There’s a healthy debate that Manny Machado might be the greatest Baltimore Orioles draft pick ever but that was a long time ago. Boo him, or cheer him, but the ghosts of Camden Yards’ past return as Luke Jones and Nestor welcome Mister Miami and the San Diego Padres back to Birdland.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Orioles’ recent performance, noting their struggles with a 6-10 record and the impact of the ongoing baseball strike. They highlighted the Orioles’ win against the Mariners, crediting Tyler Wells for three scoreless innings in the rain. They also discussed the return of Manny Machado and the team’s lack of fan attendance, despite efforts like the Maryland Crab Cake Tour and promotions. The conversation touched on the need for sustained winning to rebuild fan interest and the challenges faced by the current ownership and management.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Run the Maryland Crab Cake Tour starting next week (organize appearances and dates for tour kickoff).
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Appear at Sorrento of Arbutus on the 17th as part of the Maryland Crab Cake Tour.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Appear at Green Mount Station in Hampstead on the 24th as part of the Maryland Crab Cake Tour.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Visit Harold Henry and the folks at their location this week (follow through on previously postponed visit).
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Plan and put together summertime events with Coco’s and Costas after the primary election for July.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Return to Pizza John’s and resume appearances at the State Fair and Beaumont in the basement as part of outreach events.

Maryland Crab Cake Tour and Off-Season Activities

• Nestor Aparicio announces the Maryland Crab Cake Tour, starting with Sorrento of Arbutus on the 17th and Green Mount Station on the 24th.
• Nestor mentions plans for summertime events with Coco’s and Costas after the primary election.
• Nestor discusses his recent activities, including visiting Owings Mills and Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
• Nestor expresses concerns about the Orioles’ performance, the lack of attendance, and the impact of the ongoing baseball strike.

Orioles’ Performance and Attendance Issues

• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the Orioles’ recent performance, noting their struggles and the impact of the weather on the game.
• Nestor expresses frustration over the lack of attendance at Orioles games, despite the team’s efforts to attract fans.
• Luke Jones mentions the challenges of playing in the rain and the decision to continue the game despite the conditions.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of the Orioles winning games and the impact of the bullpen usage on the team’s performance.

Player Performance and Team Dynamics

• Nestor and Luke discuss the performance of various players, including Kyle Brattis, Adley Ruchman, and Tyler Wells.
• Nestor expresses concerns about the team’s defensive skills and the impact of injuries on key players.
• Luke Jones highlights the importance of sustaining winning and the challenges the team faces in doing so.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential of young players like Gunner Henderson and Pete Alonso to lead the team to success.

Manny Machado’s Return and Team Legacy

• Nestor and Luke discuss Manny Machado’s return to Baltimore and the mixed reactions fans might have towards him.
• Nestor reflects on Machado’s time with the Orioles and his impact on the team’s success.
• Luke Jones compares Machado to other great Orioles players and discusses the challenges of managing young, talented players.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of having identifiable players for fans to support and the challenges the team faces in building a strong fan base.

Team Ownership and Leadership

• Nestor and Luke discuss the ownership and leadership of the Orioles, expressing frustration over the lack of progress and direction.
• Nestor mentions the impact of the new ownership and the challenges they face in rebuilding the team’s reputation and success.
• Luke Jones highlights the importance of having a strong leadership team to guide the team towards success.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the need for the team to sustain winning and the impact of poor leadership on the team’s performance and fan engagement.

Community Engagement and Promotions

• Nestor and Luke discuss the team’s efforts to engage the community through promotions and events.
• Nestor shares a personal experience at Coco’s, where he encountered fans discussing the team’s promotions and their impact on attendance.
• Luke Jones highlights the importance of casting a wide net with promotions to attract fans and build excitement around the team.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the challenges of balancing promotions with the team’s performance on the field and the need for a strong product to keep fans engaged.

Future Outlook and Team Goals

• Nestor and Luke discuss the team’s future outlook and the goals for the upcoming season.
• Nestor expresses hope for the team to win more games and improve their performance on the field.
• Luke Jones highlights the importance of sustaining winning and the challenges the team faces in doing so.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the need for the team to build a strong fan base and the impact of poor leadership on the team’s success.

Final Thoughts and Closing Remarks

• Nestor and Luke reflect on the overall conversation and the key points discussed.
• Nestor expresses frustration over the lack of progress and the challenges the team faces in rebuilding their success.
• Luke Jones highlights the importance of having a strong leadership team and the need for the team to sustain winning to build a strong fan base.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of community engagement and the need for the team to improve their performance on the field to attract fans and build excitement around the team.

Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are W N S T A M 1570 Towson Baltimore. We call our world Baltimore positive. We call this the off season for the NFL. They’ll be down for a couple of weeks. We’re going to be out doing the Maryland Crab Cake Tour, beginning next week. We’re going to be at Sorrento of Arbutus, finally on the 17th. My apologies to Harold Henry, and the folks over there, we’re going to get there this week. Also, Green Mount Station on the 24th up in Hampstead, and after the election, after the primary election, I’m going to be putting together a whole bunch of stuff with Coco’s and Costas for summertime in July. Pizza John’s, we’ll get back over to State Fair, Beaumont in the basement as well. This guy has been out of the basement all week, doing double duty, they allow him in at Owings Mills and the warehouse, maybe because he’s nicer than me, and I don’t know, but he was allowed into Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Thursday night, where the thunderstorms rolled through and in and around, and I was shocked to sort of play through it, but it was sort of a thin strand of thunderstorms for the Orioles to punch back a little bit, so you know, I mean, I don’t say every time we give up this team for dead, they remain under 500 that’s just been where it’s been for a while, but the Padres coming into town this weekend, they dusted off, you know, six nothing to lead, Bradish gives it up, hot night, big flies, no people, I, you know, I’ll continue to go back to kids are out of school, you know. I worry about all of it. I worry about baseball, I worry about the strike, I worry, but, but it worries me even more to see not people not coming down to the ballpark. So that’s that’s my, and I’m one of them. So, and they don’t want me to come, so I don’t come, but I think it is part of the story, when there’s a national TV game on, when you put it on and it just looks like what’s going on in Baltimore. Six games under 500 is going on.

Luke Jones 1:49
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I’m not going to push back that hard on that. I mean, I do know not all the kids are out of school yet, but some are, enough are, let’s say, and yeah, it’s hot, but it’s June, right? It’s supposed to be hot in June, and it’s a West Coast team. I mean, I know the Mariners were in the ALCS last year. There’s not a whole lot of appeal for the typical fan to say, “Oh, I need to go see the Seattle Mariners. There’s Griffey throwbacks last night. They did, they did, but yeah, but.. but I hear you on that, and I thought the same thing, especially. It’s so odd, I didn’t even know I knew, obviously, that ESPN doesn’t have Sunday Night Baseball anymore. NBC has it. I actually think NBC, even if it hasn’t gotten a lot of fanfare, I think they do a pretty nice job with it, but I knew ESPN still did weeknight games, did weekday games, but I didn’t realize it was a national exclusive, I broadcast. Right, I thought it was more like the ESPN regional games that you get during the week in the past, where it’s still be on Mass in, right? It’s still, you’ll still have local coverage. So, yeah, I mean, I don’t know. I didn’t listen to a second of the broadcast because I was in the press box, but nice win, I think. Disappointing that Kyle Brattis is kind of taken a step, step or two back here in his first two starts in June. I mean, he staked to a six one lead and looked pretty good early on. He gives up the solo homer right off the bat, but struck out four in a row, you know, going from the first through the second inning, but in the fourth inning just got hit. I mean, gave up two home runs on a slider, gave up a home run on the curve ball, so that was disappointing. I mean, you have your guy that you know, whether he’s their best pitcher or not, the guy that’s perceived to have the best stuff, certainly you get a six one lead, you’re hoping, hey, he can get you through at least six, let’s say, and he did it, and that’s where you look at this game, and for me, the hero of the game was not Adley Ruchman with three RBIs in his return. It was not P. Alonso who almost put one in the club level. It wasn’t Colton Kauser who hit another home run. It was Tyler Wells. I mean, Tyler Wells comes in, gives them three scoreless innings, pitching in the raindrops, where you keep looking over, seeing if they’re going to call for the tarp and the grounds crew to come out and not enroll that thing, was it raining

Nestor Aparicio 4:05
as bad as it looked like it was? I think it’s like they could have stopped the game for 15 minutes, because it didn’t feel like good, but it didn’t. Watching it on TV, I’m like, this isn’t baseball, I mean, come on, stop this.

