A life in MLB ballparks brought to life

When you spent 16 summers in every ballpark chronicling the Pirates and Twins as a local ballpark reporter, you see the innards of every stadium and clubhouse in baseball. Our longtime South Philly pal, who has traveled the regional sports network pathway en route to Pittsburgh, comes back to Baltimore to talk about his first gigs as an in-stadium hype man for the Bowie Baysox and Baltimore Blast. MLB reporter Robby Incmikoski tells Nestor about his newest project and book of photographs and stories about what makes big league baseball diamonds so special to the men who play the game.

Nestor Aparicio and Robby Incmikoski discuss Nestor’s 27 Days, 27 Places challenge, sponsored by the Maryland lottery, where he will eat at 27 different places over 27 days. They reminisce about Robby’s career in sports journalism, including his time with the Baltimore Blast and Bowie Baysox. Robby shares his new book, “Sacred Grounds,” which features stories and photos from every current MLB stadium. They also talk about the changes in sports media, the importance of accountability, and their favorite sports moments and venues. Nestor highlights his 27th anniversary and his love for Philly pretzels.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Nestor to visit Sabatino’s restaurant in Baltimore with Robbie the next time he is in town.
• [ ] Robbie to provide Nestor with information about his new book “Sacred Grounds” and how readers can purchase it.

Baltimore Positive Introduction and 27 Days, 27 Places Challenge

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the show, mentioning the summer months and the ongoing training camp.
• Nestor talks about the 27 Days, 27 Places challenge, where he will eat at 27 different places over 27 days, ranging from $1.50 to $20.
• The challenge is sponsored by the Maryland lottery, and Nestor will be giving away items beginning on Thursday.
• Nestor mentions the Philadelphia Phillies playing the Orioles and how it inspired him to feature Philadelphia-related items in the challenge.

Nestor’s Relationship with Robby Incmikoski and Baltimore Blast History

• Nestor reminisces about Robby Incmikoski, who was a hype man for the Baltimore Blast many years ago.
• Robby corrects Nestor about the stadiums, mentioning the first Mariner arena and then Royal Farms.
• They discuss the Baltimore Blast’s wins in 2002 and 2004, with Robby recalling the excitement of those games.
• Robby shares his first job experience holding a microphone between innings for the Bowie Baysox in 2003.

Robby’s Career Journey and Media Experience

• Robby talks about his career, starting with the Bowie Baysox and then moving to the Baltimore Blast.
• He parlayed his experience into a 16-year career as a reporter and host for Major League Baseball, covering the Minnesota Twins, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Texas Rangers.
• Robby mentions his current break from baseball and his enjoyment of spending time with his family.
• Nestor and Robby discuss the changes in the media industry, including the impact of streaming services and social media.

Challenges in the Media Industry and Personal Reflections

• Nestor and Robby discuss the challenges of working in the media industry, including the impact of social media and the changing landscape of sports coverage.
• Robby reflects on his decision to step away from baseball to focus on family and personal well-being.
• They talk about the importance of accountability in sports journalism and the changes in player behavior over the years.
• Nestor shares his own experiences with media challenges and the importance of integrity in journalism.

Robby’s Book Project and Personal Stories

• Robby introduces his new book project, “Sacred Grounds,” which features stories and photos from every current Major League Baseball stadium.
• He shares anecdotes from his interviews, including a story about Joe Douglas and Cal Ripken Jr.
• Robby discusses the process of gathering stories and photos for the book, including the challenges of coordinating interviews and transcribing interviews.
• Nestor and Robby talk about their favorite ballparks and the unique experiences of each stadium.

Nestor’s 27 Days, 27 Places Challenge and Personal Favorites

• Nestor explains his 27 Days, 27 Places challenge, which includes his favorite places to eat in Baltimore.
• He shares his love for Philly pretzels and the significance of pretzels in his life, from childhood memories to his time covering sports.
• Nestor and Robby discuss their favorite foods and restaurants, including Sabatino’s in Baltimore.
• They reminisce about their experiences with sports and media, including their interactions with legendary figures like Bert Blyleven.

Final Thoughts and Farewell

• Nestor and Robby reflect on their long-standing friendship and the impact of sports on their lives.
• Robby shares his gratitude for his career and the opportunities he has had to work with talented individuals in the sports industry.
• Nestor expresses his admiration for Robby and his contributions to sports journalism.
• They conclude the conversation with well-wishes and plans to stay in touch.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Baltimore Blast, Bowie Baysox, Philadelphia Phillies, Maryland lottery, 27 days 27 places, Robby Incmikoski, sports media, baseball history, minor league operations, social media impact, accountability, sports fandom, book project, ballpark stories, sports journalism.

SPEAKERS

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Robby Incmikoski, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive we’re getting through the summer months here training camp. Lucas is out in Owings mill, sweating it out with the fake football and hopefully no injuries. I am going to be eating it out all month long. 27 days, 27 ways, 27 places, 27 different price ranges as well, down to like I think one of my items is $1.50 and maybe my most expensive ones 20 or 30 bucks. But it’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery, where you can press your luck, the lucky sevens, doublers. I’ll be giving these away beginning on Thursday. We’ll be at the Beaumont. We are counting them down, 27 days, 27 places that I really eat, my favorite places to honor our 27 years, I’m gonna get rid of my 26 oyster and along rice highway, I collect people, and I sort of slot them and say, I want to get this guy on when this thing’s happening. And the Philadelphia Phillies were playing the Orioles, and I started to think about all right, I got to get some Philadelphia people on some Philadelphia stuff. And it’s not really about the Orioles, because they stink. But even though this is happening and it’s August, and my 27th item in all of this turns out to be the Philly pretzel factory, because I fell in love with those crazy pretzels when I was a kid. So Bel Air, I’m coming for you on Tuesday. Robbie kowski has been my friend. I have known him since he was and I I don’t want to be disrespectful, but I want to call you the hype man for the Baltimore blast many, many years ago down at the then probably was first married. It wasn’t first married royal farms. I don’t know which

Robby Incmikoski  01:46

was. It was first Mariner arena, and then it was royal farms after that.

