Episode 170 — Jason Massopust: Brewers Ballpark Memories, Epic Playoff Celebrations, & Road Trip Adventures
Jason Massopust is a life-long Brewers fan from Wisconsin who spent over two decades in a sales role for the team. We chat about his favorite memories from his 23 years with the Brewers, including the excitement of the 2008 playoff clinch, the wild final days of County Stadium (think Office Space), and what it’s like to run into local legends. We also dive into his love for baseball road trips and hear some hilarious tales from his sports travels with his friend Rob, including an epic baked potato mishap.
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Read the full transcript
[00:00:00] Jason: in 2008 when the brewers clenched the. wild card spot. Um, Whoever we played on that Sunday, we beat them. And then everybody, I mean, the whole like 42, 000 people stayed in the stadium and watch the end of the Mets and the Marlins, on the scoreboard.
[00:00:16] Jason: And as soon as the Marlins won, I mean, the stadium just Completely erupted. It was totally crazy. We had a huge, huge. I mean, once it cleared the stadium out of all the fans the employees, we had this gigantic party, um, in the club level and just totally trashed it. that just, I mean, it was 26 years of no playoffs and, um, yeah. It was just like complete elation,
[00:00:43]
[00:00:43] Anna: What’s up bucketheads. Thanks for tuning in and welcome to episode number 170 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.
[00:00:58] Anna: This week, I had the pleasure of chatting with Jason Massopust from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Jason is a lifelong Brewers fan who shares some incredible stories about his experiences working for the team over the course of 23 years. We chat about celebrating the Brewers 2008 playoff clinch with a massive party, reminisce about the final days of County Stadium, and hear about Jason’s journey through the ups and downs with the franchise.
[00:01:22] Anna: We also dive into his passion for baseball road trips and hear some hilarious stories about his travels with his friend, Rob, I had a great time with this interview. I know you’re all really going to enjoy hearing these stories and experiences. Now without further ado. Sit back, relax and enjoy some baseball banter with Jason Massopust
[00:01:41] Anna: jason, thank you so much for joining us today on the Baseball Bucket List. How are things in Milwaukee?
[00:01:49] Jason: Terrific. Beautiful, uh, Indian summer day today. Um, on a Monday evening.
[00:01:55] Anna: Awesome. I know you’re headed to the ball game after this, um, so I’ve, I’ve got some questions about that, but you know, the question I always get started with right out of the gate is how is it that you fell in love with the game of baseball?
[00:02:08] Jason: I guess the easy answer is I don’t remember not being obsessed with it. But as, um, I thought a little bit more about it. I think the obsession kind of grew from my lack of access to the game when I was younger. Um, the town I grew up in, it’s right in the middle of the state. It’s called Amherst, uh, Wisconsin.
[00:02:33] Jason: 792 people was the, you know, the, uh, the population forever. And especially describing it to my kids, which are, who are high schoolers now trying to describe how rural and isolated we were at that time was, I mean, it’s just inconceivable for, especially kids nowadays. So. I mean, I had no, my parents didn’t get newspaper for some odd reason.
[00:02:58] Jason: We had two TV channels. So games were rarely on television. Um, you know, my only access to the game sides from collecting cards would be, um, the radio, you know, it was 92. 7 WDUX in Wapaka, mid Wisconsin’s information station, you know, is Bob Uecker and Pat Hughes at the time every day. So I think just the. And I couldn’t get what I wanted or as much as I wanted, at least in the, in the eighties was, uh, kind of drew me more to the game.
[00:03:32] Anna: I think there’s a, there’s a saying about that, right? Like always wanting what you can’t have and, and things like that, but it’s pretty cool to hear that even after you kind of got to a point in life where you did have access to the game, it was something that still captivated you and, you know, something that you still love to.
[00:03:48] Anna: This day, have you, have you always been in that general area? Like, or have you moved outside of the, uh, Milwaukee area or I guess just Wisconsin in general?
[00:04:02] Jason: we, I mean, I, until I graduated college, I was in central Wisconsin and then I, I worked in Alaska for one summer after I graduated college and then got, ended up getting the job in, uh, in the city. So I’ve been here since 2000.
[00:04:18] Anna: Is it safe to say, then, that, uh, the, the Brewers are still your favorite team?
[00:04:23] Jason: yeah, absolutely. Without a doubt.
