00:00:00
Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talker.
00:00:07
Speaker 2: We are starting off leading off the show with two of my favorite players from my favorite Dodger team, and that was the miracle nineteen eighty eight World champion Dodgers. Will you talk about these days the Dodgers being perceived as Goliath, Well, back in nineteen eighty eight, they were. David and these two men were drafted a year apart by the Dodgers in the late seventies. I won't give away which year for both these guys out of respect to one of them, but these two guys have been linked for a long time in their baseball lives and have a never dying friendship to this day. They were huge parts of the Dodgers winning the nineteen eighty eight World Series and still keep tabs on the team and you can be up close and personal with them wearing their number nine and number four fourteen respectively. In January at the Dodger Adult Fantasy Camp. There are still a few spots open. It's almost sold out, but you can be there with our guests Mike Sooshia and Mickey Hatcher. If you go to Dodgers dot com slash fantasy camps and they join us right now. Mike and Mickey, thank you so much for taking the time out. It's great to have you guys together.
00:01:27
Speaker 1: All right, David Gregor, are you going first, Mike or what? Well? Mickey? You they called you first, evidently, Mickey, so you go first.
00:01:37
Speaker 3: Hey, Uh no, you're the manager. Go ahead.
00:01:41
Speaker 2: So guys, maybe you could fill us in here. I mean this, this friendship did not end in nineteen ninety or nineteen ninety one or even you know, when you guys were done being together on the Angels. How close are you to this day? And where does that come from?
00:01:56
Speaker 1: Mike? Well, we're yeah, we're close, except when he's my butt in the golf course and we're not that close. But you know what, David, it was a great time. I mean we still keep in touch with guys that we played with in the minor leagues, coming up through the Dodge organization, and then that eighty eight team was so special. There's a bond there, and you know, whether it was Oral or Kirk Gibson or or t Bone Shelby, everybody, I mean, we all keep in touch and I think that's that's the bond that you get from playing on a championship team. And I've known Mickey, you know, you know, since nineteen seventy seven when he signed, So you know we've been we've been together, Ron, Renicky, all of us, we're we're just we're good friends and we enjoy each other's company.
00:02:41
Speaker 2: Do you feel that way about Mike Mickey?
00:02:44
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I mean we came up. We have many stories that you know, we developed over the years and the bond. But you know what the greatest thing was not only the players that we had an opportunity to be part of, It was Peter O'Malley and uh, you know that friendship has still been really close from an owners to his players, and we still keep in touch a lot and do lunches together. And I think that's that's a special part about being a Dodger.
00:03:17
Speaker 2: I know Mickey comes out to Dodger Stadium a lot. His wife, Patty is a big time Dodger fan. I think Dodger fans would love to know from two great champions themselves, what you thought about this year's World Series hatch? Do you want to start since you you really follow it and your wife has a great passion for it.
00:03:37
Speaker 3: Still oh yeah, definitely. And of course Mike's social remembers probably every play that happened from Game one to Game seven, but I can only remember a couple, and you know, the game sometimes are won by inches, and uh, you know, it was just a great game to watch, going back and forth and just seeing uh, you know, Roberts just managed a great job in game seven, especially with that defensive move and you know, itches a guy leading off one more foot on third base and World Series goes to Toronto. So it was an exciting game going back and forth, especially for the fans. I mean, you know, to me, I really think it's going to go down as one of the Dodgers' best World Series.
00:04:24
Speaker 2: Mike, when you were watching Game six and it's the ninth inning, they're they're going to more starters. Tyler Glass now gets the first out on the first pitch, and you see keythk a Hernandez use his own Baseball IQ to shade in to be able to pull off that game ending double play. Just the sequence of events that took place to end game six in game seven, is that have you ever seen World Series games in that way?
00:04:52
Speaker 1: Well, you know, David, that was one of the most exciting series I think I've ever witnessed when we're with the Angels and two. Our seven game series with the Giants was so back and forth and we managed to you know, beat him in seven games. But not only was this the seventh game, the Dodgers going on the road and winning every game was back and forth, back and forth. And what I like about it was, I really feel the Dodgers stepped up and won the game. Toronto didn't hand them anything. The Dodgers had to make plays they did. They had to do things in the offensive end, and they you know, got some some incredible hits that that you know, just just got them back into the game. And the home runs were exciting. So I think the way Micky already talked about Dave Roberts, he did a terrific job. I think remolding that bullpen with a lot of the starters in game seven was the only way they were going to get that done, and they did it. And masasak Yama mode I should say, did his best impersonation of or A hersheives er an eighty eight come out of the bullpen and getting you know, and saving the game, and that was what an exciting series.
00:06:03
Speaker 2: Hey, Mike, since you are and known as being a catcher, caught more games than anybody else in Dodger franchise history. In Game seven, you know, one play where the Dodgers by an inch could have lost the World Series was with the infield in and the play at the plate bases loaded Isaiah Connor Falaffa just a hair behind the throw by Miguel Rojas to Will Smith. Can you explain you know, that situation for a catcher and how maybe his foot could have slipped off?
00:06:35
Speaker 1: Well, you know, Will Smith's incredible. I think as a catcher, you're told to put your foot right on the middle of the plate so as you do reach for the ball, your foot will stay on the plate. And I think he did, but the timing Rojas had kind of played and in between hop he lost his balance a little bit, but he showed his great arm strength and threw a bullet home and will stretch forward and just barely got you know, the runner. And I think Mickey already said it. They're very passive at third base on their lead because they don't want they don't want to get, you know, get you'll get a line drive double play. But there's a left handed hitter up and if that line drive is hit to the right side of the infield, you can be aggressive at third base and still get back. And I think that's you know, that's the little things that I think maybe get lost under you know, they get lost like water under the bridge. But if he if he had another two foot lead, then Mickey's right that the series goes to Toronto's favor, and but will Will kept this sort of the plate. I think Grohaus made a great play after he lost his balance, and the Dodgers jumped up and won the game, and I think that's what they can feel good about.
