0:07

Welcome to the Approach Shot , the

0:10

golf show that's more laughs than links

0:12

, more stories than strokes , more

0:14

guffaws than golfers . Here

0:16

are the hosts of the Approach Shot John

0:18

Ashton and Neil Michaels .

0:20

It is time for us . It's a brand new week

0:22

and a brand new show and

0:25

almost a brand new year .

0:26

We are beginning to look a lot like

0:29

Christmas . We've been over

0:31

this . I'm not allowed to sing again . No

0:33

singing . We were just

0:35

singing . When we were off mic , before

0:39

we started this , you were singing . Well

0:41

, that's me . Wow , that

0:43

got very personal very quickly . I'm

0:46

Neil Michaels , otherwise known as stabbed

0:49

in the heart .

0:51

Very hard to believe you .

0:57

I'm very , very holiday of you , sir .

0:59

Thank you , I'm sorry , bah , humbug and

1:01

all that , keep my joy to myself

1:03

.

1:04

Thank you . Speaking

1:07

of this is what we're supposed to

1:09

be . Collectively , we are the approach

1:11

shot . Separately , we are either

1:13

the or the approach , but

1:15

not the approach shot .

1:17

We'd have to be collective to be that I

1:19

got you , yeah , and I don't

1:21

do collections , no no

1:24

, I don't know .

1:26

That's on the collections department .

1:28

Hey , you ever done collections for the

1:30

Red Kettle folks , the Salvation Army , at

1:32

this time of the year ? Ever no

1:34

, no man . As radio station

1:36

, we had to do it . You know we had

1:38

to . We volunteered , Our general

1:41

manager volunteered . There

1:43

you go and of course the general manager

1:45

wasn't out there . It was the air staff that was

1:47

out there . And people were friendly and

1:49

kind and wonderful they were surprisingly

1:52

, the program director had a great line

1:54

that I have since stolen , and it's

1:56

like hey , don't give till it

1:58

hurts , just give till it feels good .

2:02

Oh , that's amazing . It's

2:04

great . I'm stealing that

2:06

Heck . Yeah , yeah , give

2:08

till . It feels good , ok

2:11

All right . Well , I

2:13

feel like I'm going to be giving till . It feels

2:15

good at Christmas , because not only

2:18

do I have my West Coast

2:20

family , I have my East Coast family , which I'm going

2:22

back to see later this week , and I get to see my grandbaby

2:24

, hi Lala , and

2:26

my kids and I'm going to spend four or five days

2:29

there and we're going to open presents under the tree there

2:31

, and then I fly back here and four or five

2:33

days later we're going to do our thing . What

2:35

about you , sa ? What are you doing ? As

2:38

little as possible , as little

2:40

as possible , yeah .

2:42

The joy . Again , I do . I

2:44

do have one piece of advice , however

2:46

. We are lucky in as much as the

2:48

entire family , the entire immediate

2:50

family , lives within 20

2:53

miles of each other . Ok , ok

2:55

. So it's a 15

2:57

minute ride to one daughter's house and then a 30

2:59

minute ride to the other daughter's house , gotcha

3:02

, and if they're speaking with

3:04

each other , we can do it all in one house , and

3:06

if not , it'll be separate . It's

3:08

totally up to them , wow

3:10

. But I do have a word of advice for any golfer

3:12

who is listening yes , don't

3:19

buy golf clubs as a present for anybody . No , no Bad idea . In fact

3:21

, don't buy any golf equipment because

3:24

it is so personal . I mean you think you

3:26

can buy a dozen golf balls and get away with

3:28

it . Well , if they're

3:30

not the golf balls they like to play , they're not going

3:32

to be happy with it . I'm going to disagree with you on

3:34

that one . In fact , we do .

3:36

Amazon lists . And just before we

3:38

went and we came on the air , I realized

3:40

I had one golf club . And

3:43

we came on the air I realized I had

3:45

one dozen golf balls listed there . And

3:47

I'm thinking you're a moron , because

3:49

everybody in the family says what do we buy

3:51

a meal ? What do we buy a meal ? And

3:53

it's like you know , I don't really want

3:55

a whole bunch of things . So if I list one

3:58

dozen golf balls , somebody will

4:00

click on my Amazon list and buy that

4:02

and that's what I get . So

4:05

I've listed three different kinds

4:07

of golf balls so that I

4:09

can get three dozen golf balls instead

4:11

of one dozen golf balls , because I

4:13

don't want a whole lot else , but I'd rather have 36

4:16

new balls than 12 .

4:18

So feel free , but

4:20

again , do you play a specific

4:22

ball or do you play what you find ?

4:24

No , I don't play a specific ball , but

4:27

there are a couple . There are some brands

4:29

that I won't play , so the nice

4:31

part about an Amazon list is you can

4:33

click on Callaway , taylormade

4:36

, titleist , whatever , and

4:38

give three or four different types . So if I ended

4:40

up with any of those , I'd be okay . There

4:43

are certain that I don't want .

4:45

Right , Okay , I guess

4:47

I've got a couple brands that I use and other

4:50

than that I don't use them .

4:51

You're proving very much to be a Scrooge McAshton

4:54

today .

