Harold Reynolds: No Team Can Beat The Dodgers In A Seven Game Series

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Savings vary, subject to terms, conditions, and availability. Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. This goes live. Live. From the Rich Eisen Show Studio in Los Angeles. The opening of the baseball season. The season has begun.

This is the Rich Eisen Show. She's gone. A Stantonian home run.

Out of here. For David Hamilton. Freddie Freeman.

Simply unstoppable. Today's guests. MLB Network analyst Harold Reynolds. Alabama tight end Robbie Utes. NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero. Comedian and author Chelsea Handler. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

That's correct. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. I'm wearing mauve. I thought you'd wear pinstripes today.

And then there's mauve. Great show from the 70s. That's how I started an opening day broadcast. Happy opening day. I'm so excited. Are you really? I really am. Oh I can't wait for your hopes to be dashed. By who?

In the millions of pieces. You and your red socks. I'm gonna wear my red socks shirt today on the Rich Eisen Show.

It says Chris Brockman. What do you mean? Why wouldn't I? You're a fan. I am a fan. I love it. And I haven't been this excited in a few years and it's great. Oh that's great. Hope is a good thing.

It springs eternal. Thank you. And it'll be great. It's gonna be great. I can't wait for you. You don't mean any of that. I don't. Alright. First game of the day.

Yankees and Brewers. I mean I hope you go on 160 too. I think that's what it works. First one for our first guest today as well is a man who Dan Patrick referred to over and over again in the halls of Bristol as H.R. Puffinstuf. That's how he referred to Harold Reynolds. H.R. Puffinstuf. He called him H.R. Puffinstuf all the time.

Harold Reynolds. That's really funny. It's the truth. Hey man I know things. I've been around.

I've been around a while. Harold Reynolds of MLB Network will be joining us. Perfect setup for opening day. And then we've got the greatest mullet in the history of the combine. Robbie Utz. One of the top tight ends in all of football. He'll be joining us and I just you know there's some of those people you just watch from your seat at the combine is unfortunate to have and I'm like I want to talk to this guy.

Yeah. We already spoke to Ahmed Hasanin after I'm like I want to talk to that guy and that turned out to be a great chat. I'm assuming this chat with the Robbie Utz will be great because we have all sorts of other famous mullets we want him to compare himself to. Now some people get on the show because of their excellent football ability. Some because of their hair and some because of both. And Robbie's one of them.

Tom Pelissero's another one. My mom just calls him hair. Is that right? I don't even think she knows his name.

Are you serious? Hair! He's got a Harry and hair today. And Chelsea Handler in hour number three.

How great is that going to be? What a show. We've got honestly.

I know the lineup popped up a bite. That's so random. But that's what we do. Those four people would never be on any other show at the same time.

That's what we do. What type of dinner party would you be at? Exactly. Who sits middle chair at that dinner party? Of our guests today? Chelsea Handler is a middle chair. Plus you know you put the lady, be a gentleman, put her in the middle.

Sure. Well we'll give her a choice of seats. That's true.

She might. We're like third base. That's right.

I don't know. And speaking of ladies, the latest episode of Women's Sports Now that was recorded here yesterday just popped up on your Roku portal. Great stuff from the quartet of hosts of that show.

And we'll play a great sound bite for you later on on their conversation of Juju Watkins going down. By the way, March Madness renews tonight. Men's Sweet 16 this evening. Quartet of games there.

And then the Women's Sweet 16 Friday. So we're back. We're back on all that. By the way, hello Chris. Good to see you. Rich, great to see you. Jay Felley wearing his Dodger head.

What's up Rich? If I'm not mistaken, the Dodgers I saw on my ESPN news stack today. Best odds to, well worst odds I guess. Biggest favorite to win the World Series since 2002.

Shortest odds, yeah. Since the Yankees were trying to go for yet another World Series appearance back then? Dodgers are essentially like two to one. Since the Yankees dynasty.

That the Diamond Backs kind of ended in a way or put a big crimp in. At any rate, hi Jay. Hi. In your Dodger hat. And TJ Jefferson ready. Who are the Mets playing on opening day, TJ? The Diamond Backs. Oh they really are. Such a big fan doesn't even know.

Such a big fan. Who are the Red Sox playing on opening day? First off, the Mets are playing the Astros. My bad. Good job, TJ.

Way to be on it. And the Red Sox are in Texas to play the Rangers. Yeah. And I know that the Yankees have the first game of the day. I just knew we were playing the day. And I've got, again, Juan Soto's glove right here. Listen.

I've got this pair of scissors that I'll be having at home. And Sarah and Kage are driving down to San Diego right now. Hey.

Raised in town to play the Padres. Are they going on Daniel Jeremiah's tickets? No, I think, I think TJ and his family are using those. Oh they, he's got.

We've seen those before. They're very nice. I know.

