Larry Jewell

3, 2, 1. Kind of interesting to go on the road, Patrick Elster, and have you as my first guest. But there are reasons. Well, this sure brings back a lot of memories for me being back in Long Beach. I had a ball club here, actually. We won the first two Western League championships here in Long Beach. Long beach, three years, Zion, now St. George, three years in the league. You've been in two different places in Dunham? Well, yeah, actually I was here in Long beach for two seasons and then we moved to Mission Viejo for a season and ended up selling that license and Dennis Narlinger purchased this license and we came out to St. George. So actually been in the league all six years of the league and fortunate enough to have three of the championships. I guess the best thing to say is you're in on the creation, you're in on the blossoming. You've seen the growth of this league. It's true. Actually, there are two original members, if you will, Bob Fletcher and myself. Being that when I purchased the Long beach franchise originally, it was slightly into the first season. Even though I had been in the league the entire year, I didn't purchase the team until about halfway through the first year. So I'd have to give Fletcher a tip of the hat in terms of involvement. I guess as an owner. He's got a few months on me. But yes, I have seen the league grow and you know, one of the things, the league's back to six teams this year. And I have always been an advocate that what we need are strong owners, not lots of franchises. So I like a six team league. I like it back at six. Although, as I say that the league has plans to expand back to eight teams next year. The good thing about having six is I know the six owners, I know they all have deep pockets. I know that the league is stable. And, you know, it's that kind of growth that we've been able to see over the first six years here that make the Western League fun. You mentioned that stability. That is definitely part of the history of this now. The presence, the stability of the league. Yes, exactly right. A lot of, you know, a reporter will grab you here and there and say, oh my gosh, this team is gone and that team is gone. You know, your league must be unstable. And I'm an advocate of turnover. I think it's just the opposite way. I think if you have a bad market that's not drawing fans, you need to get the heck out of it and find yourself a good market where you can be profitable. And flourish. And so there's no point in keeping the team alive in a bad market. So I'm an advocate of turnover. I think turnover is good for a young league as long as it's constructive turnover and you continue to upgrade your ownership. To be honest with you, the St. George area has been a gradual growth and that seems to be a little bit of the history of the area. Gradual growth. It's very true. It indeed has been. We actually lost about a million dollars in our first year in St. George. You know, we put a good team on the field, fielded a very good ball club, but lost a lot of money and found out some things about our market. And the second year, last year we were able to come, even though we still lost probably $350,000 last year, it was a marked improvement over our first year. And of course we won a championship. And what that's done is allowed us to kind of springboard into this year where our attendance has been slightly better, our receipts are slightly better. And so I believe we're still going to lose a little bit of money this year. I think we're going to probably lose around $150,000. However, you know, it wouldn't take a whole lot of additional attendance to make that difference up. So it's not impossible that if we continue, you know, if we play good ball and could continue to increase our fan base back home, that we could come close to breaking even this year. So, yeah, it's been a gradual building of loyalty and things like that in St. George with our fans. And, you know, we're certainly doing the best we can from our end. One of the things that's interesting, it becomes a more vocal crowd in there. That definitely stepped up in August. That's very true. St. George has got a reputation for being a fairly reserved area. And I know the first year the fans were very, very quiet. And it's kind of been an evolution of the St. George fan, if you will. They're a little bit more vocal now. They're into it. The crowds are into the game more. And they really have been a little bit more responsive, I think, this year than as reserved as they've been in the past. So that makes it a fun environment out at the ballpark. There have been some real heroics in that baseball stadium, including the championship last year. Sure. It was just one of those things that you never forget being a part of it where Bob Murrow, with bad wrist and all came in, hit two home runs for us, including a walk off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to win the championship. It was a very special moment. I've got to ask you, you've been involved with baseball for so long, what were your thoughts when that thing went sailing out? Do you remember what you thought when that two run home run hit? Yes, I do. I thought, get up, get up because it was a line drive and I wasn't sure it was going to clear the left field wall. So, you know, originally I just said, be high enough. I knew you hit it hard enough. I just thought, for crying out loud, be high enough, please. And it did. It was really special. Actually, you know what? I was happy for Dennis Narlinger. I was very happy. His family was there and he was there and he was able to see it. And he had invested so much financially in our club. I was really glad that he could enjoy that moment. Dennis loves baseball, doesn't he? Yeah, he really does. How did he get involved with that? Oh, I just think, you know, sports have probably been a lifelong passion with Dennis. We've not known each other all that long, but since I've known him, he's been a big sports fan