Finding the WBC mojo as spring training splinters for MLB players

With Opening Day three weeks away, the structure of Major League Baseball changes dramatically as many players including Gunnar Henderson report to World Baseball Classic duties and games that feel far more competitive than spring training. Luke Jones and Nestor do some long toss on this international tournament that has produced some classic moments. Will you be watching?

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the World Baseball Classic (WBC) and its impact on Major League Baseball (MLB). They highlighted the excitement around the WBC, noting the long-term effects on MLB teams, especially those losing key players for up to two weeks. Nestor shared his personal experiences attending WBC games, including a memorable event at Dodger Stadium. They also discussed the high ticket prices for WBC games, with some reaching $300, and the cultural significance of the tournament, especially for countries like Venezuela and Japan. The conversation also touched on the potential risks to players during the WBC.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Write a ‘Dear John Harbaugh’ exit letter (compose and send) during March as mentioned
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Write and send letters to New York media, to Pete Alonso, and potentially to Luke Jones (compose and deliver)
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Attend and participate at Gertrude’s event on Wednesday (appear and engage; bring crab cake coverage/promotion)
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Prepare early reviews of Dan Rodricks’ play after attending the dress rehearsal the night before opening (write and submit reviews)
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Wrap up the series of events at Perry Hall next Tuesday and coordinate guests including Councilman David Marks (host and finalize event details)
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Write to Katie Griggs and Mark Fine (compose and send correspondence as mentioned)
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Wear/support the Venezuela jersey and publicly show support for Team Venezuela during the World Baseball Classic (prepare and wear jersey on WBC dates)
• [ ] Join Nestor at Costas in Dundalk on Friday for the scheduled event (attend and participate in the discussion)

World Baseball Classic and MLB Interest

• Nestor Aparicio discusses his upcoming activities, including writing letters and attending events like Gertrude’s crab cakes and Dan Rodricks’ play.
• Nestor mentions his excitement about baseball, especially the World Baseball Classic (WBC), and how it has been a topic of discussion.
• Luke Jones praises the coverage of the WBC games, noting the long duration of some games due to frequent pitching changes.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the impact of the WBC on MLB teams, particularly the Red Sox, who are losing several players to the WBC.

Personal Experiences and Cultural Significance

• Nestor shares his experience attending a WBC game at Dodger Stadium, mentioning notable attendees like Melissa Milano and LL Cool J.
• Nestor expresses his interest in attending a WBC game featuring Venezuela and the Dominican Republic in Miami, despite the high ticket prices.
• Nestor reflects on the cultural and political significance of the WBC, especially for countries like Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.
• Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the importance of the WBC for players, highlighting moments like Adam Jones’ catch in the 2017 WBC.

Impact on MLB Teams and Players

• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential risks for MLB teams, especially the Orioles, with players like Gunner Henderson participating in the WBC.
• Luke mentions the excitement and pride players feel representing their countries, despite the potential risks.
• Nestor shares his personal experiences of attending baseball games in Cuba and Venezuela, emphasizing the cultural significance of the sport.
• Luke and Nestor discuss the historical context of the WBC, noting its evolution over the past 20 years.

Historical Context and Future Prospects

• Nestor recalls attending a WBC game in 2009 at Dodger Stadium, describing the electric atmosphere and the presence of Japanese fans.
• Luke highlights the increasing participation of players in the WBC, noting the success of teams like Japan and the Dominican Republic.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential for European teams to gain more traction in future WBCs.
• Nestor reflects on the importance of the WBC for MLB teams, especially those aiming for playoff contention.

Ticket Prices and Cultural Pride

• Nestor shares the high ticket prices for WBC games, mentioning specific examples like Venezuela vs. Dominican Republic in Miami.
• Nestor expresses his regret for not attending the game, despite the high cost, due to the cultural significance of the event.
• Luke and Nestor discuss the importance of the WBC for players, noting the pride and excitement it brings to fans around the world.
• Nestor reflects on the historical context of the WBC, noting its evolution and the increasing participation of players.

Personal Reflections and Future Plans

• Nestor shares his personal experiences of attending baseball games in different countries, emphasizing the cultural significance of the sport.
• Luke and Nestor discuss the potential risks for MLB teams, especially the Orioles, with players participating in the WBC.
• Nestor reflects on the importance of the WBC for players, noting the pride and excitement it brings to fans around the world.
• Nestor expresses his regret for not attending the WBC game, despite the high cost, due to the cultural significance of the event.