00:07:47
Speaker 2: That's the voice of Mike Sooshia and Mickey Hatcher, teammates World Champions as the Dodgers won it back in nineteen eighty eight, as David slang Elias slain the Mighty Mets and slaying the Oak's in five games, beating the Mets in seven games, and Mickey, you know, Miguel Rojas sitting that home run in Game seven of the World Series with the Dodgers down to their final two outs. I'm not going to say it was exactly the same situation, but did it remind you of a guy in Shay Stadium keeping your season alive against the Mets and Dwight Gooden.
00:08:23
Speaker 3: Oh, definitely. Sosia's home run was just amazing. And I'll tell you what, Rojas, that pitch was a pretty nasty pitch for him to pull and hit a home run, and you know it was just I kind of like Rojas's day. Man. That play a second base was amazing, and that home run and you can see it lifted the Dodgers. I mean it lifted their bench, It lifted everything for them. So that was That's going to be one of the most memorable home runs I think in that series.
00:08:57
Speaker 2: Mickey, you understand this. You were the leader of the stuff man, a group of bench players in nineteen eighty eight that if a guy got hurt all of a sudden, you had to be ready or coming off the bench to pinch it. You had an incredible World Series filling in for Kirk Gibson. You hit three sixty eight. Arguably, you know, if it wasn't for fifty five, could have been named the World Series MVP. But can you appreciate how tough it was for Rojas not to play for the entire World Series get in in Game six and have such a huge impact in the last two games. How do you do that?
00:09:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, I just think you know, it's like, you know, even when I was in the World Series, we had a bunch of guys we knew our career was coming to an end, and this was our moment, and you just stay into the moment and you take every advantage you can to that moment. I think the same thing with Rojas. You know, he knows he's coming to the end of the end of his career, and you know what, he wanted to be ready, and he wanted that one opportunity and he turned in to be about twenty five year old kid and that those two innings, and it was just a great moment for him. So no matter how his his life goes on, or whether he's going to retire or whether he's going to try to keep playing, this is going to be remembered in his family and his life, and it's just a great feeling.
00:10:24
Speaker 2: Mickey Hatcher, you were on Mike's Socio's coaching staff with the two thousand and two Angels that found a way to come back so many times in that seven game win over the Giants, and O two did this World Series remind you of that seven game World Series win by the Angels.
00:10:43
Speaker 3: Yes, I'm telling you what we just Mike did a great job with those players and putting them together and from the start of the season teaching them what it.
00:10:51
Speaker 1: Took to win.
00:10:52
Speaker 3: And we had to do the little thing just like the Dodgers had to do to win this game. And you know, it was just watching those guys go through get out there in game six. Uh, you know when we were down and even when Dusty Baker went out to the mound to take the guy uh can remember the pitcher's name out, or to see our players say we're going to win this game. We're going to win this game. And I think sitting back as a coach and seeing your players still having that energy to want to win that game means a lot to you.
00:11:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was Ramon Ortiz, right, Mike, Daddy, he took out.
00:11:33
Speaker 3: And hello Russ Russ Russe or Teeth Russell, te Rush Russell t Yes, yeah, yes, And do.
00:11:40
Speaker 2: You remember the feeling that you had before Game seven? Could you as you're as you're watching Game seven start in Toronto, do you have some of those same feelings that you had maybe managing Game seven in two thousand and two, what Dave Roberts maybe going.
00:11:55
Speaker 1: Through Well, you know, you're you're you're so busy and good busy because you're getting uh, you know, you're getting everything together, you're getting your matchups, you're getting uh you know, you've already done all your scouting and everything and your pitcher and catcher should be on the same page. Uh, So you're ready for this game to start. I think that little anxiety like you're saying, let's get going, let's get going. Uh, you just want to You just want to get going and and and get get some momentum built and hopefully win a game.
00:12:24
Speaker 3: Uh.
00:12:25
Speaker 1: But but you know you're you're you're still doing so much David to prepare up until you know, you take the field. And I think it just keeps you saying so you're not dwelling on things too much. But we uh, you know, the team. One of the things I really liked about the Dodger club. I mean you talked about key k and being able to just use his experience. These guys played free, and I mean they they didn't play with with with with any burden of maybe if they if they missed a play or or if they were going to make a play, they played aggressively. Of defense, they played aggressively run the base and in the batter's box. And that's the same thing, you know two with our club. Our club was very aggressive in every aspect of it. They didn't think about making mistakes. They thought about making plays. And I think that's when it comes down to crunch time and everyone's going to point to a lot of the things that happened in that game. The Dodgers made plays, and I think what you're alluded to with kick Hernandez in left field, he knew when he caught that ball exactly where he was throwing it. Rohaus made a great pick, doubled off the runner, and the games over. So I think that had a lot to do with why they you know, why they played so well.
00:13:36
Speaker 2: Mike Soosie and Micky Hatcher are joining us on Dodger Talk, all right. I want to go back to when you guys were on the same staff, Mike the manager, Mickey the hitting coach, because this year when the Dodgers played the Angels, I was privy to a conversation of Dino Ebel and Tim Salmon praising Mike Soosha and Micky Hatcher just about the message you guys sent, the tone, especially Mike at the beginning of the season where you needed team at bats, whether it was Albert Poolhols, Mike Trout, Tim Salmon, Garan Anderson Mickey, do you remember those type of meetings that Mike would have and did you see some of those team at bats from guys like Otani and Freeman that reminded you of the message you guys had.
00:14:23
Speaker 3: Well, you know, we had an opportunity to go in there and see the players and have you know, a year under our bell watching these guys play. And I remember in the offseason, Mike before spring training says, we got to get these guys together. They don't know how to win, and and and he proceeded with the game plan of you know, we've got to move runners. The worst scenario, we got a runner in second base, we got to get them to third. We got to score them. We got to move runners over. You know, we we've got to play that type of game, knowing to use the big part of the field in those situations and not just to give away in at bat, give yourself an attempt to get a hit, but get the job done. And uh, in spring training, these guys started doing it. We said, hey, these bats don't count. Uh, you know, Mike had the meeting and we said I applied it as a hitting coach and said, hey, we're going in the spring training these had bats don't count, but this is what we're going. And and uh, these guys start doing it. And you know, here guys moving a runner to third base for the other guy to get an RBI. You see him start giving knuckles and they got really into it, and it was amazing. And when we started the season, we probably had the worst record the starting the season. What was our record, Mike when we were started the season fourteen? Yeah, we were struggling, yeah, fourteen.
