Crowning Moment

unless it's not. We are in the air everywhere, coast to coast, border to border and beyond the magic of podcasting, because, as you know, the four hours on the overnight during the week not enough. We do this now eight days a week. This our Friday podcast, and it is an interview podcast. We didn't do one last week because we gave political predictions, which of course went wonderfully unless they didn't.

But this week we are back at it with our interview Fridays, and yet again we're gonna welcome in from west of the four oh five David Gascon making his way in here. He's right there. There is and uh over here on the west side, yes, west west of the four oh five, and we have today Gascon, a guy that I have known for ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever, and one of my former producers. This is actually someone that made a

name for himself after leaving your show. One of the many people that have crossed my cross my path that have gone on and been very charismatic and charming on the radio and haven't had fascinating careers. And I know that bothers. You guesscon when you hear about people that have just magnetic personalities and do wonderful things that have have crossed my path. Here, I'd say more along the lines of slingshotting past you. Well, uh, I am excited.

So David Vasse for those of you maybe not in l A, David, if you're in l A and you listen to radio, you know who David Vasse is because he's been on Dodging Talk for years and he's been on radio. He was the producer of the Petrols and Money Show. He did the Ben and Dave Show, one of the iconic nine nineties radio shows back in the day. But more recently, David Vesse has been the host of Dodger Talk pregame, does the pre game, the postgame show on k l A c a M five seventy Dodger Radio.

And he's also on television. He fills in on the TV network for the Dodgers. He's on MLB network. He's a renaissance man, is what he is, a guest on David vs. A renaissance man. He's like a Swiss army knife, and he knows where all the bodies are buried in my life. He knows many of the early stories because he was around in the old days, the old l A radio wars back. And then he's also a disciple to the great Joel Mcdonalton l A radio icon. Did

you ever know Joe McDonald did past unfortunately? Okay, the big Nasty He hosted Afternoon Drive and it was it was great with DUCKR. Corn for years did it by himself, worked at like every radio station in l A. And he was the the Mike Francessa of the West Coast, the beacon of l A sports radio. And so I worked with Joe for a few years and knew him for a long time, and so I say was it was around him, and so I'm excited to talk to him. He did Dodger talk. They win the World Series this year,

so this is a way to suck up to him. Oh, he likes to bust my balls gas gun. This guy VSA likes to take shots me, which is gratuite his cheap shots by him. How does it fill? He doesn't live west of the four or five, though I don't think. Uh wait a minute, I think he does. He lives out I don't see where he lives, but he lives in the San Fernando Valley, which I believe is west of the four olds. The reason why he might be north enough where the four or five has already ended,

I'm not sure. I gotta look at the map. Keep but yeah, look at your electoral map and find it. Yeah. So before we get into of s a cameo cameo cameo dot com. You want to personalized video message, We're on cameo. Look my name up, Ben Maller and we've done a number of those. We'd love to do one for you if you want for a special event. He got a birthday, a wedding, an engagement, you name it. Kid, you just want me to rant and rave the ridiculous, most ridiculous one I did with somebody wanted me to

praise the Lakers, so I had to do that. It was awkward, was cringeworthy, that was terrible. That's on cameo that's available to you. Uh. And also all the social media channels Ben Maller on Twitter, Ben Mallard Show on Facebook, Ben Maller on Fox, on Instagram, and remember very important, Every Wednesday, on our Facebook page Ben Maller Show, I will pose questions for our Sunday mail Bag. So if you want to get a question in usually Sunday mail Bag,

we do it there. And guess God, you're available on Twitter and Instagram. Right, You're not on Facebook, but you're on Twitter and Instagram. Don't forget Benny versus the Penning tonight. If you're listening to the Sucker first thing this morning or at the middle of the day, that's right, Benny

versus the penny marginal NFL handicapping. And I want you to know guesscon that I have purchased It probably will not be here in time for tonight, but I have purchased something that will make it seem much more professional and I had a pretty good idea of what it is. Yes, I was not planning on doing this, but I was bullied into it because my wife watched the video and said, why does guess looks so much better than you look? Um. I tried to tell you that last week, but you

weren't having any of it. So I'm a simple man, a mule, that's what you are. I don't need bells and whistles and all that. I said that, there's nothing wrong with driving a Toyota camera goods from point A to point B. You're just gonna make sure that it actually has the paint on, no chips, the windshields not cracked, the windshield wipers work. It's fine, We're not We don't need all the bells and whistles, but we need to look aesthetically please appeasing at times. Well, I like that.

You didn't like kind of wait until I got said thing. You just went for it, so you then looked amazingly better than I did. And you, you know, just it's a little lokward. Well no, actually, to be frank with you, I had ordered said divide it's back in July, and it was defected ahead to return it and it took me three and a half months to get it back. But well, yeah, well I I I purchased said device because I don't even know it will be the right device.

