Transcript of Linda Cohn's Legendary Career + The Pitch Clock | Hour 3 | Hour 3 (feat. Linda Cohn & Jordan Shusterman)

Denk an den 31.

Juli!

Wieso?

Last Call für deine Steuer!

Oh no, ich weiß gar nicht, wo ich anfangen soll.

Bei Wieso Steuer? Das ist wie Steuererklärung, nur ohne Stress.

Ist das einfach?

Klar, macht fast alles automatisch.

Dauert das lange?

Nö, einfach per App.

Na dann.

Hol dir jetzt dein Geld zurück mit Wieso Steuer. Bis zum 31. Juli abgeben.

You are listening to the Dan Levitan Show in partnership with the DraftKings Sports App. Now live in all 50 states.

We are about to be joined by Linda Cohn, an absolute legend who is worth a toast. Yeah, I can't think of anybody we've ever had on worth a toast more than Linda Cohn. Linda, worth a toast presented by Cuervo. Keep it fun, keep it Cuervo.

Linda.

Yeah, Linda retired from ESPN on Tuesday, 34 years there. You might be surprised to know, longest tenured SportsCenter anchor. She has anchored more editions of SportsCenter than anyone in ESPN history. Linda, thank you for making the time for us. Congratulations. What have the last couple of weeks been like and how much did you wrestle with this decision?

Dan, most important, where's my glass? My goodness. I mean, come on. Yeah.

Fail your bias.

First of all. Yeah. Listen, so great to be on with you, Dan, and all you guys. You guys do such a great job. Love the show. Just any— Dan, Dan and I, we go way back. But I don't— you know, it was a mutual decision, mutual walk away. I'm grateful for everything that happened and has happened at ESPN. I think it goes both ways there. But, you know, now it's on to the next. I just retired from ESPN. I look back with very grateful and fond memories and also the people that I work with and, you know, the people that I inspired. I'm just so grateful for the outpouring, the nice messages and text messages sometimes. Sometimes, as you know, Dan, we forget. We're just doing something we love, right? And, you know, we forget that we've been doing this for so long and people have made us part of their sports landscape when you think about it. And those are the kind of words that I'm like, oh, wow, wow. Yeah, I guess so. I got to just reflect and enjoy. But now I'm excited about my new platform, @LindaCohnSports on YouTube, where I'm I'll get to do things like you talk to great people and all of you guys and, and you're— I got to build an incredible staff like you have.

So, yeah, it's good. It's just I'm so excited.

Among the things that you've received in the last couple of weeks, which I'm guessing sort of feels a bit like a eulogy while you're still alive in the outpouring, what are the most moving things you're thinking about in terms of people that you've heard from?

Yeah, it's funny, Dan, that you use those words because, you know, please God, let me be on this earth for a few more decades at least. But that's what kind of hit me and resonated when they flew me out to Bristol, Connecticut, the hub of ESPN, as you know. And I was talking to a lot of people and hearing all of this and what I meant. And then I turned to a few people at that time and I said, it hit me then, I'm glad I'm alive for all this. This kind of outpouring usually happens when someone passes away. And so I was really happy about that because we just don't know what kind of impact we make. But I just feel that two main things when I knew I was on the right track early on when I started in 1992 at ESPN, and I worked 10 years before getting to ESPN in broadcasting, working in radio, 7 days a week in New York City doing local Long Island TV and my big break, Seattle at KIRO-TV, a CBS affiliate at the time before ESPN spotted me. But the two, the two— when I look back professionally on my legacy is that, yes, all these young women that watch me in kindergarten, first grade, second grade, watch me on SportsCenter behind the desk, realizing that they too could do this, that they— it's just not them sitting on the couch with their dad or mom watching sports.

They could do this for a living because they saw me up there. That meant a lot. And then hearing their stories during the last week after the announcement. And then I knew I was on the right track also, guys, when, when I first started and every year after that, I would run into guys in places, restaurants, bars, sports bars, arenas, stadiums, whatever. And they would say they never took their sports from a woman before me. And, and now— and they always prefaced it with, don't take this the wrong way. And I'm like, How could I take that the wrong way? That's the greatest compliment ever. And that's when I knew, you know, I'm in the right place.