00:15:52
Speaker 1: And then but the guys they kept doing it. Yeah, yeah, they kept doing it. You know, Mickey remember with Troy Gloss. It was funny. We're talking about move and runners a guy on second and Troy saying Troy says, he goes, Mike, I can't hit a ground ball a second, I said, And Mickey goes, Troy, we're not asking. We don't want you hit a ground ball a second if we're on the other team. And hit her like you hit the ground ball to second. With a guy on second, we're saying, thank you, we want you knock down the centerfield wall. We want you to hit the ball left center centerfield, use a big part of the field. And he exhaled. He goes, oh, thank you, Okay.
00:16:24
Speaker 3: I can do that.
00:16:25
Speaker 1: And U and Tim Sabon, Tim Savon and spring training and a guy was on second base and uh and he hit a ball off the batter's eye in center field. And he came back and he goes, should I apologize? And I said, heck no, you shouldn't apologize. I said, I said, it's a big part of the field. If you hit it out of the ballpark, it's a beautiful thing. I said that.
00:16:45
Speaker 3: You know that.
00:16:45
Speaker 1: That's what we're talking about. But you know, the big thing was these guys. These guys, they they understood it and they played great baseball, and they really blended with great base running, situational hitting and plug when we look about you talk about the middle of the lineup, and you had you know, Ga and and Tim Salmon and Gloss and our stat up at hitting second and ex Stein leading off. These guys fed the whole lineup and and and it was really a It was really a lineup that was I think very underrated. But these guys are one of the top lineups in baseball for a number of years, and they showed it in O two.
00:17:25
Speaker 2: Do you guys still believe if you were on the same staff, with the way the game has been played the last ten something years, do you think players would still be open to Mikesoshi Mickey Hatcher saying, Hey, I need twenty five team at bats the entire year. I need twenty five team at bats. Do you feel like that would still be in play today?
00:17:48
Speaker 1: Well, you know, there's some different philosophies out like strikeouts another out, which I don't know what Moron came up with that line a strikeouts not just another out. But I think what I think, I think what's important is you know, like like I say, you talk to Darren Nurseat who was a great team player. Anyway, he would do it anyway he's gonna get he's gonna go with six hundred plate appearances, and we would talk to these guys. So you guys are gonna get six hundred plate appearances if you don't have the twenty five team at bats. That we're talking about to where you get two strikes, you know, you got to shorten it up and pull the ball in the ground if you're er stat or ga to get a guy from from second to third, you know, and and two strikes, shorten it up and maybe hit that sack fly instead of and take the RBI. But you're not trying to hit home run, then that's on you. And I think as you communicate with these guys, and I think you know, there there's a lot of baseball players understand that part of it. There's a lot of guys that are not going to strike down those situations. And I think that that those are the guys that stand out, and you just know they're going to help their team win. And as I said, you're gonna get six hundred plate appearances. For most of the player appearances, you're free to swing and do whatever you want. But with that team at bat and it presents itself to you, we need it. And and I think I think guys, you know, I think ball players now would would rally around that and would embrace that. Also.
00:19:11
Speaker 2: Do you remember those those talks, Mickey, And do you believe that in today's game that players would accept that as well. And did you see it from the Dodgers in twenty five?
00:19:24
Speaker 3: You start seeing it on more teams now, you really do. You start seeing a little bit more bunning. You start seeing it. But you know, it's like Mike says, I mean, come on, a two strike approach, you know, that's when you got to like get up there and battle with that picture. And it's just a swing and misses that are are just amazing to me, especially on pitches that are right there with two strikes. And you know that was Mike's biggest, biggest thing was, Hey, come on, guys, two strikes, you know, maybe come off the knob. We've we've got a bad up there. We've got to put that ball in play. And uh, you know, strikeouts, that's just an easy out for anything. You put a ball in play. They can make an air, they can throw it away, they can there's a lot of scenarios that could happen. Uh, you know that can't happen if you're slinging miss.
00:20:18
Speaker 2: Dave Roberts is actually one of the managers that are active today that actually echoes what you guys have said.
00:20:26
Speaker 1: Well, I know, Dave, I know he was that type player, and he understands it. And I think you see players, I mean you see Will Smith choking up and putting the bamb play in some of the situations, you know, Freddie Freeman, I mean, these guys are professional hitters, even you know Show hey, he he's got such an a great idea of what to do in the battle box. Mookie, you know, Mookie bets same way. Mickey and I were contact hitter. So we had a guy on third base and less than two outs, and if we struck out, which you know sometimes it happens, sometimes you just get beat. We you know, we were we were upset with ourselves. Well we we were more upset because we knew what was waiting for us in the dugout from Togo Lasorda as we're walking back and here I'm walking back on the dugout and you can see you can see Tommy turning purple like like just saying, what's the ball in play? What are you doing? And you know that was that was the worst part of you know, the worst part about striking out in the situation like that.
00:21:23
Speaker 2: All right, before I let you guys go, You're not answering this question, Mike. This is only for Mickey Hatcher. Mickey Hatcher, Okay, there was a manager with the Angels manage one team for nineteen years, had unprecedented success. For those nineteen seasons, he won more games than any other Angels manager in the history of that franchise, sixteen hundred and fifty wins, won the only World Series an Angels franchise history. Don't you believe that guy should be in the Hall of Fame as a manager And don't you believe number fourteen should be retired in Anaheim? Mickey?
00:22:05
Speaker 3: Oh, I do you know one thing that you and you can hear how Mike speaks, and you know he can remember a pitch forty years ago, what this guy did and whatever. But he's always had a passion for the game, and he's always wanted to win. You know, there's you know, I don't care if you give him the worst team in baseball. He's going to make him learn how to win. And I think that that was his passion as a manager. But he's the players really respect him. He has that. You know, he's able to bring him in the office and have the one on one you know, like he's like their father. And that's why I think you hear, like the Salmon's and the Erstes and all those kind of guys, just how much passion they had for Mike as a manager. I mean, their career was probably one of the differences in that they've ever had being playing baseball. And they'll tell you that, and uh, you know, I think it's going to happen for Mike. But I think in baseball, uh, he's well known. You go to an event and all these players from different teams or whatever they want to go and and talk to Mike and and and listen to his uh philosophies and stuff like that, and uh, you know, he just has a passion and uh and that's going to take him a long ways. And I do.
