670 - Pete Browning (Baseball guy)

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds – Episode 670: Pete Browning (Baseball Guy)

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Introduction to Pete Browning

In Episode 670 of The Dollop, titled "Pete Browning (Baseball Guy)", hosts Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds delve into the intriguing and tumultuous life of Pete Browning, a forgotten baseball legend from the late 19th century. Browning's story is a compelling mix of athletic prowess, personal struggles, and quirky habits that have left an indelible mark on baseball history.

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Early Life and Background

Pete Browning, born Lewis Rogers Browning on June 17, 1861, in Louisville, Kentucky, hailed from a well-off family. Despite his father's untimely death in a tornado when Pete was just 13, Browning and his siblings remained financially stable, thanks to his father's successful lumber and grocery business.

“He had two brothers and two sisters. His dad, Samuel, was a pretty well off lumber merchant and grocer, but then he got killed by a tornado when Louie was 13.” [05:05]

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Rise in Baseball

An exceptional athlete from a young age, Pete's love for baseball was evident as he joined the Louisville Eclipse at 17. Known for his towering height of 6'10" and a hefty 180 pounds—a giant for his time—Browning quickly became a standout player with his formidable curveball and change-up pitches.

“He had a curveball and a change up. He threw a two hit shutout.” [14:19]

His batting average soared to an astonishing .414 in July, a feat unparalleled even in modern baseball statistics. Browning's emphasis on power hitting over technical play earned him the nickname "The Gladiator."

“He is by far the best hitter. He’s hitting the highest average on the team. He’s hitting .414 in July.” [20:50]

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Personal Struggles and Quirky Habits

Browning's career was marred by personal demons, primarily alcoholism, which he used as a coping mechanism for chronic pain caused by mastoiditis—a severe ear infection. This addiction led to erratic behavior, including frequent public intoxication and confrontations with teammates and the press.

“Pete is drinking a lot. He's in pain all the time from his ears. So that's how he deals with it.” [12:02]

Beyond his drinking, Browning exhibited bizarre habits aimed at mitigating his ear pain and enhancing his performance. He famously applied chewing gum to his eyebrows and soaked his bats in water and buttermilk to improve their performance, practices that baffled his peers and fans alike.

“Pete named his bats after biblical figures… He put chewing gum on his eyebrows.” [33:54]

“He soaks them in water to make them heavier.” [33:08]

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Innovations and Contributions to Baseball

Pete Browning's dedication to his craft led to significant contributions to the sport. After breaking his favorite bat during a crucial game, he collaborated with a local woodworker to create a replica, which eventually became the iconic Louisville Slugger bat. This innovation not only benefited Browning but also revolutionized baseball equipment.

“Pete demanded they duplicate it. And he has been satisfied the bat is made to his specifications. It would become the Louisville Slugger.” [32:23]

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Decline and Professional Troubles

Despite his on-field successes, Browning's off-field issues led to his eventual downfall. Multiple suspensions for drunkenness, public altercations, and deteriorating relationships with team management and the press plagued his career. His batting prowess couldn't fully compensate for the negative attention and declining defensive skills, exacerbated by his worsening health.

“Pete’s getting more irritable, which is common with mastoiditis.” [20:07]

“He was arrested for being drunk on public.” [36:52]

Quotes from the episode highlight his erratic nature:

“I can't hit the ball until I hit the bottle.” [62:20]

“A player cannot drink beer and play ball.” [82:07]

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Later Life and Legacy

After numerous team changes, mismanagement, and continued personal struggles, Pete Browning's career never fully recovered. He attempted to transition into roles outside baseball, such as running a billiard saloon and seeking political office, but these endeavors were unsuccessful. Browning's life ended tragically in 1907, after battling various health issues exacerbated by his long-term alcoholism and untreated mastoiditis.

“He died surrounded by his family on March 16, 1907.” [96:42]

Despite his remarkable on-field achievements, Browning remains a relatively obscure figure in baseball history, overshadowed by his personal flaws and the lack of enduring recognition from institutions like the Baseball Hall of Fame.

“He should be in the hall of Fame simply for hitting. So you lead the league in batting three years, you're a Hall of Famer.” [97:10]

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Notable Quotes

Throughout the episode, Dave and Gareth sprinkle in humorous and insightful quotes that encapsulate Browning’s eccentric personality and the comedic underpinnings of his story:

• Dave Anthony: “They had 116 kills and died twice. So he's apparently pretty good at video games.” [06:26]
• Gareth Reynolds: “I'm an emotional shark.” [02:34]
• Dave Anthony: “Pete is blonde and you're brunette. Billy. A blonde mustache is good for the lamps, and black is not.” [16:22]
• Gareth Reynolds: “I just like a roommate wise. This is just. His mom was probably like, pete, have you seen my buttermilk?” [39:26]
• Dave Anthony: “Everything that is. It's a.” [43:31]
• Gareth Reynolds: “I don't think it does. He actually asked for that to be in the contract because he thought it would stop him from drinking.” [78:32]

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Conclusion

Pete Browning's story, as unpacked by Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds, serves as a cautionary tale of how personal struggles can overshadow professional achievements. Browning's contributions to baseball, particularly the creation of the Louisville Slugger bat, remain his lasting legacy. However, his tumultuous life reminds us of the complex interplay between talent, personal demons, and institutional recognition.

“He really is a goofy looking dude.” [99:29]

For those interested in the forgotten legends of baseball and the often humorous yet tragic stories that accompany athletic greatness, Episode 670 of The Dollop provides a captivating exploration of Pete Browning's life.

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Recommended Resources:

• The Original Louisville Slugger: The Life and Times of Forgotten Baseball Legend Pete Browning by Tim Newby
• Requiem for a Gladiator Pete Browning by Philip Von Borries in the Baseball Research Journal

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Final Thoughts

Through engaging storytelling and sharp comedic insight, Dave and Gareth bring to light the lesser-known narratives that shape the rich tapestry of baseball history. Pete Browning's life, fraught with brilliance and folly, epitomizes the archetype of the tragic sports hero, earning its rightful place in the annals of The Dollop’s eclectic historical examinations.

Transcript

[Dave Anthony]

We're going on tour. And this is.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's been a while.

[Dave Anthony]

March 2025 is when our tour is happening. First of all, we're going to Tempe, Arizona, maybe our favorite city of all time.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's the best.

[Dave Anthony]

That is on March 16th. And then we go to Albuquerque, New Mexico, maybe our favorite city ever, we've ever gone to. That's on March 17th. And then we go to Oklahoma City.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Which is our fav. We often say that it's our number one.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, it's our number one. The best city I've ever been to. That's on March 18th. On March 19th, we're going to be.

[Gareth Reynolds]

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, our favorite city, without question.

[Dave Anthony]

And then we head to Dallas, Texas, on March 20th.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Our favorite city.

[Dave Anthony]

There's never been a better city than better.

[Gareth Reynolds]

If you don't like it, you're a Dallas hole.

[Dave Anthony]

Thank you. And then we go to Houston, Texas, on March 21. City, which is by far the best city. And then we end our tour in Austin, Texas, on March 22 at the Cap City Comedy Club.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's the best city in the entire world. Number one city in the world.

[Dave Anthony]

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[Gareth Reynolds]

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[Gareth Reynolds]

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[Dave Anthony]

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[Gareth Reynolds]

Yes.

[Dave Anthony]

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[Gareth Reynolds]

Don't call what I'm doing to food slopping.

[Dave Anthony]

Slopping it down.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Factor. Factor. Shut up. Food is delicious.

[Dave Anthony]

So this is what I had this week. I had the loaded spinach Shredded chicken. So good. And then I also had a mushroom, chicken thigh and wild rice thing. They're good. We love them. We like to eat them. We like to put them on our face. I put them in Garrett's face.

[Gareth Reynolds]

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[Dave Anthony]

So we highly Recommend you get Factor. Eat smart with Factor. Get started at Factor meals.com dollop50off and use code dollop50off to get 50% off your first box plus free shipping. That's code [e-mail] dollop50off to get 50 percent off plus free shipping on your first box. And called it, quote, his jam pad.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Jam pad. I'm the hippo guy, okay?

[Dave Anthony]

My name's Gary.

[Gareth Reynolds]

My name's Gary. Wait, is it Parfon?

[Dave Anthony]

And this is not gonna become the tickly podcast, okay? This is like Adam on a five part confician.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Now hit him with the puppy. You both present sick arguments. Sleep.

[Dave Anthony]

Tell Hippo.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's like. Tell Hippo action. Hi, Gabby.

[Dave Anthony]

No. Nicely done, my friend.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, no.

[Dave Anthony]

In the court. Gareth. We are going to be on the road starting. What does that mean?

[Gareth Reynolds]

I got a lot of ideas. I know how we're going to change touring.

[Dave Anthony]

We are going. We're taking two tours this year that we have set up now. Probably one later in the year, but right now we're going to be heading out in March. March 16th we'll be in Tap, Ariz. Then we go to Albuquerque, New Mexico for two shows. One just a regular dop. And then we're gonna do a classic. A doll classic, which will be a classic, classic episode.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Neither of us will remember it.

[Dave Anthony]

And then we're gonna debate the breakdown Comedy Club in Oklahoma City. And then we go to Tulsa and then Dallas and Houston and then Austin and then. And then in June, we go to Sacramento, punchline on June 3rd. And then we go to Boise, Spokane, Seattle, Portland, Bend, Oregon and San Francisco, Cal, California.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Can't wait.

[Dave Anthony]

Also, we're all up on Patreon doing Patreon stuff. If you want to enjoy free videos that we put up. And we talk about. We talk about current events and. And we do. Oh, yeah, it's sketches and Van Life.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I think we're depressing in our conversations on this show. Go to. Go to the Patreon. We'll really make you feel it's time to get. There's tons of stuff, tons of good stuff up there. Support us, people. And we're. We're scheduling a Seagal Watch. We haven't done it yet, but that's.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, we are. That's coming.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Our new studio.

[Dave Anthony]

We got the studio set up, so. June 17, 1861.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

Lewis Rogers Browning was born in Louisville, Kentucky.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It tends to get confusing. Louisville. Come on.

[Dave Anthony]

We're not there.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I think there's some.

[Dave Anthony]

It's not who we are.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Could be good.

[Dave Anthony]

I wish I had a sound button. It was like a boo or a.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's what you need for working with me now, Spoo. Stop.

[Dave Anthony]

He had two brothers and two sisters. His dad, Samuel, was a pretty well off lumber merchant and grocer, but then he got killed by a tornado when Louie was 13.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, this is before they knew tornadoes were bad for you.

[Dave Anthony]

Right. You would just run towards them.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

Tornadoes here again.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It was just kind. It was just kind of cool to be like an extra wind on the lead up.

[Dave Anthony]

And then you're like, up we go.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yay.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I wonder how many deaths the wizard of Oz could take credit for.

[Dave Anthony]

17.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Just a lot of people who are just like, I want to meet flying monkeys and a good witch.

[Dave Anthony]

I don't know if you want to eat those. Meet those monkeys after. You saw the movie, though, right?