To that point, Emily Kaplan writes, Linda paved the way for so many women in this industry by being her authentic self. She also helped carry the torch for hockey on ESPN in between rights deals. Absolute legend. Do you have a— not a specific compliment, but a person who gave you a compliment that was more meaningful than the others because of whatever that person means to you.

Yeah, Dan, I mean, I know it sounds generic for me to say, but they all— what touched me about comments like Emily's and other women that are in the business now and just regular sports fans, women that felt it was possible to love sports as much as guys, it was always the same kind of words about they never would have done it, like they never would have had the confidence, they never would have felt it was okay. Also, the genuine part of it, right? That's what I'm really proud of, Dan. I'm always me. It was always fan first for me when I was on the SportsCenter set.

I—

it was important for me to connect to the fan because I am a sports fan. I didn't suddenly turn on a switch and say, all right, I'm going to be this broadcaster and win a few Emmys and, you know, make people cry in interviews. No, that's not what I was about. That's— this was about connecting with the fans and also being pro athlete. I mean, in a small way, you know, I played hockey. I was a goalie, made the boys team in high school, played all 4 years in college at Oswego State. You know, so I was an athlete in some capacity. And so I always understood what they went through. And also early on in SportsCenter, as you guys know, we were the only game in town. And so it was extra inspiration for me. I knew I was making an impact every show. I never rested on any laurel. And thinking, oh, you know, I've been here 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, and I don't have to try so hard. And I always felt that I have to make believe somebody was watching me for the very first time and I had to prove I belonged.

Linda, we know sports media has changed. Television on ESPN has changed. Do you miss how big SportsCenter used to be?

Yeah.

You know, we can't always go back, right? It was just different. That's the kind of comments I hear from, you know, followers and viewers and listeners. Fans who always say to me, you know, SportsCenter is just not the same. It hasn't been for a while. Everybody loves nostalgia. You guys know that. Everybody loves that golden era. It was special. Yes, it was special in the '90s and early 2000s. And then it all changed a lot for the good and some for the not so good. The good is the technical innovations, right? You know, ESPN, give them credit. They always were ahead of the game with certain technical innovations, even though SportsCenter anchors weren't so thrilled with many of those innovations, because we felt that at first it took away from what we were doing, our writing. You know, people were always shocked in the early days when I would tell them we'd write our own stuff. Everyone was convinced we had writers. But that helped bring out our personality. Another great thing that helped the popularity of SportsCenter, beside it being the only game in town and people connecting to that golden era, you know, is the fact that those commercials, When ESPN decided to hire a big-time advertising agency to make This Is SportsCenter, right, to have our personalities come out and have athletes come in and donate their compensation to charity.

And they all wanted to do it. And we felt like we were movie stars on these 10-hour movie sets all day and then do a show at night at the same day and not get paid extra. But that was a game changer, I felt, for ESPN and SportsCenter, because that made us real and genuine and fun. We were allowed. It was like the handcuffs were off. At least it was for me, because the first few years when I was there, I didn't want to upset the apple cart. I was a woman in a man's world. I didn't want to do— I mean, even the— even what I wore was so conservative, you know? I mean, I was like, although, you know, early '90s, it wasn't like, look at me kind of thing.

Oh, but you weren't that conservative. I can't imagine what executive ghoul approached you when you described Mike Piazza home runs. Mike Piazza, master batter, master batter. Like, you weren't that conservative.

Well, you know me, Dad. This is it, though. They didn't let the real me out. And then one time I snuck it out and I got in trouble. Yeah. You know, the pressure of having catchphrases, right? I mean, everyone had it. The late, great Stuart Scott was the master of it, of course. And I felt a little bit of pressure and I'm like, all right, you know, and my friend Susie, who lives in North Carolina, she had a softball team called the Master Batters. And then it just clicked on, came to me, and I thought, oh, this is so subtle. Apparently not subtle.

