Hour 1: Mr. Marlin In Studio!

Summary

The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Episode Summary Episode: Hour 1: Mr. Marlin In Studio!
Release Date: August 6, 2025

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Introduction and Guest Welcome

In this episode of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, hosts Dan Le Batard and Stugotz welcome a very special guest, Jeff Conine, affectionately known as "Mr. Marlin." Recorded live from the Elser Hotel in Downtown Miami, the episode delves deep into the history, legacy, and memorable moments of the Miami Marlins, offering fans a nostalgic trip down memory lane.

Notable Quote:

• Stugotz [00:18]: "One of the great things is when you get to meet your childhood hero and they turn out to be way better than you ever could have thought..."

Jeff Conine: The Legacy of Mr. Marlin

The conversation kicks off with Stugotz acknowledging Jeff Conine's monumental impact on the Marlins franchise. Jeff shares his pride in being the first inductee into the Marlins Hall of Fame, reflecting on his illustrious career and the honor of being recognized by the team and its fans.

Notable Quote:

• Dan Le Batard [01:49]: "You're the first inductee. That was a pretty cool honor, actually."

Building the Marlins Hall of Fame

The hosts discuss the establishment of the Marlins Hall of Fame, highlighting key figures like Luis Castillo and Jeff Conine. They delve into the criteria for induction, emphasizing both on-field performance and contributions to the team's legacy.

Notable Quote:

• Stugotz [03:01]: "Put that up a little bit. And so what they do is they came up with two managers because they've won two World Series and two players."

Memorable Baseball Moments

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to recounting unforgettable moments from Marlins history. Jeff Conine reminisces about the pivotal games, including dramatic plays and clutch performances that defined the team's championship runs.

Notable Quote:

• Jeff Conine [21:49]: "The go-ahead Home Run MVP of the 1995 All-Star Game, cementing your legacy as Mr. Marlin very early on."

Team Dynamics and Trades

The discussion shifts to the intricate dynamics within the team, particularly focusing on trades and player relationships. Dan shares anecdotes about being traded back to the Marlins and the professional yet personal relationships formed, even amidst business decisions.

Notable Quote:

• Dan Le Batard [05:26]: "It was business. It was business."

Reflections on Fandom and Team's Impact

The hosts reflect on the ebb and flow of baseball fandom, especially in South Florida. They analyze factors that influenced fan engagement, such as team performance, management decisions, and broader trends in the sport.

Notable Quote:

• Dan Le Batard [40:07]: "I think we're seeing that with other sports now, where you just. It's like a cyclical thing that people get tired of it."

Behind-the-Scenes Stories

Listeners are treated to behind-the-scenes stories that highlight the camaraderie and occasional tensions within the clubhouse. From playful banter to serious discussions about game strategies, these insights paint a vivid picture of team life.

Notable Quote:

• Stugotz [30:32]: "Are we ever going to tell him what we did. Niner knows."

Celebrating Team Achievements

The episode culminates with a celebration of the Marlins' achievements, both past and present. Jeff Conine shares his pride in the team's accomplishments and expresses optimism for the future, encouraging listeners to continue supporting the Marlins.

Notable Quote:

• Jeff Conine [27:51]: "Anytime you get to go to the postseason and do something special like that, that's why you put on a uniform."

Conclusion

The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz wraps up with heartfelt thanks to Jeff Conine for sharing his invaluable experiences and insights. The episode serves as a tribute to the Miami Marlins' rich history and the players who have left an indelible mark on the franchise.

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Key Takeaways:

• Jeff Conine's pivotal role in establishing himself as "Mr. Marlin."
• The creation and significance of the Marlins Hall of Fame.
• Memorable moments that defined the Marlins' championship runs.
• The balance between business decisions and personal relationships within the team.
• The fluctuating nature of baseball fandom and its impact on team dynamics.

Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Stugotz [00:18]: "One of the great things is when you get to meet your childhood hero and they turn out to be way better than you ever could have thought..."
• Dan Le Batard [01:49]: "You're the first inductee. That was a pretty cool honor, actually."
• Jeff Conine [21:49]: "The go-ahead Home Run MVP of the 1995 All-Star Game, cementing your legacy as Mr. Marlin very early on."
• Dan Le Batard [05:26]: "It was business. It was business."
• Dan Le Batard [40:07]: "I think we're seeing that with other sports now, where you just. It's like a cyclical thing that people get tired of it."
• Stugotz [30:32]: "Are we ever going to tell him what we did. Niner knows."
• Jeff Conine [27:51]: "Anytime you get to go to the postseason and do something special like that, that's why you put on a uniform."

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the essence of the episode, providing listeners with a clear understanding of the discussions and insights shared by Dan, Stugotz, and Jeff Conine. Whether you're a die-hard Marlins fan or new to the team's lore, this episode offers valuable perspectives on one of baseball's beloved franchises.

Transcript

[Dan Le Batard]

This is the Dan Levator show with the ST Podcast.

[Stugotz]

One of the great things is when you get to meet your childhood hero and they turn out to be way better than you ever could have thought, because sometimes you end up meeting your hero and they stink.

[Chris Cote]

Who'd you have that with?

[Stugotz]

I had it with Patrick Ewan, and it just was a nightmare.

[Chris Cote]

He just Knight. Oh, that was the bad one.

[Stugotz]

That was the bad one.

[Chris Cote]

What happened?

[Stugotz]

He just wasn't nice. I wanted to sign something. I met him in an elevator, and I was. I was obsessed with the Knicks, and I.

[Chris Cote]

How old were you, like three years ago?

[Stugotz]

I was 26 and I was in Houston, and he just wasn't nice. And now he's nice since. But it's hard to get over the.

[Chris Cote]

First impression you don't take into account. Maybe he was having a bad day.

[Stugotz]

It doesn't matter. Or that it was the eve of game seven. Or be nice.

[David Samson]

Or don't ask for an interview. An interview.

[Stugotz]

Or I just wanted something. But then you get to a place where you get to run a baseball team and you get to bring in a player at a critical moment, and not only does he turn out to be better than you thought, but you end up gaining a lifelong friend. So much so you're all right.

[Jeff Conine]

Chris. Chris, you okay?

[David Samson]

Nah.

[Billy Corben]

Making a blunder like that in front.

[David Samson]

Of you, I said marlon interview instead of autograph in front of Jeff. I'm embarrassed.

[Jeff Conine]

You turn off your mic and you're.