They're very nice. Daniel Jeremiah is not messing around. No, no, no, no.

He is truly the most diehard San Diego Padres fan I know. A hundred percent. So. All right. Table set.

Table set. Let's go. Listen. Nobody in the NFL gets more crap, maybe from peers and fans, quite like Russell Wilson. They don't. Now you could say he invites it with some of his goofy, you know, sign offs when he's done with his interviews. A little bit.

Okay. Or, you know, that he, cause it's kind of, it's kind of goofy, you know, man in his mid thirties using sign offs and stuff like that. We're playing a kid's game.

It's also fun. There's always something with Russ, but the bottom line is it never comes across as malevolent ever. You know what I mean?

It never comes across. That means mean spirited or evil, or there's something, you know, a self-serve that you could call it self-serving, but it's, it's just, as you point, it's him, you know what I mean? I think he believes it and like, he's not doing it.

He thinks it's fun. I mean, in the same way that people used to make fun of big Ben for wearing, you know, the ice packs, there's an old look at me aspect of it, you know, and then there's the stuff with Ross where I don't know of another human in the NFL. Well, no, the people talk, no, what people talk about in all seriousness, when they talk about why he's left certain places, you never get the full on, like there's never the full on iceberg. He's never talked about like everybody who's come on and perfect that you guys back in our control room, put a stealer photograph of him up because black and gold. Here we go. Because him, him departing Pittsburgh, how many people have come on here? Jerry do like our second hour guest, the Tom Pelissero Breer Brea. Okay.

Just to name three. Yeah. The Steelers are just, they're there. There would have to be some sort of conversation within the building for him to come back. There'd have to be some sort of, you know, some people in the, in the building would need to be convinced of him to come back as if something happened there, but nobody's ever going to tell you same thing in Seattle.

There was that deep dive though, out of Denver from year one to year two there when Sean Payton arrived in between years one and year two, right. Where, where it was, you know, it was an office that he didn't, he had his own office. Upstairs. Upstairs. Yeah.

Away from. Right. There was, there was, he got something, right? We, we had a, I did a power rankings list once upon a time, tongue firmly planted in cheek, of which, which NFL quarterbacks birthday parties would you most want to attend? And the impetus of it, the inspiration of it was the headline that came out of Denver that people didn't go to Russ's birthday party, or they only did to see his house and that, you know what I mean? Like there's that stuff that just circles around Russ's orbit the last few years. And remember Seattle, even with him and Sherman, there was always something in there. I know. And then you see pictures of Ross with all of them, right?

I don't know. There's a there that's always been there with the exception of his birth into the NFL and the years where he just burst on the scene. And we were talking about him legit hall of fame, legit hall of fame. Probably wouldn't play away right from dude. Yeah, probably that's back to back.

Okay. And so now he's on his third team in as many years and the phrase journeyman could be used and it's just mind blowing to me just to talk about him in full general, cause he's one to root for. And if there's anybody who has gotten multiple chances in the NFL at being the starting quarterback for a team after being let go by other teams, one dead caps them to the tune of the most dead cap in the history of dead caps. And the other one decides, we're just going to wait around for Aaron Rogers to say yes to us and not stop him from showing up in Cleveland in our division or going to New York. And I don't know if anybody else in the NFL has gotten more opportunities than Ross.

When you think, is he going to get another one? And now he's got another one and it's with the giants, which is as much of a blue blood franchise as the one that he just played for. The giants are kind of like the NFC version of Pittsburgh because of how the owners have been friends. They sit next to each other in the owner's meeting room, the Rooney's and the Morris.

There's a human being who was named Rooney Mara, who people have heard of because she's pretty talented at what she does. And now he goes from the Steelers to the giants and he shows up with the giants yesterday and 100% has every right to say exactly this in his opening presser. I expect to be the starter and come in here and be ready to rock and roll every day. I think that, you know, to be able to lead, I think this team's really looking for somebody to lead them in every way in terms of the process, you know, in the off season, during the season, our habits and our thought process and how we create a great winning culture and how do we continue to establish that and to really build on the things that we do well and the things that we continue to need to do. And so I think the big part for me is, man, just try to, this might be my 14th year to be able to lead an amazing group of men that really have big hopes and goals and dreams and desires and we all share the same goal. And so I think that's the best part about it is I get to be around a lot of, you know, extremely, extremely talented guys. I would love nothing more for my giant fan friends and for him and for him to show up and do exactly what he just said, because he said the same thing going into Pittsburgh and he said the same thing going into Denver, that this place needs a different voice, a different way of doing things.

And I know how to do it and I'm a captain. He comes out there with his Walter Payton Man of the Year patch, which only a very handful of people have. The only part, Cam Hayward has it on his team. Very rare to see two of them on the same field, right? Same sideline. And I understand how fans are like, yeah, I heard that in Denver. How'd that work out? Yeah, I heard that in Pittsburgh.

