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Billy Sample Major League Baseball Player
Mon, 6/20 2:02PM • 19:39
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
baseball, Billy Sample, playing, ball, game, teenagers, Seenagers, Yankees, people, drafted, Charlie Ponger, Debbie Nigro, talking, clubhouse, kidding, slams, life, thought, scouts, drive, championship, won, MLB, Texas Rangers, Atlanta Braves
SPEAKERS
Debbie Nigro, Charlie Ponger, Billy Sample, Debbie Nigro, Billy Sample, Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger, Charlie Ponger, Debbie Charlie, Charlie Ponger Billy Sample
Charlie Ponger:
00:00
Hey everyone, welcome to the official Seenagers, Never too Late. teenagers How the hell are you? curse on this show. It's not nice. How the hell yeah.
Charlie Ponger, Billy Sample, Debbie Nigro 00:10
We're here. We're here with ex-Major League Baseball player in the studio. Billy Sample sampling sample today, Mr. 272 lifetime batting average. That was his career batting average sampling the teenager seenager part of Billy Sample. Yeah, he's in a teenager seenager. He just like, isn't perfect. I know. I know. Let's look at him. Yeah. Hey, Billy. double entendre are gonna run.
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 00:34
I'm ready now. Good to have you, man. Thank you, Debbie. Good to be I didn't go and I've been watching a lot of baseball lately, because my boyfriend is a Mets fan. And we went to went to the Mets game, right. So I'm all into the baseball backstory of that you're going to start sharing some stuff about hanging sliders? Yeah. Well, when you say sliders, I'm Italian I think food. But I'll get back to you.
Charlie Ponger Billy Sample:
00:53
Billy, I got a quick couple quick questions for you. All right. What was it like? Getting into the into the minor leagues? Like when you went from college? To the minor leagues? What was that like a thrill and a half for you or what? No, I was a little disappointed. You were
Billy Sample:
01:10
a little higher than Oh, you were what we were in high school. I was drafted in the 28th. Round early. No kidding. I told the scouts. I didn't know they had that many rounds. Now they only have 20. Yeah. So Billy was like being drafted into purgatory from when I got drafted. But it was low. And I thought I was going somewhere in the teens. All the scouts will tell you Yeah, you're gonna be fine. We're gonna offer you enough money. And you're gonna Yeah, right. Yeah. No, it's a grind. Right? Well, the scout who drafted me? Yeah, could tell when he finally got in touch with me that I was a little disappointed in at the time, they were 2014. He said, Well, Bill 23 other teams past your 20s.
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 01:53
I hear you are still, you know, having the great stories that a lot of people never get a chance to have. Right. So it's, we're many years after baseball, and 36 for me, 36. But everybody still wants to talk baseball with you. Well, I stayed in the game a little bit because I broadcast a little bit and I wrote a little bit
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so I'm probably a little more relevant than most of the old guys like us. Yeah. Maybe so when when you were growing up? And you were playing you did you play? You played more than baseball? Right? I was. Oh, come on, Charlie. You didn't get the memo? No. What else?
Billy Sample:
02:27
Statewide receiver.
Charlie Ponger:
02:28
No kidding. Yeah.
Billy Sample:
02:29
That's fantastic movie. Remember the Titans? Yeah, yeah. In real life. They played us in the state finals. No kidding.
Charlie Ponger:
02:37
That's how we
Billy Sample:
02:41
couldn't even depict us in the movie. They use another
Charlie Ponger Billy Sample:
02:43
team. When did you realize that? Hey, you know what, I think I'm better than a bunch of the other guys that I'm growing up with. And all that sort of stuff.
Billy Sample:
02:53
Never really did. No, never really did. I thought when I was about 15 that if I had a chance to go pro on anything it was gonna be baseball is our I thought it was a little bit better in football. No kidding.
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 03:04
You look at the players now and go You can't I can't believe it. They're making in money.