Luke Jones 4:16
I’ve seen way worse, I think it was that bad, but

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Nestor Aparicio 4:20
I always think when the, when the ball gets wet, it, you got to stop it, because it’s not safe. Yeah, interesting. Throwing the ball, it’s not safe, and I don’t mean hamstrings or a second baseman. Yeah, you’re talking about, I’m talking about the ball in the head, that I just think it’s sure. I don’t, I watch it, that’s my concern with,

Luke Jones 4:39
right? No, I, that’s

Nestor Aparicio 4:40
not to mention thunderstorms with people in the stands, you know, but yeah,

Luke Jones 4:44
I mean, I, in all honesty, I didn’t hear that many cracks of thunder, and that might be the press box is more enclosed than it used to be, obviously, as you know, with it being new and having the windows, even though the windows were open, my car. In the game, trust

Nestor Aparicio 5:00
me,

Luke Jones 5:01
yeah. No, I hear what you’re saying. I’m not, I’m not even dismissing it. I’ve seen, I’ve seen them try to play through worse, where, where it’s utterly ridiculous. I never thought that could they have stopped it. Sure, but I think it’s one of those situations, especially in the modern game with bullpen usage, and so many pitchers, and all that. I think they try not to disrupt the middle of a game if they can avoid it. If they know that, hey, it’s not going to rain for the next two, like it’s not going to be a two hour downpour or anything like that. If we can get through it, and it’s not crazy unsafe or crazy slippery, then okay, you know, because the pitcher still has rosin, and you know ways to, you know, to make sure that the ball is not too slick, and I think someone even asked after Tyler Wells, who spoke after the game, he’s the winning pitcher, pitched really well, someone even asked him after the interview was over, not, not like an off the record thing, just in general, yeah. How tough was it? And he didn’t seem to, he didn’t give an indication that it was like really dicey to be playing or anything like that. So, but he pitched, he pitched really well. I mean, three shutout innings when you have that kind of thing going on with the rain, and you don’t know if they’re going to call for the tarp or not. It’s, it’s very, very questionable. The last thing you want to do is start warming up, and you’re trying to use multiple pitchers, and then someone’s warming up and getting hot in the bullpen, and then they call for the tarp, and suddenly that pitcher can’t pitch, you know, because he’s already warmed up. But it’s last

Nestor Aparicio 6:38
trip in, and it’s problematic, but it didn’t look like the kind of swarm that was going to wipe out, like just looking at the radar, it was like playing through it. I saw that they might have, could have, but I just thought it was sloppy bait. I thought it was a tough position. I don’t know, I don’t know who it’s got before, the hitter or the pitcher. I really don’t know. I

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Luke Jones 6:58
think it depends. I mean, honestly, like having talked to players over the years, I’ve heard both horses like the rain, some of them don’t, exactly. Yep, some horses love to run in the slop, right? I mean, it’s yeah, so, but there were a couple moments where it picked up, and I thought, okay, here’s, but then it would lighten up again, so I think it was fine. I didn’t hear, I didn’t, I didn’t seek it out, but I didn’t hear any complaining from Seattle’s side about it, right? I mean, you know, and obviously when you’re in a position when you’re losing in the game, there tends to be a little more cynicism, and as far as, okay, you’re gonna get through five, you’re gonna get through like how that that whole cat and mouse game can go. So, giving

Nestor Aparicio 7:37
you an example, like for me, I wear glasses, right, like, and I wear progressive glasses. Right now, I’m not a baseball player, but when my glasses get wet, even walking through Vegas, where they have misters, it effs my whole experience. Yeah, I have to, you know what I’m saying, like not being able to see well, and seeing raindrops falling off of helmets, and guys squinting at the water bouncing, that just feels to me like that’s when you have to stop. I mean, I’m not going to turn this into, you know, Marty Bass retired. I’m not going to bring him, Bob Turk, back to life by doing meteorology here, but it was.. I just thought I just thought it wasn’t baseball-ish, and I felt like it wasn’t the best version for the Mariners to catch up or the Orioles to catch a break and stay ahead in regard to all the bullpen you’re talking about, and the things that would mess with a game that was very much in the balance, and I think we would say an important game certainly feels important that the Orioles won it, not lost it.

Luke Jones 8:33
Yeah, I think it feels important that they salvage the split. I mean, the fact that they had fallen back down the mountain down to six under 500 and then you come back, you know, there’s the Posio stuff from the last few days, not knowing if Ruchman was going to play

Nestor Aparicio 8:46
like that’s over, because I ran a little bit of that thing, so I think so, I mean, Posia, by the way, I told you he broke bats over his legs, you didn’t see that TV earlier in the year, right, the temperament issue with a young player, he’s 21 and he’s also not worldly. Yeah, so there’s 21 and then there’s 21 and a baseball player, but also level of sheltering that goes on with that, and being Latin, there just is, there

Luke Jones 9:14
can be, but there’s also the flip side of that, of what his upbringing was, and what he went through to get to this point, compared to Jackson Holiday. Absolutely, you know what I mean. So, there’s so there’s some of that, but I, I think it’s over, right? I mean, we’re certainly aware, right? There’s Buck Show, Walter would say, I’m not paranoid, but I’m alert. I listen to the radio

Nestor Aparicio 9:36
broadcast on the way to the gym, on the way to Planet Fitness on on Thursday night, and I mean to hear Ben, Ben Wagner, is that his name? Make sure, get, get the name right, Ben Wagner. He was interviewing his coworker, his boss, Craig Albernaz, and having to ask him about this stuff, and without seeing it, because it’s not video, it’s all. CEO, and I, I’ve seen Jerry Coleman do that 1000 times. I’ve seen Tom Davis do that. I saw Fred Manford, like, you know, I used to stand outside Johnny Oates’ office the first time Josh Lowen was here. You know, when they would come in after you’ve lost four in a row and you’re fighting with your young star Latin player, and, and having to ask questions, I would at least say this on behalf of the 98 rock people, and whatever he pressed them, and Alberna is full of manure, but like, and you could hear it and feel it, and I don’t know the burr up of that New England accent and that ball player, and all you know all of that, when it’s not going well sounds real barky. It doesn’t sound leadership-oriented. It sounds like the boss you don’t like, so I don’t know. And it’s probably not good. Stadium’s empty, owners absent, except for getting married and writing a book. General managers under siege, right by me and Lock and Ford, and anybody that really matters, or you, anybody that matters is watching Elias, you know, they’re about to go to war with the players in a couple of months. I have no idea how their management’s going to handle that with Pete Alonso, or you know, Sam Bisayo, or Adley Ruchman, and Gunner Edison, and Jackson Holiday, because this organization’s in a real tumble right now, and losing and falling out of the race, and not having, dare I say, a pennant race, right? Like a pennant race is when you’re three games behind the wild card on September 10, you’re in the race, even though you’re two games under 500 right? Like that’s totally possible. Sure, and maybe that’s that’s the scenario we’re looking at when the Ravens play on september 13. Maybe that is, but they, they really, they can’t be losing three out of four to the Mariners, two and two. All right, it kind of lets them float a little bit before they sink, right before we play taps on them, because they’re going to get this all-star game. Major League Baseball has been blowing them up all over their social media, putting Camden Yards on. Yeah, that’s been interesting. Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, it is a total.. it just feels like Griggs doing her, her lead up to her big announcement, because they’re all going to sell so many season tickets, because people want to get a $200 all-star game ticket in 2031 or whatever it’s going to be. I mean, I mean,