[Gareth Reynolds]

What movie were you watching?

[Dave Anthony]

Oh. So they were raised by their mother Mary, in Louisville's oldest and most fashionable neighborhood. They're well off, even after Samuel died.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Did someone just throw up something?

[Dave Anthony]

They had. Someone's playing video games.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

Someone made the esports team at the local high school, and in the first game match that they had did. He had 116 kills and died twice. So he's apparently pretty good at video games.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Have you ever had the conversation with him about this? Lifestyle cannot be afforded without daddy's work.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, actually, esports is very lucrative if you can. Yeah, I don't think he's that good. He's not that good, but, yeah, I think he'll win the.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I think when you come in to record the podcast in this. What do you say before you go in?

[Dave Anthony]

I'm recording. Please be quiet.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's interesting. Sounds like you don't have a lot of respect in that household.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, there's. He gets very excited about games and then. And then he screams.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I think he needs Uncle Garrus to come over there and give him a little what's for.

[Dave Anthony]

What it. What's for?

[Gareth Reynolds]

All right. Get the guitar out. You know, I have a way. Okay, hold on. Have you done the birds and the bees with him?

[Dave Anthony]

I want you to stay away from my son.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Let me talk to him about it.

[Dave Anthony]

I want you to stay away from my child. I will have you arrested. I will have you arrested.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I will have you learn it from a man. Yeah, a man who's been out there.

[Dave Anthony]

I'm 100, gonna be. I'm taking this to the police when this.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Does he even know how to make condoms funny? Come on. This is a good stuff. I'll come over there.

[Dave Anthony]

I taught him not to use good cop, bad cop. Him, he knows not to use condoms because they. They're not cool. Yeah, he knows.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay. All right. Okay. As long as he's got the big lesson.

[Dave Anthony]

So they live in the fashionable district. Like I said, they're well off. He's very close with his mom. And then he's young, he gets an ear infection, and that turns into mastoiditis, which is a bacterial infection of the mastoid, which is like the bone in your inner ear. And that's bad?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sure.

[Dave Anthony]

So over his life, he loses a lot of his hearing, but over his life, his hearing gets progressively worse until he can't hear it all.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

And. And then the symptoms are worse over his life. So there's pain and discomfort and all this associated with it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Jesus.

[Dave Anthony]

And then also his eyes would hurt and swell up. And he called.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Christ. There's nothing.

[Dave Anthony]

His whole life he would call his eyes his lamps.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my God. So there's nothing. There's obviously nothing to be done for it in this time other than just be, like, a good sport.

[Dave Anthony]

I mean, the thing to do is to now to take antibiotics. That doesn't happen. Well, that's the thing to do.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's what they're trying to tell you. But I think there's a lot of home stuff you can do. You ever put a knitting needle in your head?

[Dave Anthony]

Helps. So he started calling everyone Pete because he couldn't hear people's names.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Pete. He started to call everyone Pete.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. He said, hey, what's up, Pete? Like, it would just be like that. Yeah, it's not bad. But then, because he was doing that, everyone started calling him Pete. So his name essentially became Pete.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's a very strange turn in the tale.

[Dave Anthony]

I mean, it's unexpected.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, it's strange for him to decide, like, you'd call. You should call everyone fella or guy or whatever. You know what I mean? But to just be like, most people are named Pete. That's the safest route.

[Dave Anthony]

I mean, you had to pick a name, right? To call people. Like, you pick a random name. Yeah, it's like Larry.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No.

[Dave Anthony]

So he's a very good athlete. He does not like school, probably because he can't hear very well, which makes school very difficult.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

So he would hide his textbooks and play hooky a lot. Get his friends to go out and play hooky with him.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Hide his textbooks. What's he hiding from?

[Dave Anthony]

He would just take them and, like, hide. We would just hide him at a friend's house and then go take off and.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay, sure.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, he didn't want his mom to see that he wasn't there. Yeah. Then they go shoot marbles or spin tops or play baseball.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

He was very good at marbles, which is eye hand coordination stuff. He. He regularly won his friend's marbles, and over time, he had so many marbles, he could fill a trunk.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What size is the trunk? That's just. Again, we're in these old timey metrics of just.

[Dave Anthony]

I think that's a pretty big trunk. Back then, I would think it's big.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Too, but I don't know. I mean, I was. I tried to order, like, a container for the road and, like, a. A big plastic container, and I was like, I don't know what the. This is. You gotta show me.

[Dave Anthony]

Show me.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You just. You gotta. It's not. There's. They need to give you scale.

[Dave Anthony]

Was your trunk. I'm sure they did. You just didn't look at it. I mean, they don't just say, stop talking to me.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Like, why are you on the side of the trunk?

[Dave Anthony]

It doesn't just say plastic box.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, it doesn't. But it's quartz. What's it doing? Courting me? Get out of here with your quartz. I don't know what a court is. How many soup cans can it hold?

[Dave Anthony]

Well, for you, it'd be like, how many eggs can you put in this? And.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, that's right. How many? What's the egg box? But you know me, I'm taking a real hit in the egg market right now.

[Dave Anthony]

I know. Yeah, I know. Yeah, we're all praying for you.

[Gareth Reynolds]

50 cents an egg. You out of your mind?

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, you can. Yeah, you can. Yeah, I saw. Yeah, eggs are.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You know, it's gonna be cheaper. Hold on. What's cheaper is I found a scientist who said he can make it so Luke can produce eggs. And that guy for the. I'm gonna try to weather the storm that way.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, I think we should just wrap up the podcast at this point.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You think we're good?

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, I think that.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I don't know.

[Dave Anthony]

That was the final conclusion. I just think all together, the whole run. Yeah, I think That's a good studio. So after a while, no one would play marbles with him. So he'd have to go over to East St. Louis to find games.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sure.

[Dave Anthony]

And now missing all the school left him. Left him somewhat illiterate. He loved all sports except for swimming, which.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Not a sport, hurt his ears.

[Dave Anthony]

So that's why I didn't like it. Yeah, he really loves baseball. And he joins an amateur team called the Louisville Eclipse when he's a teenager.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

Now Pete also starts drinking a lot as a teenager.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Good.

[Dave Anthony]

Because he's his. He's in pain all the time from his ears. So that's how he deals with it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Good.

[Dave Anthony]

There's a story that he. He. Did you ever play keg ball in. In college.

[Gareth Reynolds]

In college, yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

Where you put a keg at second and then anytime this. I didn't go to second. Anytime you get to second base, you slam the clam a beer and then keep running. You never played cake ball?

[Gareth Reynolds]

I played. Okay, well, would you call it keg ball?

[Dave Anthony]

Keg ball?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, no, I've never played that.

[Dave Anthony]

So essentially they had what sounded like keg ball at third. And there's a story that that's. That's what made him start drinking a lot, was one day he did that. So he just started hitting the ball as far as he could so he could get to third and drink a beer.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right.

[Dave Anthony]

But that's clearly a lie. He was doing it because of the pain. But that's like the myth.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

So he would use a lot of stuff to try to deal with the pain and the swelling from his. Around his lamps too. So baseball fans took notice of Pete after he batted in the winning run during the amateur city championship game. And at 17, his team played against the Louisville pro team, the Grays. And Pete played great. He had a curveball and a change up. He threw a two hit shutout.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

Now Pete's childhood friend John Rhesus formed a team in 1880 and he went on that. And now Pete's becoming a bit of a star. He's known as a slugger. He's 6 10, 180 pounds, which for that time is a fucking giant.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, it's a big boy.

[Dave Anthony]

That's a giant.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, that's big.

[Dave Anthony]

Now this camera always goes out of focus.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I think your camera drinks. Yep. Nothing. Now, I still haven't made the connection of who this is, but what year are we in now? Are we.

[Dave Anthony]

You're not going to know who this is.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, okay. Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

We're in 18. We're like 1880 at this point.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

Ish. So he. He's big. He. So not most people. The average height at that time is 5. 5 and he's 6ft 180. So he's.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Can you imagine the women on Tinder, how they'd shame the men? I'm just saying. We've been through enough. Go ahead.

[Dave Anthony]

We have. We have. Quote, long and ungainly comical in gait and action. Singularly tall and slender, slightly stooped.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Who wrote this? Rickles. Seems very negative.

[Dave Anthony]

Newspaper man.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I. I have. By the way, it was a better time when you could gate shame.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, I gate shame all the time.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I. I stopped doing that. It's just, you can't, you can't say that to a feller anymore.

[Dave Anthony]

Gate chaining is the way to go.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Hey, buddy, that gate's wide open. What are you doing? You got a penguin gate over there. Why are you walking like that? Come on. You did stuff like that. That's fun. No, it's like I'm saying I'd like to do it. By the way, you got a sloppy gate. Has anyone ever told you that?

[Dave Anthony]

Stop it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's gross.

[Dave Anthony]

So he's ugly. He's not a good looking guy. His ears kind of point forward, which is how it was described. So he grows a big bushy mustache.

[Gareth Reynolds]

As a teenager, which was a law at the time.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, you had to. And he said that it was tied to his hitting ability. His mustache in his hair. Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So his mustache is where his strength comes from.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. So he's obsessed with, quote, lip whiskers. He told another player to shave his mustache to improve his hitting. And the player was like, well, you have a mustache and you do. You don't. And Pete said, quote, pete is blonde and you're brunette. Billy. A blonde mustache is good for the lamps, and black is not. Old Pete's mustache lights up. Lights up his lamps and gives Pete a good eye. But a black mustache hurts the lamps, and you can't hit the ball so hard. If you had a mustache like old Pete's, you could knock the knots out of the center field fence. Okay, so it's science.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, isn't. What is he? Is there anything to what he said? First of all, the third person thing is just red flag on red flag. Personing yourself is. Is rough.

[Dave Anthony]

He always did.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Is there anything to what he's saying in any way? Like, is a black mustache distracting you in some way? And a blonde one, as a matter.

[Dave Anthony]

Of fact, if anything, a black mustache, you know, because People put the little black eye under their eyes too.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's giving you a little sun.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. If anything it would do that. But no, there's no. There's nothing. There's nothing. It's just lip hair.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I just, I'm. I. I'm very open to science, so that's why I ask. I don't think I'm a big science guy.

[Dave Anthony]

You are. So that year, a newspaper boy on the street as he's coming out of a game yells that President Garfield has died. Right.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right. Remember that.

[Dave Anthony]

And Pete asked quote. Yeah. What league was he in?

[Gareth Reynolds]

This is strange.

[Dave Anthony]

Wonder what is he before this, the press hadn't mostly ignored his drinking and lifestyle. Ish stuff. But after that comment now they didn't like him. And his relationship with the press changed. And he had a bullseye on his back.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's why you got to grow a mustache now.

[Dave Anthony]

He also could. He also could barely hear, so.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. But he knew. Yes. You think maybe he didn't hear Possibly. Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, that's fair.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Because it is a crazy follow up to have.

[Dave Anthony]

It is very crazy follow up. What league is.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You know. Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

But he is outside the stadium. Whatever.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. It's weird.

[Dave Anthony]

So questions. But questions are problematic if you can't hear. Well.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sure.

