Extra Innings: Patrick Montgomery Shares Candid Stories of Ballplayers Who Didn’t Live Up to the Hype

[00:00:42] Anna: What’s up bucketheads? Thanks for tuning in and welcome to another episode of extra innings on the baseball bucket list podcast. I’m your host Anna DiTommaso and in the extra inning series, I catch up with former podcast guests after they’ve had a chance to cross off items from their baseball bucket list. In this episode, we welcome back author Patrick Montgomery. 

[00:01:01] Anna: You may remember an interview last year with Patrick talking about his book. The Baseball Miracle of The Splendid Six and in that show, he teased the idea of writing another book about the mysteries of why some players, including those who are expected to do very well just fizzle out. his new book. 

[00:01:18] Anna: Baseball’s Great Expectations is due out on March 5th and covers that exact topic. If you’ve ever wondered why some players don’t live up to their projected hype, this is a book you’re really going to enjoy. Much like in The Splendid Six, the book contains interviews with players, family members and coaches. And what’s so interesting about this topic is the intangible reasons players don’t excel,. That we just have trouble wrapping our heads around. We can understand a string of injuries, bad timing, and even bad luck. 

[00:01:45] Anna: But what about the guys who just never click? That’s what this interview and Patrick’s book cover. And of course, since it’s still the Baseball Bucket List Podcast, we have to touch base on the status of Patrick’s bucket list. And what’s next in his baseball fandom. This interview was a ton of fun. I’m honored to have Patrick back on the show. 

[00:02:03] Anna: Know you guys are really going to enjoy this. Now without further ado, sit back, relax and enjoy some baseball banter with Patrick Montgomery. 

[00:02:12] Anna: Patrick. Welcome back to the Baseball Bucket List. Thank you so much for joining us for Extra Innings.

[00:02:18] Patrick: Well, thank you for having me. It’s a, it’s a great to be here.

[00:02:21] Anna: I’m really excited about this one because we spoke almost an entire year ago about your last book, The Splendid Six, and you kind of teased during that interview the idea of putting together a book about players who just didn’t live up to the hype or the expectations that, that folks or even themselves had.

[00:02:40] Anna: and uh, lo and behold, rumor is it’s coming out on March 5th.

[00:02:46] Patrick: Yes, the, uh, book is coming out on March 5th by Roman and Littlefield, so I’m very excited for this, uh, book to finally come out. I finished writing it probably six months ago, so it’s been kind of a, just wait and wait and wait, and it’s coming up right now.

[00:03:02] Anna: Yeah, so tell us a bit about baseball’s great expectations and, you know, a little bit more about where you came up with this idea.

[00:03:11] Patrick: But basically, um, I’m a very unapologetic, uh, child of the 70s and 80s baseball. And as part of that, before the whole baseball card boom and stuff happened, I love baseball cards, and I collected tops. That’s all we had back then, and I would see these great portraits, these, these great, uh, photos of these baseball players that would just inspire these thoughts of, wow, that person looks like a baseball player, or, wow, the photographer really didn’t like that person, uh, so you would see these, uh, these great players and just wonder, Like, who they were, how they played, how they would play, and they promised the potential of those players.

[00:03:57] Patrick: players like Steve Balboni, who’s actually not in the book, , but players like that, and Dan Poska, who is in the book of the Yankees, just inspired me, 

[00:04:06] Patrick: so many of these great players that you would see on the baseball cards, they would start well, then kind of disappear. And being 8, 9, 10 years old, you don’t understand why or how that happened. Like the business side or the player’s point of view, and It really inspired me to look up some of those players that I thought about back then to find out kind of what happened from their angle and talk to baseball scouts and see what happened from their angle and team executives.

[00:04:35] Patrick: And I found a fascinating kind of landscape of what it takes to be a baseball player and also how hard it is to be a baseball executive or scout.

[00:04:47] Anna: You know, you mentioned how difficult it is not only to, to become a baseball player who makes it to kind of an elite level, but also to be an executive who’s kind of in charge of, , selecting those people. And it’s, it’s kind of a tale as old as time that, uh, You know, some of these organizations throw down big dollars on guys who just fizzle or get injured or just for whatever reason, the chemistry is not right, and it doesn’t work out.

[00:05:14] Patrick: Absolutely. Um, I was graced enough to have, , Pat Gillick, the Baseball Hall of Famer, uh, General Manager of Barnoff’s Person, do the, uh, foreword for the book, um, as well as do some, uh, some interviews on some of the players and basically provide some background on it. And he, it seemed like he really loved the players and, and he believes in them.