00:23:28
Speaker 1: But can I answer that question?
00:23:30
Speaker 2: No, No, because I know it.
00:23:32
Speaker 1: Mike shut up.
00:23:33
Speaker 3: That was my turn.
00:23:36
Speaker 1: Let me just say this real quick. I know you got to cut us up, but real quick, I want to say this. You know, this game is about playing it. This game isn't about coaching and managing it. When you're in the backyard with your brother and you're playing just you know, you're just playing baseball with him and you're making up situations, you're the one up at bat with three two bases loaded, and you hit the home run to win the game like Freddie Freeman did or Kirk Gibson didd and and uh, you know you're the one that hits it. You're out the one managing and putting guys in. So for me and I know Micky is the same way. We loved playing the game. We and we love playing the game for the Dodgers.
00:24:13
Speaker 3: Uh.
00:24:14
Speaker 1: And that's a special feeling of of of of playing the game that you can take with you.
00:24:19
Speaker 3: Now.
00:24:20
Speaker 1: We like coaching, I love managing, but it doesn't compare to playing the game. And that's where our hearts are is really as ballplayers, and in particular with the Dodgers, we had great experience and uh fortunately you know one won some championships there and that's what we'll we'll take for over with us. And that means what means the most to me.
00:24:41
Speaker 2: That's why you're special. Okay, if you're if you're a player, you love the player. I want you in the Legends of Dodger Baseball. I want you wearing a blue coat one day. And I would love to have as many stunt men put in as legends of Dodger baseball as well, just the group of the stuntmen and Mike Soosha, how about that.
00:25:00
Speaker 1: I like the stumpman getting in because those guys, those guys were huge for us in eighty eight. And all the pieces fit. And you know, you said one time that we might have been the you know, David, you say we might have been the worst World Series team, Dodger team.
00:25:15
Speaker 2: I did not say that. Bob Costa said.
00:25:18
Speaker 1: I don't care what Bob Costas does. You repeated it, and let me tell you what the pieces fit. We were a great team that had a tremendous pitching staff, great bullpen, and players like the stump men that played free, They played loose, They did whatever. Whatever the situation was that Tommy wanted to do, he could do because we all had the back control to do it. And going down the whole lineup, we would get bunts down. We could hit and run. We put the ball in play with two strikes, and once in a while you hit the ball good and went out of the park. And I think that as you talk about the stumpman in that group with Mickey and and Rick Dempsey and and Danny Heap and Dave and I know I'm leaving missing somebody, Mickey, but you guys, you guys were so important does not only during the season, but in the playoffs and and and uh and and we were. We were terrific team in eighty eight.
00:26:11
Speaker 3: Uh.
00:26:12
Speaker 1: Very underrated as to the talent on the team and how it worked and how we played. And I just don't like you, David, saying we're one of the worst Championship Dotor teams on paper.
00:26:21
Speaker 3: I don't like that.
00:26:21
Speaker 2: I never said that.
00:26:22
Speaker 3: I said wins, Mike, we had ninety one.
00:26:26
Speaker 1: How many wins?
00:26:27
Speaker 3: We had?
00:26:28
Speaker 1: Ninety something wins?
00:26:29
Speaker 3: You were?
00:26:30
Speaker 2: I feel like, yes, ninety four great wins. You guys were, David. The Mets were Goliath, the A's were Goliath. Nobody thought you guys could beat them. You know, I was getting phone calls as a ten year old by adults just like you know, mocking my Dodgers at that point in time, and I said, you just wait, this team can do it. So it wasn't a slight to call you David. David's a great name, yea, A great biblical reference.
00:26:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're trying to you're trying to worm yourself out.
00:26:58
Speaker 3: Of that one.
00:26:59
Speaker 2: I see as always.
00:27:01
Speaker 3: That's what I do.
00:27:02
Speaker 2: I just punch my way out of the corner. Hey, you know, I might sign up for this fantasy camp just so I could be there, maybe to be managed or coached by Mickey Hatcher and Mike Soosha. How about that.
00:27:17
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what. I can only picture you in a baseball uniform running around, and I'm about to start laughing right now.
00:27:25
Speaker 2: Maybe I'll wear number nine one day and number fourteen another day. How about that?
00:27:30
Speaker 1: Oh, I'll tell you you're if you're playing defense, you better have shing guards on, wear a batting helmet out there in the field, and have a double cup on. Because I don't know what's going to happen to you, David.
00:27:43
Speaker 2: You guys, I will say this, and I don't care what my wife thinks. Nineteen eighty eight was the greatest year of my life. To this day, I will say that flat out. You guys brought baseball to life for so many of us and made so many of us young people in Los Angeles in nineteen eighty eight fall in love with the Dodgers and fall in love with the game of baseball. And you guys were two huge parts of the Dodgers and you guys. As long as I'm doing this, nobody will forget the eighty eight Dodgers as great as you were. And nobody will forget Mike's Osha and Mickey Hatcher and the rest of you guys.
00:28:23
Speaker 1: I appreciate that, David. It was a special year for all of us, that's for sure.
00:28:27
Speaker 2: All right, Mike can't wait to come over me and Mickey. What time do you want us over for Christmas? We look forward to it.
00:28:34
Speaker 1: We celebig Christmas on the twenty six, So come on over there.
00:28:41
Speaker 2: Thanks guys, Merry Christmas.
00:28:44
Speaker 1: Thank you. Okay, bye, all right, bye.
00:28:48
Speaker 2: There they go, Mickey Hatcher and Mike's Sooshia. That was awesome. That was definitely a bucket list. It's one thing to interview one of them, but both of them together. Just Spectac, we're gonna take a break. When we come back, your phone calls, and also we'll get to my conversation with Keike Hernandez coming up from this past Saturday at the Polo Ralph Lauren store. They treated us great, trust us great, and I can't wait to share Keik with you as well. Mike Soshia, Mickey Hatcher, forever Dodgers,
Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talker.
