In our never-ending exploration into the past and present of many Baltimore professional sports alums over five decades of covering local teams and players, it’s always the best and most fun when old friends pay a visit and tell us what they’ve learned along the way. Longtime MLB pitcher Jamie Moyer returns to the Charm City roots where his mid-1990s success and career turned and joins Nestor to discuss positive thinking and pitching success over pressure as taught by legendary Harvey Dorfman.

Nestor Aparicio interviews Jamie Moyer, a former MLB pitcher, about his career and mental approach to the game. Moyer discusses his journey from Baltimore to Seattle, emphasizing the importance of mental preparation, particularly influenced by Harvey Dorfman’s book “The Mental Guide to Baseball.” He reflects on his transition from starter to reliever, the impact of sports psychology, and the evolution of baseball strategies. Moyer also touches on the current state of baseball, including the emphasis on velocity and the challenges of modern pitching. The conversation concludes with Moyer’s thoughts on the importance of positivity and resilience in sports.

Jamie Moyer’s Retirement and Family Life

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the show and mentions various promotional events and sponsors.
• Nestor Aparicio reminisces about meeting Jamie Moyer in the early 90s and his long career in baseball.
• Jamie Moyer shares details about his retirement, including raising children, being a grandparent, and living on a small plot of land in Washington.
• Jamie Moyer talks about his family, including his children’s achievements and his rescue dogs.

Jamie Moyer’s Career Journey

• Nestor Aparicio asks Jamie Moyer about his career journey and the factors that contributed to his success.
• Jamie Moyer explains the combination of failure and mental preparation that helped him succeed.
• Jamie Moyer credits Harvey Dorfman’s book “The Mental Guide to Baseball” for his mental evaluation and focus on the mental side of the game.
• Jamie Moyer discusses his time in Baltimore, Boston, and Seattle, and how his mental preparation helped him adapt to different roles and teams.

Transition to Bullpen and Mental Preparation

• Nestor Aparicio and Jamie Moyer discuss the transition from starting pitcher to bullpen pitcher and the mental challenges involved.
• Jamie Moyer emphasizes the importance of buying into the bullpen role and having a versatile pitching repertoire.
• Jamie Moyer shares his experience with Harvey Dorfman and how it changed his approach to the game.
• Jamie Moyer talks about the importance of positivity and removing negativity from his mindset.

Impact of Harvey Dorfman and Sports Psychology

• Nestor Aparicio and Jamie Moyer discuss the impact of Harvey Dorfman’s teachings on Jamie’s career and the broader acceptance of sports psychology.
• Jamie Moyer explains how Dorfman’s methods helped him focus on positive thinking and acting.
• Jamie Moyer shares anecdotes about other players who used Dorfman’s techniques, including Roy Halladay and Greg Maddux.
• Jamie Moyer reflects on the evolution of sports psychology and its growing importance in modern sports.

Advice for Young Athletes and Parents

• Nestor Aparicio asks Jamie Moyer for advice he would give to young athletes and parents.
• Jamie Moyer emphasizes the importance of being in the moment, focusing on one task at a time, and dealing with failure.
• Jamie Moyer discusses the concept of fear and how to control it to build confidence.
• Jamie Moyer shares axioms and life lessons he has learned and passed on to his children.

Changes in Baseball and Modern Pitching

• Nestor Aparicio and Jamie Moyer discuss the changes in baseball, including the emphasis on velocity and the impact of modern training methods.
• Jamie Moyer compares the training methods of his era to those of today, highlighting the increased stress on pitchers’ arms.
• Jamie Moyer talks about the challenges of pitching at max effort and the long-term effects on pitchers’ health.
• Jamie Moyer reflects on the evolution of baseball and the importance of adapting to new challenges.

The Role of Broadcasters in Enhancing the Fan Experience

• Nestor Aparicio and Jamie Moyer discuss the role of broadcasters in enhancing the fan experience.
• Jamie Moyer praises the ability of broadcasters to explain the game in a way that fans can understand.
• Jamie Moyer highlights the importance of having experienced broadcasters who can provide insightful commentary.
• Jamie Moyer shares his appreciation for broadcasters who can make the game more engaging for fans.

