Show #501: All Good Things

You're listening to Atlanta baseball talk. You're weekly podcast for all things at Atlanta Braves. Welcome to Atlanta baseball talk show number 501. Today's Sunday, November 1, 2020. My name is Steve. I'm joined by both Hamming and Curtis and folks. Please help out the show by telling your friends, sharing links and writing reviews. If you do, well, it'd be really nice because it's the last thing on

everything. Yes, spread the word. We really appreciate it. All right. So tonight's show we wrap it all up and look back at our favorite moments of the show. But first, a quick break. This is Hot Ham and Steve's House of Braves Talk. The weekly podcast for all things at Atlanta Braves. Welcome to the show. I'm Steve over there as Hot Ham, who's not a porn actor,

by the way. Although I am interested in any opportunities after this week. And that was the first 20 seconds of the very first episode of the podcast. So I've got a lot of things done pack here that I've forgotten about. So, so look, I remember the whole Hot Ham and Steve debacle. Confusion or whatever that was. And I remember we, you know, it was House of

Braves talk. But first off, like I had totally forgotten. It was Hot Ham and Steve's House of Braves talk. Like we were the executive producers and the stars above the title. Those nicknames were so good. We put it on with title. Yeah. Well, we were trying to get listeners and we thought that was our best way is to leave with Hot Ham and Steve. So, Ham,

this was your idea. Yes, the Hot Ham and Steve. That's true. I will not. I don't know. I agree to it. But I do feel like you came with the idea first. You agreed to it to the point that it was and Steve. Well, Ham and Cheese doesn't work with it. Steve and Hot Ham. Yeah. See, it was a whole Ham and Cheese play on the

base ball. Yeah. Love that or something. It felt like we were up against the deadline. I know fairness. I've noticed Ham since about six grade. And he's been trying to get him to call him. So, us to call him Hot Ham for now. I see. So we saw his. He saw. Yes. Still trying. Guys, this show. I'm going to go as Hot Ham. Yeah. So we're

saying we're not going to go back to that. It's done. It's really. You know, I wish it started over. So that was 27th 2007. Yep. Yeah. So. And, and you know, like lead, the topic like other than that was Bob Wickman. I was like Bob Wickman. If like, if we, if the first show that we ever did was about Bob Wickman, who it's nowhere to go

put up from there. That was like, we had heated debate. It's amazing that we have four listeners today when our first shot was called Hot Ham and Steve. And the first thing we talked about was Bob. Oh, I think Bob Wickman. Oh, my God. And yet here we are. Yeah. So I thought we'd talk a little bit about like how it all started. You know, we

had, I mean, honestly, it was right. So it was the late 2000s. And I was really hungry for Braves talk. And in Atlanta, in the 2000s, particularly, there wasn't. Really any, you know, you had, you had, you had skips pregame show, which was a thing I'm into itself. But they weren't really talking about the Braves on local sports talk. You know, it was all football. Yeah.

You know, this was not 1992. You know, and I went looking for a podcast because I figured, we, you know, there'd be a podcast I could listen to. And I found one. I really wish I could remember the name. But I didn't. I didn't like it very much. And I was like, well, we could do our own. You know, and, and like a month later, Ham,

you and I were recording. It was funny. I, I was like, my God, why is the sound quality so terrible? And I remember that we were using my company's conference call line. We were just calling in on our cell phones, man. Yeah. That was like for months. Yeah. And I had like a brick cell phone. I think I had, I don't think I'd had an iPhone

back then. I had like a, it was like a palm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm sure I was on a blackberry. Yeah. Yeah. No doubt. Um, yeah. And you know, that first year, um, you know, Scott, who does the intro and the outro, he would come on the show some, our buddy Frank, who, who's, um, you know, wife gave him the very awesome nickname of

ballpark. Frank, you would come on some, um, you know, and that was the first few months of the show. We were the panel. There was a show called the panel returns. And it was us for. And I think in that first season, yep. That's right. Um, and then we get to oh eight and Kurt starts to make some guest appearances. Well, he started as a, uh,

as a blogger. Um, and actually, so we did our first season. And, um, I came back to Atlanta for our, um, our 20th high school reunion, um, and hung out with Kurt. I mean, Kurt, as Kurt said, we've been friends for forever. Um, and in hanging out said that you and I were doing the show and we, you know, we needed another condiment in a hot,

even Steve. Sure. Trying to try to figure out how Kurt could work in that some mayonnaise. Yeah. Um, so, uh, yes. And that's, and that's one. I think Kurt, you were, didn't you write some stuff first? I did. I did. Um, I think I ended up doing like three or four blogs, which are still available at Atlanta baseball talk.com. If you'd like to go back and

read that content. Um, but yeah, I remember us talking about it. Cause we had come up with a couple of things. We went back to my house after the reunion and we discussed it very briefly as you were headed off to get home. And, um, so I also remember the first time you guys asked me to be on the show. Maybe it was part of that

panel show. And, um, I was so excited. And like, make sure that everything was quiet. It was down on my basement and like, lost you guys like halfway through my phone dropped. And I was like, ah, that was fun. I had my shot. Yeah. You blew it. Yeah. Yeah. We all wrote some blogs in the very early days. I, I discovered my first, it may have

been my only one. Um, it was not great. But the tide, I, I did like the title. The title was I before E, except when training to share. Which may be the best thing I ever did on the, you know, in the blog. Um, so you know, just some sort of landmark moments, right? End of, oh, eight was the first time we had DOB on. And

that was a real boon for the podcast. Cause back then in the, you know, the second half of the 2000s, like, DOB's AJC blog, you know, he would write a blog. And then that really was the gathering place for most brave fans. Yeah, totally. The comment section of his section. And he would answer questions. And I mean, that was sort of the, that was the epicenter

of Brave's fandom in the second half of 2000. Um, yeah. And he came on. I think that really sort of started to help things, you know. Well, do you remember what it was that got him on? I don't know. No, tell me. It was our interview with hobby Lopez. No, no, no, we had DOB, no, we had DOB on before that. Cause I thought we could

never get him one. And then once we got the hobby Lopez interview, cause I remember we used to send him links all the time and beg him to promote them as part of the, that blog that he wrote. No, cause I wrote him a letter in, he was on August 2008. Hobby wasn't until January 2010. Ah, okay. Yeah. I just wrote him this super earnest email.

