let's see did i press one
yes
did i okay i didn't know whether you could hear because i i have to take the phone away from my ear to do it
i guess that was one
did you hear it
i heard the beep
all right we're on uh hey Rick who's your favorite team
uh i guess the Durham Bulls
oh okay and uh uh we're not to have much mutual interest there but i'm curious uh uh what class are they class A
yeah they're i think a farm league of the Braves
oh okay
but uh they're they're the closest by team to Raleigh North Carolina
yeah do you go
do you go see them very often
yeah actually uh we went a couple of times last year i haven't gone they started i guess about a week ago
well i imagine they're just starting
yeah
do you you know what's exciting about watching i never watched minor league teams until i came to Texas because i was raised one near Boston following the Red Sox and then i went to graduate school in Pittsburgh so i became a Pirate fan
um-hum
um-hum
okay
and i was never in a minor league city until i came Dallas we were a minor league city when i came here in fifty nine and i immediately bought season tickets uh to the class triple A uh uh Dallas Rangers
um-hum
okay
and then the class uh double A Dallas Fort Worth Spurs we later uh they went to the Texas league
um
and uh i just really enjoy it i guess i enjoy watching guys when they were very first starting out playing here and then seeing them a year or two later as as stars in the majors
yeah
yeah
uh and i i think that's probably the fun of watching minor league baseball and the other thing is watching guys on the other end uh guys that i had seen play for both the Red Sox and Pittsburgh
um
uh they get to the other end of their career and now they come up and talk to you between innings of games i i think that was exciting too uh have you seen any minor leaguers come through uh any guys come through Raleigh that are now in the big time
yeah
uh not not yet i mean i
not yet okay well of course you're at the class A level you're a few years away from that
yeah
uh hang on a second Rick i got to see who that is
okay
you still there Rick
yes
yeah uh uh do you follow any major league teams at all
sure
uh which ones
uh i like the Phillies and the Dodgers
oh okay okay well how do you think they're going to do this year
um fair
i don't know the Phillies are so uh unpredictable
fair huh
yeah yeah
but i think the Dodgers will do well
well i think the Phillies picked up some good players in the free agent market didn't they
yeah
yeah
and and the Dodgers i guess what surprised me most about the Dodgers was letting uh Valenzuela go
yeah i don't know he's getting old i think they got their money their money's worth out of him though
yeah i think they probably did he probably i was reading the other day that what may have happened to him is he pitched too many innings too young
yeah
they say that if a guy's pitching that that his arm is still developing until he's twenty five and if pitches a whole lot of innings before that it may take its toll later in life
um
of course i've been watching Nolan Ryan this afternoon and uh it doesn't seem to bother him
yeah
um
uh he he has to be an outstanding physical specimen to to do what he's done
yeah well have you heard anything about Jim Palmer
uh well Palmer tried a comeback
and uh got sore arm early and they uh the Rangers are playing Baltimore this game that i'm watching and just the last inning they put the camera over on he and Brooks Robinson they are the broadcast team for the Orioles now
right right
and apparently apparently his uh his come back just didn't make it and that he got he got hurt early in the uh in the uh uh in the spring training uh
yeah
um
oh the the Dodgers the Dodgers have got an interesting thing they've got this uh rookie pitcher what's it Martinez his name
that uh that pitched a bunch of innings last year as a nineteen or twenty year old year old and they were using what happened to Valenzuela as an example that they should be careful and not over work him this early of course i was really uh
right
uh a Dodger fan a couple of years ago when they won the World World Series and Hershiser won all those games in the World Series that was that was really a
the the year they beat the As
yeah that was really dramatic they were
uh yeah the year they beat the As i was really and boy i can still remember that Kirk Gibson home run
they were such under dogs
yeah they were because everybody thought the As were the greatest things in the world and uh we've got we're the only ones around here that got cable and that particular game was some reason or another was on a cable channel and uh my son's in high school and all his friends were here
yeah
um
um
we're all sitting around we must have had ten people in our living room watching it gosh gosh everybody just erupted when that happened and uh that was uh uh strictly an outstanding game uh the uh
yeah
yes
uh the Dodgers the Phillies i'm not uh you know the National League we have an American League team here so i don't get that much into the National League stuff here i see them on the game of the week occasionally and i haven't seen the the Phillies
yeah
that much i know that Mike Smith retiring a couple of years ago left a big hole offensively who do the Phillies look to to drive in a lot of runs
yeah
i don't even know anymore i i follow the Dodgers more than the Phillies but uh i i grew up in Philadelphia i guess that's why
who do they
of course you know Mike Marshall was the big guy the year that uh