The Future of Baseball and Potential Work Stoppages

• Nestor Aparicio and Jamie Moyer discuss the potential for future work stoppages in baseball.
• Jamie Moyer reflects on the history of work stoppages and the impact on fans and players.
• Jamie Moyer expresses hope that the players’ union will continue to unite and find solutions.
• Jamie Moyer emphasizes the importance of finding a balance between the interests of players and owners.

Reflections on Jamie Moyer’s Career and Legacy

• Nestor Aparicio and Jamie Moyer reflect on Jamie’s career and the lessons he has learned.
• Jamie Moyer shares his gratitude for the opportunities and experiences he had in baseball.
• Jamie Moyer expresses his appreciation for the support and friendships he has made over the years.
• Jamie Moyer looks forward to continuing to share his knowledge and experiences with others.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Jamie Moyer, mental preparation, Harvey Dorfman, baseball career, pitching techniques, bullpen transition, sports psychology, positivity, failure, success, Baltimore Orioles, Seattle Mariners, Philadelphia Phillies, World Series, baseball strikes.

SPEAKERS

Jamie Moyer, Nestor Aparicio

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Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. Get the Maryland crab cake tour back out on the road. This has been my favorite promotion ever, because I have four different Maryland lottery scratch offs from the treasures that I’m giving away. Friday, we’re going to be back at Pizza John’s in Essex with Luke and some others having some pizza, some french fries and gravy. Next week, will be a planet fitness in Timonium on Thursday, then the 13th back downtown at Fayette Lee’s at Lexington market, the 21st to Catonsville and the fishmonger’s daughter. All of it brought to you by GBMC, where I walked a mile in their shoes last week for charity, as well as our partners at Farland and Dermer. They are the comfort guys keeping us comfortable for all things HVAC and, of course, plumbing. And I had that plumbing leak last month that was a mess around here. So I love having old friends of mine on that people don’t even know that. I know this guy. He showed up in camp, and I remember this down at Stengel Huggins field in the middle of the baseball strike in 1995 the team trained in at that point in on the west side of Florida, got dressed in one locker room and then got on the busses and went down to Al Lang Stadium in St Petersburg, Florida. Jamie Moyer did okay after his little stint here in Baltimore to go on to pitch another 20 years in the big leagues, he is still out in the Seattle area, south of Seattle. And dude, you showed up on some Facebook thing of mine, and I’m like, I know Jamie Moyer. I bet I could find him and talk some pitching. And I didn’t know you had a book a decade ago. You got kids pitching and playing ball and all that stuff, and it’s very kind of you to take a little bit of time. And what are you doing in retirement, other than raising kids and trying to teach them how to play ball? Man, I’m still

Jamie Moyer  01:50

chasing kids around the country. I’ve got a college baseball player. I have a daughter graduating from high point. I have my oldest daughter is getting married at the end of May. So I have four of my older children are will be married. I’m a grandpa. I’ve got three granddaughters, and get some rescue dogs, and live on a small plot of land, two and a half acres in southwest Washington, on a small river and play some golf and just try to set everybody’s way.

Nestor Aparicio  02:25

Well, I mean, I met you at a point where I was trying to figure out what I was doing with my life and doing sports radio in the early 90s. We’re going back about 32 years ago, you and I met I gave you get nasty shirt your then wife and digger Phelps and talking college basketball with digger and meeting you, and you were this guy that was trying to you were on the third, fourth team, the Orioles liked you brought and then, like, everything sort of changed for your life around that period of Orioles time. Then it was Boston and Texas, on to Philadelphia, Seattle and Philadelphia. But when, when I haven’t talked in 30 years, if I were to ask you, how did all of that happen for you? I think I’ve read a little bit about Dorfman and a little bit about mental preparation, but there were so many other pitchers, and you would admit to this, that had a different arm, a different body, more speed, more stuff, all of that stuff. I’m sure people ask you about it all the time, but you’re just a fascinating cat, and it’s been 30 years since I’ve chatted with you, so I’m dying to know what people ask you about, about your career, because it was a long career you had. Jamie, yeah,