And he wrote back, it's, it sounds good. I'll do it. You know, as, and he's, I mean, I don't know if this is when we start talking about DOB, he has been a true friend of the show. I mean, from day one, I mean, you just said it Steve, right? Just answer this email. Right. We had, yeah. Just very, very gracious, very kind, always very giving.

I thought with us, with his time with us. I mean, he was, we would always end up asking him to be on the show right around when the J-hawks were getting eliminated from the final four or March Madness at some point. And so it was really, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so it always seemed to end on that day when he was really, really angry about it,

but he was always so great. Yeah. I mean, no one's been on the show more than DOB. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. January, oh, nine, as I was, I was just going through past shows this year. January, oh, nine was the first time I saw Kurt's name in the descriptions. Nice. Yeah. And there was a reference to fake Frank Rand. So, Ham, I think, that at least in

the description, maybe we, maybe he was drunk that day. He may have been, I think, we, I think we may have called him drunk afterwards, but we may have never, I think, I think the plan was that I was going to do fake Frank Rand. And then I guess my imitation of him became sort of drunk, like I think afterwards. That was you. I mean, we

didn't have the real Frank Rand on. Go back and listen to, right? Didn't one of you interview, I think Steve, you did. You interviewed Frank Rand. I very. Yeah. He was on. You can go back. Yeah. That's right. I interviewed him on the field one day. Right. Yeah. We're the press pass. That's right. Exactly. So you, if you're drunk, you didn't see drunk. I challenged listeners

to go back and see which one was the real one and which two were the fake ones. So, you know, but the first press pass, the first time we got into the stadium and behind the scenes was Curtis in May, oh, nine, there was a show called Kurt gets a press pass. And Kurt, do you remember? I mean, I'm sure you do. Like that was you

were, you were writing like a freelance article for a magazine or something? That's right. One of my, one of my friends, she used to work for a magazine called Wear Atlanta, which is a magazine that they put in. If there's, it's sort of a franchise, they have them in most big cities and they put them in hotels and. So they tell you what to do while

you're in town and every year, they would do a brave cover story. And so she had been doing it and really didn't know anything about the brave is a really didn't care. And so once I started doing the podcast, she asked me. If I would be interested in doing it. And I said, sure, of course. And then she also mentioned that part of that would be

that I would get a press pass. And that I could send her a list of braves that I wanted to talk to. And I remember talking to you guys. And of course, we're like chipper and the can. Yeah. Bobby Cox. Cox and John Sherholz. And I got Matt Dyer. And it was I got, I got Frenchie who was great. And I had to, I remember having

to talk to Frenchie because. It was sort of at the end of his tenure with the brave. So it was not the funnest conversation. I mean, I had to ask him. Honestly, if he, you know, what he thought about playing for another team, if he didn't come back for the Braves, I talked to Gio. Jurgens at the height of his career with the Braves Peter Moilin,

who was really funny to talk to Matt Dyer, who was a total tool. Oh, but yeah, it was, it was that was sort of it. And that was really one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had was having that opportunity to go and. To the clubhouse and then out into the dugout while they took batting practice and hang out there. It was really amazing. So

fun. Although I do remember Kurt on that night show, you know, we were asking you about your experiences and whatnot. And you, um, you referred to Chuck Dowdell in some negative way. I didn't do. Do you remember what I'm about to say? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the PR that worked for the Braves is. He's gotten to be a friend of ours too. And she's wonderful. She

doesn't work for the Braves anymore. But after that show, she sort of set us some pointers. Yes. She was like, um, maybe don't trash Atlanta local news icons on the podcast. Thanks. What did what a Kurt say? I was like a two. I don't think it was that bad. It was it was sort of like, you know, bubble gum or something like that. I mean, he

is sort of a huckleberry. So if you listen to UGA football games, which I do, he's their sideline guy. And he is, he is exactly who he is. He is Chuck Dowdell. Can we cut some of the show since it's our last one? I mean, that's not stopped you for cussing in like the last 12 means. So I was just building up. You got a lot

of f bombs. You need to start throwing out now. You say, I maybe let one or two slips. Sorry. So I was through that connection, right? Um, I got a press pass in June. Um, I went back. I, I interviewed, you know, it was like, Hey, well, you know, we will set up. An interview for you at first, like that they were really holding our hands

at first, you know, and they, they had lined up Kelly Johnson for me. Um, and then yeah, Curtis, like going in the, you know, once the, once the clubhouse closed, because it was batting practice, the kick everybody out. And then just hanging out in the dugout watching BP. It's just unbelievable. Yeah. And that was also back when the praise were much more receptive and open to

working with, um, alternative media, which I think they've sort of gotten away from. Well, I think we're actually talking to those guys now. I mean, I think that, um, I think they've gotten a little back to it. But yeah, I mean, there certainly was a shift. Um, but yeah, I remember like, you know, putting my foot up on the top step of the dugout and like,

you know, being like Bobby, you know, crossing my line. And I mean, just like it was, yeah, it was really something else. Would you stay in here? I mean, just, I mean, I'm gonna imitate him. Yeah. Yeah. Cross arms. Yeah. Steve put on a full braves uniform to walk out into the dugout. That's right. So and didn't what, and maybe see, maybe you're going to get

to this. Wasn't there a night when you see, you went to the press box and watch the game from the press. No, every time I had a press pass, I went to the press box and watched the game. And just we did from the press box. You know, just found a seat in the press box and eight dinner in the, you know, in the, the press

