out to your listeners. My season tickets are in the bleachers. They’re in the bleachers because when I finally finished up with my studies, one of the first gifts that I bought myself was a very small and cheap season ticket packet to the Yankees.

[00:32:43] Spencer: It was

[00:32:45] Spencer: The bare minimum to get myself guaranteed seats into the, uh, into the playoffs. Okay. Now, um, I’m at a point in life where I don’t like to sit in the bleachers. I like to sit as close to home plate as best as I can. So in order to do that, you have to buy a ticket online. But again, you have to have like a certain mindset, a certain experience to be able to go online, You know, find a ticket, navigate the ticket site so that you can find a ticket to get to the game that you want to, and that’s, you know, not so easy.

[00:33:18] Spencer: You know, if you’re a person that doesn’t have that type of experience or even that type of enthusiasm, you know, for going to concerts or for going to a sporting events. all these factors, um, you know, come into mind, you know, when you’re, when, when suddenly, you know, doing the things that you love to do become a serious challenge.

[00:33:39] Anna: I’m glad that you have some people in your life that are willing to help you make that. You know, I’m sitting there listening and kind of thinking my way through what you’re describing. On top of just going to a major league ballpark and being surrounded by 40, 000 other people, you’ve got to also then remember that you.

[00:33:58] Anna: smack dab in the middle of New York. So, uh, that just amplifies it, you know, 10 X compared to like what I would see in, in St. Petersburg, Florida or Arlington, Texas. So, um, I hadn’t thought about it from that perspective, but those are some really good points. Spencer, where do we send people if they want to follow along with you online? Maybe they want to send you some well wishes or ask you some questions about your Yankees fandom. Where do we send them?

[00:34:26] Spencer: Sure, I appreciate that, Anna. On Twitter, now known as X, my name is, uh, at musician DMD, uh, but I wrote that M U Z I X N D M D, uh, because it’s really cool to, uh, misspell words. Uh, and put an X and a Z in your word. It’s very rock and roll. Um, that’s where they can find me. And I’m most renown for the hashtag, N Y Y cap of the day.

[00:34:56] Spencer: The New York Yankee cap of the day. That’s like a separate issue. Also, fortunately, I’m, I’m manic about keeping my caps, uh, in order. So I’m able to still wear my caps and we still try to give a cap. You know, uh, to keep up with that, uh, with that tradition. And if you want to talk about your niches, that’s my little niche, uh, in the Twitter verse, but that’s where they can find me on a social, uh, or on social media, I also want to point out that, um, if any of your followers who don’t follow me now, if they do follow me, please forgive me if I don’t follow you back right away.

[00:35:32] Spencer: Uh, again, it’s just very, very challenging, uh, for me to be able to follow back people. Um, my family’s been, you know, great with helping me with, uh, my Twitter needs. They feed that beast, but they also get some Twitter fatigue as well. And, you know, again, they’re not as You know, fluent with it as a regular Twitter users like you and I are.

[00:35:55] Spencer: So it could be some time, you know, before I get to following back, you know, some of the great people who have followed me and please under please understand that don’t give up on me.

[00:36:06] Anna: Yeah, that’s a, a good little note to share, but, um, that was one of the things I was super excited to, to see that, that you kept going was the cap of the day, and I know that your daughter, Victoria, was, was, helps you a lot with that, um, because I just, uh, that’s one of the things I think is so cool about, about your passion for the game and collecting headwear, and, I was, I’m glad to see that you’re, you’re keeping that tradition alive.

[00:36:31] Spencer: Oh, thank you, Anna. Yeah. It’s very important to me. I mean, it’s as simple as I love hats

[00:36:37] Anna: Right.

[00:36:38] Spencer: I love, I love using hats as a vehicle, you know, to like, uh, portray. You know, your enthusiasm for your sports team, uh, your past guests and one of your best ones, uh, Patrick Larson. I love, you know, how he uses his caps to tell the story of minor league teams.

[00:36:53] Spencer: Um, but yes, the caps are definitely, uh, you know, central to, uh, to my life and I still have them and, uh, I, you know, some people, they still, uh, they still really dig, you know, seeing me post a cap each day and, uh, they’re, they’re still, uh, enthusiastic and they give me encouragement to, uh, To continue that.

[00:37:11] Spencer: So, uh, I’m gonna keep doing it for as, as long as I possibly can and, and for as long as, uh, people will be interested if they want it, I’ll give it

[00:37:21] Anna: I’m glad to hear that. Spencer, I can’t thank you enough for, for taking time to do this and being kind enough to share your story with everyone. I know that, anybody and everybody listening, I can speak for them and, and let you know that they’re sending you the best vibes and, and well wishes. And, um, I just really am grateful that you took time to come back on and chat with us.

[00:37:43] Spencer: Sure thing. And I appreciate that. Uh, uh, just one last thing I do want to get, get out there is, um, you know, this is the baseball bucket, uh, formerly the baseball bucket list. And uh, when I was originally on with you, I explained to you that my. My only, uh, baseball bucket, uh, list wish, uh, was to meet Reggie Jackson.

[00:38:00] Spencer: And that, uh, that wish came true, uh, in February came really just weeks before my, uh, my blindness, uh, set in. So, uh, that’s a, uh, the bucket list, you know, I accomplished the bucket list and I, I think I further validated, uh, my, uh, contributions and, uh, my, um, association with your, with your podcast. I also want to say that, um, you know, your podcast is one of the things That, um, helps bring a level of, uh, normalcy to me.

[00:38:29] Spencer: Uh, for a while, I wasn’t able to, uh, to get the podcast. Again, that has to do with, you know, using the phone and, and operating the phone. And it’s just, you know, it could be challenging, you know, for my, for my family to, to find these things. So that was just one of the things that for a while, you know, didn’t get done, but, uh, we got you back, Anna.

[00:38:47] Spencer: So I’m going back to all these episodes that, uh, I missed on. Um, I recently did episodes 1 40 to 1 49. So now I’m going to the 1 30. So I’m sort of like working backwards, but I appreciate you having me back on. And again, I came on today because, you know, I’m hoping that, you know, uh, for anybody that might find themselves in a challenging situation, I certainly don’t want anybody to go blind and lose their eyesight like I have, but, uh, you know, I hope this gives encouragement, you know, to people.

[00:39:16] Spencer: who, uh, have a physical challenge, uh, and see how they might be able to overcome it. You know, in particular with, uh, you know, how they keep baseball in their lives.

[00:39:26] Anna: Yeah. I think it will, so I, I can’t thank you enough, Spencer. I, I really appreciate it.

[00:39:31] Spencer: You got it, Anna.

[00:39:32] Anna: And that will wrap up this episode of extra innings special, thanks to Spencer shorts for joining us again and sharing his story. If this sounds like something you’d like to do, if you think you might like to be a guest on the show. Or a repeat guest on the show had the baseball bucket list.com/podcast and fill out an application. I’d absolutely love to hear from you.

[00:39:51] Anna: While you’re there, take some time to check out the site, build your own baseball bucket lists. Track your ballpark visits and connect with other fans. And if you find yourself enjoying the show each week, please take a moment to rate and review it in the podcast app of your choice.

[00:40:03] Anna: I would really, really appreciate it. That’s it for. This week. Thanks so much for listening. We’ll see you. Next episode.