Billy Sample:
03:07
I helped them make that W Yeah. To start from a good union man. Tell me so we understand so that you could have better workers rights. I think that was a fee, you as a byproduct of salaries went up. But it took me my first contract. I tell people there's it's hard to believe. I think the minimum salary now is 708. Yeah, I think that's what something is. Came up. It was 21,000 Holy, double digit inflation days of late 1970s. Let me tell you how far you're taking home. 80,000 in the big league, and the big lists won't even tell you.
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 03:44
What do you say? I can't believe these guys get paid that much money just to play game. Do I say no. I'm saying what do you say to people who say I can't believe these guys get paid that much money to play game?
Billy Sample:
03:54
I can't believe Paul McCartney makes that much money.
Charlie Ponger:
03:57
Same deal. Right.
Billy Sample:
04:00
I think it's great. There's out there. I don't know. I'm Yeah, I
Charlie Ponger:
04:03
think it's great. Yeah. You know, it's
Billy Sample:
04:06
it's shifted quickly. And a lot of it was because the owners did some things that were not quite sure. Yeah. They colluded. They?
Charlie Ponger Billy Sample:
04:15
Did they do you think they still collude? Probably.
Billy Sample:
04:19
They have to be careful. Yeah. Triple damages. Yeah. Okay. Let's review
Debbie Nigro:
04:23
who you played for for people who are meeting you for the first time.
Charlie Ponger Billy Sample:
04:26
And he came up when he was 23 years old. The kid ended up playing in the big
Debbie Nigro:
04:35
play for the Yankees.
Billy Sample:
04:37
One year. Very cool. That was traded. Before the 1985 season to the Yankees. I had worn out my welcome in Texas where it came up.
Debbie Nigro:
04:46
This Atlanta Braves Braves that's pretty good roster
Billy Sample:
04:50
close on the house got traded the next month.
Charlie Ponger:
04:52
Oh, no.
Debbie Nigro:
04:54
Don't you hate that? Oh, no. Let's talk about the
Charlie Ponger Billy Sample:
04:57
underbelly of baseball. It's real. really about the underbelly of baseball.
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 05:01
This is about the underbelly of life and a lot of people can relate to some great thing happening then somebody something screwing it up. They're coming. You close on a house and then you get fired.
05:10
Well, I'm surprised. Okay, I tend to wear out my welcome
Billy Sample:
05:15
about you know,
Charlie Ponger Billy Sample:
05:16
what were you just sort of you call him as as you see him kind of guy in the clubhouse or what was a
Billy Sample:
05:22
player? Rep. I was an alternate Oh, you were player Rev. Honorable when you're in that? Yeah. Actually, after after six plus years in Texas, I knew I wasn't going anywhere there and, and I tried to leave on his license terms. So we could leave, but it was time to go.
Charlie Ponger:
05:36
So when you walk in to a stadium, and in the big leagues, and the house is packed. Let's call it Yankee Stadium, I guess back then 57,000 people, and they're cheering for you. And they're yelling your name. First of all, can you hear them in the stands saying your name?
Billy Sample:
05:57
Not really. No, I didn't do that much.
Charlie Ponger:
06:01
You did, man. You bet 272
Billy Sample:
06:04
actually back then, I don't think you had the the full houses that you have. Now. I see. Because I see clips of when I was with the Yankees. It was 1985 it was manning Lee's MVP season it all see some highlights and he's hitting homeruns into empty seats. Wow.
Charlie Ponger Billy Sample:
06:19
No, you don't see it today. Who was
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 06:21
your iconic baseball hero growing up? Didn't really have
Billy Sample:
06:25
one. No, no, sorry, I I admired the way Roy white carried himself with the Yankees. And I kind of wanted to tell him that I've careers intersected only towards the latter part of his before he went to Japan and my first couple years but I never did have the nerve to really say it to him. So years later, after I was traded to the Yankees in Reuters working in front office. I call them loader my clubhouse stall. And I said, Roy, look, I didn't believe in role models outside of people that I knew but I always admired the kind of quiet dignified way you carried yourself. Always got this voice like Orson Welles even like deep and he looked at me saying yeah, right, Bill. harboring this all this time, he thought I was putting them off and I see it every once in a while. We'll go Yeah, usually out in Pennsylvania or New Jersey. That's cool.
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 07:22
Can I ask a girly question?