box. Press lounge beforehand. And yeah, the whole thing, man, with, with Bowman and DOB and all those guys. Absolutely. I never did that. Well, I should have. Yeah. It was, it was cool. Um, I mean, it led to, so like one of the, one of the strangest, um, and just fascinating nights back to Frenchy. So this was, I mean, we're going to jump around a little

bit, but August, in August, 2010. So, um, I mean, I'm going to jump around a little bit. But August, in August, 2010. So, I had a press pass and I'm sitting in the, I'm sitting in the dugout, uh, you know, during BP and Ernie Johnson Jr. is there, because that's during that time that he was doing some play by play. Well, they just got, didn't they

just get the postseason TBS? It was their first, first season that they were going to call postseason games. I don't, yeah, maybe I don't think it was. I think it was. But I mean, you know, he was doing a few games a week just for whatever, whoever was carrying it back. And then it was TBS or Fox Sports. I don't remember. So, you know, I had

sat next to Ernie. We just have to be sitting next to each other in the dugout. And I chatted him up and asked him to be on the show. And he did come on the show later. Super nice. Um, with his dogs barking the entire day. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. So, um, you know, we see each other in the press box later that night during

the game. The braves are playing the mats and Frenchy is a met at this point. Okay. So, um, I'm down in the, I'm down under the stadium after the game. And you see Frenchy is on the phone. And like he's talking to, you know, someone in his circle, you can tell. Um, and Ernie Johnson walks up to me. It's like, so, you know, what, what are

you here? You know, what do you know? Like, like, like I know stuff. You know, which was great. I mean, that made me, that was sort of made something up. I wish you made something up. I was like, yeah, I don't really know. You know, so Ernie being Ernie walks over to Frenchy, of course. And then comes back to me. And he's like, yeah, Frenchy just

got traded to the Rangers. And, you know, I, I kind of regret. Like, there was part of me that wanted to just tweeted out, you know, breaking news, right? Because I, we, it was all happening right there. Like, DOB and, and, and Bowman and stuff didn't know that then. Me and Ernie knew it. You know, I didn't. And then like 15 minutes later, Bowman tweeted it.

But that was like, as surreal as it got sort of behind the scenes. At the, at the stadium with the press pass was really, really cool. That's awesome. Yep. Yep. Yep. You mean that was not counting the time you butt dialed Dale Murphy? Well, no, he was, that was the headiest time inside of the stadium, but not talking like the best time of all Atlanta based

ball talk time. Well, so it was Dale that butt dialed me. Right. Actually, right. No, we butt out Greg McMichael. Well, yes, we did like three or four times. And that was just this year. It was where we should have known that it. Yeah. So, so I had a buddy at work who was part of the Mormon church, you know, and so he knew. So this

was in, I think it was 2010 as well, or maybe 2009. But he, you know, he knew about the podcast, right? I was talking about it. And, and, you know, I was like, look, do you have any connection with Dale Murphy? Because that would be amazing. And he's like, yeah, I actually do. You know, let me work it right in a couple months later. He invites

me. He's like a Friday night to some religious service where Dale was going to be somewhere in Atlanta. I mean, like this was, you know, OTP somewhere, right outside of the city limits. So I drive there and he introduces me to Dale and Dale super nice, as you can imagine. And he's like, yeah, I'd be happy to come on the show. You know, I give him

my number. And he says he'll get back to me. And I think he gives me his number two. And I think he's going to be a little bit more. And like I'm supposed to just reach out if I don't hear him. And so, you know, I leave him some voice messages. And, you know, some weeks are going by and he's not getting back. And I'm like,

oh my God, he's really like going to blow us off. This isn't happening. And then it's some night, you know, some just weekday night. And Dale calls. And I'm like, oh my God. Yes, he's calling. I remember I run out to my backyard just so I'm not interrupted by the kids or whatever. I pick up, hey, Dale. And Dale has clearly bought a style. You hear

him and a bunch of people off in the distance. And, you know, and I just start yelling into the phone. Dale, Dale, you know, and nothing. I mean, I finally had to hang up because he just had no idea. He had no idea. He did end up calling us back. And he was really, he was just terrific, you know, he was great. But he was he

just completely disrupt your sort of sequential narrative. So was he before glaven or after glaven? No, glaven was the first. Glaven was our first big alumni or first alumni ever really. Right. But we had the clubhouse interviews before glaven like curtain you. What we've talked about. Lavon was before. Glaven was 08. Was he really? Yeah. Yeah. Cause we were not, we were not in. We had

not gotten in. That was in glaven was from you went to a hockey game with him. That's right. So I'm, yeah, that's right. There's a dated reference. Yeah. So, you know, again, through work, like some client who knew about the podcast, invited a group of us to a thrashers game in their box. And glaven was in the box. And so, yeah, I went up to him

and introduced myself and asked him to be on the show. He was like, sure, I mean, again, also really cool, you know, and I remember that being this night America, he was, he was driving to Florida. When we, when we interviewed him, it was like a Saturday afternoon or something, you know, and I assumed because he was in a moving car on a cell phone, like

it dropped twice. Yeah. The third time he came back, he was, you know, you could tell he was getting annoyed. And I would tell my God, we're really going to blow this first big opportunity with glaven, but it ended up working out. Yeah, I think it was actually the 50th episode. If I want to, if I remember, huh. Yeah, I feel like it was show number