and he's now dabbling in horse racing and he's had some success with his horses. So he's very much a sportsman. I know you were involved with communications, successful career, then made a decision to go into sports and baseball. What led you to your feelings with baseball now? Well, this is a different game and there are some real ups about this game and there are some real downs. So certainly the highs are terrific and you enjoy them and they're great. And then there are lows in this game and you know, we've had what I would consider a low. We have made a replacement at field manager and we had a field manager, Billy Ashley, who worked very, very hard and was very dedicated in the. Just a good man. And I think we put him in a difficult spot. I think we put him in a very difficult. Gave him a very low chance of being able to be completely successful. And what I mean by that is I think our whole experiment with player coaching was probably just a bad move on our part. And so through no fault really of his own, he was kind of put in a difficult situation. So we thought that we needed to. To make a change and we've done that. Brian Greybeck is going to take over managing the ball club. And what we'll also do with Brian is transition him out of the player role because I just think that's probably too much to put on somebody having to play and manage a game at the same time. So, yeah, there are ups and there are downs and certainly our organization wishes Billy Ashley the best. And he's a talented, straight up kind of person who will find success, I think, in whatever he does. And hopefully it will still be in the baseball field. Before we go to our break, one of the things we need to talk about about Billy Ashley is he mentioned the first time around he's young enough to be a player or a coach someplace. Well, he's a great player and I just think that, you know, he did everything he could do to help us win. Unless we have a first place team, it's not as if, you know, we're a flop in some way. That's not the case. I think Billy's a talented guy and I think we just put him in a very, very tough spot and I think it's probably a lot more our responsibility than anybody else's. And like I say, he's dedicated, works hard and got nothing but good things to say about Billy. I think, you know, we're going to take maybe a slightly lower key approach the remainder of the year and try to transition out of the player coach situation that we're in now. But as I said, he's a terrific talent and a good man and we wish him nothing but the best. We'll talk a little bit more about baseball, some of the challenges for the owners after this timeout. 3, 2, 1. A lot of people think about Billy Ashley and why is he gone, but there are things you have to have to make changes on when you do in order to keep that team going, isn't it? Well, change is never easy and you know, without. I mean, change is never easy and those kind of things are part of the game. And it's like I said, sometimes you can experience some great highs in this game and sometimes you can experience some real lows. And you know, for me that was very, very difficult. I think the world of Billy and like I say, we wish him nothing but the best and I'm sure he's going to have some great successes to look forward to. Let's talk about the two coaches you have remaining. One's now, the interim manager, Brian Grabeck is an excellent ballplayer and good instinct, at least it appears to me. Brian's a terrific guy. Like Brian, alive. He's got a ton of experience, been in the baseball game for a long time. I think he's. He's been in professional baseball now for about 14 years. So he brings a lot of experience with him, and he's a good guy. You know, we hope that we can provide him with the things he needs to be successful on the field. He struggled initially. He's been hot lately. Yes. Yeah. On the player side, he's swinging the bat very, very well. And, you know, Brian's a pro. Brian can play when. When Brian's out at second base defensively, there's, you know, nobody I'd rather have the ball hit to. We need a big out. I'm hoping they hit it to second. I know Brian. I know Brian's going to get the job done. I know he's had some good times in shortstop and this year, some good times at third base, but second base seems to be it. Well, I mean, obviously that's his natural position. He's just a versatile. Versatile enough player and talented enough player that he could play anyplace else in the infield as well. Let's talk about pitching. Mike Smith, he's been an assistant for you before, but not until this year, since Utah. True. And again, I think that's another thing that we need to do is try to kind of transition Mike out of doing some other things. Our pitching staff is last in the league and has been a great source. Source of frustration. So, you know, I think the more we can do to get Mike to a point where he can just work with his pitchers and not worry about other things, you know, the better we'll be for it. And again, that wasn't anybody's fault but our own. You know, that, for instance, that Mike has been coaching third base and doing some other related things. And now we just want Mike to, as much as we can, concentrate on trying to improve our team era. I know watching him coach, there are times he's had some great influence on making this team work when he's been coaching at third. Well, that's true. I mean, Mike coaches in the offseason. He's got a girls softball team. So managing is not something that he's, you know, managing and coaching at third base box and all that. It's not something that he's unfamiliar with. And of course, most pitchers, by the time they get to professional baseball, they've all, you know, played other positions as well and have other knowledge of the game. So, like I say, at this point, we just. I think we need to get Mike back to spending the time he needs to spend with his pitchers. You added the pitcher today. What can we know about him? Bucky Buckles