Finding time for baseball again

Just six weeks into another MLB and it’s very apparent that the changes in Major League Baseball have made for a better game for fans and viewers. Nestor Aparicio and Dennis Koulatsos discuss how MLB improved its game and how the Orioles picked a great time to start playing winning baseball.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

games, baseball, orioles, years, tickets, watch, good, crowd, week, playoffs, football, team, play, pennant race, series, baltimore, open, wednesday night, baseball game, give

SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Dennis Koulatsos

Dennis Koulatsos  00:02

Welcome back 1570 Am Baltimore positive wn S T My next guest is Nestor J Aparicio Nestor always a pleasure to have you on welcome in Lamar Jackson still

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Nestor Aparicio  00:11

under contract

Dennis Koulatsos  00:13

he’s still under contracts to lung showed up to make an appearance anywhere in Baltimore and hate life goes on. Birds are playing and thanks to guys like yourself I’m all in a watch the Wednesday night game. The two the one thriller a win over the race. And that’s true I’m enjoying the all the new changes for baseball it seems to be it’s a much faster game. I’m completely engaged. I love this team. I scored the five tickets to the game against the pirates so I’m gonna go five tickets

Nestor Aparicio  00:44

you have friends that are not just people

Dennis Koulatsos  00:48

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I actually have some friends I do what is

Nestor Aparicio  00:50

different with no one alone and actually taking people Oh no, we’re so we’re

Dennis Koulatsos  00:54

gonna go and I’m definitely going to get some tickets to watch the angels hopefully when Otani is pitching, but I am. I think

Nestor Aparicio  01:01

that’s Monday, by the way. That’s the word is Monday, and I have a John Waite. the Preakness post draw as they’re running a horse race here next week. They’ve been running it for like 100 years. I don’t some people know about it. Some people don’t. I’m shocking how many people I know there’s never been to the Preakness

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Dennis Koulatsos  01:15

you’re talking you’re actually looking at one and talking to one I’ve never been I’ve never been to horse race, but that’s the thing. I need to go

Nestor Aparicio  01:24

what what what is held you back and what would make you go

Dennis Koulatsos  01:28

you know what, probably just a general lack of interest. And what would make me go is again, some friends saying, Hey, come on, let’s do this thing and me making the time to go it’s on a sunny day on a Saturday. That’s why Saturdays I’ve worked probably 99.9% of Saturdays my entire life. In the car business I think it’s also been a contributing factor how

Nestor Aparicio  01:53

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many cars you sell on Saturday versus like so my wife test drove this week a Bronco sport in in the I thought it was oil or blue. It turns out it’s robin egg blue. It’s Robin Euler blue to me and you know that it looks like this. It looks just like what I’m doing. You can call it whatever you want to call it right? But no Carolina blue or whatever. Yeah, yeah.

Dennis Koulatsos  02:14

Yeah. The light blue.

Nestor Aparicio  02:15

It’s light blue. So she it turns out you gave her some sort of stock model you thought she was she’s married with Dundalk guy and you know me she thought she was budget conscious. You know, I never

Dennis Koulatsos  02:25

thought that it never crossed my mind. But

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Nestor Aparicio  02:27

as it turns out, she is after surviving cancer twice and now she’s in her 50s I know she looks 31 But she’s 50 She She is ready for luxury. So she didn’t she doesn’t want glossy she needs leather seats and that helps my butt to even though my blood skinnies and then she has a moonroof. You have to have a

Dennis Koulatsos  02:48

method. Here the method to my madness. I always show people almost the base vehicle no matter what model line they’re looking at, because it’s easier to go up to moonroof and sunroof and leather first to come down off of it. Because it’s it’s not a matter of budget. It’s also what somebody wants to spend. So it’s easier to go up and it’s much harder to go down.

Nestor Aparicio  03:11

You sold a lot of cars. You know, it’s tough for me to say, but we sell

Dennis Koulatsos  03:15

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well sell 10 to 15 on a weekday and Saturday is our biggest day will sell 35 to 40 on a Saturday.

