After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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It's perfect for your backyard barbecues, your summer picnics, your water sports, your trips to the beach, the lake, the shore, all of those are in play. And actually because July 4th is on Tuesday, officially a lot of people are taking four-day or even five-day weekends. I know that Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start to summer. To me, July 4th feels like the ode to summer. A lot of spirit, a lot of patriotism, a lot of baseball too, right? Because the boys of summer take a much greater role in our sports fandom and our sports consciousness this time of the year.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. So excited to have you with us and many of you already on your holiday weekend or getting set for your holiday weekend. So what we're asking you is as we head into this extended Independence Day holiday, when you host a cookout or you attend a backyard barbecue, maybe you go to a picnic, what's the first food item you grab? You head right for it on the table, at the buffet, off the grill, what is it? I don't want to say salad because people get mad at me. There are some families like mine that also include salads at our backyard barbecues. I usually go for the burger first though because I don't like cold burgers.

So I go cheeseburger first and then pickles and chips and then I circle back for some of the colder stuff. So find us on Twitter, After Hours CBS. Oh, it features my favorite sitcom of all time.

That's the GIF that producer Jay used. My Twitter as well, ALawRadio, you're already answering on our Facebook page, After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Some of you may dispute that baseball is still America's pastime. I know that the changes that we've seen from Rob Manfred, the pitch clock, the games are going a lot faster.

I'm intrigued. Go to a game this year to just sit back, enjoy the sunshine, soak up the atmosphere, have some ballpark food and be an American because I still feel like it's a good summer rite of passage. And to that end, we are really pleased to welcome a long time play-by-play announcer and author who comes from the baseball world, Tim Haggerty, is joining us from Albuquerque right now, though Tim is along on a road trip with his minor league team, which is the El Paso Chihuahuas, AAA affiliate of the San Diego Padres. Tim, we're so glad to have you. Thanks so much for joining us.

Well, thank you, Amy. What is your favorite thing about minor league baseball and minor league baseball ballparks? I think to me it's the community. All of your listeners, I'm sure, have their favorite major league team. But there's something about Albuquerque or El Paso across those cities' uniforms. The team I broadcast for in El Paso, there is tremendous passion for the team, whether it's people that are there all the time and know all the players, or even people that come out one time per game. I think you really get those casual fans in minor league baseball, which I love. The spirit a lot of times, the enthusiasm, the energy, it's a ton of families. And it seems like the way that minor league teams go to the great lengths to have fun, entertaining activities, specific nights that will attract fans, it always seems like there's something that's a little more electric about a minor league ballpark that's full.

Yeah, absolutely. And I heard you in the intro talking about the Fourth of July. This is the most exciting week all year for minor league baseball teams. There's a rule that every minor league team must be home on either July 3 or July 4. Every single minor league team across the country is traveling on July 4. And the reason is those are the most packed crowds all year. So you want to give every ballpark a chance to experience that and receive that ticket money as well. Ah, that's really neat.

I'd love to hear about some of the fun experiences that you've had. Can you think of one of the more unique ballpark promotions at a stadium where you've called a game? Yeah, I remember in 2005, the Single A Brevard County Manatees in Florida, they had this promotion where they wanted to set the world record for most ceremonial first pitches. So they opened up the gates at 7 in the morning. They invited everyone in the community. They were doing local radio hits.

People are peeling off the highway, pulling into the stadium, throwing a first pitch, and then going back on their way to wherever they were going. And at the end of the night, they threw out 4,218 ceremonial first pitches and did set the record. Did you get to be part of that? I didn't. This was a park that I've been to. I wasn't there that particular night, but that came to mind as one of my favorites. It got tremendous attention. That's fantastic. AAA El Paso Chihuahuas broadcaster Tim Haggerty is with us here after hours on CBS Sports Radio. He's in Albuquerque right now. You hear funny stories about how minor league teams travel, buses a lot of times.

There's been movies made about it. The money that's not there like it is in the major leagues. So how do you all get around? We're pretty lucky at AAA where we are flying as opposed to buses. In my times in the lower levels of the minor leagues, I spent many hours on overnight bus trips going through some very random places.

