Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network. Guardians Weekly is brought to you by Progressive helping Guardians fans save hundreds on car insurance. Hi, everyone, welcome to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhouse along with you from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland, where the Guardians are in the midst of a new home stand. They're taking on the Angels this weekend, and then the Tigers come in the first of next week as they get back in the division against the
surprising Detroit Tigers for the first time this season. Coming up a little bit later on in our show today, we'll have another edition of at the Ballpark with Bobby d Ruben Amaro will be his guest. This week. We'll also be joined by Guardians RELAEF pitchers Nick Sandlin and Scott Barlow, and we'll talk some pitching in the organization on the minor league side with Minor League pitching coordinator
Caleb Longshore. But first, our weekend review and for the Guardians. It began on Tuesday, after and off day on Monday in Houston, a while
back and forth game against the Astros that went ten innings. The Guardians fell behind eight to three, but came all the way back and actually took a lead late in that game, only to see Houston win it on a Victor Carrottini walk off home run in the bottom half of the tenth inning by that ten to nine final, but Cleveland returned the favor and extra innings the following
night down in Houston. Good pitching in this one, as Justin Verlander was matched up against the Guardians Tristan McKenzie, and both pitchers were sharp early. McKenzie's ready. Here it comes another curve hit on the ground, a short till second for one by Rochio him in his relay double play and inning ending double play three in the books, Cleveland Houston scoreless. The Guardians broke the scoreless tie as they got on the board in the fifth, starting with Will
Brennan. Brennan trying to get it rolling againy going through a tough patch here. The next pitch to him is swung on and skied to deep right center. This one has a chance way back there. Leaping at the wall is Tucker, but it is into the bullpen a home run for Brennan, and the Guardians snapped the scoreless tie on Brennan's home run. It is one nothing Cleveland. Later on in the inning, with a man on and two outs, Steven Kwan came through. Here's the pitch, swung on line drive right
field, fair ball, down the line, into the corner. It goes motoring. The third is Rochio. They're gonna send him. Here comes the relay throw. He slides the tag safe at home plate. Oh, it was close. Put Rochio over the head first slide, got that front hand in there, and the Guardians take a two nothing lead. But the Astros responded with a run in the sixth another in the seventh that tied the game at two, and for the fourth consecutive game, the Guardians headed to extra
innings. Now the two old swung on line drive toward bright Flooria takes a chest tide catch. We've got extra innings for the fourth consecutive game. Tied at two. After nine, Gabrielarius was the runner starting at second base. Brian Rochio let it off with a walk and that brought Stephen Kwan to the plate again. In an RBI situation, Cleveland trying to get to twenty and ten. Now the two to one delivery swung on ripped to laugh. Fair
ball inside the line, It'll scoot into the corner. Arius to score on his way to third. Rocchio in sliding, and a stand up double for Stephen Kwan. He's got a three hit night as he shot it down that left field line. He's now single tripled in double to night three to two Cleveland, and just as importantly, Runners still had second and third with nobody out, and then it was up to Emmanuel Classe in the bottom half of the tenth inning to preserve that one run lead, tying run at second,
one down in the tenth Houston wanted last night. With two outs in the tenth, the pitch a swing and a little flare left center on the round, Kwan diving cans he made it. Cartini's around third, coming home, He'll be doubled up. Ball game. The Guardians get out of Houston tonight with an ext running win. As Caratini thought the ball was dropping, he was crossing home plate. Guardians were stepping on second base to end it. Wow, what a road trip. Final to night in ten Cleveland three and
Houston two. What a ballgame it was on Wednesday night down in Houston, and again the fourth consecutive extra inning game that hadn't happened for a Cleveland baseball
club since they were the Naps back in nineteen ten. Thursday Series in road trip finale in Houston in eight to two victory for the Astros, and then the Guardians returned home to open up a new home stand on Friday night, only to see the Angels toss a shutout six nothing the final score of the Angels over the Guardians on Friday. Well, Tristan McKenzie had a tremendous outing for Cleveland on Wednesday I Houston with seven strong innings, allowing just two runs.