Did you sleep with your mid under your mattress was wrapped her mid put it?
Billy Sample:
07:39
Under the pillow? I didn't use the mattress, but I put it on the pillow a couple of times when I was really young. How
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 07:44
cool is I actually had a mitt of my own they slept under had under my mattress because that was like a boy girl girl boy. Yeah. No, I just like to drop receiver. I'm a sporty sporty girl. And I have male mid. I like basketball. I mean, I played sports. So I actually love to play. Yeah, okay, I lost the championship for volleyball myself personally, but we don't talk about that. No,
Billy Sample:
08:07
I understand. I've been there.
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 08:09
Charlie, he had he had he had some great thing that he had showed us. Yeah, that is from back when. But it has a great topic for the teenagers. You know, some things I won't miss about the game. Yeah, and I think a lot of people watch professional sports and get you know, enamored with the stars and think their life must be perfect and it's not lucky they are and how much money they're making and how great it is. Now, right Yeah, but there's there's
Billy Sample:
08:34
about half of those those topics if I'm making the money
Charlie Ponger Billy Sample:
08:37
I want to know about the grind. I want to know about the travel grind travel what it's like in the clubhouse is
Billy Sample:
08:45
105 degrees was kind of normal. Really traveled
Charlie Ponger:
08:49
didn't bother you things you
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 08:51
won't miss things he won't miss what don't you miss about the game?
Billy Sample:
08:55
Oh, you're asking me now? No, I'm
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 08:56
asking what are we doing?
08:59
You're looking at two years ago you're looking at the refrigerator is he playing for us? I don't know. I gotta see nature. You are
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 09:10
receiving age if you're looking and can remember your
Billy Sample:
09:13
let's see. Let's see. Nope,
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 09:15
he's got no teenagers have nots,
Billy Sample:
09:18
robbing your grandchildren. Computer promise of college tuition is still in single digits and age.
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 09:30
That's so funny man. Without Knology you are you up on technology? No,
Billy Sample:
09:37
they take that actually they will take my computers out of my bag when I crossed into the door like a pop while you're gonna hurt yourself or your world will take that oh, that's fine. Computer everything they take it really stuff when I get back get it back because I don't know.
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 09:54
Oh that's okay. Nobody knows his passwords
Charlie Ponger Billy Sample:
09:59
are Are you playing golf or anything like that? What do you do to stay in great
Billy Sample:
10:03
shape on a good run? Well, thank you especially good coming from you because you're good you want to you've always been in good shape like that
Charlie Ponger Billy Sample:
10:10
crap shape last until I until I get injured then I blow up like a tick and and it takes me two years to get back into shape. Oh, it's
Billy Sample:
10:17
worth it looks good. Oh, thanks, Billy,
Charlie Ponger:
10:19
what do you think?
Billy Sample:
10:22
I'm healthy enough with sexuality. So you don't have to
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 10:31
really Charlie's been in here through the entire pandemic eating and getting fat. And then one day he found a rowing machine and he dragged it back with whatever little strength he had. And he's been doing it every day since and he's not the same guy from months ago. Look at him. He's it's just from rowing. He's coming back to life. Yeah,
Billy Sample:
10:47
I solid pull up. Machine. Yeah, I
Charlie Ponger:
10:49
stretch on that.
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 10:51
Yeah, he's hanging everywhere around this property.
Charlie Ponger Billy Sample:
10:53
Yeah, I you know, I mean, once you're a jock right
Billy Sample:
10:55
level of time, there's
Charlie Ponger Billy Sample:
11:00
once you're a jock, you're always a jock. Right? Tell the truth,
Billy Sample:
11:03
I guess. But I've had a good run of not playing golf. Or not. Actually, I will show up for the dinners. Yeah, in fact, they tease me. Here for the dinner is Billy sample. I'll get up and wave. But you're not gonna play. I will drive the refreshment wagon. Yeah. I'll go around and try to tell jokes are a great joke teller. But no, you're pretty funny. But no, you don't want to eat my golf game? No, no, I can put a little bit yeah, when you're trying to salvage that quadruple bogey. I can't put another eight.
