Always in search of the Rays of light in Tampa

Our old pal and longtime USA Today baseball writer turned award-winning fitness author Pete Williams joins Nestor from Tampa to discuss the Rays’ business model and the potential in Baltimore for new Orioles ownership under David Rubenstein.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

baseball, tampa, team, years, orioles, jersey, day, people, game, collecting, braves, uniforms, wearing, picture, baltimore, rays, collectible, autographed, cal ripken, sports

SPEAKERS

Pete Williams, Nestor J. Aparicio

Nestor J. Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home we are W n s t tassel Baltimore and Baltimore positive or positively coming at you with the Maryland crabcake Tour presented by our friends at the Maryland lottery I’ll have some PacMan scratch offs to give away all month long. Ross has threatened to give me more batches of these because I’m going to need we’re going everywhere this month and where my cost is shirt that’s going to be later this month. And with the Orioles plan like one o’clock games, four o’clock games Toronto, or we’re gonna be out on the road all of it brought to you by our friends at Jiffy Lube, multi care as well as Liberty pure solutions keeping my water fresh. We’re gonna be faithless on Friday and the Tampa rays are in town. We’re gonna be Cooper’s North antimonium Next Tuesday promoting Fleet Week we’re gonna go back to Cooper’s down in in Fells Point on the 14th. We’re going to be state fair and Catonsville before the Toronto game on June 6. That’s a Thursday. We’re going to be Coco’s and Laura Ville on the 12 costus Affer mentioned in Dundalk before the Orioles Yankees game and Oreos Yankee sort of means something and Pappas and Parkville on the 25th of June. So we’re out and about lots of lottery tickets to give away lots of crab cakes to eat. I’m probably gonna get some crabs or wherever my cost is shirt right now because I’m rubbing it in. P. Williams has been my friend for 30 years. We are friends on the field off the field in the real world in Tampa. We have been known to have drinks together on when I’m in for hockey games, Springsteen concerts, things that take me to Tampa spring training, maybe if they invite me sometime soon. And I was down looking for you a couple of weeks ago with this optimistic Oreo 100 and win team. And I think the last three times you and I have gotten together to eat Cuban food somewhere in Tampa. We don’t even talk about baseball anymore. Even though you were like the USA baseball weekly, the insider writer dude, you’ve written books on collectibles and sold books and like all that. We don’t talk baseball anymore, because my team stunk. And now my team’s good. And I’m like, ever playing Tampa maybe I should call Pete. Pete Do you still watch baseball? Yeah,

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Pete Williams  02:01

I do. And I think the what happened last year with the rules changes helped a lot with the pitch clock and some of the other rule changes, I think they still have a big nut to crack with this whole pitching quandary. We’re only going to let pitchers pitch for innings and they’re still going to blow out their arms and that sort of thing. So that I think is a major problem for baseball to address. But yeah, I got back to it a little bit. And part of it’s because of this Tampa Bay Rays team. Now, they have made the playoffs five straight years with a limited payroll. And you know, a lot of people are gonna say, well, the rays are largely responsible for ruining baseball in many respects, right? They, they came up with this shift, they came up with the idea that we’re going to just obsess over analytics, we’re going to try out a different lineup every night, we’re going to blow out if so many arms, we’re going to just turn over our roster constantly. But it does work. And so I guess all those Ivy Leaguers and MIT types in the front office for the raise that the formula does work. It’s not a traditional one. But it’s one that’s it’s pretty entertaining. And you combine that with $10 tickets, a lot of good promotions. And yeah, I’m one of these people. I may be in the vast minority, but I kind of like Tropicana Field for a number of reasons. And so he put all that together, I think, at least from a raise perspective, it’s it’s a, it’s been a refreshing last few years here in the Tampa Bay area.

Nestor J. Aparicio  03:19

I don’t a Tropicana Field. And you know, I had Luke in the passenger seat when I was searching you out. Six, seven weeks ago. We’re down there for spring training. And we drive by and Luke laughs at it because it looks sideways. It looks kind of tilted on the side of the road. And and it’s a it’s a joke for 30 years and the team was so bad than the team got good. Pete I don’t I don’t even know your whole background. And people can Google you. You’re down in the Tampa area. You do a lot in the fitness space. You’ve written books on collectibles, but I know you as a kid coming up. We’re kind of the same age. We’re both young. And you were in and out of Baltimore lot because of Cal Ripken. And there was no team in Washington, and I don’t even know what your original love of baseball is. But I don’t think of you as a Tampa guy. You certainly didn’t grow up with a Tampa race hat as a little boy or whatever. But all these years later you’re raising a family in Tampa you’ve made Tampa your home and it’s a weird baseball market right because you can play baseball 13 months a year there. They always thought there was gonna be Hispanic this and Cuban that and Anglo this and it’s unlike here where they play lacrosse. It’s like baseball, Baseball, baseball, and strawberry and Gooden and all wait bods all of that went on in Tampa. And yet it’s a place they can’t they can’t sell baseball and I and even guys like you that love baseball. They don’t like to don’t they don’t drive across the bridge with a team that good enough for you. I mean, the team’s been friggin great for 15 years, right? Like it’s Tampa is weird for baseball and you moved into it as a journalist really a baseball journalist. Yeah, I’m