It might be I got the wrong one, but it it should be here in a couple of days, so it's I ordered it from a different place. That We've been very vague here we have we have Vessey standing by, So why don't we stop talking here? Right, we'll we'll welcome in the man of the hour. See how many times he bust my balls here and give it up now to David Vasse from Dodger Radio and he joins us now on the fifth Hour with Ben Maller and David Gascon and David Vasse welcome, and so how did

the Dodgers winning the World Series change your life? David absolutely has not changed one bit. There's nothing that has changed, nothing at all. But everyone, I've had people email me because I like to you know, Dodger fan and all that stuff. You're around the team. You've been around the team for how many usually been doing this? By the way, this was my ninth season that I finished being part

of the Dodgers Radio broadcast. Nine seasons my god, it's you're now do you get next year over your tenth so you get like a gold watch or something like that. When you reach the tenure mark. What kind of prize do you get? Um? You know what, maybe a free Dodger dog. I think that's about it. Yeah, well they give those out anyway, though, I think that exactly nothing special. I just do my job, put my head down. I didn't swing a bat, I didn't catch a ball, I

didn't throw a pitch. I'm just along for the ride to bring it to people that are listening, to get their excitement, to calm their panic, like there was after the Dodgers went down three games to one in the NLCS. I I just calmed everybody down and let them new and let them know the Dodgers were coming back. Yes see, I do the opposite as you know of essay, because we worked together that I believe that sky is falling radio being the alarmist when it comes to sports panic.

Sports panic is a good kind of panic. I don't think panicking like a like a like election panic and like real world panic is not constructive. But like I like being a panic peddler when it comes to sports. I was convinced when the Dodgers fell behind the Braves and they were done, they were not going to come back. Now do you do you really believe they were going to come back? Essay? Or were you? I really did?

I really did. I felt like the Braves as it proved out to be within on pitching, and the longer that series went, the better chance the Dodgers had to win, because I mean, who were their pictures. I can't even tell you who they were outside of Max Freed. The other guys were pretenders here to death. They got away with it the first time. But the Dodgers are so good that they see you a second time when your average, and they take advantage of you. And that's exactly what

they did. And by the way, Mookie Betts changed that whole series when he made that great catch and forced Ozuna to come off the bag early, and everybody I talked to it felt like that catch, that play changed the entire momentum of the series. How great is it, though, that Mookie Betts in one year, David Vasse has justified that forever contract the Dodgers gave him by making key plays in the World Series, and so now he can

just kind of hang out for the next decade. He's got he's got the forever contract, he's got the World Series and so even if he doesn't pan out, you know, five six years from now, I think most Dodger fans they'll be upset, but they won't be like really that in you know what I mean? They won the World

Series day. How many big time free agents of the Dodgers brought in a last thirty years that we're supposed to be the guy that would be the final piece to win the World Series and they've been abject failures. They didn't didn't get there, didn't finish the line. So I mean it's gotta be pretty good for Mookie here. You agree with me? Or do you think it doesn't matter that they'll still go, you know, go rogue on him. Well, number one, there's a reason why he's Mookie Betts and

you're Ben Mallard because now we understand, how dare you? Yeah, we understand the way Ben Mallard thinks one good show and one good podcast he could coast the rest of the week. That's not Mookie Betts. Mookie Betts what makes him special is that no matter what he did, he comes to play. This guy already had a championship ring, he already has an m v P. But he played like he was as hungrier than any guy on that

Dodger team. And that's why they committed that many years and dollars because they knew he would not have that Ben Maller attitude or a Davy Johnson managerial up of attitude, and he would bring the the A game every year. How dare you you're gonna rip lunch with Davy? Come on, man, Davy Johnson, the legend, Dodger legend man. A few guys could take a nap on the bench better than Davy Johnson managing the Dodgers. That guy an all time greatness. Ben.

You know this. Everybody talks about how the Dodgers hadn't one in thirty two years. A big reason why was so many ownership changes, managerial changes, GM changes. There was so much instability. I mean, you hired a guy like Davy Johnson who cared more about his golf game than

he did about the baseball team. Then he hired a mediocre manager and Jim Tracy because time by time out, Jim, all right, So you did that to trigger me and It worked because one of my good friends over the years, the great Jim Tracy, who was a manager of Great Ben Tracy. He he invited me to stay at his house in Pitch for of course by that time it was because let go by the that See, there's a

guy that respected before other people did. You don't respect the Mala brand, Vessey, But Jim Tracy, former Dodger, Rockies and Pirates manager, there's a guy that got it. There's a guy bonding you know when I did your job essay very briefly years ago. There's a guy could hang out with, have a meal on the road, catch up with it. That's a good man. Do not trash Jim Tracy. That is blasphemy, David Vasse, How dare you the epitome of mediocrity? Jim Tracy and his dinner Canions obviously did

not hold in high regard either. So that's how he kept his jobs. That's how he kept other jobs. Is being kind to the media, and uh, that only gets you so far. You gotta get some wins. It's all about wins and losses. Mallard. Not I understand. You can go around Vessey could be a jerk to everybody, but you know he wins the show on the you know doing this. What do you do like seven million commercials on that Dodger talking my guy, when I did it, I did like three every I mean, you are unbelievable.

