2025-05-15 - BBI

on Tuesday night. It's a single elimination tournament. So if you get in there, you get hot, you can do some damage, pick up some wins. If not, you go home and wait for the NCAA tournament and get some rest and wait for selection Sunday. So Darren Hedricks got the call tonight as the Cats take on the Commodorees down in Nashville six forty five pregame seven o'clock, seven oh two, roughly first pitch. You can listen right here

and of course watch on SEC Plus. And if you're not sure to get there, just go to either one just go through Ukathletics dot com. But two games tonight and tomorrow at seven o'clock and on Saturday three o'clock Eastern time, and again we'll have it for you right here.

Coming up in a couple of minutes, we're going to talk about the celebration last night Pete Rose Night at Great American Ballpark, and it was coincidental to Major League Baseball's decision to and basically to Commissioner Rob Manfred to remove Pete Rose, Shultz, Joe and anybody who's deceased from Baseball's ineligible is, thus making them eligible for voting into

the Hall of Fame. So we'll talk about that. Well, hear what some of the other Hall of famers have to say about it, including the great Marty Brennaman, the former longtime voice of the Reds. A little bit later on, Rachel Lawson will talk with us about her softball team, which opens nca tournament play tomorrow tomorrow afternoon down in Clemson. But we do want to look at what's going on

right now with otega Oway. Of course, he is popping up on social media, He is popping up on ESPN, as he did when he is given more than one interview everywhere he goes. Basically he talks to people. But the other night we heard him talk about the fact that he's all in, of course, and you know you got to say that. Why wouldn't you say that if

you're testing the NBA waters and you're really anybody. But you know, not even Cooper Flag's gonna say, well, I'm just you know, checking it out to see what it's all about. No, No, you tell your potential future employers. I am completely and totally committed to this next step in my career. If you want me, if you don't, I'll be right over here when you need me. But if you want me right now, I'm all in, which

is essentially and exactly what he said. But the latest comment we have from him is his reference to Kentucky, and he basically says if things don't work out the way he would love them to work out with the Combine and with the NBA Draft, he is more than happy to go back to lexingon.

you need to work on. And boy, Jack Givens had a great conversation with Tom Leachs this morning on the Leads Report, and basically he said he would love to have had the feedback prior to his senior year that Antonio Reeves had, because you know, Jack only played a couple of couple of three years in the NBA he was an undersized shooting forward, when in fact he was actually an undersized shooting guard as well. He was only

six three and a half sixty four. But he's said he would have been told you need to work on your handle because you're probably going to have to play a lot of point guard in the NBA, which never occurred to me. I always thought Jack was, you know, swimming upstream simply because he wasn't undersized two or three.

But he would have been a really nice point guard at six three and a half sixty four with shooting ability like that, But as he admitted on the show today, his handle was probably the weakest part of his game. He could guard well enough, you had to guard. If you played for Joe B. Hall, we all know you could score and obviously shoot, and Jack was a good leaper. He brought that up as well. People didn't really get to see that part of his game because he was

always shooting from the outside. Jack had really good hops as well, was quick, was strong butt. His handle was not strong enough to translate to the NBA. So if he had been told that after his junior year, between his junior and senior years, this is back before you know, everybody tried to go after one year, he would have been so much better off and it likely would have played longer in the NBA, if not in Europe. Jack also played overseas a little bit, so I thought that

was really fascinating. So that's the kind of advice always getting. It's what happened with the Antonio Reeves. And if Always doesn't come back, well good luck to him. But if he does, he's going to be a lot better, and Mark Pope talked about him the other day about the fact that he's already got such a great skill set. O teke.

especially the bigs and their passing. But think about Otega Away coming back now after a year in the Mark Pope system, and how much better off he's going to be if he plays for the Wildcats this coming year. So it's fun to think about. It's going to be fun to watch. Speaking of recruits, we always Kentucky is actually looking at a kid listed as a center. He's only six eight two o five but his name is

Davian Adkins. That according to two four to seven sports, this kid has gotten offers from Arizona State, cal Houston, Kansas lately Indiana. Uh but and the services he's cool on all of them. And I read a report that said this guy is interested in hearing from Kentucky if he hasn't already. He's from Dallas, Texas, and he actually plays at a prep school in oak Cliffe, which is southwest of downtown Dallas, and it's where I used to live. And now he was further south in oak Cliffe than

I was. I was up near the Trinity River basin and closer to the river basin and the interstate. But uh, yeah, this guy from my old stopping grounds. Not that I could, you know, give him a call and say, hey, come on up to LEXI. But I just always think it's interesting and by the way, that place was not a cool place to live when I was there. It has since been gentrified. And I went down to visit a friend last year and he took me through my old

neighborhood and it is tremendous. It's a great place, one of more popular places now to live in Dallas. So maybe the Wildcats get a young man who is going to prep school right now, not far from where I lived back in the eighties when I was in Dallas, Texas. By the way, speaking of the combine, Ben Roberts of The Harrow Leader is there. He was on the show a few days ago talking about going up to cover the combine. So he's got some good coverage at Kentucky

dot com if you want to check that out. Up next, we're going to talk about Pete Rose, and we'll hear from some of the Hall of famers, including Marty Brenneman, who have opinions now that Rose is off Baseball's ineligibility list and is eligible for voting into the Baseball Hall of Fame. That's coming up, followed by UK softball coach