04:51

from Virginia. I lived in Richmond so I was 11 Those are my formative years the triple A Richmond Braves Dale Murphy Brett Butler those guys and then moved to Northern Virginia, I actually became a baseball writer out of college for USA Today, having only seen four major league games in my life in person. Now that may sound ridiculous. But Nestor, you know, as someone of our generation, you could follow the game through the newspaper every day, you could follow it through the game of the week or W TBS that was more than enough. And so when baseball expanded to Arizona and Tampa Bay in 1998, I went to my editors at USA Today and I said, Look, you know, I’m on the plane all the time. We didn’t have a team in DC and would not have won until 2005. Why don’t you let me move to Arizona or to Tampa and I could be based there will save money on spring training, and they let me do it. And so they sent me to Tampa, I was there for a year they said we’d like you to move back. I said, I’d like to stay when I went freelance and branched out into all manner of sports coverage TV, radio of all sports, then then some fitness and some business and, and 26 years later, here we are. So yes, I’ve raised a family here in the Tampa Bay area I keep seeing here in the Tampa Bay area. And so it’s ironic I am sitting in Virginia Beach right now as we talked about this, I could actually go to a Norfolk tides game tonight. I’m not sure if they’re home or not. But while I’m here I could go

Nestor J. Aparicio  06:11

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hours isn’t there anymore? Yeah, exactly. Um,

06:16

but I mean, the Norfolk tides might be the 17 best team in baseball or any baseball right now as loaded as they are. But again with Tampa, it’s it’s always been a tough market. There’s many other things to do. We have the beaches, the best weather, all the other things. And so I think that more than anything, has, we don’t have huge per capita income. So we don’t have the corporate base that we have. But all that aside, I mean, the the rays management, at least the management, the last 17 years has done a great job of running the team, obviously, on the field, the product, and I think also bringing fans in in as much as they can. And now, lo and behold, they’re as close as they ever have been to getting a new stadium. Will that be a panacea? I don’t think so. I may be a short term solution, like we’ve seen in places like Pittsburgh, Denver and the like. But in the end, it’s always going to be a challenging market. Yeah, if

Nestor J. Aparicio  07:07

I were to put you on the assignment for an honorarium to write a guest piece of, you know, 60 inches of depth for a Sunday Sun banner, take out inked by the great Pete Williams, baseball writer and great mind of 30 years and seeing a guy named Rubenstein team here Angelo’s has gone. They have all this young talent you’ve already given the Affer mentioned loaded Norfolk tides in this organization. 50,000 feet me from the outside is the guest on my show in Baltimore. And coming back is a guy that knows a lot of stuff and has seen a lot of stuff and used to write about all of this kind of stuff, including work stoppages, money, television, I mean, I remember when getting the stadium built was the most important thing because that’s where the revenue and then it was the club level and then it was we’re gonna get a cable television deal we’re going to hoodwink yes network and nessen and mass and and that’s we’re gonna get all the money. I’m not convinced they know where their money’s coming from. And even the guy that bought in who’s the billionaire and he’s 74 years old, how long’s he going to own it? Is it a cab ride? Is it a toy, but fixing the Orioles? has been my charge from the beginning. Like it’s why did free the birds now 18 and a half years later, through all of this and the awfulness of what you remember with Cal Ripken living in DC and really, your your Camden Yards was your home park for the years you covered all those teams. So you said 9899 Right. When you left it all fell apart. Pete embedding the goods here since 98. But Baltimore in building it back up, nationals exists now nationals have won, they have a stadium, they have all the money in the weighted market, in the same way that Miami would have all the money against Tampa, and they don’t do baseball down there either. I mentioned lacrosse as being and I will continue to mention that as being a major obstacle in this marketplace for getting people interested in baseball, playing the game of baseball, knowing the rules of baseball, I mean, young people that want to go out and be a part of it for more than hero worship. Where do you sit on the Orioles resurrection, and I don’t just mean on the field, because that’s good for now. But they’re gonna have to pay for this at some point if they want to keep the players around here. And this is really the time for them to grow this thing and become the dare I say Green Bay Packers of baseball. Yeah,