Charlie Ponger Billy Sample:
11:38
Are you putting too much pressure on yourself? Because you're such a good athlete. And then Golf is a new game and it's not coming natural to you. So you're like, Screw it. I'm not gonna do it.
Billy Sample:
11:46
Okay, we'll go with it. All right.
Charlie Ponger:
11:51
Just you just suck. No.
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 11:52
Does baseball have something that in the entertainment industry a category? So what I'm talking about is Jennifer Hudson. Got this incredible e g o t status right? At the Tony Awards. And it's when somebody wins an Emmy, a Grammy an Oscar and a Tony. It's called the EEG guide six. Incredible. Is there something in baseball where you get like a fake name like, oh, there were special, like, greatest of all time. IGAD. You know, is there some kind of baseball where you hit all different?
Charlie Ponger Billy Sample:
12:22
strikeouts? Four times? It's called?
Billy Sample:
12:25
Golden sunburn you the golden sunburn. Yeah, rarely do that. If you get three times once, and struck out three times once in double a ball. And that's it.
Yeah, that's impressive. He cut the three times in double a ball. Rick hunico While he was pitching in the pirates organization where he came up then the ball just seemed just to bottom out and then later on, this team didn't surprise me.
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 12:51
When you go on long drives
Charlie Ponger Billy Sample:
12:52
when you say didn't surprise me and he was putting some Vaseline on that ball. There you go.
Billy Sample:
12:57
Anything about tax and yeah, my teammate.
Debbie Charlie:
13:02
You go on long drives. Everybody has their life flash in front of them good, bad and ugly. They think of the worst thing that happened the best thing that happened when you drive and you're like, try and conjure up your best baseball moment. What is it? What's that vision vision in your head?
Billy Sample:
13:14
I had one walk off home run it sad only had one.
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 13:17
That's okay, once. That's fantastic. We got some trailing it. Yeah.
Billy Sample:
13:24
I don't know. And we were trailing at the time. So I thought okay, there's just
Charlie Ponger Billy Sample:
13:28
you were trailing. And then you had a walk off to win the game. We were trailing
Billy Sample:
13:31
where we would it was in our willing time. It's a walk off. It's at home. So we're in Arlington, Arlington.
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 13:38
And what's the bad thing that goes in your head in the driving like you're in the country road, you drive and drive me like that memory?
Billy Sample:
13:44
There is a saying about a monkey in a football. Why? And I had one of those plays in Chicago at Wrigley Field where I was playing right and as soon as the ball left Gary Matthews bad. I knew I was in trouble. Oh, and those things don't happen when nobody's on base. Right? They happen to out I had one of those. You're like when blue had a couple of ways and I just looked awful playing. Oh, I knew that. So if I see I've starting pitcher Zane Smith today and I haven't seen Zane and I don't know 35 years. First thing I'm gonna offer is an apology. Because I played it so poorly. I didn't even touch the ball. No, they didn't give me an error like these runs on irons.
Charlie Ponger:
14:29
Oh, lays Oh, no kidding.
Billy Sample:
14:31
kind of wake up to like,
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 14:33
Charlie, what's your job? What's your worst like driving down the country road think about all your life and that horrible memory shoots in your head like the worst thing that you can't believe is stepping
Charlie Ponger Billy Sample:
14:42
on a wet home plate and snapping my ankle.
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 14:46
Oh, that's bad. Yeah. Ouch.
Charlie Ponger:
14:49
That one hurt out. You
Billy Sample:
14:50
have spikes?
Charlie Ponger:
14:52
Yeah, spikes, no metal spikes. Yeah. And my favorite one was a catch that I made And I'm not I'm like a peon compared to this guy. You didn't but whenever I made I made a I made a catch in left field to a diving catch. You know, parallel the ground caught the ball. We won the championship because it was Bases Loaded two outs the whole thing. And the team my team got so excited. The first baseman who was like six foot five to 50 comes running out to left field and beats the crap
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 15:37
out of me, man oh, man, I wasn't good and
Charlie Ponger Billy Sample:
15:41
all the other guys the other guys in the other team were like you had your eyes close?