Vest say, I used to rip and you know I listen. We love sponsors, but we have We've had John Sterling on the podcast because if you've ever heard a Yankee radio broadcast, the first like ten minutes is nothing but billboards. But my maid, Vestse, you go playing a day brought to you by your water lists, you know up you know whatever heater or whatever heater. That's right, you got in and out over here. I mean, you got a million sponsors everything. My god, it's uh my, my head

is spinning listening to that Vesse. When you during the Dodger season, when you're you're bouncing from sponsors, do you ever miss make a mistake, Vesse and give the wrong sponsor tack? Have you done that? I've never done that, Ben, That's why they keep coming back for more. And by the way, you have never said no to any sponsors. So let's not play that game. Oh no, I'm I'm absolutely a sponsor whore. And I would you know, listen, I need a waterless that put your health in danger.

One that's not true body Solutions slash Body Shape or a great sponsor. By the way, they still owe me like twenty dollars, So if they want to send that money, I would still accept that money. That I think there we haven't on the record. They put out the A p D for that. I think it was one of the salespeople that embezzled the money, if I remember correctly, is that true? Best I remember that the money vanished.

I'm not going to indict anybody that's alleged. All right now, bigger highlight of David Vasse's radio career hosting Dodger Talk, producing the Petrols and Money Show, or producing the Ben and Dave Show. I would it's very close, but I would say hosting Dodger Talking, owning things for myself? What would be the highlight all right between? All right, forget that, producing Petrols and Money or the Ben and Dave Show, a regional, iconic l a radio show from the nineties. Yeah,

that's tough. That's tough. I don't know. You don't want to rip. I know, I listen, I know because Petrols will give you a crap and you don't want to. You don't want to say the Ben and Dave Show. So you're gonna say Petrols and money. You're gonna trash Ben and Dave to my face because that's the power the p has over you. I'll say Ben in Dave because I know Petro's will not be listening to this. No, no, no no, I'm gonna send him the clip. I'm gonna

cut this out. And and by the way, I say, if I don't send it, one of my minions in the mouther of Militia will make sure that Petrol's hears about this, and it's fully aware that trash. What the highlight was in my career hosting Dodger Talk or hosting Bruin Talk during the years, Well, that's just depressing. Although that's as bad as that's as bad as hosting Dodger Talk during the Jim Tracy years. I disagree, man, because I would bring this up essay so I learned and

I believe this is human nature. It's a product of human nature. And I want to see if you can verify this because when I did Dodger Talk back in the day, with the great Ross Porter, let's play baseball trivia. And then years later, a few years ago, I filled in on the Red Sox version, like you know, the post game show Red Sox Review, and I from l a hosting talk beloved professional radio icon called in out of the bullpen an emergency. So anyway, here's the point.

When the hometown team won, there wasn't as big a reaction. There wasn't there weren't people all worked up. They didn't want to, you know, call in and talk, which is which is weird. But when the team would lose, oh, fire this guy, you know that, you know, Bob and Redondo Beach or whatever. People would lose their their lunch when the team of the I was it still like

that all these years later for you? I said, when you host Dodging Lodgers have won a ton the last you know, obviously the last decade they've been very good. But when the team loses and they go on a rough patch, is it easy? Is your job easier because my job was easier when the team would be losing. You know what, Then you're right, the calls do flood

in when the Dodgers do lose. And keep in mind They've won a hundred games twice in the last three years, but those few times that they do lose, everybody's to blame. Dave Roberts should be fired. The emotions are just completely out of whack. But I will say this, during your Jim Tracy Dodging Talk years, there was a lot more of those nights than there were for me. So that's probably why your opinion is slanted. You were there, like

I said, during the leanest times of Dodger baseball. You don't have to pile on vest I'm aware the team sucked when I was doing that, but that's Adams, Joe Cory's last Yeah, that was pretty weak, the Joe Torre room. But I I also he listened to Dodger Talk between twenty two thousand nine and two thousand and eleven. I can guarantee you that was that the dark period for Dodger talk. What about that Grady the Great the Grady Little era? Is that a great era? The Grady Little

ear that was? That was dicey. That was very dicey. Yeah. Now, my second favorite Dodger manager of all time, the great Bill Russell, who took over for the sort of another winner. This guy, great guy. Part of those seventies Dodgers. See anybody that's wanted to a great player, great player, not a great manager. Really couldn't connect with a lot of diverse type of players. Now the player with the players with a problem. Listen Bill Russell, great baseball man, Dodger icon,

wonderful manager. He got a rough shake. You know, they didn't give him the greatest team in the world. Players had bad attitudes. You want me to go on, I say, Mike Piazza while he was the manager, Oh my god, well were you. I was there. You were there that day, wasn't you. It was sports radio night. Yeah, yeah, that's right. That was the first night I ever covered a Dodger game, Mike Piazza's last game. And I walked into the clubhouse.

The Dodgers had lost that game, and Todd zill is almost crying in his locker, and I was thinking to myself, Wow, these guys really do care if they win or lose game. Little that I know, they had told him that he was going to Florida with Mike Piazza. Oh my god, that was the most surreal night. Uh. And I was out there in those days. I was there every night at Dodger Stadium for years. I was like thirty years.