09:21

and I’m bullish on the Wilson I think of what happened here in the Tampa Bay area without a tradition. But we had a an owner who was every bit as hated as the Angeles family and Vince anomoly. And so when he finally gave up the reins and ultimately passed in long before he passed, it was really a breath of fresh air and the new regime came in and turn things around and they they’ve been running the race having their current regime for 15 years they don’t have a World Series title to show for it. They have two appearances and that’s that’s good. But I guess with the Orioles Yeah, I think the as we’ve seen from from 91 to 99 ish or so that the the Orioles can be as big and as impressive as any team in baseball financially on the field attendance anything else? And I think it still can be I think you’re absolutely right. And you they they do have oddly enough even with the Nationals or regional appeal that they established all those years when there were no nationals there and so I think that’s good. I think Camden Yards remains Camden Yards. Yes, it needs a facelift as as all 30 some odd year old stadiums do but it is still the standard bearer with all respect to San Diego, San Francisco, Pittsburgh and everything else has been built nobody has replicated the magic you have there with the warehouse and and that that footprint in the on the Inner Harbor so I think all of that are reasons why I am bullish along with this nucleus along with heck Cal Ripken being involved at whatever level who knows but that that helps do so. Yeah, I think there’s so many reasons for optimism Baltimore right now chasing

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Nestor J. Aparicio  10:53

the Yankees again, man, they never go away and and that would speak to the money that would speak to the the here and now part of this and even up and down to Tampa that they have found a way to compete in that way. But I don’t know the fans are going to want to hear that if they come out and support this program. And Gunnar Henderson are Adley rutschman wind up in the Yankees or wind up with the Red Sox in some sort of twisted way that even five years from now there’ll be such an imbalance because of media because of the size of the mark all the things you talk about not having the money to buy club levels and put stadium naming rights and all the things that Angelo’s could have taken advantage of and never did, but Rubenstein is gonna have to if they’re really going to compete here long term. I mean, I all hear that Tampa model all day long. One place it hasn’t worked. Is that the turnstile?

11:46

Yep. And I think first off before we get to the that issue when we talked about the Yankees, I always find interesting and they have not won a World Series since George Steinbrenner passed and, and the boss is buried not far from where I live. The boss made his home in the Tampa area for many years. And it was always interesting how he was just a beloved figure here in the Tampa area, just a community citizen and everything. And I, I bring that up, because I just have never thought the Yankees have the edge or the something since since the boss has passed. And so they can keep spending money and they always do. But they they just don’t seem to have the kick in the butt that they got under George for so many years. And yes, with respect to the turnstile. It’s a tough sell, whether you’re talking lacrosse, whether you’re talking, whatever. I mean, I see this here in the Tampa Bay area where lacrosse is not big kids still play baseball to a big degree. However, that doesn’t always translate into support for the major league team or it does for Spring Spring trainings to touristing. And that’s always going to sell out whatever but but the rays, they have to rely on the locals and it is a tough sell no question about

Nestor J. Aparicio  12:54

it. Love the Orioles, I’m seeing this sort of resurrection with this kind of program. More than that. It’s even. And I say to my wife, like my favorite players are like Ryan O’Hearn who fail elsewhere. And they’ve managed to put a system here together to maximize the Russians and the curse dads in the you know, the Kaisers the lottery picks for the years where they lost 115 games, but they get something out of that on the backside. But Henderson was a sandwich pick. You know, Westberg is another guy that they’ve managed to get to the big leagues. They’ve really built something formidable here in taking advantage of the analytics and having players with a growth mindset here that there’s an astro ball to thing happening here from a journalism standpoint for the stuff that you’d like to write about. And that’s sort of forward thinking thing from a fan’s perspective. There’s something really unique going on here with this Orioles program that writers are going to want to write about.

13:53

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Oh, no question I look it’s become unusual to build a baseball team through the draft it doesn’t really happen anymore. You I’m gonna look for all the accolades the rays get rightly so they haven’t nailed a draft picks since Evan Longoria and David Price and we’re going back 1516 years ago now they have absolutely nailed every trade every scrap heap acquisition whatever they are, they are the kings of that but when you look at what the Orioles have done, yeah, that’s awesome. What they’ve they have nailed their draft picks. So they’ve nailed draft picks later in the draft they’ve added to the scrap heap with them there’s no huge free agents here. I mean, Craig Kimbrel is not going to qualify as a huge free agents a one year deal. So you look at what the rules have done and it’s really a dare I say traditional old school way of assembling a roster and if you can keep that churn going with you know, trading stars ahead of time to replenish your farm system then then you could have some legs to this it could go on for for eight to 10 years, but yeah, we they are going to have to pony up eventually for free agents, whether it’s their own or someone else’s