[Stugotz]

Like, I think some stupid niner didn't even give it a thought. But thank you for completely blowing the onboarding and doing it. Exactly why there's never any Marlins on this show. Little known fact there. We got Jeff Conine, Mr. Marlin, to join us. Yeah, he deserves an applause from everybody watching.

[Jeff Conine]

This is big for legacy fans of the show that don't even care about the Marlins because they know that Jeff Koenine is Mr. Marlin because he's referenced so often as such on our show.

[Stugotz]

You're the most famous Marlin ever. You're in the Marlins hall of Fame.

[Dan Le Batard]

How about that?

[Stugotz]

You're the first.

[Dan Le Batard]

First inductee. That was a pretty cool honor, actually. You know, you. You go around your baseball career and, you know, you get into multiple halls of Fame, Broward county, and. But to be for your team after 30 years, that was pretty cool.

[Stugotz]

Was it cooler to be on the hall of Fame ballot in Cooperstown?

[Dan Le Batard]

That was also pretty cool.

[Stugotz]

That's now.

[Chris Cote]

That's.

[Dan Le Batard]

Even though I didn't get one token vote from these people down here, these writers down here, they couldn't give me one little tiny.

[Stugotz]

Hey, were you 0.0?

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah. Not one vote.

[Clark Spencer]

You're on Clark Spencer.

[Dan Le Batard]

I was on the ballot. I was on the ballot, but not one vote.

[Stugotz]

People don't realize it's hard to be on the hall of Fame ballot.

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, there's only, what, 20 guys on there.

[Stugotz]

We spent so much time wondering whether we should do a Marlins hall of Fame, and we just never got to it. And then after Jose died, the team got sold, and that was it. Everyone was gone and including us. And then the new owners came in, and then once they got rid of Jeter, I believe that's when the hall of Fame was born. And you were the perfect first inductee.

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, thank you. I appreciate that.

[Chris Cote]

Still, the only players that I see that they're doing Luis Castillo is that. That was announced that in a couple of weeks.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah.

[Chris Cote]

It's awesome.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah.

[Stugotz]

So they've done just put that. Put that up a little bit. And so what they do is they came up with two managers because they've won two World Series and two players. Now people don't realize Luis Castillo has some of the greatest numbers in Marlin's history. He's a franchise guy, and then Jeff Konine is Mr. Marlin.

[Chris Cote]

Are Jeff and Luis Castillo the only two Marlins with both World Series?

[Dan Le Batard]

Uno.

[Chris Cote]

You're the only one.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'm the only one.

[Chris Cote]

Luis wasn't also on. Like, he wasn't in the system in the 90s?

[Dan Le Batard]

He wasn't. He was in the system, but we ended up. He was not performing very well, so we got Craig Counsel to take his place, basically.

[Jeff Conine]

He doesn't get a ring?

[Dan Le Batard]

No, he got a ring.

[Jeff Conine]

Okay.

[Dan Le Batard]

But he wasn't on the pussies and roster. No, no, no. He didn't really get a ring.

[Jeff Conine]

So you and Luis Cassillo, the only two that have.

[Chris Cote]

We're in the system.

[David Samson]

I'm with Jeff.

[Jeff Conine]

Rings.

[David Samson]

Jeff's the only one.

[Jeff Conine]

Well, he was the only one that was playing.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'm the only one that played in both.

[Stugotz]

What about Lowell?

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, he would. He didn't become a. He was 99 or something like that. 2000.

[Stugotz]

So there was not one other player?

[Dan Le Batard]

Not one.

[Chris Cote]

I don't know if you know there's a fire sale after 97.

[Jeff Conine]

You were an active participant in one of them.

[Stugotz]

Not the one after 97.

[Jeff Conine]

Not the one after 97.

[Stugotz]

We didn't. Can we put an end to this?

[Dan Le Batard]

I will disagree with that. I will disagree with that. People Say that all the time. Oh, we blew up the team after 2003. That is category team really putting.05.

[Chris Cote]

No, no, no.

[Dan Le Batard]

We had a good team, both 04 and 05. We had chances. We had chances.

[Jeff Conine]

We gave you flowers, David, you guys went for it. You got the Delgado trade. And then when that didn't work, then you blew up the team. And then after you got the stadium that you said was a problem.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'm kidding. We were into the very end in 2005 in the wild card race, and.

[Chris Cote]

Then the Hurricane came and screwed everything up. You had all the double headers.

[Dan Le Batard]

Exactly. Had. We had 21 games in 20 days or something like that. And we were right to the very end. We were right to the very end. We had to play a game in Chicago against.

[Stugotz]

Against the. Wasn't it the Expos.

[Dan Le Batard]

Expos. In Chicago.

[Stugotz]

And we couldn't stay at a regular hotel.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, it was awful.

[Chris Cote]

Now, you guys were red hot before the schedule took a dump. And I was like. I remember as a Marlin fan, I was like, I think they're gonna win the World Series again. And. And then you had all this.

[Jeff Conine]

Weathers had to do a spot start. It was crazy.

[Dan Le Batard]

So then they blew everything up after they got rid of me in 05. That's when it went downhill.

[Jeff Conine]

That's what we were.

[Dan Le Batard]

You told me I was worthless, so wow.

[Jeff Conine]

What the hell?

[Stugotz]

I. What I said is that if you want an opportunity to continue your career.

[Dan Le Batard]

It ain't gonna be with us. See you later.

[Chris Cote]

So how do you become friends with this person after something like that?

[Dan Le Batard]

It was business. It was business.

[Stugotz]

It was just business.

[David Samson]

Nothing personal.

[Chris Cote]

But most players can't separate the two.

[Dan Le Batard]

A lot cannot. You are correct. They take it personal and they have grudges and realize this is a business that needs to be run as such and we are just part of the plan.

[Stugotz]

Basically, we brought Niner into the business after he retired and now he fully understands it. And I bet you that the answer to this question. Because Niner is known as Mr. Marlin, but I would assume that having Griffin, your son is a big leaguer, is that a bigger moment than winning the World Series? Watching your son hit a home run in the big leagues?

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, I mean, that's it. I mean, come on, really?

[David Samson]

He hit a tying home run the day he got inducted into that. That was awesome. That moment.

[Dan Le Batard]

That was incredible.

[Jeff Conine]

That's cooler than the throw home.