Nestor Aparicio  03:22

So well. Okay, so it’s it’s almost three or four times a Saturday and a Christmas. Yeah.

Dennis Koulatsos  03:27

Gear up, you know, you make appointments, you gear up Friday, the second Friday, we’ll sell 20 to 25. But Saturday by far is the biggest day for us. So we’re closed on Sundays Maryland blue laws in Baltimore County. Thank you for that. I don’t want to be open on Sunday. For the record. I like to be off like for my staff to read. Oh, you

Nestor Aparicio  03:42

like that? Okay. Thank you Baltimore County shut down. No,

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Dennis Koulatsos  03:45

no, not at all. No bleep. I wish we were shut down on Saturday. So I just you know,

Nestor Aparicio  03:50

would you sell more cars if you roam Sunday? Like I know Chick fil A would sell more sandwiches like there’s no question

Dennis Koulatsos  03:57

but at what cost? You have staffing you have staffing issues, you got to I mean, we already work a lot of hours. Everybody has staffing issues every 150 plus employees on the ship co workers etc. But you have to have compassion for your people. And they need your time off to rest you got to be the most of us work six days. I mean, I work six days a

Nestor Aparicio  04:17

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week. What do you got to study go fishing or you got to start watching the Orioles now.

Dennis Koulatsos  04:20

You know what I can always take the game I gotta get outdoors I fish gotta get on the lake.

Nestor Aparicio  04:26

I tell you what, this Oriole thing has been crazy because you began by saying I love this team. I love the new game of baseball. Dennis. I’ve been on the air 32 seasons 3225 straight at this at am 1570 Since August 3 And when I think about how many Preakness weeks that the Orioles became irrelevant, like in the 90s very, very relevant at the beginning of the century. Losing relevance. I did free the birds primarily because they had screwed up their franchise by that and that was that was 17 years ago, that people had just gone, and they never really came back. I mean, in 12, and 14 and 16, and 14, they won and there were some people there and they sold playoff tickets. I bought playoff tickets at less than face value for the Royals series. That’s fact, my kid and I sat behind home plate for 90 bucks and $250 tickets, because the demand was an outrageous and that was nine years ago, right? So I don’t know what it’s going to take. But it’s going to take a whole movement to get people back because it’s not about one dentist or one pissed off Nester or some somebody that lives in Harford County that hates the city or whatever. For me, it’s those, it’s but it’s everything. It’s everything, right. And the everything part of it is you have to want to go and part of wanting to go is making the television broadcast good. Because other than Ed Lauer who goes down there five nights a week, even when they’re on the road, you’re experiencing half of their season on television, if you just if you watch all the games, and you go to three or four games, you go to eight games, you go to 10 games, most of it is in your kitchen, in your living room, on your phone, wherever you are at the CEO concert at the anthem for me on Wednesday night. And making that part of the product. It’s like your crystal could there’s a reason crystal Koons was on the ads and not you, right? I mean, you want to make every message, you know, consistent there forever. And you want to know what you’re about. And with the Orioles. They were about losing they were about downtown. They were about oh my god, the games are four hours long. When I went to go and they suck three years ago. I was sticker shocked by like you’re in last year, the worst team in baseball, and you want me to pay 60 bucks to walk in and sit on the roof and then pay 15 bucks for a beer. Yeah, like that was the they were awful for six years. They’re good now. But this being good. has coincided with the changes in the sport. Yeah, if they weren’t good and the games were four and a half hours, you might end the broadcast stink. You might not want to be a part of it. I mean, I’ve really given Ben McDonald a lot of credit. I love my board and Mike bordick did not stink. The team stunk the game stunk. But what they did the board IQ is not cool. But either way. Ben’s good this kid Jeff Arnold’s good the games come in to Mike, the players look like decent humans. When they’re interviewed. I don’t know any of them. They will give me a chance to know them. That’s part of the show. That’s on them that’s on them. I’ve never met any of these people. But they seem like good people. They seem like people you want to give your time to every night they’re going to be in your living room every this thing about the Oreos, man. The Oreos are Christmas ball and everybody’s tree here. They’re part of your family. People treat it like family. I had to stop doing that 20 years ago, because these are not good people that mean the owners already lied in its May about opening his books. He doesn’t have a lease. So I could sit here and talk about all that. But all that’s as Luke Jones would say I wash when they’re winning five times a week. Right? Not so they’re winning. They have you engaged. I went into Costas on Monday night. And my wife and I just went after we were hungry. We’re like, let’s get some dinner. We have been here a while Let’s go. Pete’s there, Bucky last six there. So we had a little Dundalk reunion, put a bunch of my buddies and these are Pikesville buddies. Greenspring buddies walked in. They’re all there. They’re all a little older than me, you know, maybe 55 or 65 but very active guys. Guys who love the Oreos guys who have money, guys who order one of the big crabs, all of that stuff, table eight sit down, and they all know me. And we start talking baseball. And they’re all like we’re watching again, everything you said in the opening statement, which I love this team. I’m engaged with this team. I’m watching again it makes me feel like a kid again. The games are getting over two and a half they started at 630 and it’s over at nine I can like it’s great I can hang out with my wife at nine o’clock if I want to so all everything they’ve done now they need to lease and they need a real owner and they need a front face for their organization because they don’t have that right now in off the field I’m talking about