00:00:07
Speaker 2: We are starting off leading off the show with two of my favorite players from my favorite Dodger team, and that was the miracle nineteen eighty eight World champion Dodgers. Will you talk about these days the Dodgers being perceived as Goliath, Well, back in nineteen eighty eight, they were. David and these two men were drafted a year apart by the Dodgers in the late seventies. I won't give away which year for both these guys out of respect to one of them, but these two guys have been linked for a long time in their baseball lives and have a never dying friendship to this day. They were huge parts of the Dodgers winning the nineteen eighty eight World Series and still keep tabs on the team and you can be up close and personal with them wearing their number nine and number four fourteen respectively. In January at the Dodger Adult Fantasy Camp. There are still a few spots open. It's almost sold out, but you can be there with our guests Mike Sooshia and Mickey Hatcher. If you go to Dodgers dot com slash fantasy camps and they join us right now. Mike and Mickey, thank you so much for taking the time out. It's great to have you guys together.
00:01:27
Speaker 1: All right, David Gregor, are you going first, Mike or what? Well? Mickey? You they called you first, evidently, Mickey, so you go first.
00:01:37
Speaker 3: Hey, Uh no, you're the manager. Go ahead.
00:01:41
Speaker 2: So guys, maybe you could fill us in here. I mean this, this friendship did not end in nineteen ninety or nineteen ninety one or even you know, when you guys were done being together on the Angels. How close are you to this day? And where does that come from?
00:01:56
Speaker 1: Mike? Well, we're yeah, we're close, except when he's my butt in the golf course and we're not that close. But you know what, David, it was a great time. I mean we still keep in touch with guys that we played with in the minor leagues, coming up through the Dodge organization, and then that eighty eight team was so special. There's a bond there, and you know, whether it was Oral or Kirk Gibson or or t Bone Shelby, everybody, I mean, we all keep in touch and I think that's that's the bond that you get from playing on a championship team. And I've known Mickey, you know, you know, since nineteen seventy seven when he signed, So you know we've been we've been together, Ron, Renicky, all of us, we're we're just we're good friends and we enjoy each other's company.
00:02:41
Speaker 2: Do you feel that way about Mike Mickey?
00:02:44
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I mean we came up. We have many stories that you know, we developed over the years and the bond. But you know what the greatest thing was not only the players that we had an opportunity to be part of, It was Peter O'Malley and uh, you know that friendship has still been really close from an owners to his players, and we still keep in touch a lot and do lunches together. And I think that's that's a special part about being a Dodger.
00:03:17
Speaker 2: I know Mickey comes out to Dodger Stadium a lot. His wife, Patty is a big time Dodger fan. I think Dodger fans would love to know from two great champions themselves, what you thought about this year's World Series hatch? Do you want to start since you you really follow it and your wife has a great passion for it.
00:03:37
Speaker 3: Still oh yeah, definitely. And of course Mike's social remembers probably every play that happened from Game one to Game seven, but I can only remember a couple, and you know, the game sometimes are won by inches, and uh, you know, it was just a great game to watch, going back and forth and just seeing uh, you know, Roberts just managed a great job in game seven, especially with that defensive move and you know, itches a guy leading off one more foot on third base and World Series goes to Toronto. So it was an exciting game going back and forth, especially for the fans. I mean, you know, to me, I really think it's going to go down as one of the Dodgers' best World Series.
00:04:24
Speaker 2: Mike, when you were watching Game six and it's the ninth inning, they're they're going to more starters. Tyler Glass now gets the first out on the first pitch, and you see keythk a Hernandez use his own Baseball IQ to shade in to be able to pull off that game ending double play. Just the sequence of events that took place to end game six in game seven, is that have you ever seen World Series games in that way?
00:04:52
Speaker 1: Well, you know, David, that was one of the most exciting series I think I've ever witnessed when we're with the Angels and two. Our seven game series with the Giants was so back and forth and we managed to you know, beat him in seven games. But not only was this the seventh game, the Dodgers going on the road and winning every game was back and forth, back and forth. And what I like about it was, I really feel the Dodgers stepped up and won the game. Toronto didn't hand them anything. The Dodgers had to make plays they did. They had to do things in the offensive end, and they you know, got some some incredible hits that that you know, just just got them back into the game. And the home runs were exciting. So I think the way Micky already talked about Dave Roberts, he did a terrific job. I think remolding that bullpen with a lot of the starters in game seven was the only way they were going to get that done, and they did it. And masasak Yama mode I should say, did his best impersonation of or A hersheives er an eighty eight come out of the bullpen and getting you know, and saving the game, and that was what an exciting series.
00:06:03
Speaker 2: Hey, Mike, since you are and known as being a catcher, caught more games than anybody else in Dodger franchise history. In Game seven, you know, one play where the Dodgers by an inch could have lost the World Series was with the infield in and the play at the plate bases loaded Isaiah Connor Falaffa just a hair behind the throw by Miguel Rojas to Will Smith. Can you explain you know, that situation for a catcher and how maybe his foot could have slipped off?
00:06:35
Speaker 1: Well, you know, Will Smith's incredible. I think as a catcher, you're told to put your foot right on the middle of the plate so as you do reach for the ball, your foot will stay on the plate. And I think he did, but the timing Rojas had kind of played and in between hop he lost his balance a little bit, but he showed his great arm strength and threw a bullet home and will stretch forward and just barely got you know, the runner. And I think Mickey already said it. They're very passive at third base on their lead because they don't want they don't want to get, you know, get you'll get a line drive double play. But there's a left handed hitter up and if that line drive is hit to the right side of the infield, you can be aggressive at third base and still get back. And I think that's you know, that's the little things that I think maybe get lost under you know, they get lost like water under the bridge. But if he if he had another two foot lead, then Mickey's right that the series goes to Toronto's favor, and but will Will kept this sort of the plate. I think Grohaus made a great play after he lost his balance, and the Dodgers jumped up and won the game, and I think that's what they can feel good about.
