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The Voice of The Wind Surge/Turbo Tubs Tim Grubbs joins the show.
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00:00This is Sports Daily on KFH.
00:04And now, digging deeper with the teams you follow,
00:08it's another Sports Daily Insider interview on KFH.
00:13And we welcome you back in and say hello this morning to Tim Grubbs,
00:18the voice of the Wichita Wind Surge,
00:21getting ready for another game today in Tulsa this evening,
00:26down in the great state of Oklahoma.
00:29Tim, how are you this morning?
00:31I'm doing great. How are you guys this morning?
00:33We're good. We're not going to hammer you with what's going on,
00:37one win in this calendar month for the Wind Surge.
00:40Well, I appreciate that.
00:41When I agreed to do this, I was hoping that wasn't the case.
00:44We can get to that in a little bit.
00:46The news of the weekend, Tim, the switch to the turbo tub.
00:50So you've been with this organization from the outset,
00:54you know, from all of the chaos.
00:57I have pretty publicly supported this one.
01:00I thought the first time I saw turbo tubs,
01:04I was like, that should have been the name.
01:07That's really good. The colors are good.
01:09It's got the ties to Wichita.
01:10I was like, damn, that should have been the name.
01:12Where did you, were you initially, when you heard turbo tubs,
01:16the first promotional time, were you on board with it?
01:18Has it grown on you?
01:20How has that path to the turbo tubs been for you?
01:24I'm not sure how many people even know the story.
01:27I mean, I obviously told our friend, our GM, Matt Hamilton, the story.
01:33Obviously, I was in New Orleans when we did the transition from Zephyrs to Baby Cakes.
01:38And that obviously didn't go well.
01:40It didn't go well for New Orleans, but it probably fared very well for Wichita
01:44and the team coming there years later.
01:47I was still in New Orleans with the old ownership when they were,
01:52I was just broadcasting and doing PR or whatever,
01:55when they were working on figuring out the name for Wichita.
01:58And I saw some of the names.
02:00I hadn't even moved to Wichita yet.
02:02Turbo tubs was on the list.
02:04Turbo tubs was discussed in 2019.
02:07And that was the one that I wanted.
02:10I liked the colors.
02:11Obviously, the logo, it's come a long way since then.
02:13It's changed.
02:14It wasn't the original, what I saw.
02:16And then they went with Wind Surge.
02:18And I kind of understood it at the time.
02:20After the backlash of Baby Cakes four years earlier.
02:26You know what I mean?
02:27I think they were probably like, maybe Wind Surge is a little more traditional.
02:31And obviously, in November of 2019, when the Wind Surge was unveiled,
02:37and I mean, obviously, I was the emcee at the event.
02:39And I knew the reaction wasn't well.
02:41And I was like, well, people will grow and they'll learn on it.
02:44And eventually, you know, we opened the ballpark two years later in 2021.
02:47And I felt like some people did, some people didn't.
02:52You know, but after a year, after a couple of seasons,
02:56and obviously, 2022, we wore turbo tubs for the first time.
02:59I didn't realize how much people would love it and the tubs dub and the fact that every time we
03:04even won a Wind Surge game,
03:05if you looked at social media, people were writing, we should be tubs full time.
03:10And I wasn't sure if it was a small minority, because you know how things are in social media.
03:15The negative people are always the ones saying stuff.
03:18But over the last five years, I really came around to being like, we probably should be tubs full time.
03:24And when it was told to me that we were making the switch, I was definitely not going to say
03:29I wasn't for it.
03:30I'm all for it.
03:31And full speed ahead.
03:33I can't wait till next April.
03:34As you learn in our business, somebody will complain about every single thing.
03:38It doesn't matter what you do.
03:40The point that we made, Tim, about this is we go to the ballpark on a Wednesday, whenever they're the
03:46Wind Surge,
03:47and half the crowd's wearing teal.
03:49That's the one thing that I took away from it, is that even if it wasn't the turbo tubs or
03:54anything like that,
03:54I think it was just they loved the logo and they loved the wacky colors and the things like that.
03:59That's the part that kind of screamed minor league baseball that I think a lot of people are going to
04:03be on board for,
04:04because whenever you went to the team store, you're like, I want to buy that one.
04:07That one looks cool, right?
04:09Yeah, no, I 100% agree with you.
04:11And as a person who's at all the games, I do see a ton of teal, ton of orange.
04:15I mean, I still see a lot of the tumba vaca stuff, which we'll still wear from time to time.
04:19And obviously, we had banana ball at the ballpark last month, and it was the coconuts and the firefighters.
04:26The firefighters had more of a traditional look.
04:28The coconuts had the wild look.
