Now three decades into discusing Baltimore Orioles baseball on the radio together, our venerable original ballpark reporter Allen McCallum joins Nestor to discuss a Birds team with World Series dreams and a stacked roster.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
year, game, team, pitching, hitter, baseball, oriole, love, win, orioles, give, postseason, yankees, good, luke, play, talking, alan, rubinstein, young
SPEAKERS
Allen McCallum, Nestor J. Aparicio
Nestor J. Aparicio 00:01
8
Welcome home we are W n s t, Towson Baltimore and Baltimore positive we are positively taking the Maryland crabcake tour back out on the road. It will be without cheese for my next guest because he does not eat cheese. He has been our defending champion and you know there’s been some Jeffrey Mayer coming up here lately like in my news feeds and then it was a part of my documentary. This guy was a part of my documentary he was my one time Oriole insider he was inside enough to get thrown out along with the rest of us. Allah McCallum now does things in Washington DC he’s upscale these days, but he is still loving him some memorials baseball we don’t get together nearly often enough whether it’s a games Hey, curio offered me those tickets. i Oh, I like if I get the tickets. You’re you’re on speed dial. Allen, I mean to take to a game here. And I do know that you have. You’ve made time to make sure your maths and subscription works wherever your digital device might be. This is the year we’ve all been waiting for. Right? Like I’ve known you. 28 years, 29 years. 29 years. I think you and I have known each other. This is fine. Yeah. This is the year we’ve been waiting for. Right? This is the baseball team. You and I for 29 years of bitching, moaning complaining, walking in walking out, throwing up throwing down, fighting back and forth about this franchise. This is where it’s at right now. Right? Like this is this is as good as it gets. Do you and I could do this every day. Right?
Allen McCallum 01:34
Well, first off, while I work every day in Washington, DC I still reside right here in Baltimore County. So I’m living the dream here in Baltimore. I don’t know. I mean, a lot of people would say last year 100 101 wins is is pretty good. These last couple of seasons had been amazing and the Orioles are on track for that again, and 24. So I would say that this is the window that we’ve been waiting for, since we’ve known each other probably for the next four or five years, at least, this Orioles team is going to going to be is going to look to contend and be among the elite, not just in the American League but in baseball in general. Well,
Nestor J. Aparicio 02:20
because I’m on double secret probation and under further review from my press credentials, you know, I’m not going to talk about the ownership but like the ownership sits at the at the forefront of all of this. Because Luke and I are talking about are they going to package curse that and Matteo with some two prospects further down the farm to try to go get a starter or reliever to relievers. They have too many outfielders. So all of these issues sort of baked into the cake of this Rubinstein really own the team yet. Why are John Angelo’s his people still running the old place? Where’s my press credential? You know all of the basic questions when you and I get together every month, but it’s been very few and far between you and I could get together and talk about the kind of prosperity we’re talking about. And I don’t even know where to begin with you because Luke and I go at it to them sometimes three times a day, doing segments on pitching hitting specific players. I feel like we’ve praised all of them at various points. Today’s flavor is Kyle sours who wasn’t even on the team holidays been, you know, thrown out Kramer’s got problems means we don’t know. Brad is just throwing no hitters. Like I it’s we it’s quite the soap opera in so many ways. But where do you come in at 50,000 feet as my tenured oral reporter have known you twice as long as I’ve known Luke, quite frankly. And watching all of this what what do you make of all of it? And if you were talking about it all day, what would you be talking about? Well,
Allen McCallum 03:55
look, there’s a ton there. Yeah, there are a ton of places to start. The first one is that, you know, there’s so much angst about the young guys versus the veterans and getting them paid playing time curse dad came up didn’t play. It took Couser like two and a half weeks to get a chance to play. All the other guys down on the farm. It seems to me that Yeah, it feels a little schizophrenic. But it feels like this happened maybe a year earlier than the organization expected. Winning 100 games, putting them immediately on the map to be a franchise contender. The way this sets up it feels like they were expecting right about now to start to hit the first stride to be seen as a contender. So that as you go into the offseason, and you’ve got songs on there, and and Austin Hays and Cedric Mullins, all sort of right at either free agency or the highest point in arbitration where you can move them and bring guys in. That that would happen and the transition would be more natural. But what you have is a team that won 101 games probably a year earlier than they expected. You have young guys on the farm who have blossomed, drummed in a dramatic rate of time. And your veterans who have struggled in the app from the outfield, who has struggled in a way that that they probably wouldn’t have expected. And there’s another piece in this Ryan O’Hearn, who really I think is a big piece. And all of this just sort of fell into their lap. Obviously, they they went and got in, but has become a much more important player on this team than I think anybody could have expected. And as much as you talked about curse dad, and they don’t want to play him in the outfield or anywhere in the fields, they don’t think he can feel what the DH spot is exactly where he fits with the other guys sort of taking the baton as you have the veterans moving on, either through free agency or trade or what have you. And they’ve been caught in the spot where everyone wants them to go for winning the World Series right now. And Mike Elias was expecting to be moving into contention and making some of those decisions. So I think they blossomed probably a year earlier than they expected. And it’s put a lot of pressure on how to get some of the things, some of these things done. And it’s certainly frustrating for the fans, frustrating for the media as they try to decipher what’s going on, frustrating for Mike Elias, because I think he’s, you know, it’s hard to to completely transfer the starting lineup into the hands of rookies and say, Oh, we’re trying to win the World Series this year. Because teams that win the World Series general generally have a really nice mix of veterans and youth to blend. The probably the most interesting thing I’ve ever heard said was that when teams win the World Series, you have veterans playing like rookies and rookies, who come up and play like veterans, so that you get this great blend of energy, wisdom, youth and vitality and drive to win. And the Orioles are trying to figure out what that mix is right now. Obviously, they’ve had some pitching circumstances that are problematic, I guess it’s hard to expect to I mean to be healthy. It’s such a shame I feel for him all the time. You think about the kind of talent he has, I’m not saying he’s sayang caliber, but he’s certainly in a top of the rotation caliber type pitcher and just can’t stay healthy. So it’s hard to count on him. But he’s certainly a player that that they would have liked to had in the rotation going forward. And after Tommy John surgery, you would hope that that was the case. Obviously, they’ve gotten really lucky with Bradish. And the injury that he’s he’s coming back from. So now burns, Rodriguez and Bradish are the anchors, which you were hoping that they would be. And now you’re trying to figure out the back end caller has been amazing. And while Suarez has been better than anyone could have expected, I would like to see them bring up Kate Povich and see what he can do. Again, as a blend, to give some give some of these young guys a chance, you got to remember whether they if they if the intention is to bring up so many of these young guys at some point when you try to sign them later on or extend them, the thought might be Hey, you you’ve retarded my major league S ASCENSION for an extended extended period of time. Why should I give you a hometown discount? I mean, there there are other parts of this equation that everyone’s trying to figure out. But they have an opportunity to advance a guy who’s done nothing but succeed, at least for the last little while here in Cape COVID. And it makes sense to me to put Suarez back in the bullpen and give him a shot and see what he can do.