Final Thoughts and Future Coverage

• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of the WBC for players, noting the pride and excitement it brings to fans around the world.
• Nestor reflects on the historical context of the WBC, noting its evolution and the increasing participation of players.
• Nestor expresses his regret for not attending the WBC game, despite the high cost, due to the cultural significance of the event.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential risks for MLB teams, especially the Orioles, with players participating in the WBC.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

World Baseball Classic, MLB interest, Gunner Henderson, Tyler O’Neill, Venezuela vs Dominican, cultural significance, political impact, ticket prices, player injuries, international baseball, team USA, Japan, Dominican Republic, baseball pride.

SPEAKERS

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Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:00

Uh, welcome home. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are, Baltimore, positive, positively, getting into March. I am a man of letters. This month I’ll be writing, starting it off with the Dear John Harbaugh exit letter. I’m also gonna be writing to the New York media and to Pete Alonso and to I might even write a letter to Luke Jones before it’s all over with, but that being said, that we’re gonna have crab cakes before we do that, on Wednesday, we will be at gertrude’s no finer crab cake, and certainly no finer vegan crab cake anywhere. My cousin John shields hosting us, as well as the museum itself, and Dan Rodricks doing the 1966 play that I am getting the I’m getting the night before the dress rehearsal. I’m in on this thing, so I’ll have early reviews in on Dan’s play, which I hope is as good as the previous ones have been. I’m looking forward to that Friday. We’re going to be at Costas and Dundalk. Come on out. Luke’s going to join me. Alan McCallum, I think Robbie Leonard’s coming out and talking about politics with me. I My man, Dennis o’donovan’s coming out. We’re going to talk AI and Claude and claw and chat GPT and all of these things that I have found to be very helpful. And then next Tuesday, we wrap things up wet missones On Tuesday, that’s next Tuesday in Perry Hall. Also some great guests for that. Councilman David Marks is going to be joining me, amongst others, up at the hall, Perry Hall, I have my Koco’s gear on right now, which I’m going over getting some ribs at Koco’s, and I’m going to get me some coconut shrimp at Koco’s. I’m gonna bring me home some cream of crab Super Koco’s as well, because I’m hungry. And, man, put the shirt on in a couple weeks. Luke. Are you hungry, younger for some baseball? Because I know we were going to talk baseball, then we talked football, but now I think we’re going to talk baseball. Are you excited about I mean, I watched it all weekend. I mean, I’ve been watching I thought rock Koco did a nice job from a studio in on Valley.

Luke Jones  01:55

I thought they did a very nice job with Sunday’s game that went three and a half hours, or three hours 20 minutes, because, because core of kept making pitching changes in the middle of innings, it was a great reminder of what you get to a certain point in the season where you have some of those games or just like, Man, this is dragging, but they did a good job with that.

Nestor Aparicio  02:15

There’s that bus ride back to Sarasota, sure, sure, way down. And, like, no

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Luke Jones  02:19

question about that, there’s definitely that for especially the veterans who made the trip. But yeah, you get to march, and you’re now at a point where you’re saying they will be playing real baseball later this month. Games that count later this month were three ish weeks out from opening day, so it starts to feel real. But then you also have this strange dynamic of gunner Henderson and Tyler O’Neill and Dean Kramer and Enrique Bradfield, you know. So even some young players now leave camp to go be part of the World Baseball Classic. So which I love as an event, I think anyone who followed it three years ago, remembers Ohtani against Mike Trout and how even for March, how incredible of a moment that was. But it is a different dynamic, because you have some pretty prominent players across the sport who now leave their teams. The Red Sox, are leaving 16 players, yeah, and some of them will be gone for close to two weeks. So it is a different dynamic. As I said, I liked the event. I wasn’t sure about it years ago, but the last couple WB sees, I’m not gonna lie and say that. You know, I was there at the beginning. I enjoyed it.