How'd that work out? And see how it's worked out so poorly for the Giants. This thing's got disaster written all over it and you never know.

You know, you never know. Same thing we said about Kurt Warner when he showed up in New York. And I know, you know, Kurt then had to go somewhere else because they went ahead and drafted somebody top of the draft. And that may happen to Russ.

That may happen to Russ. But, you know, he showed up and he knew, by the way, all the names that he lifted off, 10 names of everybody on offense. He mentioned how Theo Johnson's going to be a weapon. I mean, he's about it. He's totally about it when he shows up.

And then he had this to say later on in his presser. First of all, Aaron Rodgers is a tremendous football player. He's done some amazing things in this league. I've been fortunate to be able to do some great things too. And really what I'm focused on is right now and what we can do here.

That's been my focus since I've signed and everything else. And also too, along the way, is finding the place that continue to believe in you. Obviously, Pittsburgh was a special, special place for me.

You know what? Pittsburgh brought me so much love. But, you know, coming here, obviously being in New York, it's an exciting place to play. It's a place that wants to win.

It's a place that knows how to win and has won before. And so for me, it's bringing everything I know, all the experiences, all the touchdowns, all the wins, but also all the love and passion for the game to this locker room. And that's what I'm really excited for. And it's going to be a special, special thing.

And we got to go work for it every day and go do it. That's the answer you're going to get from Russell Wilson when you ask him, hey, you're plan C to the Giants. They tried Stafford first.

They tried Rogers next. And hey, you're definitely we're plan zero to the spot that's waiting for Rogers while he's standing on the beach, showing up, coming there for a few hours and then coming back. That's the answer you're going to get from Russ. I mean, maybe for a split moment, he's staring down at the ground, you know, if he's at home or whatever moment alone, he's just like, man, you know, I once sent Aaron packing in an NFC championship game and now this is what's happening. You're never going to get that from him. You're just going to keep getting the same thing, which is Russell Wilson.

And you have your phone with him because he does in fact have his new sign off. Oh, what's up guys? Russell Wilson here, quarterback of New York giants, man. I'm so excited to be here and let's make sure we make this happen. Let's do whatever it takes. Go big blue. There it is. Go big blue.

Oh, you got the drop already. Go big blue. Do you have the Broncos country?

Let's ride. Do we have that? I know you got the black and gold. Here we go.

You haven't played that one before. Black and gold. Here we go.

Okay. And we can keep going backwards and backwards in his career. Broncos country. That's right.

Go Hawks. Was the one for a while. Whole pack full of badgers. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. He's great. That's dude.

Have you fun all you want? Cause he he's, I don't know if it pierces the skin at all or it makes it tougher. I have no idea because it's going to be a tough row. It just feels like a tough sled coming. Cause I don't think the giants are going to walk out of this draft with nobody drafted at the quarterback spot. I don't know if it's going to be the third overall pick or maybe their second round.

I don't know. It just feels like they're going to add a rookie to that, that, that veteran laden Winston Wilson draft room, a quarterback room. But I think the draft room is going to add one to the quarterback room.

And then comes the season and the conversation is day ball in trouble is Shane in trouble. And that's going to be on the owner to take that pressure off. But right now it's going to be Russ who after Denver dead captain and the Steelers were basically ghosted because of the way everything finished, man, when they were 10 and three, it looked like they were one of the best teams in the AFC. We came on the air and gave them their flowers, their dew flowers, that they had a shot to win 13 games. All they had to do was just beat the opponents that they have to beat in the playoffs.

And they hardly beat one of them, including the playoffs and whatever happened behind the scenes, whatever happened on the field in the huddle turned off enough people in Pittsburgh to say, sure, go visit Cleveland. And while we're waiting for Rogers, this is not an option. We put a contract on the table for Justin Fields and now he's shown up in the Giants and he's going to get his shot. And if he takes the Giants to the playoffs this year and saves jobs and saves himself and his career and gives an opportunity to himself for maybe another team, if they don't draft anybody, maybe for the Giants.

Can't say it's impossible, but it doesn't look probable right now. That's for sure. But in the meantime, he's still got his, his new, his new phrase that'll just keep on keep on.

The best thing about us though, it's about us, which is the RAS consulting tagline. Does the big blue bother you? No, cause it's go blue at Michigan, but the Giants are big blue. The Giants have been big blue for a while. So he, he went, he went go big blue, which I've really, you know, I've never really heard a giant fan say that. Go big blue.

I don't think I have either. You know, so. 844-204 Rich is the number to dial. We've got Robbie Utes joining us from the tight end community to be drafted in the National Football League. We also have Tom Pellissero to tell us what's going on with the Giants signing and what that means for the draft and anything else going on. He's heading off to the owner's meeting where they will vote on a whole bunch of new rules, including no more nose wipes on the field.