No, not, not subtle. But does that rank as the most trouble that you got into, or is there a story better than that one? Mike Piazza on home runs, master batter.

No, I think that's it. Yeah, I think that's it. I think it's something I'm proud of. I wrote about it years ago in my book Conehead, where I had a funny look at my life and my professional and personal career up to that point. But Yeah, that was it, Dan. I'm sorry to disappoint. There was nothing controversial to my— I did get suspended, though, once by John Skipper. You know, I think it was like a day or something. I mean, it was basically, you know, it's like athletes when they get suspended and they still get paid. That was, that was what this was. I think I ripped the— I think I ripped the company, not ripped them, but I just made my opinion about something. I don't even remember what it was, but it was back when politics weren't a big deal.

Now, Miss Linda Cohen, I do believe—

like, yeah, yeah, it was, it was just something. I don't know what it was now. And also another time I got reprimanded but not suspended. I remember back in the day, Sidney Crosby, when he suffered all those concussions and he did a press conference on— and ESPN took it live, but they only took it for like a couple of minutes. And I went on Twitter, Dan, and the guys, I said, I can't believe you're not staying with us for the entire thing. We're talking about Sidney Crosby. The guy just suffered multiple concussions. His career might be in jeopardy. I literally put it all out there. And then one of the bosses at the time texted me and said, Linda, will you please take that down? You're ripping the company.

Linda, you've done more editions of SportsCenter than anyone, more than 5,000. What are your memories of the very first one in terms of butterflies or nerves or what have you?

Yeah, kind of like you, right? You guys all have butterflies, right? The first time you did something that you have never done before. Admit it. That's how I was. But I couldn't have been luckier to have Chris Myers, the great Chris Myers, as my co-host for the first SportsCenter. Was it 2:00 a.m. Eastern on a Saturday night? You heard me. 2:00 AM Eastern. Yeah, I spent my life for the first couple years that kind of schedule, but I loved it because it was highlight-driven. But yeah, I was a little nervous. But Chris made me feel right at home. And again, I just didn't want to screw anything up. I just didn't want to mispronounce a name. Even though I've had great upbringing and my work in Seattle really prepared me. I would never screw up hockey names, of course. But my work in Seattle, there were a lot of like Native American names of towns, and I ripped when I screwed up those names. So I vowed to myself, I will always get it right when it comes to pronunciation. So that was what was on my mind. And then for the first few minutes, then I was golden.

Then I was like, let's go.

Can you top me when I go all in with the best hockey name being Rutsalainen? Do you have something? Do you have something better for me than Rutsalainen?

Oh man, Rutsalainen. There's just so many.

I—

this is, um, You know, they used to be— you're right. Back in the day also, they were so much better. But I think— wow, I don't know if I can top you for that, man.

You don't have to. That's okay. I win. I like my hands.

You win.

Hey, Dan, but can you spell it?

Oh, God, no. Do you want to hear from the fake John Skipper again? He was interrupted before and he fell on the floor. Give it another try. Fake John Skipper.

Thank you, Dan Lebatard. I do believe Miss Linda will have to sit out a day of work. We will pay her, of course, but She can come back in 24 hours' time.

That was Foghorn Leghorn at the end.

Dan, do you approve of that? Wait, wait, wait. I got to get Dan's okay. You like that impression? No.

I do declare that it is a decent impression. I hate it.

It is Foghorn Leghorn all the way.

Take that up with him. He's the one that decided to start sounding like Foghorn Leghorn.

Linda, congratulations.

We're all dating ourselves with Father and Life More, by the way. I'll give you 3 stars. I'll give you 3 stars.

Very charitable. Very charitable. Linda, a delight. Congratulations. Thank you for being on with us. And congratulations on a truly amazing career. 3 and a half decades. That is nuts. Thank you, Linda.

Yeah, thanks so much. Follow me at Linda Cohn Sports on YouTube. More to come. Dan, you're the best. You guys are awesome.

Continued success.