[Dave Anthony]

Any. But he does have no interest in current events. He doesn't give a he.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean the president being killed is. I even call that outside of the current events.

[Dave Anthony]

But I tell you, there's people that like don't know watching the Super Bowl.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's. That's a fine one.

[Dave Anthony]

That's great. So a new baseball league starts in 1882. The American Association. So right now there's the National League. And now.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So he's finally an aa.

[Dave Anthony]

It played on Sunday. We've talked about this before. It was nicknamed the Beer and Whiskey League. So it's like for the common guy.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Before this it was for Sunday is a big. Whoa.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. You're not supposed to do that. So they start playing on Sunday. So Louisville joins that league and Pete now becomes a pro.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

And he's getting 60 bucks a month, which is 1900 in our. Our time.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. In our lives. A livable wage.

[Dave Anthony]

Livable wage. He's 21.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

You can live like a king for 1900.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Dude. I saw this thing. I saw this because I was think. I always think that I'm always like, I could live on ramen, like worst case scenario. You know what I mean? I always do. Like I could Val. Like I just go back to like my 20ish years. Like, I'm like, I could do it. I saw this woman put ramen under the microscope and. Oh, my God, why?

[Dave Anthony]

What's. What happens under the microscope?

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's just say you. Your tapeworms will be wanting more ramen. It's not good. It was violent, what she saw. Just a regular pack of ramen. Because I was like, they're 10 cents. Or they were like, back then now? Nope.

[Dave Anthony]

So Pete's 21 now. He's a guy, he wants to hit the ball hard and far. So he is not of the time. And honestly, that time didn't come until recently. Like the past 15 years. But before that, no. 1. People want to hit for average. They want to get all kinds of hits. But he is a slugger. He's a guy that just wants to hit it as hard and far as he can.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And you like that change in baseball for those of you new to the show.

[Dave Anthony]

Yes. It's my favorite thing. So a lot of sports writers start going after him for not, quote, knocking more grounders.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Imagine that error. I know that's such an error of like.

[Dave Anthony]

So they thought that that shouldn't be the only thing you should try to do. But this made Peter fan favorite, and he is by far the best hitter. He, he's hitting the highest average on the team. He's hitting.414 in July, which is even for that time, an insane batting average. So that means like 40%, you know, 41% of the time, basically, is what they're saying. The best hitters now hit like 2 fucking 50 or like they hit 25% of the time.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

So during. And there's only been a couple of guys that have hit over.400 in this season. So during a game in August, Pete makes three errors and then he makes a base running mistake, which is so bad that the opposing fans are laughing at him.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And good thing he can't hear.

[Dave Anthony]

I didn't think about that. So papers blame the loss on Pete. Quote. Browning made his appearance on the ball field most palpably under the influence of liquor. His playing and conduct on the field was modeling to the extreme.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You know what I love? I love the era where it's like, truly, you're just like, this guy could just stay sober. The upside is hu. Like there's a lot of, like, you gotta coach him up. But if you, I mean, imagine like drafting a player and just being like, we can get him to stop drinking. This guy could be unreal.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. So it's pretty obvious he's Drinking a lot. Now everybody, people are picking up on it. So some writers are saying for the sake of his life, he should be sent to another team. Who will crack down on this if Louisville's not gonna, like, get this guy in shape? Tim Newby, who, from his book, the original Louisville Slugger, quote, Pete attributed much of his success at the plate during the 1882 season to chewing gum.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Hmm, interesting.

[Dave Anthony]

Many players were known to place a piece of gum on their hats for good luck. But Pete, who always did things his own way, plastered it in his eyebrows.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Huh? No, no, no, no. You're not allowed to talk like that to me. Not on this, not on any show. What are you talking about? He put chewing gum on his eyebrows. There's some guy with no mustache who's like, I should probably stop listening to this guy. I should grow whatever the fuck I want. Blonde. What is he doing? Like, what? He was putting chewing gum on his eyebrows?

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I thought you were gonna say he was chewing it and that was like the revolution.

[Dave Anthony]

But he was taking the gum and.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Putting it in his eyebrows.

[Dave Anthony]

That's correct.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I think this guy is troubled. This is the worst thing I've heard about him.

[Dave Anthony]

He's. He's leading the league in hitting. He hits 378. 378.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Someone has to step in. It's not because.

[Dave Anthony]

Whatever you want all over your face. If you're any. 378. Whatever you want.

[Gareth Reynolds]

All right, let me put on my gum mask. Pete, are you sure?

[Dave Anthony]

It's very strange, but near the end of the season, he does get suspended for an assortment of things, mostly drinking related. The team suspension. They're like, okay, you're a fucking mess. So the next season they resign it for 200. So he has to play for the. I think he has to play for the same team at this point. But you're negotiating with the same team every year, like you.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And they'll just meet you.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. So every year it's a different contract. It's not like multi year contracts. So he now signs for $200 a month because he's a great hitter.

[Gareth Reynolds]

There has to be somebody's like, please stop doing the gum eyebrow thing. That's that. So we're going to give you the 200 and just if you can remove.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, the thing about the gum on the face. We would just like that to not to happen.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, here's what I'm thinking. First of all, I am going to push back. Well, I think the idea. Hold on. I think the idea Is that it's very helpful to put all the gum in my eyebrows, so I think I have to keep doing it.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, it's.

[Gareth Reynolds]

If anything, I was going to suggest that I put it in my mustache, too. I think if I could just kind of tie the look together a little bit and be like a gum face.

[Dave Anthony]

Isn't that your hitting mustache, though?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, yeah. It's a risk. There's no doubt it's a risk. There's no doubt it's a risk. But I think the upside is more power. The downside is I might slump, and if I got to reevaluate, I'm just saying I need the gum freedom to kind of find myself, you know?

[Dave Anthony]

Well, yeah, we would just like to say we would like it if you didn't, so.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, I think until we try out the gum stash, we're not gonna know. And the eyebrows are like. I'm not. You know what I mean? I'm not. I'm not gonna take the gum out of my eyebrows. It looks good, and everybody is really loving it, and it really helps with the game. There's a reason why all the kids are doing it.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, that's one of the reasons we want you to stop.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, I think it's. It's a movement, and a lot of.

[Dave Anthony]

Kids are putting gum in their hair.

[Gareth Reynolds]

All their.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, the. The goal. The goal should be to be as gummed as we can be.

[Dave Anthony]

Okay. Maybe play for another team.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I agree. We're not kind of seeing eye to eye, and I don't think it's because you're distracted with what's more, eye to.

[Dave Anthony]

Gum, honestly, because I can't.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I think it's brow to.

[Dave Anthony]

I mean, right now. Right now, it's the off season, and you came to the meeting with gum all over your face.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Important time to put the gum on your face. This is what you train. What are you talking about? This is the time when you figure out what your gum limits are. I mean, I'm not. You know, this is. I'm working here. You think I want to walk around in a gum mask?

[Dave Anthony]

All right. Thanks for coming in, Pete.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Thank you for having me.

[Dave Anthony]

And I leave the gun.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I haven't heard anything you've said.

[Dave Anthony]

How about that gum out of the bowl? Put the gum back.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I can't hear him.

[Dave Anthony]

So that season, he's tearing it up at the plate again. Local papers begin noting that the whole team seems to be drinking a lot. Like the entire. This is a team of really drinkers.

[Gareth Reynolds]

This happens in sports.

[Dave Anthony]

And one paper wrote, quote, a nine cannot play ball if over one half the players are full of beer and the rest have to do all the playing.

[Gareth Reynolds]

But that's. That's the attitude that makes them overcoming this problem. That is normal. So, so gratifying.

[Dave Anthony]

Yes. So everyone knows that Pete is now playing Cloud a lot of the time. And the papers start calling them out by name and the players start getting fined for drunkenness. Pete, however, is the only one who can just play hammered. Fine. It's not uncommon for players to drink a lot back then.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right.

[Dave Anthony]

That season, a player on the team had a stroke and then a bunch of players got hurt. Now they're probably gonna hurt because they're playing drunk.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. They're dehydrated as shit.

[Dave Anthony]

So they had to end one game in the middle of the season because the catcher got hurt and they didn't have enough players, so they had to forfeit the game. So the team's a nightmare. But Pete ends up being the second best hitter at the end of the season in the league.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's just such a funny. Like, it is such a funny hurdle. If we could just get these guys to stay sober for those jobs. Upside's huge here.

[Dave Anthony]

Pete is very into baseball bats. So this is a time when a player would just. If his bat cracked, he would just nail it back together.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Absolutely. And for those of us who didn't know that that was a time that existed. It's pretty earth shattering information to know that there was a time when players would just nail their bat. You got the bat boy and you got the nail kid. All right? Now you might need to use them both. Who knows?

[Dave Anthony]

But Pete was a weirdo because he took care of his bats. Other players thought he was the best judge of bats in the country. Like, he could see a bat and be like, that's a good bat for you. Which is.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Which is now.

[Dave Anthony]

Which is true. Everybody has a. Like, you, like, this is the mustache.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Mustache guy.

[Dave Anthony]

No, but you like a different weight. And also some guys like the bat to be heavy on the end, Some little. A little further down. Like it's a legitimate thing.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Take that big one there. Put a little gum up your ass and try to chew it while pitching.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, put gum up your ass.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Try to pitch with the bat.

[Dave Anthony]

Did you. Hey, Frankie, did you listen to Pete and put gum up your ass? Because that's crazy.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Up there, I put a bunch.

[Dave Anthony]

He's with you, Pete?

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, no, he's trying to help me. I. I put a lot of them up there.

[Dave Anthony]

How much?

[Gareth Reynolds]

I put an endless amount. You know, I'm, I. I'm starting to taste it a little bit. I put.

[Dave Anthony]

All right, we gotta go to the doctor. We gotta go to the doctor.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, no, no, no, no, no.

[Dave Anthony]

That's bad.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's the guy who's going to try to know. That's the guy who's going to try to gum you. If I get enough up there, they're saying I could make the hall of Fame. Chewing gets harder. Chewing gets harder. But by the way, you want to see a guy blow a bubble through his asshole?

[Dave Anthony]

No. Okay, bye, Frank. I got to go. I came to help you. I can't help you.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, man, I'm so. I'm so sick from something. Something is wrong. I haven't been able to tell anyone, but I've. I got. I think I got a disease.

[Dave Anthony]

You got gum up your ass?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Stop it.

[Dave Anthony]

Do you?

[Gareth Reynolds]

What? Have it. Have gum up? Yes. I just told you, it's like.

[Dave Anthony]

Okay, well, that's what we're talking about.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's why you train up there.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. That's why you don't feel good, kid.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Ah, it's just so hard to know what to do. We're in that weird area of time where it's gray. Should you be going to doctors or are they just quacks looking out for their own benefit? Should you be putting like 50 to 60 pieces of gum up your ass and trying to chew it with what? What. What's the line here? Should my mustache be black? Should my eyes be gum?

[Dave Anthony]

Well, that concludes our hearing with RFK junior. We want to thank you for stopping by.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm dating a ferret.