4:55

Yeah , I mean you know . I guess that way there

4:57

gets to be a certain point I can see now . You

5:00

know when you were a kid I heard

5:02

somebody say the other day two weeks

5:04

from today is Christmas , and

5:06

I know when I was a kid that would have been

5:08

the longest two weeks of my life .

5:11

You don't even have a tree up .

5:12

Oh wow , it's just we kids . Well

5:15

, kids aren't coming to my house , true , true

5:17

, but , like Christmas tree is just a place

5:19

for the dogs to play and tip over .

5:21

Well , I'm going to disagree with you . My

5:24

, my eight , you know , you know where does it say

5:26

you get to do ?

5:26

that .

5:27

My 84 year old mother-in-law

5:29

, whose husband just passed away and

5:32

is now , for the first time in 40

5:34

years of her life , living alone . Her

5:36

trees up , she's doing the

5:38

dogs . She has cats , well

5:41

, oh , that's even worse , I know , but she's

5:43

got a little in that joy and it brings

5:45

the spirit . Come on , man , let's

5:47

get some spirit in here . Spirit

5:49

, christmas past , christmas present , I

5:52

know for you , christmas spirit means

5:55

another bottle of bourbon , but it's

5:57

a different kind of spirit . But

5:59

speaking of Christmas spirit , I told

6:02

you last week a secret

6:04

that I probably shouldn't have put out there

6:06

, because if my kids are listening to the podcast , they

6:09

know what they're getting for Christmas . Yeah

6:11

, I'm getting my kids a masterclass

6:13

. I'm getting one of them who

6:15

is a songwriter . I'm getting her

6:18

songwriting lessons by

6:20

John Legend the

6:22

.

6:23

John Legend , the legendary John

6:25

Legend .

6:26

There you go . I like what you did there , thank

6:28

you . And then my son is a voiceover artist

6:30

, so he's going to take one of our jobs here soon and

6:33

they have voice . They have multiple voiceover

6:35

, teachers and professors . And

6:38

the cool thing about this is masterclass

6:40

. You don't sit like with a bunch of people

6:43

all at once and it's tough on

6:45

your schedule . It's they're pre-recorded so

6:47

you get to listen to the any time it's

6:49

available to you . So if

6:51

you have anybody who wants to learn

6:53

about that part of their lives

6:55

, or how to negotiate , or how to cook

6:57

or how to do pretty much anything

7:00

in life , masterclass has got you covered

7:02

.

7:03

That's right , and you can watch them on TV . You

7:05

can listen to them in audio mode

7:07

. Yep , you can do it in the app . You

7:09

can do it right on their site . I mean , it doesn't

7:11

matter where you are or even what , what else

7:13

you might be doing . If you think you are a multitasker

7:15

, then you can take the masterclass while

7:18

you're doing something else . But just sit back

7:20

for a minute and just say songwriting

7:22

from John Legend . I'm taking an acting class

7:25

from Helen Mirren Crazy . How

7:27

much do you think that would cost ?

7:29

I'm not sure you could ever get it . No

7:31

, exactly .

7:32

But thousands if you could . If you could

7:34

, yeah , but you can through

7:37

a masterclass for ten bucks

7:39

a month . That's insane . Hundred and

7:41

twenty bucks a year .

7:42

Hundred and twenty . But now think of it . Stop

7:44

there and think . How many presents

7:46

have you bought that are like forty

7:49

bucks , thirty bucks , sixty bucks

7:51

, and it's a piece of crap that they'll end

7:53

up . You know , it's a jacket that they'll wear

7:55

or a sweater that they'll wear , and it

7:57

and it'll just end up in a closet

7:59

or whatever . This is something that will affect

8:01

their lives potentially

8:04

forever , and it's a hundred and twenty

8:06

bucks , ten bucks a month . But

8:08

wait , scrooge

8:10

McAshton has an even better

8:12

deal .

8:13

Yeah , I do , buy one

8:15

, get one . Come on , go

8:17

, go go .

8:19

Buy one , get one , so it's basically sixty

8:21

bucks , if you think about .

8:23

Buy one for one one child , get

8:26

a second one for free . Buy one for

8:28

yourself , get a second one for

8:30

someone else for free . You can take

8:32

as many as you want . What can I

8:34

say ? I mean , you can look there's over what a hundred and

8:36

eighty different master classes

8:39

, all taught by the best

8:42

person in their field to teach it .

8:44

It's incredible . You have to do something special

8:46

to get that deal Well to get the deal .

8:48

Yeah , you have to get it because

8:50

you know us . Yeah , ok

8:52

, and what you do is you just

8:54

to get the free one . You buy one

8:56

annual membership , you get another one free at

8:58

masterclasscom slash

9:00

approach . Easy

9:03

peasy Two memberships for the

9:05

price of one at masterclasscom slash

9:07

approach , and again it's masterclasscom

9:10

slash approach . Offer terms

9:13

apply , as you might imagine .

9:15

So you're not really screwed if

9:17

you're given a gift like that . Nice

9:19

job , Scrooge .

9:21

Hey , thanks very much . God bless

9:23

us everyone . We

9:26

. I learned that from Helen Marin .

9:29

You'd like to deliver . It was great

9:31

. I liked what you did with your arm there .

9:32

It was a real nice delivery we

9:35

got a guest that is going

9:37

to rock your socks off . We

9:40

come back .