Nestor Aparicio  03:40

I went to Dodger Stadium. You can go to YouTube. Yeah, with the late I remember, yeah, Brian Roberts, Jeremy Guthrie, were all there. I saw dice K pitch for the Japanese team. I saw each euro play. We sat right behind home plate, right behind Mary Hart, Tommy Lasorda was right to our left, and who’s the gal that was the actress that’s that has the clothing line from the show with Tony Danza. So Melissa Milano, Melissa, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like we ran into Frasier Crane there, my wife took a picture with the rapper. LL Cool. J so, like, all of these people are there, and it was a bit of a like, the Japanese people had the bangers out, and we’re going crazy for it. Americans are like, I don’t know what it is, and I’ll tell you this, the Venezuelan in me was looking at Florida next week, and the Venezuelan team is playing the Dominican team in Miami at the dome Luke. I looked to do a trip, I think you know this. I was trying, I was trying to get away, and I looked at it, and I could have even landed at the Miami Airport, which is really near the stadium. Tickets were 300 bucks, and they still are. To get in, I believe, yeah, tickets are 300 bucks for Venezuela and the Dominican next Wednesday night. It’s the 11th the game, and I looked at it, and I’m like, maybe Major League Baseball would consider me a media member if I wanted to go. And then I was going to push that. And then I’m just sort of like, I’ve been there, done that, and I think it’s important in some, certainly culturally, in a lot of countries where it matters, including the Japanese people in LA that there’s 50,000 Japanese people at Dodger Stadium screaming for dice Kay and Ichiro It was unbelievable. It was, I mean, my wife and I would tell you, was like, one of the great memories we had, which is why I was like, Maybe I want to go to a Little Havana and watch, you know, Venezuela play, and put a Venezuelan shirt on and like, maybe that would be worth, I don’t know, 100 bucks to me, but not 300 bucks. But like, I do feel like that’s going to rev up a little bit the next couple of weeks, given the people that look like me and us are getting put in in in concentration camps here in America, I think there is, there’s political part of this bombing Iran, all that’s going on and countries I’m talking about in baseball. But there’s also that you’re going to talk about the baseball part of how weird this is for two weeks, and then you and I would talk about last week. And look, you have wrestling that keeps you company 52 weeks a year. My wife is having withdrawal from the Olympics. You and I were watching preseason baseball, which we haven’t had the pleasure to do on the Mr. Angelos and Sons network here for 25 years, where I’ve watched them play four times and it’s not even march like so I like I’m more educated about the baseball team itself, but now there’s the breakup, and I would ask you, we didn’t watch the NFL underwear Olympics last week. We both admitted that the WBC, does it get your attention? You watch six games this week? Yeah, I

Luke Jones  06:53

I’ve come over the probably going back to the Adam Jones year, you know, where he made the catch. And obviously, if you remember Machado was the one who hit that ball, and how that was just such a wild Orioles or on Orioles moment, but just, I mean, it was just a great moment for the US, US baseball. Yeah, I think it is funny, because I do think about it in terms of you are holding your breath, especially when you’re talking about your pitchers, right? You have guys that, okay, they started a little bit early. The guys that are going to be pitching in the WBC started ramping up a little bit earlier than their contemporaries, who are just staying in major league camp. But like, for example, Dean Kramer’s going to be pitching for Israel, which he takes great pride in. I completely understand that. I understand guys wanting to play for their countries and their heritage, but at the same time, if you’re the Orioles, you’re holding your breath right. Gunner Henderson, not a pitcher, but probably going to be playing some third base for the United States, because Bobby WITTs going to be at shortstop. Now, gunner is no stranger to third base, right? And even, we even got the funny moment over the weekend where gunner moved to third base and the Orioles that basically is a prank, kind of moved Kobe Mayo to shortstop for an inning.

Nestor Aparicio  08:18

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So just have some fun out there. Yeah, well, a lot of it had to