[Dave Anthony]

So. Oh, where was I? Right, so the bat. So he's a really good judge of bats. He has an enormous collection of bats. During a game, he cracked his favorite bat and felt like he, quote, had lost one of his best friends.

[Gareth Reynolds]

All right, Strange, I know you're kind of defending his skill, but this is.

[Dave Anthony]

You know, baseball players are very superstitious and he's really superstitious.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I know. It's a lot of. This is. You could be like. Just to remind you he's drunk, he.

[Dave Anthony]

Goes to a woodmaker in town, Hillaryk and Bradsby, and he demands they duplicate it. So there's a 17 year old kid, bud, Hillaryk, and he makes a new bat that's identical in every way. And this is the first bat ever made to specifications. And it would. The comp it would become the company would make the Louisville Slugger, which was Named after Pete Browning.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow, that's crazy. And then that's one of those things. Those of us who don't know where the story is at, we listen to that and we go, now that's something. That's something I can share at a party. That's crazy, though. So they would just be like, here's this bat.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, they. And they weren't even like a bat. It wasn't like a bat making place. It was just a wood maker. And the guy was like, yeah, I got a lathe. I can do that. And he made the same bat. And then now everyone's going to them for bats. All the Louisville players are like. And then it takes off. Right.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow.

[Dave Anthony]

So they become the biggest bat company in the world and stay that way forever. They're still a giant bat company. So to get his bats ready for the season, he would soak them in water. So this is the off season. He soaks them in water and then he oils them up, and then he rubs them with tobacco juice.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yes. Every and every step of that is fine. Some of us have the gut instinct to be like, well, what? But move through it. Because this guy's, you know, Makes sense. Yeah. He's throwing a little tobacco on the. Tobacco juice, you said?

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, tobacco juice. Spitting on it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's the spit. Yeah, exactly. Absolutely. Just make sure that we're all on the same page.

[Dave Anthony]

And this is the thing he starts. That also becomes a massive trend. Of course, player Ty Cobb players did it for.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, no, it's definitely something that you gotta. It's a trend. That's what I was gonna say is definitely. You know, you want your gum eyebrows and just be hawking on your bat as much as possible.

[Dave Anthony]

Pete also named his bats after biblical figures.

[Gareth Reynolds]

We've all done that.

[Dave Anthony]

When he stopped hitting, well, with a bat, he retired it to his mom's home, which also was his home. He still lived at home with his mom.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

And so he put him in the basement that you'd be done as a bat. So the next season, Louisville started very strong. But in May, Pete was having headaches and vertigo. So he finally agrees to have surgery on his eye. Sorry, his ear. His ear problem. So this involves draining fluid from the ear. So he gets back a week later.

[Gareth Reynolds]

A week later.

[Dave Anthony]

A week later, he's playing again.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You ready to play? Now that we've removed, Taking a big drill.

[Dave Anthony]

And the water leaks out. And they go, all right, get out there.

[Gareth Reynolds]

There's just gum coming out of it. Jesus. Gum in here, buddy boy.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, he's pain free. It's the first time since childhood that he's pain free. So that means he drinks less and hits the out of the ball.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay, but imagine a guy being on IR because of his ear. Like, just like every other injuries. Like is the guy that his wrist is hurt, his legs hurt. Pete's obviously waiting to come back ear.

[Dave Anthony]

So the team is good, but they slip out of first place and the team overtakes them. They get really frustrated, they start arguing. Pete gets into a fight with another player. And then reporters start attacking the team. And they really went after Pete, attacking Pete for his defense, which. Which is crazy because he's the one of the best hitters around, right?

[Gareth Reynolds]

You take the upside.

[Dave Anthony]

And it's crazy that they would do that. But again, it goes back to the Garfield thing and the drinking thing. They just don't like him because his defense. His defense isn't that bad.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Like, statistically, he probably read that like someone was probably like, if they hate you because of the Garfield thing, Like, the what? The President. The president got shot.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, fuck. I thought you guys were talking about the cat.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I thought it was where we parked the car field. The car field. We don't have cars now. Blah, blah, blah. Shut up. Yes, we do. I know a guy who has two cars. God Almighty. This whole thing of there weren't cars yet. It's just what a critic says. Those who can't. Cars can make fun of those of us who think cars might be around the expression. It's a bumper sticker. I saw. That's a thing you put on a car.

[Dave Anthony]

So after the surgery, he is worse at defense, but that's because the surgery made his hearing worse. So he's in less pain, but his hearing is worse. Okay, so he really can't hear his teammates, which you need to do in the infield. And he's just like, not catching pop ups and like, it's bad. So they move him to center field where he doesn't have to talk to anybody.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Nice.

[Dave Anthony]

And he finishes third in hitting that year, hitting.336. The team finished in second. Like, a week later, he gets arrested for drunk on public.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sure.

[Dave Anthony]

Now, Pete also cared for his lamps a lot, trying to stop the eye pain and the swelling.

[Gareth Reynolds]

His lamps.

[Dave Anthony]

His eyes. His lamps.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, his. Jesus Christ. I mean, I remember that fact, but I really was like, this guy has some attachment issues.

[Dave Anthony]

Quote, you can't line one out unless you got good peepers. Old Pete knows that, and he takes good care of them. He never washes Them with soap and water. It won't do. It will ruin the best lamps in the world. Pete closes them up when he is washing. Then he waits until about 10 o'clock when he goes out in the streets and looks right up in the sun two or three times. That opens him up good. And then he can line them out.

[Gareth Reynolds]

There is so much wrong about that.

[Dave Anthony]

He is.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Who the. Did he. Who, who was the person who's like, nah, Page, you gotta wash your eyeballs with soap and water. That's crazy. Your instinct is to close them. I love how he thinks that's unique. And then he's going out there and he's like, now to damage my corneas on my daily routine.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, he's like, he's like. He thinks everyone else washes their eyes with their eyes open with soap and water.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, that's the problem with like talking in the third person. You're. It's like a hard conversation to have because you're just fixated on the fact that this guy thinks he's someone else.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Now old Pete doesn't put tobacco juice in his eyes. That would be strange. Yeah, I'm a bit of a weirdo. I'm an outlier like that. I also won't wash my eyeballs with soap and water.

[Dave Anthony]

You went right to I instead of. You were doing third person. He was right to I.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, I was saying eyes, not eyes. Listen, Opie, would you. Good lord, you people, you just don't get it.

[Dave Anthony]

Pete drank two glasses of buttermilk at bedtime, which he called the nerve steadier.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay, see, I'm not saying all the solutions are gonna come from doctors, but just having one around just for like ketchups every now and then, it'd be good.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, this one. So buttermilk has lutein in it, which is an anti dioxidant which helps eyes, helps improve eye function and does literally help eyes. So that may be why, but that, that doesn't explain why he bathed his eyes in buttermilk in the morning.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I just like a roommate wise. This is just. His mom was probably like, pete, have you seen my buttermilk? Like you're supposed to stumbling over all the bats.

[Dave Anthony]

You're supposed to drink milk for that effect. Buttermilk, but not bathe your eyes in it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

All right?

[Dave Anthony]

When it rained, Pete would go outside and look up into the sky to rinse out his eyes.

[Gareth Reynolds]

This is a very. Your eyes are self lubricating pieces of your head. They're really. They're doing their Own thing. And sure, every now and then you might need a little Visine or whatever, but it's just.

[Dave Anthony]

Yep, yep, yep.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

He drank two spoonfuls of Worcestershire sauce at dinner.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, geez, that is a horrible thing to do. Shots of.

[Dave Anthony]

And he ate Tabasco sauce with mustard and ginger.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay, now he's Luke. So this is not.

[Dave Anthony]

But you get what he's doing, right? It's making his eyes water.

[Gareth Reynolds]

But again, we're like, I. Okay, now I do. But still. No, there's other. Your eyes. Or got this. No.

[Dave Anthony]

What about this?

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, I'm already saying no.

[Dave Anthony]

When they were on the train going to somewhere, he would stick his head out the window to catch the ashes in his eyes.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What are you talking about? The players smoking ashes.

[Dave Anthony]

No, from what does he think that the training.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What does he think? What is he. What?

[Dave Anthony]

Well, you want to know why?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

Quote clinkers are good for the peepers. Let a big one blow in your lamp, teens, and it will clean them out so you can drive a phony pitcher to drink.

[Gareth Reynolds]

We are fully now in another language. This is now no longer understandable to those of us who thought English would suffice. Face. Let a clink. A. Let it clinker.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, a big, big ash.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Big piece of ash go in your eye.

[Dave Anthony]

Right in the eye.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Nope.

[Dave Anthony]

And then it's good for the peepers.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, it isn't. And then buttermilk. I mean, like any. If. If at any point he were to see an eye doctor, they'd be like, jesus Christ, Pete, what are you doing? I don't blink during the day. I just put buttermilk inside of each one of my eyeballs.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, that explains the white. The white gunk in the corners of your eye. But then you got the gut like.

[Gareth Reynolds]

When you got white gun. You gotta light a little bit of a fire inside your eyeballs. That's why I put cigars out on them.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, Pete.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, Pete knows what he's doing.

[Dave Anthony]

No. No, sir.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, exactly. Sometimes it's good to put a tooth inside of one of your eyes. Just ask old Pete about something like that, Peter. You want to take small splinters and try to blink them through. Keeps the eyes doing the gymnastics. That's a Pete quote. Put it in your Bibble. Your Bible. I pronounce it Bibble. That's an old quote. Bell Pete. That's right. If you get a bath that don't work, don't be afraid to try to blink it through your own head. That's a Pete, you ever chewed gum with your eyes. Give it a shot. Pete said to. Mm, that's right. Pete. Pete, hold on. Shut up. Pete don't drink with his mouth. Pete uses eye holes. I'll pour a little bit of whiskey down there. That's the best way to digest it. You're good to drive after that in a car.

[Dave Anthony]

Pete believes smoking made his eyes better. Quote, there is nothing like the smoke of a cigarette to put the eyes in trim, to solve a twisting, sizzling curve.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I. This is what I don't understand. Okay. It is not. At any point, do you. He must be talking about the long term benefits, because when I used to paint houses. Okay. So then it's totally.

[Dave Anthony]

He would walk to games smoking and blowing the cigarette into his eyes.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. See, when I used to paint and I would be on a ladder, I. One of the hardest parts was trying to smoke while painting. Because the cigarettes would. The smoke would go in your eye and your eyes would burn. You couldn't do it.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, that. Then they. Then what? Then they water and then you're like, oh, my eyes are getting better.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, I would be like, oh, I can't do this. I have to take breaks.

[Dave Anthony]

And that's why you didn't play professional baseball, dummy.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No. First of all, the attitude.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. Yeah. He convinced a teammate, John Riley, to take up smoking. But Riley eventually stopped when his hitting didn't improve. And Pete said that was because he didn't believe in the smoke, man.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So it's like entering some Rogan level theories here.

[Dave Anthony]

So it's like, Christ, that's what we're talking about.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Everything that is. It's a. I also do love people who think that everything you do should work for them.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Like, there's all. And you're always like, I'm actually good. It's like, what are you talking about? Put some cantaloupe in your nose, you'd be happy.