[00:05:37] Patrick: When he signed a player, it seemed like he really believes in them and really wanted them to do well. Of course he did. It’s his team and his name’s tied to him. But, every, every general manager I talk to, and I’ve talked to four or five general managers of teams from the Mets, the Yankees, , From the Blue Jays and all the Orioles and they all rooted for the player to do well and it seemed like gave the player every opportunity and set them up to do well.

[00:06:03] Patrick: But sometimes that’s just not enough. , factors happen, unfortunate situations happen, sometimes just bad luck. But all those factors take, take part in it and the player doesn’t work out or they do work out. But the baseball’s expectations from the fans, the players around them, executives, are just too much for any mortal person to really handle.

[00:06:27] Patrick: And a player like that is Ben Grieve. He was the American League Rookie of the Year for the Oakland A’s. By all standards, he was a very good player for a long time. But in part because the baseball card craze back in the late eighties and nineties, people thought he was going to be the next Ken Griffey Jr or Barry Bonds as it was happening.

[00:06:51] Patrick: And it just didn’t happen for him. He was not one of the top 10 or 20 greatest players of all time, but he was still a very good player. He made, the all star team and everything else, but people look back at him and they see him as a disappointment or a failure, a bust. But it’s simply not true. So he was one of my favorite players to talk to, to get his perspective of what it was.

[00:07:15] Patrick: I also talked to his father, who is Tom Grieve, who was the general manager. For the Texas Rangers, and he is adamant that his son was a very good player and did not fail anybody or disappoint anybody. And I walk away with the same view. Absolutely. Ben Grieve was a very good player and really should be very proud of his career.

[00:07:36] Anna: the book is laid out kind of similarly to your last one, it sounds like, where you actually have opportunity to speak directly with some of these guys and people who are in their kind of inner circle, is that right?

[00:07:49] Patrick: Absolutely. Every player in the book, , I interviewed personally for the book as well as their family and scouts and general managers and executives around them. The only player I did not talk to directly. Was, uh, Brian Cole, who is a heartbreaking, sad story of a, a young Mets farmhand that By the accounts of the players that came up around him, such as Albert Puljos and CC Sabathia, um, Heath Bell, all, all stars and great players in their own name, expected him to be as good or better than they ever were.

[00:08:23] Patrick: Some of the players even said that he was a Hall of Fame caliber player. But he died tragically in a horrific car accident just as he was starting to really come up to double AAA and the majors probably that year. So he’s the only player that I did not directly talk to. But I talked to his family though to fill that gap and the void.

[00:08:46] Anna: Yeah. Wow, that right there is a really good example of, you know, something you, you stated earlier is that there are so many different reasons that a guy’s career might just not work out. Of course, that being one of the more tragic and extreme versions, but, what are some of the other things that you came across in terms of things that just seemed to break a guy’s opportunity or chance to really excel at the game?

[00:09:15] Patrick: I think sometimes I’ve, I had some players who fortunately, or unfortunately, the way that you could see it is that they were kind of saddled with the expectations of a hometown team. Are they still stayed in the area that they grew up in as they were starting to make it? And sometimes those expectations of family and friends and just people around the area just put way too much pressure on them.

[00:09:42] Patrick: Dan Pascua was a, uh, He was born in New York City, then moved to New Jersey. He was a long time Yankees fan. Um, People saw him as the next, , Mickey Mantle coming up. Young center fielder, but the same size, matinee looks. And for a while there, he actually kind of bought into that. He felt the expectation that he was supposed to be the next Mickey Mantle playing center field and the outfield for the Yankees.

[00:10:09] Patrick: In his first start, he talks about being on the same field and in the lineup as players as Dave Winfield and Ricky Henderson, the outfield with them the same day, then looking down and seeing Don Mattingly at first base and even having Reggie Jackson in the lineup card and the team that he’s playing against.

[00:10:27] Patrick: So these were all players he idolized growing up and was fans of. I mean, who’s, who could not enjoy Reggie Jackson or Dave Winfield? And he’s playing in the same field as them in his first start. So just kind of getting caught up in that moment and feeling and then trying to keep up with those players when in reality, when you’re a rookie or young player, you can’t keep up with those guys.