You're a legend.

Linda.

Yes, that's right.

@LindaColmSports on YouTube. Uh, uh, real quick here, can you get for me some sort of commentary anywhere from the internet? Someone, anyone, anywhere celebrating or, or being neutral about what it is that Boston and the Boston Celtics just did?

I got a note from the Mike Schur. I reached out to him. I said, what's your comment?

Dot, dot, dot.

He goes, here's my comment: put Tatum's rings in a box, put Bam's rings in a box, and see which box has more rings. He added, you can have Giannis, we'll take PG, and we'll see who's better when we face off in the second round of the play-in tournament. Miami losing 7-8 game, Celtics winning 9-10 game.

Loser.

Those, uh, scoring at home, that's just one more ring.

Can you get me, please, the critical tweet from a fellow journalist who called me a ghoul so that I can read it to the audience off of the internet? Here is Zach Schwartz. Dan is a hack and Pearlman is such a blowhard. Dan hasn't asked a critical question to a guest in 8 years, and Pearlman is mad that Strahan didn't try to get Chris Johnson to blame football for his ALS diagnosis. Ghoulish weirdos, both of them. Just look at their replies.

It's been 3 years.

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Down, Levitar!

I'm not going to apologize.

I'm—

I wouldn't expect you to apologize. Then you're a giant infant. Okay, you have no control over your emotions. You have no control over your emotions when you're calling someone you know an idiot. I don't deserve it. Okay, I don't deserve it. All right, and you're a fool for saying it.

Okay, Greg Cody, you're a fool.

Yeah, I was kind of following you.

Oh, you're locking in right now? You're locking in on us?

Yeah.

All right, let's drop the gloves, pal.

You should be thanking me. For what? Every day for what?

For what I've done around this character.

And the second shit gets real for you, you want to come at me and call me a fool?

Huh?

No, no, no, seriously, Jeremy. Seriously, pal. I've added 10 years to your career.

This is the Dan Levitan Show.

So ever since we let the audience know what our records were, I'm 2-0. How does that make you feel?

Like shit.

I just wanted to make sure you felt like Let's start the show. Welcome to the Pitch Clock. Here's the pitch: a two-part baseball segment combining a nostalgic baseball trivia game and an interview with an expert. This is the Pitch Clock. Pitch Clock is back.

We started.

Hi everybody, have you been congested for 3 weeks?

I know, it's ridiculous.

You sound terrible. I know it's really pollenous outside.

Olivia, uh, yell into the microphone how you feel about that. Disgusting. It's disgusting.

It's true.

So we have baseball to get to here though, and we have baseball trivia to get to as I'm trying to make it 3 in a row. So Ethan, what do we got going on?

All right.

We're a few weeks late to the trend, but never too late to the party, right? As long as you show up, that's all that matters. So we are going to play 162 and 0.

That's what they say.

Favorite of the horn section recently, guys. So we're gonna hop in right here, and Jeremy, you are on a streak right now. You have won 2 in a row, you're going for 3. The ball is yours, you have won the coin toss.

The ball is mine.

Would you like to go first or second?

I defer.

All right, you're gonna defer your option to the second half.

So Chris, buddy, to see the standard, you are going to go first.

You're gonna set the standard for us. Now what we're gonna do is we're gonna play the modern version of 1-6-2-0. So this is the '80s and later., and we're going to go with the stats visible version.

That's smart.

So if you can watch in the corner here, wherever you are on your screen, you'll be able to at least jog your memory a bit about some of these.

For those of you who want to play along or play your own version of this, if you haven't, it's diamond-draft.app. That's where you play 162-0 to build the perfect lineup.

Right off the tongue.

Man of the people. Uh, Chris Cody, are you ready?

No.

Okay, well, you better be.

All right, now I'm ready.

Here we go.

All right, your first spin. You got the New York Mets of the 2020s.

And is this like the other one where I can do a decade?

You can breathe, spin, and one, one each on team and decade.

And also, just so the audience knows as well, uh, you need a, a person at each position as well as DH, a starting pitcher, and a relief pitcher.