I was out of every Dodging and not so much any yes, literally and figuratively, mainly in the press box food. I would be uh be eating the press box food. But but no, I remember that night because it was a big deal for for the station we worked at. It was sports radio night. They gave out these headphones. It was a sellout crowd. They were playing. I think

it was like the Montreal expos I I remember correctly. Um, but yeah, they there was a buzz that they were trading Piazza and all that stuff, and then it came down and I remember Piazza was wearing a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey when he when he left the last time he left Dodgers Stadium, he was wearing a Penguins jersey. And do you know this, Ben, he still Harbor's resentment towards the Dodgers. He never even tweeted out a congratulatory uh

tweet to the Dodgers for winning the World Series. But the Mets they donate, you know, five thousand dollars to a dog charity, and he's all over it. Dogs need love to But yeah, I can't understand that Piazza I got even the guys today. Maybe I'm wrong on this vessay, but I would say Piazza was such a huge presence. He's bigger than anyone currently on this Dodging team. They just won the World Series. Like, he was such a

mega star and it was different. It was a long time ago, but his presence in the l A sports scene, I mean he was up there like a Lakers star, Mike Piazza. Yeah. The reason why was because Magic Johnson had just retired. The Lakers were not very good, and when Mike Piazza was a rookie and ninety three, and you're a hundred percent right. At that point in time, the Lakers did not have a star. They were very good.

People weren't going to their games, and Mike Piazza and Eric Harros were the two biggest stars in Los Angeles. Women would follow them on the freeway back to their home in Manhattan Beach. And that's how No Dodger ever has that going on right now, I can guarantee you that. So I would say, to a certain extent, you're right then, but these guys have something Piazza never got and that's a World Series championship with the Dodgers. Yeah, no, I I get it, but I mean that, and they were convinced.

I remember living in the past, man, it was great. Now we're talking about Bellinger, seeger Well, Jim wet Up, Jim Tracy. Man, what do you want that's in the past? You in context the type of people that you suck up to. I didn't know. I didn't suck up the pia That was your the big nasty, the great Joe McDonald, late great Joe McDonald. He was in the he was in the Mike Piazza camp. He was a p I'm saying Jim Tracy was your guy, Joe McDonald and myself

Mike Piazza guys. So there's the disparity of who we associate ourselves with and who you associate yourselves with. We associated ourselves with greatness. You associated to yourself with mediocrity. No, no, no, I was also Mond to see that was my guy. Yah, that was great, Mandy. He's got a kid with the Royals now, John Green, I think that trade worked out better. No no, Mondy was great. Bazuoka for an armed, exciting

ball player, he had that little wow. I mean, he had that little glitch where he couldn't hit the breaking ball low in a way he kept swinging at. But other than that, if you didn't throw that pitch, Mondy was ill be sure. I'll be sure to tell Sean Green next time I see him that you thought it was a bad trade. And I think you said about Sean I'll let him know. None of us I like Sean Green, but Mondy, I mean, that was my guy. And he kept changing teams. He went to the Blue Jays,

he played with the Yankees. He actually got so upset with the Yankees. He they were playing the Red Sox at Finway and he left. He took a car and drove back to New York. He got so upset with the with Joe Torrey. At the time, he was he was very very and then who was I was the guy when he stop for a d U y in

Glendale here in Los Angeles. All he told the police officer was well, the other part of that story, which I we allowed to tell that part of the story and out because I was in the clubhouse when when that news came down, and I thought, wow, I mean, I mean, listen, Mandy, if he needed a shoulder massage. I was there to give her old Mondes shoulder. I was, but but well, no, he supposedly the legend is and I I didn't witness this firsthand, but I was in

the clubhouse and there was a buzz. He shows up and he I believe, he tossed the paperwork to Derrek Hall, who's now the like the CEO of the Diamondbacks, but he was a Dodger PR guy, and like told him to take care of this. He handed the paperwork from the d U I and told him go take care of this. And uh, who else Dave? Remember Dave Hansen? Come on one of the hands. I was one of the hands. Talked. He's a great guy. How's he doing? I haven't talked to him in years. He was coaching.

He coached for a bunch of different teams for years. He was a hitting coach for the Angels and the Mariners and the Diamondbacks and and all that. What's he up to these days? He actually helps kids. He's a hitting coach for kids down in uh southern Orange County. And he was a roving hitting instructor for the San Francisco Giants. Last time I checked, but I'm not sure if the analytically inclined far on anxiety kept him around. Yeah, he's not a he's not a Poindexter's. He just knows

how to play baseball. That's not something that's valued anymore. Yeah, it sounds like you're on my side fast day. When it comes to analytics. It sounds like you're like, hey, this whole analytical thing, man, this is not the way to go, right, A little balanced, everything in moderation, right, exactly, everything in moderation. You know, the analytical world accused the old school baseball people are being too set in their

ways towards that end of the spectrum. Yet the new wave analytical people, as evident by Kevin Cash is poor decision to take Blake Snell out of Game five of the World Series. They are very set in their ways and each they're more dug in on on their analytics than baseball people are as far as uh evaluating with their eyes and with the scouts. Because I know Tony LaRussa he was doing analytics in a notebook with Dave Duncan when he was managing the Oakland A So they