50 was glaven. Wow. That was early. Wow. That was a coup early on. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And for the most part, every person, we ever talked to former player, existing player, we're all amazingly nice and gracious. When you say, I mean, and maybe that's not surprising. Maybe they should be in, you know, there was some people, I think Otis, we had Otis Nixon on. That

was an interesting interview, but he was still very accommodating. You know, yeah. I don't know. I just, uh, it was sort of surprising to me. I thought it would be harder and that they would be sort of, but once there was an access there, and I'm sure you guys were, you know, nervous as hell with your, you know, parts in your throat, when you're in the

clubhouse walking around and seeing chipper, you know, and Tim Hudson and all those guys, but, um, you know, it seemed like everyone at the Braves was very gracious and nice and a common. It was a different thing when they got comfortable with us because before, as Steve mentioned, when we would have to set up these dates to go down to Turfield, you had to give them

a list of players that you were interested in speaking with, and then they would sort of send you a list back of players that they would have available for you. And so at least you had a designated interview, um, and a designated time that you were going to go because otherwise it's not something that I'm familiar with and obviously Steve as well that you're not a

beat reporter that's down there all the time that they know or that you have experience like puzzling interviews with these guys during the minutes that they have. Available and if they sometimes if they don't recognize you and they're super busy, they might not be as accommodating. Um, so yeah, it was a little nerve-racking. I mean, it was like it, it was a catch 22 because we

were excited that they had faith in us enough to invite us down there and not feel like they had to pre-set up interviews for us because they trusted us. But also it made it pretty difficult when you were trying to track guys down because if you're stating next to DOV or Mark Bowman or somebody like that, they're going to lend towards us. Those guys more so

than the podcasters that they don't know who they are. Yeah. And at first when when we were getting press passes, they would set up, you know, five minutes with Kelly Johnson or whomever. But then it became, look, if you guys want to come, um, we're not going to handhold you, you got a hustle interviews. And that, that was very nerve-racking. The last, you know, four or

five times I had press passes. I was just standing around. I would chat up, DOB because he knew me, um, at that time. But yeah, it just became a, who's alone at their locker and who's not like giving you the stink eye. And who do you think you can walk up to, you know, and that was, that was very nerve-racking. I didn't, I didn't love that

part. No, I didn't. And I also had bad experience. The only other besides Matt Dias, Nate McLeanth was not very nice. Yeah. And he was, he was standing there. So I tried to approach him and he could not have wanted to blow me off any more than he actually did, which is he gave me, he said, I'll give you 30 seconds. And he gave me like

five and walked off. So, but I got to talk to Terry Pendleton, who was super nice, you know, um, it was amazing. I mean, it was just the whole experience was really, I wish you've been down here him and been able to take advantage of one of those opportunities, because it was really, it was just special. I mean, all I thought about was my grandfather, who

was the biggest praise fan that I ever knew and how crazy he would have thought it was that I was sitting in the clubhouse. Or sitting in the dugout, watching the braves. I mean, it's just mind blowing. That's amazing. Yeah. No doubt about it. And remember, we did, we got some like spring training interviews set up too. We had, right, Tommy Hansen, and Billy Wagner, one

year from spring training. Yeah. Didn't you talk to Tim Hudson, too? I don't think we talked to Hudson. I, um, and then one year I was down, you know, visiting my dad or whatever we went to, where the, um, the Cardinals in the Marlins share a, um, a spring training facility. And the braves were there. And I spoke to Roger McDowell and Larry Parrish, who was

the, um, who was the batting instructor at that time, the hidden coach at that time. Um, yeah. So we could, we, you know, we had a few interesting spring training ones as well. Yeah, I always thought it was funny that Tommy Hansen, like all these old players that you talked to, you know, Hall of Famers would just give you their phone numbers. Tommy Hansen didn't trust

you at all. He wouldn't give you his phone number. Yeah. It was like the Rua second party that we had to get him connected, like, through a clubhouse phone or something like that. Well, and that was, you know, look, that was a big difference between the alumni and the current players, right? The alumni guys were really, um, giving with their time. And yeah, gave us our

phone numbers. Um, I'm sorry, gave us their phone numbers. And we're just like happy to talk, you know, I mean, I, I tried to capture all the alumni that we had. Right. We talked about Glamin and Dale Murphy and Otis Nixon. We had Sid Breeman, who was so nice and breed we got, like, I just went to one of the, it was one of the first,

um, alumni weekends that the Braves did. And I just gotten his line and was like, Hey, will you, you know, would you come on our show? We do a Braves podcast. It was like sure. And like called, I gave him my cell phone. He called my cell phone, like two days later to set up. He was so great. And just hearing, I mean, you talk about

your grandfather, right? But, um, you know, Sid Breeman has a story that he'll never pay for a drink in his life for again. Right? That's, you know, the slide and coming around and getting, getting to hear him tell us that story and all the jokes and, you know, that he's told a thousand times and just so such a genuinely good man and just, I mean, I,

that was the high, I think the Sid interview was one of the highlights of the past 14 years for me, you know, um, because that was that moment, um, as a Braves fan was a seminal moment for me as a Braves fan. And just I was, I just remember it so distinctly and, you know, Steve, you and I were just becoming friends then at that time

and, um, you know, and just, and then to have him tell it and like, just be there with him. It was just amazing. I was felt like it was surreal that we were interviewing him. And he was so, so nice. Um, it was great. Yeah, no doubt. I mean, another one that falls in that category for me was David Justice, who was also super nice. Yep.