Albuquerque to El Paso, that's the one place that we do bus. It's only four hours. Major league baseball, when they made some changes to the minor leagues a couple of years ago, they added a day off every week. And that was really a game changer because in the Pacific Coast League, it used to be that you'd finish a home stand, you'd get home at midnight, but you'd have to be at the airport the next day at 3.30 in the morning to fly to the next city because they had a rule that you had to take the first flight out. You didn't want to have to postpone a game because the team was having travel issues, which occasionally happened. There was occasionally AAA games where it was a beautiful night, a packed crowd, but the other team didn't get there. So they wanted to avoid that. On your Twitter bio, it says that you visited 49 states, Tim.

I don't want to assume anything. What's the one state you haven't been to? It's the hardest one to get to, Alaska. And you really have to try to get to Alaska.

It's not like you're driving somewhere and you pass through Alaska. The tough part is with my job, really the only available months I have to go to Alaska are November through March, which I'm sure your listeners would agree is not the ideal time to head up to Anchorage or Fairbanks, but I think I'll get there sometime. Tim, what was it like for you when minor league baseball was shut down during the pandemic? You're a broadcaster that makes your living doing this, or at least part of your living doing this. How difficult was that to have the uncertainty and not know when you'd be able to get back in the booth? Well, for one thing, I was lucky that I did continue to stay on the payroll and did some other community-related things.

But other than that, it was tough. Much like your job, we are just fighting to get airtime. We move to different places. We do other tasks. We are doing whatever it takes to get games.

When you're a sportscaster, that's what you're trying to do when you're in college in your early 20s, is just doing whatever it takes to get games. So when you have a schedule of 140 AAA games and you get the call of zero, I really felt that. There were times where that summer I'd look outside and it's 85 degrees and it's Saturday and it's sunny, and I'm just thinking, man, they would have been rocking in El Paso tonight. Tough memory.

Amy, you're asking me a really hard question on that one. It was. That was an emotional season to not be able to call any games at all. Now, baseball's back and there's a pitch clock that has sped up the pace of play. It seems to be getting ray reviews at major league parks, but you saw it at the minor league level. Was it tough to adjust when it became a feature at minor league parks? I think the first game or two, it did feel like speed up baseball, but then I got into a rhythm. And when people talk about the pitch timer, I know a lot of times they talk about the time of game.

But to me, the biggest benefit is the pace of play. I remember during the Major League Baseball lockout last year, they were showing an old World Series game on TV. And it was the 2012 World Series.

An old World Series game. I like that. That's right.

Yeah. Even as recently as 2012, there was a pace and a rhythm that I think got away in more recent years. So to me, the pitch timer really hasn't changed the game.

It's actually brought the game back to normal. To me, this is the pace of between balls in play and between pitches is more normal to the game I grew up watching in the 90s. We're excited to have Tim Haggerty on the show from Albuquerque. He's there with the AAA El Paso Chihuahuas, which is the Padres minor league affiliate.

And we're going to talk about a new book, a 10 year project that he's released here momentarily. But because you are at the AAA level, Tim, you often see major leaguers either before they get to the bigs or when they're on rehab assignments or trying to maybe reset a little bit. Over the course of your career, who are some of the major leaguers, whether it be more famous or more accomplished, that you've had the chance to call games for? Yeah, this year we've seen a couple with El Paso. We were in Sugarland against the Space Cowboys. That's the Astros' AAA team outside Houston. And Jose Altuve was playing there. And they're only 25 minutes from Houston. So that packed the ballpark when you get somebody of his caliber for the hometown team.

In El Paso earlier this year, we had Fernando Tatis Jr. He was coming back from suspension at the time. And some fans might think that a major leaguer on rehab would go down and dominate.

But it doesn't always happen. These guys, for the most part, have been out for a little while. They're trying to get their timing back. But Tatis put on a show. At what point he was seven for seven with five home runs.

He hit seven total home runs in eight games. And really, that brought a lot of attention. And that's the great part about minor league baseball. You get the community aspect, the fun promotions you were talking about earlier, but you also see the caliber of players like that.