Luke Jones  08:21

do with Pete Alonso wanted to get one more at bat, so they didn’t want to take him out of the game. And they kind of just, you know, they didn’t want to take anyone out. So it’s like, hey, go to shortstop for Kobe Mayo has played shortstop in his life. I call him an athlete last week, yeah. But there is that sense of for all the excitement, and again, I’m looking forward to the WBC. I don’t love the timing of it from a pitching standpoint, because guys are suddenly, you know, in early March, are throwing like it’s the postseason, and that’s you do. It takes a special individual to have the right temperament and composure for that beyond the physical risk that it entails. But there is, you know, it’s different, just from a standpoint of your 10 ish days into grapefruit or cactus league action, right? I mean, these hitters are at the point now where they’ve gotten 10 to 15 at bats, pitchers, starters, for the most part, with some exceptions. And I know Bassett only made his debut over the weekend, but you know, like Bradish and some of these guys, Kramer guys, have made two starts, relievers have made three appearances for the most part. So you’re kind of getting that equilibrium going, that that you know that your your clock going in terms of playing games. But now a handful of these guys are going to the WBC, and you talk about the clock, speeding up your clock. I mean, you’re playing tense, you know, high, you know, high proposition, kind of competition, compared to, you know, and let’s call a spade a spade. Not that these guys aren’t competing and going about it as professionals, but no one’s sitting there on the edge of their seat knowing if you pass it was joking around. So yeah, on the field. That won’t be happening this week, and it’s very serious. Like, Cuba, these guys care like, as they should. And like, again, you’re talking about national pride. You’re talking about guys that are, you know, pitching for, you know, their parents, heritage, right?

Nestor Aparicio  10:24

In some cases. I mean, I know you don’t like to talk about the politics part, but I’ve been to Cuba. I’m Venezuelan, so I, I have no problem talking about it at all, because it’s important. It’s and it’ll be really important next Wednesday night when Venezuela and Dominican get together in Little Havana and, you know, Cuba, our country, denied four of their staffers. And I, I looked at one of the staffers names, and I’m like, he played against the Orioles in 99 man. They’ve had players the Cuban team. When you talk about that background, not just el Duque of that era, but guys like, you know, pistano, and just names of guys that would have been Cal Ripken, kind of Scott Roland, kind of good players during that era that this is such an important time to shine for Venezuela, for what Trump’s done to Venezuela, for what Trump said to Puerto Rico, for what Trump would do to Dominican if he ever vacation there. It this is a tough time to look like me or feel like me, and a lot of regards, not just writing to Katie Griggs and Mark fine, which I’ll be doing this week too, but it, there’s a lot of it’s beyond baseball pride or passion pride or economic pride, or dude Trump bombed Venezuela and took the leader. They’re playing baseball next Wednesday in Miami. It’s all sitting there, you know, like all and it means a lot, a lot for any of the players, and that means a lot for the Americans too. It’s Adam Jones will be telling that story the rest of his life, right, right, right. I mean, it’s one of the stories. When it gets brought up, what do you remember the most? That was one of the great moments of his life, of his career, and it came where in USA, on the back end of the Olympics and all of that. It’s an important time. I mean, hey, we think we’re the greatest at everything. We should be the best at baseball, right? And that puts a lot on these 25 guys too. When I dude, I know the night that I saw Oswald pitch for the US that night, and I’m at Dodger Stadium, and dude, you could have been in Osaka. You could have been in Tokyo. No one was there. This is even before everybody wrapped their truck in red, white and blue, and put a Trump sign on it. No one was there in Uncle Sam, it did not look like a Michael Phelps swim event, or they didn’t even look like Apollo Creed in rocky one, like it was all Japanese. I have videos of all. I mean, everybody was Japanese. And Roy Oswald is now pitching in March in Dodger Stadium, trying to get his innings in. Because, you know, the Astros were paying him 14 or some pittance at that point, you know, and it like it is a different kind of fire than preseason football or whatever Ryan Ripken and and poor rock Abaco have been doing from a studio in Hunt Valley talking about, you know, getting an extra bat for Pete Alonso at Jet Blue stadium or whatever, right?

Luke Jones  13:40

Yeah. I mean, it’s definitely different. I mean, you’ve got to have common sense and balance, right? And look, I mean, these guys aren’t going to you’re not gonna have pitchers going out there throwing nine innings or eight innings or anything crazy, right? They there are guardrails in place for all that, but it is legit competition, and it’s something that these guys care about. I mean, you mentioned Adam Jones. Adam Jones never won a World Series in his career, but he did win a World Baseball Classic, and he was a, you know, Cap 10 and made the catch and all that. I mean, that’s a great story. I mean, to your point, for as much as we think of baseball as America’s game, it’s a global game. I mean, it really it is. And, you know, look, I’m waiting for some of these WBCs in the future, where you see some of these teams, some of these countries in Europe have, you know, gain a little more traction from a competitive standpoint, right? I mean, we know all about Latin America. We know about the Far East, obviously. I mean, it’s, it is great, and it’s fun from the standpoint of, and we’ve seen this. And this applied even when they started it back in, you know, 20 what the first WBC was that 2006 I mean, it’s, you know, it’s been a while since we, you know, this has been a thing now for quite a while.