Luke Jones 12:25
they’ll get a little bit of a bump, but is it going to be like, is an all-star game franchise altering? No, it’s nice, like it’s a nice moment, it’ll be great,

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Nestor Aparicio 12:35
but we, I don’t know who these mystery people they’re talking to that I’m not talking to, or that I don’t see out when I spend all of my time out in the community, that they think their brand’s different than their brand is, that you know, they think their brand’s Coke, and it’s Shasta. I mean, they really do, and I’m, I’m just calling that it’s not even RC, although I did collect the RC cans back in 75 my that piss, but that all drank a lot of soda back then, killed by, I mean,

Luke Jones 13:06
I mean, for me it still comes back to, are people really excited about this baseball team in terms of how they’re playing on the field, and I think it’s largely no, right? I mean, I think people are still watching, I don’t think it’s completely like done,

Nestor Aparicio 13:23
like last year, right?

Luke Jones 13:24
But I just, you know, you keep waiting for something to really grab onto, to say, okay, man, this is starting to feel like it’s moving in the right direction. And they did play good baseball for two weeks, and you know, this overall stretch of the last three weeks, it’s been solid. They played 600 ball over the last three weeks, and

Nestor Aparicio 13:40
they’re hitting homes, and they’re doing the things that they’re, that’s gonna help them win.

Luke Jones 13:45
Sure, but, but it’s still like you’re, you see,

Nestor Aparicio 13:47
Blaze Alexander’s kicked the ball into left field, and in a one-run ball game, and you’re like, okay,

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Luke Jones 13:53
yeah. Well, I mean, I don’t want to belabor that too much, no, but

Nestor Aparicio 13:57
I mean, they’re just, they’re not good defensively, they’re, they’re always, they have their

Luke Jones 14:01
flaws, they have their flaws. There’s no doubt about that. And, and even winning on Thursday night, which I agree was a big win. I thought it was important for them to get a split, because they have a Padres team that’s coming in here that has played really bad baseball over the last two and a half weeks. I mean, this was a team Memorial Day weekend, they were 11 games over 500 and they’ve lost what, 12 of their last

Nestor Aparicio 14:21
six to the Dodgers? Now it looks like, yeah, we’re just gonna be a wild card team, yeah.

Luke Jones 14:26
And you know, they haven’t hit the ball. I mean, really, their bullpen is kind of their calling card, and you know, Manny Machado’s had a bad year, and Tatis is went so long without now

Nestor Aparicio 14:37
3334

Luke Jones 14:38
Who, Machado?

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Nestor Aparicio 14:39
Yeah, he

Luke Jones 14:39
is, he’ll be 34 I think, in July, so you know it’s coming up here. He’ll be turning 34 soon. Things

Nestor Aparicio 14:46
are gonna slow down. Well, I mean,

Luke Jones 14:49
I said this to you recently, one of

Nestor Aparicio 14:51
those guys that felt like the natural to me. It felt like, like Steve McNair, he just could do it, and and it came effortless, effortless. Just lead him to some degree, his excellence, and I’m not taking away or diminishing any of his excellence, because from the way he hit the ball to the way he fielded the ball, it was just all was so he was born to be a ball player, and now when things slow down a little bit, this is when you really, and you got you $1 billion in the bank, you, you know, it really tests your heart, and I always question his heart. I always question, like, he was always too cool for school for me, and ready to start a fight, and then get somebody else to fight the fight. He was ready to start, throw the bat, and have the relief pitcher go out and fight the fight, like Armando Benitez. You know, so, like, I just.. I was never a Machado guy, but I love the ball player. I love his name. I love his physique. He looks good coming off the bus. He was nice to me the one time I ever talked to him. He knew who I was, and he spoke to me like he knew who I was, and he was incredibly respectful of me. The time I dealt with him, so I’m not anti-we had a wink and a smile, because we sort of knew each other without having ever met, and I still have never really met him. I had a press pass at the All-Star game in DC. It was the last, his last act. Next time he showed up was in a Dodger uniform, of all things. We sort of forget that, but I’m not anti Machado in that way. I was anti Machado in the way brings me to Bisayo. Give a young kid $78 million and then try to discipline him. Really hard to do, man. I like that. It can be, can shake your head at it. Anybody in the car can say whatever they.. and that’s black, white, Latin, but it’s especially Latin, and it’s especially where there’s a cultural difference, especially with the management and the blue blood owners, and give me $78 million and I got my first sports car, and I’m 21 Give me $78 million right now. I’d have a hard time handling. I tell John Martin that every week with the lottery, but you know, I, it makes you more of whatever you are, and in Manny Machado’s case, what he was the day they drafted him was what made them not want him to be on the billboard and be a leader, be a leader, and you’re going to say it was a Hall of Famer, and I’m going to agree with you, and I’m going to say so was Manny Ramirez, so was Albert Bell, and I’m not putting him in that category, but you get Peter Lonzo this money when Peter Alonso is hitting 215 Jim Palmer can still say the young man purports himself so well, he shows up at the ball, he doesn’t. Not, I’m watching his act and he’s doing everything the wrong way, like Albert Bell, but still getting away with it. And I don’t mean that with Machado, but there’s a reason he was not their franchise player, and other than Peter Angelo’s being checked out and giving all the money to Chris Davis, and just the general.. I don’t even know what to call.. what this was here.. malfeasance, malevolence, denial.. it’s they’re still in denial. Katie Griggs and Don Rovac are in denial, Mark Vines in denial, until they see the gate receipts every night, so they have to give out bobble heads, but the Machado thing, and him coming back here, he get booed, or is he gonna get cheered?