[Dave Anthony]

The next season, the team went back to drinking. So they had that one season off where they played well and came in second. But now they're back to their parting ways.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Coach was like, all right, there's one reason why we lost last year. And it's fun. Drinking. Drinking is what we need to do. Harder and better than ever before.

[Dave Anthony]

Gareth. One game, they committed 17 errors.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's a lot. That's mostly errors.

[Dave Anthony]

That's.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's. That's face ball is what that is.

[Dave Anthony]

A paper reported they were playing poker and drinking till sunrise. They were getting into fights with people. It's. It's the 1983 season. All over again. Pete hitting is the only good thing happening. So he was using enormous bats. 37 inches and 46 ounces.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean, is that at some point do they have to be like you can't use like a cricket sized bat out here.

[Dave Anthony]

No. There's no rules. You can still use any size.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So whatever you want. So you could just go out there with a tree?

[Dave Anthony]

I mean. Yes and no. You. There's probably a specification on the shape of the bat, but I think in major leagues you can use any bat you want. Any size bat you want.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Pete stepping up to the plate. He's loving his new paddle bat. But the thing is, the catcher and the strike zone, I don't think.

[Dave Anthony]

I think most players couldn't swing a bat that size. Now that's.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. But you could just bunt endlessly. Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

You like. Very few players could actually swing a bat that big like Pete.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It looks like what they use to take pizzas out of the oven. He steps up here.

[Dave Anthony]

Babe Ruth had an enormous bat too. Like legendary huge bat.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I pissed next to him once and boy, ain't that the truth.

[Dave Anthony]

But now think so. He has a 46 ounce bats, but he's also soaking it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yes.

[Dave Anthony]

In water to make it heavier.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yes. So it's really.

[Dave Anthony]

So that year he wins his second batting title in four years. He hit.362. Gareth We.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What a great show we're in the middle of.

[Dave Anthony]

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[Gareth Reynolds]

You'Ve given it the clown color, but it is thicker. But then you've, you sort of decided to.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, it helps with the. Yeah, it helps. It makes it look. I want it to pop.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It pops.

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[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

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[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

Now in the off season, he is arrested for being in, quote, a state of wild and disorderly intoxication.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay. So aggressive.

[Dave Anthony]

After being arrested, he sat down and wept. And then this drew a big crowd around him.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And then publicly.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, right. The street. Yeah. And then they took him to the police station and he quote, wept himself sober.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Just this. It's just not, it's not good. It's not good that he's trying to do that. It's also bad to have people be like, that's how he got. He cried it out. You know, I should be good to drive. Let me just go have a curbside weep.

[Dave Anthony]

He skipped court the next day saying he was tired.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That. But I have always said that should be a valid reason.

[Dave Anthony]

And then the judge just let him off because the judge was like, I love watching you play. Like, literally. He said he, like he got a lot of joy from watching him. So he can go free.

[Gareth Reynolds]

This is how the system works.

[Dave Anthony]

It is how the system works, actually. But Pete is now drunk in public regularly, and people can't ignore it anymore. And everyone's begging him to stop. Pop. He's also known to enjoy brothels.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sure.

[Dave Anthony]

And someone starts calling the Gladiator because of his combative personality when he's drunk and also because he's standoff with the press. And so they start calling the Gladiator.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

Pete never slides, by the way.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's an interesting. That track.

[Dave Anthony]

So. So if you don't know what that is, it's when you're running to a base and you, you instead of just running to it, you slide into it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

It's a little legal, but not illegal. But you get called out in like if my son didn't in a lot of leagues. If you, if you just run to the base and don't slide, they'll call you out because it's dangerous for like 12 year olds to do it. And in my kids age, they'll just call you out because you're not supposed to do it. So they'll just go, yeah, you're out. You slide. It's baseball. So it's dangerous to not slide.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's crazy.

[Dave Anthony]

He's. He's big. He's a big guy.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It is like a tree running at you.

[Dave Anthony]

So he said he. He didn't slide for a fear of injury quote. If I should attempt to slide into a base, my legs would drop off.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, I guess if it's founded on medical.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, I'm sure a doctor explained that to him.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So, listen, Pete, sliding is out of the question for you. Everything you're doing right now, medically, we're clear. You, we're loving the ashy eyes. We're thinking the gum eyebrows is just working great for you.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Your level of drinking is phenomenal.

[Dave Anthony]

Thank you.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No notes there.

[Dave Anthony]

I'm trying.

[Gareth Reynolds]

The only issue is your legs are. They're. They're attached. Don't get us wrong, but you're one slide away or a couple slides away from potentially your legs. I'm trying to think of how to put this medically. Well, they could fall off. I've seen it happen to a lot of baseball players. Your legs sliding. Slide. Your legs could slide, and then next thing you know, you get up at second, you're. You're considered safe. And, yeah, nobody knows where you. Where your legs are. Maybe a sandworm ate them or who knows? I mean, there's just a ton of rational reasons why you. You shouldn't be sliding.

[Dave Anthony]

Doctor?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yes.

[Dave Anthony]

I do not want that to happen.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No. And that's why we're glad you came in, you know, so just. Just run everywhere. Never slide.

[Dave Anthony]

Okay.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I would also recommend sleeping up like a horse. You just don't want to give your legs a reason to Dr. Sure. Which they will very likely do if you're not careful.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, that makes sense.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. I mean, this is just sort of, you know, again, 10 years ago, people would have said slide. Your legs will stay on. But we've made some real big advancements in the last decade.

[Dave Anthony]

All right, well, as payment, I'm gonna hit you with this bat.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, great. Yeah, give me that twice, too, because this was a long visit. There. It's one. That's nice.

[Dave Anthony]

Now, there was another reason Pete didn't slide. Quote, There is no use soiling your clothes and increasing your laundry bills when you don't have to.

[Gareth Reynolds]

The fact that this guy's blinking ash and saying that laundry is a kind of a flag for him.

[Dave Anthony]

A lot of people thought he could be the best base runner in America if he would just slide. At the start of the 1886 season, right after a win, he celebrated by drinking, quote, unknown quantities of intoxicants after the game and at night, spreading the terror throughout the city. City.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Is he Godzilla? Unknown quantities. Oh, man.

[Dave Anthony]

So the manager heard he was out. He was whooping. He kept whooping, and everyone could hear him. And the manager followed the whoops and found where he was. Find him. Find him on the spot. $25 for.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow. Yeah, for whooping. For public whooping.

[Dave Anthony]

Now, Pete did not come to the game the next day.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He's tired.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, he did come, but he wasn't on the field. He was in the stands crying.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's. Boy, this is tough. There's some. Obviously Arrested Development in some of this, but it's strange for you to be like, God damn it, where is he? Like, hey. Hey, Skip. I don't want to freak you out, but I do think Pete's here. We'll get him suited up. Let's go. I think he's actually watching the game. What? But he's crying his face off up there.

[Dave Anthony]

Now. Papers also started saying he couldn't write, so Pete sent his autograph to the Courier Journal as, like, a retort. Unfortunately, it was barely legible, and they printed it in an article titled Browning can Write. And then this did more harm than good because his first and last names were misspelled.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, that. Yeah, there's. It's not great. It's not great. It's also really, like, shitty to be publicly. Like, he can't read or write.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. Especially at this time.

[Gareth Reynolds]

But then it's also a crazy move to just be like, yeah, I can write. Look at my signature. Game over. Look at that thing. That's two words.

[Dave Anthony]

But his. His illiteracy is overblown. According to the 1900 census, it said he could read and write. And also stories through his life validated that he could read and write. And years later, how's the census? I think. I think me would. I think you did mark, like, illiterate or something. Like, I think that they.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, he probably couldn't read what he was marking.

[Dave Anthony]

Maybe years later, Cincinnati Inquirer said he read a paper every day, no matter what town he's in. So he could. He wasn't. That got blessed, and I think they got blown up. That wasn't true. Okay, so midway through the season he was leading the league in hitting, but the papers were attacking his defense. He's really drunk. Some games Buddy has. At one point, he had a 24 game hitting streak. Pete said it ended because he lost the loaded die that he kept in his hip pocket. What a loaded die I think is a die. You know, paradise you cheat with.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What is he? Oh, he's cheating.

[Dave Anthony]

So I think a loaded die is. Yeah, so it's a superstitious thing. He keeps a die in his pocket. But drunk Pete kept making horrible errors, so the team suspends him for a month. The Sporting News quote, it is plainly evident to everybody here, apart from his disposition to drink hard, Brownie is physically unable to play ball. So they either sent him or he goes on his own to a resort to sober up. A reporter said.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Such a great tour. Welcome to sobriety island. Could you like a nighttime, my friend? Oh, you're gonna love it out here.

[Dave Anthony]

A reporter said he went there and that Pete had a hard time drinking water because he wasn't used to it. And they had a picture of a distillery hanging in his room to make him feel better.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That is a wild call. Oh, my God. And here you are, Pete. We're gonna move on to a new life with no alcohol. And just so you understand how important that is, where is a picture of you getting shit faced in a vat that doesn't exist? There you are. So we want to get you off of hard ons. Here's some porn.

[Dave Anthony]

It's really. Yeah. So Pete comes back to the team and said he was quote, new as a schoolboy and he's playing great.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

Comes back playing great, but he's also drinking. He's. Pete's drinking again.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Good.

[Dave Anthony]

There were a string of nights of just drinking in town and the team finishes fourth. So Pete's third in hitting this year. So he's still drunk. One of the best fucking hitters in baseball.

[Gareth Reynolds]

But he is finally sliding.

[Dave Anthony]

He's 26. He's getting more.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's so funny when you hear. When you're me listening to these stories, you really are going 41. And you're like, he was 9 years old.

[Dave Anthony]

He's getting more irritable, which is common with mastoiditis. So the next season, more of the same up and down performances. One point, the police were called because he was drunk on a streetcar, demanding to pay a fare with a check.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I've done that though. Though.

[Dave Anthony]

The Courier Journal nicknamed him Pete Brown.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Jug Browning because he's just pounding whiskey.

[Dave Anthony]

Then he started playing so well. That they changed it to the old war horse.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my God. Quit. Just let him live. Leave. Stop trying to label everything.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, in August, he was drinking so much that he fell down twice during a game.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, that slide.

[Dave Anthony]

Call it a slide slide in the outfield, he was in the outside slid.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I was trying to as a defensive maneuvering to get out of.

[Dave Anthony]

The worse the team did, the more that Pete drank. And for the last away games, he goes on a bender and he just disappears. He doesn't go to, like, two games. No one knows where he is. And then he misses the team, whatever it is. Bus ride home, the train, whatever. He misses it. He doesn't go back with him. They don't know where he is. And then he shows up for the last home game of the season, and the crowd jeers and hisses him. And then afterwards, he hits every saloon on the main drag in Town. By 9pm he was seen holding his bat and weeping on the street.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Jesus Christ.

[Dave Anthony]

Because he had hit.402 that season and lost the batting title to a Canadian.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's why he's weeping.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, because he lost the batting title. That's why he's weeping. But he had.402 and lost to a Canadian. What the is that?