9:40

Talk about a gift . We are going

9:42

to be in the giving mood today because

9:45

we are bringing you royalty

9:48

today .

9:49

Yes , Thirty years at

9:51

the helm of the Dodgers .

9:53

Eleven years as the general manager , Thirty

9:55

years in the Dodgers organization

9:58

. The man who built the

10:00

Dodgers to what they are today and won

10:02

a world championship doing it Red

10:05

player . The general manager of

10:07

the Dodgers is here with us

10:09

today .

10:11

Next , on the Approach Shot .

10:14

Every day , our brave military men and women , along

10:17

with their families , make tremendous sacrifices

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for our freedom . Patriotic

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Hearts , a non-profit organization

10:24

, is dedicated to supporting these heroes

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11:01

. You can become a part of something bigger

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. Join us in our mission to

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uplift and honor our military community . Call

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800-441-9109

11:11

to donate your unwanted cart to Patriotic

11:13

Hearts .

11:22

And thanks for hanging out and coming back . We

11:24

are still the Approach Shot . I'm still John .

11:25

Ashton , I'm Neil Michaels and today

11:28

we have I think it wouldn't

11:30

be overstating it if I said we

11:32

had baseball royalty with

11:35

us today , can we ?

11:35

say that we can but be advised

11:38

. I have bad knees . I don't do the kneeling

11:40

thing too easy .

11:41

You don't bend , we don't bend , we

11:43

can sit and do the . We're not worthy

11:46

bow . How's that ? Even

11:49

that kind of wrenched my ? Back . Fred

11:51

Clair is with us , and you know that Fred was

11:53

a general manager of the Dodgers From 1987

11:56

to 1998 , it was with the Dodgers

11:58

organization for 30 years and worked for

12:00

the incredible O'Malley family . But

12:02

Fred didn't start out , he wasn't handed

12:04

the position . He started out as a beat writer for

12:06

the Press Telegram and

12:08

an opening in the PR department got him

12:11

his start . And so , fred

12:13

, it's been a long journey

12:15

, hasn't it ?

12:16

It has been a long journey

12:18

. It's been a

12:20

wonderful journey to be associated

12:23

with the Dodgers and the

12:25

O'Malley family for 30

12:27

years . At this point in the journey

12:29

, reflecting most

12:32

importantly , I believe , on

12:34

the great friends along

12:36

the way , I think that's what is most

12:38

meaningful to me is the

12:41

opportunities that I've had and

12:43

the friendships that I have .

12:45

Started out life as a journalist and then you had

12:47

to go get a real job .

12:52

You know , the interesting thing about the Dodgers is

12:55

it's a kind of a love-and-murhatum

12:57

situation , and I think the same

12:59

can be said for the Yankees . And you know , when

13:01

I say the Yankees , john generally spits

13:04

his coffee back out because he's been a lifelong

13:06

Red Sox fan and I'm a lifelong Twins

13:08

fan . But you know , it feels like

13:10

we trade all of our best players to the Dodgers

13:13

. So there's a connection there . There's so

13:15

many amazing names that

13:17

when you mentioned the Dodgers and I just

13:19

wanted to throw a couple of them

13:22

out and just have you either tell a story

13:24

or tell how you felt about them . Let's

13:26

start with Ben Scully .

13:28

Ben Scully , the greatest in almost

13:30

every way that you can think of , and

13:33

those of us who had the honor to

13:36

know Vinny . It

13:38

was the humanity , the

13:40

kindness , the generosity

13:42

, the caring , the wonderful

13:45

person that he was really

13:47

overshadowed the total greatness

13:50

of his ability as

13:52

a broadcaster . I treasure

13:54

each and every moment with Vinny . Over

13:57

more than a 50-year friendship

13:59

, Vinny represents what

14:01

all of us should aspire to

14:03

be .

14:04

You know , what's interesting about Vinny

14:06

is , as people

14:09

who spend a lot of time talking about and

14:11

following golf , there are very

14:13

few announcers , especially ones

14:15

who do live sports football or baseball

14:18

that translate well

14:20

from that sport into

14:22

doing golf , and Vinny

14:25

just created this

14:27

aura of being able to

14:29

be a golf broadcaster in

14:32

a way that I don't think anybody had ever done

14:34

or anybody has done since .

14:36

I think the reason for that is

14:38

Vinny , whether it was baseball

14:41

or golf and he dearly loved golf

14:43

my view of that is Vinny

14:45

, let the sport

14:48

speak more than what

14:50

Vinny cares to

14:52

speak . He never got

14:54

in the way of the moment . He

14:57

never got in the way of

14:59

the sport and what was important

15:01

. As visible as he was , his

15:04

greatest strength was stepping back

15:06

. In the greatest moments in

15:08

Dodger history , you didn't hear his

15:11

voice until it was something

15:13

that was so critical

15:15

in the description . In a

15:18

season that has been so improbable

15:20

, the impossible has happened

15:22

. That summarizes

15:25

Vinny .

15:26

We had a golf producer on

15:28

the show a while back . That

15:30

was his pet peeve with

15:32

the announcers on the team that he had

15:34

. He said he was so nice to the public that he didn't

15:37

know when to shut up .