I mean, come on. So we'll talk about all of this on the program. And then Chelsea Handler will be in studio later on. She's got a new Netflix comedy special, which you can see here on Roku.

And then yet another New York Times bestseller, her seventh bestseller and her sixth number one book on the New York Times bestseller list called I'll Have What She's Having. Great stuff. And then there's you 844-204 Rich number to dial. When we come back, Harold Reynolds will be joining us on the Rich Eisen Show.

Hey, Rich Eisen here. I hear from a lot of business owners like you about the work it takes to pursue your passions. So I know how important it is to have the tools that can help keep you moving forward. And with access to world class business and travel benefits, the American Express Business Platinum card helps you take your business to the next level. It offers a flexible spending limit that adapts with your business.

Plus, you'll have complimentary access to more than 1400 airport lounges worldwide, including the Centurion Lounge, so you can keep running your business while you're on the go. See how the Amex Business Platinum card gives business owners like you the tools and rewards to do more of what you love. Not all purchases will be approved.

Terms apply. Learn more at American Express dot com slash Amex Business. Some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking Allstate first.

The same way you know you've got to make sure your lucky jersey is clean on game day or your team might lose. Checking first is smart. So check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Savings vary, subject to terms, conditions and availability.

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Get an expert now on TurboTax.com. Stories. We love these stories in sports. JC Iskara is a catcher who will be in Yankee Stadium today in pinstripes. He was a 2017 15th round pick of the O's and then got released in 2022. He became an Uber driver in Miami with substitute teacher, a food delivery man and a contractor before he decided to give it one last shot. He raked in AAA last year. He raked in the Dominican league.

He raked in the spring and this was him telling his mom on a FaceTime that he made the Yankees. I made the team. I will. Dad, I love you.

But, don't. Wow. That was awesome. Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry.

Grainger has the right product for you. Call clickrainger.com or just stop by as the Emmy Award winner from MLB Network and my old friend from back in the ESPN days joining us from the set of MLB Network lead studio analyst. Happy opening day to you, Harold Reynolds. How you been, HR?

I'm good, Rich. Good to see you, man. Happy opening day. Same to you.

We just played for our TV only audience. The moment where the new Yankee J.C. Iskara is calling his mom to tell her and dad, by the way, I love that part of the FaceTime. He's crying with his mom and dad. Love you too. You know, I get it. I get it. You know that he made the Yankees. You can't make that stuff up, man.

That's what opening days about. Right, H.R.? No doubt. And you know, the other cool part about it is today he took an Uber to the ballpark. He did? Did he really? Yes.

Yes. But he didn't drive it. He took it.

He should have drove it and got some credit and got paid for it, driving something apart. But no, pretty cool, man. It is. It is great. What was your first opening day like? Do you remember, H.R.?

What was it? Yeah, it's a funny story. We were down that at the time we had twenty five man rosters in the big leagues and Darnell Coles and I roommates from a ball all the way up. And here we are fighting for the last spot on the team with the Mariners. So we go to Seattle.

You know how you play the the major league games in the ballpark at last couple exhibition games. So we're in Seattle and we're roommates in camp and everything. So he's in one bed. I'm in the other bed. The phone rings in between us.

I dive and grab the phone. Hello. It's Hal Keller. Hal Keller says, who is this? I go, it's Harold. They go, congratulations, young man. You made the team handed to your buddy. And yeah, I hand the phone to Darnell. He goes, unfortunately, you're going down. Oh, and we're we're convinced that this day had Darnell answered the phone and then congratulations. You made the team tell your buddy you're going down. And we ended up on this Harold Darnell shuttle for the next month. He'd come up.

I saw him in Boston like DC, good to see you. And he goes, you're going to AAA. I'm like, that was my opening in the big leagues. Oh my God. Wow.

So the moral of the story is answer the phone first. Absolutely. Oh man.

That is, that is amazing. I mean, so let's just dive into, to the right here and now, honestly, who's going to beat the Dodgers. Is that it? Is that the conversation of the 2025 season?

Who's going to beat the Dodgers? Is that it? That's gotta be the conversation.

Yeah, that's it. I mean, there's some clubs that can on a, on a short series can definitely beat them, but I don't see them stumbling a whole lot. They'll figure out their combination of rosters and I'm sure they'll have injuries like everybody else, but it's an incredible team that put together. It's going to be fun to watch.

And that guy on the screen right there, I'm telling you, rich, uh, I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. And I'll, I'll take you back to the very first time I saw Shohei Ohtani. So I go to spring training. We had a show then called 30 clubs in 30 days. And that was 30 clubs in 15 days.

Same thing, right? So I show up at camp, Mike trout's already the best player in baseball and it's trout and Justin Upton. And they greet me when I'm coming in, I'm walking in there already on the field, finished stretching.

