Latest / Your Dark Companion Podcast / The Texas Rangers & Me | T.R. Sullivan | YDC Ep 240
Transcript
- Ryder, sports talk. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Oh, with the big mic. Oh, okay. Alright. Yeah. Okay. Now I get it. We got a lightning strike, boys. What happened over there, Grego? We had a little lightning strike right outside the window. Alright. Alright. Here's a tip for all these Americano League teams. Don't what? You said tip. Yeah. Tip. Okay. With a p. I would Keep jamming. The ticket the ticket colon. Nothing but a big Gen X jerk off the set. Is this a cool night or what? I know somebody would hear that and go, bullshit. I'm back, bitches. Realized Jerry Royce had a no hitter. Yeah. No hitter in San Francisco against the Giants. Me and three of my friends from USF went to the game. I was the first one to stand in the seventh inning. Another guy standing in the eighth inning. Another guy stood up in the ninth inning and one guy refused to acknowledge the no hitter. Was so mad about it. So but I was the first one I said, boy, I've never seen a no hitter. I wanna see a no hitter. They're all like, we don't wanna see the dodgers, hit the giants. I wanna see a no hitter. Seen them in the minor leagues. I wanna see them in the major. Saw one in Montgomery, and I saw one in Salinas, California. I'd like to see one in the major leagues. Dylan Cease of the blue jays has a no hitter right now underway. Through eight innings. Through eight innings against who is it, Clee? To where the Jets? Yeah. San Francisco. So we're gonna have an interleague no hitter Mhmm. Today, maybe. It's definitely gonna happen. You think? Sure. I think it's great. Love it. I can't predict the future. I love covering no hitters. It was fantastic. Yeah. I love who doesn't love a good no hitter? Oh, I've heard writers who got mad at it mad because they'd have to do extra work. I'm going, you're getting to watch history. I mean, now, you know, thirty years later, I get to I get to tell people I was there for Nolan Ryan's seventh no hitter, sixth no hitter. I think that's I think that's a pretty cool thing to have on your resume that you covered two no hitters. What is the coolest thing you ever got to cover? The World Series All Star Game. Earthquake was pretty amazing. Were you freaked out at the earthquake? No. I mean, yes. I went to University of San Francisco. I'd been in a few small earthquakes where, you know, you feel feel feel the tremble and you feel the hear the roar and it's no big deal and it's kinda cool. And I'm sitting there in Candlestick Park and there's 62,000 people in this big giant concrete stadium. And, you know, they lost the first two games in Oakland, but Will Clark said, you know, when we get to San Francisco, our fans will be roaring and ready to go. So I'm sitting there in the upper deck with Jim Reeves, and, you know, we had an auxiliary press box in the upper deck. And it's about five minutes before the game starts and all of a sudden you hear this loud roar and I'm thinking, wow, Will Clark was right. These fans really are fired up. Next thing next thing, the stadium starts shaking and I go, wow, this is an earthquake. And then the stadium starts rocking violently back and forth, 62,000 fans and overhead there that wind baffle, concrete wind baffle hanging over us. And this place is just rocking. I'm looking around. I never seen anything like this. This huge stadium just rocking violently. And it lasted like fifteen, twenty seconds. And my when it came when it was done, my nerves were shaking. Everybody's nerves were on fire. And then then I didn't realize it at first, but then I realized it pretty quickly. Quickly, there were aftershocks. And the aftershocks were the ones that really fired up your nerves. When we got an aftershock, that really, that really shouldn't. It's just, it's not, it's, it's, it's a rumble and no shaking and it's not nothing like the earthquake, but your nerves are already on fire. So when you when we got those aftershocks and we got them all night long, it just that really just set off your set you off like, god, here comes another aftershock. I'd never experienced aftershocks. I'd experienced earthquakes, but I never experienced aftershocks like I did that night. And they were all night long and they were and they were they were bigger than the the earthquakes that I'd been in at USF. But that that was unnerving. Well, know, you don't know what nerves on fire is all about until you've been on your dark companion. Okay. Well to find that out. Okay. Sounds good to me. This kids is t r Sullivan who has watched more Ranger baseball than I have Woah. Than you have than virtually anybody has. Eric Eric Nadel. Yeah. Eric Nadel probably would have you beat. Yes. When did you start as the beat writer? 1989. Okay. So, yeah, it's probably yeah. What? Eric, John Blake, Chuck Morgan. Chuck Morgan never did road games. So I think I Oh, crap. Yeah. I guess I'd probably have him beat. John Blake. It's a toss-up. Sometimes he'd go on the road. Sometimes he wouldn't like. Exactly. But So it's basically just you and Eric. Basically. Yeah. But, you know, Evan Grant's coming on coming on coming on Yeah. Behind me. He's come coming on pretty strong. But he's gotta get, I told him he's gotta get to 2029 to beat me. I did it thirty two years, his thirty second year will be 2029. No, that'll be his thirty third year. So he's gotta get to 2029 to beat me. He's gotta make it and clear He's got to. Gotta make it and clear it. That's right. Yeah. So It's like Christmas. Right. Yeah. You gotta make it and clear it. Mhmm. Well, that's a long time to stay on the beat, and you did great work. This is T. R. Sullivan who covered the rangers for those many years of the fort at the Fort Worth Star Telegram. That's basically where I knew you from. Yes. And now he's got a new book, The Texas Rangers and Me, a baseball writer's thirty two years in Arlington. And I can't wait to tear into this because I know this is gonna be really good. And if you like a good baseball read, you ought to look into this too because I know t I've known t r for a long time. He is the real deal. He is legit as it gets, and he's not gonna put junk out there. He never did, never will. It's just the way he rolls. I I go so far back. I remember when when Mike and Greg Williams and and Dunham and Miller were just kids running around the clubhouse running tape for their radio shows. And next thing you know, they're big stars. So, I mean, that's how far back I'd go. That's a long time ago there. Yeah. But I it doesn't take me to tell you that. So how's retirement been? It's it's been great. I mean, I I enjoyed it. Done a lot of baseball research. My wife and I, we've been to the Mediterranean. We've been down the Danube. We've been to the Rhine River. We've been to Alaska. Go out to the ballpark once in a while. It's it's good. I 'm sorry. I don't miss it too much. I I was very happy when they won the World Series, but I watched the World Series from with my buddies working out at the plane one of the Plano Rec Centers. When they when they clinched the World Series, we were sitting there in the gym finishing our workout. So that's How did how did the Rangers winning the World Series finally, how did that hit you? Because for me, it was the greatest moment of my sports life, and it will never be topped. I will never ask for anything more. I just couldn't believe it. I mean, like, okay. You remember the season. They're not gonna make the playoffs. They're they're starting to fade. They barely made it into the playoffs. You know, they're gonna face the Astros. And I said, wow. They beat the Astros. And