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm also a little worried about the level of crying from an adult man.

[Dave Anthony]

It's not great.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's. It's a bit. It's a bit troubling.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So you see, Pete, the reason why you're weeping so much is because you've got ash in your eyes. It's all the stuff you've been putting in your lamp milk. It's. Yeah, buttermilk and ash is not a great thing for lamps.

[Dave Anthony]

So a couple days later, a very drunk Pete is on the street, and he asked the cops for protection. He says the Canadian guy is following him with a knife and wants to kill him.

[Gareth Reynolds]

This is getting strange now.

[Dave Anthony]

Two days later, he paid his season bar tabs, which are at bars all over town, $255, which is $9,500 today. Today.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's just quite a. Quite a tab.

[Dave Anthony]

And after paying it, he swears off booze forever. He's like that. Is it that. This is crazy? The Louisville Commercial paper quote, pete will either have to play ball or drink whiskey next year. He cannot do both.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

The team said next season, his first drinking offense would. Offense would get him suspended for the season. And Pete said, quote, I can't hit the ball until I hit the bottle.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Jesus Christ. It's just.

[Dave Anthony]

He ran for Councilman. And for some reason lost.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You see this in comics sometimes where it's like, I can't go on stage unless I have a buzz going. Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Like using your occupation as a drink crutch.

[Dave Anthony]

It's now obvious he was holding out every year till the last minute to sign with the team because he was avoiding preseason conditioning. Pete, quote, I won't sign because I don't want to be converted into a racehorse and made to run five or six times a day. Five or six miles a day around the racetrack. So he just doesn't want to work out.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, well, it's like that. You're an athlete.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, but. Yeah, right. The players get new rules. They have to be in 11 in bed at 11:30pm and no drinking.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Those rules seem very standard now.

[Dave Anthony]

Pete very sober for April. So sober that everybody nicknamed Prohibition Pete.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's maybe time to stop nicknaming everything else. Not everything has to be a phase.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. It's all just fucking with somebody, right?

[Gareth Reynolds]

And then it fell apart in May. Old Petey problems is back. But then he found it. Then he got himself a dog, and that seemed to help. Old Petey pets right over there.

[Dave Anthony]

He's not hitting well, right? That's what he said. He's sober. It's probably in his head. A big part of hitting is just the pure confidence of things.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, that's why we call him Petey Psyche.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Because he's got a bit of a. An issue. Petey psyche.

[Dave Anthony]

So he's not hitting good. And reporters asked if that's because he's not drinking. The same people that were like, you gotta stop drinking. This guy came and then they're like, why don't you have a nip?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

So then the team gets sold and the previous owner. So all those guys that he played marbles, the guys that he played hooky with, a bunch of them go into baseball. There's a guy on the team that was one of his good friends when he was a kid.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

And then other guys go into own teams and managing stuff. So the guy who owned the team was one of his friends. So he's gone now and the new owner comes in. And in Kansas City, Pete gets really shit face and decides to go fishing. So he gets his gear, right? Puts on his fishing gear and then he passes out in the hotel doorway.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Old PD pass outs.

[Dave Anthony]

And a reporter exaggerated what happened and said Pete had gone fishing in the hotel rain gutter.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, there's a big difference. There's a big difference. There's a big difference between the two. There's a big difference. By the way, imagine how great would that be. I think I caught one. There you go.

[Dave Anthony]

What's this?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, I think it's a trout. Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, That's a leaf. Leaf.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Oh, it is a leaf. Sorry. Not very good at this.

[Dave Anthony]

So this porter exaggerates and then all these other papers start picking it up. Like, now he's a big joke around the country, not just in Louisville. Kids start making fun of him. In June, though, he starts hitting again. In July, he misses a game because he's drunk, out drinking. And then a little while later, he gets injured. And then being injured causes him to drink more. And then he gets arrested for being drunk. But he says it's because it's just the medicine from his injury.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's just the medicine from his injury.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, the medicine is making him act like that. Not the. Not the.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, medicine. Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

So now he hears that the team is not going to take him. He's such. This is. He's bottoming out. So they're like. They're not going to take him on the next road trip. They're like, we can't even. We can't manage this.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right, right.

[Dave Anthony]

So he asked for meeting with the manager and the owner. And Pete shows up to the meeting with two black eyes.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's all right. Would you want to see me?

[Dave Anthony]

Skip says he said he fell down.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, we've all done that. Nose first.

[Dave Anthony]

What's worse?

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm also picturing the gum eyebrows. Still.

[Dave Anthony]

What's. What's worse? Getting into a fist fight or falling face down and getting two black eyes?

[Gareth Reynolds]

I think fists.

[Dave Anthony]

So the team goes on the road trip without him.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He's on the bus weeping.

[Dave Anthony]

My wife's gonna talk to her later. And then when they leave without him, Pete says he is the saddest man in Louisville.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, that's tough.

[Dave Anthony]

So two days later, Pete gets drunk and gets on a streetcar and sits down by a councilman. This is a guy doesn't know at all. And he takes the cigar out of the councilman's mouth and throws it down and takes his own cigar and puts it in the councilman's mouth.

[Gareth Reynolds]

But that's funny. That's a funny thing to do. I guess if you're not drunk, it's not cool. But when you're drunk, it's a very funny thing to do to someone.

[Dave Anthony]

And the councilman is a non drinker. So Pete forces him out of the streetcar and into a saloon and makes him Drink all night.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sounds like the councilman might have been a drinker.

[Dave Anthony]

So now pressure. For some reason, peace friends are getting worried about him.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What do you think it is?

[Dave Anthony]

I don't know. Maybe the buttermilk.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

The Courier General Journal quote, many think that sorrow is causing him to lose his mind.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, stop now.

[Dave Anthony]

If you're not playing on the team. That's what they say. After all this, the. Yeah, you can take him on the road trip.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Stop diagnosing him.

[Dave Anthony]

So he. His team sucks without him, which is what he said was going to happen when they said he can't go. He's like, you guys are going to suck. But they do. They really suck without him. But they come back and they hear what's happened with the councilman and they're like, yeah, no. And they just suspend him for the rest of the year. They're like, we're done.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

So now there's a lot of people are like, they're going to trade him to another team. And they keep seeing him in the stands crying or just being sad.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So weird to be showing up to these. It's just like, you don't go to your ex's wedding and have a weep in the crate. You know what I mean? Like, you got to move on to some extent.

[Dave Anthony]

Then he goes, talk to the new owner. And the new owner's like, okay, you can play if you stop drinking.

[Gareth Reynolds]

If I only drink, stop drinking. If I drink more, stop.

[Dave Anthony]

If you stop drinking, no drinking.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'll fill my bat with whiskey and drink out of it before I hit it.

[Dave Anthony]

If you stop drinking, I'll wear a.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Whiskey outfit and pretend I'm a bottle for punching it.

[Dave Anthony]

No. So no drinking at all.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right. Until I'm batting or until the game starts. Drink on. So, all right, we're meeting somewhere good now. I think we're getting through this. Communicate wise. I'll make it. I will drink for games exclusively and only after the game and then in between days of games. Let's just revisit it when we get there and see how this hits, how the hits are growing. The streak is going to hit him. Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

So we're not going to do that. Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, I think we got a good understanding and it's just I should. We should celebrate the deal with a bit of whiskey. But then we'll say that that's only for. For signings, for hitting for days in betweens, and if you catch. If you catch the ball. Plus I need five days off to weep at the games or I won't be participating, but I think that that's good for us. So we'll do a weep. Let's get our hands in. Let's get our hands in, Petey. Palms. Come on. Let's get our hands in. Go, Petey. I gotta be honest. I don't remember the beginning of this interaction, so I'm a little lost as to where it is. But the energy's right on Simon. Good. All right.

[Dave Anthony]

So he also said, besides not drinking, a doctor would have to approve. A doctor have to give him approval to. Okay, so.

[Gareth Reynolds]

But just so you know, Dave, this story is crazy.

[Dave Anthony]

What do you think's gonna happen?

[Gareth Reynolds]

I think he's gonna drink.

[Dave Anthony]

A doctor gets him. His doctor's like, yeah, I'll go tell the owner, you can play. Of course.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He's in tip top shape. Pete's never been better.

[Dave Anthony]

So. So, yeah. So the. The doctor goes, you can go play. And then it. And now the new season coming. The new owner has very contentious negotiations with them. So this is a brand new owner, and he's a dick in negotiating everyone's contract. He's. Wow.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

And all the players are feeling angry and disrespected. He stops giving it. So everyone gets an advance. It's like, we'll sign for 3,000 for the year and I'll give you a TH000 up front. But now he's like, I'm not doing that.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He's not giving him the rest.

[Dave Anthony]

No advance money.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

And then he starts going into saloons at night and looking for players to see if they're drinking. And then he would find them on the spot. On the spot. He'd be like, you'd find $25. So obviously this happens to Pete a lot.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

And then he hires a new manager who's a fucking dick. And team morale is just gone.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right.

[Dave Anthony]

After a few games, the players are like, we're gonna go on strike if this shit keeps up. They want the manager fired, basically.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And they want to be able to drink.

[Dave Anthony]

They won't be able to drink, but mostly they want the manager fired. And the six of them go on strike. And he does get fired. But then, you know, they keep playing, but they're awful. They don't want to be playing for this guy. They lose 212 to Brooklyn.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Jesus.

[Dave Anthony]

The Courier Journal quote, louisville attempted to play against Brooklyn. The details are too horrible to mention.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Tough.

[Dave Anthony]

So Pete's not good. A paper said it looked like his playing days are over.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

As the team lost more, the owner starts finding the Players more and more. And he's. He's using the fines to cover payroll.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I was just gonna say it's like, here's my money. It's definitely a good tactic to be like, I'm taking your contract back.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, right. And the fines are getting higher and they're getting random. He fined Pete and two players for arguing with each other.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Ye. No more fighting, no more talking in general. That's 50 bucks each.

[Dave Anthony]

He find them for making errors.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You guys are supposed to be playing well. That's a fine.

[Dave Anthony]

And then after they lost the game, Pete threw his bat in the river.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And he find $100 right there. That's a river fee right there. What, are you kidding?

[Dave Anthony]

Got nothing to do with him. So now the players are threatening to go on strike over the fines. And. And the league. The league gets involved because it's crazy. Like, this is crazy. And other team owners are like, okay, the league office will mediate all this shit. Just keep playing. So they do, but they haven't been paid in a month now. And they have a 26 game losing streak.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my God.

[Dave Anthony]

And in that, he keeps finding them. So tell the fans the new owner is just a crazy villain. Like, just a villain. And at the end of the losing streak, they go to get their paychecks, and only two get paid very small amounts.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I love the idea that he's like, all right, we can pay him and pay him and that's it.

[Dave Anthony]

That's right. He pays two players. The rest are told they owe the team money.

[Gareth Reynolds]

As a matter of fact, you're lucky we didn't give you bills. Two of them got paid. You know, being an owner is not that hard. It's really quite fun when you think about it the way I do.