Nestor Aparicio  01:51

But you weren’t blast, not spirit, right? It was the blast, no, Baltimore blast. It was 2002

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Robby Incmikoski  01:57

and 2000 or, I think was Oh 304, they won the title. I believe both years they

Nestor Aparicio  02:03

beat Milwaukee in oh three. I was out there for that one at the Bradleys,

Robby Incmikoski  02:07

or yeah, oh four, yeah, they won that on the road. And I can’t remember who it was at home that they played, but that was, that was a lot of fun Ness, doing those Baltimore blast games I was at the did the buoy base Sox as well. That was my first job holding a microphone. Was between innings Oh 203, with the Bowie Bay socks. Because the Philadelphia based company, Comcast, Spectacor owned the Frederick keys, the Bowie Bay socks and the Delmarva shorebirds, and the President of all the minor league operations. They own a minor league hockey team in Philly to the Philadelphia phantoms, who have now since moved to Lehigh Valley. But they were run by a Philly guy who sent me down there. Say, you want to get some experience on the microphone. He sent me to Bowie, Maryland for the first,

Nestor Aparicio  02:51

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first time you held a mic. Was in in the buoy based ox stadium, doing between innings, we’re milking the cow. Basically, yep,

Robby Incmikoski  02:59

printed crawfish catch milking cows. I remember Travis Pastrana, who’s a Baltimore native, was did a visit with us before he got super famous. I believe it was the Crawford’s crawfish catch we did. There was a bunch. Was Phil ry there. Then Phil Oyo hat, Phil. Phil ry is, is a legend. Yeah, he’s alleged, right? So I hope Phil sees this. What’s up, Phil, that’s my buddy. Man. I love that guy. He’s working for the Naval Academy now, I believe,

Nestor Aparicio  03:28

dude, I didn’t even know this about, like, I know you from blast. Yeah, I did the base socks before that. Well, I mean, I want to give you, like, all the flowers, because you spent two decades chasing the pirates, the twins. You worked in television. You literally did a job that maybe is a little bit with Rob long and and Melanie Newman do on massen right now. Or yes, you know Amber Theo Harris was doing 20 years ago.

Robby Incmikoski  03:59

Amber was my colleague. Yeah, I know Amber. Yes, she was my colleague when she was with the Orioles. I was with the Minnesota Twins, so I was fortunate enough to parlay a gig be in the between innings, MC for the Bowie base Sox, and then doing the Baltimore blast during timeouts, halftime, pregame, post game, all that stuff. Finishing that, I parlayed that somehow into 16 years as a reporter and host of Major League Baseball. I was with the Minnesota Twins for four years, pirates for 11, and then last year I worked with the Texas Rangers, but I was a backup last year, but pretty cool experience, and this year, first time since 2009 excuse me, 2008 that I haven’t worked in baseball at all, and it’s nice to be able to enjoy a summer here.

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Nestor Aparicio  04:43

Well, what is it like? You’re doing a book, you’re doing stuff. I mean, I think when you made your and look in the modern era, everybody like you who’s collected, friends, fans, family, viewers, listeners, readers, Social. Media people, whatever. Well, I mean, you’ve told stories. You put me on the air in Pittsburgh. I did when my wife had battled the first time we were doing the tour. Me you and Mike Tomlin and my wife did a hit in pitch. Remember that? I remember 2015 you did all the charity angles, all the community stories, man in the stand so, like, you collected a lot of people. You’re a good guy on top of all of that, but you grew up two blocks from the vet in South Philly. I always think of you as, like, sort of born into that, like, being a knot hole gang kind of kid at the vet, running around eating, probably, pretzels that I love. Yeah, you know, through all of that, but making this thing happen, you had to, like, give a social exit. Listen, I’ve had friends at the close businesses down, and have to put that thing up like, Hey, we’re shutting down. I am literally, today is my 27th anniversary today. Thank you. I haven’t had to do that, but I’ve had to make a lot of changes and hire people fired people. You know, my wife’s clearly, her battles were all out there. But like, that kind of message that you’re like, like, look, I’m tired of being on this carousel of, like, chasing baseball teams. I chased my dream. I did. I’m going to do something else. Yeah, there’s a lot of people I had Michael buchtel on this week who worked in sports. He worked for the capitals, went on to do law things, and he said Brian Murray pulled him up outside of the Philadelphia told me this an hour ago. He said, Brian Murray pulled him up after, you know, the hockey career, and he said, You’re smart guy. You went to law school. Go buy tickets for sports and sit in the stands. You’ll like it more than working in it. And I think for anyone who grew up like you and I did there, it’s been very trying, being in the media, having any part of the media in any way we saw ESPN and NFL are now sort of code length. I I feel for anyone you know, all of my friends, and I think, like Brent Harris is a guy that I’ve known for years, it did sort of a similar job, a similar role. Rob Carlin’s another guy we mentioned the base Sox. He’s involved down there for a minute. It’s just, it’s been very tough to be in the industry and in any way in sports, behind the mic or in front of the mic.

Robby Incmikoski  07:10

Well, I think, well, the business has certainly changed. That’s for certain. I never thought. And I’ve talked to my colleagues, my bosses, my co workers, everybody, just where we are in regional sports. And I know, Nestor, you’re such a big fan of Madison and how that is run, right? You know, I it’s just the way the business has changed has really impacted the way the business kind of operates. And I know that sounds kind of ridiculous, but I guess my overarching point is we never thought we would see the day where TV rights for a regional TV rights for sports, major league sports teams would be where it is right now, just in terms of bankruptcy and where we are, you know, everybody’s watching, you know, TV here on a cell phone, as opposed to on a television. So essentially, with streaming and YouTube and, you know, Hulu, Netflix, all the subscription services that are out here. It really has impacted the way you’re seeing it, Major League Baseball now, just how teams don’t spend money because the TV rights deals aren’t there. People don’t realize many of these owners can play in front of an empty stadium and still make money just because of their TV deals. So with that said, Yeah, I mean, I could chase a job in baseball all around the country, but I don’t want to move from year to year. You know, I just hit a point in my life. I’m turning 50 in a couple months, which is kind of hard to believe in itself, but, but, you know, some of it comes down to lifestyle, and you’re right now, as you mentioned, sitting in the stands, I went with my buddies to about five or six games this year, pirates games. That is because still live in Pittsburgh, is how much I enjoy watching baseball as a fan, how much I enjoy walking up to the ballpark, you know, 15 minutes before first pitch, as opposed to going in at three o’clock for a seven o’clock game and having a hustle for three straight hours. And then you get a quick bite. You hurry some food down your throat in the press room and get ready for a pregame hit. Now, there’s nothing wrong with all that. I loved it. I did it for 16 years. I made a great living. I’ve been very fortunate to do it. However, I realized, as changes are happening, and people, you know, like, I don’t know, I don’t want to come off as bitter, angry, because I’m really not. I’m thankful at the time I had,