Jamie Moyer  03:29

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Nestor, it was, it was a combination of a lot of things. I think it was a combination of failure, a little bit of taste of success early in my career, but nothing consistent. But failure led to some evaluate, you know, evaluation of myself and the mental part of the game, how I was approaching that. And I had the good fortune to spend two and a half days with Harvey Dorfman in his home after I had read his book, The mental guide to baseball, and you know that really kind of, I took kind of a step back with that and did some self evaluation and focused a little bit more on the mental side of the game. And got my opportunity in Baltimore for almost three years, and things started to fall into place for me. And as you know, after I left Baltimore, I was a free agent, signed with Boston, played there till the trade deadline, and then got traded to Seattle. And you know, my time in Boston, I was kind of the six men and a five man rotation and the seventh man and a six man bullpen. I really didn’t have a title or a job, per se and but I stayed prepared, and I wanted to start. And when I went to, you know, got traded to Seattle, I was prepared to start. I was working as if I was a starter, even though I wasn’t in the bullpen in Boston, and I didn’t need two weeks to prepare for a start. So Lou Pinnell. Handed me the ball, and the rest is history. And, you know, I felt like, you know, my 10 plus years in Seattle was, you know, a fun time in my life, fun time with baseball. And, you know, all the trials and tribulations kind of, I think helped me fortify the mental part of things. And you know, we were, we were on the verge of becoming a winning organization. Little did I know that, but it was fun to be a part of that. And you know, we went from, at one point, the kingdom to what was called Safeco Field, now it’s called T Mobile Park, and had the good fortune of throwing the first game in Safeco Field, playing on a on a team in 2001 that tied a Major League record with 116 wins. You know, we had a magical run during 2001 we had some great years in the early 2000s in Seattle, and unfortunately, we didn’t get to the big dance, but we got into the playoffs a few times. And then, you know, in oh six, I got traded to Philadelphia in oh eight. You know, it was on a World Series championship team starting game three of the World Series. So, you know, Life couldn’t have been any better in those years. I want to go back to Dorfman,

Nestor Aparicio  06:25

because I think was right around the time I found Tony Robbins with summer 94 baseball strike and getting myself together and saying potential and trying to get good grades when you’re a kid. In your case, trying to be a starting pitcher, trying to throw harder, trying to make the coaches happy, moving team the team, and trying to keep the executives happy, scouts happy, managers happy. All of that, the thing that I came into at that time in my life, and I remember maybe Sid Fernandez was around, obviously there was Ripken and Brady Ben McDonald was trying to make that potential happen, that that he was being a one one at that point. Sutcliffe was around here at that time trying to teach Messina, of course, right? So there’s all these guys, but you were interesting to me in that I didn’t understand the psychology. Maybe Mark Williamson helped me with this a little bit more, another one of your contemporaries of the psychology of a bullpen pitcher in the big leagues and a starting pitcher in the big leagues, what that meant for your agent, what that meant for your money, what that meant for your life, how much money you could make. And then that ability to say, Well, you’re a failed starter, go to the bullpen. You’re like, No, I can’t do that. I can’t have my arm ready five days a week to throw 22 pitches. I’m a 90 115 pitch guy, that that difference between being demoted and knowing like I got to be ready every day when I haven’t been that guy, that bullpen transition. And I, like Greg Olsen, was a great guy too, because he was a starter forever, and then they said you’re, you’re going to be a ninth inning guy. I just think what that does to a pitcher, even as a big baseball fan, I didn’t understand that until I hung around pitchers and I talked to people like Ray Miller and at that time, Dick Bosman, different people Flanagan, who said, Man, that’s the difference between being right handed and left handed.

Jamie Moyer  08:15

For some people, yeah, yeah, no, it’s a thing. And you know, the transition to a bullpen. First of all, you have to buy in. If you don’t buy in, it’s never going to happen. But what I find is, you know, maybe failed starter is a little harsh and not but no longer a starter,

Nestor Aparicio  08:36

no longer being used as one.