15:43

Vinny is so loved golf and I played

15:45

number of times with Vinny , he

15:48

said at the end of his life when

15:51

he was passing along his memorabilia

15:53

and other things , because

15:56

Vinny was realistic where he

15:58

was at that point in life . Life , he

16:00

said one of the saddest moments was

16:03

seeing them pack up my golf clubs

16:05

and take them out , knowing

16:07

that he would never play the game again . And

16:09

Vinny was a pretty good golfer . Is that right

16:11

? He's a good golfer , but he so loved

16:14

the sport . I can't think

16:16

of anyone who handled

16:18

with all due respect to so many

16:20

the Masters any better than Vinny

16:22

, because Vinny was the master . It

16:24

was a combination that was meant

16:26

to be .

17:27

I have a quick little anecdote . In the 80s

17:29

I lived in Atlanta . I had a friend who worked at

17:32

an electronic store and they

17:34

sold satellites and whenever the Dodgers

17:36

were in town to play the Braves I'd

17:38

go over to the store after closed and

17:41

we'd dial in the

17:43

LA Dodger broadcast

17:45

of the game and we'd listen

17:47

to Vince Scully call the

17:49

game rather than the Chip Carrey

17:51

.

17:51

Let me add one thing on Vinny , because

17:53

it's important . If you want

17:56

to know who Vinny was , this is

17:58

the message of Vinny . This is the one that

18:00

is on his memorial card Lord

18:02

, make me a channel of your peace

18:04

where there is hatred

18:06

, Let me bring your love where

18:09

there is injury , Pardon and

18:11

where there is doubt , faith . O

18:14

Master , grant that I may never seek

18:16

so much to be consoled as

18:19

to console , to be understood

18:21

as to understand , to be loved

18:23

as to love with all my soul . Make

18:26

me a channel of your peace where

18:28

there is despair , hope where there is

18:30

darkness , light where there is sadness

18:32

. Joy . Make me a channel of your

18:35

peace . It is pardoning that

18:37

we are pardoning . It is in giving

18:39

that we receive and in dying

18:41

that we are born to eternal life . I

18:45

can't think of a better phrase

18:47

to describe Vinny , because

18:49

that's truly who he was All

18:52

right .

18:52

Now let's go from Vinny , talk

18:54

to us about your relationship with , and

18:56

tell us something that we don't know about , tommy LaSorta

19:00

.

19:01

When you talk about two Dodger

19:04

icons , you're talking about

19:06

Vinny and you're talking about Tommy , who

19:08

I first met in the spring of 1969

19:12

. I was in my first year of covering

19:14

the Dodgers for the Long Beach paper . Tommy

19:16

was the manager of the

19:18

Spokane team , unknown

19:21

to most Dodger fans at that point

19:23

. Tommy and I developed

19:25

a friendship in 1969

19:28

that remained until

19:31

his passing . So many

19:33

Tommy stories , including

19:36

one and I won't detail all of it , believe

19:38

it or not in a challenge

19:41

that he gave to me in 1969

19:44

, I played for his Spokane team

19:46

, replacing Bobby Valentine at shortstop

19:48

in a rather unforgettable

19:51

game in Dodger spring

19:53

training history . But that was the

19:56

closeness , my last words

19:58

in Tommy's last days , where

20:00

I love you Tommy and

20:02

he said I love you Fred . So that

20:04

was the relationship

20:06

that existed through many times

20:09

, tough times as a manager

20:11

and general manager there are

20:13

never easy times . We shared

20:16

one thing in addition to the friendship

20:18

and that was the just , absolute dedication

20:20

to the Dodgers and wanting to win

20:22

.

20:23

You created the term

20:25

Dodger blue .

20:27

I wanted to create a feeling in

20:29

the marketing of the Dodgers . I

20:32

wanted to bring it almost to a collegiate

20:34

level , a team that you could totally

20:37

embrace . I actually

20:39

borrowed terminology or thought

20:41

from the University of Michigan and Big

20:43

Blue and I saw how

20:45

, in a collegiate atmosphere , that

20:48

that was so important . I wanted to bring

20:50

that to a professional arena

20:53

and the

20:55

fortunate thing was

20:57

, whereas I came

20:59

up with the terminology , I

21:01

had the right person to

21:03

spread the paint and that

21:06

was Tommy . But I wanted to be

21:08

removed from the imagery

21:10

that had been so much of the

21:12

Brooklyn days and the bum and

21:15

bring it into the light of the palm

21:17

trees and the beautiful city of

21:19

Los Angeles . And I knew

21:22

we had it made when , after our

21:24

start of our campaign , union

21:26

Oil ran a bumper sticker . It had no

21:28

baseball on it , it had only two

21:30

words . It was a blue sign with white

21:33

letters coming out and it said think

21:35

blue and everyone in Los

21:37

Angeles knew that that

21:39

was Dodger blue . So the

21:42

Dodger logo with a ball

21:44

and the lines running through it wasn't produced

21:47

by a high powered PR advertising

21:49

agency . It was done by someone

21:51

with the Dodgers on a napkin .