were doing that way before computer programs were coming out. Hey, that's a Are you having as much fun now as you did when you first started with the Dodgers and with KA l C. Yeah, yeah, I am. I I

still enjoy it. I love going best part of my day is going into the clubhouse and interacting with the players and finding ways to connect fans with those guys and humanizing those guys because so many people viewed them as the you know, cartoon characters and people that aren't real human beings, and guys like Don Mallard take shots at athletes all the time, but no regard for It's just a job, essay. It goes with the territory. It's gotta criticize, you can't. I can't be a suck up

like you twenty four hours a day. When somebody saw I have to give tough love, that's what I do. Listen, I'm convinced. I I had fired Dave Roberts seven times, I had traded Kershaw twelve times, and because of that, they finally went out and one they responded, They responded Vessey. So now all of a sudden, Dave Roberts is a

great manager. Kershaw is an October performer, right, And according to you, no I would still trade Kershaw and I would probably fire Roberts, but they did win, so that's good. All right. Well, at least you're consistent. I like that. David, speaking of consistency, like, how hard is that for you not to be a Homer Because you get a lot of guys, it doesn't matter if it's in l A or Anheim or San Diego, like a lot of guys waving the pompons that work for the team on radio

or on television. There's that flying line you gotta take between being in you know, a journalist or radio guy, a TV guy, and being a full fledged fan. But we get too much of that these days. Yeah, that's not something that I grew up with. Uh, with broadcasters like Don Drysdale, Vince Scully, Chick Hearne, Bob Miller, Ross Porter, those guys were never Homers. That's not something that we were brought up on here in Los Angeles. We don't

want that. That's for other small towns where they're broadcasters are the Harry Carey's, the Hawk Harrelson's where they're trying to be the Homers. They love that over there in Chicago. That's not something that I grew up listening to with those Hall of Fame broadcasters, transcendent broadcasters. They would let you know in their own way that they thought the team wasn't playing well or a particular player may not

be fitting with the team. So I may be more blunt than those guys were, but that's I'm not a play by play guy that work for the team. I obviously have to walk a fine line. But fans are not dumb. They can see what is right, what is wrong, who's not playing well, And if you're going to continue to pretend like things are not occurring, then you're not gonna be garnering much credibility with those listeners. So that's

that's what I grew up on. And I try to be constructive whenever I do feel like there's a shortcoming on the team. Um, and there's always that fine line, and some fans think I'm a homer. Sometimes the team believes I'm too critical, so I guess I'm doing my job if both sides have an issue. Yeah, there's always

good nights that'll text bend randomly. I think in particular last year when the Dodgers got beat by Washington, that series was over and I'm driving home and listen to k L a C. Because he's covered up like he naturally is, and he and yeah, and I'll say, hey, Vass is a red ass Tonight'll ask why. I'll be like, he's just he's taking shots at every color. It's coming

up with some stupid ship. Yeah, I mean, especially like call I mean that's another thing when people are driving home, like you Gascon, where you're listening to these callers, if they're if they're not making sense and they sound ridiculous, am I going to pretend like they're a tremendous caller And I'm gonna be Wow, that is unbelievable. Point that you just brought up that maybe Clayton Kershaw should play left field instead of pitch And there's no way I

can do that, and nobody's turn off the radio. But now that's what I do, though, best is I make every crappy caller I baffling, you know, just wonderful, amazing. See that's the secret to my successful say, that's the difference. I can take a crap caller and mold them into an average caller. Who who would you say you've done the best work with Genie and Medford. Yeah, yeah, Genie was. Ye, Genie was a fine woman, alcoholic and uh, we love Jennie and yeah, that's a good call. Like Jennie started

calling the show because she vasse. I don't know if you know the story, but Jeannie was one of my regular calls. She died a couple of years ago. But she started calling the show because she got arrested for for calling nine one one because she would drink a lot of wine and get lonely and wanted someone to talk to. So she'd call nine one one to talk to the nine one one operator and then they're like, hey, uh,

you know you can't do that. So they rested her and they told her just call a radio station, and so she started she started calling me. And that's the legend. Yeah, there you go, helping helping one life at a time. Who's the most how many regulars? And we used to have when I did it with Ross back and then we had Jeane and Redondo Beach that used to call every Dodger talk. You would get a call and he would be the expert, had all the answers. Do you

still have that scene? Remember him? Yeah? Jeane was Oh my god, he might Redondo Beach. I don't know what happened to him. Um, I do have a few. David in Alhambra, um who is uh so he's he's loyal. Is Abelle in in Buena Park, I have, I have her. Um. I'm trying to recall who else is a is a guy? Um? Somebody in San Francisco. We have a listener in San Francisco that calls all the time as well. So yeah, we have our regulars. I got you, and now before