Dennis Koulatsos  09:15

now it’s a lot of fun they’re fun bunch to watch the other night the when I forget who had a double and they went to replay and they had this this pitchers in the dugout trying to get his attention and Gibson had water in his mouth for like two minutes they were going to the sprinkler. Yep, yep, that was hysterical. And that’s the kind of stuff that you look their kids and you buy into that you buy into that positive energy and I got treated to the first game the open air by someone and I was shocked when I found out how much we sat behind home plate. I was shocked at the price of those tickets ness and

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Nestor Aparicio  09:47

the five What were they 110 95

Dennis Koulatsos  09:51

Now there were no there were like over 200 apiece. For baseball game for baseball game that didn’t pay for them. And so now I just got fired from one of my vendors, first Bayside. And so, but I’m going to pay for the for the ones for the angels. And I’m not going to I want it I want to get good seats. But I haven’t thought about buying. I haven’t bought a baseball ticket. The years I’ve been treated to games, I’ve been a guest and luxury boxes. But now I’m going to spend my hard earned money to go to games, because I want to know if they’ve

Nestor Aparicio  10:22

earned that from you, then, you know, they haven’t earned that from me. I mean, I still watch the weight on the $40,000 check for 2006 that they never set when they screwed me.

Dennis Koulatsos  10:32

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So issue with them. But But I mean, I have

Nestor Aparicio  10:36

a different issue. But I also love baseball. And my last name is Aparicio and I operate what is traditionally legacy oriented a sports radio station. I mean, I’m the only person that pays somebody else to cover the team and has on the worst nights. Luke is putting out there every year for every night for a long time.

Dennis Koulatsos  10:52

That’s a great 15 years. And Austen Hey said the other day that vactor that was Wednesday night, he said after the victory that a couple years ago, in the third or fourth inning, they were done. They were so far behind. It wasn’t catching up. But now this team feels like it has a legitimate chance to win every single game so that the team is transformed as the last three or four years from a doormat and everybody’s homecoming game to their contender. I mean, they’re serious. They’re they’re not a joke. Just took two or three games, from arrays and

Nestor Aparicio  11:24

they have a better chance of winning the World Series than the Ravens do the Super Bowl. They really do. And they’re fine. And they’re fun to watch. That makes me a jerk because I’m not all in on Lamar. If Lamar has a parade, I’ll be the first one there waving, saying Good for you. You did it. But I think the Ravens have a much harder road than the Orioles do, certainly over the next three to five years. If you’re if you’re going window on giving Lamar Jackson the franchise, which is what they did. I mean, everything about the franchise will be about his knee, his arm, his head, his tweets, his demeanor, his leadership, his health, all all, the entire franchise will go on him. And I’m not saying that there won’t be that will be the Adley rutschman. Because it I guess it will be especially once they give him the money which at some point they’ll give him money, right? I mean, we’re already talking about that, which is we which is crazy.