uh they won the World Series and Kirk Gibson Who who are are the Dodgers big RBI guys now
um-hum
i think i um
i don't know i thought i don't know
yeah well i'm a i'm a Texas Ranger fan
yeah
and uh you you know they are O and four but i think they're going to be one and four at the end of today they're sitting here with two out in the ninth with a uh fifteen to three lead
uh i think that's pretty
that looks that was fairly comfortable yeah and it was why and Nolan Ryan pitched the first seven innings today and he gave up three runs in first inning and i said oh my God here we go again you know you know with two outs walk walk home run b ang we're down three to nothing
pretty good guess
huh-uh
but they got four in their half of the first and then Nolan was invincible
hum
he went out after the seventh and had he had only give up those uh that one hit in the first inning and another hit so he went out after the seventh inning with a uh it at the time he had a uh i think uh a nine to three ten to three lead and uh
hum
oh
uh he had only given up two hits and uh two walks and nine strike outs so he's he's back in the groove and a a guy his age this this afternoon here it's about seventy nine degrees
hum
um-hum
a little bit humid clear blue sky and the sunshine
and the Rangers don't play many afternoon games because of the heat we have here in the summer
right
but uh they try to play Sunday afternoons in April May and in September
and uh uh with the bright sky like this where you've got a real bright day when he's out there throwing ninety four ninety five miles an hour he's almost invincible
right
um
and uh that's just a exciting uh is really exciting sitting here watching him on TV this afternoon and
um
wow often how often do you go out to the baseball park
uh well it different times different years because
because
because my uh
uh my job takes me out of the country a lot and it always seems to be during the summer uh last year we got to go out maybe about a dozen times which is the most we've ever gone out and we had about uh the Rangers
um
yeah
yeah
won uh eighty three games last year which was just four more than they lost but we had an exciting time and that at one time in about the June July and August period we went to about eight straight wins
um
wow
and we happen to go out there on win night and uh uh they and they got hot then and i'm not sure they put the prices up a dollar a ticket this year we may have to go less but
um
um
what we like to do the uh the stands have got three tiers to them and we like to be in the third tier behind home plate about the second row
right
um
and uh the the park holds about forty thousand people and uh i never go on a night when they think there's going to be forty thousand there's just too big crowds i i pick the games where they don't
yeah
expect to have a high attendance and uh what what about your your ball park in in Raleigh uh the minor league ball park in Durham
it's uh it's actually in Durham they're they're thinking about moving it to Raleigh
but it's it holds maybe four thousand and it's like three dollars to get in
yeah
four thousand
so
oh that is great when i got here in the class triple A Rangers we used to
yeah
pay two and if you bought a season ticket it was only one dollar a game
yeah
and uh uh that is fine and not only that but you probably get some pretty good seats too
oh yeah we're in the pretty much wherever you want to sit
yeah yeah what do they do they have times of the year where they have promotions and you get gigantic crowds like maybe four thousand where they actually sell the place out
yeah they they give out stuff and it's have you ever seen the movie Bull Durham i mean it's just like that exactly
yes
well a little more modern day but not much
yeah
oh yeah
yeah
yeah i love that movie i absolutely love that and i guess the players uh you know the class A salaries are are really uh not anything a guy can live on too much so i guess they've got to go out and find rooming houses and
yeah
yeah
things like the guy in Bull Durham did With fairly economical accommodations
yeah
yeah and uh uh the other thing is that that's really hard but of course you recognize the minor league team exists for the purpose of the major league team and the problem we always had in triple A is you want to see the guys go good but then when they go good you know you're going to lose them
yeah
yeah
you know during the season
and i guess at at your level uh you lose them to the next level if if they decide to recall the the parent team the Braves decide to call to recall a guy from triple A then a double A guy goes up to replace him and a single A guy goes up to replace him
yeah
yeah
and and and you've immediately uh now you got you you go out to the ball park and your favorite player is not there anymore and you say you've got you've got to learn his replacement but do you get any local uh do they broadcast games locally or televise them locally
yeah
yeah
no
there's actually there may be an AM station that does it i'm not there may be an AM station that does it but i'm not i'm not really sure
no so you've you've got to uh uh
yeah okay so
so you you've pretty much got to the ball park uh uh to figure out but
yeah but it's i mean you could you the game could be at seven thirty at seven fifteen and you could say hey let's go to the game and you'll get a seat
yeah but yeah yeah uh uh there's probably that's pretty neat because i don't imagine Raleigh's so big that you have big traffic jams going one way or the other
no i mean it's it's actually there's an interstate