[00:04:25] Anna: Yeah. And you mentioned, I mean, I know you’re heading to the game tonight. Uh, you mentioned that the weather up there right now is, is pretty solid. I’ve been, I’ve been to, it was Miller Park at the time, I know it’s American Family Field or whatever we’re supposed to call it now, uh, now.
[00:04:43] Anna: But the roof was closed, and it was for good reason, I mean it was early April so you know how that goes, but, you think tonight that the roof will be open?
[00:04:52] Jason: Yeah, definitely. I mean it’s it’s like 82 83 outside right now, so it’ll be perfect.
[00:04:58] Anna: Yeah, so I live in the DFW area now and, uh, unfortunately, Globe Life Field, their roof is open approximately like 10 percent of the time, which is, you know, hardly ever, ever, obviously, but it’s a different ballpark when the roof is open. Do you think the same of, uh, the Brewer’s Home?
[00:05:18] Jason: Um, yeah, I suppose. Uh, I mean just Take in the game as a fan. It makes, I think, a huge difference. Um, when the roof is open, um, just experience wise, um, I mean, having it, it’s completely invaluable. I mean, as far as attendance and, uh, just convenience of, you know, when you have a fan base that you draw from hours away, then, uh, you know, you feel confident that you can make the drive from La Crosse or Wausau or whatever, when you’re hours away.
[00:05:50] Jason: I mean, you know, there’s going to be an event, you don’t have to worry about it.
[00:05:53] Anna: Yeah, that’s a that’s a fair point. Otherwise, uh, you know, maybe you don’t feel so confident going to those early season games in particular All right. So after your time in Alaska you moved back to Wisconsin I have some insight as to why you did that, but do you want to share with listeners? What brought you back?
[00:06:13] Jason: So when I came back, um, I really. Didn’t know entirely what I was going to do. Um, one of my friends that I grew up with, um, he, uh, he wanted to coach basketball and he still does. He’s actually the head coach at Tulsa currently. And so Eric helped me write a nice resume cover letter. I sent probably three, 400 out to sports teams. Just nationwide. Um, and, uh, I got a handful of bites and one of them happened to be Brewers, which obviously it was ideal for me. a couple of interviews later, I ended up landing the job in October of 2000. So then I relocated down to the city here and I worked in the sales office there in a couple of different capacities for 23 and a half years.
[00:07:05] Anna: Obviously, some leaner years in the franchise in that span, I mean, anytime you stay a place for multiple decades, that’s gonna be the nature of it, but, uh, you know, some, some good times too, some exciting times for sure, but working in a sales role for a major league team, what is that like? Like, what, what were your primary responsibilities?
[00:07:31] Jason: Uh, primarily selling and customer service of season ticket holders, um, groups as well, like some groups, individual suites and that sort of thing too. But primarily it was season, various size season ticket packages, um, renewal and retention and, and, uh, and some new sales as well. So
[00:07:51] Anna: Do you feel like, you know, having stepped away from the Brewers as an organization now that that’s impacted your fandom at all? I mean, obviously having your career kind of tied to how well the ball team is doing, maybe make some changes in, in how invested you are in the game, but what’s that been like?
[00:08:09] Jason: So when I started this new job here in right at the end of February, the first couple of weeks, it was almost like I was on a TV show watching other people in office. Like, well, am I really supposed to be here? This is kind of bizarre. Uh, but as far as level of fandom, it, it’s changed a little bit.
[00:08:25] Jason: I mean, I still watch or listen to pretty much every game. Um, it’s different in that the people that I work with now on a daily basis equally as obsessed. So it’s not, you know, constant conversation around here about it because some people just don’t care, which is kind of strange to me. But, um, that’s something I wasn’t used to, but I still, you know, I still follow it.
[00:08:51] Jason: It’s nice to not have to be upset when, you know, they go on like a four or five game losing streak and know that you’re going to have to hear about it all day at work. Although they haven’t had any losing streaks, uh, this year thus far, but Other than that, it’s still, you know, I still enjoy going today, still enjoy going to the games.
[00:09:11] Jason: I still enjoy following it, and, uh, you know, it’s still my number one sport.
