It's another festive day at Dodgers Stadium as the Dodgers, coming off of victory and their home opener and back from Tokyo, still got more celebration today as they will receive their championship rings. It will be the second ring that our guest Max Munsey will get as a Dodger. Munsey, thanks a lot for the time and congratulations, I guess on officially being a two time World Series Champion?
I guess what do you mean?
I guess, well, does the ring solidify that you are officially now a two time champion? Or did that happen with the final out in New York?
And I think that happened with the final out in New York. It was The ring is obviously something that's special and I can't wait to see it and get it and hold it. But yeah, that was that was solidified last year, especially when we have to have the parade for the you know, really the first time for us.
Have you seen the ring? Have you got any sneak peek?
I've seen a couple of pictures, but I haven't seen it in person. So you know, pictures can only do so much when you see I think in person it's gonna be pretty exciting.
Has Max Munsey ever wore his twenty twenty championship.
No, it's it's it's sitting at home in a case right next to the rep Pid trophy that I got. That's where where this one's gonna go. Uh. To me, those things aren't for wearing. Those are for you know, cherishing, and uh, you know they they mean too much to me as a player of all the you know, the sweat and the grind and everything that we went through to achieve it, that to me, it's something that shouldn't be worn.
If they were a little smaller and maybe a little less, Gottie, would you wear it again?
No, just because of this the symbolism of what the ring means to me, it's not something that should be taken lightly. And there's a lot of people that have played this game for a very long time and they've never gotten to get a ring. And you know, for me, it just it just means so much that I don't want there being any chance of tarnishing it at all, and so for me, it's not meant to be worn.
We've talked about this a few times since you came up with the Dodgers in twenty eighteen. Do you have the unique perspective of understanding how fragile this career is. Do you feel like you have that type of appreciation because of where you've been and where you're at now.
Absolutely, you know, for for a lot of these guys that have come up in this organization, they don't know anything but winning. And you know, I was somewhere where we were borderline the worst team in baseball for a couple of years, and uh, it's it's it's not fun, it's not Uh it's not easy to go through.
It's tough.
You know, what we've created here in terms of the culture in the clubhouse is not something that is everywhere. You know, it's it's unique to what we've got going on. And uh, it's truly special, and it's an honor and a blessing to be a part of it. And for me, it's it's even bigger honor and blessing to have helped created it. And uh, you know, I I just I know what else is out there, and I know how much I appreciate what's what's here.
I guess you're very thankful you did not take that offer in Korea back in twenty eighteen. Yeah, yeah, it's a it.
Would have been a different story. But yeah, you know, I'm I've I will never take for granted the days that I've had in this organization, at this stadium.
Max Munsey is our guest. We are on the verge of sharing the rings celebration with you as the Dodgers will receive their championship rings and you're actually facing a guy that helped you get that ring. And Jack Flaherty, how much did he mean to you guys last year? He's huge for us.
You know, it's hard to it's hard to put in the words how much he meant. You know, he we got him at the trade deadline. He immediately started throwing some very big important innings for us, and uh, you know, talking about a guy that pitched Game one for us, and that that's that's what we thought of him, that
we wanted to run him out their Game one. And you know, at that time, just with all the stuff that we had gone through, we didn't have too many guys we could rely upon, and he was one of the few guys we could And I think that's that says a lot to him that we were able to rely upon him and we definitely wouldn't have been there without him, and so it's it's, uh, it's cool that he's pitching on that night, but uh, you know, you also kind of wish he could be getting the ring
with the rest of us. But I know we're doing something for him on the next day, so he's he's still going to have an opportunity to have his moment and uh, you know, Dodger fans definitely make it extremely special for him.
How much will you be thinking about the guys that either retired or went on to other teams, And I'm thinking, in particular, Kevin Kiermeyer, Brent Honeywell, Daniel Hudson, and of course Walker Buehler.
Yeah, I'd be thinking about him a lot. It's a you know, you almost wish that they could be here for the ceremony, especially the guys that are retired. You know, they probably don't want to be anywhere near baseball field, that's why they retired. But yeah, I think it'd be
cool if they could be here. And you know, I know we'll see Walker at some point this year and he'll get his ring, and you know, it's it's again, those are all guys that were huge parts of us winning the World Series, and we don't win it without any single one of them. You know, if we're missing any of those guys, we don't win. And it's that's what makes winning a championship truly special. It's it's genuinely for us. It felt like sixty guys last year. We
don't win without any one of those guys. And at any point in the season, someone can play a huge role that helps us get there. And that's something that we've always tried to emphasize to the younger guys, especially
spring training. It's it's we're gonna roll. We're gonna have a revolving door of roster players and people are gonna get hurt, people are gonna, you know, move out, and it's a it's when it's your turn to come in, you can do something special and at the end of the at the end of the year, every single guy will have contributed to what we do here.
Hey, unsung hero Max Munsey, the Dodgers don't win without you. You've been such a big part of this organization since twenty eighteen, and you just keep getting better over there at the Hot Corner month see I love watching you play defense. It has a lot of work.
That I still have. I still have so much to learn at third base, and you know, it's still a relatively new position to me. I know, I've been playing it for a couple of years, but it's not something that I played a ton of. And uh, you know, so there's for me, it's still just learning a whole bunch of how how to prepare and how to approach ground balls over there. And you know, the more I'm understanding it, the better I'm getting. And uh, and you know,
to me, that's the biggest thing is just understanding. You know, a couple of years ago, I had a lot of issues because I was putting myself in bad spots to field ground balls, just you know, understanding how ground balls are hit at third base.
And so for me, each.
Year learning and learning where I need to put my my feet and my body in better positions to get good hops on those ground balls, it's been huge for me.
Yeah, it's working, Monsie. I'm not just blowing you know what. Over here in the corner locker. Max Mounsey has definitely improved at third base and sure handed, and obviously a big part of the lineup and what it does. Thanks a lot for the time, and man can't wait to hold your ring Monsey after the game.
You ain't touching mind, don't worry about that. You can hold someone else, but you ain't touching mine.
Well, all right, there we go, Max Monsey. Gonna be a hogging that ring in the Monthly Household for a while and we'll send it back to you in the studio.