04:30And, you know, obviously, Wichita has no connection to either team.
04:33And just over the course of those three days, which team sold more merch?
04:38The coconuts.
04:39And I think it was because it's a different teal than the wind surge teal.
04:43I mean, and the turbo tubs teal.
04:44But I think it's just kind of a cool look.
04:47Too many teams are red, white, and blue.
04:49Too many teams are the traditional colors.
04:51And I think sometimes when you can think outside the box, people really like it.
04:55We're all baseball purists.
04:58We're all diehard baseball people.
05:00But that doesn't mean we don't.
05:03At least, I understand what minor league baseball is becoming.
05:07I can see what banana ball has become.
05:11Like, you're out there to have a good time.
05:14I've got three kids, one on the way.
05:16Like, we're not going out to, you know, to really analyze this.
05:22Check out the setup guy's slider.
05:24Seventh inning, you know, his ERA against righties.
05:28Like, we're out there to have fun.
05:30And I think you guys have really leaned into that the last couple of years.
05:35And this, to me, fits that a little bit.
05:37I think the coconuts is a perfect example.
05:39I think banana ball is a perfect example.
05:41For every baby cakes example, there's a trash pandas, a loons, all these other silly fun things.
05:49And towns can get into it.
05:51I don't – wind surge when it was announced, it wasn't that it was bad.
05:56I didn't think it was bad.
05:57I just thought it was kind of, like, meh.
05:59Like, you had all these opportunities.
06:02I wish we could see the vote, Tim.
06:04I wish we could.
06:05I'm just going to tell you.
06:07Like, to see what people's appetite really was for that.
06:10But we're there now.
06:12So, talk about the risk then.
06:14You saw the baby cakes.
06:15Like, what's the scariest part of Saturday's announcement?
06:18Like, when you make that and you go, like, doomsday, what is the scary part of this?
06:24Have you guys seen any of that, or what's the reaction been?
06:28You know, obviously, the reaction on social media, some of it was negative.
06:31But, you know, if you look at your guys' website or your social medias, there are some there.
06:35But I think when you looked at the wind surge social media channels, it was 90% positive on those
06:43channels.
06:44And those are the fans that have been coming to the games.
06:47They're the ones that are following it.
06:48And I don't know if – I mean, obviously, there's always a risk when you make a change like this.
06:53You know, you alienate the folks that were diehard wind surge.
06:58And you alienate the fans that bought a bunch of wind surge gear over the years.
07:02And, you know, that doesn't mean – we're not going to wear wind surge at all in 2027.
07:07I don't know what the plan is for 2028.
07:09But we'll have our throwback days, just like we were Wranglers at a game the last couple of years.
07:14We'll throw it back.
07:15So there will always be a time.
07:16And, I mean, I'm not going to probably stop wearing wind surge completely.
07:21But, you know, I mean, we'll just grow it in.
07:23So there is a risk.
07:25You know, obviously, the baby kick thing in New Orleans, you know, I lived it and experienced it.
07:29That was just – you know, that was a dying franchise in the leaning years of Zephyrs with a dilapidated
07:36ballpark that it was a Hail Mary to save the franchise.
07:40And it didn't work.
07:42But I don't think that that – you know, that's not the – I don't think we're going to have
07:46that here.
07:46We have one of the best ballparks at minor league baseball and a tremendous fan base.
07:52And hopefully the folks that are out on board will jump on the train.
07:56And once they see, you know, us taking the field constantly as Tubbs and we continue to evolve the brand,
08:03I think people will get excited.
08:04My favorite part of it is that we said that we no longer have – in our line of work,
08:10Tim, is that we no longer have to figure out the weird grammar of having a team name without an
08:14S on the end of it.
08:15Is it the wind surge is, the wind surge R?
08:19Is it plural or singular?
08:20Now it's Tubbs with an S.
08:22What do the players think of it?
08:23We – I remember whenever they unveiled TurboTubs for the first time and that was the story is like asking
08:29players like, what do you – and they're like, I don't know what a TurboTub is, but it looks kind
08:32of cool.
08:33What is your – what is their reaction?
08:34They wear them all the time now.
08:36They wear it all the time.
08:38And if you look at it, it's crazy because we wear TurboTubs – we'll wear them 17 times this year
08:43is what we'll end up wearing.
08:45But we're wind surge on the road all the time.
08:47We don't travel with the Tubbs gear, you know, in a given year like this.
08:51But if you look in – if you walk into the players' clubhouse and you look at their shoes, they
08:56have their – they all have stuff that accessorize Tubbs.
09:01They all bought the bright orange.
09:03They bought the teal.
09:04They've got purple.
09:05And I think that just shows that they love it.