[Dan Le Batard]

It's your kid, man. And you've seen him since he was 10 years old. Put on a uniform and like, you didn't think he was going to be that good. People ask me all the way up to probably his sophomore year of high school. Is your kid going to play college baseball, Mike? Yeah, he might. You know, Division two, Division three. And then all of a sudden that switch flips and he becomes a monster. He grows four inches and puts on 30 pounds in one summer. And now he gets Broward county player of the year. And like, okay, now He's a Division 1 player and goes to Duke. And then it's all about him. It's all about trying to help him along in his path to the. To the big leagues. And that's all he wanted. You know, he went to Duke, but he majored in baseball.

[Stugotz]

But you won a World Series.

[Dan Le Batard]

I actually won two World Series, so.

[Stugotz]

How is that not. I don't know. You're just a better dad, I guess. But like, him hitting home run was cool. Don't get me wrong. You threw out J.T. snow at the plate to advance.

[Chris Cote]

What a throw.

[David Samson]

Do we sometimes think Pudge gets all the credit for that? People talk about the.

[Chris Cote]

The hole.

[Clark Spencer]

No, no, I'm with you.

[David Samson]

But the throw, that, that perfect one hop throw, Unbelievable. Doesn't get enough love, I think.

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, he got a lot of love from Oogie when he tackled him at home plate, that's for sure.

[Stugotz]

Well, you weren't. You hadn't gotten there yet. No, you were still running it. You did the hug before you could run it.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, it was the strangest play.

[David Samson]

I was watching that slow motion that the ball bounces and kind of goes to your left. Like you had to like almost reach your glove out.

[Dan Le Batard]

That was the toughest part of the entire. That's what I'm saying.

[David Samson]

That plays sneaky tough.

[Stugotz]

Cuz it almost skipped by it.

[David Samson]

Almost like a short hop going left on him and then just a perfect one Hopper.

[Chris Cote]

Did you one hop it on purpose? You knew that was the best way for.

[Dan Le Batard]

I mean, as an outfielder.

[Chris Cote]

That's a good question. What are you laughing at?

[Stugotz]

But if he had the arm to get it there with that or relax, he could have.

[Dan Le Batard]

Easier for the catcher.

[Chris Cote]

If it's a one hop.

[Dan Le Batard]

As an outfielder that doesn't have a cannon for an arm was trained to you. One hop everything. So as a base runner, if you see a ball too high, you keep on running. So I never wanted to miss my cutoff man.

[Clark Spencer]

Jeff, what was that like in that season 2003, where you are, Mr. Marlin, playing for the Orioles and then you.

[David Samson]

Get traded to this team, I remember this. It was a Sunday game. I was like, I got to go. We did it in the. I heard about it in the morning.

[Stugotz]

I beined over to the stadium, and.

[Clark Spencer]

So this team is obviously doing well, succeeding, sort of going for a playoff push. And then Mr. Marlin, who hasn't been here all year long, joins the team. Were there anybody kind of looking at you sideways, or was it always just full embrace?

[Dan Le Batard]

You mean from the team themselves? Correct. Full embrace. But, you know, like you said, I'm in Baltimore. Really enjoyed playing in that city, in that stadium, and back then, not a whole lot of interleague interaction with the Orioles or the Marlins. So I had no idea about the team. I knew they were fairly close to the top of the wild card standings, but when I got traded back, I knew nothing about the Marlins. And when I arrived, I literally made the deal on an airplane flying across country. Thank God they had the phones that used to be in the back of the headrest.

[Chris Cote]

So expensive to use these phones.

[Dan Le Batard]

I don't even know. I don't even know what the bill was. I swiped a credit card, but I'm talking to my wife, who's talking to David, and Larry Beinfest, who's talking to my agent, and literally got the deal done at 11:58pm when I'm over the Mississippi time. Like that.

[Stugotz]

It was crazy Eastern because that's the trade back then. They moved the deadline to 6pm now because nobody wanted to be on the phone at midnight.

[Chris Cote]

Did you have any idea leading up to. Because it was conversation down here. Marlins fans are starting, oh, Marlon's my trade for Conine. Like, did you know in the days leading up that they might bring you back?

[Dan Le Batard]

Absolutely nothing. We had just finished a series in Seattle. We get to the airport and you are on the bus, and then you got your table there with TSA to check you before you get on the plane. And I decided to wait on the bus for a little bit to let the line go down. And I'm the only one in the back of the bus. And our GM at the time, Jim Beatty, gets on the bus, and there are two guys at the very front, and he walks by them and starts walking back towards me, looking at me, and I'm like, well, something's going on because he never gets on the player's bus. And he sits down next to me and he says, well, we got a tentative deal worked out to take you back to Florida, but there's some negotiations to be had. And I'm like, what And I gotta get on the plane. I'm not gonna, like, not get on the plane. So I get on the plane, and I don't know what to do. So I. Well, I called my wife beforehand, and she's going berserk, ecstatic that I get to go back home. And then from then on, it's like, all right, I'll be calling you. And I swipe my card and. And every 30 minutes, I'm checking in this whole negotiation.

[Chris Cote]

And you have your Oriole teammates, though, who are on the flight, like, next to you.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah. They're like, dude, what's going on? And then finally at the end, you know, I finally, Larry Bienfist says, jeff, we have two minutes. If you don't tell me right now, this is not going to go through, you're not going to be on the postseason roster. I said, all right, let's do it. And then I put the phone back in there and went up and down the aisle of the plane and said, see you later, fellas. I'm gone. On when we get back to balcony. You hopped out on a parachute and you were marlin. Yeah, right.

[Stugotz]

And then drove in to run his first at bat.

[Chris Cote]

He was awesome. The rest of the season was foul.

[Dan Le Batard]

Ball, but it's still, hey, whatever, dude. RBI is an rbi. How is it your friend Zach? Fly right. It's just business. Who needs enemies when you got friends like David? I love you.

[Jeff Conine]

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[Dan Le Batard]

Boom.

[Bob Odenkirk]

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[Dan Le Batard]

Don Le Batard.

[Chris Cote]

That was a long story.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, it's the only kind he tells.

[Bob Odenkirk]

It's a short one for me.

[Dan Le Batard]

I tried to speed it up for you guys.

[Jeff Conine]

You forgot about the league's cup stugats.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah. La Carreta is a place where the best of the celebrations has to be the 97 Marlin celebration because it was Levon. Well, when Fidel died the first time. This is the Dan Levatar show with the St.

[Chris Cote]

What's the deal with this.

[David Samson]

Bus the two of you own together?

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, yeah. That David always brags about. But can I finish my story?

[Chris Cote]

Please reminisce.

[Dan Le Batard]

Thank you.

[Billy Corben]

This guy's a pain, isn't he?

[Dan Le Batard]

Tangent. What's the tangent about?