[00:10:47] Patrick: So you got to kind of learn your game and learn, learn who you are as a player and you can trip if you don’t. And Dan Poska kind of felt that pressure and tripped up a little bit with the Yankees and, , he asked for, basically asked for a trade. In a secondhand way, and George Steinbrenner was more than happy to get rid of him, and they sent him to the White Sox, where he still had big expectations, but he was able to kind of relax a little more, and play the game that he could, and he was able to have a nice, uh, second act in the major leagues.

[00:11:20] Patrick: Well,

[00:11:20] Anna: That’s nice to hear that, uh, There were instances where, where players weren’t excelling with a specific team, but you know, it’s, it’s interesting how just a, a minor correction or change can really affect their, their careers.

[00:11:36] Patrick: basically, like, Dan Pascua, and I write in the book, is always actually at his last Yankee game as a teenager, and I wanted to see him play because I always enjoyed Dan Pascua, but he was on the bench. Um, it was the last game of the year, I think, for the Yankees, and uh, he finally got in as a pinch hitter, and I think it was ninth inning.

[00:11:55] Patrick: And it was a meaningless game, and uh, the score didn’t matter, but he launched a ball that was a laser for a home run. And I remember being so happy about it. And then after the game, Dan Pascua was talking to the media, and basically he’s like, Hey, I play like this, I can hit like this. If they don’t want to play me, then maybe they should get rid of me.

[00:12:14] Patrick: That was basically a paraphrase of what he said that day, and a few weeks later, as soon as the Yankees could trade him, boom, he was gone. So, he was just kind of got caught up and excited and really frustrated and didn’t want to play. And you see it all the time, players in their media reactions kind of say what they’re thinking too much or just kind of let it go.

[00:12:38] Patrick: And it happened and he was gone. it’s kind of hard for a kid from New Jersey, New York City. All of a sudden being shipped out to the Midwest, but there are consequences sometimes and he managed well with it.

[00:12:49] Anna: It’s kind of bringing to mind, you know, a perspective that I hadn’t really thought about before, but everybody’s kind of heard of this Sports Illustrated cover curse where these guys who were, I don’t know, 18, 19, you know, they’re, they’re still high school, college guys end up on a cover and. Supposedly, that’s a bad thing because they all just have, you know, there’s a history of implosion among these, these kids who end up on the cover and, As you’re talking through that, I’m kind of beginning to understand that it’s probably a lot less to do with the fact that they were on the cover and more along the lines of they were just young kids who hadn’t quite found their feet yet and were being asked to do an awful lot.

[00:13:30] Anna: Mm.

[00:13:31] Patrick: Well, one of those players in the book is David Clyde. He was the first round pick back in the seventies by the Texas Rangers. And to this day, he’s still the most. Heralded and prized, uh, young high school pitcher coming up. He set every record he could in high school and probably still holds them. and that’s the theme in it.

[00:13:52] Patrick: Like every young pitcher is compared to, uh, Sandy Koufax,

[00:13:55] Anna: Mm

[00:13:56] Patrick: Brian Taylor, David Clyde. , and the expectations on these kids to be the next Sandy Koufax, so hard. David Clyde wore the same number as Koufax, um, even on his first, uh, start. He got a telegram from Sandy Koufax before the game congratulating him and wishing him a great career.

[00:14:14] Patrick: I mean, that’s pressure to get for this young kid whose weeks, I think it was three weeks from playing his last high school game and only, I think, a week after his high school graduation. , boom, there he is starting in the major leagues against the Minnesota Twins against players like, , Rod Carew and Larry Hissel and Tony Olivia.

[00:14:34] Patrick: I mean, see, you have a couple Hall of Famers right there, and he has to go out and face them. And not only did he go out, but he actually pitched a very good game. And the problem with that was, he pitched a good game. So, he was jammed into the, uh, rotation each game after that for the rest of the year.

[00:14:53] Patrick: And whenever he pitched, the stadium would be four or five times the amount of when he wasn’t pitching. So that created a financial incentive for the team to keep him there. And it really prohibited his, uh, development. Uh, one thing I learned from the David Clark interviews was the fact that it’s a big misconception, I mean, misperception out there that he demanded, he and his parents demanded that he be in the major leagues and not be sent down to minor leagues.

[00:15:27] Patrick: That’s not true. The only thing that they wanted was for him to be on the 40 man roster and the team actually demanded that he be on the major league roster and with the team the whole time. So that’s one big thing out there that he wanted people to understand was that he did not demand to be at the big club.

[00:15:48] Patrick: Um, he just wanted to be on the 40 men I get that, but him being up with the parent club the whole time and kind of learning how to pitch. And the major league level is too much for a young kid right out of high school. And he readily admits that now.