Luke Jones 18:08
Um, I mean, there’s been a mix of it in the past. I feel like there have been some times where maybe there have been some boos, and then there have been other times where I think there’s been, dude, if you’re 30 years

Nestor Aparicio 18:16
old, he’s the only thing that’s ever been any good around here. Hey, him and Adam Jones, or the maybe Mark Hake, I guess, for me, really great players that have played in this uniform that came into this, into Jones wasn’t even drafted here, right? So, like, I’m just saying, why, though, like, you’re honest, or not even on the level of, of, I’m trying to think of a good ball player that played here for a period, Rick Dempsey, you know, I mean, like, I just, for oral history, and for value, Machado, you talked about Nelson Cruz off the air the other day, and his value to the operation, and that a Nelson Cruz could be helpful to a Sam Bisayo right now, or a Carlos Bernhardt, dude, I’m Latin, my name’s Aparicio, if I’m not discussing Latin issues here as a band media member on the radio, I mean it’s tough being Latin in baseball until you get your first 78 million, and then it’s fu money all the way through the rest of the way, and then you get to be 34 and you can’t do it the way you used to do it, and maybe that’s, you know, there’s a Machado. We all get humbled, we all get humbled, all of us. You know, I was nasty Nestor until I wasn’t, right? So I was nationally syndicated till I wasn’t. I had a radio station till I didn’t. So, you know, you’re going to the Hall of Fame until you’re hitting 220 and that goes for Gunner Henderson, that goes for Pete Alonso, that goes for all these guys. Adley Ruchman had a year and a half of struggle, so, but Machado, with 34 man, it’s different when you’re just, dude, he’s a natural, you know, he’s one of the greatest baseball players I’ve ever seen, right? Like, just give me a toolbox, I want that player, give me that guy, one one. On I’ll fix him, I’ll deal with him, I’ll deal with the ego, I’ll deal with the macho, I’ll deal with the testosterone, I’ll deal with all that. He’s gonna hit 313 into 43 home runs this year. I can manage him, is what Frank Albert has says to Mike Elias. And then you have a two $50 million guy that comes in, you’re not managing anything, anything, he’s going to do, whatever he wants to do. Lamar Jackson does whatever Lamar Jackson wants to do. When Owings Mills, he owns the joint, which is why it was good to see him in a good mood this week. And I said that that was that boat that boded well, that they hired Jesse Minter. They have a happy number eight, because that’s more important than even Bashadi or De Costa or me or you or anybody else. I feel the same way with the Machado thing, that keeping him happy around here was going to always be impossible, because this town wasn’t big enough for him, wasn’t sunny enough here for him, but, but I wouldn’t boo him, you know what I mean, like I don’t, I don’t see

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Luke Jones 20:54
what reason, what, like for what, why, like it’s not like he demanded to be traded, right, it’s not like he,

Nestor Aparicio 21:01
he would have taken the money and stayed here. He looked me in the eye and said they never offered me anything.

Luke Jones 21:06
I, I’ll have my doubts about whether he would have actually, like, put it this way. Well, they were by then

Nestor Aparicio 21:14
there was a perception that they could win that never existed in the mic. Sure, sure, but, but I have my

Luke Jones 21:20
doubts in terms of, like, if, say, the Marlins had offered the same as the Orioles, I have my doubts whether he would have stayed in Baltimore. Right? I say, there knows Lamar Jackson too, but all that being, but all that being said,

Nestor Aparicio 21:32
yeah.

Luke Jones 21:33
What did Manny Machado do that would warrant booze? I mean, Chris Davis has even earned some, has even gotten some warm reception, having come back recently. Right? I mean,

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Nestor Aparicio 21:44
well, he’s had the strangest career, right? Like you and I talk about things that the Orioles have. They have Jim Palmer for one more year, they have Adam Jones, whatever they call him, and they don’t offend him. They don’t even really have Bordick or BJ, or the guys that are around here, Boog’s names on a barbecue. What they have, Chris Davis is a guy, 50 home runs. I mean, it’s like having Brady Anderson, and everybody knows that he didn’t do it legitimately. And then he ran the team, although he wasn’t here when he ran the like.. like Chris Davis is one of those guys that if he were St. Louis Cardinal and hit 50 home runs, or like, you know, that sort of thing, he would be.. he’s.. it’s.. he’s toxic in that way, right? Because of how, how badly it ended, and the fact that they’re still paying him, that he can’t be the hero for the.. you know what I mean? It can’t have Chris Davis’s barbecue, you know what I mean, or Chris Davis’s name, where Rick Dempsey’s was on the casino in the outfield, or whatever. He almost

Luke Jones 22:46
become, he almost became a sympathetic figure, in the sense that, like, it ended so horribly for him, and I don’t mean sympathetic in terms, we all know he has a lot of money, the Orioles paid him a lot of money, all that, but just in terms of his stature crashed to the level that it did because of how bad he was, to the point where he didn’t even finish out the drug

Nestor Aparicio 23:08
thing with the concentration, and whether he could do it without the ad, like I mean, I don’t understand the drugs that well enough, you know, the Smarties and the concentration things to say when you’re on it you can’t hit the ball. I mean, I don’t.. I don’t.. that’s above my pay grade. I’ve talked to somebody at GBMC, or somebody somewhere way more medical than me, or way more baseball than me. But when we’re talking about what they have to sell, and I think it’s a beautiful conversation to be having on a weekend with Manny Machado is coming to town, and we’re going.. we’re playing the Dodgers next week too, to talk about the history of the team, why no one goes, why it’s empty, above and beyond why I don’t go, why I witnessed that no one goes, why I’m watching an ESPN game, that all of this was supposed to be some sort of coronation for an All-Star game for the new ownership. I mean, the new owner’s been associated with Jeffrey Epstein, that’s a fact. This guy, Tish, up in New York, Goodell says he’s not there, and he’s walking around on the field with Harbaugh the other day, but he’s not really an owner anymore, like the bullshit that these people get away with. I mean, now Rubenstein’s going to write a book, and he’s just disappeared after writing a Boblin. I mean, where, where are the grown-ups around here in a general sense, I wonder about that, and then what are their assets, and their assets used to be Brooks Robinson, Earl Weaver, you know, their assets used to be me on the radio talking about them with my last name and loving baseball, because my last name means baseball, Cal Ripken, you drive past the stadium on 95 we want to see the Black Crow’s in Philly tonight. I see the stadium there, it says Ripken, it says baseball. It feels baseball to me, and I’m trying to figure out their assets at this point. Chris Davis would have been an asset, but he’s not. Manny Machado could have, would have, should have. He comes back this weekend, boom, hate him, love him, whatever. It’s nothing. The Orioles can ever use again or brag upon ever again. That’s an era gone, so all they have is the here and now, and I don’t know what that means to a 20 year old, a 30 year old, a 40 year old. In your case, I’m a 60 year old now, and I, I’m just trying to get my hands around the assets, because when Manny Machado comes back, and whether he’s in a slump or whether he’s not, it does beg the question, like he’s the best baseball player they’ve ever drafted, Cal Ripken, maybe, right? Am I Messina? Like, I’m just thinking

Luke Jones 25:32
Cal Ripken has an incredibly superior career to Manny Machado at this point in time. I mean, I’m just saying, I mean, you’re

Nestor Aparicio 25:39
right, but Manny Machado has made 50 times the amount of money, man, like, like, yeah, he also