[Dave Anthony]

You guys play base for baseball for me, and then you give me a couple hundred bucks.

[Gareth Reynolds]

All right, look, you guys made a lot of errors, so we'll call it.

[Dave Anthony]

A wash. Pete owed the team the most. $325.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's crazy.

[Dave Anthony]

But Pete is only upset about $1 quote. That is $1. That is for a bat that was stolen from me at McKeesport. I have bought all my sticks this season at McKeesport. Someone stole one of the bats bag. And now Davidson has charged me $1.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's amazing to only take issue with that after all of this. Now, hold on. This is.

[Dave Anthony]

The other ones were probably all for drinking.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And he's like, that bat was stolen. Okay, sure.

[Dave Anthony]

So now. And we covered the players union. So the players union has just Been formed.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay. It's bad.

[Dave Anthony]

And so they create a Louisville chapter, the players. Now the owner runs out of money and he has to just turn the team over to the league on July 2nd. And at that point, the players have been borrowing money from opposing players and selling their belongings just to eat.

[Gareth Reynolds]

We don't have balls anymore. Can you imagine a time where, like, the rich guy can't pay for what he thought he was going to and eventually can't be. Bailey bailed out. So just goes with nothing.

[Dave Anthony]

Can't.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Strange.

[Dave Anthony]

Can't.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And then it all falls apart.

[Dave Anthony]

So they find a new buyer for the team. The new owners are nice and they pay all the back pay that they didn't have to.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

As for Pete, he is hurt for a week and then he just kind of disappears and then shows up after 11 days and says he was just at home with his mom.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay, sure, sure.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, yeah. And then he doesn't hit well in August and they cut him.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

They're very bad without him. They finished this season 27 wins and 111 losses. It's still one of the worst seasons of all time in baseball. People would talk about this season for years. Pete hit his worst ever. 256.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Still.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, today that would be a good hitter. But yeah. Yeah. A new team, the Cleveland Infants signed Pete. Go ahead.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Why when we had to change the name, did we not just go away from Indians to infants? Because you're a bunch of little crybabies who had to change your name because you little weepies, it took you so long. Because you're a bunch of little toddlers. All right. Something that's gonna instill fear in the other team. We're not Cleveland Infant.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, they're part of the new players league which we talked about in the union one. So the brotherhood of players created their own league. Union based league.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Where are the Brooklyn babies with poopy diapers?

[Dave Anthony]

They got financial back Packers. But to treat the players better. Basically.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

With the.

[Gareth Reynolds]

With the little, little people with the Dallas diarrheas.

[Dave Anthony]

Pick up. Paid $3,000.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

But it's in his contract. He can't drink.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Just. That's what. If you're in charge, that is what you do. You will give you all the money you want. You just can't drink for the whole. Yeah, Otherwise it's a poison pill.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, Pete said he'd been drinking Kentucky dry for 10 years so he could take one off.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I don't think that's how it does.

[Dave Anthony]

No, it makes sense, Gareth.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It Doesn't. Because it's actually anything that tells you he's more addicted than.

[Dave Anthony]

Easy to take one off because you put 10 in.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I don't think it's the way that it actually.

[Dave Anthony]

That's literally how drinking works.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm pretty sure it's wrong.

[Dave Anthony]

He actually asked for that to be in the contract because he thought it would stop him from drinking.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, that's like that. What was that there? Like, isn't there that app where it's like you bet on yourself to like lose weight? It's like some crazy. Like where it's. Yeah. Where it's like. I can't remember what it is. Something like that. It's good, though. It shows you were in a good spot.

[Dave Anthony]

It sounds great. One of the main investors in the infants is one of his childhood buddies also. So Pete says he has been freed from, quote, baseball bondage. And he promises that he will start sliding fighting.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

He starts the season on fire. And people are like, why did Louisville let this guy go? But the effects of the mastoiditis are getting worse.

[Gareth Reynolds]

His legs fell off. Yes.

[Dave Anthony]

He misses four games in June, he makes it worse. So he's. You know, you're out in the sun all the time. It just get work looking into it. The ballpark. This ballpark has trees in left field.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Which is fine to picture well in one game.

[Dave Anthony]

So they're apple trees.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So of course I was. You didn't tell me that. They're fruit bearing trees.

[Dave Anthony]

So there's apples on the ground in the outfield. So one game he hit, he had a ball and the center fielder picked up an apple, threw it in to trick him, and then he stopped at second thinking the ball was there, but it was an apple. So the guy held them to.

[Gareth Reynolds]

How here did we pass the apple rules in the game. All right, guys, you had your fun. No more tossing apples that make it look like baseballs. This Christ.

[Dave Anthony]

Okay? So there's trees out there.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Imagine playing under an apple tree.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. I don't know what's happening. I mean, the ball would go through the tree sometime.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You would think that's just crazy.

[Dave Anthony]

So there's trees, which means shade and the shade. But the shade, with the way the sun was at that time of year is deep in the field. So he would play too far, too deep in the outfield. And the coach would be like, come in a little. And he'd just keep going back into the shade.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's nice. It's Wayne Cooler.

[Dave Anthony]

One hot day in the middle of the game, he calls Timeout. And he runs in from the outfield, and he runs into the dugout, and he goes over to a water cooler, and he pulls out a wet cabbage leaf and puts it under his hat and then runs back out into the field.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay, all right. Get. Just. Okay. I don't know. How much can. We gotta be done here, right? I mean, what. What are we doing anymore? What are we doing? He's doing cabbage head stuff. He's putting.

[Dave Anthony]

He calls timeout.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So it's like, emergency. He's like, man, I'm gonna be able to get through it without the cabbage head.

[Dave Anthony]

He did make it to the eighth inning, so.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my gosh.

[Dave Anthony]

And then after the game, reporters.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Tastes like shit. Guys, stop putting your cabbage in the water.

[Dave Anthony]

After the game, reporters asked him about it, and Pete said, quote, there is nothing like a cabbage leaf for the head and lamps. And that's right.

[Gareth Reynolds]

This is just. It's a lot of stuff. Like, reporters must have been like, bring an extra pen. This guy's real good. Oh, my God, the lamps. It's good for your head. It's good for your eyes.

[Dave Anthony]

So Pete stays mostly sober. He started going to temperance meetings. Now, here's the hard part. Teammates and fans are always trying to get him to drink because they want to drink with the drunk guy.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right?

[Dave Anthony]

Right. It's his reputation. He told a reporter, quote, I never knew what it was to go to bed sober until the 14th of last August. I have better sleep, have an awful appetite, can hit the ball harder and more often than ever. And when salary day comes, I have more to my credit than I ever had before. A player cannot drink beer and play ball.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's hard to not picture this being done without cabbage on his head. Like, look, I've had a breakthrough. Being an athlete is difficult.

[Dave Anthony]

And then he put cabbage on the head in just two cartons of buttermilk on his eyes.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to put cabbage on my head and drown my eyes in buttermilk.

[Dave Anthony]

So he has. The whole country is now writing about his amazing season. Pete quote, I've. I've been the best batter and fielder in the country for 10 years, but I didn't know it till this season. He's very attached to the bat that he's using this season. It's one he had made in a late season, important game against New York. Some of the fans of the opposing team hide his bat.

[Gareth Reynolds]

This is not okay.

[Dave Anthony]

And Pete refuses to hit. And so the game stops.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Also not okay, and also strange. So nobody's in the zone of doing anything proper.

[Dave Anthony]

Nobody's. The game's not going to start. And finally, the fans give the bat back to Pete, who just won't hit with a It wild. That year, he wins another batting title. It's his third. Pete credited his custom made bat, and then it was stolen after his last bat of the season, right off the field near the bench. Someone just took it. The team sucked. 7th place, Louisville. Louisville wins the World Series. Of the teams that he's.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, that's tough.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. After the season, people told Pete, Pete told people. He gets to the train station, tells these people in Louisville that the press had mistreated him and the fans didn't give him enough respect. So he's talking about the. Even though he was the junk guy. Whatever.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. He's crying like an infant would now.

[Dave Anthony]

The three leagues have basically destroyed each other. And then the PL is folded into the NL and the AA is still there, but it's barely hanging on. And the next year, Pete signs with Pittsburgh. And now Louisville fans are pissed because they're like, well, he'll come back to us after his good season. The Owensboro messenger quote, the whole state will, of course sympathize with Louisville in the loss of her beloved Pete Browning, the drunken bum whom the baseball idiots of that town slobber over so disgustingly.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow. Unbiasedly yours.

[Dave Anthony]

So going into the next season, the mastoiditis causing him problems starting in preseason, the first week of the season, he shaves his eyelashes off.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Quote, no.

[Dave Anthony]

So they won't obstruct my lamps. Now that works.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He really.

[Dave Anthony]

That's a. That's there.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Listen, I'm not saying that you can't live a life without him, but they're. They're guardian. They're. They're there to help you. You. God. His optometrist was like, please stop going rogue. You need those. Goes into the barber. Just a little off the sides. Leave the mustache, obviously, and then lose the lashes.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. No, don't touch the gum.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Lose the la. Yeah, leave the gum. Obviously, that's good to go. But the lashes got to go.

[Dave Anthony]

Could you put some. Take out the lashes and put a little Bubblicious in the.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Is it possible to just have gum eyes?

[Dave Anthony]

So Pittsburgh is terrible. It's a terrible team. They're worse than the league. They're tied for worse than the league.

[Gareth Reynolds]

This lamps fetish of his has really not helped.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. He gets released.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

Four days later, he signs with Cincinnati, who are the other worst team in the League.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Eh.

[Dave Anthony]

So he's. There's another great hitter on the team who has sticky fingers when it comes to bats. So Pete padlocks his locker.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's just. Just strange.

[Dave Anthony]

But he stays sober. It's a struggle, but he stays sober.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

A reporter quote. Fully 50 times I've seen him surrounded by a crowd of half inebriated sportsmen laughing at him sarcastically and begging him to come to the bar.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And he's just holding his back.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. So sobriety for him is like. Sounds like way harder than a lot of people.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, I think we've talked about it. Like, there is something. When you try to make lifestyle changes that benefit you, your old friends are like, e quit.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. So that's why a lot of people talk about alcohol, Alcoholics Anonymous. But you get to go find people who will help you stay sober. So if you think it's like a bad thing, you don't get what the it is is. That's a big part of it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right.

[Dave Anthony]

So. So he stayed sober. But. And he hits well when he's. When he's sober, he's hitting well. So he. He. He's on. He's on pace to win the batting title. He's like, coming. He's like coming up on a guy. He's hitting. He's starting to hit better. And then he. Someone throws a pitch at him and he puts up his hand to stop, it breaks his hand.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm. Normally that works.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, you would think so, but. So he doesn't win the title. After the season, the AA folds. So that leaves just the National League.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

And he signs with Louisville again.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay. He's back.

[Dave Anthony]

But he starts out not hitting well. He said his head was stopped up.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, well, it's full of buttermilk.

[Dave Anthony]

Quote, when you're stopped up, your lamps ain't right.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yep, absolutely. Again, no need to consult any medical person. That makes sense. No, you've got a stopped up head. It's like a drain. It's clogged.