[Jeff Conine]

Mr. Mar. With old.

[Dan Le Batard]

I just want to. I want to finish this.

[Jeff Conine]

It is a Wild Billy Wednesday.

[Chris Cote]

Go ahead.

[David Samson]

As you were.

[Dan Le Batard]

All right. Anyway, I come from Camden Yards, a cathedral. Baseball. We're getting 45,000 a night. I don't know anything about the Marlins. I fly overnight and I get back to South Florida. I. We are not taking batting practice. It's a Labor Day. I think it's a Monday game. It's a billion degrees out and we could do everything underneath in the tunnel. So I do all my warmups and I run out to my position. I turn around and I see 65, 000 orange seats. And I'm like, what the hell did I just do?

[Chris Cote]

So inspiring.

[Dan Le Batard]

I went to the year I went to the Cathedral. Don't start. No, don't start. Cathedral Baseball to. I don't know what I did. There's nobody there on this Labor Day. But within a week, I will say I had more fun with that team in the month and a half that I was with them than any team I've ever played on.

[Clark Spencer]

Darren Dalton.

[Dan Le Batard]

Any good stories wrong? Oh, yeah. Well, no, not that we can say. Good.

[Stugotz]

You can say anything.

[Dan Le Batard]

I know you can.

[Stugotz]

That's the best part about this is you're just supposed to say it while saying that. That was a 97 guy.

[Dan Le Batard]

He was a 97 who was part.

[Stugotz]

Of the fire cell.

[Dan Le Batard]

But he, you know, he came in and he take. He took my position, basically. We platooned at first base and after the World Series after thing, I could have been bitter and not like that move. But I will say he was one of the best teammates I ever had.

[Stugotz]

So it was a little like Corbin Bernstein and Charlie Sheen in major league where they're sort of. There's a problem. There's Been some nefarious activity. And then they hug once they win it. Did you hug Darren when Council Game 7?

[Dan Le Batard]

No. No. I had nothing against Darren Dalton. I had against the. The. The front office at the time because I was not informed of the trade before it happened. My wife got up that morning, it was Sunday morning. We got the newspaper, when you got the newspaper back in the day, and she said, hey, do you know that you guys traded for Darren Dalton? And they say in this article that he's going to play first base. And I'm like, nope, I had no idea.

[Stugotz]

Did you expect Dombrowski to talk to you?

[Dan Le Batard]

Yes, I think I was owed that. After five years, I didn't really was informed of anything. So I got to the ballpark and I acted dumb and I just got to my locker and all of a sudden I've got. Leitar was probably in front of me asking me questions about. About the trade.

[Clark Spencer]

I'm like, this is the lowest point of your life.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'm like, what are you talking about? Trade? What? And they're all looking at me like, you guys just traded for Darren Dalton and he's going to be platooning with you at first base. I'm like, news to me.

[Stugotz]

So I don't think we. They owed you that. No, it's not how. I mean, the players sometimes complain.

[Dan Le Batard]

Mr. Marlin, though. I mean, come on.

[Stugotz]

Were you. Were you Mr. Marlin then?

[Jeff Conine]

Yeah, yeah, by then he was.

[Stugotz]

What year did you.

[Dan Le Batard]

Five years. Five years into the.

[Stugotz]

What year did you become Mr. Marlin?

[Jeff Conine]

I was around like 95.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah.

[Stugotz]

That early?

[Jeff Conine]

Yeah.

[Stugotz]

There can be a Mr. Franchise, like three years.

[Jeff Conine]

I do have a top five. That'll help explain.

[Chris Cote]

Okay, now we're cooking.

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, in 93, by the time 96 rolls around, I'm like one of only two people that are still on the roster. Everybody else is gone.

[Stugotz]

That wasn't me.

[Jeff Conine]

All right, here's the top five moments in Jeff Konine's athletic career. Number five, his first Marlins home run was a grand slam. And that helped build his case very early on as to why he'd be.

[Stugotz]

Mr. Marlin, who is it off?

[Dan Le Batard]

David Nede from Colorado.

[Clark Spencer]

He's the only guy from that inaugural team to play all 162.

[Jeff Conine]

Number four, I'd like to talk to you a little bit about because it was a controversial game 97, NLCS, game 5. You had the go ahead single, ended up being the winning run. However, I was looking at the box score, and everyone wants to go to Levon and Eric Gregg and All that. You had a pretty terrible game that game before. You delivered that. Go ahead, run. You got picked off at second base by Greg Maddox and you ground it into a double play. That was a sweet way to end that game.

[Dan Le Batard]

Do you have a cricket sound?

[Clark Spencer]

We could play Dead Fish. Anybody?

[Chris Cote]

For people, for. For listeners who don't remember, can you explain how crazy Eric Gregg was that night?

[Dan Le Batard]

They don't understand. I mean, I don't know if you've seen. I think you can get it on YouTube or something like that, but they actually put the box.

[Chris Cote]

It's unbelievable.

[Dan Le Batard]

That didn't exist back then.

[Chris Cote]

Right.

[Dan Le Batard]

Put the box for the strike zone up then. And overlay it on some of these calls that he.

[Stugotz]

Rest in peace.

[Dan Le Batard]

He's a rest in peace. But to some, it was probably the only time in NLCS history that an umpire was part of the press conference afterwards and they were asking him about his strikes.

[Chris Cote]

Know that?

[Stugotz]

Don Denkinger.

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, he was.

[Stugotz]

Were you a part of that?

[Dan Le Batard]

There's. I was part. A lot of them that were not great.

[Stugotz]

That was a World Series 1 with the Kansas City Royal.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yes, I just saw that pop up yesterday.

[Stugotz]

Did you? Yeah, it's strange.

[Dan Le Batard]

And they threw him right down a couple of them right down the middle and then. Not great, Alex, or.

[Stugotz]

You got it.

[Dan Le Batard]

Mike Hargrove came out of the dugout and went crazy.

[David Samson]

That's a name.

[Dan Le Batard]

He was my manager in Baltimore.

[Stugotz]

Yeah, he's a big guy. He can tackle. Kickers would be my guess.

[Clark Spencer]

So can I.

[Dan Le Batard]

Number three, if you could catch up to him.

[Jeff Conine]

Number three, 1985, winner of the Junior racquetball final. Jeff. Tremendous racquetball player. Took Marty Hogan to the brink. You won a couple doubles with him as well.

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, that's a little known fact.

[Clark Spencer]

I heard you used to dominate the Bally's gyms when they were down here. The racquetball courts.