21:54

Wow , all right , I got to ask you one

21:56

question about being general manager . You

21:59

took over a team that was 16

22:01

games under 500 . They

22:03

stunk . Let's just

22:06

be honest . Off season between 1987

22:08

and 88 , you made huge changes

22:11

by bringing on guys like Kurt Gibson , alfredo

22:13

Griffin , jesse Arasco , mike Davis

22:15

, and in the following year the

22:17

Dodgers went to the World Series

22:19

and faced the very heavily

22:22

favored Oakland A's and won

22:24

in five games . How do

22:27

you turn a team that was 16

22:29

games under 500 into a world champion

22:31

in one year ?

22:33

I was blessed in my career

22:35

to know people of character

22:37

. I had the honor to know Jackie Robinson

22:39

, to know Roy Campanella , to

22:41

know Pee Wee Reese , to know Duke Schneider

22:44

. Those were not only great players , not

22:46

only outstanding talent , outstanding

22:49

character , and I

22:51

placed a lot of emphasis on

22:54

the players that I brought in . I

22:56

would ask our scouts tell me about

22:59

the person . What is he all

23:01

about ? When you're looking at a

23:03

player , when you're looking at hiring someone

23:05

in any business , tell

23:08

me about the person , tell me

23:10

about the character , tell me about the

23:12

integrity , tell me

23:14

about the work ethic and if you have those

23:16

things , you will have my support .

23:18

I'm in Louisville , kentucky , right now . Pee Wee's

23:21

picture is on half of one of the buildings

23:23

in town and it simply says Pee

23:25

Wee's Louisville .

23:26

Pee Wee , when you talk about character and

23:28

you talk about history . I knew Jackie

23:31

Robinson and I'm well read on the day

23:33

when , in Cincinnati , the player

23:36

who came over and put his arm

23:38

around Jackie was Pee Wee Reese

23:40

. Those people are people

23:43

of character , integrity

23:45

and an everlasting

23:48

legacy for doing the right

23:50

thing .

23:51

We have Fred Clair as our guest

23:53

and we are going to take a quick

23:55

break , very quick , and be right back here

23:58

on the Approach Shop .

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25:02

.

25:02

Are you listening to the Approach Shop podcast

25:04

? If not , here's what you've been missing

25:06

With Mark .

25:07

Thompson , I get this call

25:09

one day from the people who run the Pebble

25:11

Beach golf tournament . Oh my god

25:13

, this is huge . I've watched

25:16

this . There are a lot of celebrities there . It's going

25:18

to be amazing , unless there's a windmill

25:20

going by and I hit the little cup

25:23

that's the only golf I've really ever played

25:25

.

25:25

Download an episode or two of the Approach Shop

25:27

today at Apple Podcast , spotify

25:29

or wherever you download podcast Prochshotnet

25:32

. And we are back , see how quick that was

25:34

it's like

25:42

it never even happened .

25:44

Incredible . The Approach Shop is back

25:46

. I'm John .

25:46

Ashton , I'm Neil Michaels and we have

25:48

Fred Claire with us .

25:50

Let me ask you a question , man . You've been involved in

25:52

a lot of things for a long time . What's

25:55

the best team you've ever

25:57

worked with ?

25:58

Well , when it comes

26:00

to the team so

26:02

involved with , it would have to be 88

26:05

because they represented they were the world championships

26:08

. But I have great memories

26:10

of so many many players

26:12

when I think about players , or the greatest

26:15

player that I ever knew was

26:17

Jackie . Because Jackie

26:20

in being with him on

26:22

two remarkable , everlasting

26:24

occasions in 1972

26:28

, when we retired his number

26:30

in June along with the numbers of Campy

26:32

and Sandy Kofax , and

26:34

then I had the distinct honor to be with

26:36

Jackie on his last

26:38

public appearance in Cincinnati

26:40

, ohio , when Bowie

26:42

Kuhn , the commissioner , asked him to throw out the first

26:45

ball and Jackie said I will

26:47

, if you give me a chance to say a

26:49

few words . Jackie , being Jackie

26:51

very polite , very correct , said I

26:53

applaud baseball for the progress

26:55

that is made in diversity , but

26:58

I will not be happy until I see

27:00

a black man in the third base

27:02

box meeting manager Right

27:04

. Jackie Robinson's diabetes was

27:07

so bad at that time he

27:09

couldn't see five feet in front of him . I

27:11

know because I was standing with him

27:13

when Pee Wee came up and

27:15

someone had to whisper in his ear it's

27:17

Pee Wee . Jackie

27:19

died nine days later and

27:22

when I've had two going

27:24

through a city of hope that we'll get to in cancer

27:27

. When I had two

27:29

celebrity golf terms to raise

27:31

money for city of hope with Dodger

27:33

players . We raised over half million dollars

27:35

. I wanted to give a celebration of life . We

27:37

gave the first one to Rod Carew , the second one

27:39

to Tommy . But , more important , what

27:41

I wanted was these words on the celebration

27:44

of life trophy Jackie

27:46

Robinson , 42 . A

27:48

life is not important

27:50

except in

27:53

the impact it has

27:55

on other lives . So

27:58

I can look back over my 88

28:00

years , I can look back over

28:02

30 years with the Dodgers , and

28:06

those words and

28:08

those memories mean more to me

28:10

, far more than a world championship

28:12

, far more than anything I've

28:14

ever been involved with in my life .