Right. And it's generally a much cheaper ticket than the major leagues as well. And in my experience, also not nearly as challenging to access the ballpark. So easier to get there. Easier to find parking. A lot of times it's a more laid back atmosphere.

Though it can be a lot of fun with the families and the stands packed. So Tim, you've got a brand new book. And I've got to tell you that I love the format. It's bite sized stories.

The graphics are cute. I love the way that the book is set up. And I'm excited to have you tell some of your favorites from the story. But when you and I were communicating, you mentioned that this is ten years in the making. So what took ten years, number one? Number two, why was it so important to you, despite the amount of time that you spent on it to release this book, to get it out there? Yeah, so my book has 1001 minor league stories from the past and the present. And the reason it took so long is I wanted to have a really high threshold for what made it into the book.

Many ended up on the cutting room floor. It began in 2012. I've always loved baseball research. And when researching something else, I came across this Texas league game in 1888 that got delayed when a wild bull ran on the field.

And I thought, I cover this stuff for a living. And I've never heard of this story before. So it taught me just how many wild stories there are from minor league baseball history that a lot of people don't know about. What are a couple of your favorites? I know there are 1001 in your book, Tales from the Dugout.

But a few of your favorites that you like to share with people. Well, earlier I heard you mentioning the major leaguers who were recently named all-star game starters for next week's all-star game, one of them Corey Segar. I was calling a game and Corey Segar dealt with a wiener dog delay.

It was Oklahoma City versus El Paso. And there was five wiener dogs set to participate in a between innings race. Four out of the five ran where they were supposed to. The other one went rogue, began scampering all around the field. So there was a wiener dog delay.

As you can imagine, that video got a lot of attention. And Corey Segar was one of the Oklahoma City players in the field that this dog is running around. So in his career, he's been a World Series MVP and also dealt with a wiener dog delay.

Oh, that's fantastic. Speaking of dogs, as I was going through the book, some of the stories about dogs really jump out to me. I like this one, Jake the Diamond Dog, a golden retriever that travels the country appearing at minor league ballparks. His tricks include bringing the game balls to the pitchers, fetching towels for umpires, and delivering flowers to fans. Have you seen Jake the Diamond Dog in person?

Yes, I have. And I've been lucky enough to see another bat dog. Jake the Diamond Dog travels around, and teams took notice. They thought, this guy does so well, and he's so entertaining to the fans, why don't we have our own dog? So Las Vegas has Finn the bat dog. There's also the Bowling Green Hot Rods in Kentucky that have their bat dog.

So, yeah, it sounds like you're a dog lover, so you'll be happy to know various ballparks are picking these ideas up. Oh, that's fantastic. And these dogs are actually trained to bring the balls and the bats either back to the dugout or up to the umpire?

Exactly. In fact, there was a funny moment. I was calling a game in Las Vegas, and a batter hit a deep foul ball.

He wasn't sure if it was going to be fair or foul, so of course he began running. But mid at-bat, after a foul ball, Finn the bat dog ran out and snatched the bat, and the batter's saying, hey, I need that. My at-bat's not done yet. That's great. And one of the things that I love about the book as well is that you include a ton of history, which goes back to the beginning of baseball and its inception in minor leagues, but you also have more recent stories like 2021 and the double-A Hartford Yard Goats, who actually had goats there at the stadium, but also going back a few years before that, the Gwinnett Braves, who did goat yoga, which has now become all the rage around the United States for some fufu yoga people.

I just prefer regular yoga. Have you been in a ballpark where the goats have been roaming the outfield? Well, recently I was in Albuquerque, actually, and they had post-game yoga on the field, but they did not have any wildlife.

Ah, it's too bad. No, the Hartford Yard Goats, yeah, they've really leaned into that team name. Evidently, Yard Goats is a railroad phrase, but their logo is a goat, and they had goats, as you mentioned, at the ballpark, and then the Gwinnett team had the goat yoga on the field.