[Dan Le Batard]

Louisiana. Fitness, Louisiana Fitness Power.

[Stugotz]

Do they still charge you?

[David Samson]

I still have mine.

[Stugotz]

Are you still paying a monthly fee to LA Fitness?

[Dan Le Batard]

No, I finally got out of it.

[Chris Cote]

Did you have to go in person and sign the form?

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah.

[David Samson]

They charge Mr. Marlon.

[Jeff Conine]

Doing my research. Power was legendary for Mr. Marlon. He was a power player. And for whatever reason, part of his banter after he beat somebody was like, you owe me a milkshake.

[Dan Le Batard]

Where the hell did you find that?

[Jeff Conine]

That was a direct quote from this. From this article.

[Dan Le Batard]

The kid I beat in the Junior national finals, he owed me a milkshake.

[David Samson]

That's a bar.

[Dan Le Batard]

That's a bar.

[Stugotz]

That's Quite an article. Okay.

[Jeff Conine]

Number two. This one is a close, close personal memory of mine. I remember this moment watching it at my grandparents house. You were, I believe, the lone Marlin representative at the All Star Game.

[Chris Cote]

Yes.

[Jeff Conine]

The go ahead Home Run MVP. MVP of the 1995 All Star Game. Cementing your legacy as Mr. Marlin very early on.

[Dan Le Batard]

That is true.

[Chris Cote]

That was great. Because back then it wasn't a thing where everyone was definitely gonna play in the All Star Game.

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, I didn't the year before. I was one of only two players that did not get in the game in 94. And for Gosi was the. Yeah, it just didn't happen. It was actually a tie game and went extra, blah, blah, blah. I didn't get in the game. But Philippa Louis, who you know well, was in an All Star game and I think he did not get to play. So as a manager, he said he came up to me before and he goes, everybody is getting into this game. So I knew I was going to get in at some point.

[Jeff Conine]

And number one, it's the throw.

[Dan Le Batard]

That was easy.

[Stugotz]

I would say you missed a few olis that just off the top of my head from his time with the second championship. We only talk about Josh Beckett in game six as throwing the shutout to win two. Nothing. Anyone have an idea of how we got our first run?

[Dan Le Batard]

Go on.

[Stugotz]

Do you remember.

[David Samson]

I'm assuming Conan was involved.

[Dan Le Batard]

I did. I did score a run that game. I think I got on base because of an error by Derek Jeter.

[Stugotz]

So this is where I was trying to get. Is that the final game? The reason why we were able to win and score? There was an error by Mr. Jeter. That's one of the reasons he hated that World Series. And when he came to the Marlins, he barely. I mean, you were with him. Well, no. Wait, were you fired?

[Dan Le Batard]

Yes.

[Stugotz]

You were fired by Derek Jeter?

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, you fired me, actually.

[Stugotz]

Well, he told me to. But now you're back.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'm back.

[Stugotz]

Thank God.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'm back. And it's. It's been great. You know, I only know baseball. I don't know anything else. And to be back with the team that I grew up playing with and is kind of considered my team, you know, I played with five other teams in the major leagues, but obviously the first one that you really get your start with is the one that you appreciate the most.

[Clark Spencer]

Hang on, David. So one of Jeff Conine's most memorable athletic feats was an error by Derek Jeter.

[Stugotz]

No, he scored. He scored a run. You can't win a world. You can't win a game.

[Chris Cote]

0 to 0, gotta score runs. Israel.

[Jeff Conine]

Everybody remembers the Bartman game, but in game seven, you were pretty huge, too, of that series, three for three.

[Dan Le Batard]

I had a good series. I had a good series.

[David Samson]

Was that the Morai. The Morai double game?

[Stugotz]

That was the eighth.

[Jeff Conine]

Everybody had a contribution Banks.

[Chris Cote]

What was, what was the eighth inning like in the dugout that night?

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, it's Mark Prior on the mound, absolutely dominating. He's got five outs left to take them to the World Series. It's a one out in the eighth, and the foul ball goes down the line. And I'm on the end of the dugout, so I'm. I'm looking at it, like, right on the line, and I see Moises Luke coming over and I'm like, he's going to be able to catch this. And I see some hands go over and clank it. And the ball. I thought for sure the umpires were going to call interference because I thought he had a chance to catch that ball. And he'll say no, but he thought he had a chance to catch that ball because if you watch his reaction, he went berserk. And what did you yell? We all yelled immediately, let's make him famous, boys. Let's make him famous.

[Stugotz]

That's a true story because we were sitting right above the dugout is where those seats are at Wrigley, and we heard the players yelling, let's make him famous. Not knowing. You have to realize when you're at.

[Dan Le Batard]

The game, it was three nothing at the time.

[Stugotz]

And when you're watching the broadcast, all of a sudden they're focused on Steve Baartman. Every two seconds they're going back to it. When you're in the dugout or in the stadium, you have no idea that that's what the broadcast is doing. And so the players yelling, let's make him famous. We were like, I didn't. We didn't even know who the hymn was really, that it was a guy.

[Dan Le Batard]

We didn't either. We just saw a pair of hands go out there and we're like, let's make him famous.

[Chris Cote]

And then what were you yelling after Alex S. Gonzalez's error?

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, that's just the snowball that started the whole thing, and that was great about that team is that we never felt we were out of it. I don't care what the score was, I don't care what the inning count was. We always felt we had a chance to come back. And even three Nothing won out with Pryor on the mound. There wasn't a sense of dread in that dugout. We just had confidence in ourselves. And 15 minutes later, it's eight to three.

[Stugotz]

What about the clubhouse right after tell fans what was going on in the clubhouse after winning game six, do you remember what I remember about that clubhouse?

[Dan Le Batard]

It was almost like we won game seven already. Like we knew that we were winning the next day.

[Stugotz]

It was crazy. I wish that we had the ability to wager.

[Jeff Conine]

Didn't you have to go through Wood still?

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, yeah. And.

[Chris Cote]

Well, not just that.

[Dan Le Batard]

And he hit a three run homer to put him up like six to three or something like that. I've never heard, man, I've never heard a stadium louder at that point than, than Wrigley.

[Chris Cote]

That's what I wanted to ask you because I remember watching and, and on TV and Wood hits the home run, put them ahead early, and as he's rounding first base, you got that camera shot that's showing, you know, the entire stands in Wrigley Fields, and it looked like the stadium was bouncing. And I remember saying something go, holy shit, we got a chance. We're so screwed.

[Jeff Conine]

That's a loss.