[00:16:04] Anna: Definitely. And that used to kind of be the way that it was. It seemed, you know, there, the, the farm system wasn’t obviously as multifaceted with so many different teams and levels as, as it is nowadays. And, you know, I think that that’s potentially a good thing in terms of allowing young players, especially to kind of find their way and, develop their own style before they end up playing against Dave Winfield and Ricky Henderson and guys like that So do you think that you know nowadays we’re gonna see fewer and fewer of these kind of busts By teams

[00:16:40] Patrick: Well, I hate to say bust, but I understand the idea behind it. , I mean, David Clyde pitched a long time in the major leagues, falling just short of enough for his major league pension, which is another story in itself. But yes, I do hope that players are given more instruction, more time to, to learn. And by that, I don’t mean fail, because even if your statistics, you know, indicate you’re failing, they’re really not.

[00:17:08] Patrick: They’re learning how to. How to play, how to pitch, how to be a teammate. And I think that the players definitely need that. Another player that we talk about in the book is, uh, Brian Milner, uh, from the Toronto Blue Jays. This kid, I mean, it will never happen again what he did. I mean, it just, it can’t. He was out of high school.

[00:17:27] Patrick: think, like, two days after his last game, he’s in the major leagues out of high school. He was a draft pick out of the Blue Jays. And, um, not only was he the first high school player that was a catcher to go right to the major leagues without playing in the minor leagues, he was the first catcher at all, whether it be a college draft pick, um, at all.

[00:17:50] Patrick: So he’s the first catcher or player to go right from high school to the major leagues as a position player. And That will not happen again. I mean, college potentially, but you’ll never see a position player go away from high school to uh, major leagues right again. So, his story is kind of funny because he was in a, he wanted to do his high school all star game.

[00:18:14] Patrick: Like as his last amateur game, so he did, and as soon as he finished that game, he went upstairs, he signed his contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, still in his uniform, and the next day reported to the Toronto Blue Jays as they were playing, I think it was in Cleveland. So 24 hours later, he’s in a major league dugout after signing his contract and playing his last high school game.

[00:18:40] Patrick: I mean, it’s mind boggling. And Brian, Brian Milner, I’ve had a chance to become friends with him. He’s a wonderful human being. Uh, he was a very good player, just injuries, bad luck, uh, happened to him. And it’s really. I would say sad tale, but he’s perfectly happy with where he is in life. He later became a coach with the, uh, Yankees and did that as well as a, uh, major league scout.

[00:19:05] Patrick: And his son is a, uh, pitcher for the, uh, Milwaukee Brewers Hobby Milner. So his son is very well himself and his stepson is a, uh, is a pitcher. He is a, uh, batting coach for the, uh, New York Mets. I believe he’s in aaa, uh, batting coach right now. So the people that he’s around in his family have all done very well.

[00:19:25] Patrick: Um, as Brian Milner is kind of a tutor mentor and a parent. So that’s just as good.

[00:19:33] Anna: for sure. I mean, it’s hard to, to categorize that being anything other than things happening the way they were meant to be, you know, so, I’m glad to hear their stories like that. what was the biggest name that you, you got to include in the book?

[00:19:47] Patrick: See, that’s, it’s kind of a hard question because I’m not going to apologize at all. I love the New York Yankees, but I try to make sure that I didn’t make a Yankee centric, but just because of Brian Taylor, he was the first pick in the draft for the Yankees in 91. And he was. Again, supposed to be the next standing Bofax, but he was a young kid from a very poor area and a bad, small, desolate area in North Carolina.

[00:20:22] Patrick: , And he really didn’t face big competition and he didn’t have a lot of refinement to him. He’s just so young. He was only 18 and just wasn’t exposed to much. And the pressures upon him were just so much. And at the time he received the largest signing bonus ever. Major League Baseball. So, in many ways, he wasn’t really prepared to handle that, along the money, the fame, the expectations, and He went to the minor leagues, had a really good first year, and then he didn’t want to go to the, uh, rookie instructional camp.

[00:21:00] Patrick: So he came back home after the year and he ran into problems. And during those problems, he, uh, may or may not have gotten to a, to a fight. It may have been an accident. There’s a lot of speculation. He, he will not clearly define what happened that night, but either way, his shoulder waswas horribly separated, and he was never the pitcher he was before that accident.