8Nestor J. Aparicio 09:18
It’s fascinating this time last year, so ours is getting blocked by Santander and Mullins and Hayes. And you know, if all those guys were hitting at whatever pace, I wonder then what happens to kowsar and then set hours and if holiday had come up and hit because there’s really a chance all of them could be all firing at some level and nobody’s walking and Luke and I haven’t talked about that but on base percentage, and where the Yankees are as far as walks ahead of them, not to mention power and the Yankees being a very formidable version of the Yankees here thus far the At the 1/3 pole, but the outfield and the blocks and the amount of talent and the money in the arbitration to your point. That’s a great point that it came a little earlier than their timeline would have had it with those players. But it’s fascinating that Mullens in Hays have not been able to hack the heat here of this and having the footsteps and they were, you know, track ready guys, there were guys that struggled. Mullen struggled famously before he sort of found it. I know they both have had health issues as well over the last year Mullins, most of last year h2 And breaking down, but this is a weird transitional time and, and I go back 40 years ago to desensitize coming in for Brooks Robinson and, you know, Don Baylor and, and you know, and those guys coming in for Buford, and you know, there was a transition from glory team players cluding, my cousin to blender, right, like all of that, that went on during that period of time, the steam and won anything, and it felt like the haze and Molins guys, much like it probably felt like man Seanie this time, two years ago, they were going to be here, when as Buck would say a pile diver in all of this. I don’t know who the pile divers are, and I don’t know who they’re going to deal out of the organization. You know, Ortiz was blocked, that was never really going to happen. So that sort of made sense. But it feels like they have the kind of depth where we’re gonna wake up to a wn S T text, and they’re gonna do something for something, because it feels like Elias will be willing to do that, with the depth wanting to do that believing that pitching is going to be a really key component to winning games in October. And also ownership. And this was where I will bring Mr. Rubenstein in the Rubin, splash, whatever. It’s going to be a checkbook issue, to say, well, we take on salary in August in a way that we have it and I guess they will I mean, I am assuming all of the positive things that some 74 year old billionaire is going to want to win and win now especially when he knows anything about baseball. And there’s some social questions to how much he knows about baseball, but this this is rarefied air in the 29 years of our relationship to be saying how do we win a World Series this year? Not how do we compete? Not how do we beat the Yankees in the in the American League yeast or whatever? How do you build this club to be able to win short series? Defense, running the bases? Little things, one run games in October that they’re going to need to do that they weren’t real good at last October and whether they learned from that or not. But assembling this roster is something because it’s not cut and paste at all. It really
Allen McCallum 12:57
is. You first you there. There’s a lot there. You said you were talking about pile divers. I think this club has a lot of pilots out divers. They’re so athletic, and they play the game hard. You watch guys run the bases. They’re one of the best bass running teams in baseball.
Nestor J. Aparicio 13:14
My point is who’s going to be on the team when they’re diving? While they’re gonna trade guys, to your point that they feel like Austin Hayes is a they don’t think he’s not a winner or whatever. There’s three spots in the outfield. He’s not the best one right now. He’s the fourth. And that’s still up for bid.
Allen McCallum 13:29
8So let’s be realistic. I mean, if you’re the if you’re Mike Elias and you’re going to your owner and saying we really need you to commit to Gunnar Henderson Adley rutschman. The young guys it’s hard to look at an Austin Hays and I hate to say it but it says with Molins. And say, commit to them when you’ve got all this young talent that doesn’t cost anything right now. And who you project to be better in theory than they are or at least have longer track records. So if you’re going to say if you’re going to recommend anything to your your now owner, it seems to me that we’d be committed to the young guy so that we can build on this and save on the front end, knowing that they’re gonna get more expensive as they go on.