09:08You know, I mean, in this day and age, I mean, you know, guys typically don't care.
09:12They're just – you know, whatever uniform you give me, I'm going to go out there and wear it.
09:15But I really feel like in the last couple of years, the players have evolved and they love accessorizing it.
09:21I don't know if it's their wives, girlfriends, or whatever saying, you need to match.
09:25You can't be just wearing navy blue and the team's wearing the bright orange.
09:28And the guys have really grown to love it.
09:31And I think they enjoy the Tubbs.
09:32And I think it's a different brand and it's very unique.
09:35Tim Grubbs, voice of the Wichita Wind Surge, soon to be the Wichita TurboTubs full-time joining us.
09:41One other part of that, Tim, that – and enlighten us here.
09:45The tub races, which, of course, is where TurboTub calls back to.
09:48That's coming back to Riverfest next year?
09:50Yeah, that's part of it.
09:53Obviously, when the team made the decision, you know, I don't know, about a year ago to go full-born
09:59and we're going to make this change,
10:01part of the reason – it's a weird, clumpy timing.
10:04I know people across the country are like, why did they announce in June that they're going to change their
10:09name not until next –
10:10you know, not until the fall and not until next year?
10:13And it was all because of Riverfest.
10:14But I know that members of our club met with the city and the folks from Riverfest.
10:21And they were like, hey, if we're going to go TurboTubs, we've got to go all in.
10:25We've got to get the bathtub races back.
10:28And I think that's going to just grow.
10:30And then people are going to learn more and more about the logo.
10:33You know, it's the tub.
10:35It's the turbojet engines that obviously is aviation and aerospace that is born and raised in Wichita.
10:42And then, of course, then you get into Tubby the Troll.
10:44And then I think more and more people will probably be making their way to the keeper and finding out
10:48where that troll is and what it's all about.
10:51Yeah, that's my favorite part of it is that I liked Wind Surge.
10:54Wind Surge didn't tie in Wichita quite like TurboTubs does.
10:58That's the best part of naming franchises if you have something to do.
11:01I brought up the Utah Jazz.
11:02How much jazz is in Utah?
11:04There's not much.
11:05Let's switch to actual baseball.
11:07What's going on with the Wind Surge right now?
11:08It seems that things aren't going well.
11:10But I always tell people if things aren't going well in AA, that's because all the players are in the
11:15bigs now.
11:17We've sent a lot of guys to the big leagues.
11:19Mike Peretti, who started the season with the Wind Surge, made a start last night for the Minnesota Twins and
11:24got – he was part of a winning – I don't think he got the win last night because he
11:29didn't pitch five innings, but he was part of the winning team for Minnesota.
11:32We've sent 45 guys to the big leagues over the last couple of years.
11:36We're a young team.
11:38We've had a lot of change.
11:39We've had 70 roster moves so far this season for the Surge themselves.
11:45We're in a division where Tulsa's loaded.
11:48I don't know how much you look at the Baseball America or the MLB pipeline top 100 prospects.
11:54Tulsa's got a ton of them.
11:55Arkansas's got a ton of them.
11:56We're in the same division.
11:57The good news, and this is what helps motivate me on June 11th, is we have 12 games remaining –
12:03actually 11 games remaining in the first half.
12:06Two weeks from now, we're going to be 0-0 again.
12:08And that's what's great about minor league baseball.
12:10And we'll continue to evolve and get some new players.
12:15Hopefully, our team in Cedar Rapids has done very well, and I think there could be some help coming from
12:21down below, and maybe we'll get juiced up a little bit.
12:24But I do think the team that we have here, even though we can't catch a break, we're losing every
12:28night by one or two or three runs.
12:30It's not like we're getting blown out.
12:32I think in our last seven losses, there's been a save in six of them for the other teams.
12:37So that just kind of shows you that you just can't break through the ice, but we're losing some tough
12:42games, and hopefully we can break through and get this all to work.
12:45Jose Olivares pitched well yesterday, just couldn't get a win.
12:48The splitting up the season, whoever made that decision in major – it's one of the smartest decisions they ever
12:54made.
12:54Keep people locked in.
12:55A second opportunity.
12:56I love that.
12:57They should do that for the Royals.
13:01That would be nice.
13:02It would be handy.
13:03You guys are back home next week.
13:06So you guys are home next week.
13:08I'm just looking.
13:09You've got a KU baseball jersey night.
13:11Of course, the Monrovians night is next week.
13:13That's always a fun one.
13:15Tumba Vaca's soccer jersey.
13:16Of course, good timing there.
13:18A pickleball paddle.
13:19Are you guys giving away pickleball paddles?