Rachel Lawson, who team opens tournament play tomorrow afternoon. Then it's UK Baseball with Darren Hedrick, the Cats and the Commodorees on six point thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Moonsider coming up at six forty five pregame coverage of Kentucky Vanderbilt Baseball with Darren Hedrick. The two teams will toss it up at seven o'clock games tonight and tomorrow night. Then on Saturday afternoon wraps up the regular season. That it's on to Hoover for the SEC Tournament. So

Darren has the action here on six thirty WLAP. As you probably know, last night was the celebration of Pete Rose in Cincinnati, and this was basically a coincidence. It had been planned for quite some time, of course, but it comes just today after Major League Baseball announced that Rose and others were removed posthumously from Major League Baseball's permanent ineligibility list. This is what has kept Rose and guys like Shoeless Joe Jackson out of the Baseball Hall

of Fame. It's not that the writers or the Eras Committee people said no, we're not going to take them. It's that you've got to be eligible to be voted into the Hall. You cannot be on the ineligibility list for Major League Baseball. So now that these guys are gone, Rob Manfred the commissioner has changed the way they do business now, and if you are dead and gone, you are no longer on the ineligible list, the reasoning being something like, well, if you're not alive, you're not going

to be around to tarnish the game. I'm paraphrasing. All right, that's all well and good. But as I said before, I have softened my stands on Pete Rose simply because Rose finally fest up. For the longest time, I said, no, he didn't belong in because he broke Baseball's number one rule. And yes, I know that Baseball now accepts advertising dollars. They're in business with gambling outfits. That to me doesn't matter. Players should not be allowed to gamble, at least on

the sport that they're involved with. You should be able to go to a game and not have to wonder, Hey, is the guy who just booted that ball? Is he got a bet on the game? Is that why my team's losing? You know? Is my guy missing jump shots because he's trying to keep the score close under the spread. No, that's fundamental that should not be even an issue. But a lot of people say, well, he's Pete Rose. He was the hits king, So what my buddy Doug Flynn

played eleven years in the major leagues. No, he didn't have four thousand hits. Why should a rule that applies to him not apply to a guy who has more hits than he does? You know? And to say Pete Rose belongs in the Hall of Fame, he's there. There are thirty one different mentions artifacts, you know, equipment exhibits references to Pete Rose, thirty one in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. And no, he has not yet

been enshrined the way other athletes have. And if you want to talk about the steroids and all, that's a different subject. But once Rose, I think really saw that man. It's getting late and he was helped took a bad turn.

Obviously died last September at the age eighty three. But as a listener pointed out to me and sent me a copy of the letter that Rose reportedly, I mean, I don't know this for a fact, but if somebody sent me the letter that Rose sent to the commissioner, basically owning up to everything, and that's what has kept a lot of former players from getting behind Pete, including his own teammates like Doug who told me that he and Joe Morgan and Johnny Bench and other Reds were

opposed to Pete being inducted simply because he lied to his teammates, never owned up, and never apologized. Well, he finally did. Okay, So now once he did, I say they should put him a while he's alive. Well, he's probably going to go in and now posthumously. But the Athletic contacted a dozen Hall of famers spanning several eras to see what they think about the new guy on the waiting list. I'm going to run through him very quickly, but it's a pretty good cross section. Reggie Jackson said

there's no doubt he should get in. Jim Palmer class of nineteen ninety, said that he talked to Pete about it and said, if you really love the game as much as you say you do, and you have a chance to be reinstated, if you apologize it and miss you made a mistake, you love the game as much as you say you do, why not get on your hands and knees and grovel essentially, and Palmer said, why didn't you do that? And he said Pete really didn't have an answer. It's like that throughout a lot of

these comments. Mike Schmid, it was his teammate won a World Series with him in Philly, said there was no remorse there. He didn't show any atonement for his admission to betting on baseball, so he said he's kind of fifty to fifty on it. Jim Lalan said, I don't know the answer. The great manager, He said, as far as a player goes, of course, Pete Rose is a Hall of Fame, But he said I'd have to think

long and hard about voting for him. Jim Cott, a great pitcher primarily for the Twins, but also played with Rose in Philly and was the Reds pitching coach under Pete Rose, said that yeah, he was a great player. His baseball a Q was off the charts. But he said, you know, he didn't hear the atonement either. He also said, do you vote for him now? As an eras committee candidate, you can only take three? What about Tommy John? What about Dale Murphy? Yeah, that's tough, he said. He asked Pete,

did you ever bet on baseball? Long ago? Pete said, well, you know, I've been to the horse track and I bet on football. But he said he never would admit to betting on baseball to him, and he finally did. John Smoltz, the great pitcher, said he would vote for him if he were on the committee. He said there's people in the Hall of Fame that had felonies. He said the Hall of Fame has gotten away from the Code of Conduct, the character clause. But he said he

would vote him in. Bill Mazeroski, the former Pittsburgh pirate, he's said out right away. I'd make him wait a little longer. Pat Gillick, an executive, longtime executive, primarily with Toronto, said the guy served his debt to society by going to jail for a while, which is true. He said, though character means a lot, I'd have to question that. It's going to be a tough subject. Andre Dawson, now standing outfielder, played with Rose in Montreal back in the eighties.