And we had a chance to catch up with him the following day and he talked about getting more confident with each start and some of the keys to his progression since the beginning of the season. I mean, I think it's all been about trying to stay consistent of my routines in between starts and then just taking the positive from meat start and trying to build off of them. And I think step by step it's been getting better and better. And when
you look at at this game, patience can be really tough. How difficult was it as you went through those ups and downs in spring training? And then your early starts of the season. Yeah, I mean it's I mean, it's the name of the game. It's a it's a game of failure, but being able to take the fails and stride and just learn from them and be able to understand that there's always tomorrow and that you can come out
here and put your best foot forward. Because of the year last year, with some of the issues you were going through, is it more difficult to kind of believe in that process that you'd be okay eventually. I mean, I think it just there's a certain level of competition and eagerness that you have when you're out there that I feel like I needed to get back to. I think missing last year was tough, but I think I've been trying to
compete every outing. But I think it's just gradually gotten closer to what I feel is more normal for me. And I think the guys have seen it too. And it sounded like your teammates noticed it last night. And is that something you feel sometimes when as a game's developing, especially a close one
like you had on Wednesday night. I mean, I think I'm always trying to do that for my teammates at least give some energy on the mound so that they know I'm out there competing, and I know that they're always doing their best out there, so I think they can always expect that from me too. Tristan McKenzie joining us after seven strong against Houston on Wednesday night and earlier in the day today, CC sabbatia is announced they'll be going into the
Guardians Hall of Fame. You have a good relationship with him. Explain that and what it means to you to know that in August he'll be having a special day at the Black Mark. Yeah. I mean, I know CC not only is the baseball player that I grew up watching him as, but
as a person. I've been able to hang out with him a couple of times, and I just know he's a great mentor to me, being able to talk to him and bounce ideas off of him, and even just ask him about the game of baseball, on the trials and tribulations that he went through as a competitor, injuries as well as having success in the game. I mean, I don't think anybody deserves it more than him. When you look at at some of the things he can help you with. Anything specific
that that you guys get into that you can share. I mean, I've asked him tons of questions. One, what does it feel like to winnasi young? What does it feel like to win a World Series? As well as like some of the I guess the darker side of our sport is more just like how do you deal with injuries? How do you deal with going out there and competing and not having your best stuff or getting traded or being in different organizations. I think he has a wealth of knowledge that I'm able
to just pick his brain about. So I love hearing any information you can give me. And this organization has had some great pitchers and you've had seasons where you certainly belong in those conversations too. And does that kind of connect itself when you talk about the cc Sabathias of the world, Yeah, one
hundred percent. I think being able to even be in the same room or have conversations with those guys always makes me want to strive for more, and it always see, it always allows me to try and pick their brain to see if I can get an edge of my competition. Hey, this team is off to a great start. You've been with good teams here before. What is it about this one that's allowing it to win games like Wednesday night
extra inning games and just in general play really good baseball. I mean, I don't think I don't think Wednesday's any different from the previous three extra inning games that we played this year. I think just being able to go out there from pitch one to the final pitch and know that we're out there grinding, know that we're out there trying to win the baseball game, but not just with one player, just with one or two players, it's a team
effort is huge for our morale. It's fun to watch too, and maybe not for you guys been living through it, pitched the pitch, but it sure has been entertaining. And Team Mac thanks left for coming back, no problem, Rosie, thank you. That's Tristan McKenzie again. Seven strong innings on Wednesday and no decision against the Astros, a game that the Guardians won, but McKenzie was terrific and that bodes well if he can continue on this
latest path of success for the Guardians in their starting rotation. Well, pitching development has been such a key for this organization for a long long time. And we'll talk to one of those who is a key in the pitching development department. He's the pitching coordinator in the minor league system. Caleb Longshore, He's our guest when we continue. After this timeout, low Perfido has singled and struck out. The rookie leftfielder takes a swing and comes up empty.
Try to hold up chase the curveball six stray outs for McKenzie Houston. I said, what an effort by Tristan McKenzie Tonight two two ballgame seven in the books at Progressive. We know money can't buy you happiness, but money did help you buy an RV, which means an excuse for working Saturday with your insufferable co worker Dave. So money is helping you listen to birds chirp instead
of Dave chirping about how his toddler is fluent in three languages. And it's also why you'll be smelling pine trees in the air now Dave's tune them olt reheating in a microwave. So save money by bundling your RV or boat insurance with Homer Auto from Progressive and buy more happiness or something close to it.
