My guest in this episode is 70-year-old John Yandle who, rather remarkably, has been throwing batting practice to the San Francisco Giants for 41 years.
Yes, you read that correctly, a septuagenarian has been a left-handed BP specialist for a Major League Team since well, before every current player – and even current President of Baseball Operations and Giant great, Buster Posey – was born.
John regales me with stories about his time as a pitcher for the Stanford Cardinal, his time in the minors playing with an against some future Baseball Hall of Famers, what life was like playing for the Hawaii Islanders, and why he gave the life up (he has a Hall of Famer to thank for that as well). Of course, he shares some of his highlights pitching to Barry Bonds and how he even worked his way into a Cactus League game once upon a time.
If I do say so myself, it’s 50 minutes well spent listening to John share his journey as both a fan and 3-time World Series ring recipient.