Nestor J. Aparicio 14:16
And that one watchman or one Henderson is going to cost you five of the rest of these guys. Sure. And Santander
Allen McCallum 14:23
in my opinion is a little bit different than Mullins and Hayes because he’s a switch hitter because he’s a power a real a real power bat. Given that so many of these young guys are left handed. I know that the Orioles right now have some of the best numbers in terms of against left handed pitching and baseball but the if if realistically these guys are all going to come up with it’s Jackson. Let’s say they trade mountcastle In my mind. It looks like the infield at some point is going to be Westberg a third and Henderson at short. Holiday at second and mayo Oh, ultimately playing first base, which means you’re moving off mountcastle
Nestor J. Aparicio 15:04
We’ve been moving off for him for three years. And he all he does is hit the ball Li You know, right. I mean, but it gets hot, wet at times. He’s
8Allen McCallum 15:12
incredibly streaky, when he’s, when he’s on a streak, you can’t get them out. And then there are other moments when it looks like he’s a little lost. He had issues last year, as well, from a from a health standpoint. So there are a lot of things to consider about him. But if you’re going to commit from a financial standpoint, and build a plan for a team, that while they have a new billionaire owner, is still from a market standpoint, gonna be limited in terms of what kind of revenue they can bring in on a regular basis. So you have to run your business intelligently. That seems to me to be to be the plan that you would promote. So you’re talking about finding a way to move off of these guys even even around Ryan O’Hearn? I mean, if you’re going to commit to the young guys, how long is this shelf life? I don’t know. In terms of winning the World Series right now, look, if you if they find that they need another top rotation pitcher, then yeah, they’re probably going to have to move some of these some of the top to your talent. If they need relievers, you can get relievers of decent quality without moving your top to your prospects.
Nestor J. Aparicio 16:30
Well, they should have no problem getting relief pitching them in the end, right? Because like they’re going to have a surplus of a surplus here to solve the gray. If
Allen McCallum 16:39
you would think so it’s all about it, or is it a rebuilding team like Oakland that’s going to look for your best top prospects? Or is it going to be a team, for example, like the New York Mets that may be jettisoning payroll as well as trying to make spots for for some guys that they’re going to take a chance on. So I mean, a lot of it’s who your trade partner is, what time of the year it is, and what they think you can get. The tricky part with the new system in terms of the wildcard is that a lot of teams think that they’ll have a chance to get in and that are basically playing 500 ball right now or maybe below and won’t trade won’t move off some of their guys. So that it’s a it’s a tougher piece to figure out then than it was 10 years ago, when the circumstances were different. Look, you mentioned the Royals not walking and it’s it does sort of feel like the Baltimore Orioles are cursed right no matter what club they have. These guys never walk. Whether it was the slugging Orioles of the late 90s that were all about the homerun, Mike Elias and sigma all go up through all of this to bring in guys who have high on base percentages that are part of the new era of approach to baseball, you think they’re going to walk, you know, 150 times a year at minimum and you’re still end up in the bottom of the of the league. I can’t quite figure that out. Even with the new dimensions, you would think, hey, yeah, centerfield right fielder still pretty, pretty attainable. But with left field, you want to you want to work the count, you want to be able to use the space in that area to drive the ball the opposite field? Obviously some of them can. But you would think that it would impact how they approach their at bats. And this club does still look like they love to hit the home run. So it’s I don’t know if it was an Oriole curse, whatever it is. It’s fascinating. It’s certainly there’s the good bottle League, certainly not approaching what the Yankees are doing in terms of getting on base. That said, as good as the Yankees are right now. Juan Soto has obviously been everything that they would have hoped him to be. It’s still hard to imagine, with the age on that club, them staying healthy enough to keep it this pace, I can be wrong. They could they could run away, we’ll see. But the question ultimately is, as much as you want to win the division, are you sure you want to win the division? Because if you look, if you look at how things have borne out last few years, the teams with the best records that get the buy, have not done particularly well. So, you know, it certainly looks like the Orioles are ticketed for the postseason. So the question is, is it better for them to win the division probably have one of the best records in the American League and sit it out for that first week, or to have them go in and out as a wildcard team and be hot. I mean, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Were only a couple games over 508 up in the world series last year. How did they do that? They had a lot of young guys. They had talent but they also got hot, and
Nestor J. Aparicio 19:54
8the Rangers dredged up a 30 something year old pitcher that nobody wanted who turned out to be Like a real spark plug for them and finish off the Orioles, quite frankly. And
Allen McCallum 20:05
they had a slugging offense that they had all year. Yeah, they went cold every now and then but they put together a veteran laden team built for the postseason and they brought in a young guy who got crazy hot for six weeks and help them win the World Series who’s struggling to to get off the Schneid here and 24 when they expected him to be a rookie of the year candidate so it you know, things have to align. I don’t know what the best formula for the Orioles is to win the World Series frankly. I don’t know there is a formula anymore you except to get in and see what happens. Obviously you want to you want to have an elite bullpen you want to catch the ball, the Orioles can certainly catch the ball. They probably could use a couple of extra pieces like a a lock down closer as we get deeper into the into the season to help with the bullpen. But from a starting rotation standpoint. I mean, if you go into the postseason with burns, and Rodriguez and Bradish as they are with the experience for the young guys of having gone into the postseason last year, I don’t know how you could ask for any more. You certainly hope the lineup gets a little more patient as they get further into the season and reef and find their ability to work, work counts and walk a little more. That will certainly help in the postseason, because what they seem to have been doing right now, for the most part is sort of holding out against good pitchers going point for point with their starters and then waiting for soft, the soft underbelly of teams bullpens and beating them up. And it’s worth it works because there are a lot of soft underbelly is well
Nestor J. Aparicio 21:46
I mean, the Yankees and Red Sox when they were sluggers, they made a living doing that that was the way they did it.