I cannot have as Tom Ben not impressed with those regulars. No, that does not move the hell. I mean, you gotta get Genie and Medford. You gotta get your Genieume ever Pete in Pittsburgh, Lance the bust Drive, I have them. I just told you who they are. But They'm not gonna sit here and rip my collars like you. I humiliate the callers. I embarrassed it because they embarrassed me. They disappoint me every time they call these people. But

that happens to me too. I take that that one too many phone calls, like I mean, maybe I shouldn't have taken that all. Then I have to go to the well one more time to feel good. About myself and then always disappoints. You're right, You're like me. You're like you. You prepare all you know, day, all night for the show. You're all excited. You get to be on the radio, and then you know, some slap dick calls up and ruins the show, and you're like, what

why did I spend all my time preparing? And then at this guy, you know, two minutes sabotage my work? How dare you sabotage my That's how I look at it, Vesta. You get ready, you want to do a professional job on the radio, and then some drunkard calls up and just you tumble off the cliff exactly right. What's next for you? I mean, you've been doing this for quite a while. What's what's next on the horizon for you?

What do you want to do? I don't really know, you know, this is uh, this is the mountaintop for me. So I'm not sure where I go from here. But eventually I'd like to spend more time with my family. For sure. Being on the road a lot, it's not conducive to having two young kids. So eventually I'd like to find something that can fulfill all of that and find that balance at home. Was this what you always wanted to do, though, or was it something else? No, Yeah,

this is my dream job. This is what I always wanted to do. Host Dodger Talk and travel with the team, or you know, do something similar to this with the Lakers as well. So yeah, these it was the Dodgers or Lakers that I that I wanted to be with on a daily basis. So would you consider producing for the Ben and Dave shows more of like an internship more as like just like yeah stepping Yeah, not something that prominent. Great, It's listen. When I met Vesta, he

was pushing shopping carts at Costco. This guy has. This guy's alleged he has risen from the mean parking lots at Costco and has dominated the l A radio landscape for for decades. Right, I mean this is a long You've had a long run before. You did the Dodger Talk with the Petrols and Money Show and the Ben and Dave Show back in the day and all that. Now you also do television, right, and you're a TV guy. Not only are you on the MLB network, right, you fill in on the Dodgers. Can I've seen you on

there a few times. You've been in studio providing witty commentary, and you know, how often do you do the TV stuff? Do you like TV more than radio? Because I like radio more than TV. I've done a little TV, but I like radio. Do you like TV more than radio? Because TV people get paid more of esse. I would

say that's the greatest gain of doing television for sure. Um. But yeah, I started to back up Alana Rizzo a couple of years as being the sideline reporter on sports Net l A and I do reports for MLB Network. You're right then, so I appreciate you keeping tabs monitoring my my movement. But yeah, it's great to have that type of exposure. And you know, it's both are different mediums. Uh. I would say television is great in short spurts. You can't you don't have the full blank canvas that you

do on radio. But TV has its perks. Two, because when I was doing TV, the players would definitely uh not stop messing with me. Kershaw one time did some football stance and started punching me in the or pushing me in the chest while I was on the air. David Freese was put a helmet on my head, so it was. It's it's always interesting. I'll say that they have it's their canvas to mess with me more than

my canvas to paint fascinat. Have you ever gotten caught in a in a mix up like we've had back in the day with Rob Dibble and Lou Panella and ship like that with managers and players and journalists and reporters. Wow, No, you know everybody is so pc these days. That doesn't happen anymore. I've never seen that either a player will just be short with them, but I've never I've never

been through anything close to that. That would be phenomenal if that happened, but the personalities are not like that anymore. I don't know if i'd want to back you in a fight against Milton Bradley, though, I'll be honest, No Ben knows this. I was Milton Bradley guy. We used to talk a lot when he played for the Dodgers, but unfortunately he had some other demons that he uh, he couldn't hide anymore. My god, Milton got I was

in there one day. He got so upset with Jason Reid, who was the Dodger beat writer, at the time, and he was screaming at him and Mike, but it was fun. That was kind of the tipping point for sure. Yeah, back in the day though, essay before everything did become people. I blame social media because without social media, because everything on social media right away it's in your face on Twitter,

you know, like two seconds later. But I remember, uh, Johnny Oates, the Rangers manager, he got into it in the locker room when I was in there years ago randomly. Uh, well remember the the Matt Williams thing when Matt goll upset with me, got in my face and uh and and had me kicked out. And they've been Tony Phillips back in the These are all old references, Vessey, but I remember there were several like heated confrontation situations in locker rooms. But he does not seem like it was

like very You're right, mellow. They don't want to they don't want to stir the pot too much. Where are the hotheads in baseball vasse? Where have they all gone? Exactly? I don't I'm not sure. I total arusa being back

in Chicago. He'll make some people uncomfortable. I remember being a reporter just covering all the teams in l A. Ben and Bobby Valentine was the manager for the Mets, and I was in his office after a game at Dodgers Stadium, and I guess he felt like I had my microphone too close to his face, and he actually pushed my microphone back. That's a close up with dust

stuff I've had. I remember Jim for Gosie, the late Jim for when he was managing the Phillies, and this was after they got to the World Series and lost, and he was so the Phillies would come out to the West Coast and just get their face bashed in by the Padres and the Dodgers, like every year they couldn't, couldn't.