Luke Jones 25:47
made more money than Babe Ruth, you know, like,

Nestor Aparicio 25:49
of course, so to Cal Ripken, but for me, with the legacy of the franchise, when Machado comes back, I’m looking at it not as a pissed off fan and saying let him get away, trying to understand how that relates to Adley Ruchman and Gunner Henderson and Jackson Holiday, and whether anything’s going to change in regard to that kind of player. Gunner Henderson, we think he’s that kind of player, certainly never going to have the glove Machado. You know, you know, I look at this when I don’t have to look at these guys and talk to them, or know them, or have a moment, or a beer with any of them, like I just look at them as ballplayers, and I speak it in expertise after having done this all of my life in the same way for you. I, I’m okay that they didn’t invest in Manny Machado, but then they went on to lose for five years with this clown, Elias, telling me that losing was going to lead to the next Manny Machado, right, and that when all that happened, the old man would be dead and Fredo would be gone, and some new mr. Big Money Pants would come in here and be able to underwrite all this, and we’re all going to run back downtown, and we’re going to fix downtown for all the people in Harford County who don’t want any part of race, culture, the city, crime, perception, any of that, that would fill the ballpark up. I mean, Atlanta’s already moved theirs out to the suburbs 15 years ago. We’re not doing that here. We’re putting money into the stadium. These people have come in and talking about all the things they’re going to do, and the land, and the development, and the train station, and the money from the stadium, and all they’ve done is throw your ass out of the press box and build a television and a sound system, and charge five bucks more for the beers. In both cases, the Orioles and the Ravens, while they run from both of us to answer questions. So, Machado to me, I see it, and I say the Padres over the last decade are what the Orioles would like to do, be mr. Middle-sized, play bigger than we are by having star players, by having this legacy led by Tony Gwynn, and the things that we’ve had around here, Trevor Hoffman, whatever it is, but a small powerhouse local team, not even a regional team, San Diego regional, dude. You drive 30 minutes north of there, and you’re in Angels country. You drive east, you’re got cactus. You drive south, Dodgers, Dodger, Dodger, Dodger, Dodger, everything Dodger. So, I mean, I’ve been out there, but they’ve spent money, they have sexy uniforms, they have a downtown ballpark, they’ve got players, you’d like to think that the Orioles could be that five games, seven games over 500 every year by having tattoos and Machados, and you would say to me, well, they have Henderson’s and Ruchman’s, and they spent money, they have holidays, and they’ve stunk, and all this stuff, this is an interesting dynamic for me, and a great conversation, because I wonder where we’re going to be with Holiday Ruchman and Henderson, who are the core of what this is right now, and they can’t win, they can’t find their way, they’re under 500 This isn’t 2000 this isn’t the Buck era, where Machado comes into Camden Yards, he’s got great memories of Camden Yards, good things happen, you know. He, they won a lot of games when he was here. There’s not a whole lot of guys that can say that in your lifetime that can say, I played for the Orioles for a long time, and we won a lot of games. Machado, all they did was win when he was here, literally.

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Luke Jones 29:16
Yeah, yeah, I mean, until the end. I mean, the last year and a half, he was here, they didn’t win, but yeah, I mean, everything you just mentioned, I mean, I’m not going to sit here and argue against it, they’ve got to win, I mean, like you think about this Elias era in general, and obviously it goes back much longer than that, I mean, this is a team that has very little to write home about for the better part of four decades, save for a couple little pockets here and there, but you look at the current regime, the current era of Orioles baseball, they got the trend line pointing upward for about two calendar years, right, the second half of 2022 all of 2023 and then the first half of 2024 and since then they’ve been backsliding, right at times more dramatic. Exactly, than others, but it hasn’t been a time where they’ve sustained success, right? I mean, they, they held on in the second half of 24 to make the playoffs. In 25 they such a disaster of a start that at this point a year ago the season was already over, and all we were talking about at this point was who’s getting dealt at the trade deadline, you know, Cedric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn, and all that, they have the off season that they had, which I think most people would say elements of a good offseason. I mean, they didn’t land an ace, so we talked, we did talk about that. I questioned how much they did with the bullpen, but it should be better than this.

Nestor Aparicio 30:38
Better than this,

Luke Jones 30:41
sure, all of them,

Nestor Aparicio 30:42
Gunner Henderson should be better than this. Pete Alonzo should be, they should be better, by the way. Alonso has got 14 over, like we look up, he’s going to hit 35 bombs, right? I mean, he is,

Luke Jones 30:50
he is, but at the same time, I’m also not going to sit here and say he’s having a great year.

Nestor Aparicio 30:55
Oh, he’s, you know what I mean, like,

Luke Jones 30:56
I mean, his numbers with runners in scoring position, oof, like they’re really bad, and, and that’s a, it’s, it’s odd, because that’s an area where he’s excelled in his career, and look, numbers like that can be very noisy when you pull out a month or two worth of data, especially for a player who’s been in the league seven or eight years, like Pete Alonso, so, so I don’t want to make too much of it, but look, this comes back to something we talked about before the season started. I mean, even go back to December when David Rubenstein was making mention at Pete Alonso’s press conference of when the Orioles acquired Frank Robinson, right? We, but we talked about it. I wrote this, I’ve written this multiple times for the Orioles to get where they wanted to go in 2026 and to get where they want to go, and you know, I’m not putting it in the past tense, meaning it’s over, but for them to get where they want to go, they need Peter Lonzo and Gunner Henderson to be this team’s version of Cal and Eddie, and it has not been that. Now I’ll say Adley Ruchman, who drove in three runs on Thursday night, he’s been terrific. I mean, this is the best version of Adley we’ve seen in two and a half years, three years. I mean, go back to his

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Nestor Aparicio 32:13
heart, where you wonder if it’s real, but I’m like, this is it’s looked really

Luke Jones 32:16
good. I mean, now going

Nestor Aparicio 32:19
and seeing a singer at a key one night because he doesn’t feel well. Oh, it was long. It was

Luke Jones 32:23
a long one night. Yeah, I agree with that, but I just.. and that’s where I’m leery of, you know, all the talk now of, oh, you got to extend Adley, you got to extend, okay? At what cost? Because he is going to be a 30. You are talking about someone that, when he’s up for free agency, he’s gonna be a 30 year old catcher who did have the year and a half that he had, who has had some injuries. What you want to make sure you’re not paying for the player that he was. And remember the old

Nestor Aparicio 32:49
TV show, will the real Adley Ruchman please stand up? But he’s been

Luke Jones 32:53
excellent. He’s been, and the thing you and I probably haven’t given enough oxygen for, his defense has been really good. He’s thrown the ball, maybe better than he ever has. Were you at the

Nestor Aparicio 33:04
game Thursday? You didn’t watch the game. I

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Luke Jones 33:07
was in the press box,

Nestor Aparicio 33:08
ESPN, I mean, it wasn’t very good. You know what I mean. Kevin Brown called the game, and it was always a little awkward when we had a catcher that was going to be the manager, the Cubs guy, David Ross, David Ross, and it was a relief pitcher that I barely have heard,

Luke Jones 33:25
Adam Avino.

Nestor Aparicio 33:26
Yeah, I barely..

Luke Jones 33:27
actually, I can’t speak for what he said on Thursday night. I’ve heard him a couple times on, because he’s.. he’s been part of some of the NBC broadcast work. He’s.. I think he’s got the potential to be really good in that role.

Nestor Aparicio 33:40
I don’t want to be unfair. I, maybe I was no idea what he said. I just want to be accurate. Maybe it’s the awkwardness of I wasn’t expecting it. I was looking for the game and it wasn’t on again. It was on like ESPN exclusive, around looking for it, and then I found it. And

Luke Jones 33:59
so few national crews over the years are really truly great, right? Have they

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Nestor Aparicio 34:02
worked together about this guy, but we talked about this in

Luke Jones 34:06
the NFL too, right? I mean, like, how many weeks do you truly say the crew that called the TV crew that called the Ravens game truly did a great job? Most of the time it’s fine. Like, let me be clear, I don’t think it’s bad most of the time, most of the time, it can only be

Nestor Aparicio 34:23
so good when you come in on Friday, right?