Correct.

And, uh, when you play this game, the It's, it's through rankings so that the best players are right there at the top.

Uh, okay, this is 2020s. I'm gonna go with Jacob deGrom.

Smart.

It's a great pick.

Jacob deGrom's great.

So your starting pitcher is now taken. Jacob deGrom is your starting pitcher. All right, next up, the St. Louis Cardinals of the 2020s as well.

Give me a little scrollski.

All right, got Goldschmidt, Arenado.

Contreras.

All right, give me, give me Goldie.

All right, Goldschmidt, future Hall of Famer. Would you like to assign him to first base or DH?

First.

Okay, this is a smart play.

I don't know if that was smart, but here we are.

All right, next up, the Atlanta Braves of the 2000s.

Oh, this is the good stuff right here.

You got Chipper, Gary Sheffield.

I'll go Chip. Let's go, Gary. I'll go Gary.

Third base, left field, or DH?

Left field.

Left field.

My favorite part of this game is that because it includes like everyone, it's like there are relievers who pitched 3 games.

Yes.

That will be at the top.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And if their numbers were good, I think that's— spin it.

It's a flaw in the game, but I think it's kind of fun. Our 2026 MLB expert is one of my favorites, Jordan Schusterman of the Baseball Barbecast. Cast, joins us yet again. He's back and I'm happy to have him here. And we've got a variety of things to get to. I want to start with you in New York, Jordan, because New York baseball is in one of the strangest places I've seen it in quite a while, because not only are the Mets metzing everywhere, reaching 50 losses in a season, quicker than any time in the last 3 decades. But the Yankees have had a pretty dreadful June. As of the time of this recording, they had 3 or fewer hits in 4 consecutive games for the first time in franchise history, and they've now moved to 1-18 in their last 19 at Fenway Park in June, which is just a strange stat, but it's a fun one that I had to bring to you. But the question I have for you right now, Jordan, is actually, despite the fact that it might seem like an obvious question. Who has it worse right now between the Yankees and the Mets?

Yeah, this is an obvious question. It is an interesting one. And I do not blame you for the framing because I too, both on, you know, on our podcast and just over the years since I've been doing this, it is always fun to compare these two teams, these two fan bases, these two experiences. And that's true almost no matter what time of year we're talking. Right. This can be a fun conversation in November, depending on what those teams are doing in the offseason and how they're choosing to add, right? You think about the comparison— comparison— comparing the leadership and all the turnover in the front office and the coaching staff compared to the Yankees, which has been the same, the same, the same. Boone, Cashman, Boone, Cashman, Boone, Cashman, no matter what. And Yankees fans being tired of it, and yet they keep winning. Um, however, we are talking about a team that not only is still in the Yankees, you know, 12 games over .500 with by far the best run differential in the American League, right? You're also talking about a team that has never even sniffed, you know, below .500 in years and years and years, let alone 15 games under before you even get to July.

And so because of that, and you consider just how much chaotic roster movement the Mets have opted into over the last year and how poorly it has gone, they— the Mets are in a— are in a terrible place.

But how about one of the weirdest teams in baseball, the Chicago Cubs, because they were 14-0, like pretty early into the season. Then they lost 14 of 16 near the end of May. Now they're 8-2 in their last 10 at the time of this recording. They're a team that's had 10 walk-offs this season, which leads Major League Baseball. And they just picked up David Peterson because— and this is a stat that, that Ethan, our producer, provided for me— the Cubs presently have 7 pitchers on both the 15-day IL and the 60-day IL. That's what's happened to their pitching. And yet here they stand, just like 4 back of the Brewers, who have been one of the best teams in baseball. How have they done this?