Nestor Aparicio  09:18

but the bar has just been lowered for what the role has become, a little bit, you know, it’s kind of like a little bit of a showy thing than it is, like hardcore, you know, telling good stories and, you know, digging into people’s connections and really making people root for the fans, you know, or Well, my question is always knowing ball, yeah, yeah. And that was always the bar that the players held me with my last name Aparicio, and it was like when I broke when football came back to Baltimore, Marvin Lewis pulled me into his office and challenged. And I have written about this. I’ve talked about it Marvin, and I’ve talked about it publicly. He challenged how much I knew, and if I didn’t know anything, what was I doing? On the radio, and I should know more. So he and and Jim Schwartz took it upon themselves to teach me more football,

Robby Incmikoski  10:07

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right? And now it’s more a popularity contest on social media, you know, than anything else. And it started around 2012 1314, when social media became integrated into broadcast. Now, and I don’t know, we just see a shift. And you know what, Nestor, I’m very, very lucky, and I’m very fortunate. I’m very happy with the career I had working in Major League Baseball. I did the Minnesota Timberwolves as a host and reporter for three plus seasons, Minnesota Wild University, Minnesota hockey. And then I did the pirates, and, you know, pirates full time. Then I did Pittsburgh Penguins, pregame and postgame. Maybe, I don’t know, 1015, games a year, as the backup to the main guy. So I’ve been very blessed and fortunate, and that’s what took me to where I am. Now, you know, I wrote a book. We’ll talk about that in a second, but, but I don’t know. Man, it’s just kind of the business changes, and it’s like, hey, you know, I was in Texas last year, and I loved it there. It was a fantastic experience. But I realized I didn’t want to move away from my family. Wasn’t anything against the Rangers or against the Metroplex or, you know, or the state of Texas. I loved it down there. Was amazing, super hot the summer, but it was amazing, but it just bigger things matter now. Family Matters, being able to go home and kind of figuring out what’s next. Plus, I was outgrowing the role. Anyways, you know, you can only at some point, the players are great, right? These players are fantastic at baseball. They’re the best in the world at playing baseball. There’s no arguing that. But at some point, like, I don’t know, you kind of outgrow, you know, a 2223 year old baseball player making you wait for 30 minutes so he can give you 30 seconds of his time and act like you’re annoying him, you know? And it’s like I kind of had enough of that, like, I don’t know again, I’m not bitter, angry. It’s just I just outgrew the role. That’s all so I’m glad you’re

Nestor Aparicio  11:49

confirming what my reality would be, because I just I, I’m I. It doesn’t have to be that way, but it’s sort of managed, certainly here it’s managed that way by the leadership, and it’s very, very unfortunate. And really what the teams have become are a reality show. It’s as much like broken rules, or like the Osborne’s, where every part of it is filmed, captured, edited, sanitized and themed, quite frankly, and you know, to fit the suit, whatever the Johnny Bravo thing is. And I’m like, I don’t watch sports that way. I perceive it differently. I know it to be different from the inside out, that the real hard knocks is real, and that’s the real story, not the sanitized version. And I also know, and you know, being a hard scrabble South Philly kid who grew up on Eskin and grew up on Conlin and grew up on, you know, all of that and and grew up with Baldinger playing and being criticized. Oh yeah, that part of the deal is, and this would make Joe Flacco different around here. Is it sort of is part and parcel of, I mean, I heard Ben McDonald late into a broadcast the other day on trade deadline day. He was talking to Melanie Newman. I literally had fallen asleep. It’s an afternoon game. I woke up, and they’re doing way into the post game, and Ben was going on and on about Charlie Morton standing up in front of his locker, win or lose, being there, being accountable. And I’m thinking these young guys are saying, you know, calling us boomers for wanting accountability from this, because it’s just not expected anymore. And that, and that’s that’s the reason to be in front of the locker is to get an honest account of what happened, what could correct it, what went wrong, what went right, and then the credibility of the guy with the microphone or the typewriter or the radio, whatever it would be, the media outlet, is having the credibility to call it the way they see it. And that’s a Philadelphia thing or a Baltimore thing, yeah, but it’s certainly not an American thing, American sports thing. Well, in modern times, in modern times? Well,

Robby Incmikoski  14:04

first of all, I worked with Charlie for a couple years with the pirates, and he is absolutely one of the classiest humans. I know. He got traded, but I remember when he signed his first contract extension with the pirates, I think he got it was around 20 million or close to it. I can’t remember the exact numbers, nor is it relevant anymore, but I remember talking to Charlie after he signed it. He was like, Hey, man, how much money do you really need? And that shows how grounded Charlie is, you know. And I think a lot of fans might say that, you know, you see a guy who’s offered 500 million. No, I can get 600 million. Well, what’s the difference between five and 600 million? Well, I mean, it’s about setting a standard. It’s not about the dollar value. So I learned a lot about that aspect of sports and how they operate, number one and number two, you’re right. There’s not as much. I don’t want to say accountability, because there’s certainly a lot of accountability. And the pirates, let me say for the record, the pirates treated their media outstanding. They were really, really good to us as team partners. They were really good to me and. As THEIR TEAM REPORTER for

Nestor Aparicio  15:01

a lot. I want to say Jimmy trudenic was always the greatest guy ever in Pittsburgh to me, so I want to give him full love

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Robby Incmikoski  15:08

Jimmy’s great Danny Hart, we have Patrick curse for a bit. Terry Rogers was left and come back is a plus. I mean, these guys are fantastic. The pirates had a pretty good culture, but I think times evolve a little bit. Now, players have become brands, right? They just have, you know, you saw Cordero Patterson the other day break his own news about being released.