And to be able to talk to him about the 95 World Series and the, you know, the newspaper headline and the homer that followed and, um, yeah, just unbelievable. Yeah, he was definitely one of my favorites. I, that he and Mark Wors really were the, um, and the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, uh, the, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh,

uh, the, uh, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, uh, the, uh, the, uh, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, I didn't do this. I'd read an interview with you guys, but I was on the Justice interview and he was great. And he was, like, we've done some

of these interviews and I want mentioned names, but some of the guys that sort of mail it in and they're sort of like explaining baseball to us. And I'm like, dude, we do a baseball podcast. So we sort of know a little about baseball. I understand we don't know as much about it. Maybe as you do, but like, Justice was just as genuine and funny and,

yeah, awesome on the phone with us. As you felt like he would totally be, and then Woolworths, I thought was hilarious because we always thought Mark Woolworths because of what happened in 96 that he didn't want to, because you just really didn't hurt much from Mark Woolworths and he hadn't been at any of those alumni things that they set up at the, you know, every year

with the braves. And so I thought, well, gosh, maybe he just doesn't want to talk about it. Maybe it's just something that, um, he's just moved on with his life and he didn't want to really readdress that. And then we found him in the phone book. Yeah. Yeah. And he just, and I called himself on. He just picked up. So crazy. And was happy to join

us. And was so nice and totally talked about the pitch to Larry. And yeah. And all that said, Steve Blas, right? I mean, he brought it up and was so like, he was great. Yeah. My favorite, you mentioned it. See, my favorite was the, uh, the Otis interview because he was, um, he was a little guarded, but I think that's just his personality, right? I think

Otis is, you know, not a very gregarious or outgoing guy, but, um, he knows very honest. And then we got into a conversation around why stolen bases were down in the, whatever year we interviewed him. And he got, he got angry about box. And he said, they're not calling box. And he went off for like this rant for like five minutes. And I, it was the

most real. I think any player ever got with us. I've just, Otis just like laying it out there about how pissed he was about how pictures were getting away with box. I don't know. And that was another moment where I'm like, is this really happening? Is Otis, is Otis Nixon? Yeah, bitching to us about box. Amazing. Yeah. Um, and so, you know, as we're talking about

interviews, we got to talk about the hobby Lopez interview, which was January 2010. So first off, like he was, you know, my, my son was to my, my first my first born was 10 years old and usually getting into the braves and hobby was, um, like, seriously, he was doing an appearance at like a, um, cell phone store somewhere outside of Atlanta. And so we went

there, you know, one because my son wanted to, because it was like giving away baseball gloves or some autographed baseball gloves. But, you know, we got up to the lawn and I just asked him, hey, do you want to be on the show? He was like, yeah, totally. Hey, he wrote his cell phone number. Down on the back of a business card. And I mean, and

we had Havi and so we have Havi on and we are, you know, we're talking about, you know, you know, Maddicks and personal catcher and all that stuff. And this was, hand help. Remember, this was the, this was like the week before. God, I, I should have looked this up. But a week before there was some, something happened with Mark McWal. happen and artifacts, inside, inside.

Ye. So you live in District 38 by life and on both sides of your school, top right school. Jackson Scott, David and Luke. Thank you. Oh. Man, well, it's the day anyway. Yeah, but there was some obvious sort of entree into the question with Harvey, you know, I just sort of floated it out there, not expecting that he would really take a bite. And he just

started talking about, you know, so Curtis helped me remember, right? He was like, well, look, you know, it's like if there's a bunch of, you know, if you're a race car driver and, and, you know, some cars are using this fuel and some cars are using the other fuel, wouldn't you want to use the best fuel? Right. I mean, he, I mean, I remember my jaw

just sort of dropping during it, where he, you know, 99% of the way there admitted to taking steroids and was saying that a lot, you know, there was a lot of it happening in the Braves Clubhouse as well. Right. So yeah, we can't believe that we get this recorded and that we, I mean, you know, we've had this conversation. And I will never forget this. So

we hang up with Harvey, right? Kurt, you and I are like, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, I can't believe it. And then while we're talking, Harvey calls my phone back. And it was not a butt dial. And it was not a butt dial. I'm like, oh my God, Kurt, he's going to be like, oh, wait a minute. You guys can't put all

that. You can't put all that stuff in. I forgot. We were recording or whatever, but literally he was calling to say, Hey, I said this thing about Bobby in the interview. And I feel like it's going to come off kind of negative. So will you guys cut that out? Like the steroid thing did not even cry to him. He was worried. And it's kind of amazing,

just as a side note, right. Kind of amazing the, the, the, the, the love and loyalty they all have for Bobby. I mean, that's what he called back about was to make sure that thing that could have been construed. I honestly don't remember what it was. But he was like, please cut that. And then, you know, we, I remember we spent like two weeks, cut an

audio out of it and sending it to like ESPN. And, you know, mad dog and like really trying to make something happen with it, you know, because DOB wrote about it, like, DOB wrote a whole blog about it. And that there were certainly a lot of, you know, a lot of jokes for us there. And Craig, and Craig, Craig, Craig, Craig, Craig, Craig, Craig, Craig, Craig.

Yeah. Craig, Craig, Craig, Craig, Craig, Craig, Craig, Craig, Craig, Craig, Craig. He was there. He wrote about it. And he was at NBC Sports. Yeah. He was there head based on our there for a long time. He wrote about it. And we were like, this is happening. Yes. We made it. We're going to Michael Wilbond is going to be talking about it too. That's another one.

Yeah. We sent it. We sent it to we did send it to pardon the interruption and like the the morning show. And, you know, we really tried to find a bunch of people and it really didn't get any traction. But it was, it was, it was amazing. I mean that that I will never forget that moment. It was something. Yeah. I mean, it was really surreal.

Just him sort of coming out and admitting it. And they, you know, there's something about the attention of, you know, re-wiving their, their glory days that they just really enjoy. And, you know, the, all the good aspect of it. You know, I mean, talking to all these guys as you said, it's, they're always so gracious and so nice. And I think it's just because it's such

an important part of their life. And they appreciate that. They're appreciated for that. That time in their lives, you know, when I'm sure it was a great moment for them. And they're more than happy to. To re-live it. I don't know. I mean, I know we've asked some people to be on the show. I mean, we've always tried to get smolts and maddocks and guys like

that. But I don't know that there's, well, we did, I, we did speak to Steven. I spoke to Chipper. Yeah. Chipper was the. Number 250. He was. Yes, he was. I should listen to the show. He really should. Yeah. Yeah. Cause he's like his, his, his agent sent us a nasty gram after because it went, he thought it went long. But it didn't like, we were