[00:09:15] Anna: That career that you had with the Brewers, 23 plus years, I mean, that, that spanned Yeah. several, big moments, right? I mean, I think of 2008, I’m a Rays fan. So 08 was like a magical season for me. but it also spans multiple ballparks, right? So can you talk a little bit about the transition to what was Miller Park at the time?
[00:09:45] Jason: Yes, yeah, we were still working in the old ballpark when I started. Um, I think we left County Stadium for good, maybe in February, something like that. So it was four or five months. Um, the last, the last day we literally beat down the walls with bats, which was kind of interesting until that got out of hand.
[00:10:01] Jason: Obviously a bunch of early twenties guys. Get out of control. So, um, but yeah, going to the new ballpark, I mean, it was amazing. It was so much nicer. You know, just the basement of county stadium where we’re at before, where the cubicle is barely wide enough for my shoulders. You know, you’re rubbing out, literally rubbing elbows.
[00:10:23] Jason: Somebody is like sitting on an airplane. Um, But yeah, the new ballpark was, was fantastic. Um, and we had the all star game in the second year, which I see kind of turned out with a little bit of a bizarre ending, but preparations for that and experiencing that with, uh, you know, seeing some hall of famers and stuff that were there that day, it was, uh, it was pretty sweet.
[00:10:46] Jason: The home run derby was pretty crazy that day with the rain storm, Sammy Sosa hitting 700 footers through the top corner of the scoreboard. Well, it was pretty wild.
[00:10:59] Anna: Man, Sammy Sosa. I loved Sammy. He was he was my guy when I was younger and you know watching that whole home run chase saga with him and McGuire, but Maybe there was a little reason he was hitting 700 foot home runs now that we know a little better.
[00:11:18] Jason: for sure. No doubt.
[00:11:19] Anna: What do you think if you if you had to give advice to someone who hasn’t been up to Milwaukee yet Maybe they’re you know, they’ve got it on the books for next year or something like that what should they make sure that they do while they’re there as far as The ballpark or just baseball in general. Uh
[00:11:39] Jason: As far as the ballpark specifically, um, I mean, tailgate if you can, you know, if you have the ability to drive there, uh, everybody’s super friendly and you know, you’re going to meet some crazy people in the parking lots just hanging out for the game, you know, especially on a Friday or Saturday or Sunday to, um, tailgate if you can inside the ballpark.
[00:12:02] Jason: There’s been constant renovations and upkeep. So even despite the fact that it’s almost 25 years old, it looks a lot nicer than, you know, than a lot of other parks that I visited that are, are similar age. So there’s a restaurant that was renovated in the left field corner. It used, be a Friday’s now has line of Google sponsor name on it. There’s some, um, pretty good food and beer options there. There’s also a craft brews bar with all Wisconsin local beers on the second level. So those are the two places that I would go right away but tailgate if you can try to meet as many people as you can around the ballpark.
[00:12:37] Anna: Yeah. I’ve heard that, unfortunately I didn’t have that intel when I went, but, you know, one of the former show guests, Eugene, he’s actually from the UK. He, uh, he, uh, pick the Brewers as his MLB team and went to his first tailgating event, you know, a while ago. So we got to hear about his perception of that and same story, like everyone was so friendly, uh, just a blast of a time.
[00:13:04] Anna: So the next time I make it up to Milwaukee, I’m gonna One, try to schedule it for a time of year where the roof might be open. And two, uh, you know, try to get up there in time to do some tailgating. You mentioned you’ve been to a handful or several other ballparks. Um, are they primarily major league ballparks or do you do any other kind of, of baseball travel?
[00:13:28] Jason: Um, as far as major league ballparks the only ones I haven’t been to are the two in Los Angeles. And then the new ones in Atlanta and Miami. Otherwise I’ve been to all of them. Um, but over the, I guess my kids are 16 and 14 now. So over the course of their life doing family road trips, we always work because I do the planning, of course, we always work in ballparks, and all corners of the country, independent league, college, summer, all that jazz, anytime we’re driving through, even if we can’t go to the game, I usually stop it. Check, you know, take a picture, go to the team store, stuff like that. Um, but yeah, we’ve been to tons and tons and all over the place.