Progress a casualty Insurancempany affiliates another insurance not available on states now. The O two swig and a miss blow them away with the heat, and Timhern continues to dominate with two more strikeouts here in the sixth two strikes quickly on Torres in a four to four game. In the eighth, here's the next offering, swing and an ass got him with a slider. Goodness, what a job again by Hunter Gaddis the next pitch a swing and a mess. He
got it again. Kate Smith in a set of brawl as a bridgemand a clause today and passes this test with flying colors, striking out a pair nothing into the count four to one. Cleveland face is empty. Two down in the night Claws, let's hit rip and a bray. You a swing and a mess. Bogging Clause pumps that fist in the gloves, strikes out the side and the Guardians with another dominant pitching performance tonight. Welcome back to Guardian's
Weekly Jim Rosenhause back with you from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland. Well, it's called the Pitching Factory by many. That is Cleveland's development system for pitchers,
and it starts in the minor leagues. One of two pitching coordinators at the minor league level is Caleb Longshore, and we had a chance to visit with him in Atlanta last weekend as he had an opportunity to take in Big League Baseball and be a part of the staff for the weekend in Atlanta, and he talked about how exciting it is right now to be a part of a group that continues to develop pitchers into impact major leaguers at a high rate.
It's a really unique situation for us, you know, the amount of homegrown talent that we end up you know, having in the major leagues, whether it's in the bullpen or starting rotation. I think it's one super fulfilling for our group, but a testament to the people that we have working in the organization and the job there our coaches do with the mind early level.
And i'd relate a story to you in spring training, a lot of the younger pitchers who are in camp for the first time and then back in the minor leagues, they pointed to you having a direct impact on them, and as a coordinator, how do you make that happen where you can have some
impact on that? Yeah, super humbling to hear that. I think, first of all, like we have really really good players and good humans that you know, want to be coach and partnering with our coaches and partnering with the player like this is their career and so at the foremost we're working for
them. And I think that engagement and them understanding that, you know, as a group from Joel Mangrom or other coordinator and our coaches as well as our pitching leadership group, what we're able to work through and collaborate together and then portray to the players and be able to you know, put it on a level that they can understand the build off of you know, that just
makes us work and click as a group. And lastly, you know, to all of our coaches that drive our player plans and our day to day that's where we really see these guys take off and watch them start to grow throughout the system. Before you were a coordinator, your first job was Lake County pitching coach. A couple of decent pitchers went through there that you had a chance to work with. Tell us about that staff who came through there,
that that would be recognizable to our fans. Yeah, a couple of names, Gavin Williams and Tanor Bibby obviously at the forefront of that, with Kate Smith that was in that group as well, and then some of our younger guys that are an accron right now and in TRIPLEA with Columbus, Doug mccazy, Tommy Masayer and Davenport. Was the starting crew that was there,
Lenny Torrez who's throwing the ball really well. So I walked into a really good situation and seeing those guys compete every day, watching how they've grown since twenty twenty two, things that once again a testament to everybody that's involved in
our minor league pitching group. Caleb Longshore is joining us. He is a minor league pitching coordinat for the Guardians and it was with the ball club in Atlanta when the team was there, and Caleb, not everybody can be an instructor or a coach, but I know you've made a career out of that, and what is the key to relaying things that are helpful for young pitchers to make them the best they can be? First of all, super blessed
to be in the position that ALM obviously love the game. You know, I think the foremost thing is the relationship that you build with the player. You know, they have to know that your number one interest is in them. You have to build a relationship of trusts and then you work through it together, you know, And I think that's you know, if I was going coaching one oh one, It's like, that's the foundational piece is how do we get the player to understand that, you know, we're in this
business to help them become the best that they can. And once that foundation is there, you work together to improve their player plan and the direction for their career. Yeat a lengthy stretch as a college code. Biggest difference for you coming to pro ball that you found working with this organization the ability to
work as a group for what's best. We we typically don't make any one person decisions, especially at our minor league level, like the amount of resources that we have and the amount of experience from you know, Carl at the top to Owen Do, who's our triple A pitching coach has been the org for you know, seven years, Tony Arnold, that's thirty plus years with us, and then our pitching leadership group with Joel Mangram, Stephen oster Ben