Allen McCallum 21:52
The other piece is that the Orioles also seem to play well against the American League, they seem to play and hit better against teams and pitching staffs that they are more familiar with. So you certainly can’t argue with going well against your your division. But I don’t know that there’s a formula anymore because it really is the wild wild west now more than ever in baseball when you get into the postseason.
8Nestor J. Aparicio 22:16
Alan McCallum is our guest. He has been our baseball friend and analyst here for three decades. And he’s also featured in our 25th anniversary documentary. I don’t know if you’ve seen the doc yet, Alan, but it’s it’s brought back a lot of you know, memories and Jeffrey Mayer’s in there and you know, where we were, and, you know, to have a Corbin burns to have a number one to feel like you have an emerging guy and Rodriguez that I would say in that Ben McDonald Messina sort of you think he’s gonna be here for six, eight years contract if he’s that kind of guy. I don’t know what they’re gonna do with burns and I Bradish. The no hitter aside last week and Kramer will see his arm as we went from six starters to four real quick. If I’m writing my column this week, for Mike Elias, the notion that you have these outfielders this deep depth in your organization that they’re not done with pitching for me and as much as your like, get a get a closer, some would say you can grow a closer try Suarez, I don’t know I’m making that up. But the starting pitching, I’m where they are. Now that means feels very tenuous. And you want to bring up the next prospect, right? And that’s cool. And I’ll hear Povich okay. But I also think that there’s something for burns being gone at the end of the year, and that they’re not going to pay him that if you’re going to rent in in the July period of time, which we’re getting there. It’s a couple of weeks away, we’re still going to be a contender, whether it’s first place second place wherever the Yankees are, finding another pitcher finding another starting pitcher who could be your opening day starter next year to go with this because the burns thing, you’re probably not going to shop in that market. I start to question cyclability on a lot of ways, Boris clients fans clamoring that you know, Mr. Rubinstein is going to sign Gunnar Henderson find me find me the Boris client that doesn’t go to market right. So the notion that any of that money is going to be spent or sunk soon is that’s for the Rex Barney show. No offense to Rex whom I love but I’m not taking phone calls on that all day. I’m taking phone calls on what can we affect right now and what you can affect right now is to go get last year’s Dylan cease, right? Whoever that is, where you know, you can go make a deal and if that involves cursed at it, you know guys that you’re not going to use because of their glove or if that involves any of the current veteran guys we’ve talked about and I even brought Mateos name up. And Luke sort of scoffed at him being trade bait and I’m like, I don’t know other teams would like it for the same reason we like him, glove runs, put them in, maybe it’s a little bit versatile, whatever. He’s played his way into having like, this weird value to yours like you good deal and we need him. Well, you okay? But if it gets you a number, if it gets you another starting pitcher, I’m not off the starting pitching thing. Get, again, the relief pitching thing. It’s so fleeting, you know, one minute it’s web one minute, it’s we’re gonna give Kimbrough 13 million and then we’re gonna regret that. Oh, we don’t regret any more. He’s been. He’s been okay for two weeks. That’s relief pitching, but starting pitching and when guys arms fall off, and Bradish to me is always like, Okay, I liked the way it looks now. And we can talk about guys that have made it through this UCLA strain without getting surgery without getting shelved. But I’m also looking like, Dude, it’s not even June. And if he goes out and throws 103 pitches every other time out, and he adds innings twice a week and all right now it’s October, he started 150 innings. 160 innings. Like, what are you gonna get out of him in October? Or what do you feel like, you know, you’re gonna get out of him? Because to me, Luke and I talked about this with Lamar Jackson and the Ravens can’t do anything till January like they’re gonna be measured. The Orioles are gonna be measured like that, to to your point, you’ve already been like, Oh, we don’t need to win the division. Okay, fine. What we need to do is win game one, in October, whatever game one is, we’re going to win game one. And it burns is the guy that’s cool. I’m thinking long term for the team while they have all of this deep depth, while things are in control, while arbitration like all of that is going on, you know, this is time to get back into getting another Corbin burns and one that you might have control of later on, and be willing to take on money to your point and that’s you have names out, you know, there’s teams out there that are going to be faltering. I’m thinking about starting pitching as much as everybody else is worried about the bullpen. So
Allen McCallum 27:09
I would have loved to have seen what would have happened during the offseason had Rubinstein taken control of the team and say October. That would have been very interesting in terms of how they divvied up their assets. Would Dylan CCE be here along with Corbin burns, for example, because they felt like they could they could handle that. He has an extra year, where Burns is a free agent at the end of this year. It seems to me corn Burns has made it pretty clear he wants to go to free agency, much as you were describing a couple of minutes ago with some of the other guys. So I don’t know, no matter how much you offer him, I don’t know whether he’d he’d sign at this moment to come back to the Orioles. I’m not ruling out him coming back. If Rubenstein is going to put his money behind his his celebrity currently. But it seems to me he’s going to go to free agency. So I mean, there’s I don’t know there’s anything you can do about that. Yeah, I would love to see them and what
Nestor J. Aparicio 28:06
you could do about that you could figure out who you’re open day starting next year is gonna be and fortify everything you need to do on October. And if you’re going to spend spend now because now’s the time, like you don’t I mean, like there ain’t no tomorrow, there’s like, go win, because you’re going to emerge next year, in my mind, in my mind, at least,
Allen McCallum 28:22