[00:21:26] Patrick: He was a kid, left hander, throw 98 101, very easy, slow motion, would fool the hitters, a great hook, you know, the curveball was wonderful, and he was supposed to be like the Yankees answer to Dwight Gooden. And it never worked out for him. And now, he’s lost a lot of money, he went to jail on, on some, on some pretty horrific charges.

[00:21:53] Patrick: But, you know, he works his way out of it. He’s working his best to, to really turn his life around. So that’s one of the more heartbreaking stories in there for me. Uh, because the kid had everything. The talent, the money, the fame. Just slipped away, um, one night with a bad decision to go out and do something.

[00:22:15] Patrick: And the consequences were life altering to say the least.

[00:22:20] Anna: Yeah, you hear stories like that occasionally and it kind of makes you scratch your head, but you have to remind yourself that, you know, these people are human too. It reminds me of, uh, Josh Hamilton when, you know, when he came up, he was drafted by the Rays and, and wound up in all sorts of trouble up in Tampa Bay and, They decided to part ways mutually because they both knew that it was going to be better for him and, you know, look at the career he went on to have, so sometimes it seems like it works out for the better and unfortunately, I guess sometimes it just doesn’t.

[00:22:52] Patrick: absolutely. And it just shows that there’s no amount of money that can really make things good in your life. It depends on what you make of your life. And unfortunately it didn’t work out for Brian Taylor the way that we all thought it would.

[00:23:08] Anna: When you talk to these guys, you know, I guess I have kind of two questions back to back that I’ll ask. The first is, was anybody super hesitant to be involved in a book like this? And then secondly, what was the demeanor of most of these guys when you had the opportunity to talk to them? Were they, kind of sour about it or did most of them have a pretty decent outlook on things?

[00:23:31] Patrick: That’s probably the most amazing thing about the book to me. The players I talked to, none of them were bitter or sour or angry about what happened to them. Many of them saw it as a wonderful opportunity and, and they, most of them took ownership in, in what happened. And they probably wouldn’t change much about where they are now and what happened, what happened in their careers.

[00:23:55] Patrick: Because it was a wonderful journey, they enjoyed their time and, and that was that. Like, , a player in the book is Josh Booty, who was An amazing all right athlete high school. He was all American football player in high school as a quarterback was named one of the top three, , quarterbacks of all time for high school by a Dick Butkus for the all for the Parade Magazine.

[00:24:19] Patrick: The other players were John Elway and Joe Namath.

[00:24:21] Anna: I’ve heard of

[00:24:22] Patrick: So, yeah, so they met Elway then Josh booty like what doesn’t belong in there now and He was basically a better, uh, quarterback prospect than Peyton Manning. They’re both from, uh, Louisiana, the same years, and, and it was Josh Booty that the teams wanted over Peyton Manning.

[00:24:40] Patrick: But the problem was, he was a wonderful baseball player, All American baseball as well. He was roommates with, uh, Alex Rodriguez at the, uh, Junior Olympics, and He was considered just right there with, uh, with A Rod. So, this was a player that was considered a great baseball player as well. He was so good that he was first round pick, high pick in the draft, and he had a choice to make.

[00:25:04] Patrick: Do I go to college and wait four, five years to get a contract in the NFL? Or do I go play baseball and take less hits and play in the major leagues? And he took the baseball contract, the record signing bonus, which he was even more than Alex Rodriguez received the year before. So that’s how, so that, that’s how long he was as a sports star.

[00:25:28] Patrick: and he also had a contract where he was on the 40 year, sorry, the 40 man contract. uh, for the Marlins. And It didn’t work out for him. I mean, basically he was contractually guaranteed to be in the major leagues, um, by certain points.

[00:25:45] Patrick: So he really didn’t feel as he earned his first call up, but it didn’t matter. He still became a major leader and has a world series ring with the Marlins. But he wasn’t happy with where he was as a major league player. He was pretty much, as he says, he was miserable playing in the minor leagues and being a baseball player.

[00:26:06] Patrick: So he did a 180 and tried to go back to college and go to LSU and play quarterback. But by then he wasted three or four years of his athletic development and was kind of all behind. But he didn’t really, because he was all SEC at quarterback for LSU. So he still did very well, but instead of being a first round pick in the NFL like he would have been, if he went to college right away, he became a later round pick and never actually appeared in an NFL game.