Nestor Aparicio  15:30

Paul Gaines

Robby Incmikoski  15:32

is a rock star, right, right, and He’s unbelievable. I I’ve never worked with Paul. He was drafted my last year with the pirates, so I’ve never even met him, but I know you know, 30 people who work with him every day, and everyone says How unbelievable this guy is, how accountable he is, how hard he works, how great a teammate he is, and that’s why he’s a generational talent. It’s a shame the pirates are struggling his first two years with a generational talent like that. But I guess kind of, I had a few things kind of crystallize a little bit my head the last year, ness and look, I’m not going to generalize the whole business, because there’s so many players who are accountable, who stand there and answer the questions win or lose, right? But ultimately, these guys are human beings who are great at baseball. They’re not like, I don’t like, I’m not really impressed by how much money somebody has or, you know, they’re just great. They’re, they’re, they’re normal human beings with an unbelievable ability to play a game. And I realize now a lot of these guys who I covered are personal I have become personal friends who I still talk to quite a bit to this day. You know, when I’m doing the book, guys have reached out to me like, Hey, man, whatever you need, you call me. So a lot of people have been really, really really good to me from that aspect. But then there are other guys, like, kind of a little bit of a younger generation. I’m not like an old man get off my lawn thing, but it’s like, hey man, like, I’m here trying to make you look good. So why are you going to look at me? Like, like, I’m a real pain in your right now, like, I’m just asking a couple questions about baseball. I’m not asking about, you know, I’m not going below the line about anything. We’re just talking little bit of baseball, and that’s all because fans love that. We’re an intermediary. You know, fans root for who they like. So my job was to make the fans like these guys, and it just became a little bit more difficult over time, because where you feel like you’re more of you’re more imposing than you are helping. So I was kind of like, you kind of look at that. And it’s like, all right, I’m 49 I’m not going to sit here for somebody just make me. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, so I can do a 32nd sound bite. Like, that’s insane. Like, just

Nestor Aparicio  17:29

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see the reason they threw a guy like me out wasn’t about that. The reason they threw a guy like me as they didn’t want me asking questions about Justin Tucker. They they didn’t like it. Lamar ran the ball 21 times in a game and had to play four days later, I asked about it. How dare I Right? You know, like so when you’re trying to limit what questions I’m allowed to ask, it’s crazy. That is, is no longer that. That compromises every part of my integrity over 40 years of doing this. And I’m, I’m not gonna, dude’s not gonna abide, you know? I mean, it’s just, it’s not, it’s not my role to do that in regard to billionaires or millionaires, or 100 millionaires, in the case of John arval, who should have to answer questions about going down and standing with Donald Trump and not being proud enough. And not being proud enough to take a picture, but hiding it. And they should have to answer questions about Justin Tucker. And they should have to answer questions about drafting a kid who had sexual assault allegations in college. They should have to answer questions about how a guy who went out and blew a double deuce on a DUI that they would then bring him back in, it wasn’t even a starter, and give him fresh money and a fresh contract. Like, that’s all happened in the last five months here, oh yeah, that’s all happened in the last since January here, oh wow. So, um Yeah, and that’s why they don’t want people like me around

Robby Incmikoski  18:56

and it’s more like ass kissing and trying to be everybody’s buddy, which I’m okay with. You want to be, because when you develop relationships, I feel like you kind of get better stories. You know me developing relationships with the guys you know, mom, dad, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, son, daughter, anybody you really and you, you earn trust over time. And I’ve been very, very fortunate, which is, quite frankly, ness what enabled me to do this book are my relationships that created around the game. And, you know, I interviewed 122 different people for this book. And it was like, I look back on it and it’s like, wow, how did I able to get how was I able to get this story, that story? Well, it’s kind of relationships. And you know that I’m not a gossip monger, you know. And unfortunately, as you know, you know, a lot of people just sit down, they just tweet, and they never show up, and they cause headaches. And what happens is that kind of bleeds into the credibility of all the good media members out there, because there are a lot of good ones. And you’re right, tough questions should be asked. Like, it’s not like, oh, you can’t ask a question about, you know, what happened with just. Tucker or, you know, I me, personally, I’ve always thought sports should just be sports, and politics on both sides should just stay out, because sports is like a refuge to me. That’s my personal opinion, but I get it. We’re not in that era anymore. That’s how it goes these days. So, okay, so just have it both ways and have it both sides. That’s the only thing I always really wanted, was criticized both sides equally. And these people are human beings. John Harbaugh, Super Bowl winning football coach. Great guy. Comes from a great football family, but ultimately he’s just John Harbaugh. You know what I’m saying? Like, it’s like, I don’t know, I maybe I just view it differently because I’m not in it now. But these guys, like, I don’t need to be their friend. I just want to work with them, tell their stories, and then we both go about our business. I don’t know if that makes sense, but it’s kind of changed. Well,