then they get then they get to Arizona, and they're losing the first game. And I said, okay. The bubble's about ready to burst and blah blah blah. Corey Seger's home run is the greatest moment in Rangers history. It's the greatest moment in Rangers history. Yeah. It's one of the 10 greatest home home runs in the history of the game. When he hit that home run, I I go, oh my god. They're gonna win the World Series. They're gonna win. And the funny thing was Greg, I mean, me Mike, I apologize. It's all right. I have. That's why in the minds of many we are joined at the hip. Oh, I'm sorry. For better or worse. I'm sorry. But what happened was, as you remember Mike and Groves, you remember the Rangers never had any pitching. They never had any pitching. That was always our downfall. Had some good pitching when Derek Holland years, Colby Lewis, when they went to the World Series and lost it. But most the time they didn't win because they didn't have good pitching. In 2023 the pitching came back to the Rangers. The Rangers still didn't have that good of pitching but nobody else did. Not one pitcher, there's like two pitchers who threw 200 innings that year. So it came back to the Rangers then Jordan Montgomery and Ivaldi got hot in the playoffs and and they won. I'm like going, that to me is what happens. It's the pitching all came back to the Rangers and no longer did were they at a disadvantage when they went to the when they went to the playoffs? You know, along the way as they were making that playoff run, when it started, I looked at it and I feared three teams. One was the Astros who they took care of. Mhmm. That put them up against the Orioles. And the Orioles were really good that year. That's when the Orioles had been bad for a long time, but or not a long time. They're never bad for a long time, but they'd been bad for a few years. But they had a lot of young players, and it all came together for them. And I thought they were really, really dangerous, but the Rangers took care of them too. And that put them in the World Series. And over in the National League, I really feared the Phillies at that time. But the but the Phillies didn't make it. Arizona took care of them. Mhmm. So here they were going up against Arizona. And I I know this is this is insane to think when your team gets into the World Series. But before that series started between the Rangers and Arizona, I very clearly remember thinking myself, the Rangers are gonna win this thing. Wow. And they did. They did. I remember thinking real clearly that they were gonna beat the Giants in 2010. I thought Well, yeah. I I did too. But but probably like me, you probably vastly underrated how great the Giants pitching was. Oh wee. Sure did. It was no nonsense, man. But when they beat the Yankees, you remember how getting past the Yankees was impossible. When they finally got past the Yankees, I'm like, oh my god. They could beat the Giants. I was on San Francisco radio. I was on the biggest radio show in San Francisco on KNBR. And I I pretty much said, you know, the Giants Rangers are gonna win this. I mean, the Giants had a nice year, but there's no doubt in my mind the Rangers are gonna win it. And boy, I look like a fool, but that's alright. I still remember one of the greatest sports nights of my life was the night that we did eliminate the Yankees striking out A Rod. We were all watching, like, everybody from the ticket was all at the Rock And Rodeo in Denton. Where all we all stayed and watched the game, and the moment that strike three caught Alex Rodriguez looking, everybody went nuts and immediately went to Shoopy and just pretty much had him crowd surfing. Like, everybody was just so happy for you especially. That was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen. Yeah. Up until up until them winning the World Series, that was the greatest night of my sports life. I remember that night because obviously I'm covering the team and and the celebrations on the field and they told the media that as soon as the game's over, you'll be able to go out on the field and and and watch the celebration interview people down there. So I go we go out on the field and everybody's celebrating and everybody's going wild and everybody's going crazy. And I stood outside the dugout kind of where the on deck circle is and I turned around and there was Tom Schieffer who had built the ballpark. He'd been the club president. He'd done a magnificent job as club president and he was sitting there plotting and I was sitting there and I remember just looking at him and we kind of just saluted each other. That was that was a special moment for me just to see Tom Schieffer applauding the Rangers going to the World Series. That was that was a very exciting moment for me. I like Tom. Tom was a good guy. He built that ballpark. Yep. He did build that ballpark. And and, you know, he was on the business side of it and everything like that. And people always like to take shots at guys who are on the business side. Oh, yeah. But Tom loved baseball. Loved it. There was no doubt about it. And I never questioned that about him. You know, he was a business guy and he had to he had to take care of that first and foremost because that was his job, but he loved baseball. Yeah. He knew baseball. We could sit there and talk baseball. And every once in while, we still have lunch and and talk about talk baseball, talk politics, everything. He's still doing well, and he's still in business. He's still a lawyer and doing international law, and he's doing great. I love I love talking to Tom Sheaver. Still see Tom Greve. Tom Greve's still as sharp as ever. Love talking baseball. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. It's great just to sit around and just talk about the great game. Talk about the temple. Yes. Remember when you guys just called it the temple? I said, yeah. That's a good name for it. It was the temple. It was. I mean, I started calling it that because, like, I'm sure you're well, you may or may not remember this, but they would give us access to the places it was going up from time to time Yeah. And take everybody around Sure. To and tell everybody how this was going to be and what was going on here and and what was gonna be out out here at this part of the ballpark and everything. And I really, really wanted to go on one of those excursions, but something told me, no. No. Don't do it. Just wait till it's time to go in there and actually see baseball. And that's what I did. And, man, I will never forget the first time I walked through there. Was one of those preseason games right bef right before the season began that year. Put that put that up. Show that up. Show that. That's the game. They're playing the Mets. That's the first that's the first I ever walked under that field. That's it? That's it. They played the Mets, and I'd never I walked down the clubhouse from the clubhouse down the tunnel into the dugout, and I walked onto the field, and I was so in awe of that stadium. It just moved me. And some guy I don't know who he is. I I don't remember who he is. He shot that picture of me. And a few days later, he gave me that picture. And I said, thank you very much. It's very nice. It was just a little Polaroid shot that you you that you get at wall that you you have done at Walgreens. And I put it up on my above my desk, and it's been it sat there for four thirty, forty years, whatever, thirty years. And then when my publisher asked me, you know, what do you wanna do for a cover photo? And I said, how about this? He says, okay. But that was the day, you must have the same feeling I did, right? Yeah. I'm sure I did. I'm sure I did. Did