The book has some illustrations, and I liked what they came up with on that one, where you see some people doing their yoga on the field, also with some goats eating grass around them. That's great. Only at minor league ballparks.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Tim Haggerty is joining us from Albuquerque. He's got a brand-new book called Tales from the Dugout, 1001 Humorous, Inspirational, and Wild Anecdotes from Minor League Baseball, 10 years in the making. Why 1001, Tim?

Yeah, that's a good question. I had about 1,100 stories, and I reached a point where I had to determine what the format's going to be, and one day, I was walking by my wife's cookbook, and on the spine of it, it said, 1001 recipes, and I thought, that's the number. I like that number. Perfect. It was a sign.

Exactly, yeah. I actually had to condense some things, so there's a story in the book. 1907, there was an umpire who got arrested for swearing on the field. In the 1930s, there was a player who got arrested for swearing on the field. So instead of two stories, that became one.

That's how I narrowed it down. And by the way, not just ejected, but actually arrested for using bad language on the field. I also saw one story, and I'm trying to look for it again, but I didn't mark it like I did some of the others, where one player had been stealing coins from somewhere in the ballpark, and he ended up giving himself away, because as he's out there on the field, all the coins are falling out of his socks.

Yeah, that was in 1904. That was a Class C team, the Jacksonville Jays, and they released this picture. Back then, there were fewer ballpark employees, so sometimes the players actually assisted in some areas like taking tickets, and this guy was swiping money. So he takes the mound later that day and dimes and nickels that he stole from the ticket window, fell out of his socks and onto the field during the game. So they said, you're out of here. You're not only ejected, but you are released from our team.

So good. All right, and I have a special place in my heart for grandmothers, and I came across this one. Anne Kenyon, 91 years old when she caught a foul ball barehanded in San Jose.

It was a Giants game going back just over a decade ago. The team had her come back three weeks later to throw out a ceremonial first pitch, even though at the time she had 15 great-grandchildren. That is amazing, and once again, I love the fact that minor league ballparks and minor league baseball in general appeals to families of all ages, shapes, and sizes, Tim. Yeah, and I absolutely love the fact that they invited her back to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

They recognize that this is somebody that we have to draw attention to her achievement. A great-grandmother catching a foul ball, hit with a little bit of speed, by the way, at a professional baseball game. Similarly, around that same time, the single-A team at Bakersfield, California, had a cat throw out a first pitch. There was a viral video of a cat that saved a little toddler from an oncoming angry dog, and the cat got a lot of attention. The cat's name was Tara. So they somehow used a veterinarian and this device and actually had the cat use its paw to push the ball toward the catcher.

My goodness. You know the story about Babe Ruth and how he got traded to the Boston Red Sox and how it was a steal and it was a fleece. And then sometimes we make jokes about wanting to move a player off a team and, hey, we'll trade you for a bat and a bag of balls. And so I saw this story in your book from Chattanooga. They bought two players and a case of whiskey from another team for $2,000 in 1920.

I mean, in 1920, $2,000 is a lot of money. That's right, and I read in the newspaper archives that this is during Prohibition, so they had to secretly smuggle that whiskey from Peoria, Illinois, to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Where did you find all these stories, Tim? There were a lot of sources. For the more modern stories interviewing players, managers, coaches, and scouts, the wonderful thing about being accessible to the Internet is how many newspaper archives are available with certain subscription. So many came from newspaper archives. The results, Spaulding and Reach baseball guides.

I made a research trip to Cooperstown in the Baseball Hall of Fame library. They're so helpful there. So really compiling from all kinds of sources. Again, I love the format because it's bite-sized chunks. There's cute photos in black and white, but it really is easy to read. And please don't get mad at me when I say this, but it's one of those books that you might find like a bathroom reader because it's just a few stories per page. But really, I think the format and the way that it's packaged makes it even more attractive than if it was 150 pages of straight print. Well, thanks. I appreciate that. Yeah, the illustrations, those had nothing to do with me, but I think the artist did a great job. They're cartoonish, and that's what I hoped, where every couple of pages you're seeing this funny image.