8I hear you. And yeah, I mean, look, as much as it seems pretty clear to me that Elias wants all of his toys. He does not like to trade, trade his young prospects. But ultimately, when they started this, I loved his approach. And as much as I loved Andy MacPhail, growing the arms and buying the bats never made sense to me, because pitching is a much more difficult thing to develop, and a much more fleeting thing to hold on to ultimately through injuries and failure, etc. But if you have an abundance of young guys at the offensive positions that you could trade them and bring in pitching, because they’re just fewer spots. They’re more important, but they’re fewer spots to fill. So I mean, and they have done that, but yes, although I think they they ally sees this as a year earlier than expected they’re here and how do you get to the World Series when everyone is expecting you to be a contender and ultimately you’re going to have to move something else to look at you got to play bring the guys that were put in play them or not and that cat that decision has to be made by by next year at least. But right now you know you’re gonna have to move some guys whether it’s your top two your prospects to bring in what will you move
Nestor J. Aparicio 29:45
from a Rotom if they’re healthy, I mean to my point with melons being like not very good. And Hayes not being healthy. Had they all been eating. I mean sour said enough to get back up here and he’s getting his lunch money and curse that can’t feel enough to probably ever get up here. Unless somebody really gets hurt or O’Hearn goes in the tank, no harm success has screwed them all up. Right? I mean, literally
Allen McCallum 30:11
really has to be the player he’s become, I think is really thrown some curse that would be here right now if if if Ryan O’Hearn had hit 240 and hit eight home runs in 2023, he just would. So they it’s a good problem, but it’s a problem for them to figure out. If you’re going to sign Ryan O’Hearn to long term contract, and you believe he’s going to continue this way, then you know, maybe that the first app becomes expendable, but I think everyone believes his bat is for real, and you could be giving away a 260 40 homerun guy. In the long run, we’ll see well, they’re gonna have to move something to get something that’s ultimately the truth. It’s, you have to give up less to get a good bullpen arm. And the thing about going after starting pitching and I’m not saying I disagree with you, because I don’t, but it’s the same you could trade for a top to your pitcher tomorrow. And he could be on the shelf two weeks from now with Tommy John surgery. So Jim
Nestor J. Aparicio 31:16
Cramer had no signs of anything and then all of a sudden he’s not in the rotation right now. And I mean, do we were cocky to be I went away for that Cardinal sir, we got six starters, Suarez, you know Kade, who and now two weeks later, it’s you know Nestor is trying to deal for starting pitching though there’ll be talking about that on the streets. I just think you can never have enough of it. I don’t want to go all Earl Weaver on you. But I still think one of the real prescriptions here for them. While the availability is there is to say let’s load up the starters for this year. Because you don’t have to spend on Henderson you don’t have to buy rutschman You don’t have to buy anything right now buying a pitcher and renting them for eight weeks and promising a real salary for next year for somebody you want. Not Kyle Gibson better than that better than that, you know, something that was really elevate everything. So you’re not worried about brandishes arm falling off or wondering whether means is ever going to come back again.
8Allen McCallum 32:16
So you’re looking at, you know, teams like the Miami Marlins that are known for having started pitching even though they’ve had they have a ton of them on the shelf was RPC was was Arto just came off the the IL and he’s pitched pretty well since he’s come off if you’ve watched him through June and he looks like he’s back to what he was. He’s certainly a target the White Sox have a guy or two that you might want to look at. There are some teams right now that you could you could pair up with that are looking for prospects that are looking for that kind of move that makes sense. There aren’t a lot of them because again, with the new system and the new format the what there are a ton of teams that are that are technically in wildcard contention that might believe that they can get hot at the right time and make their make their way into deep into the postseason. We’ll see. But yeah if you’re Mike Elias you have to be making those phone calls and starting to match up right now and determining what you need. Look Bradish is look great since he’s since he’s come back I mean, you’re talking to Bryce Grayson Rodriguez just came off the aisle as well. I mean, there’s no telling for any of these guys. Were you at the no mo no hitter I have never seen a no hitter in person All right, because
Nestor J. Aparicio 33:33
I I even like I had Luke on this week. I was running around New York the day it happened. I was following my phone. I instead the look. My friend standard Blonsky text me he was in Chicago, my Dundalk friend he and his wife she’s a White Sox fan. They were texting me at the game like the Aparicio facade that sits there with you know the name AP, they took selfies, they’re sending me pictures, and I’m like they’re sitting there in the seventh inning of a no hitter and I’m like you sob and annoy 2000 people there from what I can tell on TV you know, I walked out of the one right and I walk into the new Avis one but I’ve never I’ve sat through seven innings there was an Oreo starter like on Mother’s Day that was throwing a no hitter through seven I’m trying to think of maybe 15 years ago 1015 years ago
Allen McCallum 34:17
might miss the I was in Camden Yards with Mike Mussina took a no hitter perfect game against the Indians then Indians
Nestor J. Aparicio 34:24
8that Friday night game that Yeah, yeah. Danielle
Allen McCallum 34:27
Maher broken up with a single either in the bottom in the top of the eighth atop the ninth. I remember I did the
Nestor J. Aparicio 34:33
show from Hooters that night. I did not go to the game that night because I had a date with my girlfriend then Robin. We went on a date and we were at a at a restaurant. I got up to pee. It was a fifth inning and so it was a no hitter. I’m like, Eat fast. We’re going back to the ballpark. We literally were on. We were literally on Lombard Street heading toward the stadium listening to the game when the no hitter was broken up. So driving back to the stadium to be there.