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Jamie Moyer  08:39

You still have the ability to be a major league pitcher, but maybe you don’t have the three or four pitches an organization is looking for or that you need as a starting pitcher. But say you have, you locate your fastball well, or you have a high velocity fastball, but you have, like Greg Olsen had a really good curve ball, right, and he had an outstanding that was his out pitch, right. Mark Williamson could throw a palm ball. He could and he could. Mark Williamson could kind of invent stuff, and that’s just kind of how he was. Todd fro worth had a different arm angle, right. Alan Mills threw hard, right. So, and that’s kind of what you need in a bullpen, right? Because if you’re throwing the same type of pitcher out there each and every time, teams are going to figure that out a lot quicker and but for me, the mentality was, look, I’ve started most of my career, and I haven’t been consistent enough I get that part, but I feel, just felt like I had something else that I could still add to the game. And I think my mentality, you know, helped me to, you know, in not giving to, okay, well, I’m no longer a starter. Now I’m going to be a reliever, and then have to figure it out. And I didn’t throw hard, so, you know. And you know, my bread and butter was fastball, change up. And as I got a little bit older in my career, I. I throw on a cutter, I could backdoor the cutter. I could throw the cutter on a, on a, on a so in a flat plane, I could add some depth to it. And again, it didn’t turn me into a Pedro Martinez, but it gave me some different looks, right? And that’s as a pitcher, that’s what you need. And then when hitters can’t just consistently fit one way with you, then it makes things to look, you know, evens the field a little

Nestor Aparicio  10:26

bit, the doorsman thing, who recommended the book, and all of that. Because I, I think it in reading about you and about your book change your life, right?

Jamie Moyer  10:35

Yes, yes, definitely. You know, I had read the book, read Harvey’s book, and was it common?

Nestor Aparicio  10:42

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I was baseball players passing it around,

Jamie Moyer  10:44

pitchers or no? Oh, I think so. I think so. You know, again, that’s back when there was sports psychology. Wasn’t really a thing, yes, controversial, right?

Nestor Aparicio  10:55

Oh, my God, you need a shrink. Is there something wrong with you? Right? Literally, right.

Jamie Moyer  10:59

In today’s game, it’s very common. I think everybody has some sort, some semblance of a sports psychologist on their in their organization. But, yeah, it was one of those things that like, oh, something’s wrong with you if you need to go to a sports psychologist, right? And I’ll tell you what it just it really allowed me, I mean, it really what we focused on was what I how I thought, and trying to remove the negativity out of my mind, right? And thinking about, thinking positive, talking positive, acting positive. And you know, because baseball can be a very negative game, I’m sure you sense it being in the clubhouse, right? The negativity and conversation and around people, and it can snowball in a negative way, right? So my mindset turned into more of a positivity thing, and thinking positive, acting positive. And, you know, I don’t, never really felt like my work ethic, as far as the physical side of things ever really lacked, but it was the mental side, and how much the game would tear you apart mentally when you weren’t successful, when you were inconsistent, and you feel like you’re leaving you’re letting your team down by not doing your job on a consistent basis. And once I started to get over that and understand that, and understand that, that it was me that was creating, that it wasn’t the fans, it wasn’t the media, it was me, and once I was able to kind of put things in the proper place and focus on what I could control, instead of What everybody what everybody else thought I should be controlling. And once I started to get that and understand that and focus on that, and focus on what I do, not what people think I should be doing, right, it kind of fell into and it took time. It took time. It just I didn’t roll out of bed one day and have it. And it was something after spending time with Harvey, I basically spent the rest of my career working on,

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Nestor Aparicio  13:06

when did you meet with him? And like the book, to meeting with him, to becoming the Seattle pitcher you became, yeah, we’ll

Jamie Moyer  13:12

say, we’ll say 90 Pardon 9091. Is when I read the book, and having the opportunity to meet with Harvey was in 91 now, again, Harvey was working for another organization. I wasn’t a part of that organization, so we had to kind of twist and turn his we had to kind of twist his arm and kind of talk him into it. And he said, Sure, I’ll meet with you. So, you know, I met him in the Phoenix airport. We got in his car, and we drove to his house in Prescott, and I spent two and a half days with him, and I’ll tell you it was, it was life changing as far as my baseball career