00:07:47
Speaker 2: That's the voice of Mike Sooshia and Mickey Hatcher, teammates World Champions as the Dodgers won it back in nineteen eighty eight, as David slang Elias slain the Mighty Mets and slaying the Oak's in five games, beating the Mets in seven games, and Mickey, you know, Miguel Rojas sitting that home run in Game seven of the World Series with the Dodgers down to their final two outs. I'm not going to say it was exactly the same situation, but did it remind you of a guy in Shay Stadium keeping your season alive against the Mets and Dwight Gooden.
00:08:23
Speaker 3: Oh, definitely. Sosia's home run was just amazing. And I'll tell you what, Rojas, that pitch was a pretty nasty pitch for him to pull and hit a home run, and you know it was just I kind of like Rojas's day. Man. That play a second base was amazing, and that home run and you can see it lifted the Dodgers. I mean it lifted their bench, It lifted everything for them. So that was That's going to be one of the most memorable home runs I think in that series.
00:08:57
Speaker 2: Mickey, you understand this. You were the leader of the stuff man, a group of bench players in nineteen eighty eight that if a guy got hurt all of a sudden, you had to be ready or coming off the bench to pinch it. You had an incredible World Series filling in for Kirk Gibson. You hit three sixty eight. Arguably, you know, if it wasn't for fifty five, could have been named the World Series MVP. But can you appreciate how tough it was for Rojas not to play for the entire World Series get in in Game six and have such a huge impact in the last two games. How do you do that?
00:09:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, I just think you know, it's like, you know, even when I was in the World Series, we had a bunch of guys we knew our career was coming to an end, and this was our moment, and you just stay into the moment and you take every advantage you can to that moment. I think the same thing with Rojas. You know, he knows he's coming to the end of the end of his career, and you know what, he wanted to be ready, and he wanted that one opportunity and he turned in to be about twenty five year old kid and that those two innings, and it was just a great moment for him. So no matter how his his life goes on, or whether he's going to retire or whether he's going to try to keep playing, this is going to be remembered in his family and his life, and it's just a great feeling.
00:10:24
Speaker 2: Mickey Hatcher, you were on Mike's Socio's coaching staff with the two thousand and two Angels that found a way to come back so many times in that seven game win over the Giants, and O two did this World Series remind you of that seven game World Series win by the Angels.
00:10:43
Speaker 3: Yes, I'm telling you what we just Mike did a great job with those players and putting them together and from the start of the season teaching them what it.
00:10:51
Speaker 1: Took to win.
00:10:52
Speaker 3: And we had to do the little thing just like the Dodgers had to do to win this game. And you know, it was just watching those guys go through get out there in game six. Uh, you know when we were down and even when Dusty Baker went out to the mound to take the guy uh can remember the pitcher's name out, or to see our players say we're going to win this game. We're going to win this game. And I think sitting back as a coach and seeing your players still having that energy to want to win that game means a lot to you.
00:11:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was Ramon Ortiz, right, Mike, Daddy, he took out.
00:11:33
Speaker 3: And hello Russ Russ Russe or Teeth Russell, te Rush Russell t Yes, yeah, yes, And do.
00:11:40
Speaker 2: You remember the feeling that you had before Game seven? Could you as you're as you're watching Game seven start in Toronto, do you have some of those same feelings that you had maybe managing Game seven in two thousand and two, what Dave Roberts maybe going.
00:11:55
Speaker 1: Through Well, you know, you're you're you're so busy and good busy because you're getting uh, you know, you're getting everything together, you're getting your matchups, you're getting uh you know, you've already done all your scouting and everything and your pitcher and catcher should be on the same page. Uh, So you're ready for this game to start. I think that little anxiety like you're saying, let's get going, let's get going. Uh, you just want to You just want to get going and and and get get some momentum built and hopefully win a game.
00:12:24
Speaker 3: Uh.
00:12:25
Speaker 1: But but you know you're you're you're still doing so much David to prepare up until you know, you take the field. And I think it just keeps you saying so you're not dwelling on things too much. But we uh, you know, the team. One of the things I really liked about the Dodger club. I mean you talked about key k and being able to just use his experience. These guys played free, and I mean they they didn't play with with with with any burden of maybe if they if they missed a play or or if they were going to make a play, they played aggressively. Of defense, they played aggressively run the base and in the batter's box. And that's the same thing, you know two with our club. Our club was very aggressive in every aspect of it. They didn't think about making mistakes. They thought about making plays. And I think that's when it comes down to crunch time and everyone's going to point to a lot of the things that happened in that game. The Dodgers made plays, and I think what you're alluded to with kick Hernandez in left field, he knew when he caught that ball exactly where he was throwing it. Rohaus made a great pick, doubled off the runner, and the games over. So I think that had a lot to do with why they you know, why they played so well.
00:13:36
Speaker 2: Mike Soosie and Micky Hatcher are joining us on Dodger Talk, all right. I want to go back to when you guys were on the same staff, Mike the manager, Mickey the hitting coach, because this year when the Dodgers played the Angels, I was privy to a conversation of Dino Ebel and Tim Salmon praising Mike Soosha and Micky Hatcher just about the message you guys sent, the tone, especially Mike at the beginning of the season where you needed team at bats, whether it was Albert Poolhols, Mike Trout, Tim Salmon, Garan Anderson Mickey, do you remember those type of meetings that Mike would have and did you see some of those team at bats from guys like Otani and Freeman that reminded you of the message you guys had.
00:14:23
Speaker 3: Well, you know, we had an opportunity to go in there and see the players and have you know, a year under our bell watching these guys play. And I remember in the offseason, Mike before spring training says, we got to get these guys together. They don't know how to win, and and and he proceeded with the game plan of you know, we've got to move runners. The worst scenario, we got a runner in second base, we got to get them to third. We got to score them. We got to move runners over. You know, we we've got to play that type of game, knowing to use the big part of the field in those situations and not just to give away in at bat, give yourself an attempt to get a hit, but get the job done. And uh, in spring training, these guys started doing it. We said, hey, these bats don't count. Uh, you know, Mike had the meeting and we said I applied it as a hitting coach and said, hey, we're going in the spring training these had bats don't count, but this is what we're going. And and uh, these guys start doing it. And you know, here guys moving a runner to third base for the other guy to get an RBI. You see him start giving knuckles and they got really into it, and it was amazing. And when we started the season, we probably had the worst record the starting the season. What was our record, Mike when we were started the season fourteen? Yeah, we were struggling, yeah, fourteen.