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Nestor Aparicio  14:52

But I think the year I went was nine, eight or nine. Yeah, that sounds about right. You know, I saw in LA.

Luke Jones  14:58

But point is, we’re talking 20 years now. Of history of this. This isn’t something that’s, you know, in its infancy anymore, but it is fun to see. We’ve seen this play out with Japan and some of these other countries, where you see some premium talent, and then sudden, before you know it, a couple years later, that guy’s arriving in the major leagues. So we’ve seen that happen on a number of occasions. So it’s fun in that way. So it’s great that said, if you’re these 30 teams, and especially, let’s not say 30, but let’s say the half, 15, 1617, teams, 18 teams that fancy themselves as a playoff contender, you’re holding your breath. I mean, look, I think it’s great that gunner Henderson is playing for the United States. I think that’s awesome. You know, good for him. To your point, he’ll remember that the rest of his life, regardless of what happens with the Orioles or anyone else in his career. That said, if there’s a play in shallow left field and he’s running out from third base and the left fielders converging and they collide. I mean, oh my gosh, right. I mean, you’re talking about the Oriole season right there. It’s their best player. So there is a little bit of that that goes on where, you know, and yes, guys can get hurt in spring training too. I mean, the Orioles were holding their breath with pasayo The other day, where you’re, you were kind of afraid, oh my gosh, did he just strain an oblique? And fortunately, he was fine and looked really good at Fenway south on Sunday, swinging the bat, so he seems okay. But you know that when you get into an environment where the competition ramps up, the risk inevitably is going to ramp up a little bit. And that’s not to say that guys are going to be getting hurt left and right, but you also just, you understand that that’s, that’s part of this, right? So, yeah, you take pride in watching the US, or, you know, I mean, Tyler O’Neill, one key injury, right? Well, I mean, it’s happened before. I mean, we’ve seen this happen before, right? I mean, look at, look at what happened with the Mets with Edwin Diaz. I guess that was 2020 you know, that was three years ago when that happened. They’re all trying hard, right? But, but he, but he got hurt. And I mean it. I mean the Mets

