As the Maryland Crab Cake Tour always seeks to introduce mutual old friends of ours and network to make new friends, this time its our favorite family chiropractor and philosopher Steve Elliott joining longtime WBAL broadcaster John Patti and Nestor to discuss Smalltimore, rubgy and how we view and discuss local sports and news at Pappas in Parkville.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
rugby, week, play, game, journalist, years, chiropractic, life, john, chiropractor, good, steve, baseball, team, orioles, day, louis, people, put, man
SPEAKERS
Nestor J. Aparicio, Steve Elliott, John Patti
Nestor J. Aparicio 00:00
Welcome home we are wn St. am 1570, Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive. I got the bowtie on me. We are out at Pappas in Parkville. Not in Bel Air. Not in Glen Burnie not in Cockeysville not in National Harbor. We’re here in the original location Taylor Avenue over Parkville where we all grew up. Our friends at the Maryland lottery Gold Rush seven Star Wars are bringing his NSS and Pac Man to a handful of these to give away. This is the last stop on the crabcake tour until after the holidays. We are reconvene on the 12th down of faith. He’s not there this week, hooting the blowfish is up in Hershey and I’m going to see those guys. Mark. Brian joined the show this week got a lot of rock stars. Thomas Dolby was with us over at State Fair. He’s on tour all summer. And then this week, I also had the great great hall of famer Greg Hawkes of Appleton, high school, Howard County guy I knew I didn’t. I didn’t know this week and I can’t believe it. So Steve Elliot is your le chiropractic. John Patty’s here, my frenemy from WP al who’s this? What do
John Patti 01:00
you do now? It’s kind of a podcast because you didn’t make it in radio. This is what you do.
Nestor J. Aparicio 01:03
That is exactly. I when I go out and sell, I don’t know whether we went through the broadcast journalist. Steve, I know what you’re you’re a chiropractor. I’m a journalist. He’s a broadcaster. And we’re trying to figure out the middle of all of this. And I think part of it now is when I go out and I’m selling and one of the reasons I did the documentary with with Greg Towson transfers was people don’t know the whole story. You’ve been a listener and a friend for 2530 years. You’ve been a competitor for 3035 years. So you know some stuff but not everything. Reluctantly, here. Really? I got your free crabcakes stick around. Oh, Pat, I don’t hear about that part’s common. Okay, good friends that started the 80%. But when you I see people on the street now and I go to sell what I do at Baltimore, you still get that radio station Hart road. Are you a podcaster? I’m thinking radio sounded professional to me. Podcast sounds like I cracked backs for a living not you know, or, you know what I mean? I’m not that I’m a chiropractor. It sounds like way below what professional would be, you know, I’m saying so podcast to me. Anybody can be a podcaster you know, you got to go to school to be a coach. To do radio you had to have it was a bar, and the bar entrance for you was higher than me. You had Kiernan and Beauchamp over you got fired for calling a male a female and an apple. I did because there’s a high bar for what you’re gonna get away with professionally in chiropractic and crab cakes or anything. The podcast thing to me like, when I go to sell it, they want to say Are you a social influencer? Do you have a Do you have a podcast? You know, Jerry Coleman has a podcast. And I’m thinking to myself,
Steve Elliott 02:41
Gary Coleman. Tell you something. Well,
Nestor J. Aparicio 02:43
listen, I don’t I sing podcast. Jerry Coleman is in insulting. I know that too well, but like it’s not. It’s what people want to hear though. When you say you’re a podcaster now it sounds like you’re, you’re cool and you’re fresh.
Steve Elliott 02:59
Anything you want. There’s no FCC over top your
Nestor J. Aparicio 03:04
head. There’s still professionals in the world. So Steve, I love doing the show at pap is gonna get to invite you by and other friends and everybody here is nice to me. It’s like dealing with Greg bait or Chad steel. So to go
Steve Elliott 03:14
to school to be a podcaster. Steve wants to know, actually, I was thinking of starting a podcast but nevermind. I know a guy
03:21
has equipment. Putting
Steve Elliott 03:25
collars over these. What’s the blue one?
Nestor J. Aparicio 03:28
So I love doing the show here because I get the stand when I do it. And I almost said to you as I was coming out of this because I asked you to back up. Let’s get on the set. I had to have hard chairs here my back whatever, you know this, you’re my chiropractor. This show feels good for me not just because it’s in the neighborhood. I got light. It feels good because I get to stand and want to stand. Tell everybody how effed up my back is tell them politically Come on. We got to know HIPAA here there’s no IP here.
Steve Elliott 03:55
I am not bringing I
Nestor J. Aparicio 03:56
am I am back is
Steve Elliott 03:59
screwed up. It’s carrying all that equipment years ago.
Nestor J. Aparicio 04:01
It’s yes I’ve been kicking all these years to hurt my knee
Steve Elliott 04:05
so I walked over when you when you went to the boys room I walked over here and I said what the hell no chairs today. John says no when your broadcast and you want to stand up so you can you can project and I’m like, Ah
Nestor J. Aparicio 04:15
Burt Humperdinck sitting down at a standoff had no idea that I could say no, no where did you grow up? You grew up eight blocks from here six but how far
Steve Elliott 04:24
I grew up on the other side of Loch Raven Boulevard right by Michael Horton Mary and Penny hill so you go straight up Taylor take a write and go a mile and a half and that’s my out your old
Nestor J. Aparicio 04:33
man hung out here no doubt right. Oh, yeah. Ah, my school.
Steve Elliott 04:38
My father was no stranger to this corner. Across the street was hell seafood. He and Mr. Hill were buddies and so yeah, I mean, my this is my stomping grounds. My dad had a little bar right around the corner called the great art club of Loch Raven Boulevard. Before that he
Nestor J. Aparicio 04:56
had they run they run trips to the cold escapes. Absolutely. All right. Before that. Want to Dundalk called Yadus pub. That was a very famous place in London. So in order to corral wants to be a member to Crail job,
Steve Elliott 05:07
stay home and watch the game. And then for that he had a place called the bears den, which became Monday’s bears den over on the Alameda. So yeah, my dad was a poor guy. Wow, nice
Nestor J. Aparicio 05:17
Irish family right here. Well,
Steve Elliott 05:20
he raised a glass he was, he was a contractor, and a bricklayer. But you know, when you’re not doing that, you’re running a bar, that means you’re working 24/7
Nestor J. Aparicio 05:29
I always give you the latitude to expound upon chiropractic and what you do for a living. And I, I’m an, you know, an apostle to you. And this the only guy who like fixes me through all of this and gets me standing upright, but you did this in your own neighborhood. I always think that that’s like, if I could move my radio station to Dundalk, I would.