Some of the stories we talked about have their own attached image to it. It has a fun forward from MLB All-Star Billy Butler. So I appreciate your kind words. How much did that mean to you to have Billy write the forward? It was awesome. Billy Butler was a prospect on the first ever team I broadcast for, the Idaho Falls Chuckers.

Shout out to your listeners in Idaho. And Billy and I occasionally weren't touched. We occasionally taped interviews, and one time at the end of an interview, he said, all right, Tim, let me know if you ever need anything. And you've got to be careful when you say that to somebody.

Sometimes they actually take you up on it. So I contacted him, and he provided a forward of a game that was delayed when there was a snake on the field that he was playing in in Wyoming, and he contributed a great entertaining forward. So that was great to have a Major League All-Star as part of the new book. I'll end with this one little story because of my connection to Syracuse. The Syracuse Stars uniforms weren't ready for opening day on May 3, 1885, so the Stars took the field in dress suits instead. So how have times changed in Major League Baseball?

And in minor league baseball too. Tim, when the book was finally in print and you had a copy in your hands after 10-plus years, what did it feel like? Yeah, that was a special day, and it really has been in the ensuing months. I'm receiving a lot of emails from people that are reading and enjoying it. It's fun to see the Amazon number moving each day, so it's really been an honor that people are reacting the way they are to it and that people like it.

So yeah, 10 years in the making, and to actually have it in your hand and realize that people are owning it, it's very special. Well, it would make a great gift for a baseball lover, anyone who enjoys humor. I really do think it's perfect for summertime, and Tim Haggerty is the author of Tales from the Dugout, 1,001 minor league stories, and it's already out and available on Amazon. You can go to his Twitter as well, at TDHaggerty, H-A-G-E-R-T-Y, and you can hear him at a baseball park near you right now in Albuquerque with the AAA El Paso Chihuahuas, not just stories from the baseball diamond, but certainly tales from a lot of life that's lived at these minor league parks. Tim, we loved connecting with you. Thank you for reaching out to me. I'd love to have you on again when we have an opportunity.

Well, I'd love that as well. I've listened to your show a long time, so it's great to be on with you. Oh, I appreciate that. Thank you so much. Enjoy your holiday weekend.

You too, Amy. It really is cool. If you check out his Twitter, you'll see the front page, the front cover of the book, excuse me, and the format is great. It's bite-sized. It's easy to read. I wonder if he's potentially offended that I said it would be a great bathroom reader, but not just a bathroom reader.

You know those books out there that are kind of fun, quirky trivia ones. This would be perfect, and it really is cool, whether you spend a lot of time following minor league baseball or you don't. Fact is, minor league baseball is a niche culture. I know people who would rather go to minor league games than major league games for a lot of reasons.

The entertainment factor, it's a laid-back atmosphere, it's a lot cheaper, it's appealing to families, they have all kinds of great promotions, and yeah, the stadiums are a heck of a lot easier to get to in many cases because you're not dealing with thousands and thousands and thousands of people who are trying to find parking at the same time. It really is enjoyable, and I know a lot of announcers who have come up through the minor league ranks. I don't know if Tim wants to be a major league play-by-play announcer at some juncture, but of course he's got a lot of stories that he can tell from his days behind the mic. So check him out on Twitter and also check out the book if you need a birthday gift or another type of a holiday gift for a baseball lover in your life. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Get two 20-ounce Mountain Dews or only $3.50.

Do the Do It quality mark. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. We are roughly at the midway point of the major league baseball season. In fact, some teams have played exactly 81 games, and the Rays are still setting the pace.

Don't call them a rabbit. Tampa Bay has the most wins in major league baseball. You hear the call there on Rays radio right now sitting on 56 wins, and even though nobody looks at Tropicana Field as some incredible baseball venue, they're actually the best team in major league baseball at home, though they are on the road right now in the desert taking on the Arizona Diamondbacks who didn't have a whole lot for them. A big third inning enough for the Rays. It was a double by Brujan to start, and Kevin Cash watched his offense put five runs on the board. Just a lot of good at bats.