28:17

Well , we know for a fact that you

28:19

have had quite an impact , you

28:21

just started touching on the city of hope

28:23

and when John asked you what team

28:26

that you dealt with was the best

28:28

team you ever that you ever played for , you

28:30

ever had an association with , I thought

28:33

you were going to say the doctors and the team

28:35

at city of hope , because I know that there

28:37

have been people who have asked you

28:39

that question before and that's what you

28:41

said . And let's go back and maybe

28:43

talk about some things that people might find a

28:45

little painful to hear . But you were diagnosed

28:48

with cancer that was originally just

28:50

a skin cancer and then it spread to your jaw

28:52

back in 2016 . I

28:55

will ask you this because I thought this was

28:57

one of the most remarkable things

28:59

I'd ever heard . Do you remember

29:01

what Kirk Gibson said and how you

29:04

should deal with it ?

29:04

Kirk had called me and

29:07

I was about to go through because

29:09

I had had a neck cancer and

29:13

I was about to start

29:15

a series of 33 radiations

29:17

where they put the mask over your

29:20

head , put you in the chamber

29:22

and your whole face

29:24

and jaw and neck is burnt

29:26

raw . I can't remember the words

29:28

in the book , but I can remember the thoughts

29:30

that he gave me . He basically

29:33

said Fred , you're tougher than that

29:35

machine . He said I know you . You're

29:37

tougher than that and

29:39

you will do this . When Kirk says you

29:41

will do this , those around him know

29:43

you don't really have a choice . Then

29:45

you got to do it , whether

29:48

it's to get the last guy out or do

29:50

whatever you got . Kirk battles

29:52

Parkinson's and this is typical of

29:54

Kirk and his attitude More than anything he ever

29:56

did on the field . He won't give

29:58

Parkinson's the do of calling

30:01

it by name . He calls it

30:03

Parky , like a little friend . He knows

30:05

he can kick his ass anytime he wants to . Parkinson's

30:10

picked the wrong guy when cancer

30:13

hit me and they gave me a 20% chance

30:15

. I said that they picked the wrong

30:17

guy because if cancer thinks I'm

30:19

going to give up on trying to beat

30:22

it , it's not going

30:24

to happen . Not today , not

30:26

tomorrow , not as long as I breathe

30:28

. You're right when we were talking

30:30

baseball , but when it becomes

30:32

to life , the greatest team

30:35

that I've ever known is

30:37

the team at City of Hope

30:39

. All of that is documented , as you know

30:41

, in the book , with all that

30:43

proceeds to City of Hope extra innings

30:45

, fred Clair's journey to City of Hope and

30:47

finding a world championship team Opportunities

30:50

that I've had to help . City of Hope

30:52

is

30:55

the greatest satisfaction I've

30:57

ever had in my life and

30:59

since cancer hit me nine

31:01

years ago , I would consider those years

31:04

to be , the many ways , the best

31:06

years I've ever lived .

31:07

Is it still in progress or have you necessarily

31:09

beaten it ?

31:12

We don't say , cheryl , and I don't say that we've

31:14

beaten it . You never want to say that to a dangerous

31:16

opponent that we've beaten you . I'm

31:18

going to say you can always come back .

31:20

Yes indeed .

31:21

But I've had two , I won't elaborate . I've had

31:23

two major surgeries . When

31:25

you see the advancements , the science

31:28

of medicine and dealing with cancer

31:30

, there's not one of us that we know who

31:32

hasn't

32:33

been impacted . I tell

32:35

others , beating cancer is a

32:37

team game , that we need

32:39

to be together in so many

32:41

ways in helping one another Really

32:44

with Jackie , when the words

32:46

a life is not important except

32:48

on the impact of other lives , jackie's

32:51

words to me are a description

32:53

, not only City of Hope , that's just one

32:56

medical hospital that I'm

32:58

aware of . It could be the Mayo

33:00

Clinic , it could be all of the great

33:02

medical centers throughout our

33:05

country , throughout the world . But the work

33:07

that they do is when we talk about

33:09

heroes . I spend a lot of time in sports

33:11

. If you ask me my

33:13

list of heroes , I'm afraid maybe

33:16

other than Jackie , no one makes the

33:18

list . The work that people do in helping

33:21

others , because we're all going to face

33:23

challenges . It's

33:25

how we deal with them and the help that

33:27

we have where we understand

33:29

greater the meaning of life

33:32

.

33:33

I think one of the things that I find remarkable

33:35

, Fred , is that you also have

33:37

had a lifelong partner in Cheryl that

33:39

has been fighting with this . So

33:41

when people say cancer picked the wrong

33:44

person , what they really should say

33:46

is they picked the wrong team .

33:48

You're right there . And when we get the golf

33:50

? Believe me , there isn't anyone

33:52

in the world that loves golf more

33:54

than Cheryl . She and I will

33:56

be at the driving range in

33:58

about an hour . The only problem

34:00

Cheryl has with golf is that

34:03

she's a perfectionist . This

34:05

is not a game of perfect , but Cheryl

34:07

bless her heart . When you talk about someone

34:10

fighting cancer , it's the

34:12

care that they receive that

34:14

makes the biggest difference . As

34:16

I said it's a team effort

34:19

and the caregivers are

34:22

truly the most

34:24

important part of a recovery . We

34:26

can't do this alone .