Steve Elliott 05:51
It’s not always greatest, right? Because you can’t be a prophet in your own hometown, as they say, because everybody knows you when you were a jerk or whatever, as a kid, or, you know, right. So it’s not always the greatest. But for me, it’s been fabulous. I mean, I see. I have patients that are former teachers of mine from my elementary school, phys ed teacher, was a patient of mine from the beginning of my practice. Every time
Nestor J. Aparicio 06:14
I walk in, there’s somebody in there that knows me or I know them, and, you know, to take an eye at people and we’ll come up with him sometime, take a picture down ever Steve, you know, like, you been my guy for 2525 years of doing this. The summer I opened in 1998. The phone rang and all I wanted to get with sponsors, you know, I mean, no offense, the purpose or the place. I wasn’t a household name. And, you know, I walk in, I didn’t have ratings, you know, it’s why I called the video. No one listens. everyone hears Steve called over to the station today. I hear you. You have had Chiropractic in the past. I said, Yeah, Bart. Linsky. Down in Glen Burnie, but like I’m up in Towson all the time, right. And Berlinski was with the Colts, right? He was colts guy back during the days Ed block. And he said, I’m right around the corner or somewhere you said I’m next to the big golf club right underneath the freeway, we’re Joppa road goes under the 695 Isn’t my god I can spit on you from the radio station. That’s perfect. For me to have a chiropractor that’s close by and you’ve been with me for 25 almost 26 years here this summer. So
Steve Elliott 07:14
I’ve been able to fix them yet. 26 years you know, it’s a work in progress. I’m telling you. Well,
Nestor J. Aparicio 07:19
it always it’s it’s the human body. And this is where I open the door for
Steve Elliott 07:22
your chiropractor. You cannot just weed your garden one time, right? Right, you have to weed it continuously our bodies are moving and we’ve got things that need to be addressed. And I’ve said this forever if the spinal column is not well positioned and nervous system is not operating at its optimal state. And then we’re not as good as we could be from a variety of standpoints can’t
Nestor J. Aparicio 07:47
get my back, it makes my head hurt. I got a headache. Now that’s literally how this all happens. Right? Literally,
Steve Elliott 07:52
for a lot of folks, that is how it happens. And other folks, it’s they’ve got asthma and for other folks, it’s their low back problem. And for somebody else, it’s general wellness and for somebody else’s, I’m an athlete, and I want to make sure that everything is is lined up the way it should be so I can perform at my optimal levels. So you know, there’s a lot of different avenues in
Nestor J. Aparicio 08:10
Alright, so the thing that John paddy doesn’t know about you, because he’s a broadcaster, and I’m a journalist, is that you’re a rugby guy. Yep. Rugby is in the news, right? I mean, rugby. Rugby is tough. And I’ll say this, there’s somebody that comes up to me, somebody came up to me and dropped your name and their love of you in the last 10 days, trying to think of who it was and where it was. But the whole background was I played rugby with Steve and somebody last 10 days I’ll go through my phone. By the time the segment is over, or when I come to get an adjustment for you when this is over with mom from year upon Joppa road. Somebody came to me and they’re like Steve was my rugby coach. Back and and it was somebody that I’m like, surprise you play rugby. You know what I mean? Like, you hurt your head playing rugby. And they made the case that you wouldn’t hurt your
Steve Elliott 08:58
head. No, you don’t have to. How long have you been into rugby? I started in 1979 with Nick the Greek. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, Nick Nick got me into it and still trial
Nestor J. Aparicio 09:08
he was in he was in Colombia and I don’t mean hair county the other Colombia he wants to Colombia doing rugby like four months ago. Yeah. coaching.
Steve Elliott 09:16
Coaching now meta gene. Yeah. Meta gene that Yeah, so I that’s where the cartel is right? Not anymore. They clean that up in their daddy. Okay. They’ve done a great job. Did
Nestor J. Aparicio 09:26
you see the two Escobar hours? ESPN? Best ESPN? Well, not the best of the Ravens. But the 30 for 30 There was one called the to Escobar hours. Unbelievable feature. But yeah, they cleaned it up Columbia is beautiful.
Steve Elliott 09:39
Isn’t it fascinating place I would I would recommend it to anybody. If you’re the traveling sports. Some people don’t want to travel. I mean, we got people that want to go to Ocean City, but you know if you’re the traveling sort, you’re adventurous. It’s fabulous. I mean, it’s it’s a four and a half hour flight from Atlanta. It’s not even that far. rugby’s taking you all over the world literally. Yep, I’ve I’ve called store played in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, some European countries, you know, Amsterdam, we played we played a rugby game in Amsterdam when I was in college. It was fascinating, just fascinating. You know, it’s a completely different culture. You’ve been Amsterdam. It’s a beautiful, crazy place. Yes. Right. And the rugby players are beautiful and crazy at the same time in Amsterdam, so yeah, I’ve been all over, done all that stuff. But the
Nestor J. Aparicio 10:29
rugby is in the news here, right? I mean, it’s there’s not what wasn’t rugby was cricket. We weren’t in cricket. We did. But I’ve seen rugby on TV a lot and selling 90,000 seats in America
Steve Elliott 10:39
is coming along, right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, so I mean, think about where we’re soccer was in the 60s and 70s. Right. And how that has progressed to where we’re the national team is like it’s an eyes on sort of event. Rugby is probably 25 years behind that. So because it didn’t really take off until probably mid 90s. Like professionalism. It’s
Nestor J. Aparicio 11:04
a huge island game though. Right? Like New Zealand and Australia all the island. That’s why a hello de nada was was what do you imagine tackling that guy?