Johnson and Eric Bender at the top, like there's so many resources and so many opportunities for us all to work together alone with support from our analyst group, that we feel like together as one big group, we can put together a good plan. And that to me has been the biggest difference from college to pro ball is the ability to work with people to come up with the best plan going forward for each player. We'll close with it. You're from
Alabama, tell us the name of the town there. You live in Cleveland, Alabama. So pretty ironic, but just tells me I'm at the place I need to be. That is one of two pitching coordinators in the minor league system for the Guardians, along with Joel Mangram. Caleb Longshore does great work and it was great to visit with him down in Atlanta last weekend. Well, the bullpen has been a big key for the Guardians so far this season. Nick Sandlin and Scott Barlow have been a big part of that and
we will visit with them when we return after this. The one too swam of this fastball get him Nick Sandlin gets it done again stretch time at the corner of Carnagen, Ontario. Jim Rose announced back with you from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland. It is Guardian's Weekly, The Guardian's taking on the Angels this weekend Saturday night six' ten, first pitch Sunday afternoon one, and then the Tigers are in town for a three game series starting Monday night.
Weather relievers have either been at or near the top of Major League Baseball in terms of lowest earned run average in all of baseball at various points in time throughout the season so far, and that's been a big key to the hot start for Cleveland. Nick Sandlin has been a key part of that, a
reliable and versatile piece in that bullpen. He picked up his first major league save asked Saturday in Atlanta, and when we caught up with him recently, talked about what it means knowing the pitching staff has confidence in him to pitch in a late game role. Yeah, it's definitely a cool feeling to be, you know, on the Mount Layton games and whatever the situation is. But to finish a game and you know, to come out on top like that and against a good team, good atmosphere, it was a it was
a great night and you had family there. How much family and what did it mean to you to have them on hand? Oh yeah, I had about like fifteen people that family and friends, you know, in the in
the family section, seeing them after the game, everybody together. So yeah, but we've been waiting a few years to go to Atlanta, which is the closest to uh, you know, where I'm from in Georgia, So it was it was really cool that they got to for for most of them my first their first time seeing me pitch in the Major League, So it worked out well. Re a Braves fan growing up, I was yeah, just I mean, like I said, the closest team down there in Georgia.
So yeah, you know a lot of games that in the field, but that was the first time being to that stadium. Beautiful ballpark for sure. When you look at at how you've been used so far this year, you've been extremely strong coming on mid inning and leaving runners on base. Is there something to that that's that's a key to have success at that and maybe more so than when you start an ending fresh. I think for me, it's just coming in and you know, trying to get ahead, work ahead
of hitters, and you know, continue to attack. You don't want to add fuel to the fire, or you know, any situation that you come into by giving them extra free passes where one hit could you know, be two or three runs. So for me, just yeah, you know, just trying to get ahead and get to where I can you know, attack guys. And yeah, just gotten used to it over the past couple of years, so a little bit more comfortable in situations coming in with with guys
on. I thought it was interesting Steven Vote had mentioned about pitching in that situation. You may allow a runner two to score, but as long as you leave while the team is still leading, then you've done your job. And is that how you look at it or do you even think of it
along those lines? I mean, you definitely want you never want anyone to score, right, but you know if every once in a while there might be a situation, okay, got on a third and no outs, it's like, yeah, you you don't want him to score, but also you don't want to be pitching too careful like I said, where you know you might end up putting a couple extra guys on base and it leads to a
bigger inning. So yeah, keeping them at you know, one run tops or just avoiding avoiding the big inning and and situations when you come in. Is is really key when you look at the bultpen, the relief crew has been tremendous really most of the season. I have some new faces down there. How how is the the vibe down in the pen compared to years past, and and how quickly has it gelled here early this season? It's jelled really well. I think part of that is just you know, the team
playing well and you know, guys pitching good. But yeah, I mean guys like uh, Tim Harron, Kate Smith, Hunter Gaddis, you know, and Bad's just it's it's good to have all these guys here. We have a good group and you know, everyone's done a good job so far, being ready to pitch every day, being ready to come in spots, pick each other up and yeah, look to continue. Nick. Always good
