00:15Great to have you guys with us.
00:17Valenti with Rico.
00:21Voice slightly more annoying.
00:24Mark Ryan in for Mike all week long.
00:26It is great to have you guys with us,
00:28and we are rocking it out from now until 6 p.m. today.
00:33Completely and totally jam-packed.
00:34We've got Michigan State head coach Pat Fitzgerald coming on when?
00:39When?
00:41He's going to be on sometime during the show.
00:44Sometime during the show.
00:45You know what?
00:46It's scheduled.
00:47You know how it is when you're dealing with coaches and players.
00:50Sometimes things pop up, but it should be around 2.30.
00:54He gave it to you.
00:55I was going to say, hey, don't run off anywhere.
00:57You might miss it.
00:58You ever go to the restroom during a game?
01:00You miss the biggest play of the game?
01:01That happens to you in soccer all the time.
01:03In hockey.
01:04In hockey.
01:04You look down at your phone, oh, and you score it.
01:07Okay.
01:08We've got that going on as well.
01:10As only this show can, we will pay a tribute to the Detroit Red Wings season.
01:16Coming up at 3 o'clock today, Brad Holmes spoke.
01:20Do we buy or sell what Brad Holmes was saying?
01:24That's coming up at 4+.
01:26Oh, listen.
01:27Nostalgia gives you the warm fuzzies, right?
01:30Nostalgia gives you the goosebumps.
01:32This show will be giving you the goosebumps in the 5 o'clock hour later today.
01:38It most certainly will.
01:39Well, let's open with this.
01:41Kevin McGonigal hit his first home run yesterday.
01:46Darn if this dude isn't the best hitter on the team.
01:49Darn if he isn't the number one draw, the number one reason to go to a Tigers game already.
01:57Already?
01:58Has he already attained the status of best hitter on the team?
02:02Best draw to go to a game already?
02:05Has he done it?
02:06I think he's curiosity, Mark.
02:09Scoble is still that draw.
02:11Because you know when you go out there, you may witness the best six innings.
02:15He's never going to pitch a perfect game because you got to throw for nine innings.
02:18And that's just not going to happen with Scoble.
02:20But I think he's more curiosity.
02:22I think it's one of these, is this kid for real?
02:25Do we maybe have something here?
02:29Hmm.
02:30I want to go see him play.
02:32I don't think.
02:33So, yeah, I think it's more of a curiosity.
02:35I don't think he's the best draw as of now.
02:37I still say it's probably Scoble when he pitches.
02:40But on the days that he doesn't, I'll give it to you.
02:44I mean, he's just an old soul in so many ways, from the seriousness with which he takes the game
02:50to the way he's worked on his game.
02:52Defense was supposed to be the problem.
02:54I'm not seeing any defensive problems.
02:56Yesterday, Kevin McGonigal hit his first of many, many home runs at Comerica Park.
03:03It was a moment of all moment, and it was a no-doubter.
03:07Even though it didn't travel that far back, it had the look of a shot when it came off the
03:12bat
03:12that you just knew.
03:13You just knew it was gone.
03:16And, well, a fan caught the Kevin McGonigal baseball,
03:22and the fan returned the ball to Kevin McGonigal in exchange for
03:27signed baseball, signed bat, signed jersey.
03:33Pretty fair trade.
03:34What's the problem?
03:35I didn't think there was any problem.
03:37I get into the office today, and I come to realize that I'm on an island of one.
03:43I have been on Exile Island here, and I'm on Exile Island for this reason.
03:47See, I feel like you're obliged to give the ball back to Kevin McGonigal
03:52because it's Kevin McGonigal's ball.
03:54He hit the home run.
03:55It belongs to him.
03:57See, there's where you're wrong.
04:00He's not obliged to do anything.
04:02That fan bought his ticket, he sat in his seat, and he caught the ball.
04:08So, therefore, that's his ball.
04:11Plain and simple.
04:12Now, him giving it back to McGonigal, great, fine.
04:15You know, he didn't hold him hostage for it or anything like that.
04:19I think it was a fair trade, but he wasn't obliged to do anything.
04:23If he wanted to say, you know what, I've never caught a ball ever at a ballpark,
04:28and I'm keeping this thing, I got a mental place for it to sit on top of,
04:33I can't sit here and be angry.
04:34Oh, I got a big problem with that.
04:36Oh, I got a big problem with that.
04:38No, McGonigal can buy as many baseballs as he wants.
04:41It's not about a baseball.
04:42It's about the baseball.
04:44Yeah, because guess what?
04:45That fan had to pay for that ticket, okay?
04:48He didn't get to sit there for free.
04:50He didn't get, all of a sudden, he didn't get it copped.
04:52Oh, you know what?
04:53We're going to cop everything that you ate and everything that you're parking.
04:56He had to pay for all of that, so that's one of the perks.
04:59This is a sport that has more unwritten rules than any other sport.
05:04You don't bunt in the middle of a no-hitter.
05:06You don't do this.
05:06This is another dumb, unwritten rule.
05:09It's Kevin McGonigal's ball.
05:11He hit the home run.