Steve Elliott 11:13
No, no. Is it more than killed a man with the ball? Because that’s all I see. Oh, yeah, it’s a little bit more than that. I mean, a little bit the person.
Nestor J. Aparicio 11:23
I know you’re listening. At some point, whoever told me it feels like they told me on the air. So I have to think about who my guests were the last couple of weeks. But somebody sat with me. And they were giving me the whole thing about protecting the head and protect. I got a chiropractor doing rugby. It’s good business.
Steve Elliott 11:40
It’s pretty popular in carpentry schools
Nestor J. Aparicio 11:41
tell you the truth. I saw Joe Jackson, Joe Jones, really going out and I saw him in Hershey. And you know, he’s kind of a caustic British guy. He said, This is a strange, peculiar little town. Struggle it everywhere. Must be nice to be a dentist. I thought chiropractic and rugby kind of goes
Steve Elliott 11:59
hand in hand. Right? You know, it’s, as I’ve said before, tell
Nestor J. Aparicio 12:03
me why I want my son playing rugby. Like, tell me how it’s safe. How it’s safe. But look, there
Steve Elliott 12:09
are there are rules in place. And there’s technique in place to prevent head collision, right? In football, you have a hard plastic shell with some foam rubber in there. That allows your head to be a weapon. Right? You can drive your head into somebody’s chest or into their thigh or into their face. If not legally but but but it can happen. Let’s put it this way it you are not as inclined to avoid head contact when you have a shell around your head. Perfect. Okay, okay. In rugby, you are much more inclined to avoid head contact because you won’t play the game for very
Nestor J. Aparicio 12:46
long, will be like going 75 miles an hour on the freeway in you know, in on a bike versus in a car. Some people are willing to do that on a motorcycle. And some people were willing to do it without a helmet.
Steve Elliott 12:56
without brakes, right? Yeah, all I’m saying is that good technique. And, and the laws of the game are dissuading any sort of head contact. You got to be able to tackle with your shoulder, which is what rugby has begun to offer to American football. Pete Carroll has had umpteen sessions with British and New Zealand Rugby coaches teaching their players to tackle with the shoulder to take the head out of the
Nestor J. Aparicio 13:30
pot heads up tackling right that’s what they recall. Right? Yeah.
Steve Elliott 13:32
Okay, if you want to call it heads up tackling, but the shoulder is vulnerable as well, whose shoulder is vulnerable, but you’re not going to? Let’s put it this way in 30 years, if your shoulder is bad, you can still put together a sentence. That is true.
Nestor J. Aparicio 13:47
Well, okay. I mean, but you know, as a guy less back that hurts and a chiropractor on the set right now, as I get older and as I talked to other people, dear friend of mine play football and because he’s got problems going on right now. And same problems. I’m having needles this and all abrasions and all of this stuff. I think if we would have known when we were kids, I probably would have you know, thought twice about being a catcher or playing football or playing as much tennis as I did or just anything that that I feel like later in life. My knees a little crunchy right now with cartilage. All this is going on. Yeah, I can’t imagine being a professional athlete and subjecting myself to that some
Steve Elliott 14:23
of that stuff’s the luck of the draw on genetics. I mean, listen, I played a lot of rugby. I played until I was almost 40 at a fairly high level. And I’ve played a bunch since then at Old Boys level, which is a different story completely. Maybe not the brightest thing. It’s like softball in the over 70 League. It’s sorta
Nestor J. Aparicio 14:43
you mix it up with young people anymore that
Steve Elliott 14:46
No, no, no, no. Okay. No, actually when I play with the young guys, they they treat you like an old guy. Yes. Okay. No checking leaks. Like this. Yeah, no, none of the watch this right. I was standing next to a guy, I had the I had the ball in hand or if I had just been involved in a tackle or whatever, and I hear one of my players stand up and go, Oh, no, don’t hit him as coach, don’t hit coach. And I’m like, you know, part of me is like, thank God. And the other part of me is like, you know, just like, I mean, it’s like when you’re offered the senior discount when you’re only 35 it really sort of pisses you off, you’re in it to play. You don’t want to be favored. You want it you want in. It’s like, I’m conflicted at all times. I remember that first time I got a senior discount for a haircut, and I wasn’t quite that age yet. And I took the discount because I’m cheap. But the rest of the day I was really conflicted about the whole thing. You
Nestor J. Aparicio 15:35
know what’s interesting to me as I sit here and do this with you guys, they John Patti in semi retirement from WPA. Oh, Steve Elliot, really chiropractic like, we’re similar age Guys. And we’re getting a little you know, a little older to be even joking about going out and hitting hot grounders today, or you know doing but the golf thing for people, they the people that do that. That’s cool, but having music in your life and he’s just talking about the music we enjoy. Or Jimmy Buffett who’s now dead man, I’m still coming to grips with Buffett stuff that I’ve done that for the last time it was out on the lawn,
Steve Elliott 16:06
and my son is making his living on Jimmy Buffett. We’re playing Buffett music Yes, it’s still John the steel drum player.
Nestor J. Aparicio 16:13
Okay, fair enough.
Steve Elliott 16:14
Yes, he’s he’s been doing it since age 15. He’s 41 Now, but these things
Nestor J. Aparicio 16:18
we take with us all of our lives, and I will be one thing for fandom you and I had a pre conversation about how much sports I would watch if I stopped doing this for a living right? And because I’ve watched so much, but here’s the thing you can take view your whole life is being a sports fan. Being a music fan, being a musician, if you can still play rugby, you move to a coaching thing, having something you you take with you that you still love, you still love rugby enough to coach it, to get on planes to be with younger people because you want to be in that culture. You want to be a part of the rugby community. Yeah, listen, if
Steve Elliott 16:53
you don’t have a passion, you’re gonna you’re gonna get old fast. Alright, if you have a philosopher and I knew I was gonna get out, right? I knew I was gonna get
Nestor J. Aparicio 17:02
to poke you to get something to do
Steve Elliott 17:03
something you love and you never work a day in your life. Exactly. So if you don’t have a passion, you’ll get old fast. And what happens
Nestor J. Aparicio 17:10
if your passion is the Orioles and the Ravens and they throw you out after 30 years from doing your live? What do you do that?