[00:14:13] Anna: How does the rest of the family enjoy baseball? Are they up there with you in terms of, you know, how important it is? Or do they just kind of tolerate it because, uh,
[00:14:23] Jason: Definitely tolerate. Uh, my wife will go, uh, to games. She actually wants to go this upcoming Saturday just because of the giveaway. Um, so she’ll go for that. Um, she likes tailgate too, but, my son played, he’s freshman high school this year, he played up through seventh grade, um, and then, uh, he’s, he’s stopped.
[00:14:43] Jason: Um, my daughter never, she has zero interest. So yeah, they, they tolerate it.
[00:14:50] Anna: Well, it’s nice they, uh, they’re along for the ride, at least. You know, you don’t always get that. So, what’s your favorite level? Like, do you find yourself drawn towards, obviously the Brewers are like your number one team, but do you find yourself drawn towards a specific level of play that, that you find interesting for some reason?
[00:15:07] Jason: nice having Beloit and the team in Appleton, the A ball teams close. I do really enjoy that. Not only the games are a little bit more inexpensive and you can get great seats, but the level of play now that they’re a high A. It’s supposed to low way. It’s a little bit improved. Um, we do have a bunch of independent teams around here over that’s developed over the last 10 years, but that’s so much hit over pitch in those games.
[00:15:36] Jason: It seems like it’s a lot of 10 that sort of thing. Um, the A ball Midwest league teams that are, you know, within a couple hours drive, uh, I would say those are my favorite to go to.
[00:15:50] Anna: Do you have any players, like, you know, if you think back to, just because I know you’ve been to so many minor league teams, minor league games, Is there a player that you had a chance to see before they hit the, uh, major league level that you looked back and you were like, Hey, I saw that kid “when”.
[00:16:08] Jason: That’s a good question. Um, I remember my friend, my best friend from growing up. We used to do road trips. Um, we were in, it’s a team that doesn’t exist. It was a twins, double a new Britain. We were in New Britain. They don’t exist anymore as affiliated, but they were playing Bowie and Mike is what Baltimore double A. And I remember he absolutely destroyed a ball to center field. You know, like 4 20. It was just a bomb. Um, I remember that, of course, because his name sticks out because it’s just Tramski. Um, Byron Buxton was in that game as well, playing center field for the Twins double A. Um, That’s the one that jumps to mind as to two big names. I saw
[00:16:55] Jason: a ball, you know, usually the Brewers a lot of times if they draft a college player in the first couple rounds, they’ll end up sending them to Appleton later in the year.
[00:17:05] Jason: Um, just because it’s closed for the fan base. So going up there, like, uh, I remember testing here, Garrett Mitchell, um, all the Freilich, all the recent guys that have come up the last six, seven years, um, get to see all those guys play in Appleton.
[00:17:22] Anna: Yeah. That’s cool. I always like being able to look back, uh, I don’t know. I score the game. I don’t know if you do, but I, I still had For the longest time like my scorecards from the early 2000s mid 2000s from the the Durham Bulls and stuff like that and and Pulling those out and like looking at the names and going like oh man that guy turned out to be the rookie of the year you know this this this this and that so But man,
[00:17:49] Jason: don’t score games, but what I did do had a number of, I can’t remember when I started this, I, you know, when you ended up with a big shoe box, the ticket stubs, like either throw these away or do something with them. So I started basically. I’ll print out a box score for every game and I’ll put it with the ticket stub.
[00:18:08] Jason: And sometimes I’ll take, I take a picture or whatever, like if it’s a new park, I’ll take pictures and then I’ll paste them. So I did have a bunch of scrapbooks with box scores, but I don’t keep score really anymore too often.
[00:18:19] Anna: Yeah, but you’ve still got the the box score so,
[00:18:22] Jason: Right. You got the evidence. yeah, right in the lineup right there so you could do the same thing, but And what comes to mind if I ask you what your favorite baseball memory is?
[00:18:32] Jason: Probably in 2008 when the brewers clenched the wild card spot. Um, when we played the Pirates or Cubs, I should probably remember this. Whoever we played on that Sunday, we beat them. And then everybody, I mean, the whole like 42, 000 people stayed in the stadium and watch the end of the Mets and the Marlins, um, on the scoreboard.
[00:18:56] Jason: And as soon as the Marlins won, I mean, the stadium just Completely erupted. It was totally crazy. We had a huge, huge. I mean, once it cleared the stadium out of all the fans the employees we had this gigantic party, um, in the club level and just totally trashed it. Um, there’s a day that I was more drunk than that.