that come to you right away when he said, what do wanna do for the cover? Was that the first thing you thought of? Yep. Yep. That was the first thing. I said, that was it. That was it. And You couldn't have done better, man. No. Walking into that ballpark, it just something I'll never forget. Just it was a golden day. It was in March. You know how that little golden morning haze on the and everything like that? And I was just like, you were there at Arlington Stadium. Lived there. Oh yeah. Yeah. You remember go from Arlington Stadium, the dugout, and then the clubhouse was back there and you'd walk through that long, long tunnel there. And you walked there and it'd have that like green carpet and concrete walls that were just dripping with mildew and everything like that. And I always reminded me of the Edgar Allan Poe short story, The Cask of a Montalado, where you they're walking through the catacombs of Paris. And I'm like I remember walking through there one time with George Bush. He was he was just the owner then. And we're walking together and there was like water seeping down walls of the tunnel. The future president said to me, TR, do you really think we need a new stadium? What'd you tell him? Yeah, you kinda do? Yes, sir. Do. Well, they needed a new stadium and they got one and it was a jewel. It was. It was. I remember I remember the last year or one of the last years the last year, I was driving to the ballpark one day and and and I came off I-thirty on one of those I think it was Barrett's Farm Road where you and I and I I just looked at that stadium for some reason. I just looked at it and I went, oh my god. I I'll never forget how beautiful that stadium. But why are we getting rid of the stadium? Stop. Stop. Yeah. I fell in love with the old one too. But that said, I understand full well why the rangers did what they did. Well, the problem was Tom Sheaver built a technically a perfect ballpark. But then, first of all, they weren't supposed to play at 07:00. But, you know, with the games going longer and longer, they had to move the time up. It supposed to start at 07:30. It started at 07:00, then left field's gonna be bathed in sunlight. Mhmm. You wait till 07:30, then the sun's gone down behind the behind. Then second all second of all, they had all that flow through air that was supposed to keep the air circulating. Well, then they started everybody started making changes. When Hicks bought the team, they they put that gold club behind home plate. And What a name for a ballpark, the gold club, especially back in those days was when we had gold clubs all around the neighborhood there. Right. You know, now we had our own gold That different was kind of gold though. Mhmm. But we also also, you gotta remember that the gold club was the leather center lounge. And I'm like, oh my god. But anyway, that blocked the air. So all of a sudden, the the With a jet stream and all that stuff? Yeah. It all just changed everything. And then everybody just kept changing stuff. And I remember one time I took my my mother-in-law, my wife, and my son, we went to a ballpark, a game one night, I was off obviously, and we said we got great seats. Rangers got us great seats down down in the lower level and it was hot and stiffling and I'm like, we can't. I said, so we went upstairs to the upper deck and where the wind was and everything like that, it was wonderful. It was like they just changed that boat. Too many people Tom Schiefer studied everything about that ballpark, the wind the wind patterns, everything. And he built that ball ballpark to specification. Then all of a sudden, everybody says, let's get a gold club and make a lot more money. Let's do this. Let's do that. Let's put that that big, souvenir shop, the grand slam gift shop right behind Home Plate, you know that? Mhmm. And that just totally blocked what used to be a big, nice roomy concourse. Now all of a sudden you have like a little little hallway to get through that one. I'm just like going and then Tom and Tom Hicks, God rest his soul, he built that heliport. Oh, yeah. He built a heliport right outside the stadium. You're gonna land in a helicopter into a crowd of people, thousands of people going into the ballpark and here comes this helicopter. And you know helicopters, my dad flew them in Vietnam. Helicopters are pretty unreliable and Tom Schaefer was like, if something happens, there be hundreds of deaths and that's gonna be it. Tom was a visionary. Tom was a visionist. Sometimes he knew the visions weren't. He didn't like the visions that he was getting. Well, I think the Rangers did one thing right here. And they correctly read the tolerance for their fan base to go to baseball games in the middle of July, say, like, on the July 8 when it's it's 09:30 at night. Mhmm. They're in the top of the fifth inning. The Rangers have one more pitcher left in the bullpen, and the score is tied. I don't think the fans had much more tolerance for that. And I think the Rangers read the fan base right, read read the room right, and that caused them to do what they do, do what they did. Now do I like it? No. I wanted to stay stay in the temple forever. But like I say, things change and circumstances change, and and I do understand why they did what they did. And, actually, I kinda like the place. I don't hate it. I was all ready to hate it, but I I don't. Mhmm. I I like it. I like it. I don't like the fact you can't get autographs down by the field. I don't I I do not like that. I refer to as the mode around the ballpark from foul pole to foul pole. You know, there's no place for fans to go down there and lean over and hand a player baseball or or a program or just your autograph book and get an autograph. But, you know, they I I mean, they did the architects did a fabulous job. I mean I mean, there's there's so much about the ballpark you like, but that's the one thing I I do not. I like going to there. I still go to the ballpark maybe couple times a month or so and just check it out. And I love I love leaving the press box and going downstairs and having a beer and sitting behind the stand you know, they had those little standing places behind the lower bowl, and you can sit there and watch the game. And it's still a special place. It's still a special I mean, it's a nice place for what it is. And like I say, I understand why they did it, but a lot of people don't. They still don't. They never will, I guess. The one thing the one thing I missed I missed, they did after I retired, and I was screaming about this for years and years and years, was when they finally put in the pitch clock. Mike, I love the pitch clock. I love the pitch clock. I do too. And I'm sitting there watching a lot of times I'm watching the ballgame with my friends at the gym while we're working out or things like that or maybe at a pub or occasionally at home and I'm like going and the ball game will be in the ninth inning, it'll be two and half hours. And I go, and I'll always scream, where was that pitch clock when I was working? I mean, were nights when I would get home back to playing at 01:00, 02:00 in the morning. I remember one time we had a day night doubleheader with the A's and they had to start the night game a half hour late because they were doing Adrian Beltray night. And they had scheduled that and then they'd had a rain out. So now that we had to do a day night doubleheader, I got to the ballpark at like 09:00 in the morning, 10:00 in the morning and I got home at 02:00 in the morning. That was late in my career. Obviously Bell Trades last years and I like going, I'm getting too old for this. Went home and said, I'm getting too old for this. And