Steve Elliott 17:15
No, your passion is stirring the pot. No, it’s no
Nestor J. Aparicio 17:18
good. No it’s not nobody
Steve Elliott 17:21
does what you do
Nestor J. Aparicio 17:22
right in a positive way is when I mean you there’s a My passion is truth that makes the debts the journalist in me and that’s no BS at the bard pap is my passion is the truth when I’m being lied to. And that comes back to being lied to as a kid by my parents. And like, oh, you know, all of that trust versus verify right, like verify. I’m a verify guy that makes me a journalist. And when I call bullshit on obvious bullshit, and they’re calling it gaslighting, that becomes a real problem for me. And that’s when I get this reputation as being pot stir. I bet just truth teller. I mean, I haven’t had to make anything up. I mean, I never really set out to be controversial. Really. I just set out to love the Orioles and love the ravens and come from anybody saw my ravens coverage over 30 years. What did I ever do that was controversial. But the issue is, I can’t love it in the same way that I used to love it. And I’m trying to come to grips with that as a 50. And I’m writing about this later in the summer because it’s a mental health issue because you’re
Steve Elliott 18:22
too close to it. You’re not a fan. Yeah, you’re a lover of the game and a local it’s
Nestor J. Aparicio 18:29
been my responsibility for 30 years to disseminate facts from fiction for for you not for you. You’re a journalist too. But when Ray Rice is standing at a press conference you’re at and completely lying to you off of his phone in front of the Ravens logo and they and they put you in there as a journalist and then St. Jane Miller in to ask questions. This is really what I do to your point both of you say keep doing it and all that. But the access level of it has changed. What I can’t love rugby the same way you love it or like it’d be like taking the band taking my voice away can’t sing like Bon Jovi. What do you do when that happens? You know what I mean? So for me I’m trying to find other things I love to and you know this I’m pretty happy guy for the most part at this point, honestly ruining the blowfish. But there is this point where like I’m, I can divorce myself and that’s I don’t need rugby anymore. I’m going to do something else. Right? Like when you’re Kira Chiropractic, your life man, like I have so much respect. He doesn’t vacation much because he has patients. It was open on Saturdays. It’s open two times a day several days, but you never go away for long stretches because of your love for your patients. Your Business wouldn’t fall apart if you spent two weeks in Paris. Oh, but are you dedicated? I just don’t do what I love your patients what I do, right, it’s what you do.
Steve Elliott 19:45
But hopefully, as I get older, I will do other things. I mean, you can’t there’s no honor and falling dead overtop of a patient right? Oh, no doubt about it. So
Nestor J. Aparicio 19:56
but yeah, please don’t leave anytime soon. I need you know I’m in my car.
Steve Elliott 19:59
I’m not kidding. I have no plans. But
Nestor J. Aparicio 20:03
dentists get little. I’m like, come on. Come on. John Patti’s here so let’s talk Oriole baseball because you’re wearing your or M and you’re all Oriole dub we should we are all oiled up right i mean the sign when I pull up out here it says catch all of the O’s games here in the sports bar, a little Oreo logo that Angelo’s probably come out here making take that off the sign God but
Steve Elliott 20:23
I’ll see you just the edge just got roughed again
Nestor J. Aparicio 20:27
because I happen for 30 years to yourself. So she couldn’t get away with that OPA Elvis chuckling like a son. He’s wishing I wish brochette but let me do that. So but that sign my point is that sign wasn’t out here. Four years ago, only six of the last 30 years because it wasn’t a come on to come in here and be a part of it. And now it is and everywhere. I was a Costas last Sunday. People were moving at the bar. I got a woman eating crabs over you’re screaming at the television. She’s 75 years old. She wants him to win and their family to her. And if there’s something I learned last year, I’ve told you this because you adjust me in your he’s also my my therapist.
Steve Elliott 21:09
philosopher, chiropractor. Oh, he’s my therapist, because he’s a philosopher hat trick.
Nestor J. Aparicio 21:13
So last year, when I went to games in September, I went to several games in September when they were about to clinch and get good. And I was out there with Leonard Rascon. It’s like they didn’t clinch but they could have there. The Red Sox were playing another game and Tampa was winning by like 71. In the third inning, it was clear we couldn’t clinch that night. We sat out left field now walked all around the stadium that night. And there were only 23,000 people there on a night when we could clinch the division. Right. So this is where it’s fallen. And this is the measurement. It was a school night all that stuff. But I went out there and I walked around the outfield and I saw something that really moved me in a way I saw a lot of people alone. Alone really, the woman I saw on Costas was alone. A lot of the men that come in and sit at the bar I’m sure hear alone, because they they want to they want to be with other people. And baseball has is it’s a shut in thing you can. My mother was 98 years old when she died. didn’t care if the team was good or bad the ballgame was on every night if she could find it on Apple TV jerks. They’re so I’m not inviting you back. You’re like poking at me
Steve Elliott 22:31
is what you’re gonna do is crush it. I’m just gonna walk in you want to invite me back? I’m a legend let the
Nestor J. Aparicio 22:37
whistler call me and do that to me. So nonetheless, I would just say like I saw people there that this was the most important thing in their life because they didn’t they love the Orioles they’re in their 60s 70s 80s they’ve waited their whole life from the when I saw people keeping score at left field like literally old school to let’s start they’re listening to WPA now they were listening in 90 Rock they were listening on Iraq the new reality right and so they were listening to the game in the same way that they did it when Ross Grimsley was pinned you like it’s and when I saw the light and the fire and I see it in the fans, I am trying to philosopher and therapist trying to feel it in the way they feel it as opposed to having Mr. Rubinstein’s henchmen on the phone with me screaming at me to shut up 1000 times. So like, I’m trying to feel it through the eyes of your enthusiasm, right because that is the most important thing is your enthusiasm and the enthusiasm in the city and having signs outside that say come in and be a part of something. The Orioles made us all feel a part of something we were kids you would agree with that. Absolutely.
