LSU Claims College Baseball Throne: Umpire Drama, and MLB Memories

The LSU Tigers have claimed their eighth national championship by sweeping Coastal Carolina in the College World Series. Controversy emerged when two Coastal Carolina coaches were ejected in the first inning of Game 2 for arguing balls and strikes, highlighting issues with umpire overreach in championship games.

• LSU has now won two championships in three years, cementing their dynasty status
• Coastal Carolina earned respect with competitive, fundamental baseball despite the loss
• Ejection of Coastal's head coach and first base coach in first inning sparked controversy
• Too many reviews and official interventions detracted from the championship experience
• MLB update: Yankees won their series against Baltimore with strong pitching
• Cal Raleigh of Seattle Mariners broke Johnny Bench's record with 31 pre-All-Star break homers
• Sammy Sosa returned to Wrigley Field after 20 years, connecting to the 1998 home run chase
• Personal story of nearly catching Mark McGwire's 59th home run of the 1998 season
• The 1998 Yankees won 114 games and the World Series in a historic season
• Baseball's ability to create lasting memories transcends even the steroid era controversies

Let's go baseball.

Music Licensed Via Soundstripe Subscription

Chapters

• 0:05 LSU wins national championship
• 1:01 Coaches ejected: Umpire controversy
• 2:39 Yankees win and Kyle Riley's record
• 3:58 Sammy Sosa and McGuire's homer chase
• 4:55 Personal story: Almost catching history
• 7:30 Baseball memories and steroid era

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

How we doing baseball fans. The LSU Tigers are national champions. They swept Coastal Carolina and what a series. It was right, really going all the way back to the regionals, the super regionals, then finally to Omaha with some really good games. But tip your caps to LSU. I mean they've won now two years out of three. They're national champs. They got eight overall.

Speaker 1: 0:28

There's a lot of talk about SEC and the big conference and the big money. I mean it is what it is, but Coastal Carolina showed up and has nothing to be ashamed of. I mean everybody knows how to say Chanticleers now, right, nah, but it's more than that. They play good fundamental baseball. We're competitive, no, but it's more than that. They played good fundamental baseball, were competitive and they had a chance to win it. They were in it to win it and they had a lot of people rooting for them for sure. So I'm sure that program's just going to continue to build.

Speaker 1: 1:01

Obviously, the elephant in the room is that their coach gets thrown out of the game in the first inning for arguing balls and strikes Not only their head coach but also their first base coach. So two key coaches get thrown out of the game. Game two the National Championship Series because an umpire got his feelings hurt. I mean, look, we've been arguing balls and strikes in baseball as long as there's been baseball and as long as there'll be baseball, we'll be arguing balls and strikes. I mean, that's's been baseball and as long as there'll be baseball we'll be arguing balls and strikes. I mean that's part of it. I know that there's a respect level and coaches aren't supposed to do it, but you're talking about the first inning in a national championship game. It was way too quick, man. You got to self-regulate. You know what I mean. You got to go take a walk down the line. You got to clean off the plate. You got to do something to not throw the head coach of the team that's playing the team on the field out of the game.

Speaker 1: 1:53

It's not a good look for umpires. It's not a good look for college baseball. I enjoyed the games thoroughly but there was a whole lot of reviews, all the hit-by-pitches reviewing, all the obstruction. I mean just too many umpires. You know what I mean. I learned a long time ago when I was a kid. It's like an unspoken rule A good umpire, you don't know. They're there, they're just seamless. They're on the field doing what they do. But you're not talking about them at the end of the game. If you're talking about an umpire, they probably were too much umpire. You know what I mean. So I think they've got to take a look at that. So anyway, not a good look. I don't want to overstate it. I don't think it should overshadow the great baseball that was played. It's newsworthy, you can't not talk about it.

Speaker 1: 2:39

But now that college baseball is over, we got to focus on the big leagues. The Yankees won the series against Baltimore this past weekend. It wasn't pretty, but they got the win. The pitching looked real good. The offense is just up and down. We got to figure out what we're doing with that. But I like the way jazz is making stuff happen. And now we're on the road to Cincinnati.