Allen McCallum 35:00
I have tickets to the Wilson Alvarez no hitter. Still have them. I was at a week and didn’t go and all my when he when he threw the no hitter on a Sunday afternoon at Memorial Stadium. Scotty
8Nestor J. Aparicio 35:14
P hit me doesn’t mean Scotty and I’ve been friends for 30 years, Scotty paid me back in was 99 whatever year it was. He’s like, hey, Bruce is playing Brendan Byrne arena, not the stadium is playing the arena. And this was back on the 99 tour when they kind of put the band back together. And he said and the Yankees are playing the Expos at like one o’clock at Yankee Stadium. You want to go to the Yankee Stadium. We’ll go to the game. Four o’clock games over we’ll get some dinner. We’re gonna see Bruce I’m in let’s do it. Morning off he he didn’t text me was 99 Yeah, call me said I, you know, I thanks for the shop. I can’t. And we didn’t go and it was the perfect game. So David cone, perfect game. Right. That was the game. So I was supposed to go to that game. I didn’t go to that game. I have tickets. I broadcast from Jack Murphy Stadium. The day the no winner was thrown and I walked out of it in the third inning. I was in the clubhouse before the game. I did a national radio show from the site for four hours on Labor Day. And I didn’t see the game. I walk out. So it was I
Allen McCallum 36:24
was covering the team for you. When Eddie Murray hit his 500th home run, it was three in the morning. It was right it was huge rain delay, he had just come off the WNBL and I was tired. I had to get work the next day. I was like there’s no way he’s gonna hit this home run tonight. And I really need to go home because I’ve been sitting there for like three hours at that point. And I left and then he hit the home run Yeah, like midnight or some ridiculous time. And I to this day, I never forgive myself for that. But yeah, it the things we we just missing right? Yeah,
Nestor J. Aparicio 37:01
I don’t know like once you’re there and you’re committed but the no inner thing. Do you know my Northern Lights story from two weeks ago that Jen and I went to like, chase the Northern Lights.
Allen McCallum 37:11
8I saw it on Facebook, but I don’t know that in depth. I started to
Nestor J. Aparicio 37:16
write about it. I haven’t finished it yet. Because it’s not funny enough yet, because there’s hasn’t been enough time and distance to make it funny. But it will be funny in the end that I did have Huckleberry pancakes in Spokane, Washington at eight in the morning was lovely in that way. And it was Mother’s Day weekend. But yeah, I mean chasing the Northern Lights. You can’t chase a no hitter. You know mean? You don’t I mean, you just plop down at Comiskey Park send your buddy from Dundalk a picture. And in the seventh inning on purpose. You know, my son was at the no mo no hitter and invited me to the game I believe. And my son never goes to baseball games. But he was at the no mo no hitter. So Stranger things have happened. But when that sort of weird thing happens with Bradish I, all I think about is it’s never gonna happen for me, and maybe it will maybe it’ll just randomly the next baseball game I go to it’ll happen. He
Allen McCallum 38:09
was never going to throw a no hitter. He, as you’re saying right there trying to protect his arm. He was approaching 100 pitches before before the eighth inning. It was never going to happen. And anybody who’s upset that they they took him out of the game is not looking at the big picture of a season.
Nestor J. Aparicio 38:32
Playing strat ematic Yeah, they’re not playing baseball. Well, you know, Luke didn’t even send the text out because he’s like, he’s not going to finish the game. So Luke said he was gonna give it one more inning. And you know, it’s a Perez and Bradish combined for eight. But, but WNYC texts are still out there. It’s been around a long, long time. Maybe we’re in your 17 of the text service now. But Alan’s been around even longer than that. Going back to 1995. Alan has been my baseball. You know, next year, we should do something warm and fuzzy and celebrate 30 years and, you know, go out to the Negro Baseball Hall of Fame Museum or just do something fun. I don’t know. Go to a banana slugs game down in Savannah or whatever, you know, do something fun. What do you think? Let me
8Allen McCallum 39:15
tell you boys and girls, knowing Nestor Aparicio for 30 years is not an easy task. So there should definitely be some some reward for that. I’m kidding. It’s a joke. Should
Nestor J. Aparicio 39:26
I take you to the Field of Dreams thing and I or something like that or no? That sounds like fun. What’s on your bucket list? You got it? Do you ever pay? I need to know this. Because you know, I always wanted to do 30 ballparks in 30 days and then I did it. And now I’ve been to the new Texas Stadium. I haven’t been to the Atlanta stadium yet. I did the truest I haven’t been to that place yet. Oh, so Billy Joel there but what’s Do you have any bucket? I mean, obviously an oil World Series game is that like sort of like the Northern Lights like that has to happen.
Allen McCallum 39:55
So it doesn’t need to be in 30 days but I would like to get To all 30 ballparks I have been in the Atlanta ballpark. I’ve been in all three Atlanta ballparks over the last 30 years. I have been to every I’ve been to all star games, division, wildcard games division games. I have not been to a World Series game. Oh, I would love it to be an Orioles World Series but I do want to get in get participate in a World Series game. At some point. It shocks
Nestor J. Aparicio 40:28
8me that one of the hoi polloi in Washington didn’t invite you as a non denominational baseball fan to participate in the grand juror. That was nationals World Series. Chasing worth glory.
Allen McCallum 40:45
I’m not telling you that I that I didn’t get offers but I had just started a new job and was was pretty deep in it at the time.