given a specific, you can only talk to Chipper for this amount of time. And it didn't go long like it started late or Chipper just like went long, you know. And we got a nasty. Graham from his, from his agent that we had kept him over time or whatever. Hmm. So some other. Right. You know, we had. Jerome, Geronovich, our member talking to and he was

awesome. We had. So I was, I wrote down. I mean, we had. So press people. We had Domino. Yep. Mitch Evans. Chip, Carrie. Did we have chip? We did have to. We did. Uh, EJ. Jerome, Geronovich, obviously DOB, obviously, um, Graham, a colleague, gay burns. Um, Jim Powell this year. Yep. Who was super nice. Yeah. I tried to get Pete van Weirin. Uh, he was a

book signing. Yeah. I went to his book signing, which is at Manie's Tavern, which is right at the street for my house and bought a book and handed in my card. And he said, Oh, yeah, talk to my secretary. We'll set it up. And I talked to her and never heard back. Yeah. We had a bunch of front office people. I remember at the, at the

2016 like fan fest, you know, copy and Derek Schiller and John Sherholz were all, you know, giving like a panel. And I waited in line to talk to him. And I went to the shop of Lella and true to form like. He was so personable and so nice. And was like, Yeah, I'll be happy to come on the show and, oh, and talk to so and

so to get Derek and Sherholz on. And we had, you know, yeah, that was a show. It was Sherholz and then Schiller and then copy. It wasn't copy also. Driving down to like the spring training with his wife in the car behind him. That sounds right. That sounds. And we had to. Yeah. And I got, I think I got Terry McGregor. I'm going to talk to

him. Gerk through your dad. My dad. Yeah. My dad was doing something with Hank Aaron. And I forget why that was. But, but, but wasn't. Didn't copy call you back all worried that he'd said something Steve. Or was it. Maybe I'm, maybe I'm. Yeah. Maybe you're conflate. Not with hobby. Yeah. Yeah. We had, but we have McGurk copy Derek Schiller, Sherholz, the real Frank Renn. That's

right. And then, and then the French people are great. So, um, who is the high school kid who did that we had come on and do the farm report? Yes. So this was actually our first guest ever. I found the name is some dude named Will Schaeffer. Who was part of the MV and sports network, which doesn't exist anymore like their Twitter account isn't there. And

the, the, the website just, you know, is not taken anymore. But yeah. So they were some like national blog platform, I guess. But yeah, he was like 16. Yeah. And then we had Kevin Goldstein. Right. Who was writing for baseball perspective at the time, who then went on to be part of the. Astros. The Astros front office. And was eating ice throughout the entire interview. Yeah.

I went, I went back through and was just looking at some of the names that I'd forget. So first of all, Jordan Schaeffer was a, he, he burned hot for us for a while early on. And we interviewed him. I would say he was. Did you interview him? Jordan Schaeffer, I don't even remember. But he must have been a clubhouse interview. He was. And he was

not very forthcoming. I remember that he was sort of one of the more cold ones. Air surgeons, as we talked about him. Javier Vasquez, Jorge Campio. No. Um, Gorkies. You. Wow. Gorkies Hernandez. Uh, Michael born. I just said completely forgot about Michael born. Evan goddess. Um, Gattis. Uh, I remember a highlight for me throughout this whole reign. It really doesn't. It. It has to do with

the show is when I was in Atlanta and Scott, uh, Higgs. Uh, Steve, as you mentioned, who does the, is the voice of Atlanta baseball talk in Trio. Uh, and the three of us in court, your, uh, your wife hooked us up with amazing seats to a Phillies game. Right. Um, and we had like back to back to back home. wrong direction. Um, they were almost

in thestatial center. For us. Yeah. I remember being at the, I guess it was game three against the Giants. Um, when Hinsky hit that go head home or right. Yeah. Yep. And then poor. Uh, what's this face? Brooks Conrad. Uh, that's right. The three error game. Who is somewhere? Um, I was reading through some of our synopsis. Who's the sweatiest brave of all time? Does that

ring of L? It feels like something Steve, you would know. I would say it's Bob Wickman. Was he the sweatiest brave of all time? It's come full circle. It has, it has come full circle. Thank you, Bob. Well, yeah. I was just going to say like after a while with where Atlanta stuff, she then the same woman that was the editor, she started. It would didn't

just. They didn't want to do clubhouse. The breaks, I guess, didn't want, didn't want us coming down to the clubhouse anymore. And so they would just set me up with independent interviews with players. So basically it would just be one player that I would talk to. And through that, I got to start to create Kimberl. I got to talk to Dan Aglow, which I talk about

that. I still have this fun number in my phone, which I think I do. But he called me back like after a game. It was super nice. I don't want to say anything. But he, like the whole time it was like, are you driving through a tunnel or something? Because I could hardly understand a word he was saying. It was so noisy and so cutting in

and out. It was same, the same sort of thing. And because I called him right before the game when I was supposed to call him, he's like, yeah, I just don't have time to do this right now. I'll call you back. So I was like, okay. And then the worst audio. And I recorded it because I was going to try and have it. I told him

I was going to record it and have it for the show. And it was just completely unusable. Another fan of interview that's floating out in the ethosphere somewhere. So guys, who do you regret not getting on the show the most? Who's the one guy you wanted to talk to? For me, I'd say it was probably Maddox, who was always the longest of shots anyway. He was

never going to do it. Probably smolts. Yeah, I mean, just to have a third one, I would say Bobby. Right. Did we ever talk to McCann? I don't I feel like we talked to McCann at some point. I felt like you got him in a clubhouse interview. Yeah, I don't remember. He was one of the ones that I put in every single year. And because he

he and Pete Buck from REM did the baseball project. So we had him on. And it was when the Yankees he's a big Yankees fan. I remember the Yankees were. Whatever, trying to be good and failing as they seem to continue to do. And Steve, you had that we're going to stone. Right. That's right. Kaminsky. Yes, he was forgotten that. Yeah, he was a very good