Steve Elliott 23:45
When you’re a kid the Orioles are your life right? Day in day out. You’re playing wiffle ball, you’re Brooks Robinson Kirpal every whatever, that is your life. And then as you get older and become an adult, then you realize that if the Orioles win, that’s good, that’s okay, but it doesn’t rule my life if they lose, the sun’s gonna come up tomorrow. And I think that’s what you realize when you’re an adult you can be a fan, but if they lose like they’ve lost the past four games and you know Houston wiped the floor up with them. So everything was the same here today. Right
Nestor J. Aparicio 24:18
felt good on Thursday when the Yankees though
Steve Elliott 24:20
Oh, yeah, that felt good. So it’s highs and lows.
Nestor J. Aparicio 24:23
See I see it differently with Steve because your son’s really into the Orioles. His son works at the at the LA chiropractic life several nights a week and my relationship with your son whom I didn’t know when he was little. You lived up in Bel Air I see your kids around from time to time your other boy I’ve rarely seen but your son loves the Orioles. If and this started five years ago and your house your son now 30 starters he was in his early 20s and I’m coming in this is when they’re losing every night there’s 2018 1920 Masks on and your boy was still watching them every night. You know, like his son and loves the Orioles way more than you do. Certainly your wife. I don’t know why your son loves baseball as much as he does.
Steve Elliott 25:07
Probably my mom. Okay, yeah, my mom’s a huge fan, you know that I’m
Nestor J. Aparicio 25:12
speaking exactly in your lane, that if they win the World Series, you’re not gonna be happy for you. You’re gonna be happy for Mildred, right? Absolutely.
Steve Elliott 25:19
You know, I’m going to ask you this. Do you think that since you’ve seen the sausage made, that it puts you into a level of I’m going to use cynicism, but that is not a that’s not a positive word. But in other words, you have
Nestor J. Aparicio 25:33
the truth is I’ve been dealt with without integrity by these people and bullied by these people. For a personal reason that I don’t understand. I tried to explain that to the rooms. So for me, it’s. And I told the Rubenstein people this, I’ve been going down there for all of my life for 30 years at the new ballpark. No one has been kind to me there in at least 20 years, or my wife when she was dying, like literally, so I have a different level of why they’ve treated me the way they’ve treated me. I’ve treated them the way they deserve to be treated on the air. Given truth. That’s all I can do. The truth is right now is every day I get out of bed at five in the morning with Luke and I talked about how good they are, how well they hit the ball. You know, Adley rutschman The the system every day, we are discussing no offense to bat when we’re discussing your worlds at the highest level. 55 years of experience doing it 40 years on the air doing it as a journalist Luke’s in the locker room every day. Like we really address the Orioles, I don’t do it 12 hours a day taking phone calls, and everybody pitch in the skies falling when they lose a couple of games. But if you listen to our pieces, any of the work we do at DeRuyter on this week doing Cleveland Indians, much Bishop who’s covered the Indians goes back. 1958 is first Indian’s game. So we’re covering baseball, but they’re not allowing us to do it the way that that I used to do it the way I grew up doing it, and I don’t and all of these entities now was Oreos, rams or any team. It is it’s hard knocks sanitized and turned into the Real Housewives of wherever. For each one. It’s a fake reality show their websites, the team websites and the meat. It’s these lounges and pod its employees talking to employees. And the public now accepts that as media, Garrett Downings, a media member to Ravens fans. And that’s not the real, that’s just not true. That’s not true. He’s a co worker. And so that’s why they’re granted access. And I’m not. And that’s unfortunate. It’s unfortunate for the fans, from a journalism standpoint, it’s unfortunate that they can have a PR guy stand up and say to the media, no questions about the quarterback today. I mean, that happened last year, like I’ve had the PR guy stand up and say, only asked questions about winning today. We won today, you’re not allowed to ask any tough questions. And then I got thrown out because of that. So let me just wrong is that is that everyone should see that is that we are surrounded by social media, which is basically all curated. So podcasters right. So are these curated? Now. I mean, this even though our true sports are real, you know, AI would allow me to do 100 times the amount of content I do if I wanted to manufacture 99% of it. fakely right. Yeah, I could do AI anything on my website to get clicks and clickbait and I think that’s, that’s where this is going. That’s why I think authentic, local, uncontested, welcome welcomed. If you have nothing to hide, you would welcome me in as a journalist, hopefully
Steve Elliott 28:40
the public will understand AI to reality. Boy, we don’t know. Yeah, I
Nestor J. Aparicio 28:45
had an election in 2016, that the Russians were clearly manipulating the right side of the aisle. I saw statuses that people are sharing it clearly these were not English language first. First. This was not written in the way anybody in America would write English. So we’re easily deceived, right? I mean, really easily deceived. Yes. But there’s no deception how good the baseball team is, I mean, back to the facts, which is they can win a World Series this year. They have a new owner. We have there’s fresh energy for all of it.