to have you on. Thank you, all right, thank you. It's Nick Sandlin is off to a terrific start for the Guardians out of their bullpen. So too is Scott Barlow, who's really beginning to come on another key piece as a veteran in that bullpen, and we caught up with him in Houston as well, and he talked about how he's settling in so far as a new member of the club in twenty twenty four. Yeah, you know, first month down, I feel pretty good so far. So uh,
you know, you always want to see, you know, progression. You know, first couple of games maybe not where I wanted to be, but you know, working with the guys here, I mean just going over to small things and you know, they just instill so much positivity in you on just the day to day basis that you know, it's it's hard, you
know not to you know, let it affect you. You know, having the positive you know mindset affects you and just being okay, like you know, I got some stuff to work on a little bit, but you know, still having faith and everything and just trusting the process. And now I feel, you know, pretty pretty darn good right now mechanically and and especially
with the guys in the clubhouse. Everybody's you know, has a lot of camaraderie and togetherness, so just build upon that and in addition to that positivity part of it. For you, what's been especially helpful so far during your two and a half months here with the ball club when once spring training began.
Uh. I think the biggest thing is just you know, you know, whenever you kind of come to a new team, you know, having fresh eyes, fresh coaches, getting new just ideas out there, you know, stuff that you maybe I've never thought about or have brought to my attention. And and and them just being you know, super open about everything,
and you know, just the communication has been awesome. And then you know, just being able to you know never you know, whenever you're working on something, you know, you always want a little bit of like you know, free space to you know, explore and just try new things on your own. And I feel like here they just you know, give you a ton of that. And you know, then if you have questions and say, hey, you know, is this the right idea, you know they'll
come and just have a really good conversation with you. When you look at at how you get it done. Uh yeah, that that good breaking stuff that that really seems to give hitters a tough time. And you talk about having confidence in that pitch, do you almost have to have more confidence in that that you can put it where it needs to be as opposed to say someone who just comes in and rares back and fires, the herd stuff.
Yeah, you know, I've definitely felt my spin has developed quite a bit as my kind of career has gone on, and you know, confidence of you know, it doesn't necessarily have to be the most perfect. You know, you know when you're looking at the TV, the the white line and putting it directly on that, you know a lot of it's just the mindset
and just commitment to the pitch. I know, you know, your first couple of years, you know, you can be a little bit overwhelmed of trying to be maybe too perfect, and you know that's when the balls start coming in and you know, you try to make an adjustment. You're like, oh, I gotta get this over the plate, and you know you're a little bit more timid over it and just never spins right or you know, it just doesn't have the same kind of oomph behind it, and those
are the ones in the zone that might get hit. And you know, it's just comes comes with the territory of just being compied on the mound and knowing that you know, you know, I put full commitment behind it, and you know, and and and not afraid of contacts. Really, you know, good things are gonna happen over the course of the season team wise. Obviously, with a lot of wins, it's usually fun from most teams. What's made this a real fun team to be around. I mean just
the I mean camaraderie of everything. You know, I love the interaction between pitchers and position players and everybody's just kind of gelling. And there's never like a separation of oh, there's the bullpen guys at one table or the starter or whatever maybe at another table. It's no, it's you know, everybody mingling and everybody cheering for another and you know, everybody's just everybody gets to
the ballpark every day and it and they're just excited about the game. You know, everybody's you know, getting their stuff done and you can just see everybody just laser focus on Okay, what do I have to do today to win today? And that's just super infectious and I feel like everybody's kind of feeding off that, and you know, I can definitely see it in every single game. You know, when one guy's maybe scuffling, the next day, you know he's he's the hero. So I mean, you know,
it's never it's never like one guy doing everything. It's you know, a different guy is stepping up every single day, and I think that's just a testament to everybody feeding off of the positivity. Been working well for sure. Scott, thanks a lot for coming by. Appreciate it absolutely, Thank you for having me. That is Scott Barlow, a veteran presence and what is a very young bullpen for the Guardians, and he's really been coming on as
he settles in to this twenty twenty four season. Stay with us when we come back for our final segment. It's at the ballpark with Guardian Senior Vice President Bob Dbacio. That is next. Stay tuned, folks, is puppy? U is it over? At Progressive? We know money can't buy happiness, but money did buy your boat where you find peace fishing, unlike at home with three teenage daughters, because fish never argue about who stole who's crop top, or get mad the other fish used up all the hot water.