[Dave Anthony]

The team released him.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Huh. Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

And he signs back with Cincinnati. His hitting comes back to form, but his fielding is. Well, it's a little bit odd. Gareth.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Hmm.

[Dave Anthony]

He stops getting ground balls with his glove, Dave.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I just want to be clear that that's a tough start.

[Dave Anthony]

He's letting them hit his feet and shins.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So he's just a hockey goalie in his mind.

[Dave Anthony]

And this, for people watching, is a spectacular lack of defensive effort. Effort that really no one has ever seen before.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. No, it's not a technique. That you've ever seen replicated. I don't know a lot about baseball, but I know nobody's ever treated their legs as the first line of defense. It would be an insane move.

[Dave Anthony]

And then in the middle of July, he's sick for two days and the team cuts him, which Pete is shocked because he is hitting the shit out of the ball.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Pete, it's just. You stopped using your glove.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. There's no kicking the ball thing. That's weird for us.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You try to stop everything with your legs is really not helped. You. You won't slide, but you'll take every ball to the knee.

[Dave Anthony]

He signs with Cincinnati again.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

Because the player who they had signed to replace him was too much of a drunk.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

So they brought in Pete.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Perfect.

[Dave Anthony]

His second game back. Pete is removed from the game due to vertigo. Now, the. The writer. The writer of this really good book, Tim Newby, the original Louisville Slugger, he thinks that that's because he has vertigo.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

And that's why he's not bending down to get at the ball. That's why he's like, his shins.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay. Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

Because he thinks. He thinks, like, that's what's him up. Which totally makes sense. Right?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Because there's. Well, here's what makes sense. There's no other justification.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. There really isn't.

[Gareth Reynolds]

To just be like, my legs will do it.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. So his. He gets removed for vertigo. And. And that season, he hits.292. So decent.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's good.

[Dave Anthony]

That's good.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

No. Teams try to sign him for the next season. And he announces a retirement on March 25, 1893, and says he wants to open a billiard saloon.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

But when teams come to town, he keeps hanging around with the manager, hoping he'll get signed.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

On May 26, Louisville signs him, and he replaces the player that he replaced in Cincinnati, the junk guy.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That guy's really doing him favors.

[Dave Anthony]

Who was again released for excessive drinking. Yeah, this was the guy.

[Gareth Reynolds]

This guy could really use people.

[Dave Anthony]

Pete, I think we talked about this guy in the Vanderhe episode. He's the guy who kept beers outside. Outside the outfield fence near the apple trees. Yes. So he plays well for Cincinnati. Oh, no, for Louisville. I mean, the team's really bad, though. As usual. Louisville sucks. But he. He's clearly lost his step. Now the mastoiditis is causing a lot more pain. He misses a game in July due to, quote, violent pains in his head, at least.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And then addressing the words that he explains how he's feeling yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

And then another four games, he misses with vertigo. But at the end of July, he is hitting over.400.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, so he's back.

[Dave Anthony]

Back. Amazing average. And then they come.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Did the announcer ever go, oh, that ball's vertigo. Go, go. That ball's vertigon.

[Dave Anthony]

You wanted to say that so bad. You ignored what I said, which is very important. And what I said was for a really bad pun that you should be ashamed of.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, no. First of all, this is a no.

[Dave Anthony]

You're like, Pete, you can't feel shame.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's. Don't compare me to Pete. First, you should be.

[Dave Anthony]

You should be weeping.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I don't know where you're vertigoing with this.

[Dave Anthony]

So Pete is cut, hitting over.400.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay. Why? Just because.

[Dave Anthony]

No reasons given. So he's vertigon and he storms out of the clubhouse. The team is basically managed by idiots who just make bananas decisions. So who knows why they did it? Maybe to save money. So he just now drops out of the public eye at that point. And at the end of the season, the Courier Journal wrote. Wrote that Pete was, quote, mashing the pretty girls on fourth Avenue after the matinees. That's all right. It's all right.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So.

[Dave Anthony]

So he means making out, I think.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I don't think it means.

[Dave Anthony]

I don't think it means. Yeah, he's not like, grabbing him. Yeah, he's not like. It's. I don't think it's bad. So.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right.

[Dave Anthony]

He's still living with his mom. Anyway. Like. Anyway.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Awesome. The women love that.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. So he signs with Allentown, which is a minor league team in Pennsylvania owned by a childhood friend, and it is managed by this really hard drinking guy named Mike King. Kelly. Kelly was once asked to be drank while playing. And he said, quote, it depends on the length of the game.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's true. I think there's a. There's a requirement. If it goes too long, you have to.

[Dave Anthony]

Mike Kelly would die at 36 from.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Drinking, which is a full life. Back then, people probably. The people are probably astounded by that number. That was a full life.

[Dave Anthony]

So for two months, Pete is the best player on the team. And then again, randomly released. And then he signs on with a team in Georgetown, Kentucky, and then he gets signed by Brooklyn to play the last two games of the season, which would be in Louisville, where fans. So it's like a say goodbye to the fans kind of thing. Loud cheering and they're all very happy. He gets two hits. They're the final two hits of his career. And he planned some amateur Local teams, but that's about it. He was always trying to catch on for a while, but it was over. So Pete now has a basement full of bats. And he could tell you what he had done with each one. So people would come over and he'd be like, that one was the double in Louisville on July. Whatever. And he would just go through each bat and tell you every single thing that happened with each bat. He'd give people tours. He tried to. To talk about his glory days to anyone.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. The best thing, I think you'd be like, all right, cool. I'm good.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, it would be cool for like the first four. You'd point and go. That one, that. And then after that, it's another 200 bats and you're like, yeah, right. I don't have.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I don't have all this.

[Dave Anthony]

Five hours. Yeah. He opens a billiards hall named the Gladiator.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Nice.

[Dave Anthony]

But without baseball, he's just lost. He runs for city councilman again and loses.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I will keep the cigar in my mouth no matter what a drunk does.

[Dave Anthony]

Louisville drops out of the National League in 1818 99. I think they're the. The last team to not to lose a baseball team and not have it replaced until Montreal in like 2004 or whatever.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That was quite a run.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. He lived comfortably off money he made from playing baseball, but he still just wants to play. He made it known in 1900 that he would play for any team as a quote, reserve slugger. So just like a pinch hitter, a guy comes in at the end to try to hit home run. He's living a sad, lonely life. In 1905, he was hospitalized for insanity. Even though he is not a danger to anyone or himself, it turns out he just had an abscess on his brain. But they were like, yeah, he's nuts.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You mean it was all clogged up?

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, he's clogged. He had the clogs.

[Gareth Reynolds]

The clog.

[Dave Anthony]

They just had to poke the lamps.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, yeah. He's just a little lamp. Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

So they drain. They do whatever. They drain the abscess or whatever they do to it. And then once it was resolved, he was discharged. But his health deteriorated after that. He had mastoid surgery, and then he had a breast tumor and he died surrounded by his family on March 16, 1907. There's a bunch of not true stories about Pete, which you don't need to do.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Some of them.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, what you don't need to do, based on what I just read you.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You don't need to make them up a life of. I mean, this is Rube Jr. Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

He'S not in the hall of Fame, which he should be because of the hitting. Much like Pete Rose and Barry. But. Well, Pete Rose and Barry Bonds aren't also like, the hall is fucking. So the hall of Fame.

[Gareth Reynolds]

To be fair, they couldn't fit Barry Bonds bust head in the hall of Fame Fame.

[Dave Anthony]

But the hall of Fame is not like, how good of a person are you? Because if you're a good person, shitloads of people wouldn't be in there.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Or is Ty Cobb hall of Fame?

[Dave Anthony]

I think he is. Yeah. Yeah, he's got to be in it. But like, it doesn't matter. So you gambled. So you did. Everyone was doing steroids. Like it's just like put them all in because it's about how they played the game, right? And this guy should be in the hall of Fame simply for ordering the first bat that then led to guys.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Making bats as well as being the first guy to stop balls with his legs.

[Dave Anthony]

I mean. Yeah, so you lead the league in batting three years, you're a Hall of Famer.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

So he's not in the hall of Fame. Anyway. This is based on the original Louisville Slugger. The Life and Times of Forgotten Baseball legend Tim Browning by Tim Newby and Requiem for a Gladiator Pete Browning by Philip Von Borries in the Baseball Research Journal.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow, that's a. That's a. That's an ex. That's how you do a life.

[Dave Anthony]

I mean, you lived hard, right?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Live hard. And you don't listen to any convection. Like there, there's no convention that makes you say, yeah, right. You know, I would like putting buttermilk in your eyes, letting ash go on stopping balls with your legs because of your vertigo.

[Dave Anthony]

There is no, there is no whatchamacallit. Like, this isn't a. There's no real doctor. There's no real cures for any of that time. So you're really just kind of going with, you know, household cures. And people say like it's. Or just trying to figure it out and going, well, that buttermilk feels good.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, right. Look, I've never been closer to buttermilking my eyes, if that's what you're asking.

[Dave Anthony]

I should show you a picture of him.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, yeah, let's look at, look it up.

[Dave Anthony]

Look up Pete Browning baseball. And, and you'll see a picture. And he, he really is a goofy looking dude. Yeah, but he should be.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, whoa, whoa. He looks like Anthony Jeselnick could play him if they had great makeup.

[Dave Anthony]

Those ears are kind of crazy.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, yeah, the ears are huge. I didn't even notice the ears. Wow, he looks like a Daniel Day Lewis character. Character.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, he does. He really does. Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow. You weren't kidding. That mustache is no joke. Those ears are enormous. I'm more impressed that they had baseball cards back then.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, yeah, right.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Look at him, too.

[Dave Anthony]

I think if you're the best hitter of a decade, you should be in the hall of fame no matter what the decade is.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I think if you put that's gum as your eyebrows, you should be accountable.

[Dave Anthony]

Councilman and I can't believe a Canadian led the league in hitting, but whatever, we'll get over that.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Wow. He's really. This guy's awesome looking.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow. I recommend everyone Google that. That was worth it. All right, well, there you go. A little more normal stuff. Seems like we don't really run out of these people. Strange. Strange how this show works, isn't it?

[Dave Anthony]

All right, carry on. It's all fine.

[Gareth Reynolds]

By the way, we did this during the super bowl, and it's by far a much better sports story than what we would be on right now.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, there's no reason to watch that.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Take care. Hey, dollop fans. I know you love the dollop. You love listening to the dollop. Do you want to watch the dollop? You're like, gareth, what are you talking about? By the way, it's not Gary, it's Gareth. Well, we have partnered with Lakeside Animation and we are starting to animate some of our episodes. So if you want to go watch a five parter animation, which is actually like a 22 minute episode or 30 minute episode, I can't remember, of the rube, you can go to LakeSide Animation on YouTube and watch a really awesome animation of the rube. It. It really genuinely kicks ass and we're very proud of it. And the more you share it, the more you give it to people, the more you follow Lakeside, all that stuff, the better chance we have of making a lot more of them. We're already making a second one, so go there and watch the rube.