05:12It's his moment.
05:13Now, what I would say is, look, you want to throw me a signed baseball?
05:19I'd like to go to lunch.
05:21Let's sit down to lunch.
05:22Let's chat it up.
05:23I'd like to get to know you.
05:25Let's do that.
05:27That's fine.
05:28Second, if you want to do something for me in exchange for me giving you the ball back,
05:33but if you're willing to do nothing, the ball is still yours.
05:35No.
05:36No, no, no.
05:37It's up to McGonigal to come up with some solution to get that ball back.
05:41If it means that much to you, you come up with a deal for me.
05:45I'm not coming up with anything, and I have the right to say no.
05:49I want more.
05:50Add to this.
05:51I need this.
05:52And I need this.
05:53How badly do you want this ball back?
05:56Because it's mine.
05:57I can walk out of this park right here, right now.
05:59I can't be arrested.
06:01Why?
06:01I caught the ball.
06:03There's no clause in your ticket saying, well, if McGonigal hits his first home run,
06:07you know you got to give it back to him.
06:08No.
06:09Your ball.
06:10You can leave.
06:11You can go home.
06:12If he doesn't satisfy what you want, that's on him.
06:15How badly do you want it back?
06:16It's not like there's this guarantee that Kevin McGonigal is a Hall of Famer.
06:21It's not like there's this guarantee that 100 years from now, this is going to be worth
06:25three mil.
06:27It's a kid's special moment.
06:29Give him the ball.
06:31Ladies and gentlemen, give him the ball.
06:33It's his ball.
06:34He hit the home run.
06:36We were blessed to be able to watch him hit the home run.
06:39If it happens to fall in your glove, thank your lucky stars.
06:43You got to sign baseball.
06:45Come on.
06:45Come on.
06:46It belongs to Kevin.
06:47Okay.
06:48That's you.
06:49No, that's not how that works.
06:51Not in the real world.
06:53Because, you know, the guy who caught the ball could have said, hey, you know what?
06:58I need this.
06:59You know what?
06:59I lost my job.
07:00Tigers aren't going to say, you know what?
07:02You're losing your job.
07:02Come in here and sit for free.
07:04They don't do that.
07:05You paid the money.
07:06You caught the ball.
07:08That's your ball.
07:08I completely agree with you, Rico.
07:10Oh, what a shock.
07:11It is straight negotiations.
07:13And if you do not give me what I'm asking for, guess what you don't get?
07:18That picture that you saw?
07:20Because I'm walking out of Comerica Park with the ball.
07:23If you're a McGonagall, you've already had this in your mind.
07:26Okay.
07:27I'm going to give up a bat, a jersey, all of this.
07:31You know it's going to happen.
07:32So I already have it prepared so that I'll, here's what I'm offering you.
07:37Okay, the kid wants some tickets too.
07:39Give him tickets.
07:40Don't care.
07:41Get the ball back.
07:42But, nah.
07:44To me, it's selfish, quite honestly.
07:46How is that selfish?
07:47It's selfish because it doesn't belong to you.
07:49You're taking something that doesn't belong to you.
07:50Ladies and gentlemen.
07:51Did you catch the ball?
07:52Did I hit the ball?
07:54Did you catch the ball?
07:54Did I do the work that put the ball in your hands?
07:57Did you catch the ball?
07:58Okay.
07:59If you caught the ball, that's yours.
08:01You bought a ticket to a baseball game where there was a real-life chance that you could
08:06catch a home-run ball.
08:07You catch that ball, it becomes your baseball.
08:09What happens after that?
08:11I mean, leave it up to the guy who caught it.
08:13I feel like I'm getting triple-teamed, and usually triple-teamed is a lot more fun.
08:18Good God.
08:21It's a lot more fun.
08:22See, here's the thing, Mark.
08:23And you've probably done this when you were a kid.
08:25And you go to the park, have your basketball with you, want to go shoot some hoops, right?
08:30Usually, growing up, I had my name on the ball.
08:34So, in case we play, others show up, and we decide to play with the other ball, I know
08:38that has my name on it.
08:40I'm leaving with that one.
08:41You know what doesn't have McGonagall's name on it when he hits it?
08:45That ball doesn't have his name on it.
08:46It doesn't belong to him.
08:48So, let me get this straight.
08:49So, back when McGuire and Sosa were hitting those home runs, was that ball theirs?
08:56Well, I will say this.
08:57We've got to pose the question to the audience.
08:59I say the ball is Kevin's, and it was given back to Kevin.
09:03He got, you know, minimal jersey, bat, baseball.
09:07Yeah, that's fine.
09:08You want to do something for me, Kevin?
09:10I appreciate that.
09:11I caught the ball.
09:13But in the end, the ball is yours.
09:14So, whose side are you on?
09:16Rico is up for the highest bidder.
09:19I am, the ball belongs to Kevin McGonagall.
09:23What side on this are you?
09:25I'll tell you what.
09:26Coming your way next.
09:27There is a limit to my kindness.
09:29And I will share exactly with you what that is next.
09:34Valenian Rico, Mark Ryan sitting in here on 97.1.
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