Nestor J. Aparicio  14:59

All right. Pete Williams is our guest. He was the longtime columnist that baseball weekly, USA baseball weekly and USA Today, wrote 1000s of pieces on baseball is a true baseball historian and a fitness guru and an author and my friend in the real world and all that good stuff. You and I have gotten together, I don’t think since like maybe Springsteen, but a year and a half ago, we were like, really sat and had a couple of drinks. We were talking and at that point, the Orioles hadn’t become the Orioles yet rutschman was up. And so we probably didn’t spend two minutes talking about baseball, we were probably talking real life and your wife and my wife and battles and all of this stuff and real life stuff with kids and concerts and whatnot. But you are a collectible guru. And I know we’ve talked about this because when your book came out, you came on the show for an hour or whatever. And you were a little shocked that I collected a lot of baseball cards as a kid. I was the kid in the neighborhood who had a giant I have a picture of my father. I featured it in the 25th anniversary video of the baseball card cabinet I had I had a giant like it was meant for punch cards for a computer. It was a giant file cabinet and weighed 1000 pounds and had all my baseball cards year by year and all the kids came to my house to buy cards. If I would have known those George Brett rookies, we’re gonna be selling for three grand apiece, dude. So the baseball resurrection. My last name is Aparicio, that remains. So I have that. As always a part of me. Pete I collected every Aparicio car in the early 80s. When I was a kid before I was 17 years old. I had every Aparicio you could think of other than a couple of weird leaf. Weird things you couldn’t find that shows and stuff like that, when he went the Hall of Fame at four. And I had his last Jersey the TED Patterson had from the Red Sox and 70. So I had some collectibles and some of it I got rid of and auctioned off. Just wanted to get rid of it. I didn’t want to have a moth eat Louis Aparicio, Jersey that was autographed in my closet. But Louis signed everything on a trip here on the 20th anniversary of the 60s 60s. In 1986. Some of its dated 80s was June of 86. So he signed every card in my collection, and I had it all had it all in a manila envelope. And I had seen it in not be married 20 years last year. I hadn’t seen it in 18 or 19 years. And a lot of things disappeared around my radio station. I had some guys with loose fingers through the years, things disappeared. I just assumed because I hadn’t seen it that it was stolen. Last. Gone to the wolves. I mean, aparece your rookie card autograph. 57 autographed, you know, high number 61 hard to get 71 Mint black corners all that right. I found it. I found the envelope when I moved two years ago. Ish. Two years ago March ish. found that all all of it pristine, the heartland statue everything found at all. So it got me going and then the baseball team got going and this is what happens with old fuddy duddy farts like you and me. I found eBay and I found these specific a belt buckles the Rockstar belt buckles and unlike I wonder what the old Houston Oilers stuff that I love to collect look like. And then I went into the Aparicio card collection and I buffed up my 71 Kellogg’s and I got up I found the 70 Kellogg’s, install the wrapper, you know, we could see through it, and then I started finding a 58 All Star cellophane, Christmas pack and then dude, then the jersey started to happen. So I need to show so the Oracle started winning last year. And this jersey was available on the internet that you can see this as a 7678 Flanagan tippy Stan house 79 Oriole jersey, but it was an Aparicio jersey, that was a medium. That’s old school that’s made. Not made in China last week. For me, this is a 20 It’s polyester, dude, it sweats like a pig. And I bought it for 80 bucks on the internet. And it was the proudest possession of my life. So this is more collections. And I want to get you into collecting because then I had to have the 70 Aparicio with the with the 100th anniversary throwback that’s on the night to 69 jersey. And I had to get it. So I got the fever. Pete. I got the fever of collecting. What is it that makes people like you and me want this stuff? Yeah, and

19:35

I have been moving lately. So I’ve had not something that dramatic but I am stumbling across stuff that I’d forgotten about or thought was long gone. Or

Nestor J. Aparicio  19:44

I wonder how much I could get on eBay for that. Yeah, exactly. So

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19:47

but yeah, there’s I think, I think you’re certainly you reach a point of middle age where I think these things starting become more meaningful to you. And I think if you look at the heyday of collecting when things blew up And for the first time in the early 1980s, it was surrounding 1952 Mickey Mantle rookie cards. And the reason they blew up at that time is because guys in 1982 were who were paying all this money for Mantle rookie cards. Were kids in 1952. And so now you and I are kind of looking at that same 30 ish year gap, right if you will, and then we’re suddenly feeling nostalgic again for these kinds of things for you with something with a deep familiar connection for for the rest of us something maybe that we only have the connection of watching it as a kid so I think there is this kind of second wave

Nestor J. Aparicio  20:36

about my Tony Gwynn jersey. Yeah, George George Brett powder blue five wrote like a 1980 I be all about where you know like so I there is something about that. And the kids today don’t have that. I mean yours wearing pink today blue tomorrow marine this live we’re gonna have a black hat we’re gonna have an orange Yeah, we’re gonna have see through we’re gonna like I they don’t they associate differently to sports them you and I did I