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Dennis Koulatsos  12:15

We hope he doesn’t go the route of Manny Machado. But let’s enjoy him for what they are at this time. And look, I’m looking forward to having compared to looking at watching competitive baseball in September. I’m looking forward to the Orioles being part of the pennant race. Because if that happens, I do think the Lamar Jackson story. Regardless of how it unfolds, there’ll be a backstory until the oil season is over and done with

Nestor Aparicio  12:38

I have a prediction for you. Now you’re ready for this, you can rewind tape on this and I don’t say you know, write this down, but write this down. But you’re talking about a pennant race. I don’t, I don’t think the kids are going to get treated to that here. A pennant race would be we’re in a race. And if we don’t make it, we don’t make the playoffs. That’s what they’ve killed in baseball in regard to that, because by the time September rolls around, there will be there might be a race, they might be five games behind the rays and trying to get the first place or whatever, and the benefits that afford you in baseball to be in first place as opposed to second place, but they’re going to be in the playoffs. And they’re gonna play playoff games. I don’t know if you’re gonna win or not. I mean, that remains to be seen what their seating is and how hard they run in September and how important it is to you that they’re in first place versus second place. But they’re going to make the playoffs in such a fashion that there’s not going to be a race I guess that’s what I’m saying. Like the notion that it’ll be exciting, and they’re gonna be magic number, we have to win two out of three this weekend to stay alive because that they’re going to be better than that. I hope.

Dennis Koulatsos  13:48

I hope so. But a lot of things can happen. It’s a very long season, but I would like to go to a several playoff baseball games I haven’t been haven’t been a one in a long, long time. So I mean, back when Buck was a manager, so here’s a lot of fun.

Nestor Aparicio  14:00

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Here’s someone to teach you. And you’re gonna learn this, okay? Because I know Phillies fans, Yankees fans don’t care. No such thing. They’ve been there in the playoffs every year, kind of like the old brace. What you’re gonna know about baseball is when you get the playoff tickets, you’re gonna hold them, and they’re gonna say we’re gonna play game two. Well, what are you gonna play it? We’re gonna play it. We’re gonna play it. Well, what are you gonna play Wednesday or Thursday? Or is it afternoon or night? Or? We’ll let you know on Tuesday. Right? And so baseball does that. So when you add those playoff tickets, you’re not going to know if it’s a one o’clock, four o’clock, seven o’clock. So you’re gonna take the whole day off. So I’m just letting you know if you got a bar mitzvah. You got a car dealership to run something like that, you know? Let me explain playoffs are different. Because when you’re sitting on the tickets, don’t get a babysitter.

Dennis Koulatsos  14:45

Let me ask you this, then then why what’s the difference? Because Fortunately, I’ve been to both you’ve been to both. What’s the difference there? It’s a different energy at a baseball game than a football game. In playoffs, let’s leave

Nestor Aparicio  14:57

it up to p 18 times in a baseball Right there’s there’s you know between innings it stops football it’s just

Dennis Koulatsos  15:07

but you know what it’s a different energy though. I felt that the last time I went to an Orioles playoff game which was many years ago but to the different energy between playoff football and playoff baseball let me ask you this