Nestor Aparicio  13:47

in using that by the way, Jamie Moyers here, long time major league pitcher, one time Oriole as well, one time guest on my show back in the pub, wiser sports forum era. You know that that part of having your life picked up and then you become a bit of a Yoda later in your career, when you’re in Philadelphia, the bunch of young guys trying to win and all of that, did people seek you out in that way in the game, to talk to you about where your success came from? Because I would think any young person in the aughts, once you got to be an old codger in your 30s, that people wanted to seek you out and say because they knew you wasn’t your arm, it wasn’t Pedro. You didn’t have that ability. You had a different kind of ability,

Jamie Moyer  14:29

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right, right? Yeah, I can remember Raoul albanaz pulling me aside Kenny cloud, who was Baltimore guy. There you go. Yeah, he got into it a little bit and, you know, and I’ve had many conversations with teammates, like when I was in Philadelphia with, you know, the Kyle Kendricks, the Cole Hamels. You know, when Roy Halliday came over, he was already a disciple of Harvey Dorfman’s, so he was a believer in it. And actually, he went as far. Or Roy went as far as getting permission from Harvey and had somebody read the book onto digitally, and he had the book on his phone digitally so he could just put headphones in and listen books before

Nestor Aparicio  15:14

on tape, before it existed.

Jamie Moyer  15:16

Exactly, okay, so yeah, and, I mean, it’s just, you know, I know Greg Maddux used him. There’s a lot of players that that probably, that I probably don’t know about, that have used Harvey, but like you said, Harvey at one time, I think when, when I met Harvey, he might have been working for Oakland. Then he worked for Tampa, and I feel like there was another organization in there. And then I think he actually went to and worked with Scott Boris and hit or his organization, or him as a as an agent, and worked with Scott’s players. So and you know, Harvey not only worked with players, he worked with coaches. He worked with front office people. You know, we, you know, we all you know, are this, this tool that we have right here between our ears is an unbelievable tool when you learn how to use it appropriately. And that’s what I learned. It’s how to use this in a positive way. So I

Nestor Aparicio  16:13

can think of things my father said to me, and I could probably give you a dozen Tony Robbins isms and different learners and Zig Ziglar the you know, would you get done the day before vacation? All give me some axioms that are based in your life that came from that period of time that you even pass on to your children. I know you got a kid in Nebraska, it’s a hot shot, too. You had a bunch of kids that play ball.

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Jamie Moyer  16:34

Yeah, it’s being in the moment, focusing, you know, like for me as a pitcher, one pitch at a time. You know, what’s the task? What am I trying to do? You know, understanding what am what am I trying to do here? Am I trying to get a strikeout in an O O count? No, I need to get to two strikes before I can get a strikeout. Right as a hitter, you know, let’s focus on what are we really seeing the ball at its release point, and are we tracking the ball? You know, how do we track the ball? Right? Thinking? You know, as a defensive player, you know the pitcher’s about to make a pitch, what’s the situation? Knowing the situation if the ball’s hit to me on the ground, if it’s a line drive, if it’s a fly ball, you know, based on your position, you have a job, a responsibility to do, but if you don’t prepare, and when you do this on a daily basis, it starts to come natural. You don’t really have to think about it. But I think the big part is, is the dealing with failure or the doubt in your mind, and I think what ends up happening we, you know, we all have some semblance of fear in our life, I wouldn’t say, on a daily basis, but we have fear, and we put a lot of energy into thinking about fear, and all of a sudden, when you let that fear go, when you just let it kind of go away, and focus on controlling the fear, and not focus on necessarily Fear Itself, focusing on the task. What am I trying to do here? Am I preparing for a game? Am I in a game? What am I doing my days, between my starts and putting that focus there, all of a sudden the fear goes away. Because you don’t fear failure. You have confidence. You start building confidence, and now you build off of that confidence.

Nestor Aparicio  18:32

Jamie Moyer is here educating me all these years later about pitching. I’m not even left handed. So the Philadelphia thing that happened at the end of your career and winning, I mean, your story, really, it was an unbelievable story all the way through, but I think the arc where you win a World Series game and the team wins the World Series.