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 15:47
Because I think everybody has it memory not Mr. Samples memory, sports memory good, bad or ugly if they played any sports, right? Yeah, I'm only getting negatives right now as I'm talking to you guys. But once you're yours, oh, I got a lot of negatives. No, I'm telling you what I'm gonna tell you I lost the championship for the high school volleyball championship. Personally, at the Netball comes I smashed it with all my might and I missed the ball and it dropped. That was the end of the championship. Me personally. That's number 121 19.
Billy Sample:
16:17
You had plenty of choice the
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 16:21
end bill. He was the last
Billy Sample:
16:24
one to beat yourself up.
Charlie Ponger:
16:26
You needed to kill him? No, no.
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 16:27
Then there was a time that was in the softball. I don't know what happened. I was sitting on the sidelines and you know girls softball like Ted what and I was talking and boom, this ball in my face. 50 miles. And there was another time at
Charlie Ponger:
16:37
work here where you bring your downer.
Billy Sample:
16:40
Are you in the dugout?
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 16:44
No, I was actually on the sidelines just talking. I've been painting for you're doing your nails. Now. You think I would have been eyelashes or whatever. And it was time to get disqualified from the cheerleading contest because our outfits are too sexy. But let's not go there. Catholic high school girls, you know they thought it was too sexy back then. What? A tight turtleneck and a short flared, like flouncy little quarter way skirt. Oh,
Charlie Ponger:
17:09
keep talking to us.
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 17:13
Now we won the basketball championship. I have when I was starting forward. I was pig.
Billy Sample:
17:18
Oh, yeah. Wow. You the three of the four we're shooting for it are more of a power. I
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 17:22
can remember Billy shooting shooting the ball from like 40 feet out in the right sink.
Charlie Ponger:
17:27
Wow. I have a basketball story. One on one. Yeah, I'm playing a guy who's about six, four Irish guy. And we're playing and I just by chance beat him that day and one on one. He slams his true. He slams the basketball down. And he says, You know what the eff is wrong with you all you Italian guineas, and I said what? And he goes, You all think you're six foot four. And I looked at him. I said You mean I'm not.
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 17:54
That was good. You slammed his beer down. Oh,
Charlie Ponger:
17:57
it's true story. No,
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 17:57
the game is good. Yeah. So you like to laugh. I liked that you're here and like to laugh with us. This is great. What did you write a book about? Tell everybody because everybody's
Billy Sample:
18:07
a year in pinstripes and then some enhance my year with the Yankees in 1985. Probably about 40% of the book and the rest was either going are playing Texas or Atlanta. Very cool. Yeah. I am Scott and I self published but that's that's how I was rolling.
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 18:22
Yeah, you gotta go like,
Billy Sample:
18:24
you can still get it. It's on Amazon and Kindle.
Charlie Ponger:
18:28
Very cool. Amazon Kindle. What's the title of the book? A year in pinstripes and a year in pinstripes and then some alright everybody go out and get that book. He's a billy samples a great guy. Great guy, isn't he?
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 18:40
Did you just invite him to because you know, this great guy.
Billy Sample:
18:43
We go way back. Wow, we
Charlie Ponger Billy Sample:
18:45
went to different schools together.
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 18:46
Fantastic. Here's so much of our spirit. Thank you so much for being part of this teenagers. We'd love to having you come back with you can be our correspondent. Yeah, we need it. You can be our jersey correspondent and professional athlete course. He's our jersey correspondent. We announced we anoint you. Okay, thank you. But yeah, you gotta go cause some trouble because we can't have boring shows.
Charlie Ponger Billy Sample:
19:12
Alright, everyone, thank you for listening in the teenagers. We were here. Billy sample is here with us today. What a treat. He's a very funny guy, Debbie.
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 19:22
Yes, Charlie,
Charlie Ponger:
19:23
I'll see you later.
Debbie Nigro Billy Sample Charlie Ponger 19:24
Thank you guys for tuning in to check out the official teenagers.com Give us a thumbs up if you think that you can relate.
Charlie Ponger Billy Sample:
19:31
Apple, Spotify the whole thing. See you later Bye