They were confounded by playing in the and by the time they would get to l A after losing in San Diego, for Gosie was spitting mad, screaming at reporters, screaming at his players, like you never see that kind of stuff anymore, the hotheadness. Yeah now, but now, Vasse though, how is your Aaron Boone was fired up a couple of times towards umpires, but you don't see that towards reporters. They just hire they seem to hire just mellow guys

that it used to be. I'll go there. It used to be back in the day, you'd hire a mellow manager and then you'd hire a hothead, right, you go from hothead like that's why the Yankees kept bringing back Billy Martin, because they'd hire a mellow guy and then that didn't work, so they bring in the hothead, Billy Martin. And it used to be that was the formula. Now

they all kind of hire the same guys. You just it's like you change one chair and you and you put in another chair that looks exactly the same, but maybe it's a little bit, you know, the color is off a little bit, but it's almost the same. There's no there's really they're all the same type of manage. As you said, Larus is the exception of the rule because he's old, but all these other guys are. They're all kind of wired the same way. They're pretty mellow,

and they go by the book and that's it. Yeah, no one. There's no emotional moves being made in baseball these days, before the game, during the game, or after the game. It's all very measured and that's a product of the front office is really taking control of pregame planning and also who they want to work with. Yeah, it was it was Azzi in the last hothead manager might have been Yeah, that's a great call. It might have been Ausi g in. Don Mattingly's even a mellow guy.

You would think he'd be a guy that get fired up. He's even when he used to want to send messages to his players through the media, he would do it in a very measured way as well. Yeah, well ask you this now with COVID this year and you covered the team, but it's a lot different. You couldn't go in the locker room, right, you were banned from You didn't have the access. I was on a different tier. Yeah,

I was on a different tier. Players and staff were on the first two tiers, and uh, broadcasters like myself, Rick Monday, um, guys like that, Joe Davis and orl Hirschheiser. We were only confined to the press box and our broadcast booths, and I couldn't even be in the same broadcast booth with Rick Monday. The Dodgers did a great job of trying to keep everybody safe and separate, and

they really accomplished a lot of things. So I have to give the Dodgers props for for doing a lot of good things to keep everybody that was doing their job they're safe. So yeah, that's that. That was the setup. Even when I went to Texas, I was only allowed to be in the press box. So when the Dodgers won the World Series, that's as close as I got. And we had a headset in the clubhouse, so guys like Mookie Betts and Corey Seeger put on the headset and I would talk to them from my broadcast booth.

So how how much more difficult? Obviously it was a lot different, lot a lot more difficult. Like your job is to be around the players and to to do all the interviews of essay and all that, and you know, I I'd watch you be in the clubhouse all the time and booking guys to do your pregame interviews and all. So, like, how how much harder was it this year? Because you still had to do that stuff, right, They didn't tell you not to do that. You still had to interview

the players. It was like on zoom calls, right exactly. Yeah. I got a lot of help from one of the Dodgers pr people. His name's Wan Dorado. He deserves a lot of credit because he would be my my guy to ask these players every day whether or not they could do a zoom pregame interview with me. So I give him a lot of credit for delivering for me. But yeah, that's the way I would do it. Then

my pregame interviews would be over zoom. And I guess the good part is I could not only play it during our radio pregame show, but also posted on our social media and people could see the players and us do this interview together. So there was good and bad to all of it. But I would say that's the positive where it could be used on different platforms and and the fans could get a peek inside of just how we do these pregame interviews. Now have I say.

I talked to a buddy of mine who covers baseball on the East Coast who's convinced. He swears that it is never going back to the way that it was, that baseball is gonna take advantage even when they get a placebo and the coronavirus is just a memory and it's just a seasonal thing that they're the media restrictions

are going to be in place. Do you you buy that or do you think it will go back to the way that it had been for forever and ever and ever As far as access to the clubhouse, Yeah, I'm talking about media access and just having the freedom to go into the clubhouse whenever you want before the games and after the games. That they're gonna gonna lock that down and it's not going to go back to

the way that it had been. Yeah, I could see that, because I know there have been talks um part of this new collective Bargaining Agreement negotiation going on um that there is a possibility that it could be closed off to the media before the games completely and only allowed in after games. Because if you remember, Ben, when we first started, you can go inside the clubhouse two separate

times before the game started. You can go into the clubhouse before batting practice, and they also would allow you to go back in after batting practice. And uh, within the last ten years, they stopped media from being allowed to go back into the clubhouse after the team came off the field for their batting practice. So yeah, I could see. I could see this prompting some questions about

how much access does the media really need? And I think that conversation was going on even before COVID nineteen hit and all the restrictions. Now, David, we must mention here you are not only on the Mallard radio treat, the Petro's radio treat, but you are on the big Nasty l a radio legend. I mentioned him earlier, the

great Joe McDonald. How much fun would Joe have Big Joe? Now, with everything going on in the world, can you imagine the kind of nonsense and for vality that Big Joe in l a radio icon if he was still with us? My god, this why if he was only around and think about the nonsense he did back in the day, and now you were around him forever. Ust you learned from him? But think about what he would have done with with the politics and the coronavirus and the Dodgers