[Dan Le Batard]

But even then, even after all that, it was just like there's this. We're like, we sloughed that off. We bring Beckett in and he's just absolutely dominating. So we kind of knew after the first inning that he came in. We're like, all right, they're not getting any more runs tonight. Let's start chipping away. And sure enough, we, we end up scoring six unanswered, and we win nine to six.

[Clark Spencer]

Jeff, one of my favorite things about that 03 team was the guys who were there. I covered the team in 2000 for just one year. That was John Henry was still.

[Jeff Conine]

Owner AJ Burnett called him ugly once.

[Clark Spencer]

He did that asshole Luis Castillo was on the team. Derek Lee is on the team. Mike Lowell and all those guys going from being on such a terrible team to just that difference in what, three, four years. Like, how cool was it for, for those guys in particular?

[Dan Le Batard]

I mean, anytime you get to go to the postseason and do something special like that, that's why you put on a uniform. I mean, for me. But yeah, when you, when you have those guys that have gone through the absolute doldrums and the absolute worst possible scenario of losing 90, 100 games, you know, people don't understand how good that team was. You know, I think they, you know, think the Marlins and, oh, they snuck in there, whatever, but it was the best infield defense I think I've ever played against or with by far, Lowell.

[Clark Spencer]

Gonzalez, Castillo and Lee, those two guys.

[Dan Le Batard]

Up the middle were second and nine. I've never seen a double play combo better than Castillo and Gonzalez.

[Chris Cote]

Gonzalez was the best defensive shortstop in all of baseball.

[Dan Le Batard]

For him to not win a Gold Glove was an absolute crime. You know, the LA media machine got Asturus to win the gold glove, especially in 04, I think it was. And Alex had a phenomenal season. He deserved it big time. Still with the Marlins and still. Yeah, still with Seabass is still there. Best hands I've ever seen.

[Stugotz]

No, I'm saying Gonzalez. No. 4, no fire cell.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, Castillo's still there.

[Stugotz]

Having to defend that, but Castillo is still there.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah.

[Stugotz]

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[Dan Le Batard]

Warning.

[Stugotz]

This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

[Billy Corben]

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[Dan Le Batard]

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[David Samson]

Call 1-800- gambler in New York. Call 877-8-HOPENY or text hopeny 467-369 in Connecticut.

[Chris Cote]

Help is available for problem gambling.

[Dan Le Batard]

Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Please play responsibly on behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas, 21 and over. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void. In Ontario, bonus bets expire seven days after issuance. For additional terms on responsible GAM sources, see DKNG co Audio.

[Stugotz]

Don Levatar Taytas Stugats Taytas this is.

[Dan Le Batard]

The Dan Levatar show with the Stugats.

[Stugotz]

Yeah. What about Trammel and Whitaker?

[Dan Le Batard]

I didn't. Well, I get I played against them. Very tail end. They were pretty good, but not like these kids.

[Stugotz]

I know. I loved them.

[Dan Le Batard]

Not by These kids were amazing.

[Stugotz]

Louie was just at the game when Jack was put in the hall of Fame. Louis looks great.

[Dan Le Batard]

He looks like better than when he played. He could barely walk when he played. I finished up with him with the New York Mets, and he was having troubles. You know, his knees were bad. Yeah, that was sad. But right now, he looks jacked.

[Clark Spencer]

There are very few things that I remember specifically about the locker room. One of them was Ryan Dempster. I was doing naked shit. And the other one was Luis Castillo. Every once in a while, usually when we were in Atlanta, you'd see him going across the locker room, and he'd.

[Stugotz]

Just be like, ay, ay, ay.

[Clark Spencer]

It's that AC DC song, right? That they just kept playing over and over. And he would just be like, ay, ay, ay.

[Dan Le Batard]

Oh, it's Ozzy Osbourn.

[Clark Spencer]

Ozzy Osborne. Excuse me. But yeah, that's what he would be doing all the time. And I'm just like, that's just weird.

[Stugotz]

That's a great imitation of Louie because he only called me Papi. Hey, Papi.

[Chris Cote]

Yeah. Still, even this weekend, you got anything fun on McKeon?

[Dan Le Batard]

I mean, Jack was. He's one of a kind. No doubt about it. He's 94 years old. We just had him here for his induction into the Marlins hall of Fame. And he's still sharp as. As he was back then. He hasn't really changed much. You watch the video board and see the highlights. You're like, it's amazing that that was 22 years ago and Jack looks as good as he does. And he's still an advisor to the Washington Nationals, still making calls. They still lean on him for advice. And, I mean, it was like. Like I said, he. He had a clubhouse that was fun. And he told the guys, check your egos at the door. That was his biggest. That was his big saying. And. And let us play.

[David Samson]

I still question the decision to start back at Game six. I know it worked out. You guys can play the results. But I wanted to keep him for Game seven.

[Stugotz]

So did I. Yeah.

[Dan Le Batard]

Jack didn't want a Game seven. Who would.

[David Samson]

Who would it have been?

[Stugotz]

Game seven?

[David Samson]

Brad Penny?

[Stugotz]

We would have had to go to Redmond Cavano on short. Yes.

[David Samson]

I remember at the time. It worked out.

[Stugotz]

I would have saved Beckett. I asked Jack to do that on the flight flying to New York. I asked one last time, can we not start Beckett? And this is back when managers are making decisions.

[Chris Cote]

How old were you?

[Stugotz]

I was 35.

[Chris Cote]

That's some balls to say that, right?

[Stugotz]

Well, I was president of the team.

[Chris Cote]

I understand.

[Stugotz]

But yes, it was. We had the conversation and Jack said, we got to win it in six. We are going to win this in six. I said, what if you're wrong? He said, we'll worry about seven tomorrow.

[Clark Spencer]

Was Josh Beckett ever really liked in that clubhouse? Because I remember when he came in as the 19 year old. 20. 19 year old, just without the big bonus and everybody was looking at him because he was making all the money. By the time he got to this point, I'm pretty sure people loved him, right?

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, we loved him. You know, he acted like a high schooler most of the time, but we all love Josh. His little outbursts and you know that that's what was great about that team. There's such a great collection of personalities that even though someone might be childish, we all just took it in stride and made fun of it rather than resenting it.

[Stugotz]

The thing about Josh Beckett. You're killing me, Niner. The thing about Josh Beckett that I love the most is when he had the. He was a kid. He was 23 when he went through this postseason. And we pitched his arm off. So you blew by Dusty Baker. Him. We. We.

[Chris Cote]

He had never even come close to a complete game in his career before that postseason.