Nestor J. Aparicio 40:55
He didn’t want your first World Series game to be a Washington Senators game.
Allen McCallum 41:01
While I love my friends that are Washington Nationals fans, and I’m happy for them that they won a World Series. I’m not sure that that will have been the best emotional moment for me too.
8Nestor J. Aparicio 41:14
Are you really happy for them? Or were you not? How were you a little gel gel?
Allen McCallum 41:19
Oh, hello, Nestor. I am about to be 52 years old. Okay. I mean, I could appreciate someone else’s joy. In that moment, if you’re asking me do I think that long term is hurt the Orioles that the Washington Nationals are in Washington? Yes. But there’s nothing I can do about that now and the fact that they’re there brings a great amount of joy to people that I love so I have no problem with that. But I’m not sure I would I don’t love
Nestor J. Aparicio 41:50
any nationals fans. I you know, I can’t admit that but I do have some fans. I’m
Allen McCallum 41:56
8just not sure that that would that their world series would have been the first one I wanted to attend.
Nestor J. Aparicio 42:00
I even love some Orioles fans that don’t love me Island and I know you know what I’m talking about? You know, so well. Alan McCallum is here. He’s wearing the orange theologically correct white panel. I would call that a rare bird is what I would call that you would call that a batting practice hat. It is the Orioles
Allen McCallum 42:18
official batting practice hat for 2024. In other words, it’s another piece of merch because it’s an hat you don’t have so go out and buy it and I did.
Nestor J. Aparicio 42:28
Yeah, I’ve been wearing my I had a visor. That was the 1973 Oriole bird, just the plain orange cartoon bird on a plain black hat. That was more of a rich Coggins. Um, you know, Al Bumbry 7374 Sergio Robles. I did get asked, I did our Reverend Al Hathaway and Martin Knotts podcast. It’s called, it’s called He’s holy. That’s the Reverend I’m not with a K. That’s Martin not. So He’s holy. I’m not his name of the podcast, you want to watch it. And they both have been guest on my show over the course of time through years in politics and this and that, and Reverend has always been just a good man trying to make the city better, obviously gotta mean golf game. He does. He looks a little bit like Samuel Jackson. But he’s got the soul of plenty more. So I’m doing their podcast in Vegas last week, which we’re going to air this week. The minute Martin sends it over to me, I’m going to get it on the air. Because it had my favorite subject in it. Me. I was the I was the guest, not the host. So they asked me on the spot, Reverend act reference, like, who’s your favorite Oreo of all time? And I’m like Alan Mills, I just said Alan Mills, this has popped out when so I didn’t know like what to say I was gonna say Sergio Robles, or Tom show pay, but I didn’t think that that would be funny. I love Mike Boddicker. I mean, Rennick he was always my favorite Oriole of that era. You know, I would say Lifetime Achievement. Mike Flanagan, you know, through my relationship and the depth of relationship that I have with Mike. Jim Palmer is the greatest Oriole but you know what I mean? But I said Alan Mills, so if I say to you, who’s your all time favorite Oriole, who’s your all time favorite Oriole. Well,
8Allen McCallum 44:17
Alan Mills ranks up there and those are really really good dude. You know, Cal Ripken is the greatest Oriole of my experience. Having having watched and covered the team, my favorite Oriole, love
Nestor J. Aparicio 44:34
covering cow cow was all that in the bag of doughnuts for you to come cow was good to you. You’re good to get you know, like cat and cow was in demand when you covered the team. Like when you first came on. I probably took you over to the locker and said, cow Ellen tried to be nice to him despite me and your brother. Yeah, absolutely.
Allen McCallum 44:51
Um, Chris, I can give you I can give you a top three or five. Boiled. Mike Devere Row. I’m Brian Roberts. I’ll tell you what it is. I know Gunnar and Adly are the faces of the team. I really love Jordan Westberg I love the way the kid plays. I love the way he takes it bats. I love that he’s serious on the field. He’s a grinder. I love everything I’ve seen about this kid. So I
Nestor J. Aparicio 45:25
8know her and I always say to my wife, he’s the first round draft pick that you know, they quit on him him and his potential and the Orioles This is the real tribute to the organization or guys like that, that they made better. And I love guys, they can make themselves better, you know, after they’ve been beaten around and devalued to some degree, you
Allen McCallum 45:45
know, and they’ve done really good a really good job that particularly looks Batista is like that. I mean, they found a lot of you know, unpolished diamonds that they’ve they’ve cleaned up, you know, it gets a little frustrating when you see kid like the kid that came in, they just traded for walking for guys and and yeah, looking like he has absolutely no idea. You know, people are thinking, hey, we’re trying to win the World Series, right? No more No more projects but Cano and Batista and O’Hearn you know, they’re in that position because they made some projects work.
Nestor J. Aparicio 46:22
They tried to make Fuji a project lead, I mean, you know, there and I said, I’ve been saying there’s gonna be a Fuji in the sphere. I mean, they’re gonna keep trying and that’s what, that’s what ball clubs do. Right? That’s what they’re gonna be doing the rest of the way. Yeah,
Allen McCallum 46:36
so I would tell you, Alan Mills, Chris Boyles.
8Nestor J. Aparicio 46:41
Death Row, you gave me Devereaux, you gave me Brian Roberts. You got any more?
Allen McCallum 46:45
I loved your horse ALAC love. The every man I loved Randy Milligan. You know, the those guys from the 89 team are really were really special to me. You’re
Nestor J. Aparicio 46:57
the second guy that gave me moose Milligan this week. How about that?