34:28

A quote from the book jacket says extra innings

34:30

offers hope for cancer patients

34:32

everywhere . But isn't it

34:34

also a story of how love and

34:37

care can deliver hope and

34:39

power ?

34:40

I think so .

34:41

All right , I'm going to be your PR department

34:43

here for a minute . Let's go back to something that

34:45

you said Extra innings , fred

34:47

Claire's journey to the city of hope

34:49

and finding a world championship team is

34:52

available on Amazon . It's

34:54

available any place you can find

34:56

books , just so happens , we're

34:58

doing this podcast right around the holidays

35:01

. It would make a great gift , and

35:03

if you didn't catch when Fred said

35:05

it , every dime

35:08

goes to the

35:10

city of hope , so when you're

35:12

buying the book , you're also donating . If

35:15

you're a Dodger fan or you hate the

35:17

Dodgers or you wonder

35:19

why somebody would sign a baseball

35:21

player for $700 million and

35:24

you think , oh , tony is going to be the next

35:26

coming of Babe Ruth , whatever it

35:28

is , go buy the book , read

35:30

the great stories , because there are a lot of

35:32

Dodger stories in there too , and by

35:34

doing that you'll be donating to the cause

35:36

.

35:37

I appreciate that so much . Anyone

35:40

who has read it or reads it and cares

35:42

to give a review would

35:44

be greatly appreciated , because what's

35:47

really remarkable and that was what

35:49

I had hoped for in the reviews Fred

35:51

became kind of the vehicle

35:53

running through here but it's really

35:55

a story of the city of hope , the

35:57

doctors , the other patients , and

36:00

that's the essence of

36:02

it . But I very much appreciate that

36:05

attention to extra innings

36:07

with benefits to city of hope .

36:09

Absolutely . Innings Fred Clare

36:11

, available wherever books are sold . There

36:13

you go , nice , you

36:16

want to warn them about the six pack , or do we

36:18

just spring it out and when we come back ?

36:20

We've loved you this entire time , we'd love

36:22

your story , but we have a six pack

36:25

of questions coming up that we ask

36:27

everybody who's on the show , and

36:29

what we're going to do is we're going to hit you with these

36:31

six . We're going to hit that . We're going to send them to you

36:33

fast , we're going to want your first thought

36:36

, but we're going to do that when we come back

36:38

, you bet .

36:39

And we'll be right back with Fred Clare here on the Approach

36:41

Show .

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of TSO and more .

37:53

And we are back the Approach Shot . I'm John

37:55

Ashton .

37:56

I'm Neil Michelson . When we do this , we

37:58

do this six pack . Usually I warn

38:00

people ahead of time oh , we're going to get you

38:02

and all those kind of stuff . But man , I

38:04

want to be your best friend . I

38:08

love listening to you talk . I love what you did

38:10

. I've never been a Dodger

38:12

fan , but I might start liking him this year . I

38:14

live in San Diego so you know I'm not

38:16

supposed to he just wants to get invited to

38:18

opening day next year .

38:19

That's all .

38:20

I do . I've never been

38:22

to Dodger Stadium and I'm right down the road , so that's yeah . But

38:26

having said that , we do have the questions for you

38:28

, so let's get through these and see how you

38:30

do . Fred , first thing that comes to mind . All right

38:32

, you bet , okay

38:34

. Question one there's

38:36

one blemish that most people talk

38:38

about on your record as GM

38:40

. It's the trade involving you sending

38:42

Pedro Martinez to the Expos

38:44

in exchange for Delano de Shields

38:47

. Obviously , that worked out better for

38:49

the Expos than it did for the Dodgers . Here's

38:51

my question what's the trade

38:53

that you wish you had back that

38:55

people don't talk about ?

39:01

The trade was of

39:03

John Wetland , who

39:06

I had traded . People don't

39:08

talk about it . Maybe it's been a little

39:10

bit forgotten in time , but

39:12

John proved to be a very

39:15

good relief pitcher

39:17

with the

39:19

Yankees and other teams that

39:25

one , I think about all of them that

39:27

didn't work out , but Pedro certainly is

39:30

at the forefront of that

39:32

.

39:34

Yeah , you're absolutely right . I remember John Wetland

39:36

being the closer for the Rangers

39:39

for a while , and really holding down that bullpen .

39:41

Yes , he was .

39:41

Yeah , all right . Question

39:43

two what's the

39:45

most memorably bad golf shot

39:47

you've hit in organized play ?

39:50

It involves a baseball

39:52

player and

39:55

I was playing with Gary Carter

39:57

. Oh OK , wonderful catcher

39:59

. I don't know , can't remember all

40:01

the circumstances that led to it , but

40:03

we were playing together . I missed

40:05

, hit a ball that nearly took his head off . That

40:08

could have ended his career . So

40:12

I've never forgotten that shot

40:15

. I'll bet he has a lead . Gary blesses

40:17

life . He left this all too soon , but

40:19

a wonderful man , a wonderful friend

40:22

, who I brought to the Dodgers in

40:24

late in his career .

40:26

Yes , you did , and you're right . He

40:28

was a wonderful , wonderful player . And

40:30

you're right , I'll bet he did never forget that

40:32

shot either no he didn't All

40:35

right . Question three the approach shot

40:38

. Jeannie has arrived and is granting

40:40

you one wish that you can do

40:42

anything with .