Luke Jones 34:25
And that’s my point, right. So, and I think there’s some of that there, there can be some awkwardness, like Kevin Brown. I did see a few people complaining on social media that he kind of called the game in a way that almost like he tried not to act like he was the Orioles. I would agree with that broadcaster, whereas, like, instead

Nestor Aparicio 34:43
of leaning into it,

Luke Jones 34:44
yeah. Well, I mean, I always felt, I mean, that was something that I always enjoyed about John Miller. I mean, maybe the only thing he would change if he was calling Sunday Night Baseball when he was the Orioles lead play-by-play guy, he would refer to them as Baltimore a little bit more than just the Orioles, right? To make it sound like. Okay, this is a little more of an ESPN, nationally televised game, but, but yeah, great observation, because that’s true. You haven’t thought about that in a long time, but I mean, well, part of that is it just happened to come across my timeline. I don’t know who posted, I think it was just a random fan, it may have been like a retro baseball account or something like that, but they actually, they actually had a two and a half minute clip of the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball opening. It was 92 The Orioles were playing the Yankees, that was Buck Showalter at the beginning for the Yankees, and the Orioles were an upstart team member. Remember, I don’t need to tell you, but Brady Anderson was having a great year, Deborah was having a great year, Cal wasn’t having a great year, but was coming off of an MVP season,

Nestor Aparicio 35:41
Sutcliffe, Camden Yard, man, there was such

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Luke Jones 35:44
was full, I saw that, and yes, obviously the esthetic of seeing a packed Camden Yards in 1992 was one thing, but just John Miller and Joe Morgan in their prime working together, right, of what Sunday Night Baseball was at its best in what it

Nestor Aparicio 36:00
would become, because that was early for them, but that duo, they, if they were doing the game, I bet that was first or second season together. I think they were together long. I want to

Luke Jones 36:09
say it was like 89 or 90 or something like that, like they would have looked

Nestor Aparicio 36:12
that up, but that, yeah, but but they were just starting their run, they were already

Luke Jones 36:16
so good, the best baseball

Nestor Aparicio 36:17
duo of our lifetime, right there. They really were all in the John Madden of our life,

Luke Jones 36:22
that right there, though, to me spoke to what what you were just talking about, and again, I’m not commenting on ESPN broadcast on Thursday night, because I didn’t hear a single word of it, but just the aura that Sunday Night Baseball used to have, it was much more in line with how we think of Sunday Night Football today, it wasn’t exactly that, and it was on ESPN compared to broadcast TV. So, John

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Nestor Aparicio 36:47
Miller, Joe Morgan’s first broadcast, april 15, 1990 Mets, I suppose they were in their third

Luke Jones 36:54
year together at that point, and they worked together for 21 years. So, there you go. So, but yeah, I mean, it was just in general, Sunday night baseball was just such a big thing back then, right? In the way that we think, you know, it wasn’t on par with Monday night football in that era, but it was closer to that than what it is now, you know what I mean, which is mostly an afterthought. I mean, but, but that’s also, that’s also just the difficulty with baseball, I mean, it’s tough to make it a national game, because the local team plays every single night, so you only have so many.. I mean, the NFL would not be what it is if every team played every single day, right? Because two weeks

Nestor Aparicio 37:37
to the NBA and the NHL, and what they are..

Luke Jones 37:39
they’re regional games, I mean, it just, it is, and you know that that’s what’s a challenge for these sports to try to carve out the kind of national TV package that can be as healthy as it can, no

Nestor Aparicio 37:50
international money. Sure, sure, what they’re trying to carve out with a local sport, right, like literally with a sport that doesn’t, that’s what we’re seeing, Hagerstown and Salisbury or north of Elkton, here, right? Yeah, and and you have to have great players, and I guess that speaks to Machado and his return here, and to your point, where is Adley Ruchman, where is Henderson, where is Holiday? We’re going to find out. You got anything else? You want to pile on with the Padres, because I feel like I’ve waxed philosophically here, just have a general sense that we’re in the middle of June. My favorite team’s coming to town, and I have no interest in giving them money to go down and see the Padres play and throw on my Gwen jersey this weekend, although I would. Somebody got tickets at me, although I’ll be at the Greek Festival this. I got things to do. I got baklava to eat this weekend, and I’ve got the dancing to do this weekend. I got plates to break. Oh, with my friends in the Highland town, so, but evaluating an under 500 team that’s underperforming, top to bottom ownership, Katie Griggs, the peanut vendors, nobody’s done a good job with with what I’ve seen with this operation over two and a half years with the new ownership, and I’m just shaking my head in the middle of a season, and I’m watching it, and you know, my nose is pressed up to the glass, watching it on TV, on ESPN on Thursday night, Apple TV on Friday night, yeah, chasing these games around, and he put the game on earlier in the week, it just, it feels so half-assed to me, you know what I mean, like, and, and there are nights when I wonder, like, what, what is it going to take to ever get this train a rolling again for the baseball team, and as Manny Machado comes in here, that’s a train that left town, and I think that that’s there’s nobody that could look at it any other way and say, well, could have been with Machado, or we could have won, or all of that, and that’s why they boom or cheer him, I guess, right? He, he’ll get a reaction either way. There’s no Oriole fans, doesn’t have some visceral thing with Manny Machado. I mean, I

Luke Jones 39:48
just, at this point, I don’t see why, why boo at this point in time. I mean, I don’t understand that, but I don’t understand that a lot of times when people are booed, but. But I think you know a couple things. One, I’ll leave you know everything you just talked about. You want to have someone to identify with, like I think of my childhood and my youth, I identified with Cal Ripken. My early childhood, I was an Eddie Murray guy when I was very, very little, and a lot of that was probably as a four year old, I loved chanting Eddie, you know, I mean, it was just that simple, but Cal was the guy identified with, and Machado, for a short time, was someone that you could identify with from that era, but I think the guy, the overwhelming takeaway from that era, you identify with Adam Jones, you know, Adam Jones was your guy, Cal Ripken was my guy, Brooks was the guy for so many people, right? Because I mean, my goodness, he played 20 plus years, a lot

Nestor Aparicio 40:46
of Machado jerseys in the day before 13 and loved one in terms of staying

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Luke Jones 40:52
power, like those, you know, Adam Jones wasn’t a lifelong Oriole, but he will be remembered close to that, you know what I mean, like, as maybe as close as you can get to that anymore in the reality of baseball in the 21st century and free agent movement and all of that, but I think two things: one, do you have a player to identify with? Well, it’s

Nestor Aparicio 41:15
weird, you said that he went, who did he go and play for when he, Arizona, and then Arizona, and then he

Luke Jones 41:21
played in Japan, for Japan. I’m

Nestor Aparicio 41:22
thinking he turned down that Philly’s day. I’m trying to think of seeing him in a jersey. You’re Arizona. Okay, yeah. I barely.. I don’t remember him. I remember him, the team USA. Like, I had to ask that question, because you’re

Luke Jones 41:37
saying that speaks to my point. In the same way, like, do you, do you remember Ed Reed wearing a Texans jersey? No, you don’t. Do you remember

Nestor Aparicio 41:46
Brady Anderson wearing a Padres or an Indian shirt? He did. Yeah, I mean, so,