[Stugotz]

Oh, what about the fact that we kept pitching him on his bullpen day. You just mentioned the fact that he pitched part of game seven. Do you remember? He pitched game five in the L. Starter. Right. And then we put him in for multiple innings in game seven.

[Dan Le Batard]

And that game five was one of the best games I've ever seen pitched, man.

[Chris Cote]

He only three one.

[Dan Le Batard]

They got two hits and they are lucky to get those two hits. And I don't know if you remember the at bat against Sammy Sosa.

[Stugotz]

He don't.

[Dan Le Batard]

And won the seventh or eighth inning.

[Stugotz]

Mavericked him.

[Jeff Conine]

Did you. Did you goose that radar gun? He hit triple digits on that. I'm like, I don't know if he's got it like that. This is a question for David. But he had 100. He hit 100 miles per hour on the fox broadcast. That didn't make any sense.

[Stugotz]

Niner knows the answer to this. Did we ever screw around with the pro player radar?

[Dan Le Batard]

No.

[David Samson]

That's the answer.

[Bob Odenkirk]

You're supposed to get only one.

[Dan Le Batard]

Only when Brad Penny was pitching.

[Chris Cote]

Right.

[Dan Le Batard]

Because he looked up there every pitch he would throw and he looked up redemption.

[Chris Cote]

Didn't McKeon demand. They don't show it when Penny was on the mound. Right.

[Stugotz]

Well, we would do several things with Penny. We would some when we were angry with him, we would take it down so he'd be thinking he's throwing 96 and it would come out 91, 92. And he'd be so furious. And then sometimes we put it up and say stop looking.

[Clark Spencer]

And then you call him paranoid when he asked about it.

[Stugotz]

Oh, we were never going to tell him what we did. Niner knows.

[Bob Odenkirk]

But why would you actively agitate your pitcher who's on the mound?

[Stugotz]

You don't want to take my point of view on a Wild Billy Wednesday. So could you answer Brad Penny, why we would choose him to screw around with the radar?

[Dan Le Batard]

Because it gave him a little extra, a little extra push. Like, oh, I'm, I'm mad. Like. And I think it made him pitch better. It really.

[Bob Odenkirk]

92.

[David Samson]

I'll show them.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, exactly. I'm gonna hump up and throw 93 or 94. And he was actually throwing 101. So yeah, it worked in our favor.

[Clark Spencer]

Mine's better.

[Jeff Conine]

Niner, did you hit like 800 against the Cubs Every. Every game I'm looking at during this run you destroyed the Cubs.

[Dan Le Batard]

I had a good series against the Cubs, yeah.

[David Samson]

Who's the pitcher in your career, Was it that, that you just. I crushed this guy.

[Dan Le Batard]

Another, God rest your soul, but Corey Lytle.

[David Samson]

Oh, lefty.

[Dan Le Batard]

I was no right hander. I might be thinking, but good try.

[Chris Cote]

Ted Lilly.

[David Samson]

That's my bad.

[Dan Le Batard]

I was good against him too. I was good against Ted Lilly too.

[Chris Cote]

Look, he quit.

[Dan Le Batard]

But then there's guys.

[Stugotz]

He's out of the room by.

[Dan Le Batard]

But then there's other guys. You think I'd do well against that? I didn't. My worst batting average against of anybody in my career was Tim Wakefield.

[Stugotz]

Lefty, you can't hit.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, no, not a lefty.

[Stugotz]

Can't hit the knuckleballer.

[Dan Le Batard]

I hit other knuckleballers, fine. But for him, for some reason with at bats, I was like 4 for 40 against him or something like that.

[Chris Cote]

How ridiculous was, was Cabrera insane?

[Dan Le Batard]

I mean we knew that coming up as a 20 year old in that post season. And then I got to play with him two more years, four and five. I said this is going to be one of the greatest right handed hitters in baseball history. And he ended up. That's exactly what he did.

[Stugotz]

He'll be a first ballot hall of Famer.

[Dan Le Batard]

And he was a stud. I mean you saw what he did with nerves of steel as a 20 year old in the postseason. The Legendary at bat off Roger Clemens when he takes him deep opposite field, which is no small feat. And Pro Player stadium. That was a gigantic.

[Jeff Conine]

He got a bone pick with that one. Billy and I as people that had tickets to that game. Carl Pabano game. Alex Gonzalez game. That was supposed to be the. The moment we were classy sports. We got all this crap for being bad basement.

[Chris Cote]

He didn't deserve that ovation.

[Jeff Conine]

We gave him a rocke.

[Chris Cote]

He didn't deserve that.

[Dan Le Batard]

A big send off and he ends up pitching for like three more years.

[Jeff Conine]

Help kept us out of the playoffs.

[Stugotz]

In 05. Who knew? That's Damie pitched after his parent died.

[Dan Le Batard]

It was him and aj.

[Stugotz]

AJ Burnett. We were right there in Houston. We score off Clemens because he's parent and AJ could not do a shutdown inning.

[Dan Le Batard]

Nope.

[Clark Spencer]

Now I remember why my antenna goes up every time I hear called Pravana. Didn't he date Alyssa Milano? They all dated after they broke up.

[Jeff Conine]

They all dated.

[Stugotz]

There's not one starting pitcher. We had or didn't date Alyssa.

[Clark Spencer]

That's strange.

[Stugotz]

Oh, she went through the clubhouse like, like. Like a summer cold. Not United. Not me. No, definitely not. I'm. I didn't want to stop on your story of how you were traded here, but I need to go back just to. Because I want to give love to Cindy, your wife, because she was the hardest negotiator I ever dealt with in my career. And I dealt with Boris and all the negotiators. Cindy Conine negotiated on behalf of Jeff Conine while he was flying cross country and got an extra year out of us. Cindy did his wife.

[Chris Cote]

Okay, so what was so tough about that though?

[Stugotz]

Why would we want to give him another year? We were training for him. Give him a chance to come home, be at home. We said to Cindy, your husband's going to be home. Now she's like, don't need him home. Don't want him home, don't care. One extra year. And they had an agent, a guy, great guy named Michael Watkins. Great guy. Did nothing. So whatever commission you paid him on this deal did nothing.

[Chris Cote]

Did you have a no trade?

[Stugotz]

Is that why it was all Cindy?

[Dan Le Batard]

This is so not true. So not true. Everything is so not true.

[Stugotz]

Were we on the phone with Cindy?

[Dan Le Batard]

100%.

[Stugotz]

Were we told by Watkins that Cindy was holding up the deal?