Nestor Aparicio  20:44

then there’s relationships like you and me that, you know, we meet at a blast game, and here we are. Robbie kowski is my dude. He is up in Pittsburgh. He is a covered sports for two decades, if you remember the hype man at the blast games or the old base Sox games, yeah, he’s that guy. But I always think of you with Baldinger 20 years ago and trying to get you into the business. And baldy and I’ve remained close all these years later, and he’s got his thing going on with his breakdowns, and he’s running around camps. He was here in Baltimore last week, and I text him up about eat some good food. And I think of you as the South Philly guy who really part of that media thing that you know about, even though you worked in the inside for the team with the mic, with the flag and all of that is, you know, the criticisms part of this, going back to Mike Schmidt, going back to Dr J going back to, like, your childhood and all of that in a town like Philly, five miles away from Flaco, who understood it That way, the next generation doesn’t understand it that way, in the same way, for sure, but there is something about you wanting to make a life in sports that was about you growing up in Philly. I mean, look, I last month, was 40 years for Live Aid. I attended Live Aid, so I had my buddies on who did in London. We did a big thing over beers at its at 1623, but I’ve been coming to Philly forever and ever and ever, and there really is a demarcation, I swear to God, when I run around the Joe Biden bathrooms on 95 there, where you pull off, like when you come out of there, you pass that little Starbucks out of there. Used to be a used to be a little sabar rose and a little circle bathroom here with Beats, oh yeah, now, but now it’s Gucci, and hoochie coochie and Popeyes and whatnot. Joe Biden, the whole deal. Once you go out of there, you hit your blue ball Avenue and your wilming, you’re in Philly. You know, I mean, like my cousins grew up in Newark, right at 896 right by the stadium at the Delaware like, right about there, North everything’s Philly, Philly, Philly, the Philly thing makes a lifetime of a kid like you running around Minnesota and Pittsburgh and doing all of that. I mean, it was really all Philadelphia based, which is why I reached you on this Phillies thing. Like, once a Philadelphia guy, like, always to me.

Robby Incmikoski  22:59

Oh, yeah. Oh, no doubt. I mean, it’s definitely, you know, it’s a special fraternity, you know, that everybody has in Philly. And the one thing I’ve come to realize is the level of sports fandom in each place, which is kind of cool. You know, Philly fans are obviously in your face. They’re loud, you know, they’re rude at times. You know, the old 700 level if that was was a circus act and all that. But you know, their passion and their authenticity is something you can’t replace, which is kind of why I love Baltimore too, because Baltimore sports is again. It goes back decades and generations. Same thing you could say for Pittsburgh. I lived in Phoenix, Arizona too, and it’s such a transient city that it’s hard to find fans of like the Phoenix Suns from, you know, the 80s and 90s these days, you know, it’s just different. It’s just, it’s different. But, yeah, when you talk about Phil, I mean, they’re in your face. It’s, I mean, ultimately, they’re good people. They’re welcoming people. But sometimes it gets a little aggressive, gets to be a little bit too much, but you’re right. Man like Philly Sixers, flyers, eagles, I mean, it’s being a Philly sports fan is like no other, and the national reputation that they have, sometimes is deserved, sometimes it’s unfair, but you’re right. I mean, it’s kind of crazy to think Ness, you know, an hour and a half up by 95 you’ve got Philly fans. You’ve got, you know, Eagles fans, you know. And then you go down to Baltimore, and you got Orioles, you know, you got the ravens, you know. And

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Nestor Aparicio  24:30

obviously Dewey Beach last week, and I’m going to be in Ocean City next week for Mako doing the show, right? The amount the infiltration that you’ll see, especially in Ocean City of pirate Steelers, eagles, you know, Phillies, ravens and Orioles, like it’s a confluence there, when you really see the Philadelphia element of everybody wearing the hats, and what a big deal those brands are. And I guess that would be my point to you, is in. Led you on a passion for sports that you’ve you still haven’t dropped. You’re still doing books on sports at 50, but like, it’s, it’s been your whole life because sports was that important to you, and it’s not that important to the socals who grew up in San Diego. No offense to Adam Jones, but it’s just not that important in the way that it’s important in our communities. Well,

Robby Incmikoski  25:19

there’s other things to compete with too. I mean, Adam Jones grew up in San Diego. You have the beach, you have, you know, you know, you got games and quarter, you got Beach, yeah, you beat but you got great weather. There’s so many things, surfing beach. There’s so many things you could do out there. You know, in Philly in the winter. I mean, it’s eagles and you’re having beers like, that’s kind of what it is. Let’s just be realistic. You know, you’re not battling six other things that you could do. You know, in the winter, you know, the winter in San Diego is still 75 degrees outside. In Philly, you’re lucky to get the 3545 you know, in December, January, excuse me, so it’s just kind of, I don’t know. I love it, man. I embrace it all. And when I live in Pittsburgh, I tell people I’m from Philly. You know, they roll an eye. Dude, you lived in Minnesota. You saw some cold ish, oh, let me tell you something that that Minnesota cold, man, let me tell you something. I tell people for three months a year, there is nowhere else you’d rather be on planet earth than how beautiful Minnesota is in the summer, but when you get to the winter months, oh my god, you’d rather be anywhere else, but there it is so cold

Nestor Aparicio  26:27

when Luke and I were standing under the French fry stands and waiting for a bus, a shuttle bus, to take us from the Mall of America back to our hotel, our courtyard in Bloomington, right across the Richie highway there, look like White Marsh mall, but bigger mall America. I love that week. I loved everything about it, other than the Eagles fans being there. I’m making that up, but it would have been kind of fun at Minnesota had the home game, but I, you know, I spent that week there, and I love Minnesota, and I come up, I will come for concerts that fight the mosquitoes as big as my head, I’ll do all of that. But there is something about you don’t forget when you’re like Ralphie, and you look down, it’s literally five below, and you’ve got radio equipment that you’re hoofing out of the second floor of the mall, and you’ve been in this giant mall, and now you’re out under this french fry, literally orange lights like a french fry waiting for your bus to come to put you on. And it’s five below. And then there’s that Juicy Lucy, which I kind of thought was under overrated. I mean, he and I did the Juicy Lucy at the little bar, and it just wasn’t. Maybe it was a cheese I don’t know, man, but like, conceptually, I like the Juicy Lucy, but like, let’s be real, man. I mean, maybe I need to eat some sturgeon or some walleye or something, you know.