Allen McCallum 47:00
8So this was this was at 95 It wasn’t the No, I’m wrong. It was it was the year was it? 91. It’s the year the twins won the World Series. And Randy Milligan broke their 15 game winning streak with a with a hit in the ninth inning to win the game. But before that, they they had lost the game. You know, they were in the middle of of a horrible season. And I was a kid. And we pulled up to the gas station after the baseball game. And there’s Randy Milligan and I had my glove and my I said, you know, can’t go out. My parents were like, just go out. So I went out. And I, you know, asked him for an autograph. Mr. Mr. Milligan, would you sign the autograph? And I said, we just came from the game and the last horribly and he goes oh, sorry about that. Just just a really sweet guy had your
Nestor J. Aparicio 47:58
moment with a moose that you? Yeah, absolutely. There’s a great picture of him taking the first pitch. Yeah, you know, downward. Yeah, yeah. No,
Allen McCallum 48:08
no, just the bromo seltzer tower out in the distance to swing for well, you
Nestor J. Aparicio 48:14
know, I know the walls. It feels stuck is listening. I want moose Milligan on the show. Give me his text number. I like having Oreo legends on the program. And they like coming on. Because we know things around here like worshipping Randy Milligan. You know? Can you remember the story three years ago and I can’t remember what to have for dinner last night. Oh,
8Allen McCallum 48:35
they’re things that are in my memory from when I from 1989 and 1991. And yet, what was there yesterday is is long gone. I will also give you Nick Marcus, I thought Nick Marquez was as consummate professional ballplayer as you could ask for and I loved the way he played. Well,
Nestor J. Aparicio 48:54
I hope that you get to a World Series game involving the Baltimore Orioles before I get to the northern lights because you know how much I love you and I care more for my friends than I even do myself at this point. My Northern Lights adventure will take on its own life when it’s meant to be it’s not meant to be yet as the Orioles World Series is not meant to be yet, but I believe the time is coming. You know, I believe you will. I don’t know if I’ll see the Northern Light. I’m gonna try. But I do feel like girls are gonna play in a World Series game. I do believe
Allen McCallum 49:27
I’m not sure it’s gonna be 24 I think there’s still a lot of things that they’re flushing out right now. But I think 25
Nestor J. Aparicio 49:36
8Oh, come on. Don’t be playing next year. Crap. It may stop they’re gonna win this year. Have a little faith. There’s a there’s magic in tonight.
Allen McCallum 49:46
I know the beauty but you’re alright. Right. I’m just trying to be realistic about how things
Nestor J. Aparicio 49:52
Gods stop setting your bar lower than a world championship here for Mr. Rue Rubinstein but we’re under new ownership here. My Media passes under double secret probation review. Trust me, so I know this. Alan, I appreciate you when I get my press pass back, I’ll let them know that you don’t have one either. There was real consternation about me being Venezuelan. I will say that so the fact that I brought up that they’re keeping the only Venezuelan in the media out there was there was major pushback against that in some way. And I said, Is that not true? So
Allen McCallum 50:30
it’s been a little while since I’ve needed a press pass for the for the field but hey,
8Nestor J. Aparicio 50:34
I have my hot dogs up in the stands now just pretty well, right.
Allen McCallum 50:40
I am. Look other people have football and basketball and hockey and keep their their their sports fandom. diversified. Baseball is my baseball and tennis are my my true love sports. But nothing else compares to baseball. So whether if you said hey, I need you for a pinch to cover the team. I mean, I’d certainly be happy to do it again. But
Nestor J. Aparicio 51:07
they would be blessed to have you in that. McCallum I mean that they would be blessed to have you talking about covering Cal Ripken and Allen mills and Mike Devereaux, and the 30 years later, you mentioned those guys, because those guys were good to you when you were there. And you knew them a little bit. And right, I was very,
Allen McCallum 51:26
8I was very proud to cover the team. I was very proud to do it for WNS tea. I loved that nothing made me feel more. Like I had arrived, then getting to vote for the most valuable Oriole officially, during those years, there’s something really special about that for me. And by
Nestor J. Aparicio 51:48
the way, Luke presents the most valuable Raven, right? Like every year, he presents that work. Right. So So for for our organization, we take, we take that seriously. You know, and I think the 25th anniversary documentary would speak to the seriousness with which we covered news here and information and things that I allowed didn’t allow on this airwaves.
Allen McCallum 52:11
And Luke does an amazing job with everything he does for you in an interview and as T and Baltimore possible. I would say
Nestor J. Aparicio 52:19
from your perspective, you have to be proud as punch that we continue to kick ass. You know, the way that Tom cap said it with you and and Howard and everybody that did this job. But Luke’s been doing it a long, Casey a long, long time.
8Allen McCallum 52:32
No question. It’s, I’m honored to watch the work that he does on a regular basis. And if we
Nestor J. Aparicio 52:40
get a second seat in the press box for wn st at the World Series, I want you to have it I will sit out on the ledge over at the hotel across the street with my feet out so sitting there drinking cheap beer, like I did in Inglewood last week. Allah McCallum is here he is. He’s still fun. He still knows baseball. He just doesn’t come on as often. But when we do we wind up like going out for an hour. So I love Alan you don’t have to find him on the internet. Leave him alone. He’s running things in DC. But he’s got a cool hat. I am Nestor. We are wn st am 1570 Towson Baltimore, trying to get back to first place and doing our best. Stay with us.