Yeah, I don't know, man. I saw the Cubs at their, at their low point in at the end of May. I saw them in Pittsburgh up close right at the end of that 11 or 10-game losing streak or whatever it was after they had won 10 in a row twice early in the season. And Jed Hoyer spoke about the pitching depth and how it's like, oh my God, it's so bad, I can't believe how injured we are. All right, it's fine, we'll get Boyd back and Cabrera back and we'll be, we'll be fine. And you know, our pitching gets really pushed to its limits. The fact that it has somehow gotten so much worse, like catastrophically worse, and yet they are winning and winning and winning again because The offense is heated back up. This bullpen was kind of anonymous all along and is currently missing Palencia, right? Yeah, I mean, Palencia was the one guy coming into the season that you were like, all right, well, that guy's awesome. I don't know how they'll figure out the rest of it, but at least they have Daniel Palencia. That said, uh, this is going to be tough to keep up.

I'm doing my power rankings right now. I'm writing about trade deadline stuff, and you know, I just don't know how much longer the Cubs can wait. You know, they jumped on David Peterson. I have to imagine they're still making calls to see what other arms they could acquire.

There.

But obviously right now most of the league is still trying to decide whether they're buying and selling, so that's probably a tough conversation to have.

For 22 years on this show, we've debated the greatest athletes of all time. Who's the GOAT in football? Who's the GOAT in soccer? Who's the GOAT in hoops? One thing that we all know is Dan's the GOAT of finding the worst possible take. But there's another kind of MVP/GOAT that doesn't get enough credit. The friend who knows to show up up with enough Miller Lights, plus extra ice, because they just know. The one who already has seats at the bar when you walk up, that is a Miller Time MVP. I've been on this show long enough to know that Dan is going to make everything about his feelings and Jeremy is going to push back on whatever I just said, but here's something nobody on this show will argue with: Miller Lite is the summer beer. The original Miller Lite beer since 1975. This summer, recognize your MVPs. We all have that one friend who makes every game better. Now it's time to give them their moment. Head over to Miller Lite's social media pages to learn more about being a Miller Time MVP. You can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer.

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Ends July 19th.

Terms at downlevitar.com.

Can I tell you something? I don't know, it was maybe like a month ago and I decided to watch Pitch Clock and I told Jeremy, Jonathan Sasslo, this is a good show you're doing. This is the Down Levitar Show.

You got the twins of the '80s.

Okay.

So you got Kirby Puckett in here.

All right, Kirby Puckett. Easy.

Okay.

DH, center field, or right field?

Center field.

Baltimore Orioles of the 2000s.

Where's Cali? I'm gonna do Sammy Sosa.

I was gonna say Sammy Sosa and that .941 OPS. Right field?

Uh, yeah.

It's the Angels in the '80s. Oh, this is gonna be dry.

Let's respin that.

I was gonna say you might want to respin the decade here. The 2010s.

That's I'll take one.

You got Trout, you got Pujols, you got Ohtani.

He's taking Trout.

Do I have any outfielders left? Like outfield spots?

No, you don't. You can, you took them, you took them at DH.

I'll take DH, that's fine.

All right, Trout is the, is the right answer.

So now I need reliever, catcher, and then Astros in the 2020s.

You've got Josh Hader if you need that reliever. You've got José Altuve, Ryan Presley.

I'll go Altuve. Okay. I mean infield.

The Pirates in the '90s. Jason Kendall, Bobby Bonilla at third here.

All right, I guess I'll go Kendall.

Jason Kendall.

It's actually not a bad move.

That is 850 OPS.

You got to remember, not going to do much better than that at catcher. That's a good catcher.

The Reds in the '90s. I mean, lucky you, there's a Hall of Famer that jumps off the—

this is your obvious choice.

I know, but that's offense. I mean, that's defense. I mean, I guess I'll go Barry Larkin.

It's not defense.

He's good enough.

That's a good— that's a good offensive shortstop.

St. Louis Cardinals again of the 2010s.

So I have reliever and what left?

Reliever, third baseman, third base. Matt Carpenter. Let's go C-Shek.

Let's go C-Shek, I guess.

Steve C-Shek.

C-Shek, sure.

Steve C-Shek.

Finally. Oakland Athletics of the 2020s. Your guy here is going to be Matt Chapman.

Okay.