Steve Elliott 29:17
They are deep. They’re definitely deep. And the farm system is deep. Yep. Yeah, I mean, look at Jackson holiday. mean, he is struggling right now, but we don’t need
Nestor J. Aparicio 29:27
these next couple of weeks. One of the reasons I think as an organization we still have hope because go back to 96 or 97 Because that’s not too far back. I don’t I can bring up Boddicker and Palmer and all that, but I’ll just go 9697 If we lost Jimmy Key and David Wells and Erickson in June, and we had to go with Kim and Nikki and Scott cling and back and I’m trying to think of guys Mike Oh Quist guys that were way down the road. The farm system was no good. We had no ability to trade. Peter had all that fresh money, fresh Camden Yards money to buy players and do We do things in the offseason with Alomar and surhoff and all that and in key, but the trading part of the next six weeks because the organization is so thick, and now they have these needs that picture, right? So this is where and we talked before the show about money and $15 beers at the ballpark and who how your boy loves the Oreos, but how often can he afford to go? How often will he ever be able to afford to go? Because it ain’t like you and me getting a movie or taking a date with a girl. It’s not a cheap date to go to a ballpark not like it used to be. So funding rutschman funding Henderson funding Corbin burns or someone like him, maybe it’s Grayson, we got that pitching right? How much the payroll will be is going to be directly tied to how nice Greg Bader is to people like me. So because we’re the ones who are going to go spend the money, we’re the ones who are going to create this, it’s not going to be created off cable TV, or off the nipple of Major League Baseball’s large television package where they’re just going to dump $150 million onto the franchise to go pay players. This is you’re in business against the Yankees and the Dodgers and, you know, you take all that luxury tax and all that away. But it’s a very, very unfair system baseball. You know, when Steve shot he told me the reason he didn’t buy a baseball team, he’s like, You can’t win. You can’t compete the same way in an open market. That’s why he never wanted into baseball, and we’re about to learn but you’re
Steve Elliott 31:21
still you can still make money. You know, winning is winning and making money. He’s making money. Yeah, controlling everything is something different. You just make money if you’re happy making money. Do you think the Orioles are making money? They weren’t
Nestor J. Aparicio 31:35
making? Well, they were making money because they had a $40 million payroll. Yeah, yeah. But they’re probably not going to change you know that. You say that? Okay, so now the payroll is gonna go from 40 to 120. So let’s say John was siphoning 20 million a year out of the deal. And really, that’s what he and his family were taking out of profit if there was such thing because I’m not sure there was. I mean, I’m pretty convinced they were not making any money the last 10 years like because when Masson started, because they were mean to people, they were awful on the field. They were awful in the community, they would come to places like Pappas and causes and say, take the Oriole logos off your walls, like I mean, they were doing crazy, crazy stuff. That’s all gone now. Now. That’s good. We had a great team got a great base, cheap players. The building back of this, and this is what I’m really watching. And we’re I’m at 50,000 feet on this. When I talked to the Cleveland people this week, Cleveland’s one look at their record, the last time they went every year. They’ve never spent money. Tampa, they win a lot. They weren’t enough. Never spend money. Now we’re going to say here in Baltimore, we got nice, cute little thing. We got 18,000 people, we’re a boutique little market and Richmond sorry, we can only sign Henderson and you can go play for the Yankees and burns. You can go at the end of the year. We’ll keep bringing guys up. They have the kind of system where they built it that way. But this is the summer that changes. Where do you want to wake up on August 1, and have a number two pitcher a big left hander in the bullpen in a real closure. If you want to acquire those three pieces, you better be thinking about not having Norby curse that go down the line Pick, pick it pick the catcher down and boom, pick pick the mayo, any of these guys in the same way that watching Ortiz kill it in Milwaukee this summer, right that this is a really tender point for money, talent and the opportunity to win a championship and how all of that gets measured over the next six weeks, and then into the offseason. And Henderson’s on sign double. So you know, like, exactly, I mean, your son and I go through this all the time, right? He’s a Boris guy. There. They can offer him 400 million right now and he just wouldn’t take it. i Boris won’t let him take it. So I think measuring this on Henderson is really weird. But this is what I’m eyeing up. And this is why when Mr. Rubinstein holds, soirees that live in classrooms last week, and I get banned, because the whistlers there and Greg Bader is there and TJ Brightman is there that I don’t even know what their philosophy is John as the broadcaster and journalist, like, I really want to know what the plan is. And I want a journalist, not a co worker, not Kevin Brown, who’s already been sent out to, you know, sit and sit in the room alone last year by these same people. I want to hear what Mr. Rubinstein really what’s really up his sleeve. What Why is a 74 year old billionaire really involved in
Steve Elliott 34:25
this? Well, the reality of that is it doesn’t concern you because it’s a private business.
Nestor J. Aparicio 34:30
Oh, okay. That’s the reality. They took $600 million from the state to build their cottage down there to charge you $18 for a beer instead of 15. Well,
Steve Elliott 34:39
it’s gone up three $4.
Nestor J. Aparicio 34:40
So hear that it’s not to hear that it’s a private business. It’s a private business that lives off the public teat in a massive way. And it also lives off the teat of consumer confidence. And now that they’re there, they’re playing games. Figure Figure this out, Steve, you and I put it let’s put a game Yeah, let’s make a game up. And then let’s sanction gambling on the game. And then let’s make John the referee. And he works for us and we can you know, we need Tampa to win this week we can they’re adjudicating billions of dollars of bets now underwritten your watch that by the lottery and John Martin, that every week they’re on that. They don’t they don’t want journalists around. They don’t want people with questions. That’s
Steve Elliott 35:24
a whole nother ballgame. That’s a whole nother Pete right do this professionally.
Nestor J. Aparicio 35:28
No, but seriously like that. That is a huge issue for them. Is they’ve sanctioned a gambling ring essentially, like literally, they’ve that they own, that they are the judge and jury of who wins and loses bets. They need journalists, they don’t they get enough fans. They need journalists. They really do. They need people asking questions,
Steve Elliott 35:50
or it’s the public’s trough and as long as the public is eating out of their hands. Yeah, it’s happening. That empowers Chad. Do you remember when people say I’m not going to the Orioles anymore? Or the Peter Angeles? We don’t like them. John answer we don’t like I’m not going anymore. And hence you see 23,000 fans there as opposed to when Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened in the early 90s 9293. Whatever sold out for how many they also 3
Nestor J. Aparicio 36:15
million people in DC that only had access to it here. That’s why they built the stadium at the end of the freeway, right? I mean, we used to joke about it in the early 90s. They wouldn’t let you joke about this won’t be al but we’d say the Washington Post wine and cheese reader. You know, I mean, Camden Yards changed dramatically for a kid from Pikesville and Dundalk and Loch Raven, to go to Camden Yards and see the Orioles in 93 and 94. All of a sudden it wasn’t the same people we saw at Memorial stay. No,
Steve Elliott 36:41
I didn’t see it. We would agree with that. I didn’t see anything wrong with Memorial Stadium until they built Oriole Park and it’s like wow, this is
Nestor J. Aparicio 36:48
what it could be. But that was it was the money that filed in there. That bought kept Cal here that brought Alomar here that would have kept Messina here had the old man not destroyed it. I mean, they had it. They had the real story about Messina and the company went sideways and I wrote this and Peter principles. All of those sky boxes were 10 year sky boxes. And they sold them to government beer, Crown gas like but a lot of DC area. That’s how George Welch was up here and Larry King was we’re DCS team. So the DC beltway bought some of the sky boxes. 10 years into it. They didn’t like Peter, the team had gone south. Our Bell had been here. Messina was gone. And all of that revenue went away. Now. They have their own team now. Peter was pulling 3040 $50 million. You’re out of his pocket to buy co nine to buy Ziggy to bring surhoff back. Oh, so Rubinstein is perceived as being Uncle, you know, Uncle big pockets, right? I don’t know where that’s going to happen. Because that level investment you’re talking about is going to come tomorrow, like soon for payroll and real decisions as to whether we deal rutschman before his walk year, like we got stuck with Machado a year too long. These smart teams, they deal guys, you have jerseys on the name of the back. I mean, the Red Sox get rid of Mookie Betts. They’re still dealing with that. But you don’t want to be in that position five years from now without a title.