dude. And then we had the, the, um, Deon's 30 for 30 director on. Oh, that's right. Yeah, he was great. I can't remember his name, but he was really good. I got that interview. Actually, I forget. I think that might have. I remember how I got that. It might have been something through my work that we had that. I don't remember, but yeah, he was, he

was super. So that, that documentary is great. That documentary. Yeah. Back to the 30 on Deon when he's doing the braves and the, and the Falcons. That's why we, of course, we talked to him. It was that, that playoff run for the braves. And he kept going back and playing for the Falcons and really was pissing sure holds off. Exactly. So guys, any other moments you

want to capture? Well, I mean, that for the show, but I was looking at, uh, um, you know, I'm really proud of this season. It's funny to see sort of the journey that the braves have been on. Um, and I was looking at some of the low points. Uh, cause it, it felt like there were a lot of low points, right? And a lot of our,

um, a lot of our listeners, you guys have been so gracious about, uh, the compliments and just sort of in the, in the, in the, the thanks. And a lot of it was getting us through the dull times. But I remember, I looked at the show number 203, which is a lot of the, uh, 203, which is all about how we like our chances for the

wild card. And then show number 204 is when the, they lost to the, the cardinals and the wild card game and the infield fly. And, um, that was the low, I think that was probably, I was trying to think what was the lowest point of, um, of the show as a braves fan, right? Did it get lower than that? And that felt like the most heart

breaking the heartbreak right there. And I feel like this season, I feel like I'm really, I mean, we couldn't, we couldn't, obviously, we could have won the World Series. But, um, this is the best braves team that we've had since we were, um, doing the show. Yeah. And it's, um, I think back to like how bleak it was when we started. And, uh, and where we

are now, I look at, we've been talking about faulty for five years. Well, think about the bleak years of, you know, the rebuild and copy getting fired and dumping, you know, Kimberl and Gattis and the Upton brothers and just, you know, getting ready. Hey, we're, hey, yeah. Chris Johnson. You know, it was really, it was really grim talking about the team week to week during some

of those, you know, 2016, 2017 week. Yeah. And all the pitchers trying to get excited by some pitchers, but just so many names. Yeah. Chuck James. Yep. Yeah. I mean, when we started, you know, Buddy Carlyle was part of the, was part of the rotation. But, um, you know, to your point about this year, not only right, so satisfying, just because, um, I think it was

really a great job. You know, I mean, the, the team has arrived. I mean, the team should be good for another eight, 10 years, you know, um, I mean, the window is just opening now. Um, and it was really special to have success in the playoffs and to do the, the daily, um, playoff recaps. I mean, I know we've been looking backward, but really just, you

know, that month was those three weeks, whatever was so fun. You know, we had been, um, never done that. Um, we never won. Seven in a row, of course, was a nice way to start. Yeah. Winning a playoff series. What's that? Winning a playoff series was good. At all. Winning in the post season. But just that experience of talking about the games right after they happened.

Like, you know, we'd honestly never done that in, in the 14 seasons. And that was really cool. You know, I mean, that, that's one of the things that we've been looking at. Things that I will never forget was, was living the, the, you know, the playoff run show by show by show game by game. Yeah. Although, remember when, in the hot ham and Steve days, just

to bring it full circle. But, um, I think we tried that for a while. Then we try to do like every Sunday show is we would recap all the games from the week before. Oh, yeah. No, we were like reading box scores and stuff. It was bad. And we had, but we had the artwork. We worked to go along with it. Remember the original artwork? Oh,

yeah. The, the, the baseball with the, um, the two baseballs with the heads, heads, heads on. I do remember. Um, well, I just, you know, it's interesting how this is sort of more through social media too, because I remember when we were doing this back in the day. And it was all on Atlanta baseball talk to calm. And it was all like comment sections, you know,

I mean, that's where the go to. To feedback and conversation was after a show. And I remember we got so excited because after one show, we had like a hundred comments. Yeah. Because people like watching the games together through the comments section. Right. And there was just that, that really core group of, you know, like 12, 14 people that we got to know. Bug Dylan and

Leah and Mark and Memphis and all these guys that we used to have connections with back then. And, and, yeah. And of course, yeah. And, you know, then it moved over to Facebook and Facebook. In all its terribleness sort of wasn't the place that we wanted to be. And since then it's been on Twitter, you know, but I mean, I still sort of finally remember back

to those days, where it was just a simple comment section on our website. And, you know, just that interaction with those folks. Just week after week and how, you know, sort of innocent and, and, you know, stable it was back in those days. We didn't even think about like numbers of downloads or anything like that. I mean, it was just I just I remember. Yeah. And

sorry, Kurt, to jump in here. But I do remember like for some reason when we hit 175 that was like, meant a lot to us. The first time we hit 175, it was a jump for us. Show number 175. No listeners. Oh, listeners. Yeah. Yeah. Well, sure in the early days, we knew the first names of everybody who was listening because they were friends. You know,

that was it. And Kurt's mom. Joe. So guys, you ready to sort of wrap this up? Not really. I know. Oh, man, this has been a, so Steve, thanks to you, man, because like you said, you kicked this off. And, you know, I, I feel so lucky that you sort of considered all the people who you might think could do this and start this with you.