was brought on board today. He's out of The Texas Ranger organization. He was a young man that was on a fast track, I think, to the big leagues as terrific numbers, good success all the way through to Triple A. Had Tommy John surgery a little over a year ago. He's back now, and what he needs is to build up his arm strength and get some innings and show the affiliates that he's healthy again. So hopefully while he's doing that, he can help us. I believe before his surgery, he was 89 to 91. We top out at 94. He tells us now that he's at 88 to 90 and tops out about 92. So if that's the case, he's going to be very, very effective in our league. And in scouting him and talking to some of the other players who have faced him in the past, they say he's got just really terrific stuff. And I think he's going to help shore up our starting rotation here very shortly. I guess I can confess my initial visit with him, which wasn't very long, but he seems like a good, solid man, very nice young man. I had a chance to talk with he and his wife, Robin, and they both seem like really quality individuals. And so, you know, obviously when you're the last in the league in team era, you know, you need to do some things to supplement your rotation. And that's why we brought Bucky in. And you never know for sure until they get out there on the mound and they've had a chance to re acclimate themselves to pitching after a while and get back into the competitive part of pitching. You just never know. All the indicators are that this guy can be successful. And so I hope that's the case. One question a lot of people may have is are there any other changes that are forecast for this team? Yes, we'll be adding two more players tomorrow. Steve Goodell, who is an infielder, played on the international team last year. He's a guy with AAA experience. He's got some pop. He's capable certainly of hitting 20 to 25 home runs. In our ballpark, he should be not only an offensive threat, but help shore up our infield as well. Obviously, we're short in the infield. DG Nelson broke his wrist, so our third baseman went down. Curtis Jacobson came in as a replacement. But in all fairness to Curtis, he's done a very good job in what we've asked him to do. He's, you know, I think getting an induction by fire, if you will. Poor kid. This is a tremendous jump for someone to go from college ball to this level of baseball. And the first night we signed Curtis was a lot of fun. He had three, three hits in a row. He was pumped up and it was great. That can happen occasionally. And then when once you go around the league a little bit and you know, pitchers have a tendency to figure guys out, so it's a constant challenge. But he's done a very good job for us and, you know, hopefully he'll continue to develop. But overall, right now we've got 20 on the roster. We're allowed to have 22 on the roster and two on the DL. So we're quite short. So good Dell tomorrow. And Denny Gillich is another young man that we're going to sign tomorrow. He worked out for us today in the bullpen. He's a setup gu right hander, throws sort of sidearm or three quarter, if you will. He throws hard. He's got good stuff, good fork ball, good curveball, plus what we call a plus fastball. Probably 89, 89 to 90 fastball. And so he's out of the Angels organization. Another guy who had surgery in the off season but now is back throwing hard again and he just needs some innings, so hopefully he'll be able to help. So we'll be adding those two guys to the roster tomorrow. I was going to ask you about the matchup with this particular team, but we talk a lot about trying to get the additions to the Pioneers. That's a challenge, but it looks like you have some good ones. Well, we're, you know, we're looking and you know, we're a team that understands we need to win. We expect when our fans come out and pay money to watch us play that we're going to give them a winner. And so we work very hard to do that. And I think the time to make the changes to improve yourself are while you're still in first place. So we've not played very good ball lately. But the good news is while we've been on this bad streak, we've been able to continue to hold on to first place. And the next nine games of this road trip are critical. We play the two teams in our division that we need to beat, Long beach and Yuma. So we've got six with Long beach and three with Yuma. And you know, at a critical stage of the first half for us, we come in here with a two game lead over Yuma and I want to say four or five game lead over Long Beach. So we need to play good ball and win as many of these next nine games as we can, we have an opportunity where if we could get hot here, we could put away this first half and that would be the best overall scenario. But you know, in the same breath I'll say that the other place that you miss, Billy, Billy Ashley is going to be in the DH role. He's, you know, a great player, great hitter and he's got all that pop and we don't have somebody tonight to fill that spot. And we were actually have been looking anyway for another power hitter. So really I still think the changes that the fans out there can expect to see are us looking to get some additional power. This Steve Goodell who's coming in tomorrow has a lot of pop in his bat. So that's one of the power spots and he'll do double duty because he also fills in for us being short in the infield. But I think over the next very short time here that we will continue to look for another power spot in the lineup, maybe a power infielder. It's a challenge to the team, but congratulations on making the moves that are needed right now. Good luck tonight. Thank you, Larry. I appreciate it. I just remind everybody that we come back home on June 25, the last Monday of the month with a big fireworks show and we're home for just a short six game stretch before we go back on the road. Good time to see the team. Yeah. Thank you, Larry. What time do you have by the way? Immediately again.