00:00The Contemporary Committee came out with guys for the Hall of Fame, Dusty Baker, Lou Piniella, Bruce Bochy, Joe Madden
00:10were on that list.
00:11Let me give you a little something here about Joe Madden.
00:14I have a chance to work with Joe Madden.
00:15I did the Rays pre- and post-game show for a couple of years when I was down there
00:20in Tampa.
00:20And I got to tell you, working with Joe Madden, it was just an absolute privilege to see how a
00:25manager was able to connect with his players
00:27and seeing how a manager was able to win with guys with Andrew Friedman and how they built that organization.
00:34Now you look at what Eric Neander does along with Kevin Cash.
00:38They've kind of taken that same blueprint and I am pulling for Joe Madden to make it to the Hall
00:44of Fame.
00:45Let me say this to you about Joe Madden.
00:47So again, we would get him on our program each and every single week.
00:51He'd walk into the studio with me and I asked Joe Madden, how did you connect with your players?
01:00He would say this to me.
01:01He'd go, Dan, you have to have a personal relationship with each and every single one of those guys.
01:06And the relationships that I had made it so that when I was connecting with my baseball players,
01:12for me to be able to have that personal relationship, it was the least amount of resistance for the best
01:18result.
01:18That's how he managed that baseball team.
01:21I loved being around Joe Madden.
01:24He showed me and taught me so much about managing on how he put these lineup cards together
01:29and how he was able to go and be the manager of that baseball team on a low payroll.
01:35On a payroll that really at the time was maybe around $90 million.
01:41And you're talking about a manager that took that baseball team and did so many marvelous things.
01:46And obviously, he goes on to Chicago and he goes on and wins the World Series up with the Cubs.
01:51But without a doubt, one of my favorite people of all time, Dusty Baker, another guy that I worked with
01:58when I did the pre and post game show for the San Francisco Giants when I was working in the
02:05Bay Area.
02:06We were on KMBR 68, the home of the San Francisco Giants.
02:10And each and every single post game show, Dusty Baker would come on and we would have a conversation about
02:17his baseball team.
02:18Of course, that was the era of Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent.
02:22Those baseball teams were just absolutely loaded.
02:24And Dusty was such a great communicator with his players.
02:29Every single time that we would go into the dugout, Dusty would take you over to all the players.
02:34He would sit there and maybe get you in line with the guys, give them a great, give you an
02:39opportunity to start a relationship.
02:41And this is where I started my relationship with Barry Bonds.
02:45I got into the locker room because of Dusty.
02:48And Bonds and I started having a great relationship when I worked there.
02:51And make no mistake about it, without a doubt, we are looking at amazing, amazing times here when you're talking
03:00about being able to work with a guy like Dusty Baker and Joe Madden.
03:04I hope both these guys, Lou Piniello also, an opportunity to potentially make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
03:11Lou was just such a great manager and really a great communicator.
03:15When I lived in Tampa, had a chance to know Lou a little bit because Lou's from the Tampa area.
03:20And you get an opportunity to sit there and see what makes these men really work.
03:25Had another chance to work with Bruce Bochy because I did the pre- and post-game show for the
03:30San Diego Padres as well.
03:32And I know people looking around going, man, you're a football guy.
03:35But all these pre- and post-game shows that we did, almost each and every single one of these
03:40managers, I had a relationship with.
03:43So when someone asked me the other day, who do you want to see go into the Baseball Hall of
03:48Fame?
03:48Dusty Baker, who I worked with.
03:50Lou Piniello, who I worked with.
03:52Bruce Bochy, who I worked with.
03:54And Joe Madden, who I worked with.
03:56The one thing that was really synonymous with all of these guys was the fact that these guys were great
04:02communicators.
04:03When it came to their able to handle their rosters and being able to handle the men that they had
04:10inside their dugouts.
04:12Make no mistake about it.
04:13I'm really looking forward to sitting there and seeing which one of these men have an opportunity at making it
04:19to the Hall of Fame.