Robby Incmikoski  27:47

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Well, yeah. I mean, that’s a big thing there too, but yeah. I mean, you’re not wrong, but it’s territorial, you know. Like, you know, nobody has somebody outside of Minneapolis with a Juicy Lucy is they have no idea, you know. And then in Minnesota, juicy, loose. Oh, where are you going? The match you go in this place, that place, and it’s so

Nestor Aparicio  28:04

I gotta go to several different places for juicy Lucy’s. Yeah, I think it’s a

Robby Incmikoski  28:07

big thing. I’m not, I’m not a burger eater, so it wasn’t my thing. But I know what the content put the cheese inside the burger. Cook it melts. You open it up, the cheese drops out and everything. It’s gooey. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Very, very popular. I’m sure people love it. Just, you know, wasn’t something I was personally into, but, I mean, it was cool, man, it’s been a great. It’s been a great life in sports. It’s been a great, you know, all these experiences have been awesome. You know, working with three baseball teams, couple NBA teams, it’s been, you know, it’s hockey teams. It’s been real cool, man, I’m thankful for all the experiences of all that. You know, you can tell great life stories like this, you know, well,

Nestor Aparicio  28:45

let’s tell a book story, because I got to get the book Robbie aposties. Here he is hanging in Pittsburgh. Last gig there was covering the pirates and the penguins and some other stuff. Now you are sort of what is going on in your real life. This is my chance.

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Robby Incmikoski  28:59

Yeah. So what I did was I elected last year and not not. And that’s not to assume that they would have hired me anyways, but the Rangers were looking for a full time reporter the Texas Rangers. And, you know, after realizing kind of where I was in my life, you know, I thought, You know what, I don’t want to chase a job in baseball. Had some discussions with other teams for a part time role. But again, the logistics of it are just so hairy, and you spend so much time away from home. So I said, You know what? I traveled Nestor in 2017 the pirates were having where they were going to play opening day at Fenway Park in Boston. And if you remember around that time, that is when cell phones really started to advance in terms of technology and how cell phone cameras were getting just so, so good and so advanced. And you know, you know, it was around that time when we started to realize that the camera on your cell phone was taking pictures almost good as the camera that you bought. So, you know, it’s kind of crazy, like a real camera. Camera. So I decided to buy a digital camera because the prices were dropping, and for like, four or 400 I can’t remember. I love to look up what I paid for, I think was like 404 50 bucks. I bought this little compact Sony digital camera, and it took unbelievable pictures. So I was like, You know what I want to capture opening day at Fenway Park. And then I caught the bug Ness. I started taking pictures of every ballpark around major league baseball, and I realized at some point in time I wasn’t going to have this job forever. So if I’m going to have a chance to travel Major League Baseball and get paid for it, make a living doing it, then I’m just going to enjoy the free time I have at the ballpark. So I would go to the ballpark an hour early a lot of days and just walk around for an hour and just take pictures while the ballpark was empty. And

Nestor Aparicio  30:46

you’re talking to a guy on a show who did 30 ballparks in 30 days that you were right enough. So, like, right? No one appreciates that more than us.

Robby Incmikoski  30:53

Like, well, yeah, so my gold Nestor originally was to just make, like, a Shutterfly album, you know, personally for myself, like, just have it in my house. And I’m like, You know what, I’ll put 50 pictures from every ballpark in there. And if people come over and they’re in the ballparks, they can just see a bunch of cool pictures and just flip through, check out each ballpark. You have questions. Ask them if you want to go to a place, ask me. And then I sat down with an author who I met. I had coffee with an author, a guy named Kyle Fager, who is, who I who co wrote the book with me, and I asked him to have I asked him to go to a coffee shop, to have lunch and coffee, and I brought my camera. I said, Hey, I have this crazy idea. And tell me if you think I’m stupid or smart or anywhere in between. I said, What if we started calling people associated with each ballpark, and got stories associated with each place, but maybe we don’t get the main story, but maybe we get the story behind the story. So I started racking my brain and saying, Who do I know associated with each place? And then what I did is I started searching for whatever the top 10 moments were top five or 10 moments were every ballpark. What are the big moments in baseball history that happened at current ballpark? So we only did current ballparks. We did not do any other ballparks in Oakland. Does count as a current ballpark. We did an ode to baseball in Oakland, so that counts, but we just decided to do every ballpark. So for example, I looked at Baltimore and a guy you know, who’s a very close friend of mine, Joe Douglas, worked for the Baltimore Ravens, helped him win a World Series. Well, my World Series, Jesus helped him win two Super Bowls, and then he went to the Eagles, helped them win another Super Bowl. And Joe people may not realize, grew up in Richmond, Virginia. He is a die hard Cal Ripken and Baltimore Orioles fan. Then he ends up working for the Ravens. So we spend an hour talking on the phone. He’s like, hey, we stopped recording. And he tells me stories, Hey, man, here’s one you’ll appreciate. And he tells me the story of when the Ravens lost the AFC Championship game in 2011 Okay, so they’re in Baltimore. They lost. The tough game, I want to say, was the patriots who beat him. I can’t, I’m almost positive 2011 but I have to go back and check my notes on that. But anyways, it was a crushing loss. You know, in Harbaugh. John Harbaugh gives us, you know, great speech about, you know, how the days are long but the years are short. Ray Lewis goes in and talks, and then they kneel down for this prayer, and Joe Douglas is kneeling, and he feels this hand. He’s like, this hand is huge, and I’m holding he doesn’t even look. He just gets down and holds a hand. Whose hand is it? Cal freaking Ripken is next to him, and he had never met him. This is childhood. All of a sudden, he’s holding his hand in the locker room of the Ravens after they lose the championship game, and Cal was just standing way in the back, staying out of the way. And I guess he had, you know, obviously, had been invited or whatever. But that is little anecdote. That story is in my book. So, you know, just kind of cool anecdotes like that. I’ll give you one more now, when I

Nestor Aparicio  33:52

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see Cal, I’m going to ask him about that, because that was the Billy Cundiff game when cundieff Missed the kick. Man, that was you talking about Stan dude in a media in a media term that was 11 years ago, 12 years ago. Now that we’re talking about that, well, actually, 13 years ago, they lost. 12 years ago, they won, right? Yeah, so they lost that condiff game this year. Mark Andrews dropped the ball in Buffalo, yep, didn’t show up at the podium at all right? Billy Cundiff missed the kick. Billy Cundiff was the first one right at the podium because I was there and the and Lee Evans, who dropped the ball and got the ball stripped in the back, he stood at his locker and answered a question. And that’s, that’s the way it used to work. It doesn’t. Now, it doesn’t work that way anyway, right, right,