[00:26:36] Patrick: He was on the roster and everything else for three years or so, but never actually made an NFL game. so that’s hard for him, but he has no problem at all. Like when I asked him if he has any Has it, you know, hesitancy where he’s at now. He only says that he wishes he wishes that he played football first and then went back to baseball and his biggest regret is that he’s on the Hall of Fame for baseball and football. Which I find to be a huge answer to me, but like I, I mentioned the book, it comes across as maybe people could think he’s being cocky or arrogant, but he’s not, that’s just who he is. He has this supreme confidence and belief in himself where he’s like, no, I could do both and I could have done both. He even talks about, even now, he could play in the NFL.

[00:27:25] Patrick: Um, he’s as old as Tom Brady and, and Peyton Manning, but he’s like, no, I can still make the NFL roster and play. So, he’s confident, and you have to appreciate that, but he’s doing very well in life. He has no regrets at all about where he’s really at, but it’s players like that that kind of surprise me.

[00:27:45] Patrick: Because I look back and go, he didn’t have a lot of playing time in major leagues, didn’t actually take a snap in the NFL, and he’s perfectly content with where his life is..

[00:27:55] Anna: I think that that’s a big lesson for for most people and you hear you hear things like that Occasionally, uh, like, you know, I think of Manti Teo and all the things that happened after after his big scandal and everything and just recently watched that documentary and he seems to be at peace with the way that things kind of shook out for him So I I think the book’s going to be awesome.

[00:28:18] Anna: I can’t wait to read it I know that you know, these human interest stories are They’re the best kind. And when you tie baseball into it, I think there’s, there’s just so much more opportunity for, for great stories and, kind of uncovering why some of these things just don’t work out the way that, that people expected them to.

[00:28:36] Anna: So, 

[00:28:36] Patrick: Absolutely. I mean, like, that’s why I try to write. I love baseball, but statistics can be very dry and boring. I like to get behind the people and what they’re thinking and why they did that and their hopes and optimism and kind of sometimes how it went wrong or how it went right. Then kind of get the picture years later from people around and what they thought as well.

[00:29:01] Patrick: I did that in my last book, The Baseball Miracle of the Splendid Six. And now I’m doing that now with this book as well. And really, it’s just a, I’ve written both books with the idea of that. I just love to learn these stories. And I hope that other people would like them as well. And that’s what I’m trying to do.

[00:29:19] Anna: I love the format of it. I think it’s so unique and it’s such a good, like holistic perspective of, of the players because it’s not just, you know, what they think of themselves or what one coach or person thinks of them. It’s, it’s the collective community and it’s just a, it’s such a complete photo of them.

[00:29:37] Anna: So, um, yeah, I’m super pumped to, uh, to get my hands on it, you know, coming up. So March 5th is when it is officially released, but I think You can pre order now, right?

[00:29:48] Patrick: Absolutely. You can preorder on Amazon. Uh, again, it’s the, Baseball is great. Expectations. and you can also, um, receive it on, uh, Roman and Littlefield, Barnes and Noble, Folks a Million. , so it’s out there. You can preorder it and it’s also, you can get through my website, which is, uh, tdmonty0. The number zero.

[00:30:10] Patrick: com. Um, I do blogs in there about the books and baseball and a lot of other interesting things. So, uh, if you want to subscribe to that, you know, that’d be great as well.

[00:30:20] Anna: Awesome. Thanks Patrick. So before I let you go, we got to touch base on one one thing last time We spoke your your baseball bucket list at the top There was was Fenway Park, even though you are a diehard true blue Yankee fan 

[00:30:34] Patrick: absolutely. 

[00:30:35] Anna: is that still number one?

[00:30:37] Patrick: It is. Although the Truist Park is kind of climbing up there, too. I’m excited to go there. My daughter wants to see Yelch play in Milwaukee, and I think that would be a great road trip as well. But Fenway is just a staple of baseball history, good and bad, and it deserves respect, and I do want to go up there as well.

[00:31:00] Anna: Awesome. Well, then we’ll have to touch base when you when you check that one off. So Can’t thank you enough for joining us today and really appreciate the time and can’t wait to find the book and, you know, read these incredible stories that we just talked about.

[00:31:14] Patrick: Well, thank you for having me. I look forward to hearing what you think of the book. 

[00:31:17] Anna: And that will wrap up this episode of extra innings, special things to Patrick Montgomery for joining us again. If this sounds like something you’d like to do, if you think you might like to be a guest, or a repeat guest on the show, had the baseballbucketlist.com/podcast and fill out an application. 

[00:31:33] Anna: I’d absolutely love to hear from you. While you’re there, take some time to check out the site, build your 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. I would really appreciate it. That’s it for this week. 

[00:31:53] Anna: Thanks so much for listening. We’ll see you next episode.