I mean, you're right. Bru did start it off, but a lot of good at bats against a pitcher that we don't know very well. Good to see Wander. He kind of sat back on some changeup, picked up some hits early on. Josh Lowe came up, picked up where he left off, so it felt like that momentum maybe that we created that you guys talked about before the game from last night carried over into today's early ballgame. They're not nearly as hot as they were to start this season, but so far no one's been able to catch them. Right now they're just shy of being 30 games over.500. They've got 56 wins. The Braves, who are right now on some kind of a meteoric pace, they've got 53 wins. Those are the top two teams in baseball. Now, for the Diamondbacks, got a little bit of a scare. When they're a rookie, second, let's see, rookie, no, is he a second baseman?

Yes. Corbin Carroll ends up with a shoulder impingement, we'll call it, some shoulder pain that took him out of the game or he took himself out of the game and wanted to get checked out because he wasn't feeling great. Really weird feeling in my shoulder that I hadn't felt before since the injury had happened. And so it shook me up pretty good. I was pretty concerned. I just wanted to make sure that the stability was all there and they checked it out. I got the green light there, which is a huge weight off my shoulders.

And now it's just kind of moved forward and progress and take a day to that. And my fault, he's not a second baseman. I was thinking about another player. He is an outfielder. So Corbin Carroll, as a rookie, had surgery on his shoulder in May of 21. So it's been just over two years.

You can imagine he's a little bit nervous. But also had the great news of being named an All-Star starter in his hometown of Seattle on Thursday. Really cool. One of my goals was to be at this game and to be starting it is just that much more of a cherry on top. A lot of hard work from a lot of people within this organization.

Support of friends and family. It's cool to be able to do it for them. Right now he's hitting 290 with 17 home runs and 24 stolen bases. So he's a lot of fun to watch both at the dish and on the base paths. But Tampa Bay still the team to watch the team setting the pace.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Been asking you about your first food item that you will grab at a summer barbecue or a picnic. And I'm delighted with the variety of answers so far. I know you're out there and you're listening. I know you're anticipating these backyard barbecues.

Some of you have unique answers though. I will say this one guy on our Facebook page has been after me for my recipe for oatmeal caramel chewy bars. And so he's getting cute on Facebook saying the chewy oatmeal bars if I had the recipe. Oh well being snarky is probably not the way to get it. No I'm just kidding.

He included a smiley face. A lot of you are going burgers. A lot of you going hot dogs. Joanna goes watermelon.

So she's off the beaten path. Scott says I start with the potato salad. If it's bad the rest of the meal could be in trouble.

No no no that's not true. The potato salad doesn't impact the burgers. It could just be bad mayo.

Let's see. Joe Joe Terry says ribs. That sounds nice and messy. Just might as well get it all over you first and then it doesn't matter what else you eat after that. Paul goes with hot dogs and burgers along with the corn on the cob. Terry says brisket. David also goes with corn on the cob. Mark goes with the potato salad. I just can't start with the potato salad. James grabbed the burger then a beer. Oh no listen to this. Tina's just ruined my entire night.

She's completely ruined my flow. A veggie cheeseburger. It's not a burger if it's veggies. A veggie cheeseburger. A vegan cheeseburger.

No. Not my thing but they're not bad. Have you had the impossible burger? It's not actually a burger though.

You can't call it a burger because it's not. It's a vegan veggie thing. It's probably beans. It's beans.

Probably. A bean burger? I've had the impossible burger once.

It was actually pretty solid. It wouldn't be my first choice. Made out of beans? I don't know. You ate it and you don't know what it was made out of? I don't know what a lot of things are made out of. I eat them anyway.

Really? Do I look like the kind of guy that's reading every label? Yes.

Well at least you look like the kind of guy who would know what it is that he's eating. No. You're Italian. Yes I am. Right. You know what we're eating.

What do I look like? I mean I'll be fair. Most of the things that I eat I don't eat a lot of different things. I have stomach issues that I can't digest most things so I kind of limit it to certain things. However an impossible burger I wanted to give it a shot. I do like burgers. It was actually really good. It wasn't better than a real burger but it wasn't bad.