Robby Incmikoski  34:44

right, because social media is a big reason why, but, and you’re right, but, so here’s another cool one. So you know what I did? Nestor is crazy, so I looked up. So for ball, I’m just putting in that there’s stories. Every chat, every ballpark, is a chapter, and we have highlight pieces between each chapter. From random people, baldies one talking about the pace of football versus the pace of baseball, how football’s violent collision every 30 seconds. Baseball in 30 seconds. You have time to tell a story about somebody’s Grandma, you know, and a pitch might not even be thrown in 30 seconds. So he talks about the beauty the pacing of baseball. But anyways, I looked up the box score from the night Cal Ripken broke the streak, and I was looked around like I wonder if I know anybody that played in that game. As it turns out, I do. Jeff Houston, former utility infielder who calls himself the Forrest Gump of baseball, has been part of some major baseball moments. Is he started third base next to Cal the night Cal broke the streak. And I’m like, this would be a cool perspective. Everybody’s heard from Cal on the street. What was it like for the other guys that night? What was it like in the clubhouse? What was it like standing 3045, feet, 30 feet from Cal when he sets that record? Jeff Houston made the last out before the game became official. In the bottom of the fourth inning, top of the fifth the game’s official, right? So, like he launches into the story about how it was he and Jeff manto. They were playing the California Angels that night, and him and manto, because one guy would play when a righty pitched, Houston would play in a righty manto play when a lefty pitched. And they started looking, because you knew when Cal was going to break the record. You knew that months in advance when that was going to happen. So what he did, they did was they started looking at the rotation, and they realized it was going to be a righty facing the Orioles that night. So Houston got to start. So he sent me a picture. He’s got these great photos autographed by Cal, and he gave us one of them of Jeff, when cows, you know, tipping his cap and Houston standing there cheering for him. And it’s just pretty cool to get that account of that night. You know what it was like, picture of him shaking President Clinton’s hand as he walked through the clubhouse before the game. Just so many cool stories like that are going to be in there. So

Nestor Aparicio  36:57

that’s one perspective. It’s a snapshot I got right? Yeah? Quick. It’s

Robby Incmikoski  37:01

quick reading. It’s quick stories. And then the QR code links to the site where, if people really want to dig into it and have time, they can do that. So they have time to, you know, read each transcript, each story, all different kinds of things. So, so it’s been, it’s been, I mean, it took a year to put it all together. It’s been ridiculous to do. Just when you’re corralling you, you’re nailing people down for interviews, and you’re setting times and you’re transcribing, I do that all day, yeah, yeah, exactly. Book form and then produce the website. So it’s the websites parallel with the book. So it’s kind of a little bit of a twist on media with where we’re going, you know, utilizing the technology, you know, like QR codes, and it takes you right to a site where you can read more about it. So just a bunch of stories, like, probably about 120 530, I don’t know how many exactly, but over 125

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Nestor Aparicio  37:51

130 140 stories in this book that you’re gonna get. You have any more to find

Robby Incmikoski  37:55

it. Robbie, so we can get we’ll go get this. Yeah, so the book is called sacred grounds, and it’s so we decided I wanted to do everything by myself, to oversee the whole project. I wanted to be in charge of everything. So it’s at my personal site. Robbie ants, r o b b y, I n c.com, R O B, B y, I n c.com, you could click on the book and you can see a bunch of photos, read a bunch of stories. There’s a whole bunch of stuff on there you could read. Doesn’t cost anything. We’re not charging people to go on there. We just want people to buy the book. Support the project. $55 book, $5 shipping. It’s pretty reasonable. It’s really going to be high quality. We’re going to come out in November with the physical book. So I appreciate you give me a chance to talk about this now. Oh,

Nestor Aparicio  38:34

man, you know that I just It’s summer. We haven’t gotten together in a while. Yeah, I didn’t know what had happened that I saw you. Sort of goodbye to I’m not going to be doing the baseball thing, and I just, you know, out of concern and friendship. But then the Philadelphia thing happened, and I saw you were doing the book, and I’m like, Yeah, I’m getting my dude on. I had no idea this started with the Bowie Bay socks, the things I learned when you would you go deeper into friendships that you’ve after four

Robby Incmikoski  38:58

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years. Yeah, the whole journey started Bowie Maryland, then the Baltimore, and then Philly, and then I, you know, went on my own to Arizona, and that’s where everything kind of took off from there. So I’m really, really lucky to, you know, to do what I’ve been doing now. So believe me, there’s not an ounce of bitterness or anger inside my soul. I’m very thankful to spend 16 years as a major league baseball announcer, and I’m just real thankful for it. Happy to be able to tell stories like this to you. Bobby

Nestor Aparicio  39:23

And spakowski is out there. You can find him. I added Robbie I NC, and he’s also adding social media and doing all that stuff. And I always have our night with Burt Bly 11. I mean that that will always, that will always be, you know, I know how Bert treasured it, you know, trying to hand me his 1979 World Series ring and I would refuse to touch so that’s

Robby Incmikoski  39:42

right about that. I know. I know pirates beat the Orioles. I know I’m sorry. Circle me, Bert, you know, circle me. I would say we did that every day in Minnesota for a long time. That was our hit that be talking about lottery. It was circle me, Bert, brought to you by the Minnesota State Lottery. Circle them. We gave some. Lottery tickets, and we had a great sponsorship deal back in the day about 15 years ago.