21:01

think when teams are wearing 810 20 different uniforms a year and you can turn on the an NBA game these days and not even know who’s playing. I mean, the the Milwaukee Bucks are wearing blue. i What? Which team is the home team? Because you never know any more that the home team doesn’t wear white anymore in the NBA or major league baseball for that or hockey bother hockey? Yeah, at least the NFL is being generally consistent. I think

Nestor J. Aparicio  21:28

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when they put on those color Russian or it looks like they’re mustard versus ketchup. Yes,

21:32

exactly. And so yeah. So I don’t get it that the one thing I mean, look, Jerry Seinfeld had his famous riff where he goes, players change teams so often that really, you’re just rooting for clothes, my clothes to beat your clothes, right? Well, now we don’t even have consistent clothes. I mean, so in Jerry said that, like in the early 90s, too. So. So this is not a new argument. But now we’ve at least gotten rid of for the most part. I mean, the one great thing we can say about the Yankees is that they don’t subscribe to any of the silliness. They’re not putting the names in the backseat uniforms. They’re wearing Home and Away and that’s it. The Dodgers are generally pretty consistent that way too. And sometimes the Red Sox but every other team you can’t tell I mean, the here in the Tampa Bay area, I mean, the the rays have so many uniforms. I don’t even know what’s what on any given day. And so, but you lose that connection that you and I had with the powder blue with whatever uniform that resonated with us. I mean, I was a Dale Murphy fan, and the Braves had some cheesy powder blue uniforms of the early 80s. But we associate them with winning because the Braves didn’t win that much back then they went back to their traditional America’s tier course. And so but yeah, the uniforms matter and I think baseball is just so like the other leagues so intent on the short term revenue bump of all these different uniforms that they missed the big picture as usual

Nestor J. Aparicio  22:56

you get it at 74 Hank Aaron that white with the right i mean come on with a panel that Ralph gar Give it to me right?

23:04

Sure. Absolutely. Yeah, the the Braves had some some gorgeous uniforms through the years and, and their their traditional one that they’ve gone back to starting in the late 80s that we now associate the 90s winning with that that’s been a good run as well.

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Nestor J. Aparicio  23:17

What’s your collectible of choice? I mean, you you wrote about all of them. Like for me it’s really weird. Like I got the Aparicio Milk Duds card and I thought that’s kind of cool and fun. He was on a 711 copy at some point. I cannot find it anywhere. So there’s some weird sort of off the beaten path. We are collected. I like my belt buckles because I can wear them I physically wore my police belt buckle to a sting show at the symphony orchestra. I literally wore my cheap trick and my wife wore her heart belt buckle I wore my Rolling Stones belt buckle the other I wore my whole belt buckle to a Pearl Jam show so they would play Bebo Riley for me. So I like there’s something about wearing it or wearing a hat or wearing a jersey. That is way different then and my buddy Mark Miller and I get into this because he collects Brooks Robinson cards and we talk about collecting and whatnot that like I don’t want a card that’s rated in a case that feels like I can’t touch it and the beauty of the car and I’ll never see it because it has the the PSA thing and and I want it so I go into card shops and I’m on the road sometimes and I see things but I value the stuff that’s worth three bucks that’s like in a corner much more so than having a sharp cornered Bobby Clemente from 58 or whatever right like the card collecting part of it. I love the art part of it. But I don’t know what to do with it baseballs and programs and autographed things for walls. I prefer something a little more functional as I get older than here look at my car. But there is a weird part of collect like chairs. They have from the Polo Grounds. You want to sit in my chair Do I want to hang it on the wall, but we all have a different feel for that collecting thing like I collected that autograph. I was there when Willie Mays sign that, or I went to a convention on Atlantic City and paid Pete Rose $300 to sign my gambling slip. You know, like, there’s some really esoteric weird stuff out there. But for me as I get older, the things that come from the heart, like wearing a Tony Gwynn jersey, or wearing a Dan Passerini jersey, I’m looking for Earl Campbell right now, that fits me. They’re all like so big. So I’ve gotten back into that part. That’s the little part of sports, that I’m not going to let these pricks take away from me. And I mean that sincerely, because they’ve tried to take my love of sports away. You know that?