And I'm like, I'm in battle time. And Mike is like, I've never seen power like this ever. And I go, what? And Jessica's Harold, he's hitting them on the rocks up there in left center field. And I go, but I thought he was a left-handed hitter.

They go, he is opposite field. I've never seen power. I'm like, come on, please. And the next thing you know, he starts taking batting practice. And I was like, Holy smoke. That was the first year of Ohtani. And now obviously seven years later, uh, the stories continue, but that was the first impression of my childhood was the best player of baseball at the time, Justin Upton was sitting in his 30 homers.

They were blown away by him. And he's a pitcher. You know what I mean? Right. And we're going to see that, right? I mean, like there's no doubt. We're going to see the reason why the Dodgers paid him all that money. And, um, you know, and he was kind enough to defer most of it, um, which is a conversation for another day, I guess, but we're going to see it last year. We just saw the hitting. We saw the 50 50.

We saw the greatness there. Now we're going to see both, right? I mean, there's it's coming in and the question is, is, does it affect him?

Does it affect at all? Right. I don't, I just don't think it will Harold. Well, no, he's, he's such an attraction. Rich. I mean, I was fortunate to go to Japan. So I was there for the Cubs Dodgers series. They played a couple of exhibitions before.

Right. And I'll give you a couple of quick stories of his, why I say he's the biggest star on the planet. You can argue LeBron, all those guys, but they don't have another country that watches everything they do. And so show how Tanya I don't care if he put his toe out of the dugout, people went bananas.

And, uh, so story number one, I'd never seen this ever before. He gets in the batter's box stick here. And as soon as he's walking up, they're going nuts, gets in the, in the, in the box and ready to hit pitcher gets his sign. As soon as the pitcher gets assigned, it goes dead silent.

50,000 people. You can hear a pin drop. They deliver the pitch and he'd foul it off or take it or whatever in the crowd.

I mean, and then back to silence. Once the pitcher got in, it was incredible. And the other big scene I saw was when he went out to throw bullpen and he's just throwing out in the outfield, long toss, stretching out. He came out of the dugout and they went bananas. Everybody had their cameras and he got out in the outfield and he started throwing and I'm sure he had a little extra adrenaline, but he's throwing a ball from center field to the left field line on a dot.

I mean just a rocket by 95 miles an hour from center field to the line, probably 200 feet, not 60 feet, six inches. It was incredible, man. And the thing about him too is the ease with which he does everything. And you know, the, the only other athlete I've ever seen who does everything eye popping with such ease and never sweats, uh, Roger Federer in tennis, where it's just like, can anybody beat him and be, make him sweat if you can't beat him. You know what I mean? Just like make him struggle, make him look, uh, pedestrian. I think that's where we're at with Ohtani right now. That's where we're at with him.

No, no, no doubt about it. And the other thing I noticed, you know, the Japanese culture, uh, you know, everybody knew when they, that you know, Mo came over and he would hit a batter and he took his cap like, Oh, I'm sorry. You know, they're, they're very polite and always bowing. Now Ohtani's part of the Dodgers and he's known as little exercises after a double and all the movements. And now I'm watching high school baseball in Japan and the hotel, and these kids are hitting a double and they're doing all these crazy things that Ohtani does. It's just opened up the whole culture to something that I think they're even adjusting to as they follow his growth over here and everything that he does.

It's, it's incredible. So who can beat the Dodgers? Give me, give me some, give me some favorites in your mind who can, uh, whether it's the American league, uh, somebody gets to see him in seven games or it's somebody in the national league who can take them out. Well, I don't think anybody can beat them in seven games.

I don't think that happens. Uh, five game series, catch them in a short series. You might be able to beat them. I like the Phillies. Um, they made their run. I hope their window hasn't fully closed on them after losing to the Padres after the big Harper home run a couple of years ago. Um, I would hope to see them continue to be a team that's affordable that could do that.

Um, the mess could put together a club. I still think Sandy Alpantara, uh, with the uh, Marla's has gotta be a big difference that the Mets were able to trade for him and put him on their staff with and their, their, they got Soto Lindor and, and uh, Alonzo, those three guys top of the order is good at three, anybody in baseball. And so that makes the Mets a team that possibly could, could be somebody to reckon with. I thought the Padres, uh, up until, uh, the end of last year were a team that could give the Dodgers a run.

They've totally lapped them now. Um, and that's really it. I don't see much in the American league.

Toronto's got great pitching, but I don't think they have the team that can handle it, but nobody's going to beat them in a seven game series. That's that's, that's a wash. It's over.

So, so you're saying the NLC or the NLDs, that's the short series that can alter the outcome more than maybe the world series. Yeah, that's it. That's it. Harold Reynolds here.

Okay. How Reynolds here on the rich eyes and show, uh, when are we seeing, um, you know, the, the tapping of the helmet and let's re replay everything. When, when, when do we see that on balls and strikes? Harold, when do we see this? When do we see this?