He said, I think it's long overdue, and he said baseball sports in general has gambling written all over it. He said, this is long overdue. Tony LaRussa, the Great manager, said the stats are undeniable, but he said he spoke to Stan Musual when he got to Saint Louis in Red Shandy's and Bob Gibson and Lou Brock. He said they were very upset at Pete for a couple of reasons.

He made the mistake, wasn't honest about it, and they never really felt like he was contrite or ashamed by it or had a big regret until he wasn't put in the Hall of Fame. And finally, Tony Perez, of course was his teammate on the Great Big Red Machine teams and also played with him in Philly, said he paid the price for a long long time. I know he was hurt. Said he maybe didn't look like it, but I know he was made a mistake and paid for it. He said he can always play with me.

When I meet him again, I would love to play with him. Marty Brenneman, of course, was at the ceremony last night at Great American Ballpark, which by the way, was jam pack sold out, and naturally, Marty, the Hall of Famer and the longtime voice of the Cincinnati Reds, had something to say about that topic.

of Fame. There's no guarantee of that, but if he does, it's going to be criminal that he will not be around to enjoy it.

go home, or something lame like that. But what it was was a confession that he helped the Black Sox fix the nineteen nineteen World Series, coincidentally giving the series to the Cincinnati Reds. And he all along had denied that he had anything to do with gamblers or game fixing, and the stats back that up. He had a tremendous World series statistically made hits, made plays. What was thrown in with the other players, and if you've seen the movie,

it's tremendous. Eight men out, and this is a guy who was one of the greatest players in the history of the game and should never have been on that list. And for some reason, no one in baseball had been strong enough or honest enough to admit what had happened with Shoeless Joe and put him in the Hall of Fame. So anyhow, Rose, Shoeless Joe, they're all going in. But now, of course Jackson's been gone forever. But we lose Pete back in the fall. So Reds fans are happy and

yet very disappointed. And if he does go in, it's not going to happen right away. It's going to take a couple of years for all of this cyclically to work out with the Aras Committee. So always throw that in. Let you know what was said about Pete up in Cincinnati last night and throughout some of the Hall of famers who are still wondering about Pete Rose and whether

he belongs in the Hall of Fame. Up next, we're going to talk Kentucky softball with Rachel lost in her team opens NCAA tournament played tomorrow afternoon down in Clemson. That's next. Then it's Kentucky Baseball on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Joining us down our celebrity hotline as Kentucky softball coach Rachel lost In prepping your team for yet another appearance in the NCAA tournament. Coach, is it's still a thrill when you hear your name called, oh.

three seed is so marginal. So I was a little surprised. But either way, I think it was played out the way it's going to.

pitching coaches in the country on the other side. He does a good job keeping the hitters off ball. And so we're gonna have to play really well, you know, play well to make sure we're in it. And of course Clemson just had one of the best years. You know, they got a couple of transfers in they have you know, they have senior pitchers who really know what it's all about, and they've done a good job of keeping it together and then finished strong in the acc.

banner year. You know, she is just a testimony to what can happen if you say the course.

two her and Sarah Hindigoz. You know, they had a ton of experience, postseason experience, left handed hitter, was a great infielder on the left side, and so, you know, a lot of dominoes kind of fell and we've been trying to put it together. So but you know, no, our program's got to be bigger than one injury. So you know, we just need to solidify things really, you know, get it together, and then you know, get working for a much bigger future.

go after it. Yeah, you know, the two things are always going to sound so cliche, but you know, you've got to have a solid performance in the circle and you have to play great defense, you know, because all the teams in the postseason can hit, you know, that's why they're here, and they can create. So it's just essential that you know, we tighten up our defense and we play free and fun and fly around and then of course, you know it comes down to the timely hit.

So those are those are the two things you always focus on.

it on ESPN Plus. That's going to do it for now. I'm going to make way for Kentucky baseball Wildcats taking on Vanderbilt, a team that got off to a little bit of a slow start this year but has picked up momentum. Is a top ten team right now. Wildcats with all kinds of momentum, as you know, after sweeping a good Oklahoma team and then beating Northern Kentucky in its final midweek game of the season tonight tomorrow, seven

o'clock pm Eastern time. Aaron's got the call for your pregame coming up next Saturday's game at three o'clock SEC Plus telecast tonight and tomorrow and SEC Network on Saturday. That's it. Good night, from the garage in.