25:45

Sure. There. There are two things, though, that Nestor and I think the first off, yes, I have my Dale Murphy game used jersey. And so I do wear that to games occasionally. And I’m always, I’m always intrigued by the guys who come up to me and who know it’s a gamer, because you have to know the patch or the tags. Right. And so there are a few that are

Nestor J. Aparicio  26:02

getting smaller. It’s pick on you then all the tags off you Yeah, yeah. 642 100

26:08

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in his prime, and I’m not, you know, I’m 510. So yeah, it does hang off me. And then secondly, one thing I’ve been meaning to bring up, because I think you were entirely ahead of your time. Okay? Whenever a sports not not all the time. But often when a sports celebrity passes, you will post online a photo of yourself with that person, because you had the foresight in the 80s and 90s, to have photographs of yourself taken interviewing people, or maybe they were on your show. We think nothing of this today. But back in the 80s or 90s, you made you had to actually have an actual camera, right. And so and you had the picture of

Nestor J. Aparicio  26:51

a picture of me in Cal Ripken, I think it might be the only picture I had a calrec. And then other than running into him somewhere and taking a picture somewhere. But like, we didn’t have a lot of cameras running around. And a lot of my pictures were taken by photographers that were on the field and they gave them to me afterward. For sure. Yeah,

27:07

but I wish I would have had my photographer friends and we have a lot of the same photographer friends and

Nestor J. Aparicio  27:13

the press passes. But you have pictures right? Okay.

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27:16

Like, you know, I wish I had interviews, pictures of me in the dugout or in around the batting cage or wherever, you know, I went to various people’s homes and interviewed them for various things I wish I had, to me it would be that would be the memorabilia of my career. I wish I had it would be met it would be valuable to nobody but me. But I wish I had more. You know, I once I once interviewed Mickey Mantle at his restaurant on the occasion of his 60th birthday. Okay, and nobody thought at that time in 1991 I would not have brought thought to bring a camera, right. And so he actually did sign a photo for me.

Nestor J. Aparicio  27:56

Robert Plant my kid and didn’t have a camera. Like there’s no picture of it at all. But I sat with Robert Plant for an hour and a half and I just didn’t that was 1989 I didn’t have a camera.

28:06

Nobody would have thought to do that. That’s the thing. And so you know, I have a I have a signed baseball from when I was seven years old at a Richmond Braves game that my dad took me to a Dale Murphy. You know, why? What if Dad had brought a camera? How priceless would that photo be?

Nestor J. Aparicio  28:23

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I don’t have one picture of my papa night Memorial Stadium. But yeah, and that one now. We

28:28

forget just what a strange era it is where we shoot 100 pictures of everything a day. You know where it wasn’t that long ago where we might take 100 photos a year. And so we just don’t have the those kinds of personal.

Nestor J. Aparicio  28:42

Well, this morning I posted Bill Walton we lost Bill Walton in the overnight and I had Bill Walton on my show one time in my life. He was walking radio row in San Diego. And Dan Shaughnessy was sitting on my show. And Dan knew him from Boston, right? So he’s like, Yeah, sure. So we sat down and 25 minutes later, we’re talking about San Diego and his height and how he shops and the Grateful Dead and like doing all this stuff. There’s one picture and it’s a really awkward picture because Bill’s got his arm up. I’m sort of off of Bill my passes hanging down. And there’s some rando dude, sitting between us reading it head down, you always see the top of his head. He’s reading a newspaper. And there’s no posing, there’s no nothing. And I’m like, here’s one picture because I had to take that to the Fotomat. And the film costs $8 a roll and it was only 24 pictures on it. And then they get it developed was another eight bucks. And all of a sudden, like, I didn’t shoot a whole roll of me and Bill Walton. There’s one picture. It’s not, it’s good. It’s not great. It’s not bows, but there’s one picture and somebody’s like, who’s the Rando dude and I’m like, I don’t know, but that’s what makes it great. Because it wasn’t a television show. It wasn’t even a set. It was like a convention hall with curtains like literally and There’s nothing sexy about any of the pictures other than the fact that bill’s dead. And it’s 26 years ago, and I’m blessed to have had something that looks like a picture there. Because I had a camera on the desk and probably said to somebody, can you take a picture with Bill? And they took a picture and it turned out to be on the day he died, something that I’ve gotten a lot of feedback on. But it’s so weird because it’s not upscale. It’s not internet worthy. No, but

30:28

think think back in the 80s, or 90s. If people weren’t as obsessed with getting autographs, and they were more obsessed with getting photos, I think the athletes would have been fine with that, because they know people aren’t looking to make any money off a photo of themselves with with them. Right. And so they would have probably been far more amenable to getting photos back then. Of course, today it’s out of control. And

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Nestor J. Aparicio  30:48

nobody’s got a picture on the field with Eddie Murray. Nobody. And all those nights at Cal Ripken during the streets signed every popcorn box you remember all that? Sure. I don’t know that many people post pictures of cow. They think the cameras are the ballpark that night.

31:02

Oh, no one was taking photos in 1996. We’re still not to cell phones yet at that point.