Steve Elliott 38:16
I think the Orioles have trade bait. They have young kids that they can trade that have good potential to protect the superstars if the superstars want to stay here.
Nestor J. Aparicio 38:26
Once you trade those guys two years from now, you don’t get to get them on the cheap anymore. No, you know, Ortiz, his cheap years are going to be served in Milwaukee now. Being an all star and we got six months at a Corbin burns you better make that work, and want and we’re deep and I hear that all day long. We’re deep, deep, deep, until you’re not anymore. We were deep in pitching. We had a press conference four weeks ago with six starting pitchers. Now we got like three it happens fast man. And I that enthusiasm for baseball here. And this new resurgence because I feel like we’ve been doing it a long time. We’re a little more patient and understanding of this than I think some of the Johnny Come Lately fans that just we win we win every night we lose four games trade every people not been watching baseball 55 years, they lost four games in a row like that happens all the time. You know, that’s it’s not a this is a really good team. This is the best team I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. This is the team that I really hope for your mother. And for everyone that loves the team. I hope they get it done, despite my own personal but I’m not going to be quiet about being treated like garbage as a journalist. And John, I know you can’t think that I should be quiet about it. Or that I would be quiet about it. That’s
Steve Elliott 39:39
up to you. But you know, I’m not going to be you’re not going to be. That’s how you make your living. And
Nestor J. Aparicio 39:45
it doesn’t have to be that way. That’s what he does. That’s what it doesn’t have to be that way. Well
Steve Elliott 39:50
then go be a beat reporter and go cover a press conference and go go ask the question that they want you to ask.
Nestor J. Aparicio 39:57
They won’t let me in. Oh, oh, okay. And then you say why? And then I say,
Steve Elliott 40:02
ask them there, there has to be a reason why they’re not letting you in. I’d
Nestor J. Aparicio 40:06
be smartest and say what I said to Jason Newton last week, you’re the journalist go ask them. Like, literally, I mean, that’s what your journalist, you have access to them. Ask them why? And I don’t really have an answer for that. I really don’t know. But I have a lot of questions as you can tell, and a lot of concern, and the same passion your son has, but in a different way. My passion is if they win the World Series this year, what does that mean long term? Like what what will that mean for the city? Because I’ve seen Kansas City win and they’re empty now. Yeah, I’ve seen Boston when five times that given tickets way up there now. So it is when or else and especially when beers or 15 bucks Tradition
Steve Elliott 40:43
has it that you win the World Series, you clean house, and then you start over again. That’s happened many, many times to many, many teams, Tampa Bay. You know,
Nestor J. Aparicio 40:51
what do you love about the current team? Give me Give me your buy in every night. What do you love about it?
Steve Elliott 40:57
They have nine hitters and nine players 789 is up this inning. Well, you know, we might get a single no 789 is going to get on board and they’re going to start something they have solid hitting from position one to position nine
Nestor J. Aparicio 41:12
best team you’ve ever seen your lifetime. Are you willing to say that? I’m
Steve Elliott 41:15
not willing to say that because I’ve seen a lot of teams. You know, I go back to 1912 is born in 55. So as you remember 64 Oreos Oh, yeah. Okay, the pennant fever. Sure. Hey, Doc, we got pen a fever with the Yankees?
Nestor J. Aparicio 41:28
I don’t know. Yeah, you remember that? No. One here. Were
Steve Elliott 41:31
you born 59. All right. So
Nestor J. Aparicio 41:33
what was your first Oriole year that you remember? 6666 Yeah, for sure. And you have 66 year. Well,
Steve Elliott 41:37
thanks to Frank Robinson. Thanks to mill Pappas, who got traded her to Frank Robinson. Aparicio had a little party. That’s a little bit. It’s number 11. He did. So what well, here’s a question for you.