Well thank goodness your digestive issues don't prevent you from eating burgers. Well I really shouldn't but there's a lot of things that I shouldn't do that I still do anyway. I just don't care. You just deal? Yeah.

I mean come on. How's Matthew? Good. Thank you. Yeah.

You a little chunk? Yeah I mean he's gaining weight. He's doing what he's supposed to do. He sleeps. You know.

Times. Works on his tummy time. He's doing his thing. Now the last time we talked your older son was not really on board with having a younger brother. A little brother.

A third member of the children family. So how's he doing? Is he more accepting now?

I mean he's good. He's nine so he doesn't really care that much because what's he going to do? I think he realizes like yeah he's sure he's my brother like great whatever but he can't do anything. He doesn't move. He doesn't walk.

He doesn't talk. It's almost like give me a buzz when he can be fun. So he likes playing with his...

In three years. Basically because he likes playing with his sister and my daughter is only three. But they run around and she follows him like a puppy. So like they have fun. I mean but she could also talk. She can walk.

She can run. Like they can do stuff together. I think he's just waiting for that. So no I don't think he has a whole lot of interest in his brother just yet.

I love that. Let's hope it doesn't turn into a world war in your house where the older son has decided no I'm not going to accept the little one into the fold. Yeah I mean I don't know if we're going to get to that.

Well I guess I'll figure it out as we go. It's also they got a pretty good you know gap. I mean they're nine years apart so you know when he gets when my youngest gets a little older my oldest is going to be you know getting into that weird age of like 12 and 13 and 14. I love that age. Right yeah. Well you can have him at 14.

I love 10, 11, 12, 13. Yeah well I mean once he gets into there is he really going to be concerned about a two or three-year-old? It's his flesh and blood. Yeah but at 12 and 13 your mind goes into other places so I don't think he's going to care all that much and it'll be understandable. All right. I love the family dynamics for Marco and he's now three kiddos. Father of three.

As I saw you walking into the hallway earlier I thought about that. Marco Belletti father of three. Yeah I never would have thought that. That's a lot of work. Never would have thought that. No? No.

You just thought one kid, two kids, no kids? All honesty? Yeah no none. I never.

Really? No and I say this and I've said this a million times. I've said it to my wife. I've said it out loud. I don't know if I've ever told my children that.

Yeah don't. My biggest fear and it is on a daily basis and I don't have I'm not one of those people I don't really concern myself with too many things. I don't think I have that much stuff that I my biggest fear is being a bad father.

So that is something that goes through my brain on a daily basis. So I was afraid of it before we had kids. I'm afraid of it now that we have kids. Now that we have three kids. Yeah it it's my biggest fear. So I that's very cognizant and probably too much at the forefront of my mind on a daily basis.

Well as someone who did not have a father in my life here's what I would say. Be present. Be engaged. Be involved. Talk. You can't be a bad father if you do those things.

Well let's see those things I have those things I have no problem with. You walk around the neighborhood dying. You can mess up children in a lot of different ways. You mess them up. Yeah you do. You can't mess them up.

No you can't. No I'm saying you. I know you.

You're a friend. You're not going to mess up your kids. Again we all make mistakes. Every parent is going to make mistakes. Exactly. Kids are resilient. You're not going to mess them up with one mistake.

I get it. No it's not one mistake. You're going to make plenty. I've made plenty over the nine years that I've been a bad father. That's again that's definitely the forefront. So I always have that cognizant in my mind. So that's something that's always been a fear.

So you asked me before like yeah I was afraid to have children from the start because I'm afraid to be a bad father. You're there which is half the battle Marco. All right you can find us on Twitter After Hours CBS. What's the first thing you pick up at the summer barbecue or your backyard picnic? Also let's see coming up what are we going to do? Oh you know what? Really cool moment even before the match ever teed off in Las Vegas.

A moment that was completely unplanned and organic and awesome. So you'll hear it next. You are listening to the After... Mountain Dew Zero Sugar asks, ever wonder what it would be like to live in an alternate universe? Well friends, welcome to the alternate universe of Mountain Dew Zero Sugar. Because even though it says zero sugar right there on the bottle, when you crack one open and try it, the taste is nothing less than outrageously delicious. Hey, transport yourself to an alternate universe with Mountain Dew Zero Sugar.