I can see it maybe in a couple of years, actually. Um, I didn't think they would take to it as much as they have. Um, but if you look at the rules that came in, the strike zone, the stolen base, right. Rule, all those things were, were kind of, the players were like, no, we don't like it. Now it's become part of the culture and what baseball has done on a brilliant side is they test all the things in the minor league. So before they brought the other pitch count and the timer and all that stuff, they had 8,000 minor league games that tested them.

And so what's happening with the, I get to check the ABS system and all that. They're already doing it in the minor leagues. They've done it for three years. Most of the players that have come up to me big leagues now have been doing this already in the minors.

So, uh, with our sport getting younger every year, it seems like a new influx of young talent is coming in. Um, they're used to the system, so it might be here sooner. I thought we would never see it. Now. I think we might see it in the next couple of years.

I hope so. You know, Harold, every now and then on my Instagram algorithm, what will pop up is a certain individual getting thrown out at home plate in the old Kingdome by Bo Jackson on the, on a, on a straight shot throw from the warning track. Um, and that person at home plate who got thrown out was, uh, who was that person? It was fast. I tell Bo, I tell Bo, I made you, man. I made you.

And, uh, I'm telling you, to this day, it was probably probably four years ago when I slow mode it to see if I was really out or not. I thought I was saved for probably 20 years. It's still the most amazing and shocking play ever. The ball's hit in the corner. I'm running the plays in front of me. So I know I'm going to score.

I was stealing on the play. It's extra innings. He's got to go into the corner, hit a relay and throw me out. This game's over.

It's what I'm thinking while I'm running. I had no idea as I'm coming to end the home, get ready to slide. The next batter was Darnell Coles. He's telling me to slide and I'm still confused. Bob Boone, the catcher had kind of walked off and then he came back and I'm thinking he's trying to deke me and make me slide for whatever reason. And then I get tagged out and I was dumbfounded and I had no idea that Bo caught the ball, spun and threw it in the air without a stride. And I had him on hot stove.

You're going to love this red, please. He was on a hot stove and Bo goes, I have breaking news. I go, what's that? He goes, I broke my jock on that. I turned him through so hard. That's why when he's going back, he's tucking his shirt in.

He's trying to adjust his job because he broke it. Come on. My, my take on watching it over and over again, and I'm, I'm, I'm keen to ask you this because I've been wondering you're, you're upset about it, about being called out and I don't blame you because it appears to me the home plate umpire went up the third base line because even he thought the play wouldn't be at home that because the third base went up the line to deal with what was going on in the corner and the home plate went to third to try and potentially call a play there that had been vacated by his colleague to go up the line to see what it was. Did the home plate umpire call you out at home from third base on that play? No, honestly, I don't remember. I know the rotation was all messed up. I think, I think the other, well, he was the, the, uh, they came out to argue with him, but you know, they had the whole buddy says, I don't remember. I got to go back and look at it.

But I remember the rotation was all fun. So I'm watching it. Yeah. Cause you went up the line, right? You went up the line. So the home plate umpire on the way to the plate, but the way you slid Harold, he gets you on the left foot right before you touch home. Yeah, it was a courtesy slide. I mean, I really thought it was just like, Oh, just slide through or else I would have slid away, tried to hook slide away from the tag or whatever.

I really thought Bob was just faking like a throw was coming to decoy. And then he slapped the tag on still amazing, but I made Bo, you know, both thinks he knows everything. I made both last boat, but story. And I'd be quick. I know you don't have a whole lot of time, but go for it, please. All right.

So he, he, he had already ran over Bosworth. Okay. He thrown me out at home. This is all like in a calendar year.

All right. So the next year he's taking batting practice. He'd come out and hit early and I'm hitting early first. And he's like, Reynolds, you know, switch hitter Bo know everything.

Now Bo knows out there. So he takes around about in practice, his last swing. He turns over to left-handed I played in the King dome for 10 years. I saw five balls hit into the fourth or fifth deck. The final deck up there, depending on how you looked at it, five balls in 10 years, he turns over and he tells me, you know, switch hitter. And he hits the ball left-handed into the upper upper deck.

One of my five balls in 10 years that I saw go up there and he drops his bat down and walks up. True story. It is unreal.

How many Bo Jackson stories sound like fables, but really happened. You know what I mean? It's on and you've seen it. You've been part, you went on the business end of one and then you've witnessed another Harold. You're the best man. Good to see you. I love your show, man. How many years is this for you now? This is my 11th doing this one, 22 for NFL network. And you and I go, you and I go way back Harold and it's not just to ESPN.