40:44

What would it be One wish

40:46

that I could do . One wish

40:48

and you could do anything with it , it

40:51

would be easy to

40:54

find a cure for cancer for all

40:56

.

40:57

Fantastic , best answer we've ever had . All

41:00

right Question four Eight

41:03

year old Fred walks into the general

41:05

store and gets to pick one

41:07

treat to walk out

41:09

with that his mom and dad don't know

41:11

about . What candy are you

41:13

eating ?

41:16

That would be a little hard

41:18

because I've never really been much of

41:21

a candy eater , but as I think

41:23

of my life , it's surprisingly

41:26

. It may be a little risk

41:28

. Bar a risk chocolate cup . That's

41:32

how to shock everybody , including my wife

41:34

.

41:36

Hey , Cheryl , there's something that you didn't know about

41:38

him . Now in your Christmas

41:40

stocking there's going to be a bunch of recent eat-it butter

41:42

cups . All right , Question

41:44

four you get to play golf in a foursome

41:47

of your choice . It can be

41:49

anyone you have ever known . You're

41:52

getting in the cart and three other people

41:54

are joining you . People

41:56

are not known People .

41:58

you have known People I have known

42:00

. First

42:02

and foremost

42:05

, it would be my

42:07

dad who introduced me

42:09

to the game . Marston

42:12

, claire , it would be

42:14

my son , jeff

42:17

would be in that foursome

42:19

. I would . Well , I

42:22

haven't met him so I can't say

42:24

who I was about to say . I

42:27

would , of course , be my

42:29

wonderful wife , cheryl , who would

42:31

be in that

42:33

foursome . The

42:37

fourth person would be a

42:39

little contest that whoever wanted to

42:41

join the three would get

42:44

an invitation to join us .

42:47

Who is the person you were thinking of that you haven't

42:49

met ? Barack Obama . Wow

42:53

, terrific . Okay

42:56

, question six . We

42:58

ask this of everybody who comes on the show . Fred

43:00

, since we are the approach shot in

43:03

your approach to life , what

43:05

one rule do you live by ?

43:09

It's very basic Do the very best you can

43:11

, every day , every shot , do

43:14

the absolute best that you can and

43:16

never , ever , give up on yourself .

43:20

Wow , that's supposed

43:23

to be hard , Fred . Those six questions

43:25

are supposed to be a challenge . It's

43:27

like you came in to rehearsal

43:29

with us .

43:31

You gave it to him beforehand , didn't you ? You

43:33

know , I feel like I did .

43:35

I feel like I slipped him the questions and he

43:37

had answers that were great .

43:40

And I will go back and add that fourth

43:43

person to our foursome , and

43:46

that would be Walter O'Malley .

43:48

That's an amazing family and honestly

43:50

I don't know that we have owners like

43:52

that anymore that care

43:54

about the game as much as they did . But I

43:57

will tell you one of the great joys I had

43:59

in my early career I

44:01

worked in the Baltimore , washington area

44:03

for a sports network . That was when

44:05

the Washington Bullets

44:07

and the Washington Capitals were owned by Susan O'Malley

44:10

. Dealing with someone who is the owner

44:12

of two franchises like that you

44:14

would think would be difficult and that they would

44:17

screen a lot of people , but she

44:19

made it so that she had an open door policy and

44:21

whenever we needed something , whenever

44:23

the network needed something , whenever we

44:25

would be on the floor doing a game , if

44:28

we needed something and Susan was

44:30

around , she would get involved . She was hands

44:32

on and she was an O'Malley is

44:34

what she was .

44:35

All I can say Fred is great hair man .

44:40

Yeah , the two of you . The two of you

44:42

with your hair . I'm sitting

44:44

here with the shut eye and coming across

44:46

my forehead . I'm younger than both

44:48

of you and I got nothing . The two of

44:50

you .

44:51

Yeah , well , I bless

44:53

you to my grandfather and

44:57

nothing to do with it .

44:58

Well , in case any of you are

45:00

wondering is Fred

45:02

Claire really like this ? Just think

45:05

about the fact that you just admitted

45:07

to your age a little while ago and you

45:09

and Cheryl are going to be on the driving range in

45:11

now 45 minutes . So

45:14

in case anybody thinks I can't do

45:16

so , I can't get up , I can't do something today

45:18

, I don't feel like it . Just

45:20

know that the Claire's are out there

45:22

hitting balls while you're sitting around not

45:24

doing what you could just say you can't do

45:26

.

45:27

And we also walked a mile and a half this

45:29

morning before we came

45:31

back to our smoothie .

45:32

Now I'm just feeling bad about myself .

45:36

We are blessed we are blessed .

45:38

Indeed , what a slug , neil . I'm

45:40

sorry .

45:44

Fred Claire , thank you so much for taking the time to

45:46

join us on the show it's been . To

45:48

say it's been a delight is such an understatement

45:51

. This has been one of the great hours of

45:53

my life .

45:53

Thanks very much . Great to be

45:55

with you . Take good care , reach out anytime

45:58

I can help . Sounds great .

45:59

We'll definitely do that , thank you , Fred

46:01

, Take care bud .

46:03

You've been listening to the Approach Shot with the Weekend

46:05

Golf Guys . If you like this week's episode

46:08

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46:10

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46:12

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46:14

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