Jamie Moyer  18:51

I didn’t win the game. I was starting pitcher. We won the game. You won, but I did. I did not personally win the game, but the Phillies won the game. That was game three, which we went on to win the series. Young people

Nestor Aparicio  19:04

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tell me, pitchers wins don’t matter anymore. Anyway, you know all the saber and

Jamie Moyer  19:08

all that, yeah, well, it’s the contribution, I think, that they’re looking at. And look starting pitchers wins may not mean as much anymore because they don’t go five innings anymore.

Nestor Aparicio  19:21

I knew I was going to get you there. I knew you were going to get to the Get off my lawn. You got

Jamie Moyer  19:24

to give me six innings. So it is what it is. And so I mean, but you know, I think major league teams are built differently today than they were back in the areas that you and I are talking about, right? So maybe, yeah, team wins are more important than a than an individual pitchers wins. But you know, again, I go back to, you know, this is a conversation, you know, Mike Messina and I had all quite often, it would be like, Okay, if you’re a starter and you’re going to get 3233 starts, you should be responsible for at least 200 innings. You. Right? To take the meaningless innings. Take more of the meaningless innings away from your bullpen, so when you need them to pitch, meaning full innings, they’re better rested and they’re sharper, right? But we don’t. You know, baseball’s not looked at that way anymore now, and there’s what, 1213, guys on a pitching staff. You know, back in the areas that you and I are talking, there might have been 10 or 11, right? And the starter was expected to, you know, get you to the sixth inning, seventh inning, and you get deeper into the game. Sometimes your bullpen is being used heavily. You need that starter to step forward and pitch seven, eight innings, to take some innings away from the bullpen, right? So they can kind of recuperate and get get back on on Mark, right? So they can be competitive as well. But again, in today’s game, starters don’t pitch as deep, so, you know, there’s more stress put on a bullpen. And you know, that’s where Today’s game is, but that’s what baseball is. You know, to me, that’s the direction baseball has gone. Well, the

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Nestor Aparicio  21:09

arms and the injuries, and the Tommy John and it being younger, and the max effort part of throwing the ball 100

Jamie Moyer  21:17

miles an hour. Yeah, that’s, that’s a whole nother category. And, you know, look, they’re asking pictures to be max effort all the time. And I, you know, quick story, you get in your car and say, if you’re on a 3000 mile road, and you start your car, and you put your your your foot to the floor, and you don’t take it off, that’s what pitchers are doing now, right? They’re pitching at max effort. You’re driving your car at max effort. That car is not going to last. To last well, and that car doesn’t have ligaments and tendons and bones and all that, right? Human beings got ligaments, tendons, and you put that stress at max effort on a body. I don’t care what sport you’re playing, it’s going to break down. And that’s what you’re seeing in today’s

Nestor Aparicio  22:00

game, did you feel like you were max effort? Then? No, no, no, you knew the difference between max effort and I wouldn’t say there

Jamie Moyer  22:09

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were as many guys pitching at max effort, maybe some closers were. But I don’t you know velocity, that you know velocity, there wasn’t as much emphasis put on high end velocity. Yes, they wanted velocity. But, I mean, I could go back to my cub days in the 80s. Lee Smith might have been one of the harder throwers in the National League, and he was 92 miles an hour. But we had the shadows. We didn’t have lights, so he had the benefit of the shadows right in the end, when he came in at 315, 334, o’clock in the afternoon, there were shadows at Wrigley Field. So he had the benefit of the shadows, right? He might have been in the sun, the hitter was in the shade, right? There were shadows, right? So, and that, that was the thing, and that came into play. And even when you see, you know you want you watch playoff baseball right in 2026 right? There’s going to be late afternoon games. There’s shadows. You hear the broadcasters talk about shadows, right, pitcher in the sun, pitcher in a shadow, hit her in the sun, hit her in a shadow there. It’s hard to track that ball, and then it’s bright in center field, right? You got that brightness in center field. It’s difficult for hitters and catchers and even umpires to see the ball without a little bit of deception, right? Because of the sun and the shadows. Do you

Nestor Aparicio  23:36

like the ABS couple weeks into this?