I'll just tell this quick story before Harold leaves. So I was a Northwestern university Medill school of journalism student in Washington, DC. I was a student in Washington, DC, breaking in, trying to dream of being on ESPN one day. And I was recording, I was doing a piece for the orange County news channel in orange County and they're coming into Baltimore to play the Orioles in Camden yards where the angels and they're like, go cover it. I'm like, sure. And the first person I found in the dugout to talk to you about it, because this person was, you know, playing, you know, you played for the Orioles too, right? Harold, you played, okay. Okay. So I'm, I'm, I'm talking to you about all this.

And the first person I saw it out with a microphone who I interviewed for the middle school of journalism for OCN and was this man, Harold Reynolds. And you were, I had no idea. You really didn't want to talk about it, to be honest with you.

I think you're on a losing streak. You weren't in the best mood, but you still were a professional. And and then we worked together and now here we are on this program. That's awesome, man. I'm telling you, I love it. Look at us.

Have a great opening day. All right. But that was back when we had hair. Now look at us.

Two handsome men. Good to see you, Harold. Great to see you.

Thanks for having me on. That's how everybody back here on the rich eyes and show fun, fun, fun stuff, man. So great.

That's the truth. I was a little cup reporter with a lot of hair wondering what am I going to do? How am I going to break into this business? But I kept on doing pieces and pieces and pieces.

And I, Harold did not want to talk totally to a college kid, you know, before a game, but he was great. He did it. And then we wound up working together, uh, eight four four two oh four, rich number to dial here on the program, your phone calls and Tom Pelissero, Robbie Oots, Chelsea handler.

That's how we're rolling it today. This episode is brought to you by universal pictures from universal pictures and Blumhouse come a storm of terror from the director of the shallows. The woman in the yard. Don't let her in. Where does she come from? What does she want? When will she leave?

Today's the day the woman in the yard only in theaters, March 28th. Ryan Reynolds here for Mint mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same premium wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistants assistants switch you to mint mobile today.

I'm told it's super easy to do at mint mobile.com slash switch upfront payment of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first three months only then full price plan options available taxes and fees extra full terms at mint mobile.com. Give me a good Dion story. You got a good one. Oh gosh. I don't know. Inside the park home run. Hey, look that up.

Sometime you don't want people to say, what's your top three most exciting moments ever. I'm coaching third base in New York. He and Bo Jackson are John back and forth. Both getting on him about, you know, he's playing center field for Kansas city. Dion's playing center field for us and they're going back and forth before the series starts. You know, Dion can't tackle. He can outrun Bo back and forth. It's getting pretty ugly if you remember. So the game starts out. Bo gets home running first to the back. Yeah.

Just bombs. It makes a great catch. And I could tell the Dion's kind of down. I'd had him in Albany a couple of years before double way. We'd gotten pretty close. In fact, he's still, anyway, I'll shorten it up, but he goes, go for it.

Go for it. He's in the dugout. He's in the dugout and I go, what's wrong, man? I said, come on.

A lot of game left. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

Anyway, he hits the ball in the right center field. Pull it up sometime. It's so exciting. We just showed it.

We'll show it again. As you tell the story, go for it. Yeah.

Go for it. Yeah. You're good. Oh, my crew's good.

Anyway, my crew's good. Right center field. He comes around second. He's got the Jerry curls working everything. Now Bo Dop's ball separates his shoulders. I think about the rest of the season.

Nobody knows that part of it. Now he's starting to shut it down around second, put the chicken flat down and toast into third. Nobody could run a triple out like him.

And we haven't scored a run in a month with that team. And he comes around third. I start pumping him to get him going. He's got this look on his face like, oh my God, this crazy guy's going to send me. So here we go.

We're coming. McFarland I think's the catcher. There's a relay coming from, might've been Deon Kalana.

I'm not sure. He's out by about two steps, whatever, but they short hop the catcher. He blocks the ball. Derwin marrels with some part from Hooks now, Deon jumps over the catcher, comes back and smatter.

Can you get his hand on the plate before it's like far like in retrieve the ball and put it on top of his hand. He's saved by a finger. I come back in the duck out. He goes, brother, brother, what are you doing? I can't let Bo show you up like that. You got your shot there and you took it. He goes, man, you're serious aren't you?

Yeah, I am. Deon never cussed. Beautiful man. Every baseball team he played on in the minor league, he was the most loved guy. He still does. I mean, his face will light up when you talk Hensley Mullins with him.

When you talk Bam Bam with him. And I believe he took BP with us in Baltimore and hit three balls out. I think the guy can play tomorrow.

It's ridiculous. One of the greatest athletes I ever saw. Never seen anybody run like that. Oh, I'm sorry.

First and second on salt, but if he'd almost wait for the ball cut on plate, now run the ball. He's the best. I love these stories. I mean, and the Bo Jackson story that you just heard from Harold Reynolds, that's why Jeff Perlman's book, which you still have yet to read, right? You haven't read your Jeff Perlman's book on Bo Jackson?