that was hard. Those long games were just hard. And I'm glad I'm glad I think one thing baseball did right, I don't agree with all the changes they made, but, the pitch clock, I think, saved the game. I think that really saved the game. They could not let those games keep going three and a You're you're watching gone with a win every night. Gone with the wind is one of the greatest movies ever. It was three hours and forty minutes. Oh, that's that's nothing for our games. Remember, our games would go three hours and forty minutes. You can't watch gone with the wind every night. You don't wanna do that. You wanna see something shorter like mister Roberts or something like that. I mean, it's something quick and easy. But it was just it was just wearing us down. Yeah. They did the right thing with the pitch clock. There's no doubt about it. And I don't hear too many people complain about it anymore. What do you think about the review system that they have now? I was always against I was always against instant replay. I was famous for being the one guy that would was against instant replay. And everybody would say, well, you know, we gotta get the call right. We gotta the call right. Blah blah blah. Go, no, you don't. No, you don't. Because I used to I used to coach basketball in winter because, obviously, that was the only sport I could coach because of my job. But I would tell my players, look, sometimes bad things happen on the basketball court. Sometimes the referee makes a bad call. Something bad happens. You gotta overcome it. Okay? Whatever happens on that court, you gotta overcome it. And I I just to me, it's a replay. I mean, I get it. And I'm sure, you know, obviously, the the perfect game that Armando Galarraga that probably was the straw that broke everybody's back. Now we're to have instant replay. But I was never a big instant replay guy. Just I never was really worried about the balls and strikes. I mean, obviously, umpires blew calls and you know, it was never something that I, you know, I remember one night in San Francisco, Mark Teixeira, this is like Mark Teixeira was on the team and they had a game. Buck Showalter was the manager, and and the umpire blew a call and Acosta rang ranges a game. Teshera hit would have been like a game winning double down the right field line. You saw the chalk fly up. They called it foul, and Hicks blew a gasket, and everybody went crazy on that. And I get that, you know, if they had instant replay, then that ball would have been fair and probably would have changed the outcome of the game. And, you know, I see the point, but I I was never a big instant replay fan. Still not. Who were the managers that you covered? Nine of them. Nine of them? Nine of them. Who give us a thought on some of those guys. I I won't I won't ask for a favorite or anything like that, but but just give us a thought on some of the guys you covered. I covered nine, and I and I liked and respected every one of them. Every one of them. I learned from every one of them. One of the things that and I've told people this, told John Daniels this, told everybody this. One thing I respect about the those managers is that from February to the end of the season, they have to deal with the media twice a day, twice a day. And they were always there for us. They're always patient with us. I liked every one of my managers. Bobby Valentine, I mean, all had flaws. They all had flaws. Bobby Valentine, we know him. You were there during the Valentine years. He could be sarcastic, he could be condescending, he could be Bobby Valentine. He could be abrasive, but I I I really liked him. Johnny Oates was insecure. Johnny Oates was, you know, a little bit on edge, you know. Yeah. Yeah. He would fly off the handle pretty easily. Yeah. Johnny was Johnny was neurotic. I didn't wanna say psychotic. He was a little bit neurotic. You know, Kevin Kennedy, brilliant mind, excellent baseball mind, but he he he did not play in the major leagues. He had a half a season as a Montreal coach. He was in the big he was over his head. I like Kevin, but he was way over his head as manager. He just he he wasn't ready. He needed more time than big leagues. Johnny was an excellent manager, He had a good presence. He was just Johnny had a tough time with owners, and I think Tom Sheaver helped him a lot. I think Tom Sheaver was big for Johnny Oates. I think he really Doug Melvin and Tom Schieffer really helped Johnny Oates become and then when when they sold that team to Tom Hicks, that really, I think that really unsettled Johnny Oates. Johnny told me that he said, Johnny Oates told me one time, I asked him about Tom Hicks, he said, said, TR, anybody who's made that much money in their lives, they had to step on some people's head going up the ladder. So Buck Showalter Buck Showalter knows baseball. Buck probably knew more about baseball. You know, the problem with Bobby Valentine with all those guys, they won too quickly. They won too quickly. And all of a sudden, they're you know, Bob Buck Showalter, first year, they were terrible. The next year, they they what what did they go? Like, 80 they won 89 games. He's manager of the year, and they're they're not ready yet. Their pitching's not their pitching is nowhere near, but they struck they they they struck, you know, cut lightning in the bottle. They had a great bullpen. Those young kids performed well. And all of a sudden, everybody's saying, alright. We're here. And all of a sudden, Mark Teixeira is, like, 23 years old, and he's sitting there. Yes. We our club's gotta do everything they can. Our owners gotta do everything they can to put a winner on the field. We expect them to make every move. I'm like, oh, Mark, you're 23 years old. Go you've been in the big leagues one full year. You know, give it a give it a rest. You know, Hank Blaylock is you know, Hank Blaylock was immature as it can be. He's a talented guy, but, you know, he and all of a sudden, these guys are, like, telling everybody how the Rangers all the moves the Rangers and the Rangers didn't have those moves to make. They didn't have the money. The free agents weren't there. There was no free agents back there. And it it just fell apart. Then and then Ron Washington was just Ron Washington. I just I love Ron Washington. Just love him. How could you not? Love Ron. Jeff Bannister. I like Jeff Bannister. Jeff Jeff he's a lot like Jeff was too much of a football coach, so Jeff had a hard edge to him that rubbed people the wrong way. But he knew baseball and and he knew the game. And Chris Woodward, he was just he didn't get he he wasn't given a fair chance. That team was just falling apart left and right. He he never I like Chris Woodward a lot but he they it was just they'd run out they'd run out of they'd they'd run out of gas. The whole that whole decade, he came in at the end of the deck and they just run out of gas. There was nothing left. Needed a reset. And and oh god did they mess up Joy Gallo. Lord have mercy. I and I told Jeff Bannister this. I said, you gotta anchor him at first base. Just put him at first base and leave him alone. Now one year he's the opening day third baseman, then he's left field, then he's right field, then he's first base. Four years, four different opening day lineups. You know, Mark Tucher, they were smart enough to say first base. Mark Tucher was drafted as a third baseman. Yes. And they had Blaylock and they had this and everybody said, so Buck Schultz said he's gonna our first baseman. You're there. Go hit. And that's what he did. Mark had a great career. And he turned into a a really good first baseman. And now he's in the United States Congress. God, getting