Zero Sugar. All Dew. Stop by Quality Mart for a refreshingly good deal on Mountain Dew. Get two 20 ounce Mountain Dew's for only $3.50.

Do the Dew at Quality Mart. You very first started on CBS. You're such a superstar. Amy, thank you for touching my call. First time calling, listening to your show every morning as I travel into Boston. First time taller than any sports show ever. So you are kind of taking my sports show virginity right now. Okay, well that's not creepy at all.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. I don't think you need to turn it up when it comes to this show. No one's ever accused me of being hard to hear. Though I don't always talk at this volume. And honestly, it's more and more frustrating.

I'll do whatever needs to be done. But it's so frustrating sometimes that I have to yell at my dog. She cannot hear me much anymore. And I love Penny with all of my heart. She still makes me laugh every day.

She makes me want to pull my hair out every day, too. But she still makes me laugh every day. She still rolls at 13 and a half years old.

She gets down on the grass and rolls, then has a hard time getting up. But she still acts like a puppy at times. She is a lot, lot slower than she was when I first adopted her. But still adores her walks and being outside and loves to sniff and loves the neighbors, of course. She really is the welcoming committee for anyone who's on my strip of homes in our neighborhood. Everybody loves Penny. More people know Penny than know me because we've been walking around the same neighborhood now for eight years, which is the majority of her life. Definitely her life with me because I adopted her at two and a half. So she is an incredible dog.

But I'm telling you what, I have to be a lot louder with her than I do with you as radio listeners. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. Really awesome moment even before the match teed off on TNT. It's Charles Barkley. It's Ernie Johnson. And it's Trevor Immelman, who was the golf analyst for the match. I'm the only person up here knows this.

I want to be the first person. It's an honor and a privilege to congratulate Ernie Johnson going into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame. Get out of here.

Chuck, what are you talking about? They told me and I said, they said, would you do this? I said, be an honor. It is an honor and a privilege to tell you Ernie Johnson. Congratulations, brother.

Yeah, man. That is awesome. Thank you so much.

And you know what? I'm taking the rest of the day off. Thank you, guys. And whoever whoever is responsible for that, whoever votes on that, I am humbled beyond words. So thank you so much. Means the world to me. I've been at this. Been at this for been at this for thirty four years at the same place. Been over 40 years in broadcasting and I'm stunned. So thank you so much. I appreciate that very much. He definitely was taken aback initially when Charles Barkley broke the news to him that he is a 2023 inductee into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

Ernie was speechless and stared at him. Get out of here. What are you talking about? It was really cool. And then, of course, he got choked up. He's been on the inside the NBA on TNT desk. It was one of the best shows in sports broadcasting since nineteen eighty nine.

And a lot of that time, Barkley's been with him along with Kenny Smith and more recently Shaquille O'Neal. And this is a highly decorated and often awarded show and often awarded broadcast. So congratulations to Ernie Johnson.

I just know he's one of the greats in our business. And to watch that live. So I was watching. Not that I was watching the pre match coverage, but I had just sat down with my dinner. And so I'm watching this unfold, waiting for the first tee shots. And instead, Charles Barkley steals the show and surprises Ernie Johnson with the news that he's going into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame. That's awesome. Now, after the top of the hour, some of my favorite moments, my observations from the match, which featured Warriors versus Chiefs, and it wasn't real competitive.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Mountain Dew Zero Sugar asks, Ever wonder what it would be like to live in an alternate universe? Well, friends, welcome to the alternate universe of Mountain Dew Zero Sugar. Because even though it says zero sugar right there on the bottle, when you crack one open and try it, the taste is nothing less than outrageously delicious. Hey, transport yourself to an alternate universe with Mountain Dew Zero Sugar.

Zero Sugar. All Dew. Stop by Quality Mart for a refreshingly good deal on Mountain Dew. Get two 20-ounce Mountain Dews for only $3.50. Do the Dew It! Quality Mart.