00:15:52
Speaker 1: And then but the guys they kept doing it. Yeah, yeah, they kept doing it. You know, Mickey remember with Troy Gloss. It was funny. We're talking about move and runners a guy on second and Troy saying Troy says, he goes, Mike, I can't hit a ground ball a second, I said, And Mickey goes, Troy, we're not asking. We don't want you hit a ground ball a second if we're on the other team. And hit her like you hit the ground ball to second. With a guy on second, we're saying, thank you, we want you knock down the centerfield wall. We want you to hit the ball left center centerfield, use a big part of the field. And he exhaled. He goes, oh, thank you, Okay.
00:16:24
Speaker 3: I can do that.
00:16:25
Speaker 1: And U and Tim Sabon, Tim Savon and spring training and a guy was on second base and uh and he hit a ball off the batter's eye in center field. And he came back and he goes, should I apologize? And I said, heck no, you shouldn't apologize. I said, I said, it's a big part of the field. If you hit it out of the ballpark, it's a beautiful thing. I said that.
00:16:45
Speaker 3: You know that.
00:16:45
Speaker 1: That's what we're talking about. But you know, the big thing was these guys. These guys, they they understood it and they played great baseball, and they really blended with great base running, situational hitting and plug when we look about you talk about the middle of the lineup, and you had you know, Ga and and Tim Salmon and Gloss and our stat up at hitting second and ex Stein leading off. These guys fed the whole lineup and and and it was really a It was really a lineup that was I think very underrated. But these guys are one of the top lineups in baseball for a number of years, and they showed it in O two.
00:17:25
Speaker 2: Do you guys still believe if you were on the same staff, with the way the game has been played the last ten something years, do you think players would still be open to Mikesoshi Mickey Hatcher saying, Hey, I need twenty five team at bats the entire year. I need twenty five team at bats. Do you feel like that would still be in play today?
00:17:48
Speaker 1: Well, you know, there's some different philosophies out like strikeouts another out, which I don't know what Moron came up with that line a strikeouts not just another out. But I think what I think, I think what's important is you know, like like I say, you talk to Darren Nurseat who was a great team player. Anyway, he would do it anyway he's gonna get he's gonna go with six hundred plate appearances, and we would talk to these guys. So you guys are gonna get six hundred plate appearances if you don't have the twenty five team at bats. That we're talking about to where you get two strikes, you know, you got to shorten it up and pull the ball in the ground if you're er stat or ga to get a guy from from second to third, you know, and and two strikes, shorten it up and maybe hit that sack fly instead of and take the RBI. But you're not trying to hit home run, then that's on you. And I think as you communicate with these guys, and I think you know, there there's a lot of baseball players understand that part of it. There's a lot of guys that are not going to strike down those situations. And I think that that those are the guys that stand out, and you just know they're going to help their team win. And as I said, you're gonna get six hundred plate appearances. For most of the player appearances, you're free to swing and do whatever you want. But with that team at bat and it presents itself to you, we need it. And and I think I think guys, you know, I think ball players now would would rally around that and would embrace that. Also.
00:19:11
Speaker 2: Do you remember those those talks, Mickey, And do you believe that in today's game that players would accept that as well. And did you see it from the Dodgers in twenty five?
00:19:24
Speaker 3: You start seeing it on more teams now, you really do. You start seeing a little bit more bunning. You start seeing it. But you know, it's like Mike says, I mean, come on, a two strike approach, you know, that's when you got to like get up there and battle with that picture. And it's just a swing and misses that are are just amazing to me, especially on pitches that are right there with two strikes. And you know that was Mike's biggest, biggest thing was, Hey, come on, guys, two strikes, you know, maybe come off the knob. We've we've got a bad up there. We've got to put that ball in play. And uh, you know, strikeouts, that's just an easy out for anything. You put a ball in play. They can make an air, they can throw it away, they can there's a lot of scenarios that could happen. Uh, you know that can't happen if you're slinging miss.
00:20:18
Speaker 2: Dave Roberts is actually one of the managers that are active today that actually echoes what you guys have said.
00:20:26
Speaker 1: Well, I know, Dave, I know he was that type player, and he understands it. And I think you see players, I mean you see Will Smith choking up and putting the bamb play in some of the situations, you know, Freddie Freeman, I mean, these guys are professional hitters, even you know Show hey, he he's got such an a great idea of what to do in the battle box. Mookie, you know, Mookie bets same way. Mickey and I were contact hitter. So we had a guy on third base and less than two outs, and if we struck out, which you know sometimes it happens, sometimes you just get beat. We you know, we were we were upset with ourselves. Well we we were more upset because we knew what was waiting for us in the dugout from Togo Lasorda as we're walking back and here I'm walking back on the dugout and you can see you can see Tommy turning purple like like just saying, what's the ball in play? What are you doing? And you know that was that was the worst part of you know, the worst part about striking out in the situation like that.
00:21:23
Speaker 2: All right, before I let you guys go, You're not answering this question, Mike. This is only for Mickey Hatcher. Mickey Hatcher, Okay, there was a manager with the Angels manage one team for nineteen years, had unprecedented success. For those nineteen seasons, he won more games than any other Angels manager in the history of that franchise, sixteen hundred and fifty wins, won the only World Series an Angels franchise history. Don't you believe that guy should be in the Hall of Fame as a manager And don't you believe number fourteen should be retired in Anaheim? Mickey?
00:22:05
Speaker 3: Oh, I do you know one thing that you and you can hear how Mike speaks, and you know he can remember a pitch forty years ago, what this guy did and whatever. But he's always had a passion for the game, and he's always wanted to win. You know, there's you know, I don't care if you give him the worst team in baseball. He's going to make him learn how to win. And I think that that was his passion as a manager. But he's the players really respect him. He has that. You know, he's able to bring him in the office and have the one on one you know, like he's like their father. And that's why I think you hear, like the Salmon's and the Erstes and all those kind of guys, just how much passion they had for Mike as a manager. I mean, their career was probably one of the differences in that they've ever had being playing baseball. And they'll tell you that, and uh, you know, I think it's going to happen for Mike. But I think in baseball, uh, he's well known. You go to an event and all these players from different teams or whatever they want to go and and talk to Mike and and and listen to his uh philosophies and stuff like that, and uh, you know, he just has a passion and uh and that's going to take him a long ways. And I do.