Speaker 1: 3:00

And speaking of Cincinnati, how about Kyle Riley, the catcher of the Seattle Mariners, breaking Johnny Bench's record for the most home runs by a catcher before the All-Star break? The previous record, johnny Bench's record, was 28. Riley already has 31,. And it's still a couple of weeks before the break. The kid's on fire. And if you don't know who Kyle Riley is, you better ask Sammy Sosa? Did I say Sammy Sosa? Yeah, that's right, sammy Sosa was at Wrigley Field and saw Kyle Riley hit his 30th home run because the Mariners were playing the Cubbies. Crazy how I connect these stories. But anyway, yeah, sammy Sosa's back at Wrigley Field for the first time in like 20 years. You got to love Sammy, right? He's like here here and here. How's that go? Anyway, yeah, sammy Sosa, what a run he had 1998. Him and Mark McGuire chasing Roger Maris' home run record. It was good stuff.

Speaker 1: 3:58

I remember watching those games. I used to record them. I would record them on all VHS tapes. I'd record all the games to see if I could catch the history tapes. I'd record all the games to see if I could catch the history. 98 was a great year for baseball. The Yankees won the World Series. They had won like 114 games. I think that's still a record the most wins, the most wins ever. You got to double check me. I need a fact check, I need an editor, I need a sponsor, I need a lot of things. It was a good year and that chase was a lot of fun and they had everybody glued to the TV.

Speaker 1: 4:23

One of my favorite baseball stories is being able to see Mark McGuire hit two of those home runs, number 58 and 59 at Joe Robbie Stadium. The Cardinals were playing the Marlins. They were the Florida Marlins at the time and my nephew, clay, got the gift of a baseball lifetime. One of his teachers had four tickets to the game and wasn't able to go. And he told him late in the afternoon. He's like, hey, if you want these tickets, I can't go. So Clay calls me up and he's like can we go? Can we make it? I'm like, yeah, get the tickets and get in the car, let's go. And for three and a half hours, from Key West to Miami, we talked about what are we going to do if he hits a home run ball our way? Because at this point it was already.

Speaker 1: 5:05

Everybody was keeping the home run balls. They were trying to sell them to make money. They were collector's items, you know. Plus, mcguire wanted them, major League Baseball wanted them. You know, for the history, because this is a big, you know this was a big deal. So it was a legitimate conversation to have and the seats were in left field. So there was a very good chance that we were going to get a piece of history. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1: 5:28

So we had to have a plan right. So first you got to secure the ball. You got to catch the ball right, because just because the ball comes to you don't mean you catch it. And then you got to secure the ball right Because everybody else wants the ball, so there's a good chance people are going to get up on you right. And then you got to figure out are you going to keep the ball or are you going to negotiate with Major League Baseball and Mark McGuire for the ball? Well, sure enough, the game's going on and on and, no surprise, the Monets are getting beat.

Speaker 1: 5:56

Seventh inning comes baya McGuire hits one out to the upper deck left field, but to the upper deck above us. Can't believe it. Well, you think our shot's gone now? Right, it's the seventh inning. What's the chance he's going to get up the bat again? Well, I'll be damned if he doesn't get up the bat again and hits number 59 to our section. I kid you not. The ball was coming right to us. Everybody stands on their feet and the ball's getting bigger and bigger and bigger as it gets to you. And we just stood there, frozen, mesmerized. Could this really be happening? Hell yeah, it was happening. Fortunately, the ball landed about 12 or 15 feet to the left of us, even though it was in the same section. It was just far enough that we really couldn't make a play on it.

Speaker 1: 6:45

I'll never forget that game. I'll never forget the drive up there talking about it, it's a long drive from Key West to Miami three and a half, four hours, depending on how fast you drive right and how much traffic you got. What are we going to do? And then get in there and seeing him hit number 58 and 59. And remember, you're talking about home runs, number 58 and 59, and the mark was 61 to beat Roger Maris' record right. So it was heating up. We were in the throes of it. It was like the first week of September that this is happening, so there wasn't a whole lot of baseball left, but it was clear that it was going to happen, you know, because he was banging them out just as quick as he was injecting steroids. Unfortunately, that was a steroid error, so we had to pretend like that never happened. Anyway, it's one of the great baseball stories in my life. It's one of the reasons why I love this game so much. Let's go baseball.