No, they just swim around, never embarrassed to be seen with you in public. So save money by bundling your boat or r V insurance with Homer Auto from Progressive and buy more happiness or something close to it. Progressive Casualty insurance company affiliates, an insurance not available in else seats. Welcome back to Guardian's Weekly Jim Rosenhause along with you from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland, and don't forget a lot of different ways to catch our show. Each week.
It airs at seven am on our flagship station in Cleveland WTAM, and check your local listings for airtimes on your Guardians Radio Network affiliate. Also, you can catch it in podcast form wherever you download your favorite podcast and in need. It is our final segment for this week's show, and that means we check in with Guardian Senior Vice President bob Y Bassio. It's at the Ballpark
with Bobby D and his guest this week, Ruben Amorrow. The perfectly manicured fields, the unmistakable aroma of a ballpark hot dog, and the electricity celebrating another victory. This is at the Ballpark with Bobby D. Thank you,
Hammy. Welcome to at the Ballpark, where we hope you enjoy our conversations with those involved in the wonderful game of baseball, those who may be behind the scenes or the colorful personalities who have provided so many exciting moments and memories Today, we're joined by former outfielder Ruben Amaro, who enjoyed an eight year big league career two here in Cleveland. Roupe, thank you for being with us. Bobby, it's an absolute pleasure to see again. You have literally
done everything in the game of baseball. You grew up in the game of baseball. You played your coach, you were a general manager of a World Series champion, now a TV broadcaster for the Phillies. But before we get into all of that, let's talk about your two years here in Cleveland, nineteen ninety four and nineteen ninety five, two pretty fun seasons in an Indians
uniform. It was an absolute blast we've had I think about those days all the time, and in fact, you know, we opened up what was Jacob's Field then at that time, I did not make the team out of spring training, but came up later on in May and and I had an opportunity to spend some time with some great, great players, did a lot of bench time, but great people, wonderful coaching staff and some really super teammates. You have literally done it all in the game of baseball. Grew
up in the game, played coach, and was a general manager. Pretty remarkable. Yeah, I'm very fortunate obviously with my dad's background on my grandfather's background in baseball. It's the only thing I ever knew, Bob, and it's something that I'm very proud of the fact that I'm able to at least
carry on that baseball legacy in our family. And I was just very fortunate to be around baseball, fell in love with it as at a very young age, and have had the great fortune of being able to continue that on the broadcasting side. Now, your dad was born in Mexico, had a eleven year major League career, mostly with Philadelphia. You were born when he played for the Phillies, a team you played for and became the general manager of, and now do television. That's so special. Yeah, it really
is. I mean it's been you know, I believe Phillies read there's no question about that. Born and bred there, and the bulk of my family still lives there, my mom's there, my brother. But it really is a dream come true for me to have done this many things in the Red Pinstripes, and I'm really fortunate to be able to talk about the team now and be involved in even last year in postseason play. It was just really
cool to be a part of it. Your playing career ends in nineteen ninety eight, and you immediately get hired by our friend Eddie Wade, who was the GM at the time. Was that something you always thought about, was
getting in the front office? I really did not. Actually, when I went to him that spring in ninety eight, prior to the end of the season, I actually just told it, Hey, listen, I don't know how long much longer I'm going to be allowed to play on your teams, so at some point I'd love to maybe scout or be in the organization as a coach or something like that. And he said, well, I haven't hired anybody as my assistant yet, and he had already been, you know,
named the official GM at the time. He said, uh, would you have any interest in that? And I thought, I thought he was kidding, But we ended up I ended up playing one more year that year, and then during the course of that season we talked a lot about that opportunity, and probably around mid season, when I was hitting about a buck twenty, I figure, you know what, I better not let this window close, So, you know, I accepted that opportunity and then jumped right
into the front office. You spent ten seasons as an assistant GM three under the Hall of Fame executive Pat Gellick. You guys, your assistant GM Pat Gellick, you win the World Series and the day after the parade you get immediately named general manager. What kind of pressure is that. There's a lot of pressure. I remember my brother David and my older brother saying, you know, most gms get their first opportunity when the team's really, you know,