[00:19:18] Jason: I don’t know when it was because that was insane. But that, that just, I mean, it was 26 years of no playoffs and, um, yeah. It was just like complete elation, you know, and, and then a couple of days later, we go to Philadelphia and get spanked in a couple of games and encounter some of the worst fans in the world.
[00:19:37] Jason: But, um, that as far as professionally, that’s definitely a number one, no question.
[00:19:46] Anna: I remember seeing that clip, uh, you know, watching the end of the year kind of pan out the way that it did. That was such an, I mean, it was all down to the wire I remember, I can’t remember what game I was watching. I think it was just a, whatever game. And uh, They cut to, there was still a camera inside the ballpark and they showed just the eruption of emotion in there and, uh, I mean, 26 years is a long time.
[00:20:15] Anna: You know, people complain about not winning World Series for, for decades and decades, but to, to miss out on the playoffs entirely and then be there, uh, I imagine that was a pretty special feeling.
[00:20:27] Jason: Yeah, definitely. Not only missed out on the playoffs, but for the most part, the team was irrelevant for a lot of those years. You know, we had late eighties competing here and there a little bit, but in the nineties, it was. There was really except for 92 was the only year that even close to a playoff spot.
[00:20:44] Jason: Then early 2000s were bad. So yeah, it was It was amazing. It was great.
[00:20:50] Anna: Yeah, yeah. And, uh, again, remember you’re talking to a Rays fan about 08, so if y’all had managed to beat Philly, you know, maybe the chips fell, fall a little differently for, for my team too. But,
[00:21:03] Jason: True.
[00:21:05] Anna: uh, it’s still a great year. Still one of, like, my favorite years in baseball of, of all time. what’s left to check off on the baseball bucket list? Like, is there still something you want to do, a place you want to go, someone you want to meet, something like that?
[00:21:20] Jason: I’ve never been to Cooperstown for some reason. Um, I don’t know why. I mean, it’s certainly not right around the corner from where I’m at, but we’ve been out in that area, New York a few times. Um, I, I don’t know that I would want to go with my family because I know they really wouldn’t be all that interested.
[00:21:42] Jason: Um, so I mean, I’d like to spend a little Beyond that, I certainly certainly would like to go to the 2 parks in Los Angeles just to kind of complete that circuit, but. Okay, I guess go to a Brewers World Series game. Hopefully that happens this year. That’d be great. Um, I did go to one World Series game when the Indians were playing the Cubs and 16 had tickets from one of those in Chicago. So I have been to a World Series game but just not Brewers one.
[00:22:17] Anna: Not the one you want to be at. So,
[00:22:20] Jason: Unfortunately, Cleveland lost that day too. But, oh well.
[00:22:25] Anna: yeah. I wanna back up to, because I feel like I glossed over this, but you, you were telling the story about the last day you guys are at the, uh, the old ballpark, and you’re, you’re beating down the walls, and in my, in my head I’m like playing back, uh, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Office Space, but there’s a scene where they’ve absolutely had it with this fax machine that just fails to work.
[00:22:51] Anna: To work ever and so it’s just this brilliant montage of like you said kind of like these are early 20s you know guys kind of being idiots and Smashing the fax machine with baseball bats. And is that kind of what the scene played out like and
[00:23:08] Jason: Pretty right on. Yeah, that’s pretty much what it was. I mean, everything that we were taking with us had been taken out. Um, so whatever was being lost was going to be bulldozed and destroyed. So yeah, that, that, that scene is, uh, that’s kind of right on. That’s pretty much how it was.
[00:23:30] Anna: Did you have hammers or sledgehammers or were you just kind of using like whatever was available,
[00:23:34] Jason: just bats. They’re just broken back. I mean, it’s in baseball stadiums. There’s broken bats all over the place in the basement. So
[00:23:43] Anna: I love that. That’s a,
[00:23:45] Jason: yeah,
[00:23:46] Anna: an interesting visual. what about your time at, you know, working at the ballpark? Can you tell us some about, uh, you know, you mentioned the all star game briefly, but was there anything else that kind of comes to mind when you think about big moments that you experienced while you were working for the team?