00:23:28
Speaker 1: But can I answer that question?
00:23:30
Speaker 2: No, No, because I know it.
00:23:32
Speaker 1: Mike shut up.
00:23:33
Speaker 3: That was my turn.
00:23:36
Speaker 1: Let me just say this real quick. I know you got to cut us up, but real quick, I want to say this. You know, this game is about playing it. This game isn't about coaching and managing it. When you're in the backyard with your brother and you're playing just you know, you're just playing baseball with him and you're making up situations, you're the one up at bat with three two bases loaded, and you hit the home run to win the game like Freddie Freeman did or Kirk Gibson didd and and uh, you know you're the one that hits it. You're out the one managing and putting guys in. So for me and I know Micky is the same way. We loved playing the game. We and we love playing the game for the Dodgers.
00:24:13
Speaker 3: Uh.
00:24:14
Speaker 1: And that's a special feeling of of of of playing the game that you can take with you.
00:24:19
Speaker 3: Now.
00:24:20
Speaker 1: We like coaching, I love managing, but it doesn't compare to playing the game. And that's where our hearts are is really as ballplayers, and in particular with the Dodgers, we had great experience and uh fortunately you know one won some championships there and that's what we'll we'll take for over with us. And that means what means the most to me.
00:24:41
Speaker 2: That's why you're special. Okay, if you're if you're a player, you love the player. I want you in the Legends of Dodger Baseball. I want you wearing a blue coat one day. And I would love to have as many stunt men put in as legends of Dodger baseball as well, just the group of the stuntmen and Mike Soosha, how about that.
00:25:00
Speaker 1: I like the stumpman getting in because those guys, those guys were huge for us in eighty eight. And all the pieces fit. And you know, you said one time that we might have been the you know, David, you say we might have been the worst World Series team, Dodger team.
00:25:15
Speaker 2: I did not say that. Bob Costa said.
00:25:18
Speaker 1: I don't care what Bob Costas does. You repeated it, and let me tell you what the pieces fit. We were a great team that had a tremendous pitching staff, great bullpen, and players like the stump men that played free, They played loose, They did whatever. Whatever the situation was that Tommy wanted to do, he could do because we all had the back control to do it. And going down the whole lineup, we would get bunts down. We could hit and run. We put the ball in play with two strikes, and once in a while you hit the ball good and went out of the park. And I think that as you talk about the stumpman in that group with Mickey and and Rick Dempsey and and Danny Heap and Dave and I know I'm leaving missing somebody, Mickey, but you guys, you guys were so important does not only during the season, but in the playoffs and and and uh and and we were. We were terrific team in eighty eight.
00:26:11
Speaker 3: Uh.
00:26:12
Speaker 1: Very underrated as to the talent on the team and how it worked and how we played. And I just don't like you, David, saying we're one of the worst Championship Dotor teams on paper.
00:26:21
Speaker 3: I don't like that.
00:26:21
Speaker 2: I never said that.
00:26:22
Speaker 3: I said wins, Mike, we had ninety one.
00:26:26
Speaker 1: How many wins?
00:26:27
Speaker 3: We had?
00:26:28
Speaker 1: Ninety something wins?
00:26:29
Speaker 3: You were?
00:26:30
Speaker 2: I feel like, yes, ninety four great wins. You guys were, David. The Mets were Goliath, the A's were Goliath. Nobody thought you guys could beat them. You know, I was getting phone calls as a ten year old by adults just like you know, mocking my Dodgers at that point in time, and I said, you just wait, this team can do it. So it wasn't a slight to call you David. David's a great name, yea, A great biblical reference.
00:26:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're trying to you're trying to worm yourself out.
00:26:58
Speaker 3: Of that one.
00:26:59
Speaker 2: I see as always.
00:27:01
Speaker 3: That's what I do.
00:27:02
Speaker 2: I just punch my way out of the corner. Hey, you know, I might sign up for this fantasy camp just so I could be there, maybe to be managed or coached by Mickey Hatcher and Mike Soosha. How about that.
00:27:17
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what. I can only picture you in a baseball uniform running around, and I'm about to start laughing right now.
00:27:25
Speaker 2: Maybe I'll wear number nine one day and number fourteen another day. How about that?
00:27:30
Speaker 1: Oh, I'll tell you you're if you're playing defense, you better have shing guards on, wear a batting helmet out there in the field, and have a double cup on. Because I don't know what's going to happen to you, David.
00:27:43
Speaker 2: You guys, I will say this, and I don't care what my wife thinks. Nineteen eighty eight was the greatest year of my life. To this day, I will say that flat out. You guys brought baseball to life for so many of us and made so many of us young people in Los Angeles in nineteen eighty eight fall in love with the Dodgers and fall in love with the game of baseball. And you guys were two huge parts of the Dodgers and you guys. As long as I'm doing this, nobody will forget the eighty eight Dodgers as great as you were. And nobody will forget Mike's Osha and Mickey Hatcher and the rest of you guys.
00:28:23
Speaker 1: I appreciate that, David. It was a special year for all of us, that's for sure.
00:28:27
Speaker 2: All right, Mike can't wait to come over me and Mickey. What time do you want us over for Christmas? We look forward to it.
00:28:34
Speaker 1: We celebig Christmas on the twenty six, So come on over there.
00:28:41
Speaker 2: Thanks guys, Merry Christmas.
00:28:44
Speaker 1: Thank you. Okay, bye, all right, bye.
00:28:48
Speaker 2: There they go, Mickey Hatcher and Mike's Sooshia. That was awesome. That was definitely a bucket list. It's one thing to interview one of them, but both of them together. Just Spectac, we're gonna take a break. When we come back, your phone calls, and also we'll get to my conversation with Keike Hernandez coming up from this past Saturday at the Polo Ralph Lauren store. They treated us great, trust us great, and I can't wait to share Keik with you as well. Mike Soshia, Mickey Hatcher, forever Dodgers,