Nestor Aparicio  17:13

right off the bat away, by the way. And I just want to, like, say this out loud, because I covered baseball on the inside the way you do, and I’m not allowed to anymore. But back in the day when these guys like Raphael Palmeiro would bow out of a home run derby, they would bow out under the you know, I don’t want to get my swing off. I don’t want to do this wrong I’m talking to that’s just like pretend play time. Run out for five minutes and do some exhibition. Yeah, like doing this and running off on your team and having the pressure of doing it and the desire to do it, and the want to wear USA or Venezuela or whatever your thing is, or your country calls you, or whatever. And aside from money, which you have an ungodly amount of, I saw Jackson holidays childhood house up for sale in Oklahoma? Yeah, I did. So I mean, I, you know, I just look at it, and I’m like, and having someone like Adam Jones say to a young guy like owner Henderson, Hey, dude, this might be the greatest thing you’ve ever done. Yeah, and by the way, I must interrupt on this because I’m going to have a good time with this little piece here. I was looking for my wife challenged me about the Olympics last week on social media, and she said, you’re not into the Olympics enough. And I’m like, what I said, it’s I’m not into it, because I see what happens online all day and like, I’m just ski jumping and frosting, like I just wasn’t as into it. And I said, I’ve had so many Olympic athletes on and one that we look literally into the second glass of wine, sitting here, laying here on the love sack, watching it, and I started barking out things. Like, Carl Lewis came to my studio and sat down. I talked to Bonnie Blair. I said, I, you know, like, just because Michael Phelps never answered the phone, he lived a mile away from the station for 20 years. Like, like I had Mary Lou Retton was my all time. And you videoed it. My all time. Favorite piece I think I’ve ever done in 35 years is Mary, Lou Retton, Muhammad Ali. I talked to Muhammad Ali, you know, so like i Sir Roger Banister. I mean, these, these Olympic legends that were that ran track in 1952 and stuff. So I’ve had my share, so I started looking for pictures. And I’m like, I know Dorothy Hamel sat on my show because she lived here. And I’m like, I remember Bart Connor came into my studio with Nadia Coleman each and I started looking at Olympic champions. And I was thinking about how many I’ve met. Remember the the snowboarder Hannah Teeter, who I had a crush on in Minnesota that came at the mall? Remember that one? So I’ve had all of these. Amy Van Dyken sat on the show at our Super Bowl Olympic champion, right? So I go through all of this, and then I googled it my. Did this for me. And baseball won medals because I remembered, like, Mark McGuire wearing USA. And I’m like, All right, who have I interviewed, who has been on the show, who has an Olympic medal? And I started looking through this, Jeffrey Hammond. I was trying to, like, go through all of these names, dude, are you ready for this? And he’s a big Pittsburgh Steelers fan, and I’m going to find him probably, because I’m saying his name and the cosmos, and I know I got his number around. Rick krivda. Rick crypto has an Olympic gold medal. Rick kriv the dots, so. But I’m just getting back to the pride of USA, is what I’m saying. Like nobody might not know that. I guarantee you Rick rivton knows where his team, USA jersey and his Olympic gold medal and like and Adam Jones and Manny Machado never see each other without talking about that moment in time that it doesn’t weigh the same as an ollie fight or as a Michael Phelps swim or whatever, and it but it does in Venezuela if they win this week. It does in Japan if they win this week. It didn’t Japan the night I was there and at Dodger Stadium, it was like something out of a movie, dude. It was insane. That’s like, that’s all I’m saying, and I and by the way, I don’t ever talk about this either, and I don’t think I’ve even told you this when I went to Cuba, and I’ve seen baseball in Venezuela, to me, my, my, I have a fan. My name’s on the family building in Maracaibo, Zulia. It’s the Stadio, the Luis Aparicio, so but when we went to Cuba in 99 and I would say, confirm this with Jerry Coleman, but please don’t we went to a baseball game, not the game you saw on TV, Fidel Castro and Davy Johnson, well, was it was? No, it wasn’t David. It was, it was Ray Miller, Ray Miller, Ray Miller, yeah, it was early into the Ray Miller administration. So it wasn’t what you saw on TV that day. It was two days before we were there, three days for I mean, I can go back and get the tapes and the transcripts, but the night we landed, they offered to let us to take us on a pensa shuttle bus to the stadium, same stadium that we saw with Fidel Castro, but they were playing their World Series, so it was packed, I mean, packed, and we sat in left field, we had our press pass. We could kind of wander and moved around a lot, and whatever we wanted to do, man, I had an international baseball experience in Cuba that night at a really important game. And like I don’t, I can’t tell you who was playing or who wasn’t. And I think some of the players in the game played in the game, I have to go back and look it all up, but the environment and for Latin baseball, and having been to it when I was a boy in Venezuela, and then when I was I went as a teenager in Maracaibo, saw Greg Maddux pitch in the 80s for Zulia in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Dick pole was their pitching coach, talked to him in a record store buying YouTube albums and Bruce Springsteen albums. But like seeing that culture and having it come to life, and knowing and then now I’m pissed at myself for not going to Miami next Wednesday, right? Like, did I just talk myself? Did I just twist myself into a hole that I should be wearing my Venezuela Jersey in Miami, that I should have paid the maybe see if the tickets have gone down at all. Let me see if it’s under last I checked, it was like 285 bucks. But like, I’m telling you, dude, it would blow your mind, like you love baseball. One of my great disappointments in life was that when Jen and I went to Beijing with Cal Ripken, so we’re talking 2007 It was October of 2007 that we went it was the Steve McNair mud game in Pittsburgh that week. You’ll remember, I do everything around that sort of thing because it helps you remember things Susie Cole were getting beaten up by the rain. That’s when we were in the Far East. And Cal went to Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai. Nestor and Jen went to Beijing, Hong Kong and Tokyo. And when we were in Beijing, we were there with Cal Ripken, and it was baseball in the Olympics in. Oh eight in Beijing. It was a goodwill diplomacy tour. Did I know you then? Were you a

Luke Jones  25:06

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union oh nine? Was when? Okay?