about that. Is this a wonderful country or what? Mark DeSheris in The United States in the United States House of Representatives. He was always a smart guy. I mean, could tell that not knowing him any better than I did, you could tell he was a really smart guy that that was And if you couldn't of the world around him. If you couldn't tell he was a smart guy, he would tell you. Yes. He would tell I had a feeling. He would tell you. But but I get all those guy, all those I love the managers. I I loved I loved talking to them. I learned so much about baseball from them, you know, and it was just fun. Was just if if you get them to relax, you know, they were always on edge, but spring training, they're they're they're laid back and things are easy and and but, you know, during the season, everybody's in the tense mode. The one thing I I discovered in baseball is spring training. The difference between spring training and opening day, I mean, it's like a bell has rung and those players and those managers, everybody's demeanor just changes. Everybody just tightens up and suddenly gets serious. You know, spring training, you're having a fun time, and everybody's laughing and joking. And suddenly day one is like, I gotta away from it. Gotta go to work. Gotta go ahead. I gotta go. Sorry. It's okay. Sorry, man. Gee. I thought, know, the other day we're in Port Charlotte. We're having a beer. And I was like, That was then. This is now. Yeah. It's it's funny. What about the general managers that you covered? I only had four and I liked them all. Tom Grieve Tom Grieve and I are much closer. He was my first general manager and I was I he was closer to guys like Galloway and Jim Reeves and the older guys. And he was friendly to me, but he was a tough nut to crack. I didn't get a whole lot out of Tom Greave. Now I'm a close friends with him. I love Tom Greave, but he back then, I was just the new guy on the block. And that's fine. I think new guys, you gotta pay your dues. You gotta prove yourself. These people aren't gonna say, oh, well, you're the new star telegram beat Renault. You're now somebody important. You're somebody special. No, you're not. You earn your way on this thing. But I loved Doug Melvin. Doug Melvin was great. I remember in Port Charlotte, it was so much fun. They had that second story where they had the offices there and in one year, a couple of years they had a media room up there. They let us work there. So the morning news, this was their right, they would go back to their condo to do their work, which was fine. I would go to that media room and I would sit there and I would type up my story and everything. And late in the afternoon, having a lot of time, Doug Melvin would come in, Dara, what are you working on? Oh, I'm working on a story about Kevin Elser is your shortstop or Daryl Hamilton is your center fielder or something. He'd go, oh, did you know this about Daryl Hamilton? He did this last year. He he had this statistic or did you know, Rusty Greer led the league and two-zero count base hits or something like that. I just type it in there and I type something in there and go, what else is going on? And this is right at the advent of the internet. I said, he said, what else is going on? I said, well, here's what's going on in the Giants camp. They're having trouble with their pitching. Said, know, this guy, I heard he has a bad arm and I heard this guy's got problems with his marriage. We'd sit there and talk baseball. He'd sit there and give me all the stuff like that. And we'd I remember one year after the trade deadline. After the trade trade deadline, it was 04:00 that one year. And I was typing up my stories about 06:30. And the Rangers hadn't done anything. I I can't remember what year this was, but I get a phone call from Doug Melt and says, TR, did you see all these trades? Do you see what they did? Do see what they did? We sat there and talked about the trades for an hour, just sit there on the phone. So I I Doug was great. Yeah. He was a great guy. And John I John Hart John Hart just John Hart John Hart's a good man. What he did in Cleveland was historic. Historic. And he set the foundation for what the Braves are doing. And he just he came in here and he just did things wrong and he couldn't handle the criticism. It was a tough time for the Rangers. Things were going bad. And those young kids were way over their head as far as club spokesmen. And and John, you know, he he couldn't handle the losing. He was having a he was he was having a hard time with the rebuild and he wanted to do it one way. And Tom Hicks, all of a sudden, we got Alex Rodriguez. We gotta go sign this guy. We gotta go sign Chan Ho Park. What a disaster that was. You know, he was telling John Hart you know, I remember a guy named Calvin Murray. Remember Calvin Murray? You know, he's a center fielder and he was a Boris client. And this is one year, 2002, all of a sudden the Rangers, you know, Rangers outfield seemed set and all of a sudden here's Calvin Murray. He comes on and I'm going, what are we getting Calvin Murray for? And he had like a great month and a half. And Tom Hicks, oh, yeah. We really need the Calvin Murray. What a great pickup this was. What a great pickup this guy has been. What do you think of him? And I'm like, fine. You know? And, of course, he burned out and he flamed out. Before I knew it, I realized Scott Borys had told Tom Hicks about Calvin Murray and all of a sudden he's in the Rangers lineup. And that just and that just torpedoed John Hart and that just happened all the time. And then John Daniels, I mean, a job. I mean, he I think John Daniels did a great job. I mean, he made a lot of mistakes. I think I think the thing that they should never have done was they should never taken the Naftali Felice out of the bullpen and put him in the rotation. That was the worst mistake they ever made. But beyond that, I mean, Alexia Gondo, what a great move that was. Josh Hamilton, that was a that Josh Hamilton took a that was a little bit of a risk. Yeah. They took a chance on him. You know, Nelson Cruz, they they picked him up. You know, of the things that John Daniels did that trade for the for Mark Teixeira. Well, you gotta give John Daniels credit for. John Daniels had talked to Pat Gillick. Somehow, John Daniels and Pat Gillick got to be pretty tight. And I know Pat Gillick a little bit. And Pat Gillick is a very nice guy. He's very helpful, very forthcoming. So so John Daniels getting ready to trade, mark to share. It's obvious. And Pat Gillick told this is in the book. Pat Gillick told him, don't worry about how old they are or where they are in the system. Just get the best talent possible. Just get the best talents possible. So he's sitting there. The Dodgers are or the Angels are offering Casey Kochman, who's mediocre first baseman. And the and the, Diamondbacks are offering Connor Jackson. You know, both those guys have been high draft picks, but they weren't Yeah. They weren't in Mark Teshera's league, and they they were offering another pitcher. So what Daniels did well is he went with he got two class a kids. I mean, Naftali Feliz and Elvis Andres. He got Matt Harrison. He may remember the trade. We all thought Jared Salta LaMocchi was gonna be the big guy in that trade. Oh, yeah. He was supposed to be the centerpiece. And Jared Jared was a talented kid. He, you know, he caught the Red Sox when they won the World Series in 2013. So he he he had his day in the sun. But getting Harrison, Feliz, and Andrews in that trade by taking it Pat Gillig's advice was a huge thing for the Rangers. Three all stars for that 2010, 2011 team for Mark Tuchera was huge. And