And that you called me. So thank you for that. And Curtis, I'm just, you know, I'm grateful that we're buddy. And that we get to do this together as well and that this all worked out. This has been. Oh, yeah. I honestly, I'm thinking about this. It's safe. Like my wife and my children. This has been the most remarkable rewarding thing I've ever had the privilege

of doing in my entire life. So it's really been spectacular. I don't even know what I'm going to do with my Sunday nights. I can't watch Sunday night TV like now live. It will be weird. I'll have to watch it on recorded three days later just for nostalgia. Yeah, no, when I look back on, you know, what I'm sort of most grateful for through this whole

thing, I mean, first and foremost, it's you guys. Just, you know, there's just no doubt the us hanging out and the, I mean, Ham, you and I, of course, were friends for, you know, many years, many, many years before this, but Kurt being able to meet you and becoming so close and just the three of us and just the camaraderie that we have had through this

whole thing, you know, I will never forget. And we will always have. And just the sense of community with the listeners. And like you said, you know, folks on the website and on Twitter and on Facebook, I mean, it's just, it is super gratifying. And yeah, I mean, I just, I will always remember it, you know, yeah. It's just all the people who've taken the time

to send a tweet or something. We read each one and each one is thrilling to read. And as much appreciated. So thanks for, you know, like we say, this has been a labor love. But the folks who have been here and have listened to just one episode or listen to, you know, 500 and one episodes, it's, it's so rewarding to get to have done this show

and have people who like it. You know, and who listen along. It's been, it's been such a thrill. Yeah. Yeah, I remember I was at a one last thing. I was at a striper's game and, um, posted a picture on the ABT site and a dad reached out to me and he was like, oh, who, which one of you guys is here? And I, I said,

it's Kurt. And he said, oh, I'm here with my son. And we love your show. Would you mind coming and meeting it? Meeting me and my son, like, you know, and I was like, of course, but you know, in my mind, I'm like, God, does he really? What a meeting. I mean, I'm just a guy that does a podcast. But it's just, yeah, it's ham. You

know, I mean, just to have any, have had any impact on anyone's life, have any impact on people's love for the Braves because that's the other bottom line on all this is how much we all, I, you know, we all love the Braves. We love them perhaps in our own specific ways. But the thing that's driven this whole thing is obviously that we love the Braves

more than any other sports team. Like, I mean, I think that's the thing that's driven this whole thing is obviously that we love the Braves more than any other sports team. I think that's that's safe to say. So that's been the driving point and honestly to have had any impact in that world is I remember when the Braves we caught a glimpse on Twitter when what

did they they flagged us as a what it was at Steve. There's an influencer or something like that. Oh, yeah. And then we got invited to something is that we got like holy cow. The Braves think we're an influencer. Yeah. Yeah. Just all of the. You know, we've gotten so many great letters and comments and stuff from folks talking about how we have. You know, been

part of their Braves fandom or given them a way to connect to the team or through this connected, you know, like, you know, connected family members that, hey, you know, me and my brother who don't live in the same sit anymore, we talk about the show as, you know, like was as we talk about the Braves and I mean, all that stuff is just. I'm so

grateful to hear that. I mean, it's really just so lovely. Well, and the guy who was the guy that was started was doing the. I don't know if he's still doing it was doing pregame or something for the Braves and he was like a teenager listening to listening to our old podcasts and was a comments. One of the commoners on our website. What was his name?

Wiley. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I think he's he does stats for the for the radio broadcast now. And yeah, and we heard him on. He was doing a post game show one night. Yeah. So look, some other thank you. So I want to make sure we don't forget people. You know, Mike, who is a neighbor of mine, who I was at his house one night and

shared this idea with him. And he's just a really smart sort of technical guy. And I was like, you know, he sort of jumped in and really figured out all the technology stuff for us, which we may have never gotten this. Thing off the ground without him. So true. Always been there. Um, you know, Scott, who we've talked about who's done our intro, now, Trio and

Frank and who were there, you know, these guys were there from the beginning. Our bloggers over the year, Sean, Vinnie, Mike, other Mike, Matt, New York, faux Frank, Rand, you got to remember faux Frank, Rand from Twitter, who was just a fantastic follow on Twitter. And he would, he did some stuff on the site. Um, he was always a good friend of the show. And Vinnie,

Vinnie, yes. Vinnie. Um, our wives, of course, who have put up with this for a really long time. Yeah, my friend, Mike, who did our artwork for the, or the redesign, getting away from the baseballs with the headsets and did the ABT artwork. Yeah. And of course, my friend Jen, who worked at where Atlanta and got us down to the, the press pass and then the

man's name is Will Pattison, his son is Jake, that I got to meet at the strikers game. I'll never forget that. And Megan, I've seen his name. I know him. Yeah, Megan, of course, our friend who was the PR director for the Braves for a while, who has been a champion of ours. Yeah, it is true. Yeah, and you guys, you know, it's been great to

ride along on this journey for 14 years. So with you guys, um, it's been great. Yeah, man. Go Braves. Yeah. So, okay. You guys ready? I'm going to sign off. No parting thoughts on Braves. I can talk about the Braves at all. Uh, nowhere to go. But I think that any predictions on any of these free agent pictures coming to the Braves. Got it. So I

know the reports about Wayne Wright came out this week. Um, I mean, look, it'll be someone like that. We talked about on the last show, you know, like a, Paxton or Contana or one of these, you know, it's going to be a guy on the other side of 30. Yeah. Jay Haber deal. Yeah. It's going to be a short term guy who's a little bit past

his prime. But the off season is going to be so weird and so slow. Um, and so uncertain. Yeah. There's just so much uncertainty ahead. Yeah. They have no idea what next season is going to be. And the money after they've lost all the money this year, I'll be curious to see who's going to be out there spending. Yeah. Absolutely. All right. Do it. One more

time. That is the show. And so here's where I say we'll be back next week. But that's not how it's going to go. So, um, one more time. A huge thanks to everyone who has ever listened or tweeted or come up to us, sent a note or a mail through the site. Um, really thank you to everybody. It's been an enormous joy. Uh, remember, you can

find us at speaker, iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play and Spotify. Um, we will remain on Twitter at ATL, ATL baseball talk. You can always find us at AtlantaBaseballTalk.com. Uh, find us out on Twitter. Thanks again for listening, everybody and go brave. Thanks for listening to Atlanta baseball talk. Your weekly podcast for all things at Atlanta Braves. To find new shows to post in our forum or to

send a comment, please visit us at at AtlantaBaseballTalk.com.