Nestor Aparicio  25:10

So this is before then, okay, I get, I get it all confused. So this is October of oh seven that we go with Cal Ripken to do, and you can go watch all the videos I, I interview Cal Ripken with Rick mace, literally over Siberia. It’s a true story and about all of this. And spent time with Cal on that trip. And we were in Beijing at the diplomat’s house in Beijing in the in the Consulate, or the diplomatic estate. It was a mansion in in Beijing, and we got invited, and we’re there. And like Sports Illustrated from Japan is there. All the Asian media has this Taiwan, even though the China, you can’t say that word in China, it’s like you get put in jail. So we didn’t have a lot of rules, but saying the word Taiwan in China was not not cool. Apparently, Chinese government didn’t like that. They didn’t like showing us a lot of things because we were press so but in this in this consulate, I met the Major League Baseball Asian representative. His name is Jim Small. You can look him up, and he knew of me from my national syndication days in New York. He knew, like, I knew his name. He knew my name, Aparicio, whatever, because I’ve been on the radio in New York, and we hit it off. And he gave me his card. And he’s like, hey man. So he said, Wait, what are you going with Cal? They’re doing the Wong Joe and the Shanghai. Shanghai is great. I’m like, Nah, I know Shanghai is great, but we’re going to Hong Kong and then we’re going to Tokyo. He’s like, Tokyo. Hold on, I live in Tokyo. Let me send you here. Let me send you there. So he starts sending me places in Tokyo. And he’s like, Hey, man, when are you going to Tokyo? And I’m like, Well, we’re going, you know, after we go to Hong Kong, we’re going to Tokyo. He’s like, Hey, man, game seven of the World Series. If there is such a thing, you’ll be in Tokyo for that, it’ll be at the Tokyo Dome. Bobby Valentine’s team’s playing against the Tokyo giants. We’re in game four right now, or game three, whatever it is, he said, look, take my card. I’ll get you tickets. I’ll hook it all up. We’ll figure it all out. And Jen and I were in a bar in Hong Kong, and we saw the result that the World Series had ended and that we weren’t going to get to watch a game in Japan. And I still never seen a game in Japan, even though I’ve seen a game at Dodger Stadium at Chavez Ravine, where it felt like I was in Japan. So I’ve got a little not just respect for this as an Aparicio and a baseball guy, even though Katie Griggs and Mark fine. Don’t think I I’m qualified to be a media member. I’ve lived and witnessed this that, and you’re going to elbow me when you’re like, Dude, I know you could have gone down. You would have gotten in for 100 bucks. You should have pushed the press thing. You’re an Aparicio. They would have let you in. You would have had the greatest time. You’d had pictures. I’m not going next Wednesday, but I looked at it and I thought about it, because I know how great it can be. Man.

Luke Jones  28:18

It’s fun, and it’s a reminder of how many people, not just here in this country but in the world, love baseball, and it might look a little bit different in the way that we celebrate or we consume and but you know, hot dogs or or whatever.

Nestor Aparicio  28:32

See me in a Tokyo Dome rooting for Bobby V who was my favorite player when I was man, I was so bummed out when we got there. Man, when we got there, all of the the busses and trains and everything, there’s so much baseball in Japan. Bobby Valentine, I mean, when we were there, that’s at that time he was doing that Bobby V thing, that the documentary was great, and all that you got to have wa Mr. Baseball, and sadahara, OHA and Ichiro, and it’s just, it’s great, it’s great. And you’ve covered Japanese players, Asian players, Hispanic players. You know how important all of it is culturally. This is a time to celebrate that, even though the world’s all left up,

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Luke Jones  29:14

yeah, and it’s going to be fun. And I think after the tepid results for the United States in the first couple WB sees, obviously, when we won in 2017 that was great. I mean, I think you’ve seen in recent years, you know. And obviously covid disrupted the equilibrium of it, and what we ended up going six years in between what the 17 and the last one that we had? But you see how many more players want to take part in this, right? I mean, it’s not, if you go look at the rosters of the first couple years, and that’s not to say there weren’t any, you know, because I remember Ken Griffey Jr being on it. And so it’s not like there were. They were devoid of great players. But I feel there’s a different sense now of what it means to be on that team compared to maybe how players would have viewed it 20 years ago, where cool experience. But now I think there’s much more of a hey, like go back and look Japan, 106 and Japan, 109 and the Dominican. One in 13, the US one in 17. Japan won the last one. Hey, this is our game, right? We’ve only won one of these.