and all the nonsense. This would have been his mona, Lisa, it would have been if he would have Uh, he would have been kind of the wave that I think we need to rock. So much political correctness, and he

obviously wasn't shy to share his political views. I'm sure he would have a lot of fun with the political season going on and everything that's taken place the last four years, and we definitely missed his voice because I know a lot of people didn't believe this, but at times he was the voice of reason in his own bombastic type of way. So yeah, he would. He would have a fielding with a lot of stuff that's going on in the real world and in sports, and he

definitely was my mentor and night I miss him. And I don't know if you know this, Bend, but I do pay tribute to Joe. At the end of every Dodger talk show, Yeah, what do you do? I'm normally doing my show. By the time you get done with Dodgers, I gotta gonna be finished. I know that's true. I I text you like any time a Dodger game goes late, and I'm like, Hey, what time you gonna get off? Because talking if I talk about the Dodgers and I'm not even on in l A, We're not clear to light.

What's the point of talking about the Dodgers. I gotta so I gotta wait until you get done. And then I remember that one game in San Francisco a couple of years ago, you ended like at two in the morning or so. It was ridiculous. It was like the entire show is that's not my fault. I don't want to end that true in the morning, that's just the way the game went. No, but it affects my life, so I don't like that. So what what do you

do to honor the great Joe McDonald? Well, if you remember when he hosted the UH the McDonald Douglas Show, he would always sign off by saying, so you like in a loud, loud, long drawn out way, and that, Yeah, that's my O to Big Joe. After he passed away, I always wanted to find a way to pay tribute to him, and some people have caught it. Not a lot of people have. So I just thought I'd still you in on that and I haven't forgotten him, and yeah, that's the way I that's the way I pay tribute

to him at the end of every show. That's a great tribute. And I had the interesting UH life where I worked with Hacksaw and Joe and Hacksaw were like blood rivals, right sports radio wars in southern California, So I saw both sides of it. But Big Joe was He's like the Frances I loved you, Ben, Ben, he loved you for sure, he really liked you. No, no, we did. We had it. We had one beef, but we became very good friends. Everybody has a pief with show everybody. But you found your way back. Yes, I

found my way back in the good graces there. And do you still talk to Doug Crecorn, the Great Dougcorns? You still talked to him today? I talked to him at least twice a week. He's enjoying retirement in the beautiful Naples community of Long Beach. I gotta get him on the podcast. I don't know if you would do it. I get Oh, that would be great. We gotta get tell him. I want to put him on the podcast. He used to say nice things back in the day,

and he actually listened, like you. Yeah. The biggest fans that I know of, maybe the only two fans you have that I know of, are Rick Monday and Duck Riccordian. That's right, the great Rick. We gotta get Monday on here too. Monday is great. Don't don't wow. I think he's the closet listener. I don't believe he wanted me to disclose how much he likes your show. I know, I hear that a lot from people are like that.

I don't really you know, they can't admit it. It's like Trump, they can't admit they like it, but they kind of, you know, like whatever. So anyway, all right, well listen, ve'sse We thank you. You're an amazing person, human being. And now it's your off season. So when does off season Dodger talk start next week? Or when is this? When is this? Yeah, I'm not sure. We're

trying to figure it out. A lot of sports are starting to hit at the same time now, with U c l A Football, the Clippers starting up around Christmas time, so we're gonna find time for sure to ride this wave. The Dodgers winning the World Series for the first time in thirty two years. It's awesome. And just in case anybody from the Dodgers is monitoring this, what ring size do you have? When they get that word, what size ring do they need to get your SA? Do you

know your rings? I do not know. I haven't had my ring my ring finger size since I was married nine years ago. All right, but you are willing to have your ring size for the proper world see ring. Yes, And everybody seems to be more concerned about whether or not I'm getting a ring than I am about it because, like I said, I always say it's about the players, and I actually feel like they hand out too many rings. Ben it should be more limited than it is these days.

It's about the players, it's about the play by play broadcasters, the front office. That's who it's about. Now, that's bullcrap. David Vasse needs a World Series ring. I know you're being the good guy in all that FSA. You deserve one. They give these things out and that's the proper etiquette. You've been with the team, you've been traveling with the team for a decade. You've paid your dues, you've made,

you've been polishing turds at times. These guys haven't exactly been great all the time, and you've you've pumped them up and you've done You've done your job. So they've got to give you a ring. They don't give your ring.

That's an injustice and heads are gonna roll. You should get a ring, my man, and if not, we will start a go fund me campaign and or either that or you can go I'm sure next year fans are back, and I'm gonna definitely be at this game beast when they give out the fake rings, you know, the replica ry. Oh yeah, I was there. Yeah, I'll be there. Yeah. That's a great night, man, that is I will definitely. Oh man, that is awesome. All well, thank you, Muss.

They enjoy your off season. I appreciate it. Thank you. All right, guys, thanks for having me. Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Meller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven p m. Pacific