terrible. But you're taking over a team that just won the World Series. There's only one way to go but down. I said, well, this is this is it. But the opportunity that presented itself, I'm very grateful for had a great team to work with and great people, David Montgomery and and and others. David, the late great David Montgomery gave me this opportunity and I couldn't have been more grateful and really enjoyed two or three really
really super years in that role. And I remember my one of my assistants at the time, Benny Looper, had worked with Pat Gillick for a long time, said, you know, when we got back to the playoffs, said, it's the first team that Pat Gillick walked away from that ever made the playoffs, and so you should be very proud of that. We ended up going to the World Series, unfortunately losing to the Yanks, but I'm
still pretty proud of those moments. Well, we're talking with Rubin Tomorrow, who spent a couple of years in a Cleveland uniform, and as he said, Bleeds Philadelphia are red. You did some great things as GM divisional titles, you had the best records in Major League Baseball. The guy I want to chat about briefly because you did win a World Series with him as your skipper, Charlie Manual. Those in baseball who know him, what a multi
dimensional, fun, unbelievable baseball guy. Charlie a great friend of mine, and really I got a chance to work with him. He was my hitting coach here in Cleveland, and I'll tell you the greatest thing about Charlie is
that he really took care of me. I was a guy who got probably sixty at bats and there's others who had six hundred, and yet he treated me, you know, very very similarly to how you would treat a guy like Kenny Lofton or Carlos Byerga or O Marvis Skeal, and so I was very fortunate to have had him as my hitting coach, and when we had an opportunity to bring Jim to me to Philadelphia, I thought to myself, no better person to help make that happen than Charlie. Manually ended up being
one of our special assistants before we hired him as our manager. What were some of the traits of Charlie that you did see as skipper? You know? I think his relationships with the players. That was one of his biggest strengths. He loved being out in the clubhouse, didn't like to be in his office, and I thought that was in this day and age, as we were transitioning, game was kind of changing. Players needed attention and they
needed some love, and I think that Charlie really was. His relationships with the players was I think one of the most important things. And I think he was kind of sly like a fox. I think he understood the game. He'd been around the game a lot, He'd watched a lot of baseball played in Japan, He'd been all over the world playing baseball, and I think those experiences helped him as well, you had a shortstop, and every team needs a great shortstop. Here you got to play with Omarvis SkELL As
you mentioned Jimmy Rollins at Year Ball Club in Philadelphia. Special player. Is he a Hall of Famer? I think he is, of course, I'm very biased. I that chance to watch his development as a young player. Remember my dad telling me when he was working for the Phillies, as he was actually one of our infield instructors in the minor leagues and coordinators. He said, Ruben, don't you worry about Jimmy. He's going to be fine. And he worked his way through the big leagues and he said he's going
to be a special player. And he sure was. I means as electrifying as Kenny Lofton was. I think that in a lot of ways. You know, Jimmy Rollins was sort of the Phillies catalyst. What a tremendous uh. You know, we used to talk about two out shortstops. Dallas Green, who was on one of my many mentors, used to talk about too out short SUPs and I don't know if there was a better one than Jimmy Rollins. Rope. This has been an absolute last catching up many things.
I really enjoyed it, Bob, thanks so much for having me. We hope you enjoyed our two part series with former Cleveland outfield or Ruben Amaro. We look forward to another edition of at the Ballpark on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network. And that's another edition of at the Ballpark with Bobby d. Thanks to Bobby Biassio as always for some of his great interviews with great guests from times gone by in Cleveland baseball history. And that's going to do it for
our show this week. As always, want to thank Brian Matse for all of his help in putting together the show each and every week. We'll catch up with you next weekend when the team is in Chicago playing the Chicago White Sox on a new road trip for the Guardians. Until then, this is Jim Rosenhause reminding you that you've been listening to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Clinic
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