Nestor Aparicio  30:27

So let’s have some fun with this, because I have my app out for ticket prices, because I literally did this because I was going to go to Venezuela game on Wednesday night. Winds up being a classic, if, I mean, I totally, totally screwed up. Tickets are $215 now for that game, but, but, but I’ll give you this March 11. So a couple of these games matter in Puerto Rico on the 10th, Tuesday the 10th, tickets are 135 bucks for Canada and Puerto Rico tickets are 151 bucks for Mexico and the US in Houston. Tickets are 200 bucks for Cuba and Puerto Rico in Puerto Rico home of the Expos for a minute or two, and then, you know, if you want to see Brazil play Great Britain and Houston and empty Stadium at seven bucks. So you know it. You want to see the Dominican play Israel 38 bucks in Miami on the ninth on Sunday. So there’s a this World Cup games are going to be a little bit like this, when two countries get together and there’s nobody there to sort of fill the seats to some degree. It is kind of a neat up and down thing this week, but it’s a blink, right? I mean, it’s a really quick tournament, and you hope nobody gets hurt. And to our point, dude, we weren’t watching the underwear Olympics last week. You didn’t care about the real Olympics two weeks ago, last I checked, as much as we think gritty is cute. You’re not becoming a hockey fan. You know the Sixers thing in the NBA. I mean the Terps, right? I mean, what this is, at least, I don’t know, gives you something to watch. And I’ll say this, and I do want to take a break and do oral baseball with you. And maybe I would even break in saying this, it’s been a breath of fresh air having the Orioles on television a little bit, even though they’re not doing it right, that you and I can be more conversant about it. And I would say these two weeks, if you immerse in it a little bit. Watch team Israel, watch Team USA, watch team Puerto Rico, watch Venezuela be up for one of the big games when it gets down to the nitty gritty next weekend and you start having knockouts. And by the way, those games are in Miami and Houston. The tournament sort of moves to Miami and Houston next weekend for the winners, and then those games will be electric next weekend. And so it does. It’s fun. Happens quicker than both season well.

Luke Jones  32:52

And think about it, you have the WBC, and then that kind of rolls right into the NCAA tournament. I know locally with the Terps, that’s not a reality this year, but it’s still a fun event, right? I mean, everyone fills out a bracket all that. So, yeah, this is fun. I mean, this is a great time period now where it’ll be fun. On the heels of the Olympics, I did enjoy the Olympic hockey, men, men and women. It was amazing. I’m not going to become a hockey fan because of it, but it was great. But then on the heels of that, now we go into the WBC. It’s fun. I mean, it’s, you see, as a baseball fan, you see how much the game is loved around the world, around the globe, different cultures, different countries, to your point, even with political fallout and all of all of that hanging over,

Nestor Aparicio  33:36

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I want to see it over the dugout. It’s a grand for this game on

Luke Jones  33:41

this is this is cool. And you know, all the games are going to be on, I think, I think all the games are on Fox, FS one and Fs two. I think, I think if you have those networks, you’re golden. So bring it on. I can’t wait.

Nestor Aparicio  33:54

Nothing happening there, politically involving Venezuela.

Luke Jones  33:58

But bring it on. I’m looking forward to it. At the same time you’re holding your breath to make sure, no, no, you don’t want anyone to get hurt, but certainly no players of note to get hurt. Because, yes, that has happened. In fact, I mentioned Edwin Diaz. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention he actually hurt his knee celebrating, if you remember. So, man, it’s one of those reminders that kicker injury, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, like I said, that kind of ruined the Mets season, you know, knowing how important he was for them at the time. So, but, man, looking forward to it. It should be a lot of fun.

Nestor Aparicio  34:32

All right, I’m not going to the game next Wednesday night. Now I’m obsessed with it, you know, you know what I’ll do is I will get my Venezuela shirt out and I will, I will put it on support team Venezuela this year. How about that? There you go, even though they have a cheater at second base. But that’s another story for another day. He is Luke Jones. I am Nestor. We’re going to talk some Orioles baseball as well, and how it pertains to gunner Henderson and other things as we have been bird watching for. Thanks. David Rubenstein, thanks. Greg Bader, thanks to the whole mass and team, and at least Ryan Rifkin gets a good night’s sleep in Hunt Valley. It’s absurd, but I’m happy to talk about it. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us.