Nestor J. Aparicio  31:09

Well, I tell you what, man, I hope to have a picture of you and not a World Series game together. One day me wearing my Aparicio. Throwback, and all that good stuff. And it you know, I miss being around baseball people. And I think that, you know, part of being a media member and having that privilege taken away. I’m under double secret probation review. Now. It’s been told to me by Mr. Rubenstein his people. So I’m just assuming, you know, that part of my deals over and it allows me to write more capably from the outside, but the relationships inside of baseball. And I know it’s changed. I know, from people inside people around the game that if I were back, I would be treated like trash no matter what, because it says press on the top of it. And those kinds of relationships that we had that I talked about 30 years later with Tony Gwynn and different people. And even Tom Glavine and no peep, and you stop at the Braves. I covered the Braves, Leo MYZONE, all those I was around all of those teams, and there was a different openness to the media and people like you and I, because we would come into that clubhouse in foreign territory. And we’d really have to know a lot about baseball in order to get over the minute we would go up to a player and not know enough, is the minute we weren’t going to be there long. You had to really earn your way for Tony Gwynn to show you his video setup. Yeah,

32:26

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you did. And it was a different era. And unfortunately, players feel they can interact more directly through social media. And maybe that’s true, maybe it’s not but yeah, from from what I hear I am you just don’t have the access to in any sport that you used to. Boy, let’s let’s not get started on college sports where there’s no access, but I mean, and then plenty of money, and plenty of money here. You get their pros, now you think they’d be more accessible. But in the in the professional ranks. The access I used to say, I mean, nobody was more accessible to the public and the media, I should say, than the 1990s baseball player. Nobody not not the president United States. I mean, think about we used to get in there three and a half hours before the game every day. And we could be there after the game recovering the

Nestor J. Aparicio  33:15

Orioles. I knew players everywhere in the league because I was in I made a point to introduce myself to Kirby pocket and Jose Canseco and George Brett, and I keep relationships with Jeff Montgomery and Brian McCray. I mean, these players that never play here, they played elsewhere. And I got to know them, because they were amenable in a city to meet a long haired, youngish reporter who loves baseball as much as they did, and asked questions about what do you do with that bone on the bat? What is the you know, how do you warm up? Tony, tell me about video. And it’s amazing how much of the science that we saw. And there’s a fella named John Miller, not that John Miller different doing a book on Earl Weaver. And he’s talking about analytics and the modern mind of baseball coming from video and analytics, and putting statistics and video together and probability together and voila, you get sigma del and Mike Elias right?

34:13

Yeah, absolutely. And so when you look at at that period, and again another reason I’ve loved Tropicana Field is that when when teams came into the trop now we’re going early 90s or late 90s, early 2000s Yeah, there weren’t I was really the only national writer base there so I had the whole room to myself and and the rays were so terrible back then and flip players were in a good mood because they’re in Tampa. They might have had some fun that night before when they got into Tampa and so they’re staying in a lovely hotel in St. Pete they’re coming in they know they’re gonna win three or four from the raise. So you know, guys were always in a good mood when they came into that visiting raise clubhouse and so yeah, but it’s it’s a different time now. And and I think now more than ever It’s just more challenging and I’m glad I don’t have to do it on a day to day basis. Where

Nestor J. Aparicio  35:04

have you gone Ric fond that’s what I’m going to say right there. Bohmian Ricky P. Williams is our guest. He is a former and reformed USA Today baseball writer and USA baseball weekly, reformed enough to continue a friendship with me. 30 years later, he is down in a tamper. What are you doing? You don’t do any more collectible. I break all this collectible stuff out for not You’re not doing that. You’re not covering baseball, though. You seem pretty involved with this Tampa team that’s coming to Baltimore this week. And we’re gonna be that family’s given out these Maryland lottery tickets. Are you doing fitness but what are you doing? Because I mean, I know you in the real world, you’re like a real fitness guru. And you’ve taken that on and you know, reformed baseball, right? You’re probably better off writing about health. Pete. Yeah, I

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35:46

like to think so. So we have a segue. Oh, about 20 years ago I made was more into the fitness space I’ve been writing about as far back as the late 90s with baseball weekly, but then I I met a prominent trainer by name and mark for Stegen he started a company called Exos. He was best known early on for training Nomar garciaparra and training guys for the NFL Combine, which he still does, but but he’s built that into a 5000 employee worldwide empire, the trains, a lot of fortune 100, wellness facilities and that sort of thing. And so Mark and I wrote six books together, most notably core performance, which was a fitness bestseller. So that did really well and that led to some other fitness works for me as well with other authors and co authors. And I picked up some training credentials myself and then I got involved in triathlon and endurance sports. And I’ve written extensively for men’s health, Men’s Journal, Men’s Fitness, Muscle and Fitness, all of those fitness publications as well. So there’s still a pivot, if you will, is still in the same space, but a little bit of a different tech.