Luke Jones 41:50
so, but, but that’s what we’re talking about there. But so there’s that, and I hate to keep, I sound like the broken record when you and I talk in this big picture, 30,000 foot view, they’ve got to sustain winning, and look, I’m not saying that means you must win a World Series if this is ever going to succeed long term. That is, it’s difficult to do. Even the mighty New York Yankees now are going on 17 years since they last won a World Series, right? It’s not, you can spend more money than anyone, and it’s not a guarantee, although the Dodgers are coming really close to that at this point in time, but you’ve got to sustain winning, and what I mean by that is not, oh, well, we’re hanging around for the last wild card spot, what I mean by that is you’re making the playoffs, you’re winning some games in the playoffs, you look up and you’re playing in the ALCS, right, I mean, like, they need that, and they need some of that over at least a number of years to truly gage whether this thing is going to be able to thrive to any meaningful degree long term, because I would just say, because anything less than that, you’re asking a heck of a lot of a fan base that I’ll go back to the point that I made recently when I was talking about the Jimmy Fallon fever pitch movie, where you know you can love the Orioles. How much have you loved the Orioles over the years, but how much have they loved you back, right? I mean, and for anyone that’s under the age of 50, you know, even even those slightly older than me, that might have maybe a flash bulb memory of the 1983 World Series. Boy, there’s just not a whole lot there, not counting 2131 and things of that nature, right? Talking about in-game moments and on the field success, not ceremony, right, not an all-star game, not 2131 so 131 so they’ve this hasn’t been good enough in that way. It looked for two years, it looked like it was going to be, and then it’s been derailed. Can they get that? Can they get the train back on the tracks and really rolling again to a meaningful degree? I mean, I’m not like I said, I’m not asking for a World Series victory, there, as great as that would be. My goodness, I mean, I, someone asked me recently, where I said, you know, or they said, do you think the Orioles will win another World Series in your lifetime? I said I was two weeks old when they, the one they won theirs, that shouldn’t count for me. You know what I mean, like it shouldn’t, but I don’t know, right? I don’t know, it’s, it’s tough to do, but boy, you’ve got to do better than this, because their leadership is trash. I mean, the

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Nestor Aparicio 44:27
ownership’s gone, Katie Griggs hiding, waiting for her all-star game to do her Evita Peron wave from Pap away from the truest suite. Like, I just. I don’t. Al Burns being chippy with the fans, get off the bandwagon, get off a bandwagon. Yeah, like I, no, no, no, no.

Luke Jones 44:50
There aren’t, there isn’t a whole lot to point to that to truly be encouraged in that way. I would agree with that, and you know the young players that they. Have the players that they have, and I don’t want to just say young, because they signed Peter Lanza to a five year, 150 $5 million contract. They have Bisayo under contract at a very affordable rate, right? I mean, keep in mind, you see what the role, the total number is, but I think it was a $5 million signing bonus and a $1 million salary this year, like he, he doesn’t have all that money just yet, right, but he knows he’s going to get it, and he’s going to be here, and that, and that’s a good thing, right. They have a player that they know is under contractual control for a long time, that’s a good thing, but, but yeah, you look at this thing, and people want to identify with Gunner, they wanted to identify with Adley Ruchman, at least until the last year and a half, but I think that’s still a thing, but How long are they going to be around, and I

Nestor Aparicio 45:43
walk through the team gift shop when I was there with my wife, right? Because we went to that game to Brandon Young, that just about

Luke Jones 45:50
any player’s shirt, right? I mean, like, I

Nestor Aparicio 45:52
walked in just to see what they’re selling, all those upside-down twos on the back of these orange and green things, and I don’t.. I’ll never

Luke Jones 45:59
get that part of the uniform, by the way, but anyway, go ahead.

Nestor Aparicio 46:02
Yeah,

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Luke Jones 46:03
that’s that element is just weird to me. Like, why is it anyway? Sorry, I didn’t mean to. Yeah, I

Nestor Aparicio 46:08
don’t disagree with you. I, and I don’t think they’re horrible. The green, the girl I identify with, the dark blue light, because of the

Luke Jones 46:15
seats. People really like them,

Nestor Aparicio 46:16
you know. It looks like the stadium, a little. It looks like stadium break, whatever. I, I says, true story here. I’ll extend this segment for a moment, because it involves one of my sponsors and involves delicious food. I was at Coco’s on Wednesday night, and the game was on. I went there to watch the game, was the night that it rained, and it, they started on time, and so I sat down at the bar, and there were two ladies sitting next to me. They, one was from Baltimore, they were from Baltimore, one didn’t live in Denver, the other one lived here, they were there having a crab cake, and one had an oil hat on, and the one woman said to me, she’s, “Hey, when did they start wearing those hats with the bee? And so she noticed it that they’re wearing the orange bee, and I said, “Oh, those are the city connects from a couple years ago, I think they adopted it. Am I right in saying that, or was that wrong?

Luke Jones 47:10
They, that that cap with the bee did start as a city connect, but they’ve altered it now. It has an orange brim, you know, orange bill, right? It is now an orange bee, you know, to me, I think it’s kind of, sort of, because you see it more frequently, it’s kind of, sort of softly replaced the O’s cap, which they still have the O’s cap, and they still, they still do wear that some, but you get the sense the players like that B hat more, and I like it way more, and I’ve never understood,

Nestor Aparicio 47:40
let’s go, like that was not what we chanted at Memorial Stadium, that is a Greg Bader era thing, but so I didn’t like it. It’s fine, whatever, I mean, people like it, it’s no, no, it’s it’s costumes, right? It is what it is, but the B thing, she, she said, when did they start? So I tried to, you know, do the best I could do, which you just gave the real truth called City Connect thing that they liked that they kept, so and she’s like, I sort of like it, and I’m like, yeah, we started, you know, talked about it a little bit, and I’m like, you know, they, she, she sort of asked why, like, what was wrong, you know? Just, she’s not a big fan, just why. And I’m like, so they can sell stuff. She’s like,

Luke Jones 48:26
it’s always the answer. I

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Nestor Aparicio 48:27
said, well, think about it this way, and I had never explained it this way, and I’m not explaining like she was a five year old, but sort of a little bit. I said, think if you walked into the gift shop and all they have was one item and it all looked the same, like, so that couldn’t exist. So part of this is when you walk into their gift shop, you realize why they need to come out with all this junk, because they need to fill the gift shop up with something that doesn’t look like my 1971 belt buckle that I still like, you know, or the Angry Bird, or the Storming Bird, or whatever, yeah, but I, for me, with the modern era of all of this, and what they are, and how they appeal to people, even in a bar on a Wednesday night, two ladies who kind of want to be into it, they’re sitting at the bar having a crab cake, the game’s on, they, they’re paying attention to it to some degree, the way I guess people pay attention, the World Cup a little bit, because it’s going to be ubiquitous the next month, it’ll be on, even if you’re just Googling where Ivory Coast is, just trying to figure out where these places are, Cape Verde, I think, for baseball it’s still a part of this cultural thing here, but that’s all it is right now, and somebody better come and show some leadership, that I mean, I don’t know what to say. The place has been so rudderless for so long, and these people bought it, and somehow thought Greg Bader and Jennifer Grandal did a good job. Like, I don’t even know what I don’t know what else to say, other than it doesn’t feel like much. Changed at all in most of this, and that’s really unfortunate, and it feels more empty than it’s ever felt to me, and that’s really unfortunate. An era where they’ve spent money, they have an Alonzo, they have good play, the Hendersons, they have what could have been the Machado era, but it ain’t happening on the field right now. It’s just not, and it’s not happening in the community either. It really isn’t.