13:21Yeah, they're nice.
13:23Pickleball paddle.
13:24Of course, the soccer jersey.
13:25Of course, the World Cup.
13:27Everybody's going to be soccer crazy.
13:28Even people like myself who don't even really know the rules, all of a sudden, you'll be seeing me watching
13:32soccer all of a sudden.
13:33Off sides!
13:36It's just what it is.
13:37It's every four years or whatever.
13:39It's like when the Summer Olympics come along and you just become a fan of something you don't watch very
13:43often.
13:44But the fact that it's just up the road in Kansas City, or at least part of it, I think
13:49just about every minor league team has grown into the fact.
13:51I'm in Tulsa here.
13:52Their World Cup soccer jersey is tonight at the game.
13:56So I think a lot of teams have grown onto it.
13:58And the fact that we did Tumba Vacas, I think it's also a very cool-looking jersey.
14:03But the pickleball paddle for the fathers on Father's Day, I think, is a nice touch.
14:08And then, you know, we have a doubleheader a week from today.
14:11So a lot of baseball.
14:12It's to make up a game from Springfield that we got rained out.
14:15So it'll be a long night.
14:17That's the same night of the KU baseball jersey, but it should be a lot of fun at the stadium
14:21as we welcome in the Cardinals.
14:22And I know there's probably a lot of listeners here today that are Cardinal fans because it seems like as
14:27many Royals fans as there are in Wichita, I think there might be equal or pretty close to a amount
14:32of Cardinal fans as well.
14:34There's a lot of them out there.
14:35I'll throw one more to you, Tim.
14:37We've seen throughout, you know, the early years of the wind surge, there was a lot of top 100 guys
14:41that would make their way through.
14:43Do they have any right now?
14:44I don't think there is any top 100s, is there?
14:46No, we don't have anybody right now.
14:48So who's the next guy that we're going to see in the bigs?
14:51Give me that answer.
14:52Oh, the next guy from our current roster that's going to be in the bigs?
14:55Yes.
14:55Oof, that's a tough one.
14:57The next guy that you would have seen as a wind surge player make the bigs is Kalen Culpepper, I
15:03think.
15:03Okay.
15:03He was with us last year.
15:05Yep.
15:05He's in AAA right now, so I think you're going to see him soon.
15:09But obviously, he's not on our current roster.
15:13You know, I don't know.
15:14Billy Amick is probably our biggest hitter on our lineup right now.
15:18But he's still got a way to go before I think he's going to be in the big leagues.
15:22You know, he'll probably finish the season with us this year.
15:24He's still very young.
15:25You know, he's missed a lot of time with injuries in years past.
15:28It's usually a pitcher.
15:30So I'm trying to think who's the pitcher that's going to go.
15:33But, I mean, overall, Kalen Culpepper would be the next name that folks in Wichita would have known very well.
15:39I think that we'll be up there soon enough.
15:41Tim Grubbs, Voice of the Wind Surge, joining us here.
15:44Tim, we appreciate it.
15:46Enjoy Tulsa.
15:47I assume, Tim, there's not a bat dog running around the ballpark anymore.
15:52No more bat dogs.
15:53Speaking of top 100 prospects, I'm not sure how much he's going to miss time.
15:57But that was a scary scene.
15:58I wasn't here for that.
15:59But I brought it up in the press box on Tuesday, and I didn't get a very good look.
16:03So I probably won't be discussing that very much.
16:06Yeah, your colleague Dennis joined us a couple days after that happened.
16:09It's unfortunate.
16:12It's a bummer, man.
16:13You know what?
16:14It's funny because the Dodgers are very mum on how bad Kendall George's injury is.
16:18For the folks that don't know, obviously, Kendall George, one of the Dodgers' top prospects, got hurt after running across
16:23home plate towards the dugout.
16:24There was the bat dog that was retreating the bat.
16:27I don't know if he tore a ligament.
16:28I assume all reports are that he had surgery.
16:31But it's a very bad break.
16:34And minor league baseball is all that fun, adding all these zany things and all these promotions.
16:38But sometimes it goes haywire.
16:40And unfortunately, for a guy that runs as fast as Kendall, that was a bad break.
16:45No bueno.
16:45All right, Grubbs, we'll see you back here next week.
16:49That first home game of the week-long homestand is on Tuesday.
16:53All right.
16:53Come on out to the ballpark and appreciate you guys having me on the show this morning.
16:57Tim Grubbs, voice of the wind surge, on his way out.
17:00Appreciate that.
17:01Thanks to Prairie Fired Coffee for keeping us fueled up this morning.
17:05Just rocking and rolling.
17:08Yeah, it's interesting.
17:09I thought about that.
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