then, you know, getting Nelson Cruz as a throw into that Carlos Lee trade, what a great move that was. I mean, he may he made some you know, Benjie Molina was a great trade. I never thought he really got a fair shake. Never thought he got he got the credit he deserved. And at the end, he didn't I just didn't think he got a very fair shake. Well, you know, everybody loved Nolan. Yeah. Everybody loved Nolan. And I think everybody and and I know, obviously, know Nolan Ryan well, and Nolan knows baseball. And Nolan was Nolan, to his great credit, he let John Daniels do his job. The one thing Nolan said was we need to let make sure the manager is involved. I think one thing Nolan didn't like was that the manager wasn't involved as much as he should have been. But I think John Daniels kind of lived in Nolan's shadow. And then when Nolan left in 2014 and the team immediately bombed out in 2014, everybody obviously put one and one together and said, okay, Nolan left and the team stinks. Well, there was a lot of reasons why the team went the way they did. And they came back and won the division in 1516. And another deal that John Daniels made that getting Cole Hamels ended up being a great deal. I was like, wait a minute. Didn't we overpay for this guy? What are we doing giving away all this pitching for Cole Hamels? Well, none of that pitching ended they gave up five top prospects, and none of them ended up being any good. Cole, they got two more division titles out of them, and they should have won in 15, but they you had that famous meltdown. I still can't believe that night. Elvis Elvis I love Elvis Andrews, but that one inning in seventh inning against Toronto when they when they had just fell apart, that's that's probably one of That was tough. That was probably the that was probably the lowest moment for me. Everybody talks about game six in 2011. 2015 was, I think, seeing those guys melt down like that on the field was just tough to take because, I mean, it's one thing where a guy hits a triple or a guy hits a home run or something like that, but when you're throwing the ball away or that was hard that was a hard one to take. This is T. R. Sullivan, and he covered the Rangers for a very, very long time. At the Fort Worth Star Telegram, he has a new book out now. This is it. The Texas Rangers and Me, a baseball writer's thirty two years in Arlington. This is bound to be a good book with stories like he's telling here today. If you're a baseball guy, you gotta read this. We'll be back with, TR momentarily here. But right now, it's time for us to stop down for the dreaded and feared mid show read. Don't be scared, TR. Alright. Do I have to read this on the screen here? Or Yes. And we have HOH. Okay. Mhmm. Alright. YDC. That's us. We're gonna be airing our show Wednesday, July 15, a little later than usual. This will be at 07:00 as opposed to the more customary live at five. The reason for this is we will have the privilege of hosting a very special guest, and that special guest is Hall of Fame drummer Stan Lynch, cofounder of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I gotta tell you, I'm as happy as a little girl over this because this is as close to the heartbreaker circle as I have ever gotten. He is now on tour with his first band project since his time with the heartbreakers called the speaker wars, and they granted little YDC an appearance before hitting the road. Stan Lynch and the speaker wire speaker wars will play in Dallas July 18 at the Kessler. Doors open at seven. Show time is at eight, so catch us next Wednesday, July 15, a bit later at 07:00 as opposed to more customary live at five when we will be hosting the great Stan Lynch. And get your tickets to join me at the Kessler for Stan Lynch and the Speaker Wars, Saturday, July 18, showtime, 08:00. Tickets are available at the speakerwars.com. Okay. Now let's get into something else here I need to talk to you about. And I'm speaking to a very small sect of you out there. Hopefully, it's small. I'm speaking to those guys who are roaming through this world in pain. If you are and you would like to do something about it, I have a suggestion for you. What? So you were right. I just she looked at doing differently, and I was like, what is What? Going Well, keep going. You're doing great. You're doing awesome. As I was saying, if you're rolling around through this world in pain, I have suggestion for you. You probably tried this or tried that. Maybe it's worked. Maybe it hasn't, but you want something that will make you feel better. I don't know if this will fix it for you, but it will make you feel better. And you need to go to the CBD House of Healing and check out what they've got for you. Their owner is a registered nurse. They approach everything there from a medicinal standpoint. This is not a head shop we're sending you to. This is the full spectrum sapstick. This is what I've been using when something hurts, and it does make it feel better. Now if it'll do that for me, it'll do it for you. But how are you gonna know until you go in there and try it out for yourself? There's no sense in roaming through this world in pain. You got nothing to lose. Go by there. Check it out for yourself. The CBD House of Healing is located at Northwest Highway and Easton Road. Is that it? Oh, crap. Plano. Plano. Plano Road. That's it. Yeah. I'm sorry. Where's Easton? Look. I'm an old guy. Okay? Northwest Highway and Plano Road. It is in the northeast quadrant of that intersection. Stop by there. Tell them you heard about it from us here on YDC and start your healing at the CBD House of Healing. Have some breaking news from about thirty five minutes ago. Dylan Cease and his no hitter, not so much. I knew it. Lost it in the ninth. I believe Did not happen. First batter of the ninth, I believe Helio Ramos got a single and Helio. He done. Alright. Every time So there will be no no hitter. I don't believe in jinxes, but I'll go along with this because yes. How many no hitters have you seen, TR? I've seen five no hitters, Mike. I saw two Nolan Ryans. I saw Kenny Rogers. And technically, I saw Mark Burleys. I saw the whatever they call that Chicago Ballpark now. Don't even remember. The new Comiskey Park. Guaranteed Rate Field or whatever. Yeah. And they put the new press box down the right field line. It was a cold night, so they shut the windows. And let's just say I didn't have a great view of it. So I put an asterisk by that name. And then I saw Jerry Royce throwing no hitter in San Francisco when I was in college. He's pitching for the Dodgers. A bunch of buddies of mine went from University of San Francisco to the game. And I was the first one to start applauding in the seventh inning and slowly eighth inning, another guy started applauding, ninth inning, another guy started applauding. And then after he threw the no hitter, another my another one of my buddies just sat there and cussed out the Giants. How many near no hitters did you see? I I don't know. The one I remember the most is U Darvish. You remember that second game of the season Yes. Against the Astros down there in Minute Maid Park, the ball through his legs. That was a heartbreaker. He was you, Darvish, is just an amazing thing. You know, I remember when they signed him. Do you remember when they signed him? Were you at the press conference? Did you go to the press conference? No. I didn't go to the press conference, but I remember when they signed press conference? Ashley was there. It was like it wasn't a press conference. Was like a coronation. It it wasn't at the, it wasn't at the Media Room downstairs. It was up in the Hall Of Fame Room. And, I mean, it was like