Luke Jones 50:26
Yeah, I mean, I think you’re talking, you’re talking about wanting growth, right? I mean, any business wants to have growth, right? You want to show you’re moving in the right direction, and

Nestor Aparicio 50:37
I want to see signs all along that Angelos is dead, and new people that care a lot more, and are better people. I’m not convinced these are better people. I’m really not. I’m not,

Luke Jones 50:49
but I’ll continue to go back to.. I’m not sure people even are looking at that that much. If you don’t have a product that people are excited about, you know what I mean? Like, you need to get more people in the door, and then show them that is the

Nestor Aparicio 51:03
last thing, but Wednesday night the dogs were a part of the thing, right? Dan Rodricks was at the game, I saw he took 66 people, and they reported the crowd at 10,000 I don’t know, you always say you’re terrible at judging crowds, I’m not, and I

Luke Jones 51:16
mean I wasn’t there Wednesday night, yeah, but I mean I’m not terrible at judging

Nestor Aparicio 51:20
crowds, I’m really good at it, and I am, I’m good at it. So, you know, I, I would call BS on the fact that there have been 10,000 people in that ballpark at any point the last four days, but, but for me, the dog thing is fascinating, because I saw them doing it, and they’ve been doing it for years, and I love animals, right? I mean, I promote barks, be more humane, Chesapeake feline, I’ll promote any of I love my cat, and you know, I can’t take my cat to the game, but if I had a dog, I would consider taking my dog to the game, and I think it’s kind of fun and cool and neat, and I, Kevin Brown, read the ad two weeks ago when I went up and I bitched about it, because it’s awful, they want you to pay $40 and sit in left field, they want you to pay 20 to bring your dog, of which five goes to Barks. So now I’m $60 out to take my dog to the game, and I said to the two ladies at the bar, we were watching the game, the dogs came on, I literally opened my app, tickets were 12 bucks. I said we could, it was the first inning, it was 645 I said we could leave and be at the ballpark by the bottom of the second inning, and for 36 bucks you could put the crab cake in a box, and I could take you down to the game right now, but if you had a dog, you had to register ahead, pay for the dog a full price, 40 bucks in left field, and I’m thinking to myself, that’s not an offer, that’s it’s not a good deal, you know, it’s not a, oh, I gotta bring my dog, it’s like my dog’s gotta pay a cover charge to go to the game, like that blew me away, and it blew me away that they charged 20 bucks, and it blew me away they only gave five of it to Barks, like I’m like there’s there was no part of that that gave me warm and fuzzies, every part of that is like you’re charging my dog to go to the game, like I just couldn’t, I couldn’t believe it. I was.. I don’t.. maybe I’m just old and stupid, or I’m laughing. I would think it would

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Luke Jones 53:11
be naive to think that you’re just going to be allowed to bring your dog in for not for nothing. Sure, it’s a public space, like you know, like, you don’t just bring, you can’t just bring your dog anywhere. Take

Nestor Aparicio 53:23
my dog to Patterson Park. No, I’m not. Well, take my dog into most restaurants, dog,

Luke Jones 53:28
but you don’t pay an admission fee to go to Patterson Park, right? Okay,

Nestor Aparicio 53:32
I don’t know, dude. I don’t even want to go down with you, but I brought it up. It’s just sort of like I wouldn’t do that if I leave my dog at home and pay 12 bucks on the ballpark,

Luke Jones 53:48
man. Of all the things I could have issues with, I mean, that’s just not very high on the list. That’s why it took me three

Nestor Aparicio 53:56
days to bring it up, and that’s why I haven’t brought it up, but I’m just saying these are the things that they spend their off season doing, and they come up with ideas that I think are stupid, like Mandalorians, and like all this stuff, but people line up on that promenade when it’s 112 degrees to get a Tupac bobblehead, and to try to get $200 for it on the internet, you have bobble head sitting behind you this way, I have belt buckles in here. I like, I get it, but I don’t get it. I mean, I get it, but it’s not a business plan any more than running a radio station was a business plan here for me to think that the Ravens are going to make playoff games, and I was going to sell Super Bowl trips every year. Like, that’s not a business plan. Giving out bobbleheads on Saturday night every night all summer long, and that’s your business plan, I mean, I guess it’s working to some.. I mean, what do I know? 40,000 people show up, I mean, it.. they’re smarter than I think they are about some of this stuff. Yeah,

Luke Jones 54:50
I mean, I mean, I would say this: if you’re casting a wide net, if someone likes every single promotion you’re doing, you’re probably not casting a wide enough net. Fair enough, so. Yeah, and I look, I just pulled up the Yankees, the New York Yankees promotion schedule, House of the Dragon cap night, Tuesday, june 16, Yankees soccer jersey night, Thursday, june 18, that’s what I’m saying. So I’m not, I’m just saying that goes on everywhere, and especially when you’re, when you’re trying to get people, more people in the ballpark, because it’s not Yankees, Red Sox. My point is,

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Nestor Aparicio 55:26
when they’re playing on a Wednesday night, they’re not doing that, and tickets are 10 bucks, tickets are 10 bucks, 12 bucks. This is like,

Luke Jones 55:33
what’s the demand, what’s the urge, what’s the urgency to go see? Keep bringing it

Nestor Aparicio 55:37
back to losing, and you’re not wrong, you’re not wrong at all. I mean,

Luke Jones 55:40
if you’re the Yankees win and they’re still doing all those things, so it speaks to it needs to be all of that, but I’ll continue to come back to you can give away a bobble head to get someone in the building on a given night or a floppy hat or whatever, but if they didn’t like what they, what they saw when the actual game begins, that’s not really drawing them back until they’re getting the next trinket, you know what I mean. If they see a great game and they see you beat a good team, and, and hey, we’re in first place now, that does something.

Nestor Aparicio 56:13
See, I’m not one of the sycophants in their world, so I don’t get all their Birdland deals, I don’t get their little rush thing that your 10 buck $10 tickets right now, buy them, buy them, buy them. Here’s a free widget, here’s a free doodad, here’s a buy one get one, here’s a rain check. You know, like, I don’t.. I’m not a customer of theirs, because they told me they didn’t want me to be a customer. They gave me their middle fingers, all of them collectively, and their names aren’t Angela’s. They’ve treated me like garbage, so they’re not getting my money, but if they got my money, I wonder what that would be, because you know I’m a Marriott member, I’m a Southwest, you know, like I see when they’re giving me a free drink, or when they don’t really, you know what I mean. So I don’t know what they’re doing inside of that world, but I know that that world got very cranky last year on them,

Luke Jones 56:58
big time. I mean, two, it got really cranky two years ago, right? Right, I mean, that was a big reason why they didn’t sell out the playoff game. Well,

Nestor Aparicio 57:06
and now the stadium looks empty to me, so it looks like a lot of those people got cranky with their wallets. It looks like, and that’s tough to.. that’s poor leadership. And I’ll leave it at that. And you can leave it on the field, I’ll take it off the field. He’s Luke Jones, he’s Baltimore Luke. We’ve gone a long way here this weekend. We barely

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Luke Jones 57:23
talked about the Padres, but win a series. Mason Miller, let’s sign. Win a series. Padres are not that good. They’ve really struggled the last three weeks, but they’re looking at the Orioles and saying, hey, can we get right? So go win a series and keep trying to do this thing where you get back to 500 I don’t know how many other eloquent original ways I could say it?

Nestor Aparicio 57:44
I’m starting, still trying to find a 1971 Major League Baseball San Diego Padres belt buckle that I don’t even know if it exists or not. So, if anybody finds one, let me know. That’s my little Padres thing. In the meantime, my Tony Gwynn jersey, I’m dusting it off. He’s Luke, I’m Nestor. We’re WNSD Baltimore positive.