I've read the first few chapters. That's so great. Yeah, I got to get it. That's so great. That's why it's called the last folk hero because you know, Jeff's position on this, if you will, is that Bo did all this stuff before anybody could document it like this with their phone. Right. And so the stories like Bo that Harold was saying, I have never seen a ball hit in this part of the Kingdome with the exception of one hand, I could count on one hand and Bo went left-handed and batting practice and cracked one there. Now, invariably, there will be somebody who's there recording it because it's Bo Jackson just grabbing a bat left-handed.

You don't think if somebody had a phone, they would pop it right out and shoot it and capture that? Absolutely. So Bo's accomplishments were the last one human being to be having to be told by word of mouth. Yep. Amazing. Back on the Rich Eisen show.

Great stuff with Harold Reynolds. The Hyundai getaway sales event is going on right now. Get that Hyundai car or SUV you've always wanted because it's the best time to do it. Plus every new Hyundai comes with America's best warranty and three years or 36,000 miles of limited complimentary maintenance. Don't think you can get away with all that?

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It's a great day for a new Hyundai. Hey man, crazy. On Wednesday, the LeBronversation as Pat called it on his show.

Great name. Well, I think Pat thinks about that. I would peg that that was a Pat thing.

Pat's the one who came up with the showdown in Starbucks. Remember that he had like the tale of the tape between Ian and Jordan Schultz. At any rate, long story short, the LeBronversation, you know, LeBron just starts a massive ESPN TV food fight.

I mean, massive. Says all sorts of provocative things on that front. The seventies game and how Giannis could get 250 points in a game in the seventies.

It says all of that stuff. Then goes and plays a game in Indianapolis against the Pacers in which he enters the fourth quarter with a grand total of two points and zero field goals. And his streak of games scoring at least 10 that dates back to 2007 is on the line and it looks bleak and he gets a double double and tips in the game winner with no time left. Is that the most LeBron day you could think of? Well, and then his social media activity after the game.

Yeah, it was incredible. I mean, it looked like he's saying all of this stuff while he taped it the day before anyway, but it airs the day of the game. And then in the game, it looks like he's about to have his first single digit game in 15 years.

Well, actually 18 years, 18 years. And instead he still winds up with a double double and tips in the game winner to break up the Lakers five game losing streak and they need it. Now tonight's a another game.

We'll see if he plays in the back to back. Put that in perspective. The last time LeBron didn't score double figures, Cooper flag was a newborn.

Yeah. I mean, it's been that long. So it was so close that he first, first time in 18 years, couldn't walk the walk and back up the talk, but it didn't happen. As a matter of fact, we're all talking about, there's the game where he was look at it and make it. There's LeBron. That was a wild finish.

That was a fun game between two teams that have designs on shocking top seeds in the playoffs. Hour two of this show coming up. And just don't claim to be my best friend. That's all. I mean, the stuff I, I listen, Stephen, a, I think we all know soaks this in and I, he went on that night. He last night you went on his YouTube show, right?

He did the first 15 minutes of first take. And so he, this is you're, you're, you're in his lane now. Like he's not, he's used to this. And as a matter of fact, I think he just soaks it in and that's like his, one of his super powers is to soak this in and return fire. And I'm sure he doesn't enjoy the things that LeBron said about him, but he can hold his own.

Clearly the one I'm odd. I was just bummed for win horse. Cause I don't, I don't think Brian ever, ever don't either claims to be like friends with him. Right. The people kind of come into Brian's defense yesterday. John booty girls, a bunch of people were just like never said this now he has clearly, you know, him being around LeBron at the very early parts of his career, right.

Helped get win horse on a lot of radar screens and covers. He was there. He covered LeBron in high school. They went to the same high school. LeBron's known him for a long time, but yeah. You know, I don't think, you know, and obviously, listen, LeBron has made many careers happen. Like that's what happens when you are as iconic as him.

Like, you know, coaches careers get made and teammates careers get made and exactly tell his story early on. And Brian was, was that for a while. I saw that.

I'm like, that's, that was a bummer. That's a foul. That's kind of poked fun of his weight too. That's like a six personal foul. He fouled out on that one.

That was unfortunate. Cause also Brian's not going to clap back on the hoop collective. You know what I mean? Like that's not right. Cause his, cause his world is, is still trading in information and LeBron is the center of that universe. So I don't think he's going to defend himself or like Stephen A is like, okay, now, now it's on right. Like that he'll just tighten his tie and just make sure that that microphone clip is on appropriately and off he goes.

I get it. He wants to clap back, but it's kind of like with Kendrick and Drake. It's like, maybe you should just take this L and, and, and no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is, I mean, an ESPN's a new tool. I got an alert on my phone this morning from ESPN to say, you know, Steven Hayes responded back in the day. This Bristol would want to just like stamp this thing right out. We're in a different world now. Could you imagine stew just tearing somebody out back? No, it's just a different time. It's a different time.