[Dan Le Batard]

Maybe. But it wasn't because I wanted an extra year.

[Stugotz]

You guys take an extra year.

[Dan Le Batard]

You guys wanted to break my age.

[Stugotz]

You take less money and in return we give you the extra year. You had to take a pay cut.

[Dan Le Batard]

No, you wanted to take my next year's contract and split it in half into two years. And I'm like, you got to give me something more for my free agent year. That's what the negotiation was. And you didn't want to give it to me at first. They just wanted to break that, Split that Oriole salary for my next year in 2004. We're going to split that up into two years. And then I. They thought I was going to be okay with that.

[Clark Spencer]

But I believe Jeff.

[Chris Cote]

I believe Jeff.

[Stugotz]

Of course you guys do. And that's fine.

[Dan Le Batard]

And that's where the negotiation was. I needed something for that second year.

[Chris Cote]

And he won or his wife won.

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, I. I agreed. I didn't. I didn't win. It makes sense.

[Billy Corben]

You know why, right?

[Chris Cote]

Yeah, it makes sense.

[Dan Le Batard]

You know why?

[Chris Cote]

Wise love money.

[Stugotz]

Yeah, that's fine.

[Chris Cote]

It's true. Conan.

[Clark Spencer]

Jeff, why did almost everybody in this room stop loving baseball about 10, 15 years ago?

[Jeff Conine]

Look to your left.

[Clark Spencer]

Oh, no, not specifically. Not like the Marlins anymore, but just baseball in general. It felt like just the fandom kind of fell off, and then that's why they went to all the new rules and everything else they've had to do.

[Dan Le Batard]

I don't know. I think we're seeing that with other sports now, where you just. It's like a cyclical thing that people get tired of it. I know that, you know, the strike in 94 really killed baseball in South Florida. You know, I don't think people realize we drew over 3 million fans our first year. We were on our way to draw close to 3 million the second year in 94, and went on strike. And then after that, I think people just said, all right, we'll go somewhere else and do something else.

[Jeff Conine]

Even after two World Series, though, I mean, your franchise had cracked the code in terms of how to win fans back. Outside of having a, you know, a home run chase, you guys killed it.

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, that's what huizenga did in 1997. He gave Dave Dabrowski pretty much opened up the checkbook and said, I want you to build a World Series winning team. I want to see if these fans will come back and really support. And in his mind, they did. They come. They came back. We had a much better attendance than we did in 96, but not to his liking. So he said, okay, that's it. So that's when the.

[Stugotz]

He also couldn't get a ballpark, and.

[Dan Le Batard]

He couldn't get a ballpark. So that's when the. The love affair.

[Chris Cote]

I feel like that's where he made the mistake though, because I remember it was at the parade where it was, you know, enjoy it while you can. We all knew he was going to break it up there. If you want to see the attendance figures, I mean, David, you would know better than me. Of course it's the next year. Right? Like, Huizenga probably should have waited. Let's see what the intense was like in 98, the year after the World Series. Right.

[Dan Le Batard]

That was such a great team. If they would have kept that team together again and gave us a shot to run it back. I mean, I think you're right because Miami loves a winner and we won. And if bringing back the same team, that would have been. That would have been special.

[Stugotz]

It's. It was all ballpark related. He wanted to build an entire facility around pro player. Really what Steven Ross has done. Wayne Huizenga had that idea well before Steven Ross.

[Dan Le Batard]

Well, it was going to be Wayne's World.

[Stugotz]

Wayne. And he was going to call it Wayne's World.

[Dan Le Batard]

It's going to be Wayne's World. It was going to be a hockey arena. It was going to be a baseball stadium. It was going to be an amusement park. All out west, west of 75 copyright. Yeah. And didn't happen.

[Clark Spencer]

Jeff, how do your shoulders get so large? I have issues with shoulders. I never can really get them to grow. Yours seem like they've been that big your entire life.

[Dan Le Batard]

Good genetics. My dad's pretty.

[Stugotz]

I'm looking at his dad right now.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, right. Thanks. Appreciate that.

[Stugotz]

It's huge.

[Dan Le Batard]

No, I work out. This is not by accident. I work a lot. They don't just stay that way forever. Four times a week I'm in the weight room. So I still train like an athlete because I believe I still am one.

[Stugotz]

But even though I'm not Niner. Thank you for being a Marlins representative to come to the Dan LeBatard show with Stu Gotz because it doesn't happen often. Often.

[Dan Le Batard]

So, like, when's the last time have we had.

[David Samson]

I think we had Skip Schumacher when he was managing in studio.

[Billy Corben]

Good forearms.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah. Yeah, very like.

[Jeff Conine]

Because of him.

[Dan Le Batard]

That guy's jacked too.

[Jeff Conine]

I don't eat after 7pm anymore.

[Chris Cote]

Really?

[Jeff Conine]

He has a skip. And who's he doing now?

[Dan Le Batard]

And which were you guys are talking about tackling? Who? I saw him.

[Jeff Conine]

Like a kicker.

[David Samson]

Somebody said that we couldn't even tackle any punters or kickers in the NFL.

[Jeff Conine]

A standard tackling drill.

[Dan Le Batard]

Have you seen some of these guys, like after they mess up a punt or something like that.

[Jeff Conine]

Have you seen the progress I made over the last few months?

[Dan Le Batard]

I don't know.

[Billy Corben]

Why is he squinting?

[Dan Le Batard]

I didn't. I didn't see what it was before.

[Billy Corben]

Yeah, why are you squinting?

[Dan Le Batard]

I didn't see what it was before, so I don't know what to compare it to.

[Clark Spencer]

Listen, it doesn't matter what kind of tackle. If it's a shoestring tackle, it counts.

[Dan Le Batard]

I once had a teammate said that if a 10 yard buffer that he would be able to tackle or touch Barry Sanders. I said, you're out of no shame.

[Jeff Conine]

No one's claiming that.

[Dan Le Batard]

We're saying we can tackle it.

[Clark Spencer]

Jason Sanders. Not Barry Sanders.

[David Samson]

I believe Devon White.

[Dan Le Batard]

I would love to have. What's his name?

[Clark Spencer]

Jason Sanders.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah. Come in here and put them on. Prove you guys wrong.

[Chris Cote]

I'd put him on the floor.

[Jeff Conine]

Don't bring Jason Sanders in here if you don't want him on the floor. Miami Dolph. We'll put him on the floor and 210 pounds, 6 foot 3. I can tackle him and bring him to the ground. That's right. Only 210, Chris.