Nestor J. Aparicio 41:48
This is probably John gets give me a hard job patty. Steve Eliwood pap is going What
Steve Elliott 41:52
connection do you have to Luis Aparicio other than a familiar with a family
Nestor J. Aparicio 42:00
connection today? Yeah, so the 90 year old version of Louis none Louise agent was a playful guy Baltimore guy forever and ever and ever Louise agent was here. That’s why signed a lot of autographs here. And he passed away. About five years ago, Louise agent did here and Louise agent was also the agent for Stravinsky, Tiana Cepeda Earl Weaver. So Earl Weaver did his last interview of his life with me. And it was set up at the harbor court. When they when they did the statues, the statue garden. So Earl came down, but so I don’t the last time I saw Louis, ah, it’s probably 15 years ago. So I’m in Chicago. He was there being honored on the south side. And at Comiskey Park, wherever they call it this week, cellular whatever. But I saw him there. We took a picture together and he’s your father’s cousin, my dad. So Louis came to Baltimore in 64. In the trade with the White Sox, my father and my father’s brother came in 65. My father married my mother and 66 My mother was Dundalk, Ringo, Louis left and 68. But my, my father and his brother Omar raised families here and there’s also a sister. This Omar sisters husband also came, he worked at Chesapeake Cadillac. So there were three Venezuelan families that were here in the late 70s. That stayed here and they all went back to sister’s mother was dying in the 80s. Everyone went back to Venezuela in 1981, except me, because I was being raised by gringos in East Baltimore. And then the documentary happened, you can watch that but so, Louis to me in the 70s I’ve been in a room with Louie a dozen times in my life. The longest Louis experience I had with him, you’ll appreciate this because involves beer and fun. 1986 I’m 18 years old. I had a press pass back then, because Rick Vaughn and Bob Brown were running the place. They were back for a 20 year reunion for the 6016 So true. basky Palmer. Eddie walk was a part as a whole bunch of it was a reunion game in June of 86. And I went out to the ballpark, and he invited me down he was staying at the Belvedere. Belvedere still hotel then, and I sat at the Belvedere all day and drank with him as an 18 year old Wow, tell baseball stories. And we watched Ozzy Gan play for the Chicago White Sox on the Game of the Week, Tony kubek, right there on the television. And he sent me he didn’t know any better. He sent me down to get beer. Go get six beers for us. I’m like, Louis, I’m 17. Okay. Well, order room service. So we ordered room service, and we sat there and we drank some Bud Lights. So so but but he’s been in Venezuela. He’s had a family in Tampa. And Venezuela is just such a hardship in general. You know, he’s such a legend their, their streets named after him stadiums named after him in Venezuela. But you know, he’s 90 years old and he’s the oldest living Hall of Famer after after well, Willie Mays died. Okay. Willie died. It’s Louis. Wow. He’s the old you didn’t know that. It’s a great tidbit. I didn’t know that. And the only reason I know that, and I want to give a plug to Jerry Eisenberg, who’s the world’s oldest living, the greatest living sports writer who did the show this week. Bob Ryan from the Boston Globe, who does my show a lot. He put a tweet out the morning that Willie died, he said, Now Louis Aparicio is the oldest living Hall of Famer. But the question was, who’s the greatest living baseball player? And that probably moves to Barry Bonds. Whether we want it to or not. Yeah. But he was a cheater.
Steve Elliott 45:46
Yeah, Pete Rose Tola? Pete Rose is still alive. But he doesn’t go down that street in Cooperstown.
Nestor J. Aparicio 45:51
He did bet against the reds. He bet on the reds.
Steve Elliott 45:54
You say greatest living baseball player. He didn’t say Hall of Famer.
Nestor J. Aparicio 45:59
Neither one of them are Hall of Famers? Right. Yeah. That’s where we are. This is where baseball’s a mess. And my last name is Aparicio. And I’ve been treated like trash for 30 years by these people that are the team that I love. And goes like, like I don’t we baseball’s a mess. They want you to come to a Hall of Fame. That’s kind of fake. Like it’s not you don’t I mean, the actual they’ve moved now to their sport that their Hall of Fame. They can’t figure out politically, like literally, whether it’s Curt Schilling, whether it’s Barry Bonds, whether it’s Mark McGwire, whether it’s Sammy Sosa and he can’t figure out his race at this point. So like so like, have you seen him? No, Sammy saved has chosen a different human. He’s had like a body Trent, Google Sammy Sosa. If you see a picture of Sammy Sosa, you will not it doesn’t look like Sammy Sosa anymore. So maybe that’ll get him into the Hall of Fame. I don’t know if he’s got 670 home runs or whatever. Like the Hall of Fame is a mess in baseball.
Steve Elliott 46:58
I never thought about it that way.
Nestor J. Aparicio 47:01
I think about it when I go to the Hall of Fame and wonder why Pete Rose’s in there and Barry Bonds isn’t there and it’s all you know, it’s a mess.
Steve Elliott 47:08
Baseball writers have some stuff to work on.
Nestor J. Aparicio 47:12
But they put confirmed cheaters into baseball writers you blaming the media. He blamed the media who’s in charge? Who’s gonna let you out? Okay, three o’clock. He’s got to adjust. Are you done with me? I’m done. Are we still friends? Were we ever friends.
Steve Elliott 47:27
You got to have me back. Alright, jump
Nestor J. Aparicio 47:28
back anytime you want. If you want I do radio, you should allow me to be the wild guy and then you set me straight and play the parents. So I should be your rules, man. This should be the rule. You should say you should
Steve Elliott 47:41
this is wn st, Towson Baltimore.
Nestor J. Aparicio 47:47
Right Is that what you want for Megan’s expressed or not those expressed? Steve la can be found in LA chiropractic. Tell them why they want to come and get adjusted from you. Because you’re one of my favorite people in the world philosopher, and chiropractic extraordinaire le chiropractic like John. John Patti, you cannot hear yes. All right. What is your band playing plug?
Steve Elliott 48:07
This Saturday we’ll be at Sykesville downtown the the main on Vine or the vine on main downtown Sykesville come see Liberty Road we’ll play some classic rock for you. And the third band that we never got to talk about was the villagers. Mike Gibbons Oh, gibbons from the other Hall of Fame. Yes, the results of Babe Ruth Hall of Fame Mike Gibbons. bunkie and I are the villagers. And we play like coffeehouse 60 stuff. Beatles, Crosby, Stills, Nash harmony stuff.
Nestor J. Aparicio 48:34
I remember talks about how Angelus killed the sports legends Museum. John paddy here. We’re Baltimore positive except when we talk about awful things. Thanks for coming by. Love you. Steve Eliot, John Patti. I love you and I never knew him. So I will invite you back. He’s gonna be harder on me. Okay. I was expecting you to be tough.
Steve Elliott 48:53
One. You only crinkled your forehead one. Yeah.
Nestor J. Aparicio 49:00
What you’re talking about John Patty, we’re Papist so brought to you by the Maryland lottery didn’t give you you’re gonna give me one. Pac Man you feel lucky punk. Maryland law responses what we do because they’re, they’re fun like us and we give these way and we’re Pappus were Parkville I gotta get him back to the chiropractic thanks to Liberty pure solutions and Jiffy Lube back for more from Parkville right after this.