So Chris Cody went 90 and 72.

I feel good.

I feel like I'm set.

Not great.

Let's move on to the All-Star stuff we were talking about a little bit earlier, because it's really strange time in All-Star voting. I mean, presently, Jesus Sanchez of the Blue Jays ended up being a finalist for the outfield in the American League, as well as George Springer at DH. Like, this has really turned into a pretty big popularity contest. Does the All-Star voting need any sort of overhaul in your view? And if so, how?

I don't know, frankly, like, I don't care that much because however you would change it, if they had to be all the— like, we're going to be yelling about snubs here at the end of the week anyway, right? But if you had the league completely decide it, there would be other problems with that. And I think the league would much rather have it be like, all right, go vote. You know what I don't want to hear about? Yankees fans complaining that more Blue Jays are getting votes. Go vote for Ben Rice, right? Like, if you're, you're the Yankees, it's one thing for the small markets to not be able to compete for these starting spots, that's fine. But I don't know. I mean, I— you want to— I think this is— personally, I don't care about this that much. I think that the all-star rosters are already goofy. And also, by the way, as we know, so there will be so many injury replacements and guys pulling out. So you're still going to get a lot of these guys in the game. And I am a big proponent of making sure there's at least one player from every team.

So, you know, it's a fun thing to yell about. There are some goofy results. This is hardly new, though. We've, we've seen versions of this before. This is a strange year for it because of the state of the American League. But I don't— I don't know. I think, and especially in the case of like Yankees fans being upset that their guy is like, all right, do something about it. Well, I don't like it. Vote better.

More, more anti-Yankee propaganda here. No, I get it. I'm the one suggestion I've seen that I can appreciate is essentially allowing the players themselves to sort of narrow it down to about 5 guys and then have the fans vote from there.

So the players do the— because the players are involved in the votes after the fact, right? The players and the coaches. But yeah, that's interesting. Do that first and then leave it up to the fans.

And then leave it up to the fans from there, which I think is productive, right?

Yeah.

I don't think it might highlight some guys. It might— like a perfect example. I mean, not to keep doing the Otto Lopez thing, but sure, if you had a selection of 5 shortstops and you weren't having to just scrolling, go find whoever amongst everyone. There might be more people who look at all of the stats and go, wait a second, this guy is unbelievable. And he's not the only one. Like, there's a million different positions that, that we could talk about from there. All right. Let's talk Star of the Week. We always get to our Golden Era Star of the Week here on the Pitch Clock. A couple of guys for you to choose from to highlight. We've got Junior Caminero, and I saw a stat from him from, from OptiStat. Stats, there are two 4-game spans in the live ball era by a player 22 or younger with 6 homers and as many walks as strikeouts. It's Caminaro and Johnny Bench. And then there's a catcher, Hunter Goodman, who has been spectacular for a Colorado team not a lot of people obviously pay attention to. 26 homers, that's second best in baseball at the time of this recording, 18 of those on the road.

So he is not a Coors Field merchant. Hunter Goodman or Junior Caminero, who would we like to shine the spotlight on this week?

I think I am going to go with Goodman. A leg kick is not as crazy as it used to be when he was at Memphis, but it was just one of those swings and like the kind of power that a lot of scouts were like, okay, he's got real juice, but is this guy from Memphis with this crazy swing beating up on bad competition, like, is he really gonna be the kind of guy that can hack it in the majors? Maybe he worked— and especially because people doubted his defense too, and I know that that has fluctuated also since he's been in the years, but that he has just raked and raked and raked and raked and raked at every turn all the way up to the big leagues, makes the All-Star Game last year, and now takes another step forward offensively, um, is, is just really exciting. We might be looking at a 40-homer catcher, maybe a 50-homer catcher. I mean, I guess we'll see. Um, as we saw last year, and even with Salvador Perez a few years ago, the, the bar for, for catcher slugging has certainly been raised. But, um, yeah, I'll go with Hunter Goodman just because Caminaro is unbelievable.