[00:24:06] Jason: I guess. Well, I’m kind of covered 2008 and every playoff year is special in its own way. Um, just because that, you know, the team never comes back the same way the next year. I got through tons of different events that we had over the years, got to meet, um, a lot of the old players, uh, even Irland, Henry Aaron used to have his golf tournament, uh, charity golf tournament.
[00:24:33] Jason: And He played probably until like, oh, four or five ish, something like that. And there was a, there was two years there that I drove the beer cart for the golf tournament. And, uh, it was me and a coworker and myself that we were kind of, you know, driving around and each group had a former player and a lot of old Braves.
[00:24:54] Jason: A lot of, there’s a, like Billy Pierce in the white socks would always be there. And, you know, older, you know, Cubs and stuff like that. And Midwest retired players, like from the fifties and sixties. And, um, there was one, one of the times or, um, my coworker leaves me off cause it was my turn to go have lunch and I’m sitting down and eat lunch at the table and there’s nobody in.
[00:25:15] Jason: In this dining room and Henry Aaron comes in with his bodyguard Donnie and then it’s like, sorry, if we sit down to eat with you, my God, you know, you can barely speak. Yes, it’s okay. So, eat lunch with him, interact with him a little bit. A lot of little, yeah, a lot of little braves were around early on. Um, and those guys were still active or, uh, with us.
[00:25:40] Jason: Um, a lot of little Brewers guys, Rollie Fingers, Yount is an amazing person. He’s so nice. It’s so lucky to have a Hall of Famer, um, like Robin Yount associated with your team. Um, Gantner’s around all the time. Gorman Thomas still lives in town. They’re just all great guys. Even the guys from the nineties, like Greg Vaughn, he’ll come back.
[00:26:02] Jason: Jeff Jenkins, stuff like that. So just getting to meet and interact with a lot of those guys on a personal level is, uh, it’s pretty awesome.
[00:26:10] Anna: Yeah, that’s the best. I hate hearing stories where, you know, Guys, former players, are just so, like, unapproachable, or unlikable, so every time I hear something about the good side of that , it makes me pretty happy.
[00:26:24] Jason: Well, we certainly had some of those two, um, necessarily name them. Uh, When I was a kid, I also was a huge fan of George Brett. Um, it’s also kind of like the Royals. I had a chance to go up and talk to him once, but because of that, that meet your heroes kind of thing, I totally wussed out. Um, so I’ve never met him.
[00:26:46] Jason: but I’ve heard we had, I had a coworker that left and went to work for the Royals for a number of years and said that he was a really good guy. So if I ever get that opportunity again, I might, you might do it, but we’ll see.
[00:26:57] Anna: yeah, you should. We had his brother, uh, Bobby. Bobby Brett on the show and they, uh, yeah, they, they run a real estate company together and also our owners and, and several, uh, teams, including the Spokane Indians. So I got to, to meet Bobby face to face earlier, I guess last year now at this point, but, uh, I was, I was worried.
[00:27:21] Anna: I was holding my breath about the, uh, George Brett story, because I was like, God, please let him be a good guy. Um, you had on the email that you initially sent something about your buddy Rob and doing some travel with him. Are there any stories there that you feel like, uh, you might want to dig into?
[00:27:41] Jason: We had a couple of good ones. I remember once we did a weekend in Iowa, it was like Clinton and Burlington and something Cedar Rapids, maybe. And that was, you know, one of the, uh, Midwest storms that erupts out of nowhere and, you know, the tarp goes flying and there’s intern A ball interns that are trying to.
[00:28:03] Jason: Rally this tarp, um, and then send the storm passes and, uh, game’s about to start, uh, umpire walks out, right? Home plate umpire. He’s got like this medium shirt on, he’s trying to show off his guns and all that. Rob hits me, he goes, look at this guy. Who is he? Look at this tough guy. Who does he think he is?
[00:28:23] Jason: And he comes. Turns out his mother was sitting directly in front of us cause he, um, He came over and said hi to her and, uh, like, I don’t know, 10 or so pitches into the first inning guy falls worse than right behind the plate falls one straight back and Rob flinches and spills his beer all over the umpire’s mother.
[00:28:41] Jason: That was incredible. It was so funny. Um, there’s another one where It was a White Sox game, 4th of July, rain delay, and we’re just sitting under the table waiting for the weather to clear and a pigeon poops directly in his beer and just splashes all over the place. Um, and then possibly the best one, we did a trip and it was actually in Texas and it was a combination football and baseball.