Jamie Moyer  23:41

I don’t know. I The baseball is an imperfect game. And to me, baseball is built around mistakes. Baseball is built around, you know, a player not having a good day and a team coming around that and overcoming that right, adversity, right, losing adversity, mistakes, and to me, the team that overcomes those adversities, the best and the most consistently, has a great chance to make it to the playoffs, right? But when, when we’re dealing with adversity, and we don’t deal with it well, you know? I mean, look at look at the Mets. Look at the Phillies right now. They’re struggling, right? So who’s going to step forward? You know, you need a starting pitcher to step forward and throw seven zeros up there. Give take some pressure off your offense, right? You know, looking across the board at baseball, yeah, yeah, there’s some dominant, there’s some really dominant starting pitchers there, but they’re not there’s not, like, two or three on a team. There’s a one on this team, one on that, you know, you know.

Nestor Aparicio  24:52

And they’re also not going nine either. So you can get through six or seven, get, you know, 100 pitches, and they’re done no matter. Why they’re saying,

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Jamie Moyer  25:01

that’s why we have the specialists in the bullpen, that’s why eight guys in the bullpen, right? But it’s, I think it’s a mentality, and I think it’s the way they’re training, you know, they’re not training, you know, they’re training to throw 90 to 100 pitches and then you’re done. But those 9200 pitchers are max effort. And I think that’s, that’s where the Bugaboo is you’re in look, it’s and then that. You know, I watch a lot of college baseball. You’re seeing that in college baseball. Years, I’ve worked with a couple high school kids. That’s what they want to do. They want to throw 95 growth plates wide open. They’re still maturing. You can’t do that and expect not to be hurt. So you know it, and you know, the mentality is velocity, velocity, velocity from pitchers. And then, you know, from the offensive side of it they want, you know, exit velocity and launch angle, right? If you hit it over the fence, if it just scrapes the back of the wall, it’s the same amount of points. If you hit it 450 feet, right? It just looks better, right?

Nestor Aparicio  26:03

I just wonder how many Jamie Moyers or Greg maddux’s guys that aren’t hitting 98 on a gun are going to be overlooked or never make it to the game? I mean,

Jamie Moyer  26:14

they’re not even getting a sniff. They’re not even getting a chance. No, Greg Maddux might, because he, you know, when he said, we signed together, we’re both drafted together with the Cubs, he was probably 9092, you know, he’ll get that look. But a guy throwing 8385 87 not anymore that that player is extinct.

Nestor Aparicio  26:37

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But the other part of it is, you got guys out, guys who do what you do could get guys out, maybe even fool them even more with the change.

Jamie Moyer  26:45

But that was acceptable in those eras. Okay? That’s no longer being accepted in the era or, you know, in the 2020 you know from 2020 or 2015 and on, right? That that if you’re not a power arm, you’re not you’re not a part of a starting rotation or a bullpen.

Nestor Aparicio  27:06

Actually, Jamie Moyers here, he did it at a very high level, but not at a high velocity for a lot of years in Seattle and Philadelphia. He’s out in the Washington area taking a little bit of time and talks in baseball. Do you have any Baltimore memories you want to because like Ben McDonald’s calling games every night. I know you were doing that in Philly for a minute as well. Palmer still on the air. You know, bordick still lives here. He’s not on the air, although, but in a general sense. I mean, Ben McDonald has become so good at this that I almost forgot what a good pitcher he was back in the day, but, but there’s something about knowing pitching and calling a game that makes it so much better as a fan to have pitchers explain it

Jamie Moyer  27:47

to me, yeah, for sure. You know, when you have somebody of two guys in the booth that have had, you know, great careers and played in different eras, right, but still can explain and expand on, potentially, what’s going on, or what a pitcher might be thinking about in a good outing and a bad outing, struggling through an outing, pitching under duress. You know, there’s a lot of different things you can talk about, and then a lot of it too is just those eyes that are sitting in that booth, they see things differently, right? And they have the innate ability to explain it. And I’m not gonna, I’m not here to call the Baltimore fan, or any baseball fan a dummy, but kind of dummy it down a little bit to bring it to the level of a fan, because they haven’t had the opportunity to compete at that level, right? So to bring it down to where the average person can understand what’s going on in the game, I think that’s what makes a broadcaster even more

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Nestor Aparicio  28:54

special, right? I learned something every night when I watch band or gym, literally, right?