I mean, we're talking about like a potential Hall of Famer. So we'll be talking about him plenty for the rest of the season and for the rest of his career. Hunter Goodman, I don't know how much longer he's going to be able to keep this up, but I'm certainly impressed and I want to make sure he gets the love.

Caminaro, Dan Levitard's favorite player. Okay, two quick yes or no answers before I let you go. Is Jacob Mizerowski the greatest pitcher who's ever lived?

I guess no.

If you're limiting me to that, well, we'll get into that at a later date. Are the Marlins going to make the playoffs?

No, sorry.

Oh, God.

All right.

Never mind. You won't be back at a later date. Jordan Schusterman. Listen to the Baseball Barbecast with him and Jake Mintz. It is as good as any baseball coverage that exists anywhere. Jordan, thanks so much for stopping by.

All right.

So I'm up here and I've got to beat 90 and 72.

Your first spin. The Dodgers of the 2000s.

I, for the Dod—

ooh boy.

Dodgers of the 2000s. I'm gonna make this one simple. I'm gonna, I'm gonna go Man Ram in left field.

Okay, here we go.

The Texas Rangers of the 2000s.

Uh, A-Rod, please.

Yeah, like you already have third base, shortstop, or DH.

Shortstop, sir.

Okay. Phillies of the '80s. Uh, I mean, come on, you basically— it's either Mike Schmidt or Steve Carlton here.

Hey, are you playing this game? Or what's that?

Ryan Sandberg.

Schmidt.

Schmidt. Let's get better eyes.

Third base.

Third base.

I don't know. Third base.

Wow.

Classic Abbott and Costello bit.

Baltimore Orioles of the 2000s. Chris Cody had this one as well.

Yeah. And I'm going to go ahead and take his boy Sammy Sosa and I'm going to stick him in right field.

Okay.

Yeah.

I like your team.

Yeah.

So right now I have—

off to a pretty good start here. The Rangers of the 2010s.

Ooh.

Ooh.

So I don't have third base available or either outfield positions for Cruz or Beltre, which means you can put them at DH.

Right.

And then for Cliff Lee, does that say he has an ERA under 3?

Yes. 2.95.

Let's go Cliff Lee.

Okay.

That's a nice pick. He was so good, man. The Dodgers of the 2020s. Ohtani. I wonder who you're gonna take.

Oh, hey, Ohtani.

So Cody got Trout and you got Shohei.

I got him at DH.

The Reds of the '80s.

Reds of the '80s.

Rob Dibble, John Franco, Eric Davis in center field.

I will go John Franco. Okay, I'll take it.

The O's of the 2000s again.

Let's go with Rafael Palmeiro at first base.

Okay.

I want to have as many guys who did steroids as possible.

The Rays of the 2020s. Ooh, Jonathan Aranda, Brandon Lau.

This is for catcher, second base, or center field.

Yes.

I think I'm going to— I think I'm going to spin my team again.

That's probably—

you can re-spin the decade.

You got the Washington Nationals.

Ew.

Of the—

for our purposes, you cannot. Oof, this is gross.

This is awful.

Oh, what a bad— oh, that's terrible.

Awful call.

Just for those playing, listening, the top of this is Harold Ramirez with a 729 OPS. Harold Ramirez.

Oh my God. Just for the fun of a name that we might like to say, how Howie Kendrick.

That is a name I like to see.

I'm gonna make him the second baseman.

He hit a very important home run in that World Series.

But I'm gonna be honest with you.

Be very clear.

Howie Kendrick might have just cost me this game. All right, catcher and center field are left. Let's give it a spin.

The Texas Rangers of the 1990s.

All right, we're gonna go Pudge.

And finally, for a center fielder, the New York Mets of the 2010s.

Um, can you give me the OPS on Cespedes and Beltran?

Céspedes 826, Beltrán 805.

And the home runs respectively?

163 to 162.

Let's go Céspedes.

Wow.

104 to 58.

Smoke 'em. 104 and 58.

Oh my God.

Oh no. Ah, he did the fake handshake and then wiped it through his hair.