Nestor Aparicio  40:04

Well, I have pressure luck, but I’m not going to put the whammy on you. Last thing for you, it’s, it’s my 27th anniversary. Literally, today, as we’re recording this, I’m doing my 27 favorite things to eat. It’s brought to you by the Maryland lottery as well as Curia wellness, which is why I’m wearing my blunt person shirt. Um, so I’m every day this month, I’m going to drop a vignette and a quick story and some food of the places that I really love the most. So okay, all month long, I’m driving Ocean City. So there’s a couple of Ocean City things going on and places along the way that involve not so much crab cakes. There’ll be a couple of crab cakes involved in this. But like the Philly pretzel to me is, and I explained this to Micah book a little while ago. Nothing better being out in front of the spectrum in the 80s, live eight and 85 I went up to the vet to see strawberry play and Gooden and to see Fernando pitch and to see oral Hershiser and Eddie Murray was with the Dodgers. So, I mean, I’ve been going to the vet since 8080, 81 whatever. So the pretzels, they were like a thing there then, but the internet wasn’t a thing. The cheesesteak thing, Tasty Cakes, Schmidt’s beer. There were some Philadelphia things, right? But the pretzels were always what I would get when I would leave to get on 95 abroad, to get the hell out of there, to go up over the bridge, where it always smells like Uranus, and I don’t mean the planets, so you know what I mean, like when you you’re driving over where that smokestack is. But while I smelled not Saturn or Neptune or Pluto. I’m always eating out of one of those bags that I got from those kids the grocery shopping carts, right? With the pretzels, right? Yeah. So then in 92 the Phillies are trash, right? Nobody’s going to the vet, but Camden Yards has 3.8 million people every night in Baltimore. And I was like, you a reporter going down early, walking through the city, when there’s 3 million people going to Oriole games, there were always vendors sell from Philly who would come down and sell pretzels. And made it a little bit of a Baltimore thing where, like, Messina and I would eat them after games on the way to Hooters, right? We would, we would buy a pretzel walking out, right, 35 years ago. So Billy pretzel factory, yeah, is the chain that does them. They’re in Bel Air. And anytime I get near Bel Air, it’s like finding a Waffle House north of Richmond when you’re near it. So I the Philly pretzel is my number 27 and it’s not really even because, like, we’re playing the Phillies, or you’re coming on, or I’m going to get to go to Bel Air on Tuesday and get one. It’s just sort of like, I think it needs to be featured. It’s one of my favorite things to eat. I go out of my way to get it.

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Robby Incmikoski  42:58

There’s nothing like a South Philly pretzel. A federal was the place where we went to federal pretzels and we had a chance to drive into town and get them. It was something special. Now, pretzels used to be a quarter a piece. That’s maybe I’m showing my age. Now, I went to go to the Philly pretzel factory. I think I paid like, $2 I’m like, I just paid $2 for a pretzel that should cost 50 cents,

Nestor Aparicio  43:21

three for five bucks, and it’s a bargain at any price. It’s like kissing the Fonz,

Robby Incmikoski  43:25

right? It’s the but pretzels are, there’s nothing better like the middle pretzel when they went like not the end. I like them out of the oven, though, right out of the office. There is no better food that I grew up eating more than the Philly pretzel cheese steaks. Yeah, it’s like crab cakes in Baltimore. Cheese steaks in Philly. They’re all delicious. I love the food and candy. I love that place. My second favorite ballpark in the country is Camden Yards, but the Philly pretzel is unmatched. There is

Nestor Aparicio  43:54

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no what’s your number one stadium? I’m not gonna let you do that. It’s just being a homer. Yeah? But you know what? You can’t Dodger Stadium, Royal, Royal state. Those are my places. The Royals

Robby Incmikoski  44:05

are great. Dodger stadium’s a giant pain in the ass to navigate. It’s, don’t get me started on Dodger Stadium. It’s beautiful when you get in, but getting there and navigating it is, is brutal being a reporter. There not an easy experience, but, but, but point being, yeah, it’s, it’s the Philly press was unbelievable. Camden yard is the greatest. And I love that place, and I love Baltimore, and I love being on your show. I love all this, Nestor. I love Baltimore. Man. It’s one of my all time favorite places to be. Where do

Nestor Aparicio  44:31

you have a Baltimore place? When you come in, you go,

Robby Incmikoski  44:34

yes, where’s your place? Alright, can we mention names? It’s anything you want. It’s plug away. Now, I think you might know this because you and I ate there with burp Lyle Levin, years ago, Sabatino. You go to Sabatino,

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Nestor Aparicio  44:47

Italy. I Renato, my boy. What’s up? Renato? If you’re listening, it’s it is my favorite stop. And when I look around the country, because of Major League Baseball, you find restaurants in every. Every baseball city. I could tell you restaurants to eat in every city, in every baseball city, United States of America, nothing tops Sabatino for a few reasons, the food is off the charts. Number one, number two. They’re very baseball centric. So I could send a text to Renato when I’m in Baltimore and say, Hey, man, How late are you going to be open. I can zip in it, you know, 1045 and get a late night dinner. I ate unnecessary. I eat two dinners a night, just so I can have a dinner at Sabatino after the game. Listen, I’m partial next day. Everybody knows that I’m going to meet these guy and listen, I love it. Meet you too. I’m there too. I had no problem sitting upstairs with you and bird fly 11, having a bookmaker, and I didn’t touch his 1979 World Series ring, but you did take me to lunch with then not Hall of Famer blind 11 and and literally, if you were to ask him to bet his life every nickel he’d ever made and his wife and his children as to whether he would get in that day, you would have said they’re not putting me in Right? Like he really didn’t believe he was ever going to have that day. And he told me, If they ever put me in, I want to get up and my speech is going to be F you. I deserved it the whole time. I never forgot that, you know. And then I watched to see that he actually didn’t do that. But I know he wanted to do that because Bert, I mean, Burt’s a legend, dude. I mean, you get to work with a legend.

Robby Incmikoski  46:23

30 701 strikeouts, 287, wins. You won’t see those numbers ever again. Brother, my dad

Nestor Aparicio  46:29

took me to the ballpark in 7778 to see him pitch for the twins. Rod Carew all of that. My dad loved the lever. He loved my dad loved baseball. Yeah, Tony’s great guy. Yep, yep, Tony, I gotta let you go. Alright, Robbie. I appreciate you. I love you. I miss you. Have fun. Good luck with your book, and let’s Hey, anytime you want to come to sabs, I’ll take you to

Robby Incmikoski  46:50

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sabs, bro, anytime down there, and I’ll see you soon, pal, you’re the best. Nestor, thank you for having me. I’m

Nestor Aparicio  46:55

gonna get the big shrimp on there. I He’s Robbie ink Bukowski. You can find him anywhere the internet serves funny spellings of names, I n, C, like the business, M, i, k, o, s, k, i, y, because we like you. I’m Nestor. We are Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.