Nestor J. Aparicio  36:49

But also you don’t have curmudgeonly billionaire baseball people, when you go to somebody and say, teach me how to live better teach me how to be healthier. And I know you to be a student of life in general. What would you say to our audience, if you want to get a little pick me up for the summertime? What’s your best advice, I always tell people, my best advice is oatmeal and fresh fruit in the morning, get your day off to a good start. You know, good, solid foundation, when I lost weight back in Oh, six, I’ve kept my weight off. 18 years, I lost 30 pounds in the summer of oh six kept it off. And it’s the power of movement. You know, like I’ve walked 40,000 steps to New York City this weekend. But but I’m not a runner. I’ve had knee surgery, My knee hurts a little bit today from walking so much. As we get older. As you’ve gotten older, what’s your advice?

37:37

I think the the movement, whatever that may be, I have been moving lately. Actually, I’ve after 25 years, my wife and I downsized. And so the moving of stuff, the moving of possessions the moving of the cleaning, and there is no better workout than than yard work or housework. I mean, the you move your body and in all three planes of motion, you’re you’re squatting, you’re lifting your whatever. So on days that you’re working in the yard or in the house, don’t worry about hitting the gym, you will be more than adequately trained for those days. And so I’ve been on a run this not literally a run, but our run of housework and yard work lately, it seems in recent weeks. And so yeah, just just keep moving, whatever it is, you know, I I’m no longer the triathlete. And distance runner I once was, but I can still swim, I can still do paddling, I can still go for walks, I can still do yoga, you know, whatever that is, don’t don’t let yourself get bored. Don’t let yourself get into routines.

Nestor J. Aparicio  38:34

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Yeah, my friends at Planet Fitness, you know, whenever we bring them on, we talk about movement and just getting out. And the thing that they talk so much about, they’re just doing real life stuff, just being in the kind of shape where you can walk around New York and get off the subway and get up and down steps on a rolling stone show when you’re 55. And seeing other people there that couldn’t believe me had a Rolling Stone show. And knowing that, you know, I’ll be 6575 85 soon. And I see in MyKad 80. Dude, it’s like, you know, all things are possible. And you live in a part of the world where people are a little more fit, because you can be outside 12 months a year, that yoga part that you talked about with me, that’s been a real lifesaver for me. And I think when I was with you a year and a half ago, my back was a little screwy at the time, even sitting at the bar versus standing at the bar. Just finding things that are falling apart, finding strengthening activities that don’t quit on it, make sure you’re staying stronger every day. Yeah.

39:25

And so there’s always a tendency as we get older, or you know, 10 years ago, I was in a car accident, I was convinced because doctors told me Well, you’re this is your new normal, like no, I don’t accept that I was 44 at the time there’s that can’t be I wasn’t paralyzed. And even then that’s not accepted by a lot of people who’ve been down that road. And so I said no, I’m going to pursue every means of movement possible to remedy the situation and people in Far, far worse accidents and what I had made it back and beyond to those sorts of things. So so don’t don’t accept whatever a lot of life you’re in whether it’s from age or accident or anything else, I think you can find a way through movement to to cure what ails you.

Nestor J. Aparicio  40:06

All right, Pete, I knew you would educate us here. Pizza. What are we gonna talk about? I’m like, baseball, I think did it made maybe in the neighborhood? Well, the Oreos are good, right? I mean, I’ve known you a long time you and I don’t talk enough baseball in Baltimore. Right? Like we’ve waited a long long time to see what this can be again, and it’s been fun to talk about it and fun to dream it a little bit and knowing guys like you back when it was full here and it was vibrant again. And here comes Tampa this weekend in a meaningful series in Baltimore. We haven’t had enough of that.

40:38

No, no, it’s great to see for so long Baltimore in Tampa Bay, we’re bringing in the rear of the the American League East right you can count on you some combination New York, Boston, and then Toronto in the middle. And then Baltimore in Tampa Bay battling out for fourth so it’s really nice to see that turned on and as it was last year, baseball,

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Nestor J. Aparicio  40:56

it always sucks us back in especially as old guys here. Pay Williams can be found out on the interweb anywhere that great books are written. He is a an author and a fitness author and Guru. But I always think of him as a baseball collectible. And my old baseball friend from back in the day, you know, John Eisenberg called it the glory era of sports writing. The golden era of sports writing is what he called it. So you’re gonna say the 90s baseball. I’ll always have Chuck Knobloch is what I’m what I’m thinking. I am Nestor we are wn st am 1570, Towson Baltimore. Come find us on the Maryland crabcakes represented by the Maryland lottery. Get some Pac Man scratches. We’re gonna be everywhere all month long. Check it all out of Baltimore positive.com