Jamie Moyer  28:59

And it’s and, you know, I mean, if you even thought about fit for an inning and close your eyes and do not watch the game or turn away from the game and just listen to what you’re hearing, you know, again, it would be a baseball experience, like watching or listening to it on a radio right? Even radio guys are so eloquent in the words they use and how they talk about what’s going on in the game. And I took to me that’s that’s a special ability to be able to do that, and I guarantee it, every team has at least one, two or three of those guys well,

Nestor Aparicio  29:34

and that’s why we keep the fans engaged. I hope we keep playing baseball. I’m not going to go through your player strikes and walking, but we’re back at that again at the end of the year, and it feels like that’s the That’s Adam and Eve in the Garden of Ed. That’s like the original sin. It never goes

Jamie Moyer  29:49

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away, does it well? And unfortunately, I think it’s the calm before the storm right now. You know, we’re not hearing anything about it. Nobody’s talking about it. You know, the players union has had a. Little bit of a shake up in the hierarchy. I don’t know what’s really happening. What what, you know, what evolved from that? Are they talking behind the scenes? Probably not, because usually somebody leaks something to say, hey, they met here. They met at this hotel, you know, wherever it might be. Nothing’s going on. And what is the history behind these work stoppages? We wait till the 11th Hour, and then we try to work something out, and it doesn’t work out. And you either the players either get locked out, or, you know, you know, the players go on strike. And then we sit and and here we go. Now, you know what’s going to happen. You know who’s going to wait the longest? Who has more power, who has more money? And really, you know the, you know, the people that get hurt by this are the fans. Well, the

Nestor Aparicio  30:50

owner’s idea is to break the union. Keep trying. It’s been 50 years. Keep trying.

Jamie Moyer  30:55

Yeah, it’ll be interesting again. You know, we’re dealing with a different mindset. And you know how? You know I’m not around it, I’m not involved with it. But I know when I was it was about the players uniting and becoming one, and I hope that the baseball, you know, player union has continued, that, you know, again, being removed from it. I don’t know. I can’t speak towards it. I have no idea Marvin

Nestor Aparicio  31:23

Miller was alive in your day.

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Jamie Moyer  31:24

Don fear, right? Exactly, yeah. And they were tough. Both sides were tough. But, you know, it always seemed like, you know, we were able, whether there was a stoppage or not, we were able to find a remedy to, you know, put piece things back together, and to play this wonderful sport again, of baseball,

Nestor Aparicio  31:42

it’s really good to see you. It’s good to hear from you. I’m grateful for our, I guess, friendship now over 35 years that I can reach you. I know last time I talked to you were pitching for the mariners, maybe like All Star game, 2001 I mean, it’s a long time ago, but

Jamie Moyer  31:56

yeah, it’s always fun to reconnect.

Nestor Aparicio  31:58

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Right? Eight kids you got and chasing them all through college, right? Jamie Moore, yep, that’s for sure. Well, you were all getting older and grayer. You’re getting younger than me. And prove it. I can prove it, dude, I still think if I got in the box, you’d throw some 85 mile an hour cheese that I’d be off and at backing up and bailing out as a change up. But thank you very much for all the years and all the kindness back in the day. And I’m glad I tracked you down and talked some baseball about the mental side of the game.

Jamie Moyer  32:27

You know, this was fun. I enjoyed it.

Nestor Aparicio  32:28

Thank you. Jamie Moyer, long time major league pitcher, still a Philadelphia Philly champion. For all of you hating on the Phillies up there, he’ll have that going on for a long time. Crazy. It’s been 18 years now, so that’s we’re all getting dated here, and it’s been 43 years since we’ve had a World Series here in Baltimore, and we’re still chasing one down. Looks at the ballpark. Any breaking news happens first on the wnst tech service. You know that’s all brought to you by cold roofing and Gordian energy. I am Nestor. We are W NST. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. What’s next? Am I going to chase down some more old Orioles, that’d be fun. Stay with us. We’re Baltimore positive. You.