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Nestor Aparicio  15:19

were you at the Sunday night opener in oh four or was it oh five I want to say it was oh for Sunday Night Baseball Pedro Martinez pitched against the Orioles now with that game I wasn’t there now. Anybody in the audience that hears My voice will remember that night if you were there that night, because it was the height of Raven madness right? It was oh for the Ravens had already won one Super Bowl they drafted bowler and Suggs and Ray and Ray Ray’s dancin and you know and bill is about to get fired. They’re about to add that good year and oh six right. But in that period of time, football was the city you will agree with that right? Baseball gone this before I did free the birds. This is a couple three years before free that we’re going way back here, right. But it was a night that was one of the most memorable nights in Camden Yards history. They we tortured Pedro with who’s your daddy? You remember that? Who’s your Daddy, who’s your daddy? And got Pedro shook the stadium had no Red Sox fans in it. Because it was opening day it was 100 bucks to get in and the Orioles fans still had some mojo to get tickets. Right. So for and the it was a football crowd. It was a Monday night football game. Got it at a baseball game, right. And the only thing I can compare that to, in my experience, and I’ve been to I added up it’s been like 58 World Series games have been a lot of World Series games, and not recently, but I was I was a real media member back in the day. And I want to the World Series games in 95 and 97. In Cleveland, the 95 World Series keep in mind, we stole the team in the middle of the World Series. Like literally I was out there for the World Series with Kevin Eck going to games at Jacobs field. And the next day John Moe augment modells October 29. You go back and look it up. So the World Series that crowd there in Cleveland was a football crowd. And in 97, when they beat us and played the Marlins in the World Series, because they played the Indians 9597 I went back and they had lost their football team, right. And they had no football team. They had a World Series Baseball team that was playing the Marlins. And I’ve never been to a baseball game that was more raucous. The games were Cleveland Browns, angry football game. And the crowd. It was a football crowd. And I don’t know. You’re not getting that on Monday for Shohei Otani. Dan, you’re not you know, you’re never gonna be that many people, right. But the one night that I remember that was amazing. The night they gave the Palmer statues away. The team was really good and the place was packed. And I remember the crowd being raucous, affecting the other team, a baseball crowd affecting the other dugout because of the noise. And this pitch clock is going to change things in the postseason, where the noise is going to be on and it’s going to be like the quarterback coming up saying I can’t hear I need a timeout. No timeouts you gotta watch. That’s gonna change baseball dramatically in October. Noise changes baseball and baseball players, not this group are used to noise because they don’t play in full stadiums. much at all. They were Atlanta last week and I saw people there. They’re not going to play in full stadiums until we make the stadium full and make it a football game. Or until October when the football fans all come out and say I haven’t I’ve never taken my kid to a playoff game. We are in a playoff game here in a decade. So I bought the brown and the football crowd that changes that Delmon young moment. The reason that that’s a moment is because it sounded like a football game.

Dennis Koulatsos  18:57

Right? Right. The roar of the crowd. Everybody was there. Everybody was into it. Everybody was yelling at the top of their

Nestor Aparicio  19:02

lungs. I just remember when the Indians walked out on the field. 97 there were 45,000 people up at Jacobs field all wearing winter gear because it was 30 you could see your breath. It was 30 degrees but World Series game and I’m looking around and I’m like, Oh my god. The Marlins are in trouble tonight. Because the crowds on fire. The Orioles haven’t had that. And this young group has never seen that. So for Adly rushman to go out and take it back in October here in front of 48,000 football fans. Ooh, and a night game who you know, like that’s when? Okay, cities. That’s what baseball is. You think baseball is fun now. Okay, what happens? You know,

Dennis Koulatsos  19:43

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I can’t wait. I can’t wait for that.

Nestor Aparicio  19:45

I’m ready that whole second. We didn’t talk any football. You should

Dennis Koulatsos  19:47

know. Now. This is great. That’s i As always I appreciate your time.

Nestor Aparicio  19:52

You taught baseball with no luck. I

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Dennis Koulatsos  19:54

told you. I’m engaged. I’m into it. I’m watching. I’m watching complete games which

Nestor Aparicio  19:58

says Baltimore on it right So if it says Baltimore on it, I’ll take

Dennis Koulatsos  20:03

two hour and 45 minutes, three hours over three, three and a half hours any day of the week. I mean, it’s it’s it’s, it’s a lot of fun. That’s all

Nestor Aparicio  20:11

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right. Well, I will be here with you next week. It is Preakness week, we are taking a crabcake tour respite, we we have a beautiful Friday playing this weekend. And then next week we’re gonna be going up to fallston at the local so that this week would stay fair on Friday your side of town and then the local and 23rd open false

Dennis Koulatsos  20:31

hey great stuff as always stay well there it goes nuts for January’s here here 15 7am Baltimore positive wn S T. We’ll take a quick break and come back right after this.