[00:29:08] Jason: We did, um, Astros, Texans, Rangers, Cowboys, Frisco, Rough Riders, and then we came back to We did Dallas first in Houston and came back to Dallas and saw Michigan and Alabama college football season opener.
[00:29:30] Jason: We were at, it was Texans game, Texans preseason game. It doesn’t matter who they played it. Whatever.
[00:29:36] Jason: We were just there to experience the stadium and we had been driving all day, Dallas to Houston all day. Traffic terrible. We’re starving. We get to the game and, uh, making our way to our seats. He’s like, man, I got to get some food. Um, I said, all right, I’ll grab a couple of drinks. I’ll meet you at your seats.
[00:29:54] Jason: So he goes and gets this huge big potato and, um, sitting down and we’re watching the first half of the game and it’s like midway through the second quarter. And, uh, he’d eaten, you know, like 90 percent of this baked potato. He’s like, hey, you want the rest? I’m like, no, thanks. It’s fine. So it was sitting like in a tray, kind of like a drink tray that, uh, you know, you get if you go to a fast food restaurant at that kind of material.
[00:30:18] Jason: Well, the butter from the potato had soaked through the tray and soaked into his khaki shorts. So when he stood up, it looked like he peed his pants all down the front. Because he’s like, Hey, you want the rest of the potato? And he handed me, I’m like, Hey God, what happened? And, uh, he looks, he’s like, Oh my God, what am I going to do?
[00:30:39] Jason: Uh, so he had to scramble and think, what are we going to do? So I went to the team store and bought something. So then he had, uh, like a, we were walking around and he’s carrying like a plastic bag in front of him just to kind of block, uh, so you couldn’t see it. But I think we ended up leaving shortly after halftime.
[00:30:58] Jason: Cause he’s like, I can’t take this anymore. This is crazy. Um, So that, that was a pretty good one. Uh, obviously happened to be at a football game, but it was a combo road trip. So,
[00:31:08] Anna: I Love that. I love these uh, the stories of like, you know travel buddies who I mean for some reason It always seems like there’s one guy who has just like atrocious luck, right? like never nothing seems to go right for him, but
[00:31:22] Jason: right.
[00:31:23] Anna: Man, that’s hilarious
[00:31:24] Jason: probably has some memories of something stupid happening to me, but I can’t think of it off the top of my head right now.
[00:31:29] Anna: Did the umpire’s mom ever say anything to you?
[00:31:32] Jason: No, not
[00:31:33] Anna: No.
[00:31:33] Anna: I thought for sure the story was going to end with, uh, him flinching and acting like a little baby and then her being like, oh, tough guy.
[00:31:41] Jason: Yeah. Right.
[00:31:42] Jason: That’d have been pretty appropriate, but no, she didn’t say anything. So
[00:31:45] Anna: Yeah. Oh, man. Um,
[00:31:48] Anna: If someone wants to follow along with you online, where should we send them to do that?
[00:31:52] Jason: mean, if you search my name, I don’t think there’s more than one Jason Massopust in the world. So you’re going to probably find me. Um, but yeah, feel free. Absolutely. Thanks.
[00:32:00] Anna: Awesome. Well, Jason, I have so enjoyed chatting with you today and hearing these stories. I, uh, can’t thank you enough for making the time. I’ll let you get off to the ballpark and. Um, just can’t wait to see what’s next and I got my fingers crossed for the brew crew this year.
[00:32:16] Anna: I’ve, uh, I don’t want to jinx anything, but, uh, you know, it’s looking like my rays are going to be out of the picture, so we’ll see what happens, but that’s, that’s where I’m leaning at least on the NL side.
[00:32:29] Jason: That’s awesome. Yeah, on my actual, my last day of employment, I sold myself a ticket package. So I, and I bought my playoff, uh, strips over the weekend. So I’m all set. I’m ready to go.
[00:32:40] Anna: Yeah.
[00:32:41] Anna: And that will wrap up this episode of the baseball bucket list podcast. Special, thanks to Jason Massopust 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.
[00:33:00] Anna: While you’re there, 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. And if you find yourself looking forward to 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.
[00:33:20] Anna: That’s it for this week. Thanks so much for listening. We’ll see you next episode..
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