royalty. Everybody was like royalty. We didn't even get a chance to say hi to you Darvish or didn't get a chance to meet him. Everybody was in coat and ties. Rafael Palmeiro was there. I mean, it like a who's who thing of it. And it was just, I'm like going, wow. So he was there, you know, five years. They never wanna play he never won a playoff game. Somebody told me he he could win two Cy Young Awards with the Rangers. He had a couple of all stars, but, you know, he almost came close one he had won second place in the Cy Young voting one year. But I mean, it's just amazing what the expectations were. You know, it's it's amazing, Mike. You know, we get these guys. You know, Jose Quinceco. Remember how excited we were to get Jose Quinceco? Oh, yeah. And then we got Will Clark. Remember we had a big press conference for Will Clark out in the right center field thing while all the construction was going on. And then we got Alex Rodriguez. That was another big one. They had they had the that was funny. We had the press conference at the ballpark and it a weekday, I guess it was a Monday. Yeah, was a Monday. And a big ice storm was coming in. A huge ice storm was coming in. So Alex Rodriguez does his press conference. I live up in Plano, which is normally a forty minute drive. I was gonna sit there, normally I just sit there at the ballpark, go into the press box, type up my story. Great. Send it in, go home. Well now I'm thinking about this ice storm. So finally I said I better run home and type my story and work at home. So I get in the car and it was about 04:35 o'clock. I get in the car head up to Plano. Well the next thing you know, you I was at the Star Telegram and if you have an ice storm you're gonna have early deadlines. So suddenly we have early deadlines. They said the early deadlines are 09:00. So now I'm in gridlock. Now I'm in gridlock and my cell phone, I had a primitive cell phone and I was running out of juice on my cell phone. I didn't have any, you know, the battery or the cord or anything like that. So I'm going up Preston Road through because there's no toll roads. This is back before the toll roads and everything like that, before the the bush was completed. So I'm all I can do is go up Preston Road and it's gridlocked. And I'm screaming at my screaming at my desk at Fort Worth. I don't know what I'm gonna be able to do. I'm not I'm not gonna be able to write this story, blah blah blah. And I'm trying to wind my way through Richardson Streets to avoid press, and I can't do it. So finally, my boss says, look. Pull over somewhere and just give me the quotes and we'll write the story there. You're in Fort Worth. I said, okay. So I'm somewhere on Preston and Arapahoe, somewhere around there. So I go into the sports bar. I don't think it's still there anymore. I think it's something else. So I go to the sports bar and I have my notebook there and I have all the quotes there. First of all, it's bar, so of course we've got the jukebox on. So next thing, it's a dark bar. So now I gotta find a place where I can read my quotes. So I go into this alcove between the men's room and the women's room and there's a is a payphone there. This back, remember they had a thing called a payphone? You can give it to So now I'm gonna use a payphone. Well, there's the light in this alcove is out. So the only way I'm gonna be able to see my notes of what Alex Rodriguez said was I had to stretch over and open the door to the men's room so the light would come streaming out so I could read, like, the quotes What a beating. Of Alex Wright. This is the 252,000,000, the biggest story in Rangers history at that point. And I'm sitting there reading my quotes to my boss in an alcove of a sports bar with light streaming out of the men's room. Fortunately, he actually did a good job. Because, I mean, this is basically this this is what Alex Rodriguez said. We didn't have you know, we had all the background the day before and everything like that. So, yeah, well, before we're talking about the the Alex Rodriguez story, that that was a that was a mind boggling moment for me. What do you think of the status of the game today? I love the, excuse me, I love the fact that it's moving along fast. The games are going in two and a half hours. They finally shortened the games. The pitching is just mind boggling to me. I mean, I just cannot believe that after four or five innings, the pitches are running out of gas. I mean, you know, it used to be seven or eight innings. We you know, Bobby Wood would throw a 140 pitches. Now was that a good thing? Derek Holland, Colby Lewis, did they last a long time? Probably not. I don't know. But these you know, to me, the future of the rangers, to me, it's gotta be Kumar Rocker and Jack Leider, and it's not happening. And you and I, you've been around as longer than I have. I mean, the history of the rangers, the bottom the the biggest theme is how these young pitchers always flame out. It just is mind boggling to me what happens to arrangement. You can go back to Dave everybody talks about David Clyde. Okay? Well, what they actually had was David Clyde, Tommy Boggs, and Jim Gideon. Yeah. Three, Clyde was number one overall. Boggs was number two overall. Okay? And then Gideon was an all American from Texas. One game in the big leagues. He was a first rounder too. One game in the big leagues. Those three guys should have carried this team well into the late seventies when they had Buddy Bell and Jim Sunberg and Al Oliver and those guys those guys should have been the heart of the rotation. Then you go back to Bobby Witt, Jose Guzman, and Edwin Correa. And then you go to, you know, the the remember the year in '96 they drafted four guys in the top two rounds. They are RA Dickie, Sam Arsenic, Corey Lee, who who pitched one inning, Carlos Delgado had a grand slam off him, And another guy it. That's right. He did. So they get this guy, Sam Arsenic. This is great. They get Ari Dickie. Ari Ari Dickie is their number one draft pick out of Tennessee All American. Okay? He's on the US Olympic team. So with four other guys, I can't remember who they are. They're all I think Matt Cain might have been one of them, but they had five all American pitchers who were on the US Olympic team. And they're all on the cover of Baseball America. And the Rangers trainer says, Ari Dickie's arm looks a little strange. We need to look at this. The next thing you know, he doesn't have a ulnar collateral ligament. How bizarre is that? I mean, this is the history of the rangers. We come up with some beauties. God, I hadn't thought of that story in years and years. '96. That's the way it came down. '96, their top draft pick doesn't have an ulnar collateral ligament. So now they're so now this guy, Sam Marsonic, is their twenty third overall pick. He's a high school kid from Tampa. Mom wants him to go to Florida State. Nobody wants him to go to the Rangers. Everybody's ready for him to go to the Florida State. The Rangers panic and say, we gotta get this guy because Ari Dicky doesn't have an ulnar collateral ligament. So they signed this guy. Nolan Ryan comes in and he's backed in, he's just like a special advisor. And they give him $830,000 which is a huge bonus. Well, he goes out there and it turns out he's a drunk. He's a drunk. I'm not this is well known. He was a drunk and he had a lot of problems. And he's just a total washout. Total washout. Years later, he becomes a minister. He has a complete conversion to to Jesus Christ, which I highly endorse. And now he's working with kids and he's made he's he has a great life and he's doing great work. And he apologized to Doug Melvin. He called up Doug Melvin one time and said, look, I'm sorry that I did what I did. I know it really and it and it cost Doug Melvin big time. Yeah. Because that that '96 draft was supposed to really carry them into the early two thousands. Know? But then, you know, they all flamed out and then then then we had Thomas Diamond, Edison Volkaz, and John Danks, the DVD. So Diamond, he's in instructional league and he's pitching against some team. It might have been the Arizona Diamondbacks. I'm sure it's one of their instructional league teams. So he's out on the mound and he trips and falls on the mound. This is there's there's there's nobody out or nobody out or nobody One on, nobody out. And he falls down on the mound for some reason he trips or something like that. And of course, the Arizona Diamondbacks kids all start laughing. They're you know how kids are. They just start laughing. Diamond blows up and he just starts cussing at him from the mound. Don't you ever do that again. You know, blah blah blah. Really goes out strikes out the side in order. Nine pitches, they're done. I hear that story and we all hear that story and we see this guy pitching the minor leagues and go, we got it. This guy's gotta be it. I remember telling Buck Showalter, if this guy doesn't make it, I'm gonna retire. If this guy doesn't break the curse, I'm gonna retire. Everybody talks about Danx, everybody talks about Volkis. Thomas Diamond, first round pick in 2004 maybe, at the University of New Orleans. Two years later, Tommy John surgery. DVDs flame out. They trade John Danks for Brandon McCarthy. So now we have Jack Leider and we have Kumar Rocker. I mean it's just and the other thing that really killed here's another thing that really killed John Daniels as general manager. Okay. They go to the World Series in 2011 and they got two great young pitchers in Derek Holland and Matt Harrison. Great young looking pitchers, left handed, wonderful kids, great talent, Colby Lewis. That 2012 team just looks awesome. That 2012 team just looks great. Colby blows out his elbow. So we have to settle for Ryan Dempster. Matt Harrison has one good year and then we find out that he has spinal stenosis. He's done. Derek Holland trips over his dog, breaks his knee. He's never the same pitcher again. They call it Martine Perez. Martine Perez was a fabulous kid. Even John Daniels will tell you this. They rushed him to the major leagues way too early. He flames out. That group, they had signed Matt Harrison and Derek Holland and Martine Perez to long term contracts. They were supposed to carry the Rangers well into 2020. That was supposed to be it. That rotation in 2011 was the best rotation they ever had. By 2014, Alexey Ogando, Alexey Ogando. But then what did they do? They moved fleece into the rotation, moved Ogando into the bullpen. They both flam out. Colby breaks down, Derek trips over the dog, Matt has a congenital back issue. By 2014, that whole rotation's gone. It's totally disappeared. Incredible. I mean and now they got now they have all this young all the all these first round picks. I mean, again, one overall, two overall, whatever they were. You know, Cole Reagans, a top pick. Two Tommy Johns. Not one. Two Tommy Johns. So finally, they traded for a Dolis Chapman, which was a good move because he helped win a World Series. If you make a trade for a guy to win a World Series, then you have to do it. But now Cole Reagans is an all star for the Royals. Rocker and Leiter, they're not there yet. No. They're not here yet. And it's almost like tell me it's not gonna be deja vu all over again. You know, Colwin's I like Colwin, but he's he's a middle reliever right now. It's it's almost like when are any of these young pitchers ever gonna have an extended role? When they ever get to the point like Mark Teixeira did where we have to sign or else? They never do. I mean, CJ Wilson, who you know, two years and it was he was gone. So, yeah, it's just it's mind boggling. Still, the pitching that the Rangers run out there these days, you know, and I know it's it's not like they developed these guys or anything like that. They went out and signed Jacob DeGroman and and all the rest of them. But still, it's it's kind of against that backdrop, the backdrop of the way it's always been. It's kinda mind boggling to watch. You know, DeGroman's won two Cy Youngs, and everybody says how great he is. I think he has, like, 100 career wins. He's like 37 year olds. He has, like, 100 career wins. Yeah. And and and you're lucky to get five, six innings out of him. I was looking at that the other day, and it it kinda blew my mind a little bit that the way, you know, people talk about him and everything and the the touts that he gets and, you know, deserved maybe, but still, you expect a few more things on the board than that. I mean, Nolan Ryan was 42 years old. Struck out 300 batters in a season. You know, Kevin Brown threw a two I remember Kevin Brown throwing 265 innings. You know, he was a young, hard throwing right hander. I mean, he had a long and successful career. He did. And I just what is it that why are these guys all of a sudden five and six inning pitchers? That just I I I don't understand. I mean, the year I mean, the year the Rangers won the World Series, they had two guy the bay baseball had two guys to 200 innings. I mean, 20 wins, forget about it. I mean Is it just the nature of the game now? I just you know, suddenly, people started realizing that after after two times in a rotation, the hitters suddenly have the advantage. You know, it used to be used to be, Mike, do you remember when they'd say, you know, a guy's just getting rolling? He he got through the first two innings. Remember Nolan or Brown or those guys? The first two inning. Bobby Wood was a guy. Bobby Wood, you had to get Bobby Wood early. Mhmm. And and a lot of times it did, but then he would get on a roll and he'd pitch six, seven, eight innings. Now it's like two two turns to the rotation and now it's like, well, they've got you figured out. The stats should say they've got you figured out. We got to get somebody else in there. I'm like, I don't remember that being the case. I don't remember that being the case. I just I see all these new stats now and everything like that and it just it's mind boggling. I'm like, I don't know why was this so good for guys like Nolan Ryan and Charlie Huff and Tom Seaver. And I mean, you know, and and I have to admit, you have to admit, there are a lot of pitchers from those era who we don't remember who blew out. You know? Yeah. Nobody remembers Brian Bohannon who was the number one pick for the Rangers and Mhmm. And he bombed out. But it's just it's just mind boggling that now they pretty much concede that starters are gonna go five or six innings and that's gonna be it. It's a crab shoot. A bigger crab shoot now than ever. The book is this, The Texas Rangers and Me, written by T. R. Sullivan for many years on the beat at the Fort Worth Star Telegram. Now enjoying retirement. Yes. I am. Kent, thank you enough for this, man. It's been a blast talking to you. I love this. Thank you for having me. I appreciate you plugging the book. So Looking forward to reading it. Okay. Alright. Thank you, Shoopee. Thank you, Ashley. Thank you, Becca. Thank you, you. And let's not forget that what we need you to do is share us on your social media. Help us get out there because the farther out there we get, the farther out there we get. If you know what I mean. And I think you do. I don't think we have a choice. No. You don't have a choice. Till next time. Bye. Bye. Alright. I